The Tube Top: American Immigrant Entrepreneurism
I loved this story by Pagan Kennedy in The New York Times about fashion magnate Eli Tahari, who arrived here from Iran in the 1970s and says he had less then $100 in his pocket and slept on park benches. He discovered the tube top and turned it into an empire:

According to fashion lore, a manufacturing error resulted in a pile of fabric tubes, and some of these mistakes ended up in a New York store owned by a garment trader named Murray Kleid. Tahari discovered his first tubes in Kleid's store, on sale for $2 each. "Murray Kleid didn't know it was fashion," Tahari says. But Tahari knew that these bandeaus -- made of puckered, Indian-print gauze shot through with elastic -- would be a hit. He bought piles of tubes from Kleid and resold them for $3 to $4.

"It was an East Village happening. 'I am not wearing a bra! I am a modern hippie girl!' " Tahari said with a hoot, recalling his clients. Around that time, Tahari sneaked into a trade show and, lacking an exhibitor's pass, set up his display in the hall. "I came with my bags of tubes and pictures showing how to wear them," he said. A swarming crowd grabbed order forms as fast as he could hand them out. When security officers tried to bust up the mob, Tahari just moved to another hallway. By the end of the day, he had orders for thousands.

"That was the beginning of my wholesale-fashion career," he said. With the help of a friend, he started a manufacturing operation to churn out tubes in 1973. Eventually orders came in from Africa, South America and Asia.

In 1974, he opened a boutique, and women flocked there for his dresses and halters. He continued to sell his tube tops wholesale. It was the era of "Saturday Night Fever," and Tahari drew his inspiration from nights spent at Studio 54, where he would bring his designs for his friends to wear. "It was totally disco," he said of why the tube top caught on worldwide.

What are some other stories of Americans or new arrivals on our shores making good without the help of family money or anything but their wits?