More Mystery Locales, The Travelers Collection

A month ago, I bought a small collection of photos, heavy on travel  shots.  They're all from the same source, so someone, or some family liked to keep moving.  I'm putting these three up together, because they all have that Mediterranean feel, southern Europe, maybe North Africa.  They're not labeled, and there's nothing so distinctive in any of these photos, that would make it possible to go searching, on the net, for a location.  So, if anyone out there recognizes their old home town or favorite destination, leave a comment.

Click on travelers collection in the labels at the bottom of the post to bring up other images from the same lot.

Diamond Jim's

Well, she does have a moll feel to her. The gangster's lady, hitting the tables while big Louie plots a hit or two.  More than likely though,  she was  a nice middle class woman, gone to Vegas to gamble, lounge by the pool, and see Steve and Eydie.  (Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, a popular vocal duo popular with the Vegas crowd, for those too young to know.)

The first legal gaming licence in Nevada was issued in 1931 to Mayme V. Stocker and J. H. Morgan for The Northern Club on Fremont St., Las Vegas.  A year latter, Morgan opened The Nevada Club, one block east, at 113 E. Fremont.  From 1962 to 1969, it was known as Diamond Jim's Nevada Club.  Diamond Jim was Morgan's nickname.  The club closed in 1969, and in the early seventies the property was demolished to make way for a Golden Nugget expansion.

Instructing the Fire Chiefs

I tried finding some info on Peck Photo, the credited owner of the image.  Go to Google, and find just how many photographers there are in the U.S. named Peck.  I gave up after scrolling through a dozen pages or so.  My guess is that this photo is from sometime between the two world wars.

On A Cold Day

How cold was it on the day the picture was taken?  From the twenties.

Tracks In The Snow

Winter is coming, and it's time to remember what it was like before things started warming up.  Yes, I know that there are still major snow storms, but when I hear that the glaciers in Glacier National Park will all be gone in the next thirty years...well, I'm glad I saw them.  Now, is that a railroad track in the snow, or a streetcar line?

Home Entertainment

Once again, it's time to visit the world, before radio, before television, and just barely into the gramophone age, when people were expected to entertain themselves.  We have a woman with a horn, a man with a violin, and a piano in the background.   We also have a rather odd crowd.  It's one man who makes this real photo postcard something different.  In an age where it was rare for people of different races to socialize, there is one Asian gentleman in the front row.

The Polaroid Ladies Club

I picked this one up because it's an early Polaroid.  Despite the company's attempt to position itself as a consumer friendly,  on the go, manufacturer of fun photographic products, Polaroid always had a big problem.  It wasn't cheap.  Even when the camera itself was low cost, the film packs weren't.  For a cheap, easy to use camera, the only real choices were the Kodak Instamatic and the 110 cartridge cameras.  And in the end, both companies got left behind in the digital race.

Written on the back, "Easter Sunday, April 17, 1960"  In 1960, all Polaroid camera film had a paper peal off back.  The discolored areas are where the paper backing didn't come off as it should have.  Basically, the print didn't develop evenly.