Richie Palmer built his name in the pizza business long before many movie fans knew who he was. His restaurants became part of the Los Angeles food scene. Then he married Raquel Welch, one of the most famous stars of her time. For a few years, the two moved between a busy restaurant world and Hollywood events.
His life shows how a local business owner can become a name in show business without giving up his own work. The story starts in restaurants, takes a turn into a high-profile marriage, and returns to the business that first made him known.
Who Is Richie Palmer?
Richie Palmer, also called Richard Palmer in news reports, is an American restaurateur and former actor. He is known for Mulberry Street Pizzeria and Richie’s Neighborhood Pizzeria in Southern California. He was married to actress Raquel Welch from 1999 until their separation in 2003. He had built a restaurant business before their wedding.
Some readers know the name from Welch’s life story. Others may have eaten at one of the pizza shops he ran. Both paths lead to the same man, whose years in the food trade set him apart from the usual Hollywood circle.
From New York Roots to California Pizza
Richie Palmer was born in New York City and grew up with ties to the Bronx. He later made a name in Southern California. That move placed him near a large group of diners who wanted food with a New York feel.
The food was part of the appeal. In a city with many dining choices, pizza can be a simple meal that brings people back. A good neighborhood shop does not need a red carpet. It needs food people enjoy, a place they know, and staff who make a visit easy.
Richie Palmer worked in a market where those basic things mattered. His pizzerias became well known in parts of Los Angeles, including Beverly Hills. Over time, the restaurants helped make his name familiar to people who were not following the world of film.
Building the Mulberry Street Name
Mulberry Street Pizzeria is the business most often tied to Richie Palmer. The name points to New York’s Little Italy and the style of pizza found there. His restaurant work was well underway by the time he married Welch.
By 2001, a Los Angeles Times profile described him as the owner of several locations under two brands: Mulberry Street Pizzeria and Richie’s Neighborhood Pizzeria. The report named Beverly Hills as home to a flagship shop.
Running more than one restaurant is a different job from running a single counter. Each place must keep food, service, and daily work on track. The brand also needs to feel familiar when a guest tries a second location.
Those needs explain why the business took so much of Richie Palmer’s time. A restaurant has to open its doors and serve real people each day. Public attention can bring new guests, but steady work keeps them coming back.
Why His Restaurants Became Part of His Public Story
Los Angeles has long been a city where actors, crews, and studio staff share the same cafes and lunch spots as everyone else. A pizza shop can serve a quick meal to a family, a student, or someone on a short break from work.
That setting gave Richie Palmer a clear role in the local food world. He was not just someone seen beside a famous actress. His shops were a place where people could eat. The business had a purpose of its own and did not depend on a film role.
It also helps explain how a restaurant owner could meet people from the movie world. The city brings many kinds of work close together. Food places often become common ground, whether diners are famous or not.
Meeting Raquel Welch
Welch had already spent decades on screen when she met Richie Palmer. She was known around the world for films such as Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. She had also worked on stage and on TV.
Richie Palmer was a businessman with a background in acting. Their paths crossed in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. The romance drew press interest because she was a major film star and he ran a group of pizza shops.
In a 2001 interview with Cigar Aficionado, Welch spoke warmly about meeting him when she was not trying to find a new romance. The pair had married in 1999 and were still together when she gave that interview.
The meeting came at a time when Welch wanted a life that felt right for her. She had spent years with a public image that often drew more attention than her acting. Richie Palmer brought a different kind of career and day-to-day work into the relationship.
Their 1999 Wedding
Richie Palmer and Raquel Welch married in July 1999. Their wedding took place at her Beverly Hills home. It was Welch’s fourth marriage, and it put the restaurant owner in the pages of entertainment news.
According to a 2001 Los Angeles Times profile, the couple were set to mark their second wedding anniversary that summer. The same article covered his restaurant chains and Welch’s long film career.
Marriage to a famous actor can change how a business owner is seen. Suddenly, the person who ran local shops was also part of public events and photos. Yet the places he owned still needed to serve diners each day.
For Welch, the wedding marked another chapter in a life that had moved from a small California town to global fame. She had worked hard to build her own career and had spoken often about the need to be seen as more than a screen image.
A Marriage in Two Busy Worlds
The couple came from careers with very different rhythms. Film work can mean long shoots, travel, and public events. A restaurant depends on regular hours, fresh supplies, and daily service. Those two worlds met in their home life.
The contrast was part of what made them an unusual pair to the press. He was linked to places people could visit for a slice of pizza. She was known for characters and images that had reached audiences around the world.
Their marriage also drew notice because Welch had been a major star for so long. Even when she was not making a new film, people still wanted to know where she went and whom she spent time with.
Palmer did not need an acting part to belong in that story. His work as a restaurant owner gave him his own place in Los Angeles. When the couple appeared together, readers saw two people whose jobs were very different.
The Separation in 2003
Four years after their wedding, the couple separated. Their split became public in August 2003. News coverage carried a statement from their representative that described the separation as amicable.
The Associated Press report carried by Deseret News said there was no third party involved. It also named his Mulberry Street restaurant in Beverly Hills and Richie’s Neighborhood Pizza stores.
The report was brief, but it marked the end of the marriage as a couple. They had wed in 1999 and shared four years before that public announcement.
Their lives then moved on in separate ways. Welch kept her place in American film history. Palmer’s restaurant work was part of the Los Angeles food scene, apart from the headlines about the split.
Raquel Welch’s Long Career
To see why the marriage drew so much notice, it helps to know the life Welch had led. She was born in Chicago in 1940 and grew up in the San Diego area. She began as a young woman who loved performance and went on to become a star known across the world.
In 1966, Welch appeared in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. A photo from the second film made her an icon of the decade. She later said that image was hard to escape because it often took focus away from her skill as an actor.
Her work was wider than one film poster. She appeared in The Three Musketeers and won a Golden Globe for her role. She also wrote about fitness, appeared on stage, and built a business in wigs and beauty products.
Welch died in February 2023 at age 82. The news led to tributes that looked back on a long career, her image, and the effort she made to choose parts that showed more of her talent.
Palmer is one name in that larger life story, but her career had begun long before the marriage. Their years together were a later chapter for a woman who had already changed the way movie fans saw female stars.
Acting Work Alongside the Restaurant Business
Richie Palmer also has screen credits, though acting was not the main reason for his public profile. He is listed in the cast of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, the 2000 comedy starring Eddie Murphy.
That film arrived during his marriage to Welch, but his work with pizza shops had started before it. He moved between the food world and a small number of film projects. These are distinct parts of his career.
The restaurant business is the part that placed his name on signs and in local food reports. A movie role may be seen once, but a shop can become part of a neighborhood’s routine. That is a different kind of public presence.
His Place in Los Angeles Food Culture
Many cities have a local place that people return to for a simple meal. In Los Angeles, pizza shops compete with a huge range of food choices. A name that stays familiar over years can become part of how people think about an area.
The history of Mulberry Street Pizzeria shows Palmer’s place in that scene. The stores were not just a side note in a celebrity marriage. They were a working business that brought him notice well beyond people who followed Hollywood gossip.
For readers who first found his name in a story about Welch, the restaurants are the most useful starting point. They show what he did, why he was known before the wedding, and how his day-to-day work differed from hers.
How Richie Palmer Fits Into Welch’s Family Story
Welch had two children, Damon and Tahnee, from her first marriage to James Welch. She had been married to producer Patrick Curtis and to director André Weinfeld before she married Palmer.
Those earlier relationships span much of her rise in movies. By the time she met her fourth husband, Welch had lived through many changes in work and family. That history made their wedding news in its own right.
Their marriage did not create the Welch surname, which she kept from her first husband. It also did not change the long film career she had made. It was one part of the life of a woman who had spent most of her adult years in the public eye.
A Businessman Known Beyond the Red Carpet
The story of Richie Palmer connects the food trade with a famous chapter of Hollywood history. He ran restaurants in Southern California and married Welch in 1999. Their marriage ended after four years together, but the local business that brought him his own name remained a key part of his story.
It is easy to spot a familiar actor in a photo and look past the person beside them. In this case, that person had a career with its own daily work, customers, and places across the city. That makes the story more than an account of a wedding and a split.
Richie Palmer became known to movie fans through Raquel Welch, but his restaurant work explains why his name was already familiar in Los Angeles. Together, those parts offer a clear view of a man who crossed between two busy worlds.
For another Hollywood family story linked to a life built outside acting, read our feature on Rod Weston and Pattie Boyd at Turquoise Moon Homes.
