In its heyday, the Italian Vineyard Co. boasted more acreage than any vineyard in the world. Now it’s only a memory that surfaces when one hears the name Guasti.

Secondo Guasti was an Italian immigrant who built his wine empire in the Cucamonga Valley and created the town of Guasti. Born in Mombaruzzo in the province of Piedmont, he arrived in Los Angeles in 1883 and founded the vineyard company in 1900. He died in 1927.

Penniless when he arrived, Guasti later lived in a mansion on West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles that was said to have cost $500,000 to build. In the first decade of this century, that was an extravagant sum.