Club Fugazi
Encyclopedia
The Club Fugazi is a small theater and nightclub located in the North Beach, San Francisco, California
district of San Francisco, California
. The address is 678 Green Street although the portion of Green in front of the club has been renamed Beach Blanket Babylon
Boulevard in honor of the long-running musical revue which has played at the Club Fugazi for some two decades.
The theater is on the ground floor in a building which is formally known as Casa Coloniale Italiana John F. Fugazi, a community center for the Italian Colony of San Francisco. The building was financed by a donation from Cavaliere Ufficiale John F. Fugazi, who founded the Columbus Savings and Loan Society in 1893 as well as the Banca Popolare Operaia Italiana in 1906. Both banks eventually merged with the Bank of Italy, which was later renamed the Bank of America.
Fugazi had promised to establish a community center for the Italian Colony of San Francisco following the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, but it wasn't until 1913 that the project began.
Fugazi Hall was built in 1913 on a parcel of land donated by Fugazi's second wife, Joanna Fugazi. The building was designed by Italian architect Italo Zanolini, who also designed the Banca Popolare Operaia Italiana building at 2 Columbus Avenue (1906) most recently occupied by the Church of Scientology, as well as the building at 255 Columbus Avenue (1916), most recently occupied by Vesuvio Restaurant. Zanolini also designed John F. Fugazi's private mausoleum chapel at the Italian Cemetery in Colma.
Fugazi establish a trust to ensure that future generations of Italian-Americans would be able to utilize the building. The Trust is administered by the Italian-American Community Services Agency (formally known as the Italian Board of Relief and the Italian-American Welfare Agency), which was established in 1916.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Fugazi Hall was a common venue for poetry reading by members of the beat
community. Although many might believe that Club Fugazi is referenced in Allen Ginsberg'
s "Howl
": "Noon in desolate Fugazzi's, listening to the crack...", this actually refers to Fugazzi's in New York City, another Beat hangout (note the two z's in the name in the poem, as well as all the geographical references in that part of the poem being in NYC.
The famous "Thelonious Alone in San Francisco" album was recorded by Thelonious Monk on October 1959 at the Fugazi Hall.
North Beach, San Francisco, California
North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's Little Italy, and has historically been home to a large Italian American population. It still holds many Italian restaurants today, though...
district of San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. The address is 678 Green Street although the portion of Green in front of the club has been renamed Beach Blanket Babylon
Beach Blanket Babylon
Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon is America's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at Club Savoy Tivoli and has since moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco...
Boulevard in honor of the long-running musical revue which has played at the Club Fugazi for some two decades.
The theater is on the ground floor in a building which is formally known as Casa Coloniale Italiana John F. Fugazi, a community center for the Italian Colony of San Francisco. The building was financed by a donation from Cavaliere Ufficiale John F. Fugazi, who founded the Columbus Savings and Loan Society in 1893 as well as the Banca Popolare Operaia Italiana in 1906. Both banks eventually merged with the Bank of Italy, which was later renamed the Bank of America.
Fugazi had promised to establish a community center for the Italian Colony of San Francisco following the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, but it wasn't until 1913 that the project began.
Fugazi Hall was built in 1913 on a parcel of land donated by Fugazi's second wife, Joanna Fugazi. The building was designed by Italian architect Italo Zanolini, who also designed the Banca Popolare Operaia Italiana building at 2 Columbus Avenue (1906) most recently occupied by the Church of Scientology, as well as the building at 255 Columbus Avenue (1916), most recently occupied by Vesuvio Restaurant. Zanolini also designed John F. Fugazi's private mausoleum chapel at the Italian Cemetery in Colma.
Fugazi establish a trust to ensure that future generations of Italian-Americans would be able to utilize the building. The Trust is administered by the Italian-American Community Services Agency (formally known as the Italian Board of Relief and the Italian-American Welfare Agency), which was established in 1916.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Fugazi Hall was a common venue for poetry reading by members of the beat
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
community. Although many might believe that Club Fugazi is referenced in Allen Ginsberg'
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
s "Howl
Howl
"Howl" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the great works of the Beat Generation, along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch...
": "Noon in desolate Fugazzi's, listening to the crack...", this actually refers to Fugazzi's in New York City, another Beat hangout (note the two z's in the name in the poem, as well as all the geographical references in that part of the poem being in NYC.
The famous "Thelonious Alone in San Francisco" album was recorded by Thelonious Monk on October 1959 at the Fugazi Hall.