A faded sign in age-appropriate, groovy, yellow font hangs inside one of Modesto’s most distinctive sandwich shops. It reads, “I grew up on BS.”
It’s more than just a little salty Valley humor. If you look closely, the BS in question is Brighter Side.
Though lovingly maintained, it may be more accurate to describe the sandwich shop as a shack. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Owner Larry Cary, alongside his late friend Chris Bristow, opened Brighter Side at the corner of K and 12th streets Oct. 1, 1976 – a date that’s eluded him for over a decade.
“If you can find out the exact date, that would be great,” Cary told The Modesto Focus. “I know it was in the fall of ‘76. I think we might be the oldest restaurant in the city with the same owner.”
City records prove its five decades of service to the Valley’s hungry lunch crowds. And while Modesto and its downtown have grown and changed over that same time, the restaurant seems determined to stay the same.
From its signature look, including reclaimed wood on its walls, to its eclectic decor and its cash-or-check only policy – time almost stands still inside.
In the early 1970s, Bristow, who worked at the Modesto library at the time, came to Cary with the idea to open a lunch restaurant that offered salads and sandwiches.
Over the next year or so, the two men worked together to convert an old gas station into the sandwich shop. Cary, who was in charge of construction, used old wood from barns and chicken coops to build the central dining room.
They stumbled across the restaurant’s name during the building process when they hit some snags.
“Things were going a little haywire somewhere along the line, and I said, ‘Well, there’s got to be a brighter side,’” Cary reminisced. “I said, ‘Hey, that sounds like a good name’.”
Bristow died of melanoma a few years after the shop opened.
At 78, Cary still honors his friend’s dream and hard work each day.
“He and I were best of friends, you know? I mean, he played the guitar like ringing a bell,” Cary said.
Brighter Side draws people in with its casual and homelike feel, featuring its feline mascots and reasonably-priced sandwiches that are all named after someone special in Cary’s life.
The dining area is flanked by windows looking out into the lush garden seating area, one of the shop’s other main attractions. That timeless feel includes its bygone-era policy of not accepting credit cards or other electronic payments – only cash and paper checks.
“We’re starting to blow up a little bit on TikTok, so (the cash only policy) is a bit of a problem,” Cary said.
Wendy Mangano, a core member of the team at Brighter Side, said they have to send new customers down the street to an ATM, which charges a small fee for transactions, but she makes sure to offer them freebies for their added effort. So far, “they totally dig it,” she said.
“Bring cash. Bring cash. Bring cash. We’re open 11 to 3,” is Cary’s daily mantra to customers, old and new. The shop is open Monday through Friday only.
Bobby Boswell, a loyal customer since 1979, stops in to see Cary and his team each time he’s in town. His favorite sandwich is Charlie, named after the StarKist tuna mascot.
“When people come visit, I gotta swing by here and show them what they got going on,” Boswell said. “The ambience of the whole place is pretty amazing. They’ve had a couple new cats over the years, but everything else remains the same as far as good food, good people.”
Today, three cats roam the property, but only one takes his role as a customer service representative seriously. Punkin, not “Pumpkin,” Cary said, is an orange tabby who has really made an impact on patrons. You might find him watching over customers as they place their orders.
“They come here to see the pooper, Punkin, because people know him,” Mangano said.
She recalls the five or six cats Brighter Side is known for over the years. Her family is close with the Carys, so 22 years ago she began working for the shop and never stopped.
Besides the jokes about Charlie the Tuna, the “Okie” and “Not a Grilled Cheese,” most of the sandwiches are named after people Cary knows. For example, there’s the Amy, named after his daughter, and the Joshua, for his grandson.
“The Okie (is named) after everybody that’s in Modesto,” Cary said, laughing.
He referenced the the migration of many people from Oklahoma to the Valley during the Dust Bowl era.
“All the Okies in Modesto, big number there,” he said.
Joshua’s father, David Cary is the sandwich artist for Brighter Side. He is also the one responsible for luring Punkin out of the woodpile with slices of turkey and launching the cat’s career as a local icon.
David and Larry Cary have steadily built the menu up to what we see today and keep tabs on what resonates with the public.
Affordable lunch prices keep people coming back, Mangano said. A bowl of soup goes for $4.65 and a Bobby Q sandwich, a barbecue beef sandwich, is $10.50.
The Genora, a hot roast beef sandwich named after one of Cary’s first customers, used to be the most popular. As tastes change, Amy’s sandwich, a cold cut turkey and salami on a french roll, has taken over as number one.
“Neither my sister or my son like their own sandwiches,” the younger Cary said, “but what can I do? I made it when he was a year old.”
While no longer in Modesto, Amy still helps out. She is responsible for the Brighter Side’s online presence. It’s always been a family business. Depending on the decade, at least one other family member, including nieces and nephews, have worked on staff.
The family sentiment carries into the wider community. Today, the restaurant is filled to the brim with momentos from his staff and customer’s families.
Mangano’s mom kept an old washboard that she later hung on the wall of the shop.
“That saw there, a woman brought in. She said, ‘My father died, but I don’t want to get rid of the saw. But can you take it?’” Cary recalled.
Each decoration has its own story, but at this point, there’s no guarantee the staff will remember all of them, Mangano joked.
As the city continues to grow, there has been some speculation that a soccer stadium will be built on top of Brighter Side. Last August, Modesto officials approved Modesto Centre Plaza as a potential stadium site for a United Soccer League team to play, which would encroach onto the sandwich shop’s space.
But Cary hasn’t received any information from the city on the topic, and isn’t too worried. Fifty years of staying put have worked out for him so far.
“I think it’s kind of on hold, and I think the interest from the private side for supporting a team has dwindled,” he said. “I don’t know for sure, hopefully it just drifts away.”
Modesto’s Brighter Side, 1125 K St., is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. Call 209-524-7531.
Vivienne Aguilar is a reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at vivienne@themodestofocus.org.