San Pedro club has roots in fishing industry
When you mention Dalmatians to most people, they associate the word with the dog breed. The 1961 Disney animated feature “101 Dalmatians” brought the spotted canines, previously best known as fire station dogs, to wide popularity.
The breed is believed to have originated in the coastal area of modern-day Croatia known as Dalmatia. The name comes from the Dalmatae tribe that inhabited the area dating back to at least 100 B.C., when it was a province of the Roman Republic.
The coastal area stretches along the eastern banks of the Adriatic Sea from Montenegro on the south to Croatia proper on the north. It's not currently recognized as an independent state, but as a distinct historical region of Croatia.
The Dalmatian coast has stunning natural beauty. Some 79 islands and more than 500 islets lie just off its shores — and therein lies its connection to San Pedro.
Fishing among the islands is one of the area's major industries. So when abundant schools of sardines and tuna were encountered by early San Pedro fishermen, the word eventually spread to Yugoslav immigrants who came to America in the early 1900s in search of a better life.
They operated fishing boats in the waters off San Pedro, and established a vibrant ethnic community onshore. I wrote about one of that community's most influential members, Martin Bogdanovich, in 2015, and mentioned his role in forming what would later become known as the Dalmatian American Club.
Katherine Kordich reigned as queen of the three-day festival celebrating the opening of the Dalmatian American Club held in September 1935.
Bogdanovich founded one of the earliest and largest fish canneries in San Pedro, the French Sardine Co., in San Pedro in 1917. The company would evolve later into StarKist Tuna.
By 1926, an estimated 5,000 people of Slavic descent lived in San Pedro. In May of that year, 25 of its leading citizens held a meeting at Dr. Anton Sambuk's office, 110 W. Sev