Long before folks like Bill Cosby,Barbara Streisand, Woody Allen, Jonathon Winters and Bob Newhart were seen on TV, they paid their dues performing in front of a brick wall in a little North Beach club owned by Enrico Banducci. The Hungry I name wasn’t yet used to sucker in patrons to a sleazy strip joint and still was a very famous venue here in the 50’s & 60’s that numerous live albums were recorded at.

San Francisco’s Performing Arts Library & Museum, located on the 4th floor at 401 Van Ness in the Veteran’s Building is featuring an exhibit on Banducci’s famous Hungry I nightclub through the summer, and it’s well worth the FREE ADMISSION…

So if yer a fan of show biz in general, you’ve got no excuse not to check it out, and if you’re a veteran, well it’s in a convenient place if you happen to be sorting out your affairs…

Details on the history of the HUNGRY I club, more pix and the hours of the exhibit etc after the jump

The original location of the Hungry I was in the Sentinel Building, home of the old Caesar’s Grill, supposedly where the Caesar salad was invented. Banducci later moved it to 599 Jackson St. in a larger space that was on the ground floor of the building that also housed the International Hotel aka I-Hotel. It was at this location that comics like Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory and Mort Sahl got free from typically cornball yuk yuk humor and took comedy to more philosophical and topical political observation. Comics were free to explore the subjects they wanted, and Banducci maintained a sense of respect and quietude for performers with the now unheard of rule that no drinks were to be ordered or served during actual performances. Despite his willingness to forego a certain amount of cash in exchange for quality entertainment, he paid a high price at times for the sense of freedom he fostered in the McCarthyism era. Here’s a picture of Enrico Banducci behind bars after he was thrown in jail for not wearing a suit in court and “impertinent” behavior in front of a local judge. Fortunately for Enrico his stay was only 24 hours, and he was never busted with Lenny Bruce when his controversial performances offended the local vice squad. (jail pic from the San Francisco Public Library collection).

It wasn’t just comedians at the Hungry I , and one notable performer was a former cable car conductor, the first woman in the city’s history actually, a calypso singer whose real name was Marguerite Johnson, whom onstage and in books we know better as Maya Angelou. Freewheeling folks acts like Peter Paul & Mary, Stan Wilson, Tom Lehrer and SF’s own Kingston Trio all got a toehold in the music business at the Hungry I. The Kingston Trio eventually rose to heightened levels, becoming at one point the highest paid musical group of their day, and bought the Sentinel building built by Abe Ruef that housed the original Hungry I at Kearny & Columbus. They later sold it to Francis Ford Coppola who retains control today.

Owner Enrico Banducci , who had more wives than business sense eventually lost too much money, an era ended and he sold the Hungry I name off by 1970 to topless club king Sam Conti who now uses the name as a strip club at 546 Broadway.

Performing Arts Library & Museum Exhibition Hours
Tuesday - Friday 11 AM to 5 PM
Saturday - 1 PM to 5 PM

Admission Free
401 Van Ness @ McCallister

Related posts:

1. North Beach Legend Enrico Banducci’s Wake This Sunday
2. It’s hot, so time for free drinks
3. Free Booze!
4. Who’s Hungry? Who’s With Me?
5. Wells Fargo History Museum