NICHOLAS N. S. MATCOVICH

Sacramento County

Biographies

NICHOLAS N. S. MATCOVICH

N. N. S. MATCOVICH--An experienced hotelman who has made his hostelry one of the most important headquarters for lodgers in Sacramento, and has also rendered good service by opening a first-class employment agency in connection with the hotel, is N. N. S. Matcovich, the proprietor of the St. George Hotel at the corner of Fourth and J Streets, and also of the St. Nicholas Billiard Parlor at 1116 Fourth Street, the largest ground-floor parlor in the world, containing fifty tables. He was born in Dalmatia, Jugo-Slavia, on March 12, 1884, the son of

N. N. S. and Lucy Matcovich, industrious folks who made their way to America and Chicago, where the good mother died.

Our subject attended the common schools in his native land, and continued his English studies after he came to the United States, when he was thirteen years of age. He remained in Chicago until 1905, and then came West to California, stopping in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles; and he also was interested in a large cafe in Sausalito.

In 1914, Mr. Matcovich came to Sacramento, and on August of the following year he bought the old St. George Hotel, formerly the Dawson House, built in 1852, which was the center of all activities of the prominent pioneers. This hotel has 340 light, airy, clean rooms, with baths and showers, and makes a specialty of catering to agricultural laborers; and in connection with his hotel he has an office whose business it is to find employment for those wishing work. The rooms are offered at from 35 cents to $1.50 per night; and so successful has Mr. Matcovich been with his practical enterprise, that he has constructed the first unit of an entirely modern and up-to-date structure which, when completed, will be of eight stories, to cost $100,000, and to be known as the St. Nicholas Hotel, located at 1116 Fourth Street, between K and L Streets. In connection with this structure Mr. Matcovich conducts a billiard parlor, known as the St. Nicholas Billiard Parlor, with fifty tables on the ground floor. After making a thorough investigation through various sources as to the number of billiard tables on the ground floor in any billiard parlor of any city in the world, he found one city with a parlor that had thirty-three tables, while in his own parlor there are fifty table on the ground floor alone, which makes his place the largest ground floor parlor in the world. He has installed, at great expense, in the basement of his building, a modern gymnasium and training quarters for wrestlers and boxers, with steam, Hamman tub and shower baths, the latter open to the public. He has a very large banquet room, capable of seating over 200 persons, lounging and rest rooms, full and complete kitchen equipment, barber shop and lunch counter; in fact, every modern convenience is to be found under the roof at 1116 Fourth Street. Mr. Matcovich spares no expense to make his property one of the most modern hotels and billiard parlors to be found in Sacramento. In addition to these interests, Mr. Matcovich is the owner of Estella No. 2, a producing gold mine on Weaver Creek, near Weaverville, Trinity County; and he owns the famous Pennington Mineral Water Springs at Helisma, Calaveras County. This water is a high-grade medicinal water, and is bottled and shipped in car-lots to their headquarters at 2319 Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, where it is then distributed throughout the country. He is also a car-lot distributor of California fruit and produce, making a specialty of grape products; he contracts direct with the growers, packing and shipping his own products to the headquarters in Chicago, where they are disposed of.

In 1910 Mr. Matcovich was married to Miss Florence Bigley, and she shares his social popularity in the Jugo-Slav Sokol in Sacramento, an athletic association with 14,000,000 members scattered all over the world in its different branches. He takes a leading part in all movements for the betterment of the conditions of his fellow-countrymen, both in their native land and in America, especially in California. During the World War Mr. Matcovich did his "bit" by aiding in the construction of the Mather Field equipment. When the committee were unable to secure laborers and carpenters to put the field in shape, they came to Mr. Matcovich's employment agency to secure men. He advertised in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley papers and in four weeks had 800 men in Sacramento ready to work. This was 200 more than needed, and he shipped the surplus to various parts of the Pacific Coast to other jobs. He has always done his part to promote the best interests of Sacramento, and is held in high esteem by all who know him.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 636-639. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.