April 25, 1963
A tremendous crowd turned out this morning for the formal opening of Frank Alessio’s one and a half million-dollar Pepsi-Cola bottling plant on Kearny Mesa. Among the dignitaries was actress Joan Crawford, one of the company directors. City manager Tom Fletcher headed a long list of city county officials. Company president Herbert Barnet presented Alessio with a plaque commemorating the opening, and Miss Crawford pulled the lanyard to tear a large seal from across the front of the plant. Barnet told newsmen that he looks on San Diego as “one of the brightest spots in their business future.” The plant was then toured by the official party and throughout the day, and again tomorrow, the plant will be open for public visiting. The bottling company employs eighty persons and produces a quarter million bottles of soft drinks a day. Alessio opened his first bottling plant in San Diego in 1936. The new plant is on Kearny Mesa opposite Montgomery Field.

Music: Firefly Chris Haugen

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