Saloons in Downtown LA

 

LAPL Digital Collection. Union Bar, LA, about 1910.

Reading about the saloon owned by Aladino Giovanetti in yesterday's research sent me down the rabbit hole of news clippings and articles about saloons at the turn of the century in Downtown LA's historic quarter near Olvera Street. This 2017 article from KCET's Lost LA series provides good context to the bars and saloons of the time when Aladino was operating his establishments. The clipping below from 1896 mentions Aladino was arrested for selling liquor on a Sunday and quarreling with his neighbor Frank Aloi.

LA Times, 1 Apr 1896.

An earlier article describes how Bishop Francisco Mora objected to Aladino's permit application for a saloon in 1892. Curiously, a half dozen of police officers spoke on behalf of Aladino and testified to his good character. The second article below helps to place the saloon near the Cathedral of St. Vibiana. Aladino was ultimately able to get the license.

LA Herald, 16 Nov 1892.

LA Times, 16 Nov 1892.

Ramona

 

LAPL Digital Collection. On Olvera Street, 1936.

Picking up from yesterday's post, I'm tracing backward to follow the records on Ramona Oropesa, mother of the three girls sent to the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum in 1889 and 1892. Based on my research, Ramona was the daughter of baker Favendo Oropesa. She was born in downtown Los Angeles in April 1863, in an adobe house located on the future site of the LA Times building. Favendo's bakery appears in the LA City Directory for 1882, located close to where Frank Campuzano and Jose Maria Campuzano lived, along with long time friends in the Orfila family. Favendo appears in the 1872 City Directory at 33 Upper Main Street.

I can't tell when Frank Campuzano and Ramona Oropesa met, but I can picture Frank playing guitar serenading Ramona in the Plaza near Olvera Street in 1880 (the photo above is not them, but of a musician and dancers at the same spot in 1936). Their relationship overlaps the dates in which Frank was married to Rosario Hinojosa. I do find it tough to understand how Frank and Ramona sent the girls to the orphan asylum.

By 1892, Ramona was in a relationship with Aladino Giovanetti (who appears in the 1894 City Directory and newspaper articles between 1892-1897 as Giovanetti Aladino). Their first daughter Elvira Giovanetti was born in December 1892.

In the 1896 City Directory, Ramona appears with Aladino Giovanetti living at 665 Upper Main, the same address where Ysidora Camposana is listed as living while working as a cigar maker for G. Tognetti. Aladino was also the proprietor of The Pacific Saloon.

1896 City Directory, Los Angeles.

Aladino and Ramona had at least the following children:

- Elvira Giovanetti, b. 1892

- Aladino Giovanetti, b. 1894

- Natalino Giovanetti, b. 1898

- Adelina Giovanetti, b. 1900

- Lawrence Anthony Giovanetti, b. 1903

- Ramona Giovanetti, b. 1905

It appears Ramona also worked in the saloon, and worked as a cigar maker, while raising the young children.

After years of living together, the two received a marriage license on 13 September 1905 in Los Angeles.

FamilySearch. CA County Marriage Records.

I haven't found the family in the 1910 US Census, but they appear quite regularly in the Los Angeles City Directory between 1902-1918. In 1913, Aladino was involved in wine sales. He may have gone into business with liquor merchant Louis Degiorgis. By 1920, Aladino, Ramona and family appears in the US Census living in Sanger, Fresno County, California, working on a large commercial vineyard. They were also hosting Ramona's grandson, Dominic Sulpizio, and a boarder, Pedro Enciso.

1920 US Census, Fresno County, California.

The family returned to Los Angeles sometime after 1920. It appears Aladino may have died sometime before 1924, as Ramona is listed as a widow to Aladino in the 1924 City Directory. In the 1930 US Census, Ramona was living with Pedro Enciso in El Monte, Los Angeles County (the same Pedro who was a vineyard laborer in the 1920 US Census in Fresno). Ramona and Pedro were married in Santa Ana, Orange County on 17 January 1939. Six years later, Ramona sought a divorce from Pedro. The news article about the case provides some key details about her early life in Los Angeles.

LA Times, 13 Jan 1945.

Ramona passed away on 8 January 1962 in Los Angeles, almost 99 years old.

Orphans No Longer

Back in October 2018, I wrote about three girls who had been sent to the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum - Isidora, Francisca and Filomena Campasano. At the time I wasn't sure how they fit into the family, but I had speculated they were daughters of Francisco "Frank" A. Campuzano. Last Friday, FamilySearch made a set of California records newly available for online research, including California County Birth & Death Records from 1800-1994 and California County Marriages 1850-1952 (published 5 January 2021). With these new records, I have been able to go back and clean up on the Campuzano line that moved to California, and uncover what happened to the girls sent to the orphan asylum.

In my previous post, I noted how Isidora was working as a cigar maker for R. Giovanetti in 1901. The new marriage and birth records confirmed that R. Giovanetti was the married name of Ramona Oropeza, Isidora's mother. Isidora's 1918 marriage record to Anton Surina lists her father as Frank Campuzano and mother as R. Oropeza. Digging through other marriage, newspaper and census records confirmed Ramona had later married Aladino Giovanetti.

FamilySearch, California Marriage Records. 10 July 1918.

Isidora was born on 20 March 1881 in Los Angeles. Frank was 22 at the time, and Ramona was about 17. It is unclear if they married, probably not given that Frank married Rosario Hinojosa on 7 July 1883. It looks like he and Ramona had another daughter in March 1884 - Francisca. I believe Frank and Ramona had their third daughter Filomena on 12 February 1886.

Frank and Ramona ultimately separated. By 1892, Ramona was in a relationship with Italian immigrant Aladino Giovanetti, and they had six children between 1892 and 1905. While I had previously thought Isidora, Francesca and Filomena had disappeared from the records, they were actually there all along under different names. In the 1900 US Census, they're listed in the household of Aladino and Ramona Giovanetti, living on Lemon Street. Aladino was working as a saloon keeper.

1900 US Census, Los Angeles, California.

There's much more on the three girls, as they lived for quite some time in Los Angeles after exiting the Orphan Asylum to return to their mother's household. I'm posting this here as I know we have an AncestryDNA match to Frank Campuzano through descendants of his family with wife Joaquina Contreras. It's possible there will be DNA matches to the Campuzano family through this side as well.

More to follow on this fascinating family.
 

Revisiting the Vasquez & Suastegui Families

 

Yuma Morning Sun, 18 Apr 1925

I've previously covered the family of Concepcion Suastegui and her children on the blog. A nice post last night from cousin Catherine on Facebook reminded me to look again at the records on this branch of the family. I don't think I've previously covered the clipping above from Yuma, Arizona, announcing the passing of Adolfo Vasquez (son of Concepcion Suastegui). The clipping mentions Mrs. J. W. Graham, who was also known as Maria Esther Suastegui, half-sister of Concepcion. This says Adolfo arrived in the US in 1874 with his mother, sisters and Maria Esther, but I know from other records that Adolfo, his mother and sisters were in Los Angeles in 1870. 

This clipping does provide some insight for Maria Esther. Francisco Suastegui (my 5th-great-grandfather) died about 1873, and Maria Esther would have been about 16 then. She was placed as ward to William Henry Harrison Burke, who married Concepcion's sister Maria Engracia Suastegui in 1859.

A longer death notice on Adolfo from the Tucson Citizen provides more detail about his life.

Tucson Citizen, 15 Apr 1925.

Snowday

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Maya in the snow. 31 Jan 2021.

According to our local weather, today marks the end of a 709-day streak with our first measurable snow. It's also Maya's first experience with the cold white stuff, as she's a rescue from Lafayette, Louisiana. Maya seems to be adjusting just fine.

We recently received Maya's dog DNA results back from Embark. To everyone's surprise, she's 100% black lab.