Enricos — Watched one waiter fondle another waiter over by the cash register. Quite the show.
Julius Castle — Celebrated winning the HP account here while at Dancer.
Bottom of the Mark — (later called Mildred Pierce, site of current Fog City Diner) I watched the owner/chef carve into his hand as well as the roast beef without noticing. Yes, blood in your sandwich.
Swiss Louis — where my sometimes-partner AD Jack Jannes held court from noon to 5pm almost daily. Seldom saw him in the afternoon at the Dancer office.
Mission Rock Resort — I went there with AD Mick Kitagawa, saw a big biker guy clad in old school biker leathers enjoying lunch outside with his friend, a little person dressed in exactly the same style. Wish I had taken a photo.
Molinari’s — I used to get a sandwich there, then hike uphill on Telegraph hill, sit down somewhere and look for headlines.
Graf Zeppelin — (later Goodby turned it into their offices) After work at DFS I would go there, get half drunk, then go to karate practice.
Grumpy’s — (I think it was called something else back in the day) Went there at night with Kitagawa, the bartender had to leave so of course Mick got behind the bar and worked the rest of the night, never putting a dime in the cash register, it all went into the tip jar.
Grumpy’s or whatever it was called — I would go there with Kitagawa at noon, we’d have a drink, then Mick’s friend huge Chuck the Truck Driver would start buying us drinks. I looked at 3 drinks backed up in front of me and Mick said very seriously, ”Chuck doesn’t like it when you don’t drink his drinks.” I drank.
Kitagawa’s old Mercedes sedan parked near the Dancer office was occasionally used by local dock workers for a place to sit at lunch and listen to his radio.
Crystal Palace — an early “natural food” place on Broadway. ECD at Dancer Don Carleson would drink some kind of fancy drink with Framboise and vermouth and eat fruit salads or something. Great place.
Redwood Room — I went there with the Foremost client, Fred Fornia, and a Dancer Fitzgerald AE named Dick Somers. Redwood refused to seat us because my hair “touched” the edge of my collar. Long haired hippy freak.
Wash Bag — ACD at FCB David Hunter took me to lunch there to offer me a job at FCB to work on the Levi’s account. The salary offered was $36,000!! I took the job.
Pier 23 — AD Arthur Vibert (of Max Headroom fame) and I went here to think up a replacement for Mike Koelker’s very successful Levi’s 501 Blues. We came up with “Wear them as long as you can”, David Fincher shot maybe six or eight spots with us, but they never ran. Testing killed them, although everyone saw them on Fincher’s Propaganda reel. Someone called them the most famous spots that never ran.
Tim Price
…uhhh…uhhh…Price???…uhhh Tim…oh yeah..Tim Price. Now I remember some young kid who was just hired as a Copywriter.. We called him “RUBE” cause he looked like he just rolled in from some Farm! We took him out to lunch (ha-ha) — Remember that, Tim!
Mik
My God Ann, you remember all the restaurants I choose to forget.
Jack Allen
Little Joe’s- was on Broadway across the street from Enrico’s a few doors up towards Columbus. I think 523 Broadway. Jerry Leonhart and I used to go there for the calamari sauté with penne pasta – always cooked to perfection. It was served on an oval plate piled high. If you were smart and a calamari lover, you’d order the dish with the penne on the side; that way you’d get the same sized plate piled just as high with calamari and an extra plate of penne also piled as high.
Joel Fugazzotto
Sorento’s- pizza Columbus and Broadway. The topless bars opened up in their location. I have a story to tell you about one of these places, just not in writing.
Piet Halberstadt
Enrico’s- great place to meet friends and watch the world go by. And did you know, Enrico, for all his Bohemian persona, came from Buttonwillow, a Central Valley wide spot in the road.
Samm Coombs
Bardelli’s- All of us at Joseph Magnin would go To Bardelli’s on O’Farrell St. on Friday. I did not see Bardelli’s on your list. We then had to get back to JM to get the ads out for the following week. It was crazy sometimes, but fun!
Diana Robinson Creber
The Washington Square Bar & Grill- My go to favorite was the WashBag Good food, great bar. Art directors always had their preferences, Johns Grill, Dago Mary’s, The Clam House.
Kurt Andersen
Café Trieste- After I sold my house in Millbrae and moved in to the city I spent more times going out to eat, as I lived in North Beach, freelancing.?There were a lot of good places like, Vanessi’s, Enrico’s, The Washington Bar & Grill, Spaghetti Factory and specially Café Trieste where I and David Grove used to have a coffee and talk. Nice memories!
Lars Melander
Scoma’s ‑Location previously (1962) was a coffee shop where the founder of the Academy of Art, “Pappy” Stevens, would hold court with his “on-location” drawing class.
Gold Street- (1960s-) New Years Party every night.
Schroeder’s- In the 1960s, it was a “men only” restaurant. I was allowed as a lunch guest of Butte, Herrero & Hyde.
La Pantera Café- In 1959 w/Beatniks on upper Grant Ave., owner Rena Nicoli didn’t allow women in if wearing Capri pants. She finally let me slip quickly to a table.
Charles’ Bistrot-(1964) Drink: La Guillotine, Menu: Mtn. Oysters. Charles le Bugle ran for mayor of San Francisco, protesting the Vietnam War.
Hoffman’s Grill- In the ‘60s, women were not allowed to stand with the men at the bar along the west wall. Women were told to order a beverage only while sitting at a table in the dining area.
The Hippo and Dante Bennedetti’s New Pisa (1960s-) were decorated by Wolo, (Baron Wolff Erhardt Anton George Trutzschler von Falkenstein).
The North Star Café- (1960s) Also, men only, but I got in! At the bar, they served drinks from a small white enamel bedpan — diners were to wear toilet seat protector when ordering cioppino! One more thing, when a man entered the men’s room (opposite the bar) the bartender would quickly follow him in and immediately emerge wearing a gas mask!
The Sails- had a very large aquarium with a variety of large fish. Often there were only a few — we were told they would eat each other.
Original Joe’s Two with the same name, explained? 144 Taylor Street — carries the history of Louis Rocca and Tony Rodin who opened the “original” in 1937 — closed as a result of a fire in 2007. And the other, also called “Original Joe’s” on Chestnut Street was also from the 1930s. It also closed. Now the only “original” is at 601 Union Street (replacing Fior D’Italia 1886 — the oldest Italian restaurant in the USA. It had a fire in 2005. Joe DiMaggio’s Italian Chophouse moved in that location but closed in 2010. Fior D’Italia is now in the San Remo Hotel.
There are photos of many of these locations on the web, now there are these, below, from McGovern’s (which was never listed in a directory nor did the owner want it to be). The clientele was longshoremen and all others. The bar and tables were in one open room. Once when the trap door to the storage in the basement was left open with no chairs blocking the hole — someone fell in — and felt no pain! After some years, Grumpy’s (know as a “fern-bar”) opened at this same location. No more longshoremen.
Before smart phones, who had a camera to record a favorite hangout? I did. By 1980, I was located at 901 Battery Street and McGovern’s was just a half block away — on Vallejo Street). These photos are blurry (hand-held, no flash).
Ann Thompson
