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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