Photo provided by Ray (Renato) Salvoni.

     From left to right: John, Joe, and Sal.

     John was a gambler and a rounder and died in Bakersfield, California. He never married and died alone. He is buried in Bakersfield.

      Joe came to San Francisco at age 16, sent all his money ahead to John—who gambled it away. Joe hopped a freight train to Ft. Bragg, up on the California coast, where he got a job in the logging camp as a cook. He taught himself English by using a little Italian-English dictionary. He would translate the newspaper every night until he could speak fluently and without an accent.

     Salvatore followed Joe (who sent his fare to bring him over) to San Francisco. The two opened a community grocery store in the Sunset district called (what else?) Salvoni Brothers Market. Joe was born in 1888 and died in 1951. Sal had passed even earlier. His heart was weakened by Rheumatic Fever when he was a boy.