Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe

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

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.^[1][3] It was listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark on June 7, 1981.^[2]

Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe
Location of Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe in San Francisco County
Location	478 Green Street, San Francisco, California, U.S.
Coordinates	37.7999°N 122.4071°W / 37.7999; -122.4071
Built	1908 (1908)
Architect	Unknown[1]
San Francisco Designated Landmark
Designated	1981-06-07
Reference no.	127[2]

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.^[4][5]

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.^[3] He recruited his friend George Donald Currie, who had experience running a nightclub in Paris after World War II, to run the kitchen.^[6][7] The restaurant quickly became a popular hangout spot, and Kuh was later said to be the "father of funk" by journalist Herb Caen.^[4] Kuh retired in 1984 and sold the restaurant.^[3]

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.^[1][8] Adlai Stevenson II used it as an "unofficial local headquarters" for his 1956 presidential campaign.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[9]