Following Jack Marietich through the City Directories and other records is a little more difficult than for Jerry Illich. There were only two Illichs in early Los Angeles—Jerry and John. The only complication is that their first initial is J but the spelling of their names was fairly consistent through the years‚ a dropped "l" here and there and mixing up "i" and "l". But in the 19th century there were at least four Marietichs—Jack, Andrew jr (as it was written then), Andrew (Sr) and James. And a Jacob shows up too, but as far as I can tell that is Jack, but maybe I’ll find out differently as more information is gathered. At least two of these are known to have been born in what is now Milna, Brač, Croatia. Brač is an island near Split, Croatia.
As Jerry Illich had done, some Marietichs came via San Francisco. San Francisco was the port for the Gold Rush which started with the discovery of gold east of San Francisco in 1848 one week before Mexico ceded possession [*]. Records from those days are rare particularly since the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed many documents. But we work with what we have. But I have a longer history with the Marietichs so may have more information.
The earliest Marietich in California was Jack Marietich’s brother, Andrew (Sr). Andrew was born in Milna, Croatia on 15 Aug. 1829 (the original church record shows 15 Aug. 1827), and his obituary states that he immigrated in 1849 (20 years old). But the MyHeritage website has an immigration record from 1888 but maybe he traveled back to Croatia then. More likely he came here young but had the Gold Rush information reached Milna in 1849? Or was 1849 a guess by a relative 40 years later at his death. And 1849 would be more interesting than say 1855. But in any case Andrew was a generation older than Jerry Illich. The first record of Andrew in the United States is the 1861 San Francisco Directory. And Andrew Marieitch (sic, but spelled correctly in the Business Directory section) has the “Golden Gate Restaurant” at 10 Stewart St. Three of the 70 restaurants listed were operated by Croatians. He was also a Director in the “Slavonih Ellirih Mutual Benevolent Society” which had been organized November 17, 1857. And he is recorded as operating restaurants at other locations over the years; becoming a citizen and registering to vote in 1868 (age 39). His wife, Agatha Kleiber (Klaiber) had nine children between 1863 and 1874 or later. (Records from then barely recognize that a woman had something to do with children or anything else for that matter. Unless they were a widow and then their deceased husband was listed too.) Andrew remarried in 1879. I’m mentioning Andrew for a number of reasons: he was a restauranteur, he moved to Los Angeles a few years before his death (presumably retired), two of his daughters married Croatian immigrants from Brač who would become Los Angeles restauranteurs and lastly he’s my great-great grandfather. But now onto Jack Marietich.
Jack Marietich started in Los Angeles about the same time as Jerry Illich and both are listed in the 1879 Los Angeles City Directory that year. Illich with a “chop house” at 20 Main and “Giacob” (Jack) Marietich as a clerk there. No other employees are listed in the directory and no residential addresses are listed for either; although they may lived at the restaurant.
Two years later in 1881 Marietich has his first restaurant a few doors away at 44 Main St, the Queen chop house at 44 Main St. in partnership with G. Stuparish (the only time he’s showed up). But this time he has a residential address, 18 Wilmington St, two blocks from his restaurant.
In the 14 Sept. 1883, the Los Angeles Herald had an announcement of the re-opening of the “Queen Chop House“ by “the popular proprietors, Messrs. J. Marietich & Co., who intend to have the best of everything.“ He was the proprietor at that location until 1891. The address was 222 N. Main St. which was renumbered to 322 around 1890. In 1892, the restaurant then passed into the hands of his nephew, Andrew, jr and by that time the restaurant was the “Old Queen Chop House”. He with Peter L. Marincovich continued operating the restaurant until 1905.
No idea how many people had gardeners in the 1890s, but in 1896 Louis Castro was Jack’s live in gardener.
Jack died in 1908 at the age of 62 of a stroke. Not many of these restauranteurs lived to ripe old ages. One has to wonder about their diets running restaurant with bars and the effects of likely long work hours.
All of Jack Marietich’s restaurant and residential addresses in Los Angeles.