The misty wind and fog of the Lakeside neighborhood does not plague the streets of Green and Columbus as I step off Muni bus #45 into central North Beach. It is almost 11 a.m. and my body is still caffeine-free. I walk down Columbus to Vallejo Street in search of the famous Caffe Trieste for a cappuccino.
People hovering and buzzing inside and outside this coffee shop discuss everything from European summer trips, Americanization in Asia to the difference in musical recording techniques and the latest art shows in the neighborhood.
Ben and Tina, a young married couple sitting at one of the small tables that line the front of Trieste are sipping cappuccinos. Ben comments, “You can’t give up everything…especially this coffee.”
The couple swears by the cappuccinos from this neighborhood staple. Tina points to the famous Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, which is visible from our table outside.
“I just love the Edwardian architecture down here in the building archways and doors,” Tina tells me. “It is great for photographs.”
Inside Trieste I am approached by a tall, aged man who smiles at me. “Are you covering the neighborhood?”
Alex, a native Brazilian and alleged former bass player at Woodstock has been living in North Beach since 1976. “This neighborhood used to much richer in the amount of writers, poets and musicians,” Alex said. “But at least the coffee hasn’t changed”.
Alex tells me that Paul, the main barista, has been working for Trieste for years, but that the rest of the employees are new. “This used to be a family run business and Papa Johnny used to have bad Italian opera every Saturday.”
“This is a good place to find someone you know,” Alex said. “It’s a crossroads of sorts, if you will.”
Alex spots an old friend, Brent Byer, bartender and bass player for The Bachelors on Monday nights at The Saloon on Grant Avenue, in line and excuses himself to say hello.
One can find The Saloon easily if they head out from Caffe Trieste to the right and down to an alley named Fresno. The Saloon is rather dim and a bit dingy, but it definitely has character. The walls are lined with local music events and CDs ranging from Bruce Breece to The Lucky Strike Band.
There is a stage set up with microphones and a drum set in the back of this small bar. Byer has been playing and working at the Saloon for over twenty years. At one point, he even lived upstairs for about five years.
The Saloon is filled with characters like Big Jeff, Kristen a bartender with over 40 years of experience, and patrons like Jean. They come for the cheap, big drinks and live rockabilly and blues music according to Byer.
“I don’t know what it is about this bar,” Jean said. “But, something happens to people and they let loose.”
According to Byer it is the oldest bar in San Francisco and the sixth oldest in the country. It was opened in the 1880s as a refuge for the sailors that stopped in what was known as the Barbary Coast.
“This isn’t really a scene bar; it’s an institution,” Byer said. “You can find bikers next to lawyers and doctors next to strippers.”
A few other regulars began to trickle in shortly after the doors officially opened at noon. They told me about other notable establishments in the neighborhood—Vesuvio’s, Gino Carlo’s, and Specks. But most of the patrons, who were all middle-aged or older Caucasian-American men, warned me against looking on Broadway Street for anything worthwhile.
“There’s nothing left to check out over there,” Paulie, an older gentlemen wearing a black beret and smoking a cigarette said. “Now these meathead, hip-hop clubs and bars are bringing in outsiders from Vallejo and Fairfield causing problems.”
Broadway Street is typically known for mucking up the culture and history as the dominant businesses on this street include “gentleman clubs”.
Finally, Byer mentions the hardworking and often overlooked inhabitants of North Beach, which now include a large population of Asian immigrants, many of whom, are Chinese or Chinese-American.
“Many of these people started out working out at entry-level jobs for thirty years or more and now they are business owners,” Byer said. “The amount of immigrants that have become neighborhood merchants is amazing.”
A block from Broadway Street, Biordi Art Imports can be located. The owner, Gionfranco Savio of Florence, Italy is another immigrant business owner who makes North Beach a unique neighborhood in San Francisco. Since 1946, Biordi’s has been selling classic Italian ceramics inspired by traditional Renaissance art known as Maiolica ceramics.
Savio recalls the changes that he has experienced in his thirty years of living in the neighborhood. “There has been such an inflation of restaurants that the city passed two ordinances: one declared that no more restaurants could be opened and the other declared that if an owner sold his business the next owner could not have a food or drink chain business open.”
These are the types of changes that have helped maintain North Beach’s history. However, not all changes can be prevented.
“We’ve lost a little bit of foot traffic,” Savio said. “Stockton Street started being owned by the Chinese and all strange looking buses that quack around the streets”.
If one walks down Stockton Street towards Washington Square Park, he or she will pass restaurants, gelato and candy shops, an old hat shop and finally the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club. Frank Villani, a member of the club’s board of directors, is lingering outside the front door.
“During World War II, we had to take the ‘Italian’ out of our name to prevent any acts of violence on certain ethnic groups, such as the Italians.”
The club was established in 1918 and was originally located on Powell Street. It has been at its current location since 1936. It boasts an impressive number of members at 620 and is known for throwing such events as the Festa Coloniale Italiana, Bocce Tournament and Stratuto Race.
The halls of the club are filled with pictures of famous Italians like politician Rudy Giuliani, two-time World Series winning baseball star and member Gino Campsi, and long-time member and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppala.
Although it is a men’s only club, I was greeted with hospitality and kindness from every person I approached from Romano Marcucci, barista extraordinaire to the club administrator, Rich Denney Baldoni.
“This is the best place to work,” said Martha Crothers, a long-time kitchen volunteer, during my tour of the club. “I started peeling onions and potatoes here for nothing fifteen years ago. Now I help organize and do inventory for the members after big events.”
It is about three o’clock when Villani, who is in charge of maintenance, completes his Monday check-in. He takes me upstairs to the balcony before we depart.
“Look at this view,” Villani said as we admire Sts. Peter and Paul Church and the scene of people sunbathing, eating and playing music below in Washington Square Park. “It is priceless.”
I hop back on bus 45 where I will pass through Chinatown and Union Square to get to the Powell BART Station. North Beach has definitely changed over the past thirty to fifty years since it was the beatnik capital and then home to punks, poets and paupers. But, it still retains some magic yet to be found if you are willing to seek it out.
