Lu and Margaret McLeod

 

At least those are the names written on the back of the print.  Does this photo seem so familiar because I've already posted it or because I've meant to so many times that the image has lodged in my mind?  And who made Junior Foods? 

Early Spring

Dated "MAY 55" and labeled "Griffith Park-Early Spring."  Over the years I've walked all over Griffith Park, and while I can't be certain I'd say this photo was either taken near the merry-go-round or near the old L.A. Zoo. 

Sunday in the Park (With George?)

I looked for picnic baskets, but didn't see any.  So, why else would all these people be sitting on blankets in a park?  I do hope one of those guys is named George.  From the 50's I would think.

The Pied Piper

I bought this one here, in Los Angeles.  Maybe Echo Park, or Lincoln Park.

We'uns At Westlake

The message is visable, but since it's sideways, "We'uns the two next the bank.. Taken at West Lake Park Los Angeles, Cal. Jan. 7.  Many thanks for the present comes in handy.  K. H. Gelleus, Ash Fork, Ariz."  It was mailed from Ash Fork on February 26, 1906 and made it to Miss Jesse Wilson in Caney, Kansas on the 28th of the same month.  I'm not sure the post office could make the same quick delivery today.

So, a few things.  It was actually Westlake Park, named for Dr. Henricus Wallace Westlake, a Canadian doctor who moved to L.A., was a successful physician, bought  and sold real estate, and was the president of a couple of no longer in existence companies.  He donated the land to the city for a park.  Today we would call it a wetland, but at the time it was considered a swamp, and a good place to dump garbage. It's name was changed to MacArthur Park after World War 2.  Yes, the same MacArthur Park of the weird, stoner song of the same name.

 Ash Fork is the self proclaimed flagstone capitol of the world.  I've been there.  It's in northern Arizona along one of the few remaining bits of old route 66, and I-40.  Truthfully, I have no real memory of the place, but I've driven the route.  Caney, Kansas is just a small town in the middle of the prairie.

I wasn't quite sure of the spelling of the Gelleus name, but after trying a few variations, I found it on Ancestry.com.  I wasn't willing to break out the credit card to do a detailed search, but in 1891, there was exactly one Gelleus family  in all of Great Britain.  They lived in London, and it's interesting to speculate that they ended up in northern Arizona, working at a flagstone quarry, or perhaps the Harvey House at the Ash Fork,  Santa Fe Station.

This card really shows how photographs travel.  The original photograph was taken in Los Angeles.  It was made into a postcard and mailed from Ash Fork, Arizona to Caney, Kansas,  I bought it at an antique store in Pasadena, in L.A. County.  How did it get back to California?

Horeb Spring, Waukesha

Since my last three posts were from my early days of collecting, I've decided to dig out some of the other images I've owned for at least forty years.  I'm more than willing to admit that my earliest collected photos and postcards might  not be as interesting as the stuff I've picked up in recent years, but hey, back then I was more interested in old.  Just think, some of the  photos I've picked up in the last few years,  were only a few years old when I was born.  And some of them had yet to be taken.

This postcard of Horeb Spring Park in Waukesha, Wisconsin looks like it started out as photograph, but I'd bet that the colorist drew in the clouds.   I did a search for Horeb Spring Park and all I could find was a swimming pool and water park.  My guess is that this nice little lake and island are long gone, but I'd love to be wrong.

Too, I'm always curious about words that Google declares misspelled, or worse yet, nonexistent.   Horeb, the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and Waukesha, an American City are both unrecognized by modern technology.  I wonder how many words we'll lose once everything becomes digital.  Moby Dick didn't even sell a thousand copies when it was published, it went out of print, and was rediscovered several decades latter.  Would it have been deleted from existence had the nineteenth century been a purely digital world?  And for that matter, why doesn't Google recognize Moby?

A Day In the Park

Fountains, a bench, some trees...Seems kind of nice.  But is it still there after all these years?

Winter In May

In general, I'm not all that big on pictures of kids, but when I buy lots....well they do have a tendency to accumulate.  In any case, this one is a warning on info written on prints.  "May 1952."  This was either shot in the southern hemisphere, or someone made a mistake.  It's not just the winter clothes, it's the bare trees in the background.

The Biltmore Hotel and Pershing Square

I dug this old postcard out of the files after reading a story in Sunday's Los Angeles Times about Pershing Square, the bit of green in the foreground.  Yet again, L.A. is thinking about renovating Pershing Square.  Once upon a time, many years ago, Pershing Sq., was the Los Angeles version of Central Park.  I suppose, that's not the greatest of comparisons.  Our square is a city block, far smaller than New York's actual Central Park, but back then, Los Angeles was a far smaller city than it is now.  Then, Pershing Square was our little urban oasis, with "tall trees, gracious paths, and a burbling fountain at it's heart."  Or so it's described in the article.

But once again, change is the only constant.  In the fifties, those trees and paths were removed to make way for a 2000 car parking garage and the city bomb shelter. (How adorable that we thought  massive nuclear war survivable.)  Since then it's gone through more than a few renovations, the latest designed to make the park unattractive to the homeless.  I'm not even going to get into the whole issue of doing something about homelessness, but it should have occurred to the urban planner who thought that one up, that if the homeless wouldn't want to go there, neither would anyone else.

Anyway, we've got a new urban task force working on a long term plan for the park.  We've also got a couple of historians, husband and wife, Richard Schave and Kim Cooper, who are pushing an idea of their own.  Just make it like it was before the renovations, before the parking garage.  Anyone wishing to sign their on line petition, can go to Google and type in Pershing Square petition Schave and Cooper.  I just did.  There's even a postcard of what Pershing Square once looked like and a box for comments.

The caption for this postcard, "THE BILTMORE HOTEL, LOS ANGELES 13, CALIFORNIA."  and  "The largest hotel in western America.  1500 Rooms.  Situated between two tropical parks in heart of business district. Home of the Biltmore Bowl, a world-famous supper club.  Underneath the lawn in the foreground is Pershing square garage with a capacity for 2000 cars."  The message, "Hi!, Honestly we need you to make this party complete.  I've never been in such a fabulous place in my life. (aside from Bermuda!) Do so wish you were here.  Jenni"  Mailed to, "Miss Paula Galbraith, 505 Dunedin, Columbus, Ohio"  Postmark, "LOS ANGELES, DEC 30 11 AM 1954, CALIF."

Is the bomb shelter still there?  I couldn't find any info on that.

Three Guys Lurking In Garfield Park

I'm abandoning my usual practice of cropping out borders, even decorative ones, because someone was unable to write small enough to keep the labeling out of the image.  Thoughtless!  Well, what do you expect from these three lurkers, who are, very likely, up to no good.  Personally, I suspect they're mashers.

Garfield Park, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, first opened as Central Park in 1874.  Then it was 40 acres, today it's grown to 184.  It's original design was by landscape architect, William LeBaron Jenney.  In 1881, the name of the park was changed in honor of the recently assassinated president, James A. Garfield.  Garfield Park is also the home of Garfield Park Conservatory.  (No, not a music school, but one of the largest municipal greenhouses in the United States)  In 1905, parks superintendent Jens Jensen, had demolished three small conservatories in the parks system.  With the collaboration of several architects and engineers, he designed the 4.5 acre replacement.  It was built in Garfield Park, with construction lasting from 1906 to 1907.  It's design was meant to mimic the shape of a prairie haystack.  Jensen also designed the building with separate rooms, each meant to invoke a particular landscape.  Some of the oldest plants at the conservatory are a collection of 300 year old giant ferns.  Hmm, isn't that where our three lurkers are lurking?

Time to delve into the world of archaic language.  Today, mashing is known as inappropriate touching if the judge is feeling generous, sexual assault if he(or she) isn't.  Basically, men, mostly young men, would position themselves in some semi hidden place, like a secluded walkway in the Garfield Park Conservatory, where young women would likely pass, and as those women passed, they would reach out and, well, cop a feel.  And yes, mashing was a crime.  Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso, was arrested for mashing in San Francisco a few days before the 1906 earthquake.  I have no idea whether he ever stood trial or not.

A quick confession on the Caruso story.  About two decades ago I read a book on the quake, so I'm going on memory on this one.  I'm just too tired to go online and research details.  To use a favorite term of former Pres, George W., I might be misremembering, so don't quote me without looking it up.

Women on the Trail

I'd love to know where this picture was taken. It looks like these four women, all in their long dresses, are on a well maintained hiking trail. The sort of thing that can be found near parking areas and picnic grounds in state and national parks. Labeled, "Hester Rheveusou, Elsie Tapley, Bessie Moore, & E. Harbon. 8/18/10"