The Original U.S. Restaurant

This page celebrates the photography of The Original U.S. Restaurant done by myself Philip Liborio Gangi in 1979 and the 1980s when the restaurant was located at 431 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco. Established in the 1920s,the name U.S. is an abbreviation of the restaurant's original name - Unione Sportiva. Natives of Parma, Italy, Maria and Luigi Borzoni purchased the U.S. from Luigi's brother Camillo Borzoni and Joe Cassarotto in 1964. The restaurant was completely family run. Maria and Luigi's daughters, Anna and Anita helped with the cooking and waiting on tables. Their son, John, did the cleaning after hours. His wife, Lou, is also a waitress. Alberto Cipollina, who did the bookkeeping with his wife Anna, also worked as chef. I became friends with the family and when I got my first 35 mm camera in 1979 I started doing a series of portraits inside the restaurant.