The Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe, officially known as the Old Spaghetti Factory and Excelsior Coffee House at the time of opening, is a historic commercial building, first built for industrial purposes in 1908, located in North Beach, San Francisco, California, United States. It was converted from a spaghetti factory to a nightclub, coffee house, and restaurant by Frederick Walter Kuh in 1956 after it was heavily damaged in a fire several years earlier. It was listed as San Francisco Designated Landmark number 127 on June 7, 1981. It was known for being a center of beatnik culture, hosting a variety of live performances of music and comedy, decorated with Kuh's large personal collection of Victorian furniture on its interior. The business ran until 1984, excluding an approximately year-long period where the main building was shut down for fire code violations, when Kuh retired and sold the restaurant and its furnishings.
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. Richard Whalen, a local artist and friend of Kuh, claimed Kuh had been attending a party across the street from the building while it was on fire, and voiced plans to buy it if it were vacated afterwards. Frederick "Freddie" Walter Kuh was born to a Jewish-German family in Chicago, Illinois, in 1927. His father was a stock broker, and his mother a teacher. He had attended the University of Illinois before graduating from Lake Forest College. He was a World War II veteran, having served in the mechanized cavalry division in the North African campaign, despite not knowing how to drive or ride a horse; he was transferred to the infantry after he ran over a superior officer, breaking their arm. After the end of the war, he spent time studying the arts in Paris. Kuh first moved to San Francisco in 1954, where he worked at a nightclub, The Purple Onion. He opened the Old Spaghetti Factory Cafe, 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. In June, Kuh placed a legal notice in The San Francisco News stating his intention to begin selling alcohol after a short waiting period, and initial reports suggested a planned opening day of August 1. It was first open to the general public for business during the third week of October 1956, seemingly due to issues obtaining the liquor license. The full, official name at the time was the "Old Spaghetti Factory and Excelsior Coffee House". Kuh originally co-owned the restaurant with James "Jim" Silverman, but Silverman, described by Caen as "an original Beatnik-hater", sold his share of ownership to Kuh by 1961. Kuh 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. Spaghetti was not originally an actual menu item – it was primarily a coffee house that also served beer. Repeated customer requests from people unfamiliar with the business's intended role led to spaghetti actually being served, and the success of the menu offering lead to expansion into more traditional restaurant offerings. The Chronicle, who had previously reported on the menu's lack of its namesake dish before full opening in June, reported that it was present on the menu in a January 1, 1957 column.
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