In he changed his name to Levi and in he became an American citizen. When California Gold Rush began he decided to go west and to open a West Coast branch of the family dry goods business in San Francisco in early March He became a well-known figure in the city being active in the business and cultural life of San Francisco and supporting the Jewish community, he himself being of German Jewish descent.
One of his costumers was Jacob W. Davis, a Reno, Nevada tailor. Strauss got a letter from him in In that letter Davis told him about the new way he was making pants from duck and denim.
When he was around the age of sixteen, Strauss lost his father to tuberculosis. He, his mother, and two sisters made their way to the United States two years later. Jonas and Louis had established a dry goods business there and Levi went to work for them. The California Gold Rush of led many to travel out west to seek their fortune.
Strauss was no exception. In early , he headed out to San Francisco to sell goods to the thriving mining trade. Strauss ran his own wholesale dry goods company as well as acted as his brothers' West Coast agent.
Using a series of different locations in the city over the years, he sold clothing, fabric, and other items to small shops in the region. As his business thrived, Strauss supported numerous religious and social causes. He helped establish the first synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, in the city.
Strauss also gave money to several charities, including special funds for orphans. A customer, Jacob Davis, wrote to Strauss in , asking for his help. Davis, a tailor in Nevada, had bought cloth from Strauss for his own business and developed a special way to make more durable pants. Davis used metal rivets on the pockets and on the front fly seam to help the pants resist wear and tear.
Unable to cover the cost himself, Davis asked Strauss to pay the fee so that he could secure a patent for his unique design. The following year, the patent was granted to Strauss and Davis. Strauss believed that there would be a great demand for these "waist overalls" as he called them, but they are best known today as blue jeans. Strauss and Stern set up their first store near the wharves on Sacramento Street, where they sold dry goods sent to them by the Strauss brothers in New York and clothing sewn in San Francisco.
Because the arrival of goods by sea was so unpredictable, Strauss also bought goods whenever he got the chance, at auctions held on just-arrived ships. He also traveled to many places in northern California, selling goods to miners. Soon after Strauss had arrived in San Francisco, the Jewish residents of the city began collecting money to build a synagogue.
Strauss and Stern donated money to the cause and became members of Temple Emanu-El, a congregation that still exists today. Strauss and another Bavarian Jew, Louis Sloss, donated a real gold medal to the temple each year, to be awarded to the child with the best grades in the Sabbath school. The wholesale company sold clothing, dry goods, linens, boots, and shoes.
Many items were imported from Europe. The company manufactured some of its wares. Some of the firm's most popular items were denim work pants. The company distributed the fabric to seamstresses, who sewed the "waist high overalls" in their homes.
Besides making and selling goods, Levi Strauss and Co. On October 21, a strong earthquake struck San Francisco. Strauss' new headquarters was still standing, but badly damaged. He and Stern began planning another building on Battery Street.
By , Strauss was a millionaire and had earned a considerable reputation as a businessman and a philanthropist in San Francisco. He was a member of the Eureka Benevolent Society, a Jewish charitable organization that helped orphans, widows and the needy. With help from Temple Emanu-El, the society raised money to create a Jewish cemetery.
In , Strauss became a member of the California Immigrant Union, founded to promote California products and to encourage immigration from Europe and the East Coast. In , Strauss established 28 scholarships at the University of California and donated money to the California School for the Deaf.
Strauss enjoyed the cultural events of the city, such as theaters, concerts and social and literary clubs. He also liked giving elegant dinner parties for his friends in private dining rooms at the Saint Francis Hotel. Strauss had the reputation of being fair, honest and unpretentious.
He wanted his employees to call him "Levi," rather than "Mr. One tale recalls Alkali Ike, a miner, and how he constantly tore his pants pockets by stuffing them with ore. Davis wanted to patent his invention, but lacked the money needed to do so. My nabors are getting yealouse of these success and unless I secure it by Patent Papers it will soon become a general thing.
Everybody will make them up and thare will be no money in it. Therefore Gentlemen, I wish to make you a Proposition that you should take out the Latters Patent in my name as I am the inventor of it. Davis came to work for Strauss, overseeing the firm's first West Coast manufacturing facility.
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