The Valley of Heart's Delight
EVASIO PORTALUPI
Surnames: RIGOLONE, PETRINO
A successful, experienced baker whose unremitting industry has enabled
him to establish himself, with equal prosperity in other fields is
Evasio Portalupi, who was born in Torino, Italy, on June 8, 1885, the
son of Joseph Portalupi, a building contractor, who had married Miss
Adelaide Rigolone. Mrs. Portalupi died at the birth of her son; and his
father passed away when our subject was eighteen years old. Evasio was
sent to the grammar schools, and then, to complete his higher education,
he attended the College at Torino.
Joseph Portalupi had long had an intimate friend, a building
contractor in San Francisco, and his letters to the old Italian home
district led to Evasio's crossing the briny deep himself. A serious
disappointment, however, awaited him in San Francisco: arriving in this
far-off city on November 25, 1906, he found that the friend in question
had been taken ill and therefore could not continue to do contract work;
and consequently the young man was thrown upon his own resources, and
had to accept day labor. He worked for a short time with a pick and
shovel, and then accepted a position with the United Railway Company of
San Francisco. He worked there for four months, and then was in the
service of the St. Francis Hotel for two years.
About that time Mr. Portalupi bought out the Telegraph Hill Grocery
at the corner of Grand and Greenwich streets, and for eight years he
managed that enterprise so well that it steadily grew, and became a
profitable investment. On April 13, 1916, he sold out and removed to San
Jose, and here he entered the bakery field, and with the aid of his
accomplished and faithful wife, established the New Style French Bakery.
This fine business they sold out in 1919, giving way to Petrino &
Ferrarris, and then Mr. Portalupi started the Italian Grocery at 130
West Santa Clara Street, a thriving business since moved to the corner
of First and St. John streets. He then began to invest in real estate,
and he is today an active operator in that important field. When Mr.
Portalupi was managing the bakery business now conducted by his
brother-in-law, Mr. Petrino, he so developed it that he had wholesale
wagons running throughout San Jose and vicinity, while he was shipping
bread to such points as Gilroy and Milpitas, and for three years
supplying the county hospital and almshouse.
At San Jose, on April 13, 1916, Mr. Portalupi was married to Miss
Mary Petrino, a native of Montiglio, in the Province of Alexandria,
Italy, and the daughter of Evasio and Tersilla Petrino. Her father was a
successful commission merchant, and she had the advantages of a good
home. In 1908 she came to San Francisco and in 1910 to San Jose. One
child, a son named Henry, has blessed the union. Mr. Portalupi is a
Republican, and a member of the Masons, as well as the Maccabees and the
Red Men, of San Jose, and he has been an active officer in all of the
lodges.
Transcribed by Joseph Kral, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. ppage 1229
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT
SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORY