Los Angeles
County
Biographies
DOMINIC
MEAGLIA
Dominic
Meaglia has been characterized as one of the “old fashioned breed”. He is one of today’s rare, truly self-made
men, who without benefit of extensive education or family wealth, has risen
from a penniless immigrant to the president of a company which is now employing
over two hundred people. Dominic Meaglia
came to this country from Italy in 1910 and began as a laborer in the
Washington Iron Works in Los Angeles. In
1920 the day came for which Mr. Meaglia had been saving for ten years; he
opened the American Foundry in Los Angeles with his brother, Sam, who died in
1947, with one man. In the beginning
they had to cook the cores of Mrs. Meaglia’s kitchen stove because the American
Foundry had no oven. Now as the
owner-president of the American Foundry Company, Mr. Meaglia employs one
hundred sixty-five workers at the Los Angeles plant, another forty-five people
at the American Foundry of Arizona at Phoenix, and eight people at the Lido
Pipe and Supply Company in Los Angeles.
In 1960 Mr. Meaglia celebrated his fiftieth year as a foundryman, and on that occasion received a plaque from the
Los Angeles Board of Supervisors and a fifty-year pin from the National
American Foundrymen’s Society, and was the subject of
an editorial in the Los Angeles Mirror-News which praised his “do-it-yourself”
type of citizenship.
Dominic
Meaglia was born on September 5, 1894, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. His father, Dominic Meaglia, who died in
Switzerland, had a hauling business in which he used horses; his mother was Caterina (Cerutti) Meaglia who passed away in Italy. There were three boys and two girls in the
family; one of Mr. Meaglia’s sisters lives in Montebello, the other in a
convent in Italy; a brother, Peter, lives in San Marino and is the superintendent
at the American Foundry Company. The
only education that Dominic Meaglia received was in elementary school up to the
age of eleven. From 1905 until 1910,
during his teens, Mr. Meaglia lived in Italy; he came to the United States when
he was sixteen.
During
World War II Mr. Meaglia was head of the Italian-American war bond drive which
netted over six hundred thousand dollars.
A member of the Garibaldi Society since 1911, he has served that
organization as trustee and director, and was its president in 1931-1932. He was also past master, in 1938, of the
French Lodge Number 329 of the Masonic Order in Los Angeles, and is a Shriner
of the Al Malaikah Temple in Los Angeles and the Pasadena Shrine Club. He has been a member of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 99 in Los Angeles for thirty-eight years and
a member of the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles for twenty years. Mr. Meaglia belongs to the San Gabriel
Country Club, is a member of the Los Angeles Consistory of Scottish Rite, and
is active in both the International Society of Foundrymen and its Southern
California Chapter. In 1956 he started
the South End Sportsmen’s Club at Niland at the end
of the Salton Sea. He has travelled a
great deal with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, including travel to many
foreign countries; he is a member of the One Hundred Thousand Mile Club of
United Airlines. Mr. Meaglia is also a
member of the San Marino City Club.
Dominic
Meaglia was married to the former Miss Katie Bartholomew at a church wedding in
Los Angeles on December 24, 1916. Mrs.
Meaglia travels with her husband all over the world to attend conventions. She is a member of the Italian Women’s Club. Mr. and Mrs. Meaglia have two daughters. Virginia Caterine Meaglia is now Mrs. Arthur Sbicca
and lives in San Marino; she is a graduate of Scripps College. Mr. Arthur Sbicca
is a manufacturer of ladies shoes. The Sbicca’s have three children: Arthur, Jr., Dominic,
and Kathy, who attend San Marino schools.
Jean Theresa Meaglia lives with her parents and is secretary of the
American Foundry Company; she is a graduate of the University of Southern
California. The Meaglia’s have a very
outstanding home in San Marino, which, Mr. Meaglia quips, “…is all
usable.” They also own a home at Lido
Isle, Newport Beach.
As
a hobby, Mr. Meaglia has sponsored the Little League White Sox baseball team in
Pasadena. He also enjoys hunting,
fishing, golf and travelling.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 600-602, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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