1817 DOMINGO GHIRARDELLI

Born in Rapallo, Italy in 1817, Domenico Domingo Ghirardelli learned about the confectionery and chocolate trade by the time he was 20. Uruguay and Peru were the first places he set up shop—but tales of the Gold Rush were irresistible. In 1848, Domingo's neighbor, James Lick, packed up $25,000, 600 pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate and sailed for the San Francisco Bay. A year later, Domingo followed him through the Golden Gate.

Domingo successfully opened stores in Stockton during the Gold Rush, but unfortunately did not fare so well with his future business endeavors. The Europa Hotel—one of the first hotels in Old San Francisco, burned in The Great Fire of 1851, along with everything Domingo owned in San Francisco. Four days later, another fire burned his Stockton properties to the ground.