On this date in 1941, Nick Dovalis contributed to the war effort by donating all his receipts from noon to 9 pm at from his Long Beach restaurant, The Olympia Cafe, and his barely 5 months old Dovalis Ranch House Cafe in Seal Beach to the Red Cross.
Pearl Harbor was bombed on the morning of December 7th, and the United States suddenly found itself officially part of a World War. On December 12th, Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued a proclamation for the Red Cross to raise a minimum of $ 50,000,000 war fund and appealed to the American people to help make the campaign a success. The $ 50,000,000 had been set by the Red Cross back on December 10th, so the proclamation was less an imperious edict and more an effort by FDR to use his bully pulpit to publicize the Red Cross campaign.
Orange County’s quota for the Red Cross was set at $42,500, and Nick Dovalis gave Seal Beach diners a tasty chance to contribute towards the quota.
– Michael Dobkins
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