Anthony Gagliardi: Creative Generosity

By Gina Valencia

Photo by Monique Kuhlman

“Excuse me for a moment, I have to check on dinner,” Anthony said as he walked into his large modern kitchen. 

Even though it was only three in the afternoon, Anthony Gagliardi was already tending a large pot of vegetable soup. The chicken salad had already been prepared and was ready to go, waiting in the refrigerator. He was making dinner for that evening’s Steel Magnolias board meeting, an all-volunteer organization dedicated to children and families affected by developmental delays, behavior issues, or other learning challenges. After serving 20 years as Chairman of the Board, Anthony is now a lifetime member. 

Aside from enjoying making dinner for Steel Magnolias meetings, Anthony is known as a fundraiser wiz and host extraordinaire. Generously opening his beautiful large Park Estates home for countless fundraising parties over the years, Anthony relishes in planning parties for a good cause. 

“I love being behind the scenes,” he said. “I enjoy putting a fundraiser together.”  

“Fundraiser Expert”

Steel Magnolias founder Shirley Wild, who is also the longtime society columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, dubbed Anthony the “fundraiser expert.” 

“[Tony] has a fantastic imagination, the know-how, energy, and commitment to make [anything] happen,” Shirley said. The two met over 50 years ago through business circles and fundraiser events. 

When the Stramski Children’s Developmental Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital was in danger of closing in the late 90s, Shirley was determined to keep it afloat by starting an organization to help it. She gathered the names of notable city leaders and reached out to Tony for his fundraising experience. 

Tony agreed to help out as long as Shirley provided a committee. “He took a look at the names on my list and said, ‘These are the who’s who of Long Beach, these are the Steel Magnolias’, and so the name stuck,” Shirley said. 

“I was thinking, if we just raised $10,000, we can get the hospital’s attention,” Shirley said. Under Anthony’s guidance, the organization raised $75,000 that first year! Since its inception in 1999, Steel Magnolias has raised over $6 million for the Stramski Center to provide ongoing treatment and support for children with special needs.

That desire to help others in any way he can is what drives Anthony’s continual involvement in local philanthropies such as Steel Magnolias, as well as theater companies International City Theatre and Musical Theatre West. At MTW, he for years has spearheaded their annual summer fundraiser Broadway in the Park which includes an evening of auctions, performances, and dining. 

Pure Imagination

When the former Long Beach Civic Light Opera organization ran a production of Miss Saigon in the ’90s, Anthony enthusiastically partnered with other like-minded creatives, determined to throw a fabulous fundraiser. 

“When it’s fun, it’s not hard work,” he said. 

Countless hours of planning and brainstorming led to someone who could provide an actual Vietnam War era refurbished helicopter as a prop to be displayed at the party. “If you don’t ask, you don’t know,” he said.

Pre-pandemic, Tony also hosted the sought-after Steel Magnolias home tour fundraiser. Approximately 300-400 people would gather to tour 3-4 fabulous Long Beach houses in the Park Estates neighborhood before ending at his house for the after-tour party where they were served appetizers, “and the very popular hot dogs and ice cream,” he said. 

As a society columnist for almost four decades, Shirley has attended and written about some of the city’s most elaborate fundraising parties around. “[Tony’s parties] are some of the most creative parties I’ve seen in my life,” she gushed. 

She remembers one where a city band in “full regalia” paraded down the street, leading guests to the party; another where a lady sat swinging on a seat hanging from a tree in his backyard; a Chicago “gangsta” theme where guests were fingerprinted and their pictures taken behind bars; and a Wizard of Oz theme with live roosters and bales of hay in the front yard and a yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City in the backyard. 

“These are true extravaganzas. He truly is a creative genius,” Shirley said. “There have been so many innovative parties that he has thought of and executed. As long as I’ve known him, he has been an outstanding contributor to the community, and very generous with his time, talents, and donations.” 

Indeed, aside from the countless hours and energy he invests in producing fundraisers for the city, Anthony has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, as well as to the University for construction of one of its buildings.

All In The Family 

Born in Genoa, Italy, (also known as Genova) just after the end of the fascist regime, Anthony and his large family still felt some of the harsh aftereffects. Moving from one location to another, including into a former university that had been turned into temporary housing, Anthony recalls a story his father told him. 

“He had gone into the cellars of this university we were living at, and he saw a pile of fingernails,” he said. “The fascists had used these cellars as torture chambers.” 

Eventually, his family immigrated to the United States in 1956 when Anthony was still a young boy, settling in a small town in Pennsylvania before the Gagliardi brood moved to Chicago. Although his grandfather was already in the States, Anthony’s father was adamant about earning his own way for his family. 

“He didn’t believe in taking handouts,” Anthony said. It had taken his parents a decade of hard work to bring their family to America.

As number nine of 10 kids, Anthony grew up in a busy household. Although the family had already suffered the loss of five young daughters -- two who died within weeks of each other before Anthony was born—the Gagliardis seemed to pull strength from one another. In Chicago, they moved into a house with a large front room that was previously a store. Whereas his father had planned to convert this into a living room, one of his sisters determined that instead it should be turned into a hair salon. And so, it was. 

Thrust into the new family business at the age of 12, Anthony washed clients’ hair as he stood on a milk crate to reach. By the time he was 16 years old, he had improved his hairstyling skills enough to work as a platform artist at hair shows and trade conventions and even collaborated with brands such as Clairol and Revlon.

“It was a fun time,” he recalled. “A novelty. I was too young to really ‘get it.’” 

In 1967, he joined the army where he learned “discipline and guidance, and really grew up” during that time. While he was serving and working in Arizona, the Gagliardis made the move west to California and settled in Long Beach. When Anthony left the army in 1969, he joined them. Several family members besides him still live throughout Long Beach. 

“Our family was always together,” he said. As can be customary with large immigrant families, all members are taught to help in all aspects of homelife, including and especially cooking. One sister who also loves to cook has helped Anthony with homemade food for fundraisers, keeping the tradition of family working alongside one another. 

“I get a lot of support from my whole family,” he said. “From my brothers and sisters, and my nieces and nephews, of which I have tons. They’re a big part of my life.”

After the army, Anthony returned to hairstyling, specializing in wigs since it wasn’t necessary to have a license for that branch of hairstyling. He had a knack for styling wigs so naturally that he quickly had a loyal client base. First, from the fact that stylish wigs were part of the beauty culture in the 1960s and ‘70s (as a kid, I saw countless photos of my mom and aunts with perfect coiffures, shocked to find out they were wigs), and secondly, from clients who were losing their hair from enduring radiation, chemotherapy, and other health issues. 

Soon, he found a calling in customized wigs. He became a master wig designer to Los Angeles and Orange County theater companies and touring productions. He had his own large Long Beach salon for many years, before tailoring it down to currently serving mostly oncology patients, as well as those suffering from thinning hair or alopecia, among others. A lot of his business came from doctors and nurses who recommended his services. 

“He has not only done a great deal for charity, but has eased the emotional pain of many cancer sufferers,” Shirley said. “His manner is kind and gentle and much appreciated by those in emotional pain as he fits them with wigs to cover the hair loss from treatment.”  

Eventually, he also expanded his skills into a real estate business and was proud to serve people in that regard as well. 

“I’ve worked hard for everything, whether with the wigs or real estate,” he said. No doubt, the values of family determination and drive have served well as his life’s impetus.

“Not only is Tony the most creative person I’ve ever met, he’s a good business man,” Shirley said. “He’s smart as a whip, and always goes the extra mile. His heart is as big as his talent.”