Prohibition, what prohibition?

To avoid prohibition, entrepreneur, and great grandfather, James S MARCHETTI (1900-1965) partnered with his brother-in-law, Victor R Delu, to establish Vick’s Place in Tijuana, a restaurant, bar, dance and music hall.

The Marchetti & Togliatti families emigrated from Northern Italy in order to earn their fortune in Utah’s silver rush of the late 1800’s — read the full story in Marchetti & Togliatti V State of Utah. With sufficient funds procured from running a boarding house and general store, the families headed to California and established Home Ranch and vineyard in Uvas Creek, near Morgan Hill.

Within a decade the family’s future was jeopardized by the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. This enabled legislation, known as the Volstead Act¹, to enforce the federal ban of alcoholic beverages.

In order to protect their stockpile of aged barrels of wine they shipped it to Tijuana, Mexico, into the cellar of Vick’s Place. Grape juice production, however, was not impacted, and I suspect that is how the ranch continued operating.

Grape juice was not restricted by Prohibition, even though if it was allowed to sit for sixty days it would ferment and turn to wine with a twelve percent alcohol content. Many folks took advantage of this as grape juice output quadrupled during the Prohibition era.

Prohibition in the United States²

Vick’s Place was one of the premiere destinations for Americans crossing the border from California for entertainment in Tijuana.

The dining room served free Chili Beans and Spaghetti, Italian Style! The big band kept the dance floor filled and performers including the Dancing Cansinos³, featuring a teenage Rita Hayworth, occupied the stage.

The whole family appear to have visited Vick’s Place, with multiple border crossings, supported by photographs of their experiences. In fact, family lore states that Big Mary, James’ mother, actually suffered a heart attack in Vick’s Place during the summer of 1933. Vick managed to grease some palms and Big Mary was returned to James’ home in San Diego where her death was recorded.

Mary was interred in family plot at Saint Marys Catholic Cemetery, Gilroy, Santa Clara County⁴, alongside her husband Henry⁵ who died just a couple of months earlier in spring 1933.

MEXICO: Death of Aunt Jane.
The dusty air of Tijuana echoed last week with the sharp sound of hammer blows. The bartenders of three of the biggest saloons in town — Vick’s Place, the Midnight Follies, the Blue Fox — were nailing up the shutters. For Tijuana, which in Spanish means Aunt Jane, death seemed drawing near. One of the most colorful results of U.S. Prohibition was the growth of a chain of drinking and gambling resorts stretching all the 1,600 miles of the Mexican border.

Time Magazine, November 13, 1933⁶

After prohibition, Vick’s was relocated to San Diego’s Third Avenue aka ‘Neon Row’ and the sailor’s entertainment district. It’s bars, cafes, nightclubs and other mob-controlled businesses catered to navy men with a fresh paycheck looking for a good time.

In addition to Vick’s Cafe, James took the role of secretary treasurer of Vick’s Distributing Company, with their initial inventory coming from the stockpiles of vintage Marchetti Vineyards wines in Tijuana!

Down the street wasVick’s Cafe,established byVictor Deluand brother-in-lawJames Marchetti. DeLu closed hisVick’s Placein Tijuana, opened up the cafe in San Diego, and established Vick’s Distributing Company with all his Tijuana stockpiles of vintage wines from Marchetti vineyards.

Chee-Chee Club, Classic San Diego⁸

Researching family stories, it is a rare moment to see candid photographs of our grand parents or great grandparents having fun!

From left to right we have Angeline (Marchetti) Delu, her husband Vick Delu, brother James Marchetti, and sister-in-law Pameria “Peggy” (Casella) Marchetti, liberally pouring the alcohol!

James & Vick’s partnership continued through the 1930’s until James relocated his family to Ventura, California, to try his hand at oil speculation.

Victor Delu continued to manage Vick’s Cafe located until 1952 when he sold the venue to the Matranga family. They were a well known organized crime family in San Diego¹¹, continually under the scrutiny of San Diego’s Vice Squad.

Over the years it’s identity slowly evolved toward the tropical — Vic’s Place, Vick’s Cafe, Vic’s Tropics, and finally Vic’s Tropical Nuthouse (continuous vaudevillian clown shows). In 1952 Joseph, Gaspare and Frank Matranga bought the nuthouse and simplified the name to The Tropics.

Classic San Diego Tiki Restaurants and Bars, By Martin S. Lindsay¹²

Family Tree

Henry (Enrico) and Mary (Mariah) were our first Italian ancestors to reach California. They are parents and parents-in-law to James and Victor, the heroic characters of this story. Very little of the story was passed down from our grandfather Hank Marchetti but, luckily the photographs, and newspapers survived.

• Henry (Enrico) T MARCHETTI (1869-1933) & Mary (Mariah) M TOGLIATTI (1878-1933)
  • Angeline (Angela) Theresa Marchetti (1898-1989) & Victor Romano Delu (1896-1968)
    • James Victor Delu (1921-2006) & Mary E Roberts (1916-2003)
    • Clementine Marie Delu (1922-2012) & Alexander Irvin Primeaux (1921-1973)
  • James Samuel (Jacamo/Jimmy) MARCHETTI (1900-1965) & Pameria A CASELLA (1902-1991)
    • Mary Marchetti (1921-2011) & Joseph Dominic Rocchi Jr (1921-2007)
    • Henry “Hank” James Victor MARCHETTI (1928-2014) & Joan Shirley GRACIA (1929-2021)
      • Our direct line…

References

1. Volstead Act, Wikipedia ↩︎
2. Prohibition in the United States, Wikipedia ↩︎
3. Rita Hayworth & Dancing Cansinos, Wikipedia ↩︎
4. Mary Marchetti, FindaGrave.com ↩︎
5. Henry T Marchetti, FindaGrave.com ↩︎
6. MEXICO: Death of Aunt Jane?, Time Magazine ↩︎
7. Time Magazine Cover, November 13, 1933 ↩︎
8. Chee-Chee Club, Classic San Diego ↩︎
9. Vick’s Place Full Page Advertisement, The San Diego Sun, December 13, 1936 ↩︎
10. Tropics, My Tiki Life ↩︎
11. Los Angeles crime family, Wikipedia, & New Orleans crime family, Wikipedia ↩︎
12. Classic San Diego Tiki Restaurants and Bars, By Martin S. Lindsay, Published on August 18, 2016. Updated March 24, 2026. ↩︎

• California Digital Newspaper Collection – Calexico Chronicle, Volume XXX, Number 69, 3 November 1933: Tijuana May Become Ghost Town Following Repeal of Prohibition
• Classic San Diego: Caesar’s Restaurant, Tijuana
• BajaNomad: Tijuana 1930
• Google Books: Juan Soldado – Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint by Paul J Vanderwood