Anyone that lived on the Northside in the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s knew about the shoe shop on 42nd and Thomas. Joe Digatono was the cobbler. He fixed shoes and sold new shoes. At some time later, a drycleaners was added to the shop.
Much of Joe's early life remains a mystery. He was born in Reggio de Calabria, Italy. He came to this country as a boy of 13 or so. He arrived in the country in 1919 on a ship named the Berlin. Apparently, he had signed on in Italy to come here to work for a company that was building a canal in Sioux Ste. Marie, Michigan. When he arrived at Ellis Island he had a tag around his neck which sent him to the job site in Michigan. He worked as a waterboy and helped dig the canal. This is the earliest information that his family has about him. We believe that he was an orphan, sort of a street kid, in Italy and when he saw the opportunity to come to America, he took it. He never talked about Italy much after that.
When he was old enough, he joined the army. But he was only in the army for one month. On a training mission in boot camp, he was crawling under some wire, holding his rifle, when the man in back of him shot him in the foot! He lost part of his foot and was sent home as a disabled vet.
As a disabled vet, he was sent to Minneapolis and given a job as an elevator operator at the government center. Sometime after that he was apprenticed to a shoemaker on Plymouth Ave. There he learned his trade. Not happy to be just a helper, he saved all his money and bought a small house on 44th and Fremont where he started a little shoe repair shop in the living room. All four of his sons were born in this house. Later, he bought the house on 42nd and Thomas and used the front porch as the shop. Gradually, the house was modified so the shop was separated from the house and the living area was in the back. His sons all grew up here.
Joe married Julia Matter, a German farm girl from Wisconsin who had come to the city to work as a maid at one of the hotels. They had four sons: Joseph Jr., LeRoy (Dick), Marlon and Virgil. The oldest three sons all served in the U.S. Armed Services in WWII; Joe and Dick were in the army, Mar was in the navy. Virgil was mentally handicapped and, in addition to other activities, liked to spend time sitting on the front steps of the shop waiting for the streetcars to come by. 42nd and Thomas was the end of the line and there was a wye in the tracks there so the cars could turn around. Some of the motormen would let Virgil help turn the cars around.
The shoe shop had a distinctive smell - leather, old and new, and snuff. Joe, the little Italian shoemaker, always had small nails stuck in one side of his mouth, ready to hammer into a new sole, and snuff in the other cheek. With his mouth full and his Italian accent, he could be a little hard to understand!
But he was always ready to talk to the customers. "Whata you need?" and "Do you wanna buy a pair a Reda Wing boots?" were his first questions. But he could also talk about government, communism, philosophy, fishing and many other subjects. He liked to go downtown to watch wrestling and boxing matches. And when things were slow he went to Twin Lake, rented a boat for five cents and fished all day.
Shoemaker Joe was my grandpa. I am Dick's oldest daughter and Joe‘s oldest grandchild. We called him "Grandpa D." He liked to tease his 15 grandchildren (not all were born before he died), but then he always gave us some money or a piece of candy. At Christmas time there was a tree with money tied on it for the kids.
When we visited our grandparents at the shop, we always put our feet into grandpa's new x-ray machine. This machine could show you your feet and toes and how much room you had in your shoes. You looked into the top part and actually saw your foot bones in a kind of greenish color. Imagine playing with an x-ray machine today. Grandpa used to tell me that I would have to wear paper bags for shoes when I grew up because my feet were so big!
Once, our whole family went on a car trip to Wisconsin to visit a relative of Grandma's. The grandparents came along. On the way home, Grandpa said that he had stolen the "cannery." We knew he was teasing, but we didn't know what he meant. We finally figured out he wanted us to think he had stolen the "canary" and had it in his pocket. English was definitely not his first language.
Julia, Grandma D., was a character in her own right. She often took the older grandchildren downtown, one at a time, on the streetcar. Then she pretty much bought us anything we pointed at. She also liked to paint. She had a primitive style, but she was pretty good. She painted a mural on the walls of the living room. She also painted on canvas, wallboard and other surfaces that she could find. She liked to visit the gardens at Como Park Zoo, and usually had a pinched-off specimen in her pocket when we came home. She had a very green thumb. Her tulips were big and beautiful, probably because she put coffee grounds and egg shells in the dirt with the bulbs. She was ahead of her time, ecologically speaking.
We believe that the name "Digatono" is not quite spelled correctly. We expect that when Grandpa Joe came through Ellis Island, he said his name was Guiseppe De Gaetano and Joseph Digatono was written down. Apparently, this type of thing happened a lot at that time. We do seem to be related to every "Digatono" that lives around here. De Gaetano means "son of the gypsy." Grandpa had a little dog that lived to be about 20 years old and his name was Gypsy.
Joe died in 1957 and Joe Jr. took over the shoe business for many years. Joe, Mar, and Virgil have all passed on. My dad, Dick, is alive and well, and lives in Osseo with my mom, Pat. They have six children, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
If you know anyone that lived on the Northside, ask them about the shoemaker from 42nd and Thomas. They will most likely have a story of their own to tell you.
A little bit about this month's guest writer: Patricia Digatono Eaton is the oldest child of Pat and Dick Digatono. She worked as a teacher in the Robbinsdale School District for 30 years and retired in 1996. She then spent a lot of time riding horses and working as a trail guide at Bunker Park Stables in Hugo. She and her husband, Rod, live in Champlin. Rod has a model railway in their backyard. Rod works on the train, and Pat works in the yard. Flowers galore! To view the railway and garden, go to Hitchcockry.com.
