Named in 1954 after Donald Lewis Metz (1919-1956), a home builder who met an early and tragic end. Born and raised in NYC, Metz was the only child of a dress salesman and a dress designer and came to Los Angeles c. 1940 as a buyer for the May Company department stores. Coming home from World War II in 1945 – he was wounded in France and hospitalized for months – Metz and his friend Willard Woodrow noted a dearth of housing for returning GIs, so they founded the Aldon Construction Co. with Albert Leighton. (“Aldon” was a portmanteau of Leighton’s and Metz’s first names.) The firm became one of the biggest in the country and built over 26,000 homes across SoCal and Arizona by the time Metz drove himself to a Ventura motel and committed suicide. The 37-year-old millionaire had worked himself to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. He left behind a widow and two young daughters.
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