The onetime king of the city`s nightlife, Agostino ”Bimbo” Giuntoli, famed for his ”girl in a fishbowl” act at his North Beach cabaret, has died at the age of 88.
”Mr. Bimbo,” as he was known to generations of hoofers, singers, crapshooters and couples out for a glamorous evening, died peacefully July 25 at his home.
A short, jaunty restaurateur, Mr. Giuntoli favored a bowler hat, spats and a lapel pin with the diamond numerals 365, the address of his first San Francisco nightspot on Market Street.
Born to a farming family in Chiesina Uzzaneze, a village near Florence, Italy, Mr. Giuntoli left home at 19 and arrived in San Francisco in 1927 with $2 in his pocket, a clarinet, a mandolin and a dream.
His first jobs were as a janitor at the Palace Hotel and then as a cook in a speakeasy, and in 1931 he opened the nightclub that made him famous.
The nickname came from his late partner, Monk Young, who had a hard time pronouncing ”Agostino.” Their loft at 365 Market Street epitomized the Depression era.
Bimbo`s was the kind of joint where a patron could jitterbug to a big band, where gin was served in coffee cups and the ”Blue Gang,” as the police were known, winked at the dice games in the back room.
Chorus girls in spangles, comedians cracking mother-in-law jokes, Sophie Tucker belting out torch songs like ”Ten Cents a Dance,” crooners and stage- door Johnnies and waiters in snappy red mess jackets were part of the scene.
The ”girl in the fishbowl” allowed patrons a glimpse of a shapely dancer writhing on a black velvet couch a floor below the lobby of the nightclub. A system of mirrors reduced the woman to a tiny size and made it seem as if she were swimming in air.
Bimbo`s opened Dec. 14, 1931, with the star attraction a comedy team called Chick and Lee along with a six-girl chorus line that included Rita Concino, who became better known as Rita Hayworth.
Mr. Giuntoli`s only brush with the law came in 1952, by which time the nightclub had moved to 1025 Columbus Ave. The California Crime Commission served a subpoena on him, saying that it had ”received information from reliable sources” that Bimbo`s 365 harbored ”certain gambling enterprises of an extremely profitable nature.”
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Mr. Giuntoli refused to talk or turn over any financial records and ignored the subpoena.
He said it had been served improperly, and that was the end of the matter.