Commuting

 

Look at that great lunch box.  Perfect for commuting on a wonderful bike.  

Nice Bike

 

Looks like he's getting ready to go out on his bike.  So am I.  Hope the heat doesn't get to me. 

Kids and Their Bikes (And a Dog, Too.)

No date on these, but I'd bet somewhere between the mid 50s and early 60s. 

Waitresses of the Great Depression

I like to think they worked at a rather seedy road house, not unlike the Greek's in The Postman Always Rings Twice. 

Let's Ride

What can I say?  I love bicycles.

Tour

Today is the first day of the 2014 Tour de France.  This lady is not entered.  Now, about the photo.  The dealer who sold me this photo told me it was his grandmother.  When I asked him if he needed money, he said no.  He was a dealer and dealers sold stuff for a living.  Kind of depressing.

Who Rode the Bike?

I spent way too much time on yesterday's post.  Research based on the semi-reliable Wikipedia requires a lot of verification and that is time consuming.  Let's keep this one simple.  Written on the back, "Mary Webb Morrison Cousin in Camden I think.  Susie Grace.  Bob took on work trip. 1948"  That's it, that's all I know.

Goodness Gracious, Another Bike Picture

Here in the United States, we'd call this a girl's bike.  As can be seen in this photo, it's a bike design that allows women to ride while wearing a skirt.  In countries with a tradition of bike commuting, it would be called a step through bike.  Men wearing suits can't  straddle a conventional bike any more efficiently  than a woman wearing a skirt.

Anyway, bought this one in southern California, and the house looks like the classic California craftsman.  They can be found all over Los Angeles County, and they're also common in the bay area.  There are a lot of them in Pasadena and South Pasadena.

More Biking In California

I do love my bike photos!

I purchased this one from the same dealer, at the same time, as yesterdays post.  They aren't the same people, but the landscape looks similar, plus, I've been to Sonoma County, so I have some first hand knowledge of what it looks like.  I can't be sure that this photo is from the same person as the last entry, but I'm going  out on a rather short limb and state my opinion that it is.

I've long known that the Russian River Valley and Sonoma County have been getaways for the well-to-do of San Francisco; they built their country houses, had their rustic weekends, and found a refuge from the cold bay area, while avoiding the heat of the central valley.  I've also been informed that, in the thirties and forties, big bands played along the Russian River.  I can imagine these people, packing up their car, driving over the newly opened Golden Gate Bridge, spending the day riding their bikes along  dirt roads, soaking in the river, then cleaning up and dancing (outdoors?) the night away to some regional, society band.   For those who could afford it, it must have been a sweet life.

Biking Along The Russian River

Two women, two bikes, but only one camera?  So what's a lady to do?  Why hand off the camera, of course.  But why did each woman pose on the same bike?  I am puzzled.

What's really puzzling is how I knew  these photos were taken along the Russian River in Guerneville,  Sonoma County, California, when theirs nothing written on the prints.  Well, that took some figuring.  I started with the building in the background.  It didn't take too much to figure out that the sign was for the Henry Hess Co., Lumber and Building Material.  I was pretty surprised when a Google search brought up some info.  And not just info, but a photograph of the same building, damaged by a 1937 flood of the Russian River.  The building was located on Ca. Route 116, at the intersection of River Road and Gravenstein Highway North.

Good old Henry was a bit of a local tycoon, owning the lumber yard, some logging interests and a shipping company.  I couldn't find out what kind of shipping, but my guess would be either cartage, or local ferries, or maybe even some coastal steamers.  In any case, he was successful enough that he could build a summer lodge near the Hacienda Bridge, overlooking the Russian River in the 1920s.  At some point Henry lost control of his business.  How, I couldn't determine.  I do know that Giuseppe "Joseph" Bacci got a job there after World War 2.  He stayed with the lumber yard through several ownership changes, and along with two partners, bought it in the 1970s.  All that from Giuseppe's obituary.

Anyway, going by the hair does, I'm guessing sometime in the late thirties through early forties.  If anyone out there knows when the roads were paved, that could narrow things down a bit.