Pernicano’s May be Closed, but its Cash Register Lives On

By Leslie Wolf Branscomb

When Sally Hickerson bought her first fabric store, in North Carolina, it came with the previous owner’s old-fashioned cash register dating from 1929.

Hickerson loved it. It wasn’t high-tech, and couldn’t ring up any sales higher than $99.99, and you had to use a hand crank to open it. But it had a certain style.

Recently, Hickerson moved to San Diego and opened a new fabric store, The Spirit of Cloth, in Old Town on June 1. She and her husband asked a friend who runs an auction company to keep an eye out for an old cash register to use in the new business. They found one about a month ago: a heavy metal and wood model hailing from the late 1930s.

The keys on the register for ringing up sales included the following: “bottled beer,” “draft beer,” “wine,” “liquor” and “food.” When Hickerson lifted up the label on the “food” key, underneath it said “tobacco.” So they figured it came from a bar.

But the cash drawer was jammed shut, so they enlisted the help of Paul Smith, owner of House of Clocks in Hillcrest, who is currently repairing the historic Jessop’s clock in Horton Plaza.

Smith pulled the machine apart and opened it up, and there, stuck inside (and most likely causing the jam) were a number of faded old receipts that dated into the early 40s, and another one that offered the final clue to the register’s origins: a maintenance receipt for Pernicano’s Restaurant, dated 1973.

Smith was surprised and pleased. “Paul’s parents used to go on dates there, and they loved it,” Hickerson said.

Pernicano’s, on Sixth Avenue in Hillcrest, was a hugely popular hangout from its opening in 1946 until its closure in 1985. The building has been shuttered and vacant ever since.

But at least now its cash register is back at work.

The Spirit of Cloth is located at 2802 Juan St., Suite 15, in Old Town. Phone: (619) 295-2802. The store is open Tues.-Fri. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.