Spenger's Fish Grotto
CITY OF BERKELEY LANDMARK
designated in 2001
SPENGER’S FISH GROTTO
c. 1890
Clam chowder, baked beans and 10¢ beer—these and fish
dinners drew crowds to fabled Spenger’s. It all began in the
1860s when Johann Spenger from Bavaria started fishing in the
Bay. The gabled structure he built here housed his business and
family. In the 1930s, son Frank opened a ground floor restaurant,
gradually adding dining rooms and bars as the establishment’s
popularity grew. Celebrities from Ernest Hemingway and
Clark Gable to Jack Dempsey and Joe DiMaggio rubbed
elbows with local families, dockworkers, Cal students,
politicians, and racetrack gamblers. The Spenger
family sold the business in 1999.
Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
2004