Furnished Apartments to Let

I wonder how much they were paying?  I live in L.A., a city where have the population can't really afford their rent. 

He Grew Up and Sold Ice Cream

I'm not very good at judging ages, but I would think that the bottom two photos were taken when this young man was in his late teens to early twenties, and the first about seven or eight years earlier, and since the bottom photo is dated 1918, say around 1910 for the top.

With the eucalyptus trees and the neatly spaced orchard in the background of the top photo, southern California at a time when most of the area was still farm land  seems like an obvious location.  But, how to prove that?  Apart from the Crescent Ice Cream sign, there's also a Bradford Baking Company bread box in the middle picture.  I did a bit of searching on the net, and found a story about the recent purchase of Metropolitan Ice Cream by The Crescent Ice Cream Company of Los Angeles, dated 1916, and another story of a law suit by Weber Bakeries against The Bradford Baking Company in Los Angeles Civil Court, dated 1919.  I couldn't find any details, or who won the suit, but when I arrived in Los Angles, in 1980, Weber Bread was still available.

Arden Ice Cream

I do love it when there are signs in the backgrounds of photographs.

 Take a look to the left and see an advertising sign for Arden Ice Cream.  Arden Dairies started operations in 1904, in El Monte California, now a suburb of Los Angeles.  It soon became one of the largest milk producers in the state.  In 1930, Arden merged with California Dairies, Inc., a subsidiary of Western Dairy Products of Seattle Washington.

  I couldn't find any evidence that Arden is still in business, but I was able to find a reference to Arden from 1955  (Judging by the clothes, about the time this photo was taken.)  They were being sued by Balian Dairies for lowering their ice cream prices below production costs, in Los Angeles County, so that it wouldn't be possible for other ice cream makers to survive.   Unfortunately, I couldn't find an outcome.

The Last One, The Travelers Collection

I didn't save this one for the end because it was my least favorite from the collection.  Just the opposite, I love this snapshot.  It's always a stretch to read things into photos, but at the same time, it's also something that is hard not to do.  There are a lot of possibilities.  Maybe this was a loading the camera shot, something that the digital age has made obsolete.  For those too young to understand what I mean, the film goes in the camera, it has to be advanced to the first frame, so you hit the shutter while winding the film, and maybe, just maybe something good will happen.  I favor a different explanation.  I think the photographer was out with his wife, she started digging through her bags, and it was a there she goes again moment.  One of those little things that can a great irritant or very endearing.  Who knows which it was.  But, the photos in this collection cover quite a few years, so let's think the best.

Click on travelers collection in labels, and this time you really can bring up the whole lot.