The Epworth League Album 14, A New Reality

In my last couple of Epworth League posts, I mentioned that things were changing for the people in this album. Look closely at the second photo on the page. Palm trees. The mid-west has been left behind and now it's life in California. In the first decades of the twentieth century Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and son-in-law of Harrison Grey Otis, the Times owner put out special national editions of the paper, publicizing the advantages of L.A. Snow covered mountains but a snow free city. Sunny days and beautiful beaches. Wide open spaces, orange groves and low cost homes. (Many built by real estate developer Harry Chandler.)

The Epworth League Album 13, Still Transitioning

Take my word for it, this is going somewhere. Hint, the clue is in the second photo. And remember, click on Epworth League in the labels section to review all of the posts to date.

The Epworth League Album 6, Ethnic Dress or Strange Fashion?

Are the ladies in the second image wearing some sort of ethnic dress or did they have similar tastes in fashion? I've been looking through Google images searching for a match, and so far no luck. Click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.

The Epworth League Album 4, Ladies and Their Homes

Happy women in small town America. There will be a car latter on in this album, but for now, people are still getting around by horse power. And the houses, other than the probability that some of these women may have lived in them, well I couldn't see giving a separate post for a couple of snapshots of houses. Click on Epworth league in the labels section to bring up the previous posts.

The Epworth League Album 3

I have a theory, completely unsupported by an facts, that photo albums are almost always put together by women. My other theory is that photo album are often put together by someone, for someone else. This album starts somewhere in the middle west and ends in California. Looking at these last two posts, makes me wonder if this album was made by a daughter for her mother, and if her mother is this lady. A mystery I would love to solve. Click on Epworth league in the labels section to bring everything up.

The Epworth League Album 2, Odd Angles

There are a lot of angled photos in this album, and they aren't easy to scan. Interesting bunch of images on this page. The subject looks happy and very relaxed in the seated photo. The hammock, she looks pensive. And finally, like the evil aunt in The Wizard of Oz. Wasn't L. Frank Baum from the middle west? There is a middle America feel to these three images.

The Epworth League Album 1, Love That Haircut

It's time to put up another photo album. I'll be following my usual practice of scanning whole pages to show position with separate scans of the individual photos. When there is only one photo per page, then there will not be a scan for position. There will be a few exceptions to that rule, but those will come a lot latter, along with an explanation for the album's title. While there will be some breaks in the posting of this album, there won't be the big gaps as there have been for the Green Bay Business College and German-American collections. Someone must have really loved this haircut.

Ciro's on the Sunset Strip

Two folders, two prints, but only one negative. Most of these old, classic nightclubs would have photographers, usually a pretty girl in a skimpy costume, at least by the standards of the day, who would wander the room offering to take pictures of the guests. The photographer caught and interesting group. She probably instructed these four people to look into the lens and smile. The couple on the left followed directions, but the couple on the right, not so much. The woman only had eyes for her date, while he barely acknowledged her presence.

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Ciro's was opened in January of 1940 by William Wilkerson. With gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons dropping in on a regular basis, Ciro's became the place to see and be seen. Average Angelenos and star struck tourists could rub elbows with such regulars as Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. In the 1960s Ciro's made the transition to rock club featuring acts from Dick Dale and the Surftones to The Byrds. In 1972 Ciro's became The Comedy Store, which is still going strong. I couldn't find anything on when ownership of Ciro's went from Wilkerson to H. D. Hover, but I did find out that serial killer Rodney Alcala killed 23 year old Ciro's heiress Ellen Jane Hover in 1977. An interesting mix of acts are listed on the back of the folder. I wonder what guests made of folk singers Libby Holman and Josh White. Two of my favorites. Click on nightclub in the labels section to bring up a number of other old souvenir photos.

All of Us

I picked up this photo here, in southern California, so it's tempting to write that it's a shot of an outing to Catalina. (Click on Catalina in the labels section to pull up some examples.) Then again, the 1920s when this picture was most likely taken, was the era of passenger ships. Travelling from Los Angeles to San Fransisco, Seattle or Victoria, British Columbia was more likely to be done on a coastal steamer than by car. Too, liners were the main way to get to Hawaii, Asia, Europe or any place else not in North America. Then again, the twenties was also the era of gambling ships. With prohibition in force, and no handy casinos, southern Californians took small boats to ships anchored just outside the three mile limit where they could gamble to their heart's content and drink all the booze they could pay for. Written on the back, "All of us." Is it just me, or does the guy in the upper left look a lot like Eugene O'Neill?

Steamed Crabs on Fisherman's Wharf, S.F.

Addressed to "Lois & Gil Yorba, 110-Morton Ave., Sierra Madre, Cal." This is the second postcard I have, sent to the Yorba family during World War 2. (Navigate back one to see the other.) The great depression and the war were great periods of internal migration in American history. The Yorba family had either family or friends who, at least, got to San Francisco and New York City. If they were like most Americans they knew people who spent time at a military training camp in some other part of the country, working at a war plant far from home, or overseas in Europe or the South Pacific. My father was born in 1919, dropped out of high school in the ninth grade because of the depression. He and his father ended up living in a dug out. (They dug out a flat spot on a hill side, pounded in some planking as a roof, shored it all up, and had an old rug for a door.) Then he ended up a homeless teenager, spending time with both the CCC and WPA. Then it was into the peace time army, then a few months after returning to civilian life, drafted into the war time army. As a cryptographer he never saw combat. but he did live in Iceland, England, France and then Germany. He thought that that was a good thing, and if it hadn't been for the depression and the war, he may have never got further than a few hundred miles from his small, home town.

"One of the principal industries of San Francisco is fishing, and centers around this point. From Fisherman's Wharf the fishing boats leave each morning to make their catches in shell fish and other sea foods. Here one may partake of the freshly caught ocean delicacies in one of the many outdoor stands or in the fine restaurants adjacent." Post marked, "SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF MAY 31 9:30 PM 1944" And the message, "Hello, We are simply eating ourselves in to a stupor but surely enjoying it. Going dancing at the Mark tonite. C you this weekend. Mary & Steve." And written in a different hand with a different ink, 'STAN HAS A NEW CADILLAC!" Of course since the auto industry had been turned over to war work, Stan had a used Cadillac new to him.

Mt. San Jacinto, 1943

Hand franked, "Hubert G. Cain, U.S. Navy, Columbia, Mo." Addressed to "Mrs. J.H. Cain, 201 So. Wright St., Champaign, Ill." The message, "Hi Folks, Well I arrived here Sat. at 12 o'clock. I am doing Los Angeles now. I have to take the 3:15 train and it's after one now. I'll write a letter as soon as I get an address. Jigs" Franking is a signature or mark placed on a piece of mail that allows the sender free service. Jigs could be a nickname or it could mean Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Mt. San Jacinto now has an aerial tram that goes to a state park at the peak. Navigate back one to see another Cain family postcard

Cable Cars of 1939

Postmarked, "SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. SEP. 29, 3:30 PM 1939" Addressed to "Miss Ruth Cain, 201 S. Wright St., Champaign, Ill." Message, "Hello every body, How is everything in Champaign and surrounding territory? I've been up here for a convention. Here another week then back to Los Angeles. You would love these funny little cable cars. Pretty hills here to climb. Hope all are well. Love, Fairmont Hotel, San Fransisco, Calif." Another Cain family postcard to follow.

Los Angeles, Spring Street

Well, Los Angeles sure doesn't look like this anymore. While this image looks like it could be a painting, it's very probable that the original image was a black & white photograph that was hand colored, and until proved otherwise, it qualifies for inclusion on a photography blog. Printed on the back of the card, "No. 1260. SPRING STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. The full name of Los Angles is "La Tuebla de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles" (The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), a name as beautiful as it is long, and in keeping with the proud position of the city as the "Belle of the Pacific Coast." It is situated twenty miles from the mouth of the Los Angeles River, fifteen miles from the Pacific Ocean, as the crow flies. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1781 and passed into American possession in 1846. It was, however, of no great importance till after 1880, when it underwent an almost unprecedentedly rapid increase in population and wealth. It's population rose from 11,183 in 1880 to 50,395 in 1890, and to 102,479 in 1990, and it's former adobe houses have almost entirely been replaced by stone and brick houses and blocks of tasteful wooden residences. It is now a crowded and lively town of wide streets and spacious sidewalks, with an extensive and beautiful residential quarter, and over 130 churches." And yes, Tuebla is what it says on the card.

Chinatown, Los Angeles

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A color postcard, printed in the front margins, "DETROIT PHOTOGRAPHIC CO., PUBLISHERS." and, "7343. ARE THE POLICE COMING?" The Detroit Photographic Company made it's first appearance in the city registry in 1888. It was a provider of photographic images for advertising and publishing purposes. In 1897, under the leadership of partners, William A. Livingston, Jr., and Edwin H. Husher, the Detroit Photographic Company acquired exclusive North American rights to the photochrom process, a photolithography method that allowed for mass printings of color postcards from original black and white photographs. In 1905, the company changed it's name to the Detroit Publishing Company. For more information on the company's acquisition of the photochrom process go to www.photochrom.com/Detroit.html At http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/america.html I found an image from the Detroit Photographic Company catalog of children in Chinatown in Los Angeles that seems to be a different angle of the same location. The Detroit Photographic Company declared bankruptcy in 1924 and it's assets were liquidated in 1932.

Old California 3

This is the third and last part of the old California estate collection. Again, this one seems to be a travel collection. There is a lot of emphasis on the ocean. The navel officer is the only picture in this group that is labeled, "P.S. himself." Post script or the initials of the person, and is he a friend of the photographer or the man himself? I've noted before that I love the mystery of old photos, and trying to make some sense of them, but other than service aboard a ship that was armed, there isn't much to learn here. All the harbor shots are more focused on commerce with an emphasis on tugs and harbor transport. Note that behind the steam launch photo, the masts of a sailing ship can be seen; the four masts of a clipper. The paddle wheeler is almost certainly on the Sacramento River, one of the few rivers in California that had commercial boat traffic. The shot from the beach has a flotilla of war ships. The Great White Fleet? The railroad picture is of a crane of the S.P.L.A.& S.L Railroad. That's the San Pedro, Los Angeles, & Salt Lake Railroad, whose main line connected the harbor at San Pedro, now part of Los Angeles to Salt Lake City in Utah. The company no longer exists, but the rail line built by the company is still used. The main visitor's center for the Mojave National Preserve in Kelso, California was a station for the line. While it operated under different names, the S.P.L.A.& S L. name was only used from 1901 to 1916. The antelope picture only made it because of my no editing policy. If a location had been written on the back I might have been able to find out when the last animal died there or if a few still survive, but no location, no research. The twenty mule team shot is interesting. The famous borax wagon teams carrying the mineral from Death Valley to the rail head at Mojave, California only operated from 1883 to 1889 and had two box wagons and a water tank. Same idea for the wagon depicted, but a different set-up. And the flood picture, my guess is the Sacramento delta.

Old California 2

Part two of the old California estate collection, and while a baby picture, labeled "9 mos." managed to sneak in, this one is mostly about travels in California. And oh how things have changed. I've been to Tustin, and I would love to know exactly which "Highway near Tustin" is depicted in the third picture of this group. There is a huge open space with old hangers for pre- World War 2 dirigibles near the railroad station, but other than that, Tustin is tract houses, office buildings, and shopping centers. Tree lined lanes, not anymore. Laguna Beach is now an enclave of the wealthy with large, private homes on the highlands above the ocean. In this collection, those same bluffs are brush covered fields. Joaquin Miller was the poet of the High Sierra, even though he lived in Oakland, California, and his home is now a city park. The Miller house photo was printed on postcard stock and actually mailed to someone, post marked "OAKLAND, CAL JUN 9 12-M 1911," addressed to Mrs. N. Sherman, 241 East 31st Los Angeles, California." And the note, "Dear Aunt, Remember me to Aunt Hat and Nell. Just to say I am well as usual and trust you all are the same. What's the matter with spending your vacation in Oakland this year, There is lots of nice places to go here. Love and all, Sam." The building on the Mt. Tamalpais photo is a resteraunt and tavern, and was built in 1896. It burned down in 1923 and a smaller building was put up in it's place. It was removed in 1950.