The Sacramento Bee, March 31, 1998
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LOCAL POTTER KEEPS THE FIRES BURNING
Ramon Santos strolled through his cool, dimly lit factory, surveying the old brick and steel kiln and the new stacks of red clay
pots neatly lined up along the dusty walls.
“This is the last of the Mohicans,” he said about his pottery company, one of the last of its breed in America.
For more than eight decades, Panama Pottery Inc. has churned out hundreds of thousands of pieces of red clay pottery.
It has operated of out of a striking Titanic-shaped plant marked by a large vent stack towering above the building sitting on
nearly two acres of land, which is wedged between 24th Street and Union Pacific railroad tracks south of Hughes Stadium.
“The old foundries just died. There are not too many left,” explained Santos’ wife, Arselia. “We’re about the only one left
that has the beehive kiln. People live all their life here and don’t know there’s a (pottery) factory in Sacramento.” Panama
Pottery is one of five remaining major pottery manufacturers in the United States – and the only one in the West.
Competition from a flood of imports and new environmental and safety laws have taken a toll on U.S. manufacturers over
the years.
“This is a family operation. We hold our own,” Arselia Santos said.
The company was founded in 1913 by Swedish immigrants intrigued by a pottery making trip to Panama – thus the name
Panama Pottery. Since then, it has sold pottery to retail customers throughout the West.
Santos moved to Sacramento from Brownsville, Texas, in September 1949, and landed a job at the company as an 80-cents-
an-hour pottery maker. After two years, he left and worked various jobs, including driving trucks.
But in March 1958 then-owner Noble Leonard asked Santos to return to Panama Pottery.
After the owner died in 1963, his wife Ouweta Leonard, took over running the plant until her death nine years later. In
1972, the estate’s executor, Wells Fargo Bank, sold the company to Santos.
“Ramon knows ever phase of the operation because he’s done it all himself,” his wife said. “Ramon likes to make things
with his hands. You don’t find anybody who does work like this. This is a dirty job, but a beautiful job.”
At 69, Santos hasn’t slowed down at the factory, which has eight employees. He continues to help mix the red clay, jigger
the pottery and stack the pieces in the two large beehive kilns.
Using a special formula, the plant mixes bags of American red clay in a large tank. Then it is put into a filter press to wring
out the water. After that, the clay is set onto wooden pallets before going into a large mixer that softens the clay which is
later jiggered into a plaster mold.
As the clay pots start to dry, they will shrink inside the molds. Then they are pulled out and put into the main dryer. Once
dry, they are stacked one by one in the kiln and fired at 1,700 to 1,800 degrees for 65 hours to harden. The plant produces
about 30,000 pieces a month ranging from heavy 24-inch bell pots to tiny 1 ¾-inch standard clay pots.
“This will last a lifetime if you don’t drop it,” said Arselia Santos, proudly holding up a piece of pottery with the words
“Panama Pottery, Made in the U.S.A.” stamped on the bottom. “It’s a real art.”
The company, whose owners decline to disclose annual sales, sells the pieces wholesale to retail nurseries and some
specialty shops from Montana to Hawaii. It also sells to the public imperfect pieces at a discount.
“I really like their pottery. It’s a really high quality. It has a different kind of texture on the outside.” Said David York,
president and manager of Little Baja, Inc., a pottery and statuary retailer in Moss Landing near Monterey. Plus, imports from
Mexico are a darker red clay, so Panama Pottery, “gives people variety.”
But after working 40 straight years at the same place, Santos talks about retirement these days and stepping away from
the day-to-day rigors of running a small business. The couple wants to find a buyer to continue the pottery-making tradition
in the capital.
“I like the work – working with my hands and seeing the product come out to the consumer. That’s why I stayed here,”
Santos said. “I’d like to find somebody to keep it going.”
Ramon Santos, who purchased Panama Pottery in 1972, first worked for the company as an 80-cents-an-hour pottery maker
after moving to Sacramento in 1949. It is one of five major pottery makers left in the United States.
Ramon Santos strolled through his cool, dimly lit factory, surveying the old brick and steel kiln and the new stacks of red clay
pots neatly lined up along the dusty walls.
“This is the last of the Mohicans,” he said about his pottery company, one of the last of its breed in America.
For more than eight decades, Panama Pottery Inc. has churned out hundreds of thousands of pieces of red clay pottery.
It has operated of out of a striking Titanic-shaped plant marked by a large vent stack towering above the building sitting on
nearly two acres of land, which is wedged between 24th Street and Union Pacific railroad tracks south of Hughes Stadium.
“The old foundries just died. There are not too many left,” explained Santos’ wife, Arselia. “We’re about the only one left
that has the beehive kiln. People live all their life here and don’t know there’s a (pottery) factory in Sacramento.” Panama
Pottery is one of five remaining major pottery manufacturers in the United States – and the only one in the West.
Competition from a flood of imports and new environmental and safety laws have taken a toll on U.S. manufacturers over
the years.
“This is a family operation. We hold our own,” Arselia Santos said.
The company was founded in 1913 by Swedish immigrants intrigued by a pottery making trip to Panama – thus the name
Panama Pottery. Since then, it has sold pottery to retail customers throughout the West.
Santos moved to Sacramento from Brownsville, Texas, in September 1949, and landed a job at the company as an 80-cents-
an-hour pottery maker. After two years, he left and worked various jobs, including driving trucks.
But in March 1958 then-owner Noble Leonard asked Santos to return to Panama Pottery.
After the owner died in 1963, his wife Ouweta Leonard, took over running the plant until her death nine years later. In
1972, the estate’s executor, Wells Fargo Bank, sold the company to Santos.
“Ramon knows ever phase of the operation because he’s done it all himself,” his wife said. “Ramon likes to make things
with his hands. You don’t find anybody who does work like this. This is a dirty job, but a beautiful job.”
At 69, Santos hasn’t slowed down at the factory, which has eight employees. He continues to help mix the red clay, jigger
the pottery and stack the pieces in the two large beehive kilns.
Using a special formula, the plant mixes bags of American red clay in a large tank. Then it is put into a filter press to wring
out the water. After that, the clay is set onto wooden pallets before going into a large mixer that softens the clay which is
later jiggered into a plaster mold.
As the clay pots start to dry, they will shrink inside the molds. Then they are pulled out and put into the main dryer. Once
dry, they are stacked one by one in the kiln and fired at 1,700 to 1,800 degrees for 65 hours to harden. The plant produces
about 30,000 pieces a month ranging from heavy 24-inch bell pots to tiny 1 ¾-inch standard clay pots.
“This will last a lifetime if you don’t drop it,” said Arselia Santos, proudly holding up a piece of pottery with the words
“Panama Pottery, Made in the U.S.A.” stamped on the bottom. “It’s a real art.”
The company, whose owners decline to disclose annual sales, sells the pieces wholesale to retail nurseries and some
specialty shops from Montana to Hawaii. It also sells to the public imperfect pieces at a discount.
“I really like their pottery. It’s a really high quality. It has a different kind of texture on the outside.” Said David York,
president and manager of Little Baja, Inc., a pottery and statuary retailer in Moss Landing near Monterey. Plus, imports from
Mexico are a darker red clay, so Panama Pottery, “gives people variety.”
But after working 40 straight years at the same place, Santos talks about retirement these days and stepping away from
the day-to-day rigors of running a small business. The couple wants to find a buyer to continue the pottery-making tradition
in the capital.
“I like the work – working with my hands and seeing the product come out to the consumer. That’s why I stayed here,”
Santos said. “I’d like to find somebody to keep it going.”
Ramon Santos, who purchased Panama Pottery in 1972, first worked for the company as an 80-cents-an-hour pottery maker
after moving to Sacramento in 1949. It is one of five major pottery makers left in the United States.