Founded in 1941 as Goode and Schroeder, Inc. it was one of the few privately owned asphalt companies in Los Angeles. In 1977 the company changed its name to California Paving and Grading, Inc. and remains one of the rare privately owned firms servicing the Los Angeles region. 1977 was also the year that California Paving and Grading’s current president, Foster Dennis came to work for the company. Over the near thirty years Foster has been with California Paving and Grading he has seen a number of changes occur within the industry. “I’m one of the old-timers who can remember the days when Vulcan (Industrial Asphalt) had their trucks on standby for contractors,” Foster remarked candidly.

The company has served a number of clients in both the public works and private industry. Over the years California Paving and Grading has worked on a wide variety of high profile projects from Newport Beach’s famed Fashion Island to the roadway used in the runaway crane action sequence in Terminator III. In 1997 while constructing the Metro subway-line, the Los Angeles MTA had a major sinkhole on Hollywood Boulevard. It was California Paving and Grading who handled the repairs of this major Hollywood artery. This type of project was a true exhibition of the company’s ability to step up to the plate in a major emergency. 10,000 cubic yards of slurry were brought in to fill the hole and paving was completed in a week’s time.

(Above) California Paving and Grading just completed work on a major parking lot refurbish at CBS Studios in Studio City.

California Paving and Grading has just completed work on a major parking lot refurbish project at CBS studios in Studio City. The job called for California Paving and Grading to remove 500 cubic yards of unclassified fill. The company then imported 1,000 tons of base material and 750 tons of asphalt to cover the 45,000 square feet that comprise the studio’s parking lot. In addition to the asphalt work the company also put in new concrete sidewalks and curbing. Once again faced with the extremely tight deadline of a week to complete or face daily charges for liquidated damages on their contract, California Paving and Grading handled the project with the swift professionalism that has made them recognized as an industry leader. To be able to meet the time requirements the company put on a six man grading crew, a seven man concrete crew and a seven man asphalt crew.

California Paving and Grading has also recently completed another parking lot project. This job was for the Nike industrial complex on Hayden St. in Culver City. The project called for the removal of 1,200 cubic yards of unclassified fill matter. 1,000 tons of base material as well as 1,000 tons of asphalt were then brought in to complete the project.

In addition the many parking lot jobs they are working on, California Paving and Grading also has a number of street widening projects they are currently involved with throughout the Los Angeles’ Westside area. The company is removing the existing curb and gutters in order to widen the street for an extra lane and then put in new curbing. This work is being carried out at Santa Monica Blvd. and Federal, Federal and Iowa, Fox Hills Drive, Missouri and West Holmes Blvd. and at Barrington Blvd. and Nebraska. The various projects each require the removal of approximately 100 yards of unclassified material and the replacement of between 100-200 tons of asphalt.

(Above) The California Paving and Grading crew use a New Holland skip loader on the CBS Studio parking lot rehabilitation project.

To be able to carry out the number of projects and handle tight deadlines California Paving and Grading has 57 field employees and an office staff of twelve. Among those employees who have played a key roll in making the company the success it is are General Superintendent Barry Palmer and Paving Foreman, Abad “Primo” Gamez. Barry oversees all of the company’s street and paving projects. He has been with the company for six years. “Primo” was the main paving foreman of the CBS parking lot project. Gamez is another of California Paving and Grading’s long time employees having worked for the company some twenty-five years.

In addition to the company’s knowledgeable and experienced crews California Paving and Grading has a large inventory of equipment in order to be able to keep up with the pace of being a major paving company in the Los Angeles region. Among their equipment inventory the company currently has a new Pro Paver 780 WB. They also have two Blaw-Knox 180H pavers and a Cedar Rapids 451 paver. In addition they have six Ingersoll-Rand DB 22 rollers, a Bomag BW 100 AD roller as well as a fleet of 4700 International trucks. The company has a long standing relationship with Jack Rogers of Nixon-Egli for their equipment needs. California Paving and Grading maintains their own maintenance crew to ensure that all their machinery is top working order.

(Above) The finished project at CBS Studios.

Even with a solid equipment inventory and skilled crews California Paving and Grading still faces many of the same challenges that others in the asphalt industry must contend with. Over the years the hard realities of a changing industry have hit home hard. There are no longer locally owned suppliers, a fact which creates a particularly tough challenge to have to contend with. “One of the biggest challenges we face is what I would call basic customer service,” said Foster. “There are no longer any locally owned suppliers. As such we are all treated like just another number. Sometimes there is as much as a two week backlog on getting your material. This really creates havoc with schedules. In the case of an emergency like the work done on Hollywood Blvd. it can be almost an impossible task to get the necessary supply you need. Their have been projects where we had to go all the way to Corona in order to obtain our asphalt supply.”

(Above) One of the crew compacts the asphalt at the CBS Studios project.

Foster Dennis takes such challenges in stride. “I really enjoy the fact that each day we are working on a different project. Working on a different job everyday offers its own set of challenges and makes what we do interesting as opposed to doing the exact same type of work day after day.” In addition to keeping pace with an ever changing industry and a wide variety of projects Foster is also a collector of John Wayne memorabilia. “I was just a kid in high school working on a paving job out on Bay Shore Drive in Newport Beach when I meet John Wayne back in 1973. I was going to Glendale High at the time and mentioned it to him.” Wayne being a graduate himself of the high school invited Foster to have lunch with him at his house. That was the beginning of a life long friendship that continued right up until Wayne’s death in 1979. Among the many items Foster has in his vast collection include John Wayne’s private phone book which included the private numbers of many Hollywood stars and even a few United States Presidents.

Much like “The Duke” was a veritable Hollywood institution, California Paving and Grading is likewise a veritable institution in the southern California asphalt industry. The company has provided over six decades of quality service and expertise in paving and concrete work for the Los Angeles region. Cc