S. P. B. Cudia Collection

Filmmaker, developer, and restaurateur Salvatore Pace Bondanza Cudia was born on September 13, 1887 in Rome, Italy. He immigrated to the United States in 1903 and began an Italian opera company in Washington, D.C. using immigrant talent in addition to designing sets and coaching drama at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He married Jennie Lucia (1877-1914) and the couple had three children, Florence (Cudia) Ayres (ca. 1894-), Louis S. (ca. 1900-), and Edmond Jasper (1906-1987).

A pioneering movie producer, Cudia began his career in Florida and later established studios in Hollywood before coming to Phoenix, where he established a movie studio and dinner theatre in 1938. Here, he produced Polish westerns for export as well as such English-language westerns as 26 Men, which was based on the story of the Arizona Rangers. The 160 acre site west of Camelback Mountain burned to the ground in 1959, but was soon rebuilt and became a popular recreational and social center for young Phoenicians. Cudia also created a retail and residential development known as Cudia City Estates in the Camelback Mountain area in the mid-1950s. S. P. B. Cudia died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona on February 10, 1971.