San Joaquin County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm




CAESAR GAIA.
 
        A very interesting man of affairs who owes his development and success 
largely to his own, self-made efforts, is Caesar Gaia, a member of the 
well-known grocery firm of Gaia & Delucchi, of Stockton. He was born on a farm 
near Torino, Italy, on August 16, 1892, the son of a vineyardist; and he worked 
in the vineyards of his district and on the home farm until he was seventeen 
years of age, and then he set out alone for California, following his brother, 
Frank Gaia, who had come to California some time previously, and who passed away 
in 1914.
        Caesar Gaia found his first employment on the Miller & Lux ranch at 
Gilroy, where he remained nine months, and after a short stay in Oakland and San 
Francisco, he arrived at Stockton on May 1, 1914. Here he formed a partnership 
with Ferdinand S. Del Monte, and for some thirty months conducted the Campa 
Restaurant. He then formed a partnership with Louis Delucchi and bought the 
Ravioli Factory of E. Fontana at 320 East Market Street, and founded the firm of 
Gaia & Delucchi, which has so grown and prospered that it is now one of the 
leading grocery establishments in Stockton. As their business expanded, they 
took over the next store and added a full line of staple groceries and imported 
goods. They also made ravioli on a large scale, and they manufactured the famous 
Italian salami, and met with such encouragement that they now wholesale these 
two products. When they started, they employed two assistants; now they keep 
twelve persons busy. They also maintain two delivery trucks, and they ship 
ravioli, Italian salami and other specialties to Lodi, Modesto and the mountain 
towns. Mr. Gaia, with his family, made a trip to Italy in the spring of 1922, 
remaining away on this visit to the scenes of his childhood some nine months.
        Mr. Gaia was married to Miss Rose Marengo in 1915, the gifted lady being 
a daughter of Peter L. Marengo, a prominent capitalist of Stockton; and they 
have one son, Caesar, Jr. Mr. Gaia is a charter member of the Stockton Italian 
Club, and a member of the Eagles, the Red Men and the Druids.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p   1219       
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.