What’s Up with Fisherman’s Wharf?

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle lauded the attractions of Fisherman’s Wharf. That has to be historic.

Two long-time restaurateurs talk past, present and future — and why this neighborhood is the Rodney Dangerfield of San Francisco

By GraceAnn Walden
Published: September, 2006

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle lauded the attractions of Fisherman’s Wharf. That has to be historic. The media have always given a nod to the history of Fisherman’s Wharf but, despite the fact that some of its restaurants are wildly popular and the Wharf itself is the number one attraction for visitors, it is almost universally dissed by the local media and some locals.

The question is: how did the Wharf go from a bustling fishing port, dominated since the 19th century by Sicilian-born immigrants, to an area that receives less than glowing kudos from locals?

Nunzio Alioto, owner-manager of Alioto’s No. 8 restaurant and Antone Sabella, partner in A. Sabella’s, also at the Wharf, sat down to talk about their history and muse on the fortunes of the Wharf.

The Sabella family’s history in San Francisco begins with great-grandfather, Luciano, a Sicilian immigrant, opening a fish store on Jefferson Street in 1920 with his son, Antone.

This was in an era when several Sicilian men, who started out as fishermen, opened restaurants at the Wharf. Eventually, grandfather Antone opened Sabella’s, a restaurant kitty-corner from the fish store. When grandfather Antone died suddenly, his son, Lucien and his brothers were pulled out of high school to run the restaurant.

Lucien met and married actress-model Bobbie Drake and they had five children. Antone was born in 1951.

Upstairs from the original Sabella’s, a casual restaurant, with booths like a diner, Lucien opened A. Sabella’s Capri Room, a supper club in the ‘50s.

I’ve met a lot of people who met their husband or wife there in the 50s and 60s, Antone says.

The building burned down, Labor Day weekend 1964.

There were 400 people in the banquet room. When they opened a back room, it was all in flames, Antone says. It was the first time in San Francisco history they used the fire boats, because they ran out of water.

Antone says his dad lost everything in the fire because he didn’t have replacement insurance. But with hard work, Sabella’s came back.

In the mid-90s, Antone revived the look of his father’s supper club, transforming A. Sabella’s into one of the most elegant Wharf restaurants with a spectacular Bay view. Sabella runs the restaurant in partnership with his sister Laureen.

At A. Sabella’s the menu focuses on classic and modern seafood preparations like crab Louie, whole Maine lobster and always-fresh crab.

Open for dinner at 5PM, nightly

Call for 3 hours free parking

Across the street and kitty corner from A. Sabella’s, Alioto’s No. 8, has its origins in shed number eight, where Nunzio Alioto’s grandfather, Nunzio Alioto, Sr. and wife, Rose, sold fish.

The business began in 1925, and in the 1930s they added a seafood bar. A few years, later Rose, who by then was a widow, added a kitchen — and the Alioto empire was born.

Today, in that space, leased from the Port of San Francisco, because it is actually built on the wharf, the Alioto family owns and runs three restaurants: Alioto’s No. 8, Nonna Rose’s and Café 8. Each restaurant has its own style that rages from quick-service to casual to white tablecloth.

True to his Sicilian roots, Alioto’s menu concentrates on Italian seafood specialties like Cioppino, Calamari Muddica, and Mussels Marinara.

More than three-dozen of the Alioto clan derives some or part of their income from the restaurant. Sixteen relatives work in the various aspects of running the enterprise.

Alioto’s is one of the few white tablecloth restaurants still serving lunch. In addition to his duties running the restaurant, Alioto is also a Master Sommelier of wine.

Open for lunch & dinner

Both Alioto and Sabella think that the harbor, where the fishing fleet actually is docked, should be designated as a historic area of the city, to protect it.

Sabella says he mostly concentrates on the running of his restaurant, while Alioto is more involved with the politics of the Wharf.

I lend support when they need me, says Sabella.

Both lament that there are not more cars on the F streetcar line, which has proved incredibly popular. They both comment that the cars are packed and not on time. I think MUNI has a problem managing the headways, says Alioto.

Asked why the media and locals diss the Wharf, Alioto says, I think it’s because of the success of the Wharf, and the cheap tourist-oriented shops it has attracted. He says the truly quality shops suffer because of this prevailing attitude.

Alioto gets passionate, when he hears criticism of all Wharf restaurants.

A local critic said years ago, that all the fish at the Wharf restaurants was not fresh, but frozen…I will show anyone my books that prove I buy all fresh fish, he asserts.

Let’s face it, restaurants like mine and Scoma’s wouldn’t gross millions a year, if they were bad places, he says.

I was talking to a woman who works for Fodor’s guidebooks, says Sabella, and she was saying that she used to think the Wharf was tacky, but now she thinks it’s kitschy and charming.

Let’s face it, says Sabella, it’s a place where families from the Bay Area or elsewhere can come and have a good time.

Nunzio Alioto and Antone Sabella, August 2006. Photo by GraceAnn Walden.

Photos: (1st) Original A.Sabella building, 1950s, (2nd) A.Sabella Fish Grotto. (last) Lucien Sabella. Photos courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, SAn Francisco Public Library.