Sidewalk maker: L. Scaramelli

Livio Giovanni Scaramelli (1902–1969) was born in Lucca and emigrated from Italy at age five to Alameda with his mother Maria, joining his father Pietro who had emigrated five years before. He went by Lee John Scaramelli off and on during his life. He married Alma Ballwanz at age 22, at which time he worked as a welder. His father died in 1915 and in 1923 his mother married tile worker Antonio “Anthony” Falcier (1870–1949), another Italian immigrant, who trained Livio in his business, and in 1924 he appeared in the directory as a tilesetter. By 1926 he’d changed his listing to cement contractor and started to advertise in the papers. He moved a few times in Alameda, but from 1934 to 1949 he was at 815 Santa Clara Avenue before relocating to Walnut Creek. He advertised his services (for patios and floors) as late as 1957. He died in Carson City, Nevada.

In 1938 a newspaper puff piece said about him, “‘Lasting Satisfaction’ is his motto, and the only order he gives the five men working for him is: ‘The best is none too good.’ . . . [He] has the gold of kindness in his nature . . . is never a backslider in boosting the home town and would find friends even on Robinson Crusoe’s island.”

L. Scaramelli sidewalk stamps have dates from 1927 to 1954. In the 1940s he drew his dates by hand in a sure, elegant script.

They all have a period—“Scaramelli.”—at the end.

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