Miramar of California

Miramar of California manufactured a tremendous number of ceramic products in East Los Angeles. Beginning production in 1950, they cranked out an amazing variety of decorative and utilitarian products for roughly the next seventeen years. A conversion to "Melmac" production was begun in the mid-1960s and ceramics were phased out later that decade.

Miramar of California was owned by Robert Weber who purchased the property and built the facilities in 1949. The first products (in 1950) were Asian-themed figural planters and TV lamps. These were quickly followed by the "Bamboo" line (pic 2), a line with about a dozen items. The "Bamboo" line is one of the few Miramar products that did not have metal components. Sharing the property, and possibly also owned by Mr. Weber, was the Eastside Metal & Plating Company and most Miramar products were marketed with metal components. Without its metal component, most Miramar is incomplete.

A side note about Eastside - they provided the metal components for Bauer "Speckware". Not the only Bauer connection - Tracy Irwin did some design work for Miramar.

Most Miramar will be marked. The 1950s in-mold marks often have a copyright date included. The dates were phased out in the 1960s. Their iconic crab-like casserole dishes (pic 4) are '60s products - the ceramic handles were phased out pretty quickly. The other pictures are but a small sample of the variety of colors and products Miramar produced.