In Costume

A real photo postcard, trimmed and, at one time, pasted in a photo album. Could be a dancer, an actress, or it could be a souvenir sold at an historic site of some kind.

Florida Oranges

A hand colored, photo composed postcard to make mid-westerners envious of Florida. Never mailed, no message, but printed on the back, "FLORIDA ARTISTIC SERIES COPYRIGHT 1909 BY LEIGH PUB. BY THE H & W.B. Drew Co., Jacksonville, Fla." The postage needed is listed as, "ONE CENT For United States and Island Possessions, Cuba, Canada, and Mexico. TWO CENTS For Foreign." I don't think the post office even makes postcard stamps anymore.

Pershing Square 1944

Awhile back I wrote of my intention of adding some more postcards to the collection, especially linen cards from California. The caption, "Comprising a square block in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, Pershing Square affords a restful haven amid the hubbub of a great modern city. WESTERN PUBLISHING & NOVELTY CO., LOS ANGELES, CALIF." Stupidly, L.A. paved over a good deal of the square to discourage the homeless from gathering in the area. It's only recently that the city has tried to turn Pershing Square back into a pleasant downtown stopping place. It's the message on the back that's interesting. "AUG. 9/44 DEAR FRANCES :- WELL HERE i AM AWAY iN SUNNY CALiFORNiA ENJOYING THE BEST OF HEALTH, AND HOPE TO HEAR THE SAME FROM YOU FRANCES, iM TRYiNG TO GET OUT OF SHOW BUSiNESS, AND i HAVE BEEN iN CALiFORNiA FOR THE PAST SiX WEEKS LOOKiNG FOR SOME NEW BUSiNESS, WHICH i HOPE i WiLL SOON LAND. WiTH BEST WiSHES, SiNCERELY MAX COLEMAN." Addressed to "MiSS FRANCES VALENTiNE MAiN POST OFFiCE SCHENECTADY NEW YORK BOX 54" The Schenectady address is crossed out, replaced by "54 Laurel Av., Superior, Wisc." It looks like Max was taking a run at Hollywood and was about to give up. An old story in L.A. I've run both IMDB and IMBD searches on both Max Coleman and Frances Valentine and came up with nothing, so it looks like Max and Frances moved on to other things. (I like to think that Max and Frances met in New York taking a run at a stage career.) The post mark, "LOS ANGELES CALIF. AUG 10, 1944 1:30 AM" All the lower case I's are as written on the postcard. Click on postcards in the labels section to see other L.A. area views as well as a brief history of the linen postcard.

Arcadia, Pennsylvania Coronet Band

In my post of 5/6/10, The Munson Coronet Band, I noted that long before radio and television, it was common for many small towns to have local bands that played summer evenings in the town square. This is a real photo postcard, made when most professional photo processors had postcard stock on hand so that people could bring in their own negatives to have a custom postcard made. Hand written on the back, "Hoping this finds you all well as I am glad to let you know that we are all well. You will find me on this card if you look close. Hoping to hear from you soon. From your brother, John Currie Arcadia Pa." Addressed to, "Mr. Donald Currie, 320 Beech Street, East Pittsburg, Pa." Post marked, "ARCADIA, PA SEP. 18, 1908." Arcadia is a small town in Indiana County, north of Indiana, the county seat and birthplace of actor, Jimmy Stewart. East Pittsburg was absorbed into the greater city, years ago. And yes, Pittsburg was once spelled without the "H"

Hollywood Hot Spots

These two images are linen postcards of night spots from the golden age of Hollywood. (Information about how linen postcrds were made can be found in my post of 7/3/10 Catalina in Postcards.) The first Brown Derby was opened 1926 by Herbert Samborn at 3427 Wilshire Blvd. and was shaped like a derby hat. It was so popular with the Hollywood crowd, that Samborn opened a second, more conventionally designed restaurant at 628 Vine St. near the corner of Hollywood Blvd. It opened on Feb. 14, 1929. This is the building depicted in this postcard. A third Brown Derby was opened in Beverly Hills, and the final one in the chain was opened on Los Feliz Blvd. They have, since, all been closed. In 1934, Samborn died and the restaurants were taken over by Robert Cobb, the inventor of the Cobb salad. One of the anecdotes I've found about the Brown Derby; noted for it's movie star caricatures, the restaurant's manager would place those of married couples and actors who were dating, together. If the marriage or relationship ended, the caricatures would be moved to opposite walls. I've already written about the history of the Earl Carroll Theatre-Restaurant in a previous post, dated 8/18/09, which can be easily accessed by clicking on night club in the labels section. The Earl Carroll Theatre opened on December 26, 1938. Both of these cards were published by the same company, "WESTERN PUBLISHING & NOVELTY CO., LOS ANGELES, CALIF." "C.T. ART-COLORTONE REG. U.S. PAT. OFF." On the back of the Brown Derby card, "The famed Brown Derby on Vine Street, Hollywood, with it's adjacent distinctive bamboo roof, is the acknowledged center of the smart social life of the movie colony." The Earl Carroll postcard, "The Earl Carroll Theatre-Restaurant in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard near Vine, is a favorite Nite Spot in the Film Capitol of the the World. Seating arrangements are terraced so all guests may enjoy unobstructed view of the lavish stage productions with "Sixty of the Most Beautiful Girls in the World." Both of these cards are unused.

French Postcard One More Time

Yet another French postcard. 19th century porn, tame now.

Catalina in Postcards

By and large, I've strayed away from collecting postcards, but recently, I've decided to try and pick up a few, in a few select areas. Old California, especially southern California, Pittsburgh, and old gas stations, motels, and stores. Since I have a small group of Catalina Island photos that I'll be posting next, these four images of Catalina Island, 26 miles across the sea from Long Beach, seemed like a good start. These are linen postcards, made from a high rag paper with a textured surface of parallel intersecting lines. Introduced in the early 1930's, they were the most popular type of postcard sold in the United States until the mid forties. Photo chrome postcards, which would come to dominate the market, were introduced in 1939. Even though the bright inks that were used in production, and the paper surface itself gave linen cards a painterly feel, the original images were primarily black & white photographs that had been hand colored. 99% of Santa Catalina Island was purchased, in 1919, by Chicago millionaire, William Wrigley, Jr. During his ownership, and the ownership of his sons, the Wrigley family poured millions into Catalina, building homes, resorts, hotels, the Casino, bird park, roads, airports, and fresh water reservoirs. The card of the two boats were part of the fleet that Wrigley owned to transport tourists to the island. The caption, "Happy vacationists board fast speed boats that skim the placid waters of Santa Catalina. As they whiz by, with their cheers of happiness and laughter. with greetings to the new arrivals is a thrill and delight to the passengers aboard the approaching steamer." It was mailed on Aug. 6, 1946 to "R.E. Brown, 816 Jackson St., Sioux City, Iowa" The message, "Hi Pop. I rode on both boats in Picture. We got here on the big one & took a 10 min. ride on the speed boat. Lot of love xxoo Charles. Having fun here." There is no message on either the Wrigley residence card or the bird park image. The caption of the Wrigley home card, "This palatial home was built by the late W. Wrigley Jr. and occupies a site on Mt. Ada, with a commanding view of Avalon Bay and coast-line of the island." No caption on the bird park card. Construction began on the Wrigley residence in 1920 and was completed in 1921. Mt. Ada was named for his wife. After Ada's death in 1958, it became a tourist attraction. In the 1970's it was given to USC, and used as a conference center. Since 1985 it's been an hotel. The bird park was built on 8 acres in Avalon Canyon by William Wrigley Jr. and opened in 1929. It had 500 cages and housed over 8,000 species of birds and was one of the largest aviaries in the world. It closed in 1966. The night scene is captioned, "Avalon Bay, a thrilling scene of bustling activity by day-"Fairyland by night." Like a jewel in an exquisite setting, the view of Avalon, at night from the hills above, is a never to be forgotten sight." Mailed Sept. 19, 1953, to "Mr. & Mrs G. We. Johnson, Laurene, Iowa." The message, "Dear Folks, We are up near the high point of this Island now and having a wonderful time. Reggie and Enid are with us. Now we are just about back to the bay and the boat will leave about 3:30. Minnie and Lester were over for dinner last night, Fri. We came up thru San Bernardino." Written in a different hand, "This has been the most enjoyable weekend we've had in ??? Love L.B. and Jean" Catalina was used for training in World War 2 and was closed to tourism. Coupled with the explosion in car ownership and cheap airfares to places like Hawaii and Baja, Catalina has never recovered as one of the major vacation spots in southern California. Pre-war, big bands played in the Casino, the circular building seen to the left of the ships and on the right of the night scene, swimming beaches were crowded, restaurants and hotels were full. Catalina is still a popular destination, but no where near what it was.

Yet Another French Postcard

I found this old, framed French postcard in a thrift shop. One of my fellow employees at the photo lab where I was working at that time was teaching himself photo shop, and so I let him practice his digital correction skills with this image. Now, I did have to correct some of his work the old fashioned way, with a paint brush and spot tone, but by and large, the negatives I had made gave me a nice, black & white print. Also done the old fashioned way, with an enlarger and chemistry.

Pin-Up Postcards

No, actually, these weren't all that racy. From either the 50's or early 60's.

Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

Labeled, "BEGINNING OF EASTERN PARKWAY, BROOKLYN, N.Y." Postmarked, "SAINT JOHN PLACE STATION, BROOKLYN N.Y. OCT 26 12-30A 1917." Addressed to "Miss Anna Bennett, 104 & 31 St. New York City, c/o Dr. Sellening." The message, "Dear Annie I will wait in for you next Thursday till you get here and then we will go out, we will have a nice talk together, have you heard from Ed? Since I had a letter from Bill Stremple Monday was asking for you, tell you the rest when I see you. I also had one from Bill Brown this morning. No word of Charles & Chief. Mary McLanly."

Another French Postcard

I really should have published this real French Postcard with the last one (published 10/6/09) but I forgot that I had two of them. Some time in the near future, I'll be putting up a couple that I've hand printed from glass negatives. Anyway, this is the real deal, a period postcard, not a modern reproduction.

A French Postcard

A real French postcard, not a modern day, screened reproduction. Printed on photo paper, probably smuggled into the United States.

Apollo, Pennsylvania

I've had a life long tendency to collect things, and while the old photo collection didn't become a huge passion until I started working in photo labs, I actually started picking up old pictures when I was a child. This one is my first. It's an old postcard of my home town, Apollo, Pennsylvania. The large building, just a bit high and to the left of center was the town's high school. I don't have a date on this image, but I went to that school in the 1970's.

Coal

I grew up in a coal mining town in western Pennsylvania, and I'd love to add a lot more coal themed images to the collection. In addition to the usual spaces for address and message, printed on the back of this post card, "Published for The Union News Company. 1414" and, "Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal has stood the test in all foreign markets and is now a world-wide recognized standard. The coal is brought from the mines in small cars and then loaded from the tipple to the railroad cars as shown in this picture." There is also a logo for the card's maker, G.V. Miller & Co. Scranton, Pa. No date on this image, and while I'm sure it's fairly old, when I was growing up, this scene would still have been pretty common.