HISTORY
A LITTLE BIT OF RED'S JAVA HOUSE HISTORY:
1930s: Franco’s Lunch opens on Pier 30, selling food to local longshoremen and sailors. The breakfast special was a cheeseburger and a beer.
1934: A newsboy named Tom (Red) Red McGarvey sells copies of the San Francisco News and San Francisco Call-Bulletin to longshoremen during the great waterfront strike of 1934. It would not be his last encounter with the waterfront.
1955: Tom and Mike McGarvey, a pair of seafaring redheaded brothers and San Francisco natives, buy Franco’s Lunch and rename it Red’s Java House.
1984: A massive fire destroys the surrounding pier and its buildings, but Red’s survives, thanks to the Fire Department’s fireboat Phoenix.
1987: Donald White of The Chronicle captures the essence of Red’s Java House in his first encounter with McGarvey and Red’s:
My good friends, George and Adele, were lined up at the counter of Red’s Java House at Pier 30 when I met up with them yesterday. Red, the proprietor, now gray-haired, calls all his customers “kid” and serves a variety of hamburgers and cheeseburgers done to order. Red’s establishment is no place for people whose doctors tell them their cholesterol level is high.
“Quick, ” George said, “what kind of a hamburger do you want? Red McGarvey, the guy at the grill, doesn’t fool around. This is a high-volume place. He gives you six seconds to make up your mind.”
“Order a double hamburger, no onions, no lettuce, ” I said. “And a glass of the house red, for better or worse.”
Red looked up from the filled grill and glared.
“Look, ” he said, “what you call the house wine is Petri burgundy. That’s it. You want cabernet sauvignon with your hamburger, kid, go over to Cow Hollow.”
1987: Herb Caen points out that there’s really nothing to see or do or on the waterfront, aside from Pier 23 Cafe and Red’s. He also shares some thoughts on the brewing movement to overhaul the Ferry Building: “Nothing much seems to happen down there on the waterfront, where the principal industries are Pier 23, Red’s Java House what to ‘do’ about the Ferry Bldg. (by all means leave it alone!)”
1990: Red’s Java House is sold. The McGarvey brothers — Tom, 63, and Mike, 65 — sell it to Steve Reilly and his wife, Maria.
1991: Herb Caen explains why Red’s Java House billboards are suddenly littered around San Francisco:
How can a little ol’ eating place like Red’s Java House, down there at Pier 32, afford 20 big billboards around town that say “You Can’t Get Food Like This in the Best Restaurants in Paris”?
It can’t, but Gannett Outdoor Advertising can because it owns those billboards and a few thousand more. George Burrows, the firm’s marketing manager for national accounts, did the expensive job for free because he’s a big fan of Red’s Java House and its founder, the saintly Red McGarvey, who opened the waterfront landmark 35 yrs. ago and sold it recently to Steve Reilly. Needless to say, the advertising has been a real shot in the cash register to a place so modest it isn’t even listed in the phone book. By the way, the billboard’s message, written by advertising whiz Jeff Goodby, is absolutely true. Red’s serves mainly burgers, hot dogs and chili.
2000: Having survived fires and earthquakes, Red’s faces its biggest threat yet: San Francisco development. New cruise ship terminals and waterfront condo proposals threaten the future of Red’s, but thanks to local supporters, Red’s survives — and with the arrival of Pac Bell Park down the Embarcadero, thrives. In fact, Red’s bumps up prices … raising the price of beer and soda by a quarter.
2001: Red’s makes its first major menu addition in over 40 years: French fries.
2009: Tiffany Pisoni, another San Francisco native, buys Red’s Java House.
2010: This is just a fabulous correction that appeared in the Chronicle: “The website given for Red’s Java House was incorrect. Red’s does not have a website.” (It does now, for the record.)
2017: Tom McGarvey still comes by Reds Java House and is in contact with the current owner Tiffany Pisoni. Tom celebrated his 90th birthday at Red's Java House with friends and family.