Club. Jim Ducale, current president of the Italian
Boot Club, describes its purpose today as “talking,
eating and drinking.” Informally, the Mirattis and
other Italian-American families gathered at fam-
ily picnics in Manning Park and in establishments
such as Arnoldi’s Cafe and Mom’s Italian Village.
On a recent afternoon at Arnoldi’s, two Miratti
cousins, Bob and Tony, reminisced.
“The Mirattis have a history running compa-
nies in this town,” says Bob (Robert Miratti) Carl-
son, Frank Jr.’s grandson. Bob, who owns a snow-
board and skateboard brand and retail chain, is a
member of the fourth generation of Miratti busi-
ness owners. Tony adds, “Th re’s the ranching side
and the bar-and-restaurant side.”
“I grew up with cousins on both sides,” says
Bob. “When my great-grandfather Francisco first
moved over to town from Santa Cruz Island, he
opened a boarding house and restaurant at State
and Haley, and later a winery. I believe he got into
the wine business because of his long relationship
with the owners of Santa Cruz Island.”
According to Ambrose’s account, Francisco and
Luigi “grew grapes, shipped them from Santa Cruz,
delivered them to homes and stomped the grapes.
The irattis made the best wine in California.”
As a teenager, Tony worked at Miratti’s ware-
house on Fig Street, west of State Street, between
Haley and Cota streets. “That’s where all the booze
was stocked,” he says. He remembers summer af-
ternoons of “smelly, hard work where if ‘you broke
it, you paid for it.’ We used hand trucks to roll the
cases, because the entrance was below ground lev-
el and you couldn’t get a forklift own there.”
Before Miratti’s Liquor expanded, much of the
family’s real estate was concentrated in one commer-
cial area. “Five hundred was our block,” says Bob. He
sketches a map of downtown on a copy of the Miratti
family tree and points out various addresses. “That’s
the Barbara Hotel, there’s the Pickwick soda foun-
tain and lunch counter.”
“Way back in the Miratti boarding house days
after the turn of the century,” says Bob, “Italian men
who were homesick for Mama’s cooking enjoyed
Francisco and Pasqualina’s family-style suppers.”
Bob continues, “Th re’s a story from back then.
Some guys refused to leave the restaurant at clos-
ing time. After being asked to leave several times,
it apparently got ugly. In the end, the management
settled it in the old Italian way, taking things into
their own hands.”
Tony adds, “It was a working-class crowd.”
Bob concludes, “Great-grandmother Pasqua-
lina got in some trouble for throwing a punch,
which made the papers.” The ousins chuckle.
As the years passed, the first generations of
Mirattis left the ways of the Old World behind
and assimilated into the eclectic ranks of the
Santa Barbara community. Industrious, hard-
working and devoted to family values, each wave
of newcomers learned to speak English and made
sure their children got an education. Possessed
of a passion for entrepreneurship, well versed in
the practices of local real estate, liquor licenses
and state politics, the Mirattis prospered in their
adopted country. Along with their neighbors from
every background, they embraced newer “old
ways” spawned in Santa Barbara, celebrating every
Fiesta (Santa Barbara’s annual Old Spanish Days
celebration) since its inception in 1924.
From a humble beginning as immigrant labor-
ers, the Miratti family ascended to local business
prominence, spirited by its collective, tenacious
will. With memories of the corner liquor store fad-
ing into the past, the family’s next stronghold in
Santa Barbara is likely to be Bob’s snowboard and
skateboard shop. He says, “We’re looking for the
perfect spot.”
u
A recent Miratti family gathering in 2017, from left: Bob
Carlson, son of Adelle Carlson and grandson of Frank
Miratti, Jr.; Frank’s daughters Toni Gundershaug and
Adelle Carlson; and Tony Miratti, son of Ambrose Miratti.
66
Montecito Magazine
Spring/Summer 2017