Changing the course of history, or at least a marriage

Driving Sue Banducci to divorce.

I started driving for Veterans Cab just after I moved to San Francisco in 1975, or it might have been 76. I soon discovered some regular rides were very lucrative, but you had to beat out the older drivers who would sit at an intersection at a specific time for one of the really good tippers. I was at Broadway and Columbus about 12:15 one night when the dispatcher called out “Broadway and Kearny.” I shouted “Bingo.” Tommy said “Pick up Enrico at Banducci’s.” 


He rolled into the cab, very jovial. He said “oh, you’ve never driven me before, Swing out through the tunnel and cut over to Lake on Anza.” I drove him out to 14th Avenue. It was a fun trip, lots of fun banter, and he did tip something like 25 bucks.  


Well, I said, let's try Broadway and Columbus tomorrow at 12:15, I get how this works.


12:20 Tommy said over the radio, "Broadway and Kearny." I yelled “Bingo.” 25 bucks in those days was real money. Tommy said, “Take Sue home. Be careful," or he might have even said, ”Mind your P’s and Q’s.” Apparently she had a reputation.


I pulled up and Sue got in the car. Not a word, I said to myself well this is different. I followed the same route to 14th and Lake, Not one word. I pulled up to the house, and Sue exploded, "So this is where she fucking lives!:If you worked for me I’d fire you in a second." I tried to say something and she cut me off. She yelled, “Drive me home, Sacramento and Pierce." I did. She paid the exact fare. No tip.


I did not return to Kearney and Columbus at 12:15 ever again.


10 days later Herb Caen announced that the famous couple were separating. I was certainly not surprised. Did I change the course of their marriage? I’m sure that they’d been having troubles, as they say, for a while. I’m not going to be their parish priest either, but I did see her true colors. 


Enrico Banducci stands in front of a prop stage in theThe San Francisco Performing Arts Library, which will feature a show about his life and club.The San Francisco Performing Arts Library is opening an exhibition the legendary SF nightclub the hungry i, founded by Enrico Banducci. We're interviewing enrico, who's 85, about himself and the club where woody allen, streisand and others got started. (Christina Koci Hernandez/The Chronicle) CHRONICLE Photos by Christina Koci Hernandez

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lord Krishna comes to tea

I knew that Allen was in town when there was a knock at the front door at 3:30 exactly. A young man, 21 but not a month more, clean shaven, holding a book, asked, “Is this the Philip Whalen Zendo?” I invited him into the living room where he sat down and quietly continued his reading.  Allen would be at the door shortly; I could hear Phil beginning to make his way up the stairs. He and Allen shared years of friendship. They were punctual. I began to prepare tea. I loved when Phil’s friends came to visit. Phil was on his best behavior. Not that he was normally badly behaved though in private moments he could be angry, even insulting. Despite being one of the foremost leaders of a movement that questioned the very roots of believing and behaving what my parents taught me, when he was proper, he was extremely proper. But there was another quality to the conversations with his poet friends. Their language was careful and measured. It was literate. I was always looking for any innuendos, an
Read more

You have a gay uncle. I had one too.

Dear Toby, You have a gay uncle. I had one too, you met once or twice, your grandfather’s brother, Donny. I always knew he was gay, and so did my parents, but it was something that no one ever talked about. Before Stonewall no one talked about gay life in middle class society. Of course everyone knew that there were gay people out there, even relatives. It was just expected that you’d keep your mouth shut and not bring disgrace on the family. And that dynamic set up a very difficult barrier set up to being honest about most everything. I am not by nature a liar. Every time I opened my mouth I got myself in trouble. I am going to talk about a wide range of things. I will of course refer to specific people, times and places. I may not always recall all the facts exactly as they occurred. I am almost 80, and some details play the tricks that memory is prone to. Sometimes as with storytelling, I write for effect and, though I don’t want to play too loose with the facts, and I certainly don
Read more