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Hungry I
37°47′46″N 122°24′18″W / 37.796242°N 122.405133°W
The Hungry I (stylized as hungry i) was a nightclub in San Francisco, California, originally located in the North Beach neighborhood. It played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy in the United States. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951. The club moved to Ghirardelli Square in 1967 and operated mostly as a rock music venue until it closed in 1970.
The name of the nightclub was reused later as a strip club in San Francisco, from the late 1960s until 2019.
Artist Mark Adams said in a 1983 interview about his design of the interior of the club:
In 1950, I was acting and designing sets for an amateur theatrical group. One of the men said he wanted to start a small club where actors could go after rehearsals and have coffee, pastry, a beer, et cetera, and sit around and talk—unwind from the work. He asked if I would design the interior, and also think of a name. I came up with hungry i—which referred to all the various hungers of the first person singular. The other man changed his name and personality as the club developed, and became Big Daddy Eric Nord of the Beat Generation. — Mark Adams, artist
In another story, the lower-case "i" was meant to represent "intellectual". "I was going to call it the Hungry Intellectual, but I ran out of paint" for the sign, Nord would tell interviewers. In another story, the sign was not finished in time for the club's opening, and next-day reviews in the San Francisco papers cemented the name for all time. Banducci swore that it was Freudian and was short for "the hungry id".
The hungry i was founded in 1949 or 1950 as an 83-seat venue in the Sentinel Building's basement at the corner of Kearny and Columbus, by Eric Nord, who sold it to Banducci in 1951. After operating it as a venue for folk singers including Stan Wilson, Banducci began hiring comedians in 1953 with Mort Sahl, encouraging them to express themselves freely. Their success caused queues around the block, until Banducci moved the Hungry I to the nearby International Hotel (nicknamed "the I-Hotel") at 599 Jackson Street in 1954.
The hungry i and Banducci were instrumental in the careers of Mort Sahl, who was the pioneer of a new style of stand-up comedy, comic Bill Cosby, comic Lenny Bruce, and minister Malcolm Boyd. The Kingston Trio recorded two noted albums at the hungry i, including the first live performance of their version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Tom Lehrer's final satirical album That Was the Year That Was (1965) was also recorded there, as well as The Limeliters' album Our Men in San Francisco (1963).[citation needed] Phyllis Diller also recorded a live comedy album at the venue in September 1962.
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Hungry I
37°47′46″N 122°24′18″W / 37.796242°N 122.405133°W
The Hungry I (stylized as hungry i) was a nightclub in San Francisco, California, originally located in the North Beach neighborhood. It played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy in the United States. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951. The club moved to Ghirardelli Square in 1967 and operated mostly as a rock music venue until it closed in 1970.
The name of the nightclub was reused later as a strip club in San Francisco, from the late 1960s until 2019.
Artist Mark Adams said in a 1983 interview about his design of the interior of the club:
In 1950, I was acting and designing sets for an amateur theatrical group. One of the men said he wanted to start a small club where actors could go after rehearsals and have coffee, pastry, a beer, et cetera, and sit around and talk—unwind from the work. He asked if I would design the interior, and also think of a name. I came up with hungry i—which referred to all the various hungers of the first person singular. The other man changed his name and personality as the club developed, and became Big Daddy Eric Nord of the Beat Generation. — Mark Adams, artist
In another story, the lower-case "i" was meant to represent "intellectual". "I was going to call it the Hungry Intellectual, but I ran out of paint" for the sign, Nord would tell interviewers. In another story, the sign was not finished in time for the club's opening, and next-day reviews in the San Francisco papers cemented the name for all time. Banducci swore that it was Freudian and was short for "the hungry id".
The hungry i was founded in 1949 or 1950 as an 83-seat venue in the Sentinel Building's basement at the corner of Kearny and Columbus, by Eric Nord, who sold it to Banducci in 1951. After operating it as a venue for folk singers including Stan Wilson, Banducci began hiring comedians in 1953 with Mort Sahl, encouraging them to express themselves freely. Their success caused queues around the block, until Banducci moved the Hungry I to the nearby International Hotel (nicknamed "the I-Hotel") at 599 Jackson Street in 1954.
The hungry i and Banducci were instrumental in the careers of Mort Sahl, who was the pioneer of a new style of stand-up comedy, comic Bill Cosby, comic Lenny Bruce, and minister Malcolm Boyd. The Kingston Trio recorded two noted albums at the hungry i, including the first live performance of their version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Tom Lehrer's final satirical album That Was the Year That Was (1965) was also recorded there, as well as The Limeliters' album Our Men in San Francisco (1963).[citation needed] Phyllis Diller also recorded a live comedy album at the venue in September 1962.