GEORGE LUCICH

Sacramento County

Biographies

GEORGE LUCICH

GEORGE LUCICH.--That there are still fortunes to be made in these times as well as in the "Good old times" when competition was not so keen, is a fact amply proven by more than one representative business man of today, and none more thoroughly than by George Lucich, who came to this country when a boy and has reached success through his own efforts, directed along the lines for which he found himself best fitted. Born in Jugo-Slavia, then a part of Austria, October 15, 1882, when fourteen years old he came across the ocean and located in Denver, Colo., where an uncle lived. After going to school for a time, he started to learn the restaurant business with his uncle, in the latter's cafe. He learned to cook and was chief cook for the establishment from 1897 to 1901, beginning with fourteen dollars a month, and working from fourteen to sixteen hours each day; a hard schooling, no doubt, but one which laid the foundation for his future success.

He next moved to the mining camps of Colorado, working as a cook, and experiencing all the thrills of a gold strike while at Cripple Creek; then to Goldfield, Nevada, during the boom there, when it was a city of tents, arriving before a house had been erected. Mr. Lucich first came to Sacramento in 1904, and then he later decided to look over the possibilities of San Francisco, arriving in time for the earthquake and fire of 1906, which occurred just fifteen days after he reached the city. Not discouraged by having passed through the trying experiences of that period, he later, in partnership with two others, opened a restaurant and liquor store on the water front, at Second and Townsend Streets.

In February, 1915, Mr. Lucich sold out his interests in San Francisco, and came to Sacramento, and his first business venture in the Capital City was a small lunch room, with just twenty-three stools, located on Ninth Street, and again with two partners. Every other store on the block, which was between J and K Streets, was vacant at the time, but the lunch room prospered and this site marks the place where now stands the Rosemont Grill, Mr. Lucich's present establishment and one of the best appointed cafes in Sacramento, remodeled at a cost of $30,000 and opened to the public in December, 1922. He has his own cold storage plant on the premises, and five chefs are kept busy supplying the best seasons afford to its many patrons. The cafe is always open, day and night; a key to the front door has never been carried by Mr. Lucich or his partners, Peter Valerio and Joe Ostoja, as the door is always open. They also own the Annex Lunch Room at 911 K Street, and in both places employ forty-two people, with a payroll of $900 a week, thus adding materially to the prosperity of the city and making it possible for its residents to enjoy dining in surroundings which are seldom equaled for artistic furnishings and correct service outside of the larger cities. Mr. Lucich was married in San Mateo, Cal., to Katherine Grase, born in Jugo-Slavia, and a resident of the United States for about twenty-five years, and they have one daughter, Nicolena Lucich. Mr. Lucich is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 873-874. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.