Collection: HB Strips and Cheese Collection

The classic Huntington Beach staple; for decades and generations, the ultimate surfside snack. Strips and cheese! As it has been explained us by a long time knowledgeable local, Jim Nitzkowski, the origin of strips and cheese can be readily traced to a woman named Millie Day. Originally she had a concessions booth just north of the pier and then soon after that, under the Pav a Lon Ballroom.

There, she sold an early version of what we know today as strips and cheese, the crispy chips topped with raw grated cheese and served with a tangy red sauce. Dwight Clapp’s wife, Faye, along with another woman named Millie (Jim’s grandmother), all members of the Assistance League, became friends with Millie Day. Together, they began sharing ideas and thus was born the now-famous strips and cheese sauce, crafted from a variety of recipes and methods. Millie also showed them how to cut and fry the tortilla strips and the rest is history. Thanks to the Clapp family running with the idea, evolving the secret sauce recipe into something unique and original, they have protected and preserved the legacy of this local creation. Today, the Clapp family continues the tradition in fine form today, keeping this local legend alive by serving the most classic strips and cheese in town; the one and only original. It’s a a simple and basic item that will always belong to Huntington Beach. Long live strips and cheese!