My maternal Grandmother’s name was Josephine Macaluso. She was born March 24, 1890 in Palazzo Adriano, Sicily. She married Antonio Burrescia on March 1, 1908 in Trinidad, Colorado. She and my Grandfather had 10 children together. She passed away on December 7, 1937 in Los Angeles. I recently asked Aunt Virginia (age 97), her youngest child, if she had any memories she could share with me about her Mother.

I asked Aunt Virginia if she remembered anything about about her Mother and Father making wine and selling it during Prohibition (1920-1933) She remembered her Father and Mother making Port wine in the basement of the Moulton Street House. She said men would come to the house to buy the wine and left with the wine bottles tucked under their coat jacket. They made the wine until a rainstorm flooded the basement and ruined the wine barrels.

At the Moulton Ave house there was a large brick oven in the backyard. Aunt Virginia remembers her Mother baking 10 loaves of bread at a time in the brick oven. This certainly help to keep her 9 surviving children’s tummies full. The family’s favorite way to eat the bread was to dunk it in olive oil that had been sprinkled with black pepper.

Virginia was only 12 years old when her Mother passed away. She remember how hard her Mother worked to keep the family fed, clothed and housed. As a young child, she dreamed of growing up and making enough money to take care of her.