Metlox Pottery,  located at 1200 Morningside Drive, Manhattan Beach, California, was founded in 1927 by T. C. Prouty and his son Willis Prouty. The company originally produced outdoor ceramic signs. After the death of T.C. Prouty in 1931, Willis renamed the company Metlox Pottery ("Metlox" is a combination of "metal" and "oxide," a reference to the glaze pigments), and began producing dinnerware.  The Metlox Manufacturing Company was incorporated October 5, 1933.  The first line of pottery produced, "Poppytrail," became well known for its brightly colored glazes derived from locally mined metallic oxides. Subsequent lines included "Nostalgia," "Red Rooster," "California Provincial," "Colonial Homestead," "Homestead Provincial," and "Colorstax." In the 1950s Metlox introduced a line of futuristic dinnerware featuring free form designs and squared plates, "California Contempra", "California Modern" and "California Freeform". Frank Irwin designed the impressive Freeform dinnerware line for Metlox in 1955.
The pottery factory closed in 1989 after 62 years of operation. The Los Angeles Times reported on June 21, 1989: "The problem is that lead and other dangerous heavy metals that were byproducts of the pottery-making process had been dumped for years into a 60-by-40-foot open-air pit on the plant property at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Valley Drive". Los Angeles City Councilman C.R. (Bob) Holmes said "It's the end of an era but it's a shame it had to end on such a sour note," the Metlox people acted in bad faith and made no attempt to clean up the problem they created for many years. But now that they are out of the property, Santa Fe Railway, I believe, will attempt to very expeditiously clean up the site". Many employees were harmed by their work at Metlox, yet most were very low income workers who were unable to take legal action. Employees reported headaches, tremors, and seizures.