DUJMOVICH CLAN

Sacramento was the starting point to the California gold country. George Dujmovich owned the pioneer Alabama Chop House restaurant and the Alabama Saloon in Sacrament during the 1860’s. He probably came from Mobile Bay, Alabama where many Croatians settled in the 1830’s. George Dujmovich up in the Amador goldmining region was arrested by the sheriff for selling whiskey to Indians at his saloon. This was reported in the Amador Independent news in 1873. George was from the Island of Brac.

Another Dujmovich had a boarding house in the Amador gold mining region in 1877 while Luka Dujmovich was out in the foothills seeking his fortune in the gold fields. Luka was a member of the Old Slavonian Society.

Jerry Dujmovich, a patriotic Croatian Sokol, volunteered and went to the Balkan Wars to free his Croatian homeland in 1915. Jerry lived in Sacramento, California and was from the Island of Brac.

Los Angeles’ oldest restaurant, the Goodfellows Grotto, will end the year next Thursday, December 31, 1953 by locking its doors forever. “I guess we’ve been here too long. The town has moved away from us,” explained John L. Dujmovich yesterday. He is the son of Mateo C. Dujmovich, born on the Island of Brac, Dalmatia who founded Good Fellows in July, 1905. John Dujmovich assumed operation of the restaurant after the death of his father, and with the assistance of Curley Arnerich and Mike Kovacevich, ran the Grotto until it closed for good on December 31, 1953. Mateo owned a restaurant, oyster saloon and saloon in pioneer San Francisco during the 1880’s. The elder Dujmovich ran a gambling hall and variety show in Phoenix. He tried restaurant work again in San Diego and returned to found Goodfellows Grotto in Los Angeles when Main St. was the hub of the theatrical and sports world. Adam S. Eterovich