Hermosa Tile's history to go on display at museum
New exhibit explores the importance of pottery to beach city's early economy
Theodore C. Prouty moved to the South Bay in the early part of the 20th century with the intention of making electric signs.
But, according to a local historian, he instead opened the Proutyline Products Co. factory — which became the first big economic driver in Hermosa Beach.
The factory, which opened in 1922, produced Hermosa Tile and operated until 1937 on Pier Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, the current site of a Vons grocery store, said Mark Shoemaker, historian and Hermosa Beach Museum board member.
And now local history lovers can learn more about Prouty and Hermosa Tile. Shoemaker hosted a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, which acted as a prelude to next week's opening of a new exhibit titled “Proutyline Products: The Story of `Hermosa Tile' and the Prouty Family” at the Hermosa Beach Museum.
That exhibit, which Shoemaker helped curate, will open March 31.
Shoemaker said his interest in Prouty, who was also responsible for the opening of Metlox Pottery in Manhattan Beach in 1927, began when he started researching what economies drove the development of Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.
“Originally,” Shoemaker said, “Hermosa and Manhattan were just weigh stations on the rail lines for investors to try and get people to buy property out here, where there was no real economies.”
After the Proutyline factory opened, Prouty patented processes and equipment for tile production. He had around 100 people working for him, but T.C., as he was known, sold the business to the American Encaustic Tiling Co., based in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1926.
That same year, American Encaustic Tiling enlarged the factory and “Hermosa” was trademarked.
But the Great Depression, which began with the Oct. 29, 1929, Wall Street crash, caused the company financial difficulties.
American Encaustic Tiling ran the company until 1933, when it was sold to Gladding McBeach, which ran the company in the city until they moved it to their Glendale plant in 1937, Shoemaker said.
Prouty, meanwhile, established Metlox Pottery in 1926 as a division of Proutyline Products.
Prouty's Metlox Pottery started making electric signs, which became Manhattan Beach's biggest industry, Shoemaker said.
“They made ceramic letters that were lit by neon,” the historian said, “and he ended up selling his concept to several of the large movie theater palaces in Los Angeles.”
The company's neon also was used locally, including at Hermosa Beach's Metropolitan Theatre.
Over the decades, the Metropolitan changed names as a movie theater, including to the Bijou Theatre, but is now Chase Bank on Hermosa Avenue.
Metlox Pottery stopped making signs around 1936, Shoemaker said.
Metlox began what it became famous for in 1932, California Pottery, when Willis Prouty, T.C.'s son, introduced clay dinnerware, as well as ceramic horse and carriage figurines.
“They decided they were going to take their skills of making things out of ceramic and started making dinnerware,” Shoemaker said. “And that's when they started California Pottery and their first product line was called Poppy Trail.”
The Manhattan Beach factory closed in 1989. It was bulldozed and is now the location of Shade Hotel, Met
lox Plaza and the city's police and fire stations.
Shoemaker, a board member of the historical societies in Hermosa and Manhattan, also worked on a webinar that can be seen on YouTube, called “South Bay Origins,” that covers South Bay history dating back to Native Americans.
The exhibit, like the Wednesday webinar, mostly covers the Prouty family's time in Hermosa Beach, Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker said he hopes to follow up on a future exhibit/lecture on Metlox sometime in the future.
The exhibit's official opening is set for 6 p.m. March 31 at the Hermosa Beach Museum, 710 Pier Ave. The museum is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays, without appointment.
For more information, go to hermosabeachhistoricalsociety.org.