Enrico Banducci | Calif. club owner, 85
Enrico Banducci, 85, who provided a stage for up-and-coming comedians such as Mort Sahl, Woody Allen and Bill Cosby at his hungry i nightclub during the 1950s and '60s, died Oct. 9 in South San Francisco.
Enrico Banducci, 85, who provided a stage for up-and-coming comedians such as Mort Sahl, Woody Allen and Bill Cosby at his hungry i nightclub during the 1950s and '60s, died Oct. 9 in South San Francisco.
A beloved, beret-wearing fixture of San Francisco's Italian-themed North Beach neighborhood, Mr. Banducci also founded the city's first sidewalk cafe, the eponymous Enrico's on Broadway, where the clientele included firefighters and felons, Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack and performers from nearby strip clubs.
Enrico's had long since been taken over by others, and the hungry i closed, casualties of changing cultural tastes and their creator's penchant for living a fast life that eventually outpaced his earnings.
Married five times, Mr. Banducci was living with his niece when he died in his sleep. Mr. Banducci, the son of a farming family in Bakersfield, moved to San Francisco at age 13 to study the violin.
- AP