Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto

{{short description|Former restaurant in California, U.S. (1890–2018)}}

{{Infobox restaurant

| name = Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto

| image = Spengers Fresh Fish Grotto 1.jpg

| image_caption = Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto, historic seafood restaurant.

| mapframe = yes

| mapframe-zoom = 15

| established = {{Start date|1890}}

| street-address = 1919 4th Street,
Berkeley, California

| country = United States

|closed=October {{End date|2018}}|coordinates={{WikidataCoord|display=it}}}}

Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto is a historic building and was a seafood restaurant active from 1890 to 2018, at 1919 4th Street in Berkeley, California. The building is listed as a Berkeley Landmark since November 2, 1998.{{Cite web |date=January 2023 |title=List of Designated City Landmarks, Structures of Merit & Historic Districts |url=https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/COB%20Landmarks%20Updated%20Jan%202023_0.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630044415/https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/COB%20Landmarks%20Updated%20Jan%202023_0.pdf |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |website=City of Berkeley}} A historic plaque was formally installed at the entrance to the restaurant in 2004 by Berkeley Historical Plaque Project. It was also known as Spenger's Fish Grotto.

Early years

Johann Spenger emigrated to California from Bavaria and settled in West Berkeley in the 1860s. The original building housed Spenger's business and family residence.{{Citation

| last =Swackhamer

| first =Barry

| author-link =

| last2 =

| first2 =

| author2-link =

| title =Spenger's Fish Grotto c. 1890 - City of Berkeley Landmark - Designated in 2001

| publisher =HMdb.org

| date =February 6, 2012

| year =

| url =http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=52303

| accessdate = 2013-08-27}} Johann Spenger worked as a hook and line fisherman on Lake Merritt in the early days. The restaurant began as a clam stand in 1890.{{Citation |last=Artz |first=Matthew |title=Buddy Spenger Dies, Famed Restaurateur |date=August 22, 2003 |url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2003-08-22/article/17219 |newspaper=The Berkeley Daily Planet |pages= |year= |last2= |first2= |author-link= |author2-link= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |accessdate=2013-08-27}} The menu originally included clam chowder, baked beans, fish dinners and ten-cent beer.

File:Spengers Fresh Fish Grotto 2.jpg

File:Spenger's Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California.jpg

Expansion

Johann Spenger's son Frank A. Spenger Sr. (1890–1973){{cite news |last=Saekel |first=Karola |author2= |date=August 20, 2003 |title=Frank Spenger Jr. -- of fish restaurant family |language= |pages= |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |location= |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Frank-Spenger-Jr-of-fish-restaurant-family-2560457.php |accessdate=September 8, 2013 |issn=1932-8672}} opened a full-service restaurant on the ground floor of the original building in the 1930s. Eventually, dining rooms and bars were added as part of the expansion process as popularity of the restaurant grew. Celebrities enjoyed dining at Spenger's along with local residents. Frank Spenger was also a fisherman.

Frank's son, Frank "Buddy" Spenger Jr. (1916{{endash}}2003) was the family member who really made the restaurant famous. He managed the business from 1940 through 1999. The restaurant had a major renovation and expansion in 1941 that included the creation of the Nautical Room.{{Cite web |last=Treadway |first=Chris |date=2018-11-01 |others=Bay City News Foundation |title=Spenger's Fish Grotto in Berkeley served Bay Area community for 128 years |url=https://localnewsmatters.org/2018/11/01/spengers-fish-grotto-in-berkeley-served-bay-area-community-for-128-years/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Local News Matters |language=en-US}} The restaurant's walls and floors were said to have been salvaged from two vessels, the SS Encinal and the SS Lurline.{{Cite web |last=Snapp |first=Martin |date=November 30, 2018 |title=Anchor’s Aweigh: Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto Sets Sail, for Good |url=https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/online/anchor-s-aweigh-spengers-fresh-fish-grotto-sets-sail-good/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Cal Alumni Association |language=en-US}} The bar was made of koa wood from Hawai'i. "By the '50s, Spenger's claimed to serve roughly 3,500 pounds of fish daily, more than any restaurant west of the Mississippi. The breakfast and dinner menu items at Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto stopped changing after 1950.{{Cite web |last=Brazil |first=Eric |date=1998-08-04 |title=Famed fish grotto folding |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Famed-fish-grotto-folding-3201375.php |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=SFGATE |language=en}} Some menu items included the "Captain's Plate", "Shrimp Scatter", salmon with egg sauce, baked salmon fillet with tomato sauce, Hangtown fry (eggs, oysters, and bacon dish), and shrimp omelet.

For years it paid more in taxes to Berkeley than any other restaurant." At the age of 83 in 1998, Buddy Spenger sold the business to McCormick & Schmick's a seafood restaurant chain based in Portland, Oregon.

Renovation

After the restaurant was sold to McCormick & Schmick's, the facility was closed for a year until late 1999, as it underwent a $5 million renovation. Part of the renovation included replacing the original 1930s electrical system and retrofitting unreinforced brick walls with steel beams to comply with California's earthquake prevention standards. The kitchen received the greatest attention during this process, as it was gutted and expanded with all new appliances.{{cite news |last=Levi Holtz |first=Debra |author2= |date=December 2, 1999 |title=Spenger's To Reopen With New Look / $5 million renovation of Berkeley restaurant |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Spenger-s-To-Reopen-With-New-Look-5-million-2893312.php |accessdate=2013-08-27 |archiveurl= |archivedate= |issn=1932-8672}}

The interior of the restaurant continued to contain historical maritime memorabilia collected by the Spenger family, such as mounted fish, ship wheels, anchors, rigging, paintings, portholes, rudders, steering wheels, hawsers, crab pots, nets, and historical photographs.{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Cirrus |date=2019-01-22 |title=Spenger's auctions unearth unusual, valuable items and loads of nostalgia for former Berkeley restaurant |url=http://www.berkeleyside.org/2019/01/22/spengers-auctions-unearth-unusual-valuable-items-and-loads-of-nostalgia-for-former-berkeley-restaurant |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Berkeleyside |language=en-US}}

Closure and auction

The restaurant abruptly closed in October 2018, after 128 years of operations.{{Cite news |last=Zavoral |first=Linda |date=2018-10-24 |title=After 128 years, Spenger’s abruptly closes its doors in Berkeley |language=en-US |work=The Mercury News |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/24/after-128-years-spengers-abruptly-closes-its-doors-in-berkeley/ |access-date=2018-10-25 |issn=0747-2099}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.ktvu.com/news/spenger-s-restaurant-in-berkeley-closes-doors-after-128-years-of-service|title=Spenger's restaurant in Berkeley unexpectedly closes doors after 128 years of service|last=Moran|first=Ryan|date=2018-10-24|work=KTVU|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US}} After the restaurant closure, many of the unusual and rare decorative antiques and objects from in the interior of the restaurant went up for auction in 2019, including a {{Convert|8|ft}} tall Japanese Meiji era enamel vase from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.{{Cite web |last=Bitker |first=Janelle |date=2019-01-10 |title=Missing Japanese Antique Discovered at Classic Berkeley Restaurant |url=https://sf.eater.com/2019/1/10/18176955/spengers-fresh-fish-grotto-auction-rare-japanese-vase |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Eater SF |language=en}} The auction also included the "Star of Denmark," a 34.28-carat yellow diamond.{{Cite web |last=Kawamoto |first=Jon |date=2019-01-31 |title=Spenger’s auction of 34-carat diamond ring reveals history fit for Hawaiian king, queen |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/01/31/spengers-auction-of-34-carat-ring-reveals-history-fit-for-king-queen/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=East Bay Times |language=en-US |issn=2473-0351}} The "Star of Denmark" was allegedly found in 1885 in the Kimberley mines in North Cape, South Africa that was once gifted from Alexandra of Denmark to Queen Kapi'olani of Hawaii after the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1887);{{Cite book |last=Manutchehr-Danai |first=Mohsen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UX1CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA447 |title=Dictionary of Gems and Gemology |date=2013-03-09 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-662-04288-5 |pages=447 |language=en}} however the story of this diamond has some variations, and the authenticity of the story has been questioned by historians. Also auctioned was some one hundred items from the Spenger family’s collection of maritime objects.