California State Library Videos

Richard Steffen considers what a trip to California was like in the early 1900s.

TKF Mentor Kevin openly discusses his past as a gang member

Robin shares her hopes and dreams for her unborn child

Mini-Movie by Marta Ibarra & Oakland Public Library (Spanish with English Subtitles)

Jen creates her first digital story remembering a humorous and harrowing personal story from her childhood.

Koroni, Messinia, Greece, where my Dad was born, is located in southern Greece and is a popular port where fishing boats are harbored. It was in this town of Koroni that the Stamatopoulos family originated. My grandparents George and Ellen had only one son, Dimitri Stamatopoulos born in 1888. Tragedy struck this family when someone raped a girl and my grandfather George caught the rapist in the barn and killed him. The family of the dead rapist avenged his death by killing George. Then one of the Stamatopoulos brothers retaliated by killing the man who killed George. One brother, Costa Stamatopoulos, who was unmarried took the blame for the killing was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. He served nine years of this sentence and escaped to America and settled in San Francisco. In the meantime, it was impossible for my father s mother, now a widow, to support herself. So she remarried and her new husband refused to raise a son that was not his own. So she gave her son to her mother to raise. My father s earliest recollections of living with his grandmother was that they would walk down a dirt road and beg for flour to make bread. When she became too old to take care of him, my father s uncle, Stamati who had five girls, took him home to live with him. Since his uncle had no sons, he changed his name from Dimitri to Stamati so he could carry on his name. In 1907, Uncle Costa in San Francisco sent passage money and my dad came to America through Ellis Island and they shortened his name from Stamati Stamatopoulos to Sam Stamas. My Dad worked and saved his money and brought three of his five cousins to America and married them off. The other two did not want to leave Greece. Then he asked his uncle in Greece to send him a bride as he was ready to get married. His uncle said Anna Rombakis would be a suitable wife. My Dad agreed to the arrangement as he remembered seeing her in Greece in the grape vineyards when he worked for her father. No words were spoken between them as this would be highly improper behavior in Greece between two young people. The engagement was sealed and pictures were exchanged. My mother prepared for her trip to America, but war broke out in Europe in the Balkans in 1914 and Greece was involved. The United States got into it in 1917 and World War I had started. A blockade was in effect and no one could cross the ocean during the war years and the war lasted until 1918. For the next seven years my dad and mother waited for each other. World War I ended in November 1918, however, passage across the ocean was not possible for seven more months until peace terms between Germany and the Allies were signed reducing Germany s sea power to a minor one. My mother was not able to come to America until December 1919. She arrived in Ellis Island and they were married in January 1920. After my parents were married they moved to Roseville where my dad went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He bought property at 437 Riverside and this was where his seven children were born. Roseville was a small town with a population of approximately 8,000 people consisting largely of Greek, German, Italian and Mexican immigrants. The Southern Pacific Railroad switchyard moved from Rocklin to Roseville and it was the largest railroad center west of Chicago. The SP trains ran from Roseville to Sparks, Nevada and back again. It required an overnight stay. My Dad saw the opportunity and need for laundering clothes for these bachelor men. Therefore, in the evenings after a full day s work at the SP yard, he would ride around on his bicycle and collect dirty clothes and overalls from the men and wash them in an old fashion washing machine with a roller type wringer. On their return to Roseville from Sparks these mean had clean clothes. This brought in additional funds and eventually this laundering business became lucrative and full time. My dad started the Roseville Laundry business on Riverside Avenue. He could not afford to hire help so he had no recourse but to put his kids to work in the laundry. His kids therefore were laundry workers at a very early age. Someone noticed underage children working in the laundry and reported this to the police. My dad was arrested and jailed for violation of the Child Labor Law. My mother took her children to the jail house and left them there for the police to feed. She said since they jailed the bread winner she could not feed the kids. My father was released immediately and we all went home. In 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and World War II started. It was during the war that our laundry business flourished and by 1943 my dad felt he had enough money saved to retire so he leased the laundry. Later, after the war, my brother Peter bought the laundry from my dad and it is still there and run by someone else. My parents were privileged to live during the fascinating period of tremendous growth for our nation. They went from riding on donkeys to riding in an automobiles; the change from no toilets to indoor plumbing and running water; the use of electricity in private homes; the phenomena of television; and a human actually landing on the moon. Also, there were two major world wars and several smaller ones around the globe. They worked together all their lives, shared their "for better or worse" together, and when my mother died on September 30, 1970, my died died four months later of a broken heart on February 8, 1971. Now they sleep "in the dust of the earth" side by side, together again waiting until Jesus takes them home.