Angelo and Ida Fraschina, A New Family 1910-1920

On October 5, 1910, Angelo and Ida became the proud parents of Filippo, always known as Keeno, from the Italian diminutive, "marmocchino," (pronounced mar-mo-keeno), an affectionately teasing word for a baby boy.

Ida in early 1911, with baby Keeno

The 1910 U.S. Census found Angelo and Ida living at 6 Imperial Avenue, which was, despite its name, a tiny street off Greenwich, between Gough and Franklin in the Cow Hollow neighborhood that was home to a large percentage of San Francisco's Italian immigrant community.

As was so often true for immigrants, the Fraschinas lived with extended family: in this case with Elisabetta and her husband, Frances Blanchard, who had come to San Francisco from Virgina and was working as a teamster for the Spring Valley Water Company; their little daughter, Marcella, always called Fifi; and Ida and Elisabetta's mother, Caterina Galli.  In the census data, Angelo's profession is listed for the first time as "architect:"

The family, circa 1912, on Imperial Avenue.  Angelo, with his distinctive goatee is on the right with Keeno. Ida is on the left of the group of three women in the center. 

At the time, the land across the street was taken up by an enormous plant nursery and a stable and Keeno remembered hearing the frogs croaking and the horses neighing in the evenings and seeing the lamplighter lighting the gas streetlights at dusk.

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Below, Imperial Avenue, 102 years later

The building on the right is 6 Imperial Avenue, where the Fraschina and Blanchard families lived.

Above and Below: Bennett Lieberman, Angelo and Ida's great-grandson at 6 Imperial Avenue in 2015

Bennett and his daughter Lauren at the window of 6 Imperial Ave.

Lauren with the message she left on the white board at 6 Imperial Ave.!

Three generations of the Galli/Leiberman family: Lois Cohen Leiberman, Fifi's daughter; her son Bennett and Bennet's daughter Lauren.

Lois's younger son Scott's daughters, Madeline and Sydney visited their great-grandmother Fifi's childhood home in 2015:

Dave Cohen, Fifi's son, at the Imperial Ave House in 2016, where Fifi and the rest of the Fraschina-Galli-Blanchard family lived after the Earthquake.

Photo taken January 29, 1910

The Mandolin Club of Angelo's partner in house painting, Mr. Mazzuchi, who, however, played the triangle (second row from the back, third from the right).  Ida and Angelo enjoyed their performances and Ida in particular loved mandolin music.

Angelo and Keeno in 1912

In 1913, tragedy struck a devastating blow to the family.  On April 16, Elisabetta died after a doctor performing a procedure left surgical sponges in her body which led to gangrene. She died at home because at that time there were no antibiotics and there was nothing they could do to save her. She was 28 years old.

Elisabetta in 1903, wearing one of the hats she made

Elisabetta, date unknown

Francis Blanchard, Elizabetta's husband, in the only two surviving photos of him, above and below, on the far right.

Then in late July of 1913, Francis Blanchard still grieving over the loss of his wife, was severely injured while working on the rebuilding of San Francisco City Hall, when a construction elevator fell on him and fractured his skull.  He lingered for several days before dying on August 1, 1913 at the age of 37.

 The combined blows of these two losses were too much for Caterina Galli. Her unbearable grief led to her death on December 17, 1913. She was 66 years old.

The only known photograph of Caterina Galli

 In the aftermath of this triple loss, Ida though devastated at losing her sister and best friend; her beloved mother; and her kind brother-in-law, turned her attention to nurturing Fifi and, with Angelo, gladly raised her as their daughter. Since the Blanchard and Fraschina families had been living together in No. 6, Imperial Avenue for the past three years, Fifi was already a part of their family. Now, Angelo and Ida became her parents and Keeno, her little brother.

The family, circa early 1914.

Angelo with his two children, Keeno and Fifi

The Fraschina Family 1920-1930

Fifi, in the dark dress in the center, with her elementary school classmates, including, on the far left, her best friend, Rose Cugioni (who was four years younger).  They are possibly standing in front of the old wood frame Sherman Elementary School, that was replaced in the late 1920s.

Fifi and Keeno often took the streetcar with their parents to visit their cousins, Ismene and Laura Galli's children Irene, Stanley and Lorraine.  They lived near their grocery store, the Gilt Edge which was next door to the theater that was then called the Elite and, since 1939, has been the Vogue Theater.

The building where the Gilt Edge Grocery store once was located.  Lorraine's daughter, Christine Rodrigues,  remembers her mother telling her that the family kept chickens and the grocery's delivery horse and wagon behind the store.

Angelo and Ida in the mid-1920s

With Keeno, aged about 16

Fifi, on the right with her best friend, Rose Cugioni in the center and an unidentified friend on the left, taken the same day as the picture above with Keeno.

They're wearing their home-made fancy-dress costumes which they fashioned out of crepe paper--a fad that began during World War I paper shortages and continued through the Great Depression.

Fifi, left with Rose in matching crepe paper dresses and parasols. The two friends lived around the corner from each other in the Italian-American Cow Hollow neighborhood.

Here's a particularly lovely photo of Rose!

Rosie the Prima Ballerina, possibly a recital of her dance class doing the March of the Toy Soldiers circa  1928

Close up of Rosie!

 Angelo's granddaughter, Claire, wearing a costume of a traditional Italian peasant made by Ida for Fifi

Keeno in the Russian River area sometime in the mid-1920s

Fifi at the Russian River

Fifi and a friend, circa 1930 

The Fraschina-Galli Family 1930-1980

 Keeno, circa 1931, the year he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Engineering with a major in Chemical Engineering.  His first professional job was with the San Francisco Water Department, which was housed in the Spring Valley Water Company building.  This had been the private monopoly for San Francisco municipal water before the city took it over and was the employer of Elizabetta's husband, Francis Blanchard.  In another coincidence, the building was designed by Angelo's former employer, Willis Polk (notice the falling water motif on the facade):

In 1938 Fifi married native San Franciscan, Harry "Hank" Cohen.  Hank was a college friend of Keeno's from the School of Engineering, who became a civil engineer with the Army Corps of

Engineers:

1931 University of California at Berkeley Yearbook Photo




On the opening day of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 27, 1937, Keeno met Dora Schiro as both of them were walking back from crossing the Bridge by foot.  They married three years later.

Keeno and Dora Schiro Fraschina's wedding day, July 20, 1940.

 With them are Nelina, Dora's mother, in the foreground, and Dora's grandmother Anna Civiletti. behind her.  Keeno and Dora were married at San Francisco City Hall and drove up the West Coast to Canada and then east to Lake Louise in Banff National Park for their honeymoon

 Angelo sitting in front of his home at 1666 Lombard with his first grandchild, Fifi's daughter, Lois Cohen, born in 1940.

Angelo with his daughter-in-law, Dora Schiro Fraschina and her brother Bruno Schiro in Yosemite in 1940. 

Angelo and Ida rarely took vacations, but were able to go to Yosemite once, which was a memorable occasion for Angelo because it reminded him of his childhood home in the Swiss Alps.

Below are Ida and Dora's mother Nelina Schiro at Yosemite:

Ida, on the left, with Nelina Schiro

Daughter Fifi Blanchard Cohen, with her daughter, Lois , 1941

Angelo with Lois, wearing his apron--obviously he'd been cooking, one of his favorite hobbies.

                               Fifi's second child, David, was born in 1945. He's sitting on the right of Lois,            who is holding her baby cousin, Claire Fraschina, Keeno's first child, born in 1949.   

Angelo in the 1940s 

Angelo in the late 1950s, looking like the artist that he was. 

Angelo with Keeno's daughters, baby Jean and Claire, in 1953 when Claire was four

Angelo with baby Elise Fraschina, born in December, 1953

Ida and Angelo at the wedding of eldest granddaughter Lois and Noel Lieberman in 1969. Carrying on the seamstress tradition, Lois made her wedding gown and Ida made her grandmother-of-the-bride dress.

Lois and Noel's sons, Bennett and his daughter Lauren, on the left; and Scott and his daughters, Madeline and Sydney, on the right.



The wedding of grandson Dave Cohen and Shirley Cohen in 1971.

Angelo and Ida at Dave and Shirley's wedding reception.

Dave and his daughter Amelia

Dave is a luthier who makes custom mandolins and guitars, after retiring from teaching college physics.  Here are some of his beautiful instruments:

Ida's niece, Irene Galli Biggio and her husband owned and operated a popular cafe on Minna Street in San Francisco for many years.   Ida's nephew Stanley Galli became a renowned artist and illustrator,  designing covers for books and prestigious popular magazines, especially the Saturday Evening Post; US Postal stamps and a variety of advertising ads and poster.  In 1981, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Society of Illustrators, their highest honor.

Here is a selection of his work:

Stan Galli

Stan's younger son, Tom, became a landscape architect and is famous for having designed the Transamerica Redwood Park, one of California's most beloved landscapes, according to the blog, the Landscape Voice.  "Redwood Park is a unique feature of Transamerica Pyramid Center: An intimate, half-acre redwood grove nestled between the skyscrapers of San Francisco’s Financial District.

Transplanted from the Santa Cruz Mountains 60 miles to the south, magnificent redwoods dominate the park designed by Tom Galli. A fountain designed by Anthony Guzzardo — its pond complete with jumping frog sculptures, in a fond remembrance of Mark Twain, who for a time lived and wrote on this site — lends the sound of running water to those who seek peaceful moments here. Ferns, boulders and a winding walkway add to the tranquility."

In the late 1950s, Angelo and his friends petitioned the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department to build a Senior Center in the Marina District in what was then Funston Park and is now named in honor of former Mayor Moscone.  Angelo designed the plans for the building and submitted them to the City.  The result, finished in 1959, was this building which contained a sofa, chairs and card tables, and a piano.  Angelo spent many hours there playing canasta and pinochle with his friends.  The door was always open to the fresh air, and the interior was flooded with natural light from the many windows:

Ida and Angelo in their aprons--both of them loved to cook. Angelo's specialties were a superb Risotto alla Milanese, [Veal] Cottoletto alla Milanese, and Polenta with Rabbit, a classic Italian dish, served with sweet, fresh shelled peas.

March 13th, 1964, Angelo's 86th birthday!  

In his retirement, Angelo loved to paint watercolors of flowers and other nature subjects. He so prized being a father and grandfather that he signed his paintings "Pop Fraschina."

Angelo lived to be 93 years old and died in 1971.  Ida lived to be 94 and died in 1980.  They are remembered with much love and affection by their grandchildren who contributed their photographs and memories to create this blog.