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This is a life story of a man who has been in the grocery business in Eureka for 78 years, a man well-known and well-liked by a great many people.

Ernest Burger was born Jan. 15,1898, in Bern, Switzerland, to Johann and Rosina Burger. The couple owned and operated a restaurant in Bern where Rosina enjoyed a reputation as a very fine cook. Johann worked at the restaurant and on the railroad as well. They had four sons: Hans, Ernest, Walter and Herman.

Ernest attended school in his home town in Switzerland. His father bought him a piano and Ernest learned to play music at an early age (at age 96, he can still play, although his eyesight is not quite as good as it used to be). After graduating from high school, Ernest attended a business college in Bern.

A good friend of the family, Rudolph Messerle, lived in Eureka. The grocer wrote to Ernest inviting him to come to America. Messerle was once a neighbor of the Burgers in Switzerland, many years prior to his coming to Eureka. Ernest was anxious to go. He obtained the necessary passports and papers and, in March 1916 at the age of 18, booked passage on a large French passenger liner, the Rochambeau. After many days at sea, they landed in New York harbor. Ernest remembers leaving the ship near the Statue of Liberty. Emigration inspectors interviewed a group of Swiss people on board, whose papers were all in order. The Swiss group was allowed to go ashore, where they stayed overnight.

The following day, Ernest left by train for Oakland, Calif. After about one week’s worth of travel, he arrived at midnight, and decided to wait until the next day to get to San Francisco. He found himself in a very large crowd of people, all unable to speak English, all uncertain as to what to do. Luckily, a woman with the traveler’s bureau noticed Ernest was stymied. She helped by putting him on a streetcar and telling the conductor to let Ernest off at the Y.M.C. A. There he got a room on the top floor, but the next morning he went to the desk and asked the clerk about a Swiss hotel. There happened to be a Swiss man standing nearby and, upon hearing the talk, spoke to Ernest, welcomed him, took him to breakfast and then all around the city in his Model-T Ford. The man showed Ernest the Golden Gate Park and other places of interest. They then went down to the Ferry Building on Embarcadero Street where this man helped arranged for Ernest’s ticket to Eureka. He then took Ernest to his home where they had supper. Afterward this man took Ernest to a movie, then back to the Y.M.C.A. for the night.

The next morning Ernest found a restaurant, where he had something to eat. He then walked down Market Street to the Ferry Building. He got on a ferryboat to Sausalito, where a train would then take him on to Eureka. While on the train, Ernest became acquainted with Harry Boise, owner of the Sweet Pea Dairy Lunch, 305 G St. It was an all-day trip to Eureka and quite dark when they arrived. After waiting around the depot awhile, Messerle showed up, introduced himself to Ernest, then took the young man in his new Buick car to his home at 145 West Clark St. They had supper and, after talking for awhile, Messerie showed Ernest where he could sleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, Messerle told Ernest to come with him to his grocery store, as he had a job for him. The Store was Messerle Waldorff & Marcussen, No. 8, Fifth St. It was located on the southeast corner of Fifth and A streets, and the building is still standing today. Ernest started work and his employer apparently liked him. He signed up at C.J. Craddock’s Eureka Business College, 212 E St., where he attended evening classes. He learned to speak English quite rapidly.

Ernest lived with the Messerles for about a month, when the store owners fixed up two rooms for him upstairs over the store. He was very happy there, but also boarded at Mrs. Jennie Sellers house, 609 E St. Waldorff also boarded there. Later, Jennie Sellers moved to 720 E St., but continued to feed her guests three times a day, seven days a week, for $25 per month.

Ernest primarily delivered groceries around town with a horse and light wagon, but sometimes used a Model-T Ford delivery truck. He also helped with cleanup and clerking. After a few short months, he began going around taking orders from people.

One day Aurelio Rosaia approached Ernest and told him he would pay $60 per month for the young man to do the bookkeeping at his fish market. Messerle was paying Ernest $40 per month. Ernest told Rosaia he would have to ask Messerle first. Messerle told Ernest to take the job, so Ernest went to work for Rosaia at his fish market on the northeast corner of Sixth and F streets, where Partrick’s Candy Store stands today.

Ernest stayed there several months. The workers would dump fish heads and trimmings out the back door in the gulch behind the store, a chore which resulted in an awful odor (the gulch is still there). Ernest finally got fed up with the embarrassing smell of fish, both on himself and on his clothes. He asked Waldorff if he could have his old job back, and he was told he would be welcomed. So back to his old job he went, the first of the month. Ernest stayed there for another three years.

Once again Rosaia came to see Ernest, telling him he needed a bookkeeper at his Diamond Fruit Store, 416 F St.. He offered $125 per month. Ernest accepted and remained there for several years until it closed due to family troubles (along with much fighting amongst family members). Ernest then went to work for Henry Borneman for a few months; Borneman told him he would make him a partner.

In the meantime, Ernest met a young lady, Miss Frances Cabrera, an employee of Daly Brothers. They fell in love and decided to marry.

Ernest and Frances Burger were married Oct. 18,1925.

On Sunday, Oct. 18, 1925, Father Ryan married the couple at St. Bernard’s Church. Soon after, they went to the “big city” of San Francisco for a week’s honeymoon. While there, they purchased furniture for their home Ernest had bought at 2807 J St. When they arrived home, Ernest went down to work at the store, but when he arrived, Borneman told him he no longer had a job there.

That was quite a blow. Ernest told a friend he had no job and wondered what he could do. This man told him to see Frank Heath, the man running the neighborhood store on Harris and California streets; the grocer reportedly wanted to sell the business. Ernest did go and asked Heath if he would sell. Heath said, “Make an offer for the stock.” Ernest made a deal to buy the stock for $2,000, with so much being paid a month. Ernest and Frances went to work and made the store look much better. The couple began to make it pay. After about two years, they later made a deal to purchase the building from its owners, the Dolf family. This deal was made through Bert Pettengill Real Estate.

The upstairs happened to be vacant, so Ernest and his wife got busy, cleaned it up and moved in. Later they sold their home on J Street.

The California streetcar came to the end of its line at Harris Street. The trolley would be “changed around,” then the car would head back downtown. A good many people would wait for the streetcar in front of Ernest’s store; this helped business. Lincoln Elementary School was one block away and, as a result, the couple did a big business with the children: Cracker Jacks, jaw breakers, all-day suckers, licorice whips, chewing gum, marbles, etc.

Several men would come into the store in the mornings to sit around the big old stove, smoke and spin tales of days gone by. One good customer, Joseph L. O’Conner, a carpenter, offered to build Ernest and Frances a new home on a vacant lot adjacent to their store. They accepted the offer and a new home was built. They rented this house out for a few years. During the 1950s, they had the house moved to 2860 C St., where they reside today. They have enlarged the structure and turned it into a beautiful home. The area by the store was made into a parking lot for the customers.

Ernest and Frances opened their store at 6 in the morning and closed it at 10 at night. They worked hard keeping this store open and made many changes to keep up with the times. They also gave credit to most of their customers. Most people paid their bill once a month when they got paid, though some never paid. The couple went through both good and bad times there, and can tell many stories of things that happened over 40 long years. They have seen Harris Street when it was a graveled and dirt road traversed by horses and wagons. Once there were redwood plank sidewalks on one side only.

In 1968 Ernest and his wife decided to retire. They offered their daughter. Rose Ann Hurst, and their youngest son, Tom Burger, the store. The two took over the store and kept it going until 1993. The store building is now rented to a Youths Service Bureau.

The Burgers had four children: Rose Ann, Arthur, John and Tom. They now have 20 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. These off-spring have all done well and made the Burgers very proud.

Ernest has been very active in his church, as well as the St. Vincent DePaul store. He credits his longevity and good health to his active life, his decision not to smoke or pick up other bad habits, and his daily walks of two miles or more, weather permitting.

I am grateful to know such a couple and have them as friends.

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The piece above was printed in the Summer 1994 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.