Los Angeles Indiana 14

 

It's time to finish up this collection., at least that is if I don't find another page from this album.  Have I mentioned how much I hate it when antique dealers cut up a photo album and sell pages individually?  Well, it needs to be said.  I know it's more profitable for a seller to cut up an album, but history, even anonymous family histories means something.  So, girls camping and because at least one picture on this page was processed in Lamar, Colorado, I'm assuming that these pictures were taken somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.  To see the whole collection, click on The Los Angles Indiana Collection in labels. 

Krystal Gloss Prints 1

 

If you're old enough, and I am, you'll have memories of taking a roll of black and white film to the local drug store and coming back a week later for a little booklet of pictures.  The cover usually had the name of the service, the lab's name, and sometimes the name of the local store that took in your film.   I'm not quite sure how I'm going to put up the twelve prints in this booklet, and I'm more interested in the booklet itself than in the prints, which seem to be from a camping trip of some kind.  Click on The Krystal Gloss Collection to bring up the rest of the prints. 

She Loves Her Beer

I was born in 1955 and even back then people went to the army surplus store, bought a really big cabin tent, and headed off for a two week vacation in a state or national park.  My father traveled for work and when he got time off, he would not go back on the road.  Very disappointing.  I think that's a Miller label.

The Car Crowd

One one hand, I found this photo in the same antique mall and the same booth as the picture in the last post.  One the other hand it's a different format, and on glossy, rather than matte.   So, Maybe a 90% chance they're from the same source, though perhaps from a different trip.

Written on the back, "3 of the car crowd.  Mr & Mrs Kaught & son Robert."  The first time I looked at this very small print, I thought that thing in the background was a giant stump, but after I scanned it and blew it up, I saw that it was a cabin tent.  There's even a folding chair.  Car camping, as old as cars themselves.

The Gang

The Gang may have been having a good time camping in the Rockies, but it wasn't all fun and games.  Take a close look at the second photo, and see that the third man in line is holding a theodolite.  These aren't three friends having a back to nature trip, they're surveyors.  But what were they surveying?  The boundary of a park?  How about the boundary of someone's land?  A new road into the Rockies?  A logging operation or a gold mine?  Hopefully these weren't the last people to enjoy this spot before it got fenced off, dug up, or cut down.

Camping In California

It's pushing 90 in Los Angeles, in winter, during an El Nino year.  I'd rather be camping.

Melvine's Album Page

I often complain that too many photos albums lack labels.  Not this time, though I'm not sure I'm all that better off.    For those who are having a problem reading the captions, the top strip of images, all separate photos by the way, not multiple images printed on the same piece of paper, "Nell At Hunting Camp 1939"  And then, "Melvine 1st Grade Class" and then "Melvine 3rd Grade Class."  The next post will have pictures of Melvine, aged 12.   I'm not certain, but I think first grade Melvine is top row, far left.  Third grade Melvine, second row, five in from the left.

Buffalo Wyoming is a fairly small town.  The 1940 census listed 2302 residents though like most rural town schools, locals living beyond the town border would have also attended the local school.

Snow Shoeing

It snowed in the mountains of southern California.  If my tires weren't on the bald side, if I had remembered to take the chains out of the trunk of my last car before sending it to the junk yard, I'd spend my weekend snow shoeing.  Of course, I'd leave all the gear behind.  Let's see, rifle, giant frying pan, bucket, blankets, and who knows what else.

Camping At the Beach

This one is labeled "Palisades," and since I purchased it here, in Los Angeles, I'm guessing Pacific Palisades in Santa Monica.  Things are a lot different today.  Now, The Palisades, is a very upscale, wealthy, neighborhood.  Except for live-in staff, there aren't many people with an income less than the mid six figures living there.  Too, camping at the beach has become a good way to get arrested.

I get why camping at the beach is a bad idea.  There are too many people in L.A. to allow tents, camp fires, and long term parking along Pacific Coast Highway.  Still, wouldn't it be great to drive to the beach, pitch a tent, and just hang out by the beach for a few days.

The Great Outdoors, The Travelers Collection

Our travelers loved camping and the great outdoors.  That I get. The bottom two photos are dated "10/15/41."

Hey, I warned people that some of the photos in this collection were very, very dull.  Click on travelers collection in labels to bring up some more interesting images.

The Hunting Camp

I grew up in a small town where most men, and a sizable number of women, hunted.  During the great depression my father hunted out of necessity, and had no interest in hunting for sport.  As an adult, I've developed an interest in environmental issues.  It surprises the people I know that I have no objection to regulated hunting.  It shocks many of them that I'd still like to try hunting.  Looks like these guys are having fun.

After the Fact-The Baker Family 7

Some people take their pictures home and paste them into the family album. Some people throw their pictures in a drawer and get to it when they get to it. This page from the baker family album is the back side of the last post. On this one sheet of paper there are dated photographs from 1930 to 1936. In the digital age, people download their pictures to a computer, maybe they post them on Flickr. It makes me wonder if we are entering an era without family photos, at leas the physical kind. And when computers crash, or when the photo sharing service goes out of business, and there is no reason to think that they won't disappear when the next thing comes along, what then?

Camping

At first glance, I thought this was a photograph of a very young, World War 1 era soldier. After taking a second look, I'm leaning more towards boy scout. Scouting was founded by the sometimes controversial British general and aristocrat, Lord Robert Baden-Powell. With his military background, it was only natural that he would outfit the scouts in uniforms, which were often similar to the military kit of the scout's home country.

Outdoor Life in California

I love collections like this. All the photographs come from the same source, an estate collection, and they show three distinct periods in the life of one person. The image of the girls standing in front of the tent is labeled, "Lower Left Elizabeth Archer (Eliza) Dorothy Morris (Dot) Katherine Dechan (Kathy) Hazel Robinson (Bob) Top Left Miss Edythe, Dorris Guthrie." The tall, bespectacled girl, standing alone, "Miss Edythe Van Arden." The two girls in white skirts, standing on the path, "Guin and Peter Pan." The large group of girls standing at the edge of the pool, "Camp 29" Is 29 a date, 1929? The two Asian girls in swimsuits, "Left Eugenia Fujita, Dorothy Fujita, 1877 Sutter St. San Francisco." This probably places this girl's summer camp in the bay area. Too, there are sites on the web that give partial lists of Japanese Americans who were interred during World War 2. I couldn't find a listing for these two girls, but they would have been, at least in their mid-twenties by the start of the war, and very possibly married and listed under different names. The two girls next to the pool one with the curly, blond hair, "Left Miss Lu & Miss Betty." And the young lady with the red cross/life guard badge on her suit, "Miss Patsy Laphan." The shot of the porch, "Camp 29." Again, is that a date? And finally, the lake with what looks like a miniature lighthouse, "Lake Lokayh." A quick inter-net search didn't yield anything by that name, but someone out there might recognize it. The next group of three pictures move things forward. The people have gone from high school age to college age. All have a lab stamp on the back, "GENUINE KRYSTAL GLOSS GUARANTEED FOREVER MAY 23, 1933 BEAR PHOTO SERVICE." If the camp 29 references refer to 1929, then these would be around four years latter. Too, all are labeled, "Stinson Beach." A location. Stinson Beach is just north of San Francisco on route 101. Another bay area local. The two girls on the spare tire, "Clem & I." The four guys goofing around, "Dee-Curly-Al-Clyde." I'm always fascinated by pictures of young men just before World War 2. In eight or nine years, after these pictures were taken, these four young men were very likely in the military, and it's pretty probable that they all didn't come back alive, or at least in one piece. The two guys and two girls, "Clyde-Me-Clem-Curly." The next group of images aren't labeled in anyway. No names, no dates, but the cars are from the fifties era and it looks like a spring skiing trip in the high Sierra of California. A glimpse of the good, middle class life that was a hall mark of American life in the post war years. The last two landscapes, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra, aren't all that interesting, and they may or may not have been taken at the same time as the ski trip images, but I prefer to not edit out pictures from collections.