Cheap Gas

I wonder what a gallon of gas cost when this picture was taken.  Five cents, maybe ten?  Yesterday, I filled up my tank at a Shell station in Los Angeles.  $2.57 a gallon, down from almost $5, just a year ago.  Tomorrow, New Year's Day, we Californians may be facing a 10 to 15 cent a gallon increase thanks to cap and trade, the free market solution to global climate change adopted by our state legislature.  Personally I've always doubted the free market approach to environmental problems.

Anyway, for those who wonder how these old glass top pumps worked.  The motorist would order gas by the gallon rather than by price.  The station operator would work the hand lever on the side of the pump until the requested amount filled the glass container.  (The lines on the pump were gallon markers.)  Then, a valve was opened, and gravity filled the tank.

Remember, don't let cheap gas lead you into bad habits.  We can all drive a little less.

The Car Hop

Hmmmm....and I thought the car hop was an invention of 1950s California car culture.  Guess not, since the car on the right has an Ohio license plate.  Here's the question, when this photo was taken, did the state of Ohio issue a new plate to every car, every year?  If so, the plate's from 1949, so we have an actual date for this photo.  What really drew me to this image was the waitress's uniform.  Love the airplane design and aviator sun glasses.  So, did her boss love airplanes, or was their a tie-in of some kind?  Was this joint next to an airport or an air base?  Or, was this picture taken in Dayton, Ohio, the home town of the Wright brothers?

Winter In Wisconsin

Yet another example of a dealer cutting up a photo album for fun and profit!   I hate it!

Well, now that I've got that off my chest....I had some problems getting a good, centered scan on the two individual pictures.  So, to help out, the caption on the left photo, "How do you like the "Pepsodent" smile?  It's just to keep warm.  Temp. 20 below zero.  Some fun!  Come to "sunny" Wis for your winter vacation!!??"  Both excited and questioning at the same time.  She must be confused.  No doubt caused by the extreme cold.  Down hill or cross country skis?  Which would be a colder sport?

And the other photo..."The right figure is the leaning tower pose.  Alias Hampton Purdy."  It's such a unique name that I decided to give a quick Google search just to see what's to see.  I found two Hampton Purdys on Ancestry.com.  R. Hapton Purdy, born 1890 in Canada, in 1930, residing in Appleton,  Outagamie County, Wisconsin.  And Hampton R. Purdy, born 1917, also residing in Appleton.  Father and son would be my guess.  I'm thinking the photo is the son.  Of course, once Ancestry.com asked for a credit card number, my research into Purdy, father and son, ended.

American Airlines Flagship Sleeper

For those complaining about holiday air travel, take heart, you could be flying on a DC-3, sleeper.

I was born into a world were many people could remember the very early days of the air age, and some could remember a world before there were any airplanes at all.  I can still remember a trip to the Pittsburgh airport to see jets.  They were new, and because the tickets were far more expensive than on prop planes, it was predicted that only the rich would ever fly on a jet.  The rest of us would have to settle for good old propellers.  I'm fairly certain that these planes are DC-3's.  I'd love to fly on one as an adventure, but if I could afford a ticket to France, I'd prefer a jet.

Christmas In California

I don't know how well it reads on a computer screen, but the photo credit in the lower left corner, "LEONARD'S STUDIO, THIRD & BROADWAY, SANTA ANA, CAL"  Written below that in pencil, "Dec 25th 1925"  Let's be honest, there's a difference between playing in the snow and living in the snow.

Playing In the Great Outdoors

The title for this post was inspired by an Op-Ed  in yesterday's Los Angeles Times, The Great Fear Of the Great Outdoors, by Gary Ferguson.  A quote from the piece by an anonymous fifth grader, "I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where the electrical outlets are."  Christmas will be here in a few days, and I have to wonder, how many kids will get pads, phones, tablets, video games, and how many will get trikes, bikes, and other assorted outdoor play things?  Let's hope those North Korean hackers don't collapse the American power grid.  Half the country will curl up in a ball and die, while the rest of us will go out and ride our bikes, hike in the woods, and have a grand old time.

The Office Christmas Party

This one's dated "December 1951" and it looks like the typical office Christmas party.  My last employer threw a party every Christmas.  He rented a hall, hired caterers and put on quite a spread.  I went exactly once.  There was an open bar, and as a non drinker, I was drafted to  drive home those of my fellow employees who had had a few too many.  Kind of spoiled the fun.

Stamped on the back, "FINER CANDID PHOTOS, 615 W. FULLERTON AVE., BErkshire 7-2788."  Had I purchased this photo here, in southern California, I would assume that Fullerton Ave. would be the one in Fullerton, California, but It came in an envelope of prints I bought from an eBay seller from Phoenix, Arizona.