The Pike at Long Beach

Okay, a very quick and not very detailed overview of the Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California. It started with The Plunge an ocean side bath house built in 1902 that coincided with the extension of a red car interurban line to Long Beach. The pike was the wooden walk way that descended to The Plunge and Long Beach fishing pier from Pine Ave. As time went by, visitation to The Plunge sky rocketed, and other competing attractions were built. A ballroom, an amusement park on the pier, which featured The Cyclone, a dual track roller coaster built on pilings over the ocean in 1936, restaurants and food stands. Beach front amusement zones and piers would eventually loose their popularity. Once common, only a few remain. The Pike was demolished in 1979. Printed on the back, "Published by Newman Post Card Co., Los Angeles, San Francisco." The Newman Post Card Company incorporated in 1902 and survived into the 1960s.

The Photo Booth Cowboy

If only it hadn't been damaged!

Berlevag

My last post was from Denmark (I think), so I thought I would continue with a Nordic theme. Stamped on the back "OLE WILLUMSEN-Foto-BERLEVAG" Berlevag, spelled with a little dot above the A that my computer can't duplicate, is about as far north as you can get in Europe. In Finmark County, in Norway, Berlevag is a small village on the Berants Sea. It was separated from the village of Tana on July 1, 1913, which puts this photo in the twentieth century. But, how did this photo, from such a small and isolated place, get to California?

Salvation

There is some faded writing on the back of this cabinet card, but there were only two words I could reliably translate. "Armi," obviously army and "uniforma," uniform. It's when I got out the magnifying glass and strained to read the print on the lady's sashes that I was able to infer some answers. "For Synders Frelse" fed into the Google translator, Danish came up as the language and the actual translation, "For sinners salvation." The best explanation is that these three ladies are members of The Salvation Army and that, if I could read what's actually written on the back, it would come up as either "3 Salvation Army members in uniform or "3 Salvation Army women in uniform." And the photographers name, "F. Lind Kabelvaag."

Tongue

Sneaking a photo? Be careful, someone might stick out their tongue at you. Stamped on the back, "OCT 14, 1940 NEVER-FADE PHOTO PRINTS"

Getting Tight

When these photos were taken, one didn't get bombed, fried, wasted or hammered. One got tight. What is the power of language? If drinking is about getting tight, does that imply a level of self control no matter how much is alcohol is consumed? When one gets wasted, does that imply drinking to insensibility? Stamped on the back, "VOC PHOTO SCHOOL" I assume that VOC means vocational.

Original Romanos Truppe

I think I'm going to pass on my usual habit of typing out every single word on the back of a photo with this image. The circus is identified as "Original Romanos Truppe" followed by an address for their next performance. Too, "Mme. Lydia Ritzen," followed by an address, and a telephone number for Hamburg, Germany. She is listed as "agentur." My German is pretty limited, but even I know that means she's the agent. Some German words are just too long, my excuse for laziness.