You Had Me at Butter

To be honest, "butter" is the only part of this postcard I understand.

Seasonal

These type of postcard were most common in the US in the 30's, but their production survived well into the 50's, till they were completely replaced by the Photochrome cards. The interesting thing about these is that they are based on black and white photographs. A master copy was hand colored then mass produced. By default the coloring artists took some liberties. I'm pretty sure that in case of this one the sky is entirely the colorist's creation. And that's what attracts me most to these cards: They tether on the edge of fact and fiction.

The cards are printed on soft, textured linen paper. They are specific to the US - the previously flourishing European printing business took a long time to recover from WWII.

Ha!

Spring

It is the last chance to check out the poppies in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. The peak of the blooming season is over, but it is said that the North Poppy Loop still has flowers to show. I went there a few years ago at the hight of the peek of the poppy bloom, and it was quite a sight. From a distance it looked like somebody dropped hundreds of tons of bright orange stuff on the hills. It's also a nice drive.


Back in the olden days all you had to do is drive to Hollywood to see some colorful flowers. It must have been a long time age when it was covered with poinsettias instead of tourists. Technically they are not spring flowers, but who's counting.


You could also head up to the hills and check out the dogwood, like young Babs did, back in 1941.


Babs' friend, Miss Joyce McGonigle lived in a bungalow in South Pasadena, built in 1924.

Gargoyles

The prices of old photos and postcards are somewhat arbitrary. Even location matters. At an event held in a strip mall in San Fernando Valley I was able to pick up photos and postcards ¢25 a piece. At an Antique Paper Show held in the Glendale Civic Auditorium you'd be hard pressed to find anything under a dollar.

It also depends on the vendor. Neatly organized postcards, sorted out by subject matter tend to cost more than ones that are just thrown in a tub unsorted. Some vendors go for quantity, others aim at the collectors of narrow focus, who don't want to shift through hundreds of cards. I just pick whatever strikes my fancy, and I'm also cheap, so I gravitate towards the quantity vendors. I rarely pay more than $2 for a photo or postcard.


I don't remember how much I payed for these gargoyles, but couldn't have been much. They are printed on soft rag paper, and are in very good condition, despite being probably around a hundred years old.

You also get better prices of postcards if the vendor is specialized in photos and just happened to pick up some cards, and vica versa.


These are my human gargoyles. They are staring out at Paris just as intently as the stone ones. Except the dog, the poor thing has no head.

I Am The Walrus...

... in the London Zoo in the 1930's.

Those were different times back then. The animals had to earn their keep, like this camel transporting the newly arrived occupants of the famous Little People Exhibit. They were traded from the Bristol Zoo for a polar bear.

Here we can see a giant turtle, baby alligator, komodo dragon and a young train conductor having a tea party. The baby alligator is telling a joke: A wildebeest walks into a bar...

It was a tough, hyena-eats-hyena world, and the residents were the rough and tumble type. This baby elephant was later arrested for public drunkenness and lewd behavior.

Feeding time in the hippo enclosure. Contrary popular misconception, hippos are not exclusively vegetarian.

Winter

I guess the rest of the country must look like something like this. It's very pretty, but not very practical when you are trying to go about your business.

This is a Czech postcard from the 40's. Quite pretty in its almost abstract winteryness. Yet it's the two-headed piglet of my collection.

It has History stamped all over it. It's like a carnival freak show, I'm not sure how I should feel about staring.

For finisher, something more light hearted:


A chalet from the 1960 Winter Olympics. I love those baby blue and pastel classic cars serenely resting under the snow.

Leaf Bandit Finally Apprehended

The notorious Leaf Bandit who left sap-smeared leaf prints on windows, then disappeared into the night, despite of being a fifteen feet tall shrub, have at last been axed.

"Leaf Bandit" surrendering to the garden shear equipped authorities.

This slippery assailant have evaded the authorities for over a year, but yesterday he was finally cornered by the Garden Police Task Force.

Once in custody his true Identity was revealed as Teddy Bear, resident of the Loretto Hall Gardens. Neighbors of Mr. Bear - known just as Teddy in the neighborhood - were shocked. A conifer who did not want to be named, have told this reporter that he knew Teddy as a quiet, but friendly shrub. He once noticed Teddy's leaves being extra sticky, but thought nothing of it.

The authorities have assured the public that now with the culprit under arrest, they could sleep easy again. "It's time to turn over a new leaf" - said Sheriff Gardner.

Pasadena Scene

Pasadena had streetcars in 1912. And the sky had a slightly greenish tint.


What I find hard to believe that even then the mail could find the addressee based on just a name in a city like New York. And what is "R.J.D.#4" ? A signature? So many mysteries...

Picturesque California

I thought it was and odd postcard. Do oil fields really count as tourist attraction? What's next, earthquakes, brush fires and drive by shootings? But then I found this photo:

Now I'm completely flummoxed. Is this normal, living next to oil wells? Isn't it, you know, unsafe?

Happy Mayday!

If I remember correctly, I picked up this postcard in used bookstore in Budapest.

Postcards

In the 1930's and 40's this peculiar postcard style was very common in the US. The pictures are BW photographs that are color tinted, and printed on a textured paper. The resulting image has a mostly, but not entirely photographic look. The reason for their being is technical: The advancement of printing technology allowed printing on high rag content paper that was also cheaper. Hence the textured feel. Color photography already existed at the time but the technology for its easy and cheap mass reproduction didn't become available till the early 50's. I picked up a stack of these cards in an antique mall in Indiana. I got more in L.A. later. I'm pretty sure this set of four is from Indiana however. What made them especially interesting for me is the commentary meticulously typed on the back. It doesn't seem like they were ever mailed, but rather that were kept as a sort of travel diary.

Instead of scanning and post the back of each card I decided to enclose the commentary in type.

"This shows how California irrigates. They are fined if water is allowed to overflow the ditches and waste."

"This shows some of the many kinds of dessert plants. We saw many, but not all of these - the prickly pear, Joshua tree, yucca, Spanish bayonet, the ocotillo etc."

"Looking in from the Pacific Ocean across the Golden Gate bridge in the foreground, with San Francisco pininsula (sic) at the right and center of the card and the San Francisco-Oakland bridge in the distance."

Personally I find these cards much more visually appealing than the "Photochrome" cards that replaced them in the 1950's. Interestingly I haven't yet seen similar cards from Europe - though I'm hardly a postcard expert.

Stuff It!

Another odd bits from my collection. The first postcard is pretty self-explanatory, the second is a bit more intriguing. According to the explanation on the back, the snake is subject of "scientific force-feeding". Looks a lot like stuffing a sausage, doesn't it?

Bombed Out

I own a number of odd, bizarre, or unexpected postcards. Among them a small set featuring bombed out European towns. Four of the five have a short text in German printed on the back, the fifth is French. There is no date, no writing on any of the cards, and I'm unable to discern to which on of the two world wars they are bearing witness. At first I assumed it was WWII, but the two uniformed figures in one of the cards seems more reminiscent of those of the first war. It is however blurred and I'm unable to tell for sure. WWI caused many deaths, but was this level of destruction possible with the limited level of aerial warfare of the time?
They make me wonder. What possessed people to make a series of postcards depicting the remains of these war-mauled places? Judging from the the numbers printed on them - on the front of the French one and on the back of the German ones - there were quite a few of them. Who made them? The victors or the losers, or both? What was their purpose? Bragging rights? Grim reminder? Cataloging? Who would buy such postcards and what would they do with them? Could you mail such postcard? What would you write on it, "Many greetings from bombed out Hazerbrouck"?

If anyone has answer to any of these questions, please let me know.

Isabel Bru

Old postcards can be like a time-warp. This one is dated September 25, 1902. According to the caption the lady in the tight corset is Isabel Bru. I assume she must have been a fairly popular Spanish actress once.
It seems that back those days postcards weren't intended for carrying written messages. The entire back side of this one is dedicated to the address. On some other postcards I found indications that it cost more in postage if there was writing on the back, other than the address, but not the front. Whatever the reason, I have multiple postcards where the writing is on the front.