My father was born in San Francisco and moved to Santa Cruz when I was a year and a half old. He worked for a tannery in San Francisco called Eagle Tannery. Anthony Salz evidently had some ownership there or partnership or something, so when Anthony Salz came to the Salz Tannery here in Santa Cruz, he brought my father along with him. He was a tanner in San Francisco. He was also a tanner here in Santa Cruz back then, 1927.

Father: Innocent “Frank” Tolaio
Mother: Adele, nicknamed “Delena”

I had two brothers and one sister.

I don’t know when my memories first start kicking in but I remember that we had lived on River Street past the tannery just before you go into the part where it builds up to Sycamore Grove. We lived there and just grew up there.

It was a wonderful, almost outdoor, living. It was right where the trees started and it backed up to the railroad tracks and Pogonip, which at that time was a golf course. Very rural.

My mom was more or less a housewife. Once in a while she’d work here and there; very little, nothing to talk about.   She was more or less a stay-at-home mom.