Dugan’s Café
Jockeys and Bar Hoppers
Dugan’s Cafe was located at the comer of Park Avenue and Hollis Street, catercorner to the old City Hall and near the entrance to the California Jockey Club. The restaurant occupied the first floor of a rambling two-story Victorian wood frame building built before the tum of the century; the second floor of the structure functioned as a hotel. Named after Clint Dugan, a local jockey and one of the original owners, the cafe in the early days attracted a clientele of sportsmen, turf men, jockeys, bar hoppers and City Hall officials.
Inebriated Patrons
When Dugan’s first opened, Park Avenue consisted of an assortment of boarding houses, hotels, saloons, private homes, restaurants and a few factories. The racetrack closed in 1911 and soon afterward the hotels and boarding houses shut down. Following the demise of the California Jockey Club. Park Avenue developed into an industrial corridor lined with brick factory buildings. Having established a loyal clientele, Dugan’s remained open during this transitional period.
Variety Shows
Dugan’s also survived the Depression years and World War II and continued to operate as a restaurant and hotel. Advertised as “the most colorful theater cafe in Northern California.” the restaurant in the late 1940s featured Gay 90s variety shows, dancing, cocktails, and steak dinners. Hobby horse contests between customers became a decadent form of amusement. In a bizarre parody of the racetrack era, inebriated patrons mounted hobby horses, and, rocking furiously, raced each other across the stage to the wild cheers of spectators.
A Ruined Shell
Over the decades the interior of the building remained unchanged. The fixtures and furnishings from the 1890s, including an antique bar equipped with hand carved bar stools, created an atmosphere of Victorian splendor. Paintings of horses and racetrack memorabilia brought back memories of the California Jockey Club.
Having been in existence for more than six decades. Dugan’s Cafe disappeared in a blazing inferno. On the morning of February 7. 1949, owner Frank Ciraolo had smelled smoke in the building, but after an inspection found no fire and closed the restaurant. Suddenly, the venerable structure burst into flames, and, despite the efforts of the Emeryville Fire Department, by morning the historic night spot had been reduced to a ruined shell of charred timbers. Tenants in the upstairs rooms escaped unharmed, but a cat and her three kittens died of smoke inhalation. Thus, fire succeeded in destroying this old building where time previously had failed.
This story originally published in 1996 for the Emeryville Centennial Celebration and compiled into the ‘Early Emeryville Remembered’ historical essays book.
