Jacuzzis

Around 1900, seven brothers named Jacuzzi emigrated from Italy to the United States. They eventually settled on the West Coast in Berkeley, California and became machinists. One of them, Rachele, began making airplane propellers, inspired by an airshow he saw at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in nearby San Francisco. He and his brothers created an airplane manufacturing company in Berkeley called "Jacuzzi Bros.," which remained in business until 1976, although their product line changed over the years.

In 1925, as a result of a crash of one of their planes in 1921 en route between Yosemite and San Francisco, which killed brother Giocondo, Jacuzzi Bros. stopped making airplanes. Rachele turned the company's know-how in making hydraulic airplane pumps to the making of a new kind of deep well agricultural pump.

In 1948, brother Candido used the company's expertise in pumps to develop a submersible bathtub pump for his son who had contracted rheumatoid arthritis in 1943 at the age of 15 months. Jacuzzi Bros. marketed this pump, model J-300, in 1955. The son, Kenneth Jacuzzi, eventually came to run the company. During this period, Jack Benny was hired as a spokesman for Jacuzzi.

The J-300 pump was portable and could be placed in any bath enclosure. The medical community immediately saw the benefit of this product for their hydro-therapeutic programs. Physical Therapists and Orthopedists would prescribe their use in clinics and in the home. Hollywood celebrities began making personal use of them, bringing further popularity.

In 1968, Roy Jacuzzi, a grandson of one of the original Jacuzzi brothers, invented the first self-contained, fully-integrated whirlpool bath. In 1970, he created the first outdoor hot tub. Manufacturing remained at the original Berkeley factory until 1976 when it was closed and moved to southern California. That same year, the company's headquarters was moved to Walnut Creek, just east of Berkeley.