About Anthony's
At age 17, with today's equivalent of $40 in his pocket, Anthony Bizzarri left his family, friends and native Italy for New York.
After three years of working for $1.50 a day, and an unfortunate run-in with a pick-pocket in Philadelphia, Anthony managed to save enough money to move to Southern California.
Arriving in California in 1906, Anthony found a job peddling pasta door-to-door to housewives in the Little Italy district of Los Angeles for the Eastside Macaroni Company. He eventually bought a horse and wagon, going into business for himself.
Anthony later used his trademark ingenuity to speed up deliveries by converting a Model T truck into a delivery vehicle.
After 10 years of delivering pasta, Anthony bought property with business partner Ralph Raulli. Together, they built a pasta factory, which they named the L.A. Macaroni Company, to make their own top-quality pasta. The huge pasta presses at the factory reportedly shook so hard that the new employees often thought they were in the middle of an earthquake!
It was at the L.A. Macaroni Company that Anthony became well-known for cooking up pasta dinners in the basement for his employees. He even served his famous pasta dinners to the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team after their historic move from Brooklyn.
In 1927, Anthony bought out Raulli's share of the business, renaming the company Anthony's.
As the business grew, Anthony bought the first modern pasta press west of St. Louis. (No doubt much quieter than the pasta presses at the L.A. Macaroni Company!)
Unbelievably, the business continued to soar during the Depression. People turned to the affordability and nutritional value of pasta to make great family meals on a budget.
Though times have certainly changed, Anthony's remains proud to continue the tradition of providing families with high-quality, affordable pasta.
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