I worked at Campania for about a year and one-half back in the day 1972-1973 in the midst of the Bike Boom.
I am real glad I never took LLoyd up on his offer to hire me full time and make bicycles my carreer.
The bikes were almost fully assembled and only required installing pedals and handlebars when received at the L.B.S.. We put the bikes together and even adjusted the derailleurs and brakes. The warehouse was located off of Victory Blvd in Van Nuys on Hayvenhurst Ave in the San Fernando Valley.
Oh, back to Lloyd Doctor, he and H.C. McIver (his grandfathers name) the name of the company, became a victim of the Bike Bust. He relocated to Seattle and worked for Raliegh for awhile.
I cycled to work the 25 miles one way to work each Saturday and School breaks from Culver City (West Los Angeles) to Van Nuys over Sepulveda Pass. Not a difficult ride but when you are 15 years old it seemed a long way.
The Campania Professional was my first sew-up bike and I rode it everywhere in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Your first "good bike" seems like your first serious girl friend, the memories always are better then the reality...
I recently traded a friend for another Campania Professional and it now seems a bit heavy but has steeper head angle and handles crisply.
I sold the original bike to buy a Whitcomb that had the most gorgeous wrap around seat stays, it was imported for an early 1970's L.A. bike show to show off Barrie Whitcombs skills. I still have that bike and it has been restored by Ed Litton after touring with it over 50,000 miles.
(The Doctor's have been long time family friends and I still touch base every couple years. Of course that is how I got the job in the first place as Lloyd was a cousin to my sister's boyfriend at the time.)
Tom "I rode my Fiorelli Track Bike with a Delta front brake today"
Hillman
Modesto, CA
U.S.A.