Nate Asaro; Made a Fortune in Portable Toilet Business

Nate Asaro, who made a fortune renting portable toilets to building sites during the housing boom in the Los Angeles area during the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, has died. He was 69.

Asaro died Wednesday at his home in Olivenhain in northern San Diego County.

For years, Asaro, affectionately known throughout the construction industry as “Outhouse Nate,” had upward of 1,500 portable toilets on building sites in Southern California. His firm, Arbor Sanitation Co., was one of the biggest in the state.

His company also rented the portable outhouses to the Tournament of Roses parade, Christmas tree lots, golf tournaments, auto races and special events including private parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs.

During the 1974 housing slump The Times carried a feature story about the unusual business with a photograph of Asaro glumly looking out over an acre of unrented portable toilets.

The story and photograph were reprinted in newspapers across the nation, and Johnny Carson commented about the “Portable Toilet King’s predicament” in one of his monologues.

Asaro and his family lived in the Westfield area of Rolling Hills Estates for 25 years before moving in 1980 to Olivenhain. In recent years he built and operated industrial parks in Arizona and California.

He is survived by his wife, Yvonne; son, Brad; daughter, Robin Dexter; grandson Wally, and two brothers, Frank and Ray.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. today at the Eternal Hills Mortuary Chapel in Oceanside.