A circa 1880s view of Capitola Wharf, originally known as Soquel Landing Wharf when it was built in 1857 by Frederick Augustus (F.A.) Hihn. When immigrant fishermen, mostly from Riva Trigoso, Italy, arrived in Capitola in the mid-1870s, F.A. Hihn leased them property at the foot of his wharf. Soon a collection of wooden shacks sprang up. The Italians were soon joined by a few Irish, Portuguese and German fishermen who sent daily catches to local markets or to San Francisco by train. The small fishing colony, composed of about 20 boats, flourished for several decades, but the deteriorating condition of Hihn’s wharf led most of the Italian fishermen to relocate to the new and larger Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf by 1918.
