Frank Colla, the popular co-owner of Gino & Carlo (548 Green St.), is retiring. Tonight's his last shift behind the bar, and everyone's invited to stop in from around 6pm onward to say farewell.
Colla's son Nick, an attorney, said visitors can expect appetizers from local restaurants, lots of regulars, and a cake. "A cake?" Frank bellows. "Christ Almighty, I just wanted to disappear."
"No one's showing for this shit; don't worry," Nick retorts. "I don't like the word 'retirement,'" says Frank. "I'm not retiring. I'm re-aligning myself."
Frank went into business in 1977 with the Rossi brothers—Frank Sr., who retired in 2010, and the late Donato—at Dante's (now Calzone's). He then joined them as a co-owner at Gino & Carlo in 1981. The current owners—the Rossi brothers' sons, Frank Jr. and Marco, along with Ron Minolli—will buy out Frank and continue to run the bar with no changes, just as it's been going since it became Gino & Carlo in 1954.
The bar was first built in 1907 as the Verde Hotel, Frank said, and before 1954, it was Tony & Mario's. "Gino & Carlo were only here two years," Frank said, from 1954–56, and Donato Rossi bought it in 1956. "He didn't want to change the sign," Frank said. "It was too expensive."
What about the sign behind the bar saying it was established in 1942? "That's bullshit," Frank says. If you want the real story, you'll have to go in tonight and ask him to explain the discrepancy, along with any other tales.
Many customers have favorite Frank stories. Collette Baker of North Beach recalls when filmmaker Tim Burton was in town to shoot scenes for Big Eyes, and Frank went outside to give him some advice. "He's actually telling Tim Burton how to film the movie," she said. "We got a picture of it." Frank admits to talking to Burton, but only because he asked Frank a question.
Tim Burton and a crew member with Frank Colla. (Photo: Courtesy of Frank Colla)
Though Frank now lives in Novato, he grew up in North Beach and raised his two adult kids there. (Now 64, he also has a four-year-old daughter, Bryn.) His father came to the neighborhood from Sicily in 1906, shortly after the earthquake. When Frank began tending bar in 1972, Gino & Carlo was where he got his start.
He'll occasionally still visit the bar as a customer, but since he won't be there every day, we asked Frank what he'll miss most about it. "It's going to be the customers," he said. "I had a lot of fun. They [the customers] understand my sense of humor. Over the years, I had a lot of fun with all the customers. I met a lot of good people." He said he's learned more about people than anything during his time slinging drinks. "If you do take the time to listen, you can hear some interesting stuff," he added.
One of Frank's favorite memories is the time his daughter Francesca Colla, who lives in Boston, was wearing a Gino & Carlo T-shirt and a woman approached her and said she'd been to the bar. She said a man with white hair and a beard gave her and her companion San Francisco Giants tickets, and even told them where to go eat. It was the trip of a lifetime. "That was my dad," Francesca told the woman. Frank beams when he tells the story.
Frank also fondly recalled the time Francis Ford Coppola brought in the entire crew from Apocalypse Now, when actor Laurence Fishburne was still a teenager. He kept coming back, Frank said. "I called him Larry. I still call him Larry when I see him."
The bar remains an institution among all ages and types of people. For years, it was one of the only bars in North Beach to open at 6am, and Nick said it's a "social experiment"—they get a mix of FiDi workers stopping in for a drink on the way to the office, people from local SROs coming in for coffee, and police officers, fire fighters, garbage collectors and others who work odd hours getting off of their shift. "Tuesday at 6am could be their Friday night," Nick said.
"You've also got a lot of younger people who use this as their pre- or post-game spot," Nick added. They meet at Gino and Carlo to get their night started, and often come in later, after other stops. The bar also gets a lot of restaurant and bar industry folks who pop in for a drink. A huddle of political types are sometimes seen in a corner; Pat Alioto, son of Mayor Joe Alioto, tends bar there, too.
When asked what his plans are for life after the bar, Frank said, "I'm not concerned about it. Not having a schedule is a pretty nice thing. It'll be a while before I get bored." He said he timed his exit to coincide with the start of duck-hunting season, and he'll do some fly-fishing as well. His advice for the continued success of Gino & Carlo: "Treat your customers right, show them some respect, and they'll do the same for you."
