Poglavnikova Slika.
The question is:
“What stands out as one of your most meaningful projects”?
My dear grandchildren, I am very happy to answer this very important question that interests you about what your grandfather “Babu” Mile Boban did as the most important projects in his construction work.
When I lived in Croatia, in my village of Bobanova Draga where I was born, my jobs were more field and heavy work than construction. In Slovenia, in Mislinja and Slovenjgradec, I worked a little on construction roads. While I was working there, I received a letter from my parents, father Petr and mother Iva, in which they sent me an invitation from the Yugoslav army that I had to join the army for two years and that I had to register at the military office in Mostar by the end of September 1959. As soon as I saw that, I swore and said to myself that as long as I live, a soldier’s cap with a communist five-pointed red star will not be on my head.
My neighbor and friend Jerko Boban, nicknamed “Kukić” (1934-1994), worked with me in Slovenia. I showed him the letter and said that I was fleeing across the border to Italy, then across Italy to the city of Nice in the south of France, where my sister Jakica lived and worked as a nurse. Jerko immediately and without much thought told me exactly this: “Pajdo = Crony, I’m going with you because I don’t want to live under the Yugoslav Stalinist communist regime either. I want to share your fate with you, both good and bad.”
On Sunday, September 6, 1959, Jerko and I headed for the town of Koper, which bordered Italy. That city was very strictly guarded by the Yugoslav border military guard, because many fled to Italy and further and further through that city. As we were working in Slovenia near the Italian border, we had a mandatory border permit for a border walk. As tourists, we rented a hotel room there to spend the night. We didn’t have any problems because the official permits protected us. The hotel was not far from the Yugoslav-Italian border, maybe an hour’s walk, but over hills and forests, all the way to the border. We got up at 3 in the morning, crossed the border around 4 and a half, now we are in Italy and free. We arrived in Trieste, took a bus to Turin, and from Turin a train to Cuneo, a city not far from the French border. It took us 4 days to cross the hills and mountains to reach the city of Nice where my sister Jakica was. We arrived on Thursday, September 10, 1959. We were there with my sister Jakica for ten days. There in the southern region of France, the Department of Alpes Maritimes, the authorities did not want to issue us papers as refugees against Yugoslavia. In order not to be extradited to Yugoslavia, we secretly arrived in Paris in three days.
I lived there in Paris until I left for America, Monday, December 9, 1968. The first job I did there was as a waiter in a restaurant. That job was not for me, so in 1971 I found a job as a carpenter and worked for 4 years for the Standard Building Company. I got good training in the construction business there in 1975. This year I opened the construction company BOBAN, and I started working for myself 16 hours a day instead of 8 hours for others.
My first significant construction project was a 4-story building at 415 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco. That building was built in 1871. It was located right in front of the South San Francisco City Hall building. It was in a very dilapidated state. The city of South San Francisco has officially decided to tear it down. Through my real estat agent, I found out about that ad and bought that building. I convinced South San Francisco city officials that I would fix that building up so that it would look like new construction. They agreed with me signing a contract that it would be like that, which I signed. All this can be checked today via google. It took me almost a year to get all the official building permits. It also took me a full 19 months to complete that work. The opening was on Saturday, October 18, 1980.
My other significant construction job was in Vacaville, near Sacramento where I built 4 buildings, each with 24 apartments, for a total of 96 apartments.
My third significant construction job was in the capital of Texas, Austin. There I was building 45 thousand square feet of two buildings for GEORGES COFFEY LINCOLN MERCURY. One building was for the exhibition and sale of cars, while the other was for storage, repairs and car washing. It was one of my most significant projects. Why, one might ask? The state of Texas is the second largest state by area, the first being Alaska. Since it was one of the most important buildings in the state of Texas, many curious people, such as journalists, TV reporters, city officials of the city of Austin, and many passers-by who saw the large official billboard on Highway 35 from Dallas to Corpus Christi, stopped, took pictures and asked questions about the magnificent GEORGES COFFEY LINCOLN MERCURY building.
My dear grandchildren, I hope I have explained a little to your question above.
Pitanje je:
„Što se najviše ističe kao jedan od Vaših najznačajnijih projekata“?
Dragi moji unuci, vrlo rado odgovaram na ovo vrlo važno pitanje koje vas zanima što je vaš djed “Babu” Mile Boban napravio kao najvažnije projekte u svom graditeljskom radu.
Dok sam živio u Hrvatskoj, u svom selu Bobanova Draga gdje sam rođen, moji su poslovi bili više poljski i težački poslovi nego građevinski. U Sloveniji, u Mislinji i Slovenj Gradcu, malo sam radio na izgradnji cesta. Dok sam tamo radio, dobio sam pismo od roditelja, oca Petra i majke Ive, u kojem su mi poslali poziv iz jugoslavenske vojske da moram ići u vojsku na dvije godine i da se moram prijaviti u vojsku u ured u Mostaru do kraja rujna 1959. Čim sam to vidio, zakleo sam se i rekao sam sebi da dok sam ja živ, vojnička kapa s komunističkom crvenom zvijezdom petokrakom neće biti na mojoj glavi.
Sa mnom je u Sloveniji radio moj susjed i prijatelj Jerko Boban zvani Kukić (1934.-1994.). Pokazala sam mu pismo i rekla da bježim preko granice u Italiju, pa preko Italije u grad Nicu na jugu Francuske, gdje živi moja sestra Jakica i radi kao medicinska sestra. Jerko mi je odmah i bez puno razmišljanja rekao upravo ovako: “Pajdo (Crony), idem s tobom jer ni ja ne želim živjeti pod jugoslavenskim staljinističkim komunističkim režimom. Želim s tobom dijeliti tvoju sudbinu, oboje. dobar i loš.”
U nedjelju, 6. rujna 1959., Jerko i ja krenuli smo prema gradu Kopru, koji je graničio s Italijom. Taj grad je vrlo strogo čuvala jugoslavenska granična vojna straža, jer su mnogi bježali u Italiju i kroz taj grad sve dalje. Kako smo radili u Sloveniji blizu talijanske granice, imali smo obaveznu graničnu dozvolu za šetnju po granici. Tu smo kao turisti iznajmili hotelsku sobu da prenoćimo. Nismo imali nikakvih problema jer su nas službene dozvole štitile. Hotel je bio nedaleko od jugoslavensko-talijanske granice, možda sat vremena hoda, ali preko brda i šuma, sve do granice. Ustali smo u 3 ujutro ujutro, prešli granicu oko 4 i pol sata, sada smo u Italiji i slobodni. Stigli smo u Trst, uzeli autobus do Torina, a iz Torina vlakom do Cunea, grada nedaleko od francuske granice. Trebalo nam je 4 dana da pređemo brda i planine do grada Nice gdje je bila moja sestra Jakica. Došli smo u četvrtak 10. rujna 1959. Tu smo sa sestrom Jakicom bili deset dana. Tamo u južnoj regiji Francuske, departmentu Alpes Maritimes, vlasti nam nisu htjele izdati papire kao izbjeglicama protiv Jugoslavije. Da nas ne bi izručili Jugoslaviji, tajno smo za tri dana stigli u Pariz.
Tamo sam živio u Parizu do odlaska u Ameriku, u ponedjeljak, 9. prosinca 1968. Prvi posao koji sam radio bio je konobar u restoranu. Taj posao nije bio za mene, pa sam se 1971. godine zaposlio kao stolar i 4 godine radio u Standard Building Company. Tu sam na tom poslu do 1975. godine stekao dobru građevinsku obuku i otvorio sam građevinsku tvrtku BOBAN, počeo sam raditi za sebe 16 sati dnevno umjesto 8 sati za druge.
Moj prvi značajan građevinski projekt bila je zgrada od 4 kata na 415 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco. Ta je zgrada građena 1871. Nalazila se je točno ispred zgrade gradske vijećnice južnog San Francisca. Zgrada je bila u vrlo trošnjom stanju. Grad South San Francisco službeno ga je odlučio srušiti. Preko mog prodavača kuća saznao sam za taj oglas i kupio tu zgradu. Uvjerio sam gradske dužnosnike južnog grada San Francisca da ću popraviti tu zgradu tako da izgleda kao novogradnja. Dogovorili smo se i da potpišem ugovor da će tako biti, što sam i potpisao. Sve se to danas možete provjeriti putem google. Trebalo mi je gotovo godinu dana da dobijem sve službene građevinske dozvole. Također mi je trebalo punih 19 mjeseci da završim taj posao. Otvorenje je bilo u subotu 18.10.1980.
Moj drugi značajan građevinski posao bio je u Vacavilleu, u blizini Sacramenta, gdje sam gradio 4 zgrade, svaka je imala 24 stana, što je ukupno 96 stanova.
Moj treći značajan građevinski posao bio je u glavnom gradu Teksasa, Austinu. Tamo sam gradio 45 tisuća četvornih stopa (što je nešto više od 5 tisuća četvornih metara) dvije zgrade za GEORGES COFFEY LINCOLN MERCURY. Jedna zgrada je bila za izložbu i prodaju automobila, a druga za skladištenje, popravke i pranje automobila. Bio je to jedan od mojih najznačajnijih projekata. Zašto, moglo bi se pitati? Država Teksasa je druga najveća država po površini, prva je Aljaska. Budući da se radilo o jednoj od najvažnijih građevina u državi Teksas, brojni znatiželjnici, poput novinara, TV reportera, gradskih dužnosnika grada Austina, te brojni prolaznici koji su vidjeli jedan veliki službeni plakat na autocesti 35 iz smjera Dallasa do Korpus Kristi, zaustavljali su se, slikali i postavljali pitanja o veličanstvenoj zgradi GEORGE COFFEY LINCOLN MERCURY
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