The social side of life in the prosperous and comfortable home town of Pomona has not failed to attract to that city many proficient in callings having to do with entertainment and pleasures, and among these enterprising providers should be mentioned John Dovolos, of the firm of Dovolos Brothers, proprietors of the well-known Athenian Confectionary at the corner of First Street and Garey Avenue, with a branch store at Ontario. He was born at Sparta, Greece, on October 25, 1889, and as even a small boy started to learn candy making in his native land. No better school could ever have been selected, for as Americans now know, the Greeks are among the most proficient candy makers in the world.
At the age of fourteen, when many boys are still poring lazily over their books, Mr. Dovolos came to the United States and for a while located at Minneapolis, where he went to school and rapidly learned the English language. He also finished in that city his apprenticeship as a candy maker, his instructor and employer being P. Bozolos, one of the best-known confectioners of the Northwest; and when he was well-equipped to grapple with the world, he came West, in 1907, with his older brother Andrew.
Fortunately coming to Pomona, a town always appreciative of good things, the two brothers bought out the Olympian Candy Store on East Second Street, in the Central Hotel Block, and there, with just ninety-five dollars capital, they started to found their fortune. So well did they invest their principal, so clever were they in what they set out before the inquiring public, that their trade grew rapidly from the start, and now they own two of the leading candy stores in the Valley. Experts in their line, they make all of the candy that they sell; and they are thus able often to offer the "home-made" confectionary so much in demand today. After a year and a half in this first shop, they moved to their present store at the favorable location at Garey Avenue and First Street. The Ontario store is managed by Andrew Dovolos. John Dovolos at one time owned an orange and lemon grove in the San Dimas district, and at present he owns valuable Los Angeles real estate. Another brother, George Dovolos, is also a member of the firm, and is located at the Pomona store. He served for two years in the Greek cavalry in the recent Balkan War, and was twice wounded. He has been in Pomona for three years.
John Dovolos also has a fine war record, of which he is justly proud. He enlisted in the great World War on April 28, 1918, a member of the Three Hundred Sixty-third Machine Gun Company, Ninety-first Division, and this division did some of the best and hardest fighting in the war. It was known, in fact, as the Wild West Division, and it lived up to its reputation for aggression. It was trained at Camp Lewis, went over-seas, and took part in four important battles, the most noted of which was the Battle of the Argonne. Mr. Dovolos was hit three times, and had his helmet shot off, and for nine days and nights he was in the Argonne Forest. Such was the terrific ordeal to which he and his co-fighters were subjected, that only forty-four of his company were left out of two hundred men. Altogether, he was three months at the front, and in that time 105 prisoners were taken by his company. He brought back many curios, among which is a German helmet taken from a German he killed. While in camp in France, he made candy for his company out of sugar and chocolate, and named the same the Argonne Forest Candy; and it is safe to say that never has his art given greater satisfaction than to the soldier boys so far from home. Fraternally Mr. Dovolos is a member of Woodmen of the World.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 1/13/09, Pages 760-761
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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