San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Jan 18 2005

Leo Krikorian — artist, photographer
Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writer

Leo Krikorian, an artist and photographer who also ran two well-
known Bay Area cafés during the Beat era — one in North Beach, the
other in Sausalito — died on Jan. 3 in the Siskiyou County town of
Yreka. He was 82.

For the last 10 years or so, Mr. Krikorian had been living in Mill
Valley, but in the spring of 2004, he moved to Siskiyou County to be
with his niece, Genie Stressing. He spent his last few days in a
hospice.

Mr. Krikorian was born in Fresno of immigrant Armenian parents.
Stressing said his parents had tickets for the maiden voyage of the
Titanic in April 1912, but missed the sailing because their train was
late.

Arriving in America, the family traveled to Fresno, but soon moved to
the town of Fowler, about 10 miles to the south, where Mr. Krikorian
was raised. During World War II, Mr. Krikorian was drafted into the
Army and trained as a photographer. When the war ended, he pursued
his study of photography at the Art Center School in Los Angeles,
where he was taught by the master, Ansel Adams.

While there, he heard about an intriguing experimental school back
east, Black Mountain College, near Asheville, N.C. Black Mountain,
according to the Web site , “sought to educate the
whole student — head, heart and hand — through studies, the
experience of living in a small community and manual work.” It closed
in 1957.

Mr. Krikorian spent a year there, from 1947 to 1948, studying art and
photography, then lived briefly in New York City before moving to San
Francisco, where he enrolled at what is now the San Francisco Art
Institute. He continued studying with some of the best photographers
around, returning to Adams and also taking classes from Minor White
and Clifford Stills.

In 1953, he and another Black Mountain student, Knute Stiles, created
The Place, a bar on Grant Avenue in North Beach, according to the Web
site. “During the ’50s, The Place was the center of Beat life in San
Francisco,” the Web site says, “and Leo became known as the
‘Grandfather of the Beats.’ It was there that artists and writers
gathered to drink and talk …” Every “Monday night was Blabbermouth
Night, when there was a contest for the most outrageous speech.”

It was fun while it lasted, but in 1960, the landlord sold the bar
and The Place closed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Krikorian had opened a deli called The Kettle in
Sausalito. The Kettle was more durable, lasting until 1977, when he
sold it and moved to Paris. From then on, according to the Black
Mountain Web site, Mr. Krikorian divided his time between Marin
County and his studio and gallery in Paris.

Services for Mr. Krikorian were held Saturday in Yreka. In addition
to his niece, Mr. Krikorian is survived by a brother, Vaughn
Krikorian of San Diego; and two sisters, Helen Bonner and Virginia
Krikorian, both of San Jose.