Groceteria.com

Since there are a lot of SF Bay Area people frequenting this board, I'm hoping someone will have some info on this restaurant.

In 1966 there was a riot at a place called Gene Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco. This was due to police harrasment of gay and transgendered people who frequented this restaurant, and it became famous as a rallying cry in the gay-rights movement.

What I would like to know is details about the cafeteria itself, and whether this restaurant was part of a chain. Almost everything available online is about the riot and relates to the social changes following this event. I can find almost nothing about Gene Compton or his restaurant(s) themselves. It seems there were many cafeteria chains in and around various cities back in the 50's and 60's, many of them serving the same basic fare as "coffee shop" restaurants of that era. I never see places like this anymore, no matter where I've traveled. The closest living relative seems to be the (real) vintage diner, and those are much more common in the east than around San Francisco. Frankly, it would be nice to have a few "greasy spoons" around for late-night eats, Starbucks and Dennys gets pretty old...

TheQuestioner wrote:I never see places like this anymore, no matter where I've traveled. The closest living relative seems to be the (real) vintage diner, and those are much more common in the east than around San Francisco.

Actually, cafeterias are still very common and often thriving in much of the southeast. Of course, they're now in new buildings in the suburbs, but the format is pretty much unchanged. For the classic, old school, urban cafeteria experience, though, I recommend Clifton's in downtown LA; it's the last remaining outlet of an LA-area chain from the 1930s, and it's one of my favorite places in the world.

Back to your primary question, though, everything I've read on it suggests that Compton's (along with Clinton's, another SF cafeteria, not be confused with Clifton's in LA) was probably a local chain at best. I have a 1962 SF telephone directory which lists three SF locations and two in Daly City:

-- 1498 Market
-- 45 Powell
-- 101 Taylor (the riot location)
-- 52 Park Plaza (Daly City)
-- 391 S. Mayfair (Daly City)

There were also offices and a bakery at 1475 Pacific Avenue.

Here's a picture (from the SF Public Library) of the Powell Street branch:

That has to be where the McDonald's is now. I can tell by the overhang
sign.

Cafeterias were common in New York City in the 60s, but gone by the late 70s. The Horn & Hardart's I remember in Philly from a trip in the late 60s were cafeterias, rather than automats.

As I mentioned in the "Department Store Restaurants" thread, there was a Compton's cafeteria attached to the Walnut Creek Capwell's. I still remember their dark green ceramic custard cups filled with egg custard and nutmeg on the top.

Thank you for your interest in Gene Compton's restaurants. The chain you are referring to began in the early 1900s after Gene Compton managed another Compton's restaurant for his uncle. They parted ways and the larger chain included cafeterias in San Francisco, the peninsula, and in 2 Capwells stores in the East Bay. Other types of restaurants included were the Pepperwood in San Anselmo, the Edgewater Inn in Corte Madera, the International Inn near the S.F. airport (the hotel there has a different name now) and 2 ice cream stores. There were also the Westlake Coffee Shop and Gene Compton's in Westlake (Daly City, which opened when Henry Doelger developed the shopping center and the houses in the area right after World War 11.)There were quite a few of the cafeterias in downtown San Francisco before shopping malls existed in the outlying areas and people started moving to the suburbs and frequenting malls.
The offices and bakery took up a large amount of space at 1475 Pacific Ave. in S.F. until the late 1960's and then the offices moved to the Westlake shopping center (above the cafeteria there).
Gene Compton died 50 years ago and his only son, Irvin ran the business. The restaurants all closed their doors in the 1970's. And yes, the custards were fantastic!