A Humble Beginning
It all began in a small garage in Huntington Beach, California many years ago.

Our founder Daniel MacLeith was a regular kind of teenager. He tinkered around with stuff, taking it apart then putting it back together, usually a bit differently than it was to start with. At fifteen, with no exposure to woodworking, a friend of Dan's father Jerry, was renovating his woodworking shop at home.

Rather than sell the old equipment, he offered it to Jerry with hopes that one of his sons might find an interest in woodworking. Dan's father obliged and home came a handful of stationary power tools the likes that Dan had never seen or knew what they did!

Dan's parents, Mary and Jerry graciously let Dan have the garage and parked their cars outside and history was now set in motion.

It wasn't long before Dan had mastered these tools and sought out others. Friends, family and neighbors began contracting with him to build all kinds of residential stuff. He built his first kitchen for the Huntington Beach Police Department at age fifteen! After high school, college didn't exactly appeal to our founder. He was spending way too much time at home in the garage and around the house and was getting on his mother's nerves as teenagers certainly do. So off to get a "real" job he went.

A six month term at a cabinet shop in the Los Angeles area followed. Dan started out low on the totem pole but rose to foreman, then supervisor, installer and finally engineer before leaving to attempt college.

Again, college didn't really appeal to him and after a half a semester, Dan left to focus on what he knew best, woodworking. After attempting to find another job working for someone else, to no avail, the gauntlet was thrown down and on October 3, 1975, Dan and his dad marched down to the local bank and secured a loan to do it himself.

To this day, Jerry gets a call from Dan every October third offering thanks for the confidence he showed in him by co-signing that initial loan.

The Early Days

Residential work was the order of the day. Whatever you wanted "Mac Cabinets" to do, we were willing to give it a try and we succeeded at every task! Our early name came from Dan's last name "MacLeith" and what he set out to do "Cabinets."

Food Service manufacturing followed and soon replaced residential work as it was far more demanding.

We began in a thousand square foot building doing only woodworking and have grown steadily to our now sixty-four thousand square foot facility offering woodworking, metal fabrication, solid surface fabrication, upholstered seating, marble, granite fabrication and DuPont's Zodiaq® fabrication, as well as a multitude of related mixed-media items designed, engineered and provided by our talented staff.

Each step of the way Dan was laying down a foundation for what was to follow. "A strong foundation to work from and be able to fall back upon is vital" he was known to say often.

The first full time employee arrived in 1978. Prior to that, Dan would drag in whomever he could to help him lift and tote and install mostly. All other tasks and duties were performed by him.

1979 presented a challenge that changed the tide of what was to follow. Very adept at providing an outstanding product and service to match, we were a bit unorthodox. Short pants and sandals could be seen on our number one salesman as he serviced our clientele. Dan did mostly everything himself along with the handful of employees, and that was widely known.

We had secured a sizable project and prepared the drawings but had not yet received our purchase order. Seems the client wanted to "check us out" before letting us have the project officially. A surprise visit on their part revealed what appeared to be an empty shop, as our crew was out installing, and they didn't even visit our second building, not knowing we had it. The project was pulled from us because "we couldn't handle it".

That was a huge wake-up call for Dan. There was a game being played out there and like it or not, if you wanted to be in the game, you had to play by the game's rules.

Pacific Westline, Inc. Is Born.
So things had to change, and change they did! We needed a name that didn't mean a thing. That no one would question. That sounded big, but not "amalgamated". A name that would allow us to buy anything we wanted and sell anything we wanted, with no questions asked. Pacific Westline, Inc. was the answer and has served us very well.

Dan no longer did it all (even if he did). He became the regional salesman for whatever area he was in at the time. Tasks at the plant were now shrouded in a bit more secrecy. "If it's a game you want, I'll give you one!"

It became obvious to Dan that many woodworking companies were limited by what they could do and few wanted to take on tasks outside their "comfort zone". PWI thrived and still does on just these circumstances! We want to do it all, for you!

Mixed media projects (as we now refer to them), are the norm. More times than not, projects have a mixture of wood, metal, upholstery, stone, glass, and as many other materials as our clientele can dream up. And dream them up they do!

Our facility as grown steadily over the years as well.

Each step carefully planned and executed. When we have had less than desirable results obtaining quality products in a certain industry, we have added them to our in-house abilities by creating that entity under our extensive roof.

First it was with Solid Surface materials. Very few millwork firms create their own solid surface products preferring to buy them from others. At PWI, we can control the quality, the delivery and the cost by doing it all ourselves. Ornamental metal fabrication followed as we now and for the past several years, create all the necessary sneeze guards, railings, brackets, etc. right here.

Upholstery was added in 1997. A fully equipped facility to create almost any kind of upholstered seating requested. Sure there are some things we will not do, but not many!

In 2001 we opened our own Stone Fabrication Facility. Another fourteen thousand square feet of well thought through manufacturing space equipped with some of the most modern stone fabricating machinery available. PWI's engineering system will govern each process here just like all other divisions of the company. Your stone needs can now be met by us from right here within our own facility.

Pacific Westline, Inc. has also teamed up with DuPont and together they are bringing an exciting new product to market called Zodiaq® Quartz Surfaces. A unique engineered stone product that will revolutionize the countertop industry. The beauty of stone, the strength of DuPont. PWI has eleven Western states it will service from its Anaheim, California facility and possibly others in time.

2003 saw PWI take another big step in increasing our offering to our clientele. We had been selling decorative and architectural glass products for a couple of decades, designing and engineering them in-house and having others do the fabrication. Once again, the timing was right to grow our in-house capabilities and bring this medium on board as well.

Bananafish Productions had been in business for twenty years, successfully creating some of the finest and fanciest glass around. Whether it was for local residential projects, commercial and food service projects, or government and royalty palaces around the world, Bananafish Productions had created a name for itself that stands in a rather elite group.

PWI brought Bananafish Productions under its wing, gave them a bright and shiny new home in Anaheim, a support staff like they have never had before and encouragement to go out and conquer even more fantastic projects.

As these other entities were developing, our Millwork Division continued to meet the demands of our clientele without wavering. Growing ever larger, completing more challenging projects with shorter time frames on a regular basis. Our esteemed team of associates working together, has continued on the path our founder set so many years ago.

Now in our twenty-ninth year and set to begin our thirtieth later this year of continuous operation. Not missing a single opening date on a project. Providing quality products and service, an unmatched variety of goods, under one roof (or roofs!), all in a timely fashion.

We eagerly look forward to the challenges the future holds for us and the possibilities for further growth that accompany each new project.

All Contents © 1999-2014 Pacific Westline, Inc.