One of the leading automobile dealerships in Southern California today, Bozzani Motors debuted in 1911 as a modest bicycle shop located at 632 North Main Street, next door to the Italian Hall. An advance in capital allowed brothers Amerigo, Joe, and Carlo Bozzani to open a showroom selling Overland and Willys-Knight automobiles on North Broadway in the heart of Little Italy. The dealership sold 2,200 automobiles in 1928 alone. Brother Amerigo Bozzani would later become a California Highway Commissioner who oversaw the construction of the state’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The company, today located in Covina, remains proudly family owned.
This is one of the thousands of rare and one-of-a-kind photographs in the Italian American Museum’s collection, the only of its kind in the region.
To learn more about our collection, donate photos or other artifacts, or support the collection’s preservation, visit www.italianhall.org or call 213.485.8432.
The mission of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles is to foster understanding of Southern California’s diverse heritage through research, historic preservation, exhibitions and educational programs that examine the history and continuing contributions of Italian Americans in multi-ethnic Los Angeles and the United States.
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