444 Grove Street, San Francisco

444 Grove Street, San Francisco
Status	Vacated by The Cryptic Corporation, Ralph Records and The Residents in early 1983
Address	444 Grove Street, San Francisco, California

444 Grove Street, San Francisco was the headquarters of The Cryptic Corporation and Ralph Records, and the recording studio that housed The Residents between July 1976 and February 1983. The Grove Street complex consisted of two former police stables which were purchased by Cryptic financier John Kennedy in mid-1976.

Located in the dilapidated Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, 444 Grove Street was home to Ralph during its most successful period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and a number of The Residents' most popular releases were recorded at the Grove Street studio, including Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen, Eskimo and Commercial Album.

The company were forced to move to a smaller headquarters on Clementina Street at the start of 1983, after Kennedy resigned from The Cryptic Corporation and exchanged his stock in the company for the deed to the Grove Street building.

History

Background and purchase

The two former police stables at 444 Grove Street, featuring the prominent facade

The Cryptic Corporation, a publicity and multimedia company, was founded by four long-term friends of The Residents in the first half of 1976, when it became evident that the informal arrangement which had until then operated the group's independent record label Ralph Records was no longer going to be sufficient, given the increasing recognition of the label's releases, and the need to protect key financier (and Cryptic President) John Kennedy's stake in the group's operations.

The official foundation of the company on July 31st 1976 coincided with its first major action; moving Ralph headquarters and The Residents' recording studio from 20 Sycamore Street, San Francisco to a property at 444 Grove Street in the Hayes Valley neighborhood, newly purchased by Kennedy, who had become independently wealthy when he inherited ownership of an apartment in a much sought after part of Paris.

At the time Cryptic purchased the property, the Hayes Valley neighborhood was dilapidated and even dangerous; a motel across the road from the building was a well known hang-out for prostitutes and their clients, and when Cryptic first arrived to inspect the property, the first thing they noticed was a fresh bullet hole in the door. Nevertheless (and most importantly), they were able to purchase the property cheap, for $100,000.

The premises consisted of two large buildings, formerly used as police stables, situated side by side, with a house next door to the buildings also included in the price. The Cryptics rented out the house, and used the other two buildings for the Cryptic/Ralph Records offices and the Ralph recording studio. The two buildings which made up Cryptic/Ralph HQ were recognizable by a prominent and unusual facade design which was visible across the front of both buildings. The facade is now only partly intact.

Unlike their prior headquarters in San Mateo and on Sycamore Street, The Residents did not reside at the Grove Street building; a decision was made that the group would move into separate living quarters when The Cryptic Corporation bought the Grove Street properties, and the members of the group never lived together again after leaving Sycamore Street.

The first photograph taken by the group following their move into Grove Street, 1976 (high-res scan courtesy of Mr. Riggsy's ResTube)

Expansion of Ralph Records (1976-1981)

The move coincided with a massive expansion of press and public interest in The Residents' music, and Ralph Records' activities continued to expand after moving into the new headquarters, with The Cryptic Corporation starting a mail-order catalogue dedicated to the label's releases which brought further success.

The label also began to sign other artists to its roster around this time, including British guitarist Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman. Visitors to the Grove Street building noted a more formal, business-like atmosphere, unlike the group's previous, more communal living space on Sycamore Street.

This caused Ralph to begin receiving unsolicited demo tape submissions, usually delivered personally to the Grove Street address by the eager prospectives themselves; Brian Poole (another visiting Englishman) and Boris Blank both dropped demos at the Grove Street office, which led to their respective groups (Renaldo & The Loaf and Yello) being signed to Ralph.

Ralph took on additional employees (including Tom Timony, Sheenah Spece and Helen Hall) around 1980 after their roster expanded to include further groups, including MX-80 Sound, Tuxedomoon and former Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith. Photographer and film director Graeme Whifler was retained as Ralph's in-house promotional video director, and was given an office in the Grove Street complex; during this time Whifler would produce such groundbreaking videos as The Residents' "Hello Skinny" and "One Minute Movies", and Renaldo & The Loaf's "Songs for Swinging Larvae".

Financial disaster and move (1982-1983)

The Residents went on the road with their first live tour, The Mole Show, in 1982. The show, which was by all accounts a critical success but a financial disaster, nearly bankrupted Ralph and caused the group to (briefly) vow never to tour again.

Cryptic treasurer and managing director of Ralph Jay Clem resigned in July 1982, with Kennedy resigning shortly thereafter. Kennedy, who had pumped a lot of money into the label's operations up to that point, negotiated with the remaining Cryptics, resulting in him taking the deed to the Grove Street building, which was officially owned by The Cryptic Corporation, in exchange for Kennedy's stock in the company.

Part of the agreement was that Ralph and The Residents would have to leave 444 Grove Street, as Kennedy wished to establish "a fair market value - rent agreement" which was more than the remaining Cryptics, Homer Flynn and Hardy Fox, could afford. Kennedy allowed Flynn and Fox a reasonable notice period for them to move operations to a much smaller space in a building next to the freeway on Clementina Street at the start of 1983.

Fox and Flynn found this to be a particularly traumatic time, as they had hoped to stay in Grove Street forever. Due to the smaller size of the Clementina Street building, Cryptic were forced to hold a huge garage sale, where they unloaded numerous artifacts including Vileness Fats sets and costumes, and The Residents' self-built recording studio had to be dismantled and reconfigured to fit in the new studio space.

Hardy's tree

444 Grove Street in March 2021, as seen on Google Street View; "Hardy's Tree" is in the center

In 1980, The Cryptic Corporation's Hardy Fox and Tom Timony of Ralph Records planted three trees together in front of 444 Grove Street. Today, only one of the original trees planted by Fox and Timony remains standing.

The remaining tree was noted as a memorial to Fox on the day of his death from glioblastoma (October 30th 2018) by Timony, who happened to be in the area at the time, working on the Public Image Ltd. American tour. Timony posted an impromptu paper memorial note to the tree which read: "444 Grove St. - Hardy's Tree - R I P H - Planted in 1980".

A number of fans and friends of Ralph have supported the idea of installing a more permanent memorial to Fox (such as a plaque) near or on the tree, but as of March 2022 no plans for an official memorial have been confirmed.

See also

• 20 Sycamore Street, San Francisco
• The Cryptic Corporation
• John Kennedy
• The Ugly Grey Theater
• 109 Minna Street, San Francisco

External links and references

• The Cryptic Corporation on RZWeb (archived via archive.org)