Frankie's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor

Some Mendocino places do not need a grand sign to become a landmark — just a front door, a pizza oven, a freezer full of ice cream, and enough people walking in year after year.

Overview

Frankie's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor sits at 44951 Ukiah Street, just east of the corner of Ukiah and Lansing Streets. Today it is a familiar Mendocino stop for pizza, ice cream and casual meals, but the building itself reaches much farther back into village history.

Kelley House Museum records identify the structure as the old Stauer House, a residence that was already standing in the early twentieth century.

Location

The building stands at 44951 Ukiah Street in the village of Mendocino, a short walk east of Lansing Street in the heart of the commercial district.

History

One of the clearest historical views of this part of Ukiah Street comes from a photograph dating from approximately 1912 to 1922. Kelley House Museum identifies the west end of the Stauer House in that photograph and specifically notes that the building later became Frankie's Pizza.

That means the tall white building associated with Frankie's today was already part of the Mendocino streetscape more than a century ago. Its surroundings, however, looked very different. Nearby stood several structures that have since disappeared, including old water towers, Apple Hall and other buildings from Mendocino's earlier village landscape.

The property took on another important role during the 1920s. According to Kelley House Museum, the Rev. Roland Smith purchased the Stauer House property after returning to Mendocino with his family. On the western end of the property, near Lansing Street, Perley Maxwell, John Burbeck and Albert Gregory constructed a separate building for Smith's religious services. That building became known as Gospel Hall and opened on November 5, 1922. The Stauer House remained behind it — the same house that survives today as Frankie's.

The Gospel Hall later took on a very different life. During the 1960s and 1970s, the former religious hall housed the Sea Gull Restaurant and its Cellar Bar. Kelley House Museum records that the building remained there until it was destroyed by fire in 1976. The Stauer House behind it survived.

That loss dramatically changed the appearance of the corner and left the old house more exposed to view from Ukiah and Lansing Streets. It is one of those cases where the survival of one Mendocino building becomes even more noticeable because its longtime neighbor disappeared.

The Building Today

Frankie's eventually brought a completely different kind of activity to the old house. The business is a family-run pizza and ice cream parlor serving pizza, falafel, espresso drinks, beer and wine, along with locally made ice cream. Its official website continues to list 44951 Ukiah Street as its Mendocino location.

Frankie's has operated here since 2004, giving the old Stauer House another long-running chapter in its history. The business has become especially recognizable for combining a neighborhood pizza shop atmosphere with ice cream and outdoor seating. Recent local listings continue to identify Frankie's at this address, confirming that the restaurant remains part of Mendocino's current business community.

Why It Matters

Today it is easy to think of 44951 Ukiah Street simply as the home of Frankie's. But the property tells a much longer story. The Stauer House was already here during the early twentieth century. A religious hall was built in front of it in 1922. That hall later became the Sea Gull Restaurant and Cellar Bar. The hall burned in 1976, while the old house behind it survived. Then, decades later, Frankie's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor gave the building another life.

A pizza shop may be what people see today, but behind that front door is a Mendocino house that has watched the neighborhood around it change for more than a century.

Community Memories

One community memory adds a glimpse of the less-visible work required to keep a restaurant operating. A local electrical business remembers installing generators at Frankie's and helping upgrade the kitchen. The same business worked in many Mendocino restaurants over the years, and meals sometimes came home from the establishments where the work was being done.

It is a small detail, but it represents another part of building history that rarely appears in official records. Old buildings survive as working businesses because somebody keeps updating wiring, kitchens, equipment, generators and all the other systems hidden behind the historic exterior.

Timeline

circa 1912–1922 — The Stauer House appears in historic photographs of Ukiah Street.

1922 — Gospel Hall, built for the Rev. Roland Smith, opens on November 5 on the western end of the property.

1960s–1970s — The former Gospel Hall houses the Sea Gull Restaurant and Cellar Bar.

1976 — The Sea Gull building is destroyed by fire; the Stauer House survives.

2004 — Frankie's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor opens in the old Stauer House.

Sources & Original Research: This history blends verifiable published records with the original post and community memories supplied for the Buildings and Businesses in Mendocino project. Sources include the Kelley House Museum, particularly its historical photographs and articles documenting the Stauer House, Roland Smith, Gospel Hall, the later Sea Gull Restaurant and Cellar Bar, and the 1976 fire; Frankie's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor's official website, confirming its current address and operation; current and historical Mendocino business listings; and the existing Buildings and Businesses archive material documenting Frankie's operation at this location since 2004. Original post text and community reply thread provided by Gee Bee. Community contributor whose memory helped expand this history: India Gingell.