Polito, S. L.

S. L. Polito was born on September 4, 1881, in Vacaville, Solano County, California, to Louis L. Polito, a native of Italy. Moving to Fresno at five years old, he attended the White school on Fresno Street for three years before relocating to San Francisco at age nine, where he began his formal study of music. Over twenty years of experience, along with earned diplomas and certificates, established him as a master musician and teacher of the banjo, mandolin, guitar, harmony, and theory of music.

Credit is broadly given to Polito for introducing the banjo to Fresno dance orchestras, as well as popularizing Gibson mandolins and guitars across the region. Along with building a large teaching practice in Fresno that trained numerous professional musicians, he authored several original musical compositions. He actively maintained memberships in the American Guild of Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitarists, the American Federation of Musicians, and the Musical Alliance of the United States.