Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe

For the Italian-American chain restaurant, see The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe
General information
Status	Used for other businesses
Location	478 Green Street, San Francisco, California, United States
Coordinates
Year built	1908 (1908)
Renovated	1956
Closed	1984
Design and construction
Architect	Unknown
San Francisco Designated Landmark
Designated	1981-06-07
Reference no.	127

The Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe is a historic commercial building, first built for industrial purposes in 1908, located in North Beach, San Francisco. It was converted from a spaghetti factory to a restaurant by Frederick Walter Kuh in 1956. It was listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark on June 7, 1981.

History

The building that would later become the Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe was originally a "barn like, wood-frame building", first constructed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It was first used to manage imported olive oil and cheese; it was later used as a factory for bottling seltzer water. Before it became the restaurant, it was owned by three Italian-American men named Baccigalupi, Casaretto, and Demartini, who operated a spaghetti factory out of it. The building was heavily damaged in a fire in January 1954, requiring later remodeling.

Frederick Walter Kuh first moved to San Francisco in 1954, where he worked at a nightclub, The Purple Onion. He opened the restaurant, also described as a nightclub and a cabaret club, after pressure from friends over finding a new place to store his collection of Victorian style furniture in 1956. He recruited his friend George Donald Currie, who had experience running a nightclub in Paris after World War II, to run the kitchen. The restaurant quickly became a popular hangout spot, and Kuh was later said to be the "father of funk" by journalist Herb Caen. It was a popular gathering spot for beatniks at the time. Kuh retired in 1984 and sold the restaurant, which closed, with its decorations being sold at auction.

Legacy

Robin Williams performed at the Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe early in his career, and participated in a "Save the Old Spaghetti Factory!" benefit in the 1980s. Adlai Stevenson II used it as an "unofficial local headquarters" for his 1956 presidential campaign. The Macaroni Show, a 1962 variety show that evolved into Beach Blanket Babylon, and Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera started in the "Blue Noodle Room" at the Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe.

The new owner of the building that housed the Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe was issued a cease and desist order for modifying a Historic Landmark building without proper approval on February 1, 1985, the first time that any incidents had happened since the system had been established. He was fined $500 (equivalent to $1,462 in 2024) for each day that the building was in non-compliance.