Cellar club in San Francisco, California, US
37°47′48″N
122°24′17″W
/
37.79667°N 122.40472°W
/
37.79667; -122.40472
The Purple Onion
was a celebrated cellar club in the North Beach area of
San Francisco
, California, located at 140 Columbus Avenue (between Jackson and Pacific). With an intimate, 80-person setting, the club was a popular influence in local music and entertainment during the
Beat era
of the 1950s and 1960s.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The Purple Onion originally opened in 1952 under the management of Keith Rockwell. His sister and brother-in-law, Virginia "Ginnie" and Irving "Bud" Steinhoff would frequently work weekends at the club until 1960 when they took over management. Bud Steinhoff managed the Purple Onion until his death in November 1983.
[2]
Virginia Steinhoff continued to operate the club until 1989.
First-wave comedy and performance
[
edit
]
Notable entertainers who either got their starts or played the California club in the 1950s and 1960s include
Bob Newhart
,
Lenny Bruce
,
Woody Allen
, Alameda housewife
Phyllis Diller
(making her stand-up debut in 1955),
[3]
Richard Pryor
,
Maya Angelou
,
[4]
The Kingston Trio
,
[5]
Jim Nabors
,
The Irish Rovers
,
[6]
and the
Smothers Brothers
?whose first album was titled
The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion
, but in reality, only the introduction was actually recorded there.
[3]
[7]
Music venue
[
edit
]
Tom Guido became the club's manager in 1993.
[8]
Under him it became the center of San Francisco's
garage rock
scene, featuring such bands as
The Rip Offs
,
Spoiled Brats
,
The Trashwomen
, The Makers, Tee and Thee Crumpets,
The Phantom Surfers
,
The 5.6.7.8's
,
Brian Jonestown Massacre
,
The Groovie Ghoulies
, The Go-Nuts,
Guitar Wolf
and many others.
[9]
[10]
The club closed in 1999.
[11]
Tom Guido died in 2019.
Return to comedy
[
edit
]
In 2004, the club reopened and returned to comedy.
[11]
[12]
Photographer and booker
Dan Dion
started a weekly comedy night that featured comedians such as
Robin Williams
,
Paul Krassner
,
Jim Short
, and
Tom Rhodes
.
David Owen
presented the debut of
Mort Sahl
in June 2005, and shows by
Greg Proops
,
Zach Galifianakis
,
Margaret Cho
,
Todd Barry
,
Dan Piraro
, and
Judah Friedlander
. By 2010, the club was only running weekend shows, though these shows were usually over capacity at 100?110 people.
[13]
Closure and reopening
[
edit
]
In September 2012, the building was sold with "no plans to rescue".
[14]
The club reopened in August 2014 as Doc's Lab and hosted both music and comedy throughout the week,
[15]
until its closure in February 2018.
[16]
The Purple Onion name was used from 2012?2018 around the corner with "The Purple Onion at Kell's" at 530 Jackson Street,
[11]
a showcase of underground and Bay Area comedy acts on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
[17]
The club reopened in November 2022 as Lyon & Swan, "a high-end restaurant with nightly live entertainment."
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Morgan, Bill; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence (2003).
The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour
. City Lights Books. p. 35.
ISBN
0-87286-417-0
.
- ^
San Rafael Independent Journal
, November 17, 1983, p. 4A.
- ^
a
b
"Five Best bet Historical bars"
.
SF Weekly
. Retrieved
February 23,
2009
.
- ^
Kite, L. Patricia; Cosgrove, Martha (2006).
Maya Angelou
. Lerner Publications. pp.
71?72
.
ISBN
9780822534266
.
- ^
Kergan, Jerry.
"Kingston Trio Timeline"
.
Kingston Trio Liner Notes
. Archived from
the original
on March 4, 2009
. Retrieved
March 25,
2011
.
- ^
"Our Story"
.
The Irish Rovers
. Retrieved
May 16,
2017
.
- ^
"Smothers worked on the edge"
.
Calgary Herald
. Retrieved
February 23,
2009
.
- ^
Ravani, Sarah (January 9, 2019).
"Former manager of SF's Purple Onion club identified as homicide victim"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
.
- ^
Selvin, Joel
(1996).
San Francisco, the Musical History Tour
. Chronicle Books. pp. 29?30.
ISBN
9780811810074
.
- ^
Leaders of Men
"Part 13 Tom Guido"
, retrieved October 2014
- ^
a
b
c
"Historic Comedy Club ? San Francisco Style"
.
SF Insider
. San Francisco Chronicle
. Retrieved
September 19,
2018
.
- ^
Ganahl, Jane (March 15, 2004).
"Laughter peals anew at Purple Onion"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. p. D-1.
- ^
Nevius, C. W. (August 25, 2012).
"SF Muni to America's Cup awesome so far"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. Retrieved
May 28,
2014
.
- ^
Wilkey, Robin (August 28, 2012).
"Club closed for good"
.
The Huffington Post
. Retrieved
May 23,
2013
.
- ^
"Doc's Lab: Venue Info"
. Archived from
the original
on January 6, 2018.
- ^
Phillips, Justin (February 9, 2018).
"Doc's Lab closes without warning in North Beach"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. Retrieved
September 19,
2018
.
- ^
"The Purple Onion at Kell's: Venue Info"
. October 2014. Archived from
the original
on October 13, 2014
. Retrieved
October 11,
2014
.
- ^
"Winery opens ambitious, three-story tasting palace in S.F. ? with an underground supper club"
. November 9, 2022.
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