Friday, July 04, 2025
Thursday, July 03, 2025
Vintage Los Angeles Postcards, Part 1
Railroad expert and GDB friend Steve DeGaetano scanned some postcards that he purchased at Disneyland's 'One of a Kind Shop" in New Orleans Square after I expressed an interest in seeing some of them. The postcards feature views of Los Angeles, some over 100 years old; I'm fascinated by the history of the city of Los Angeles and remember stories that my grandmother told me about moving here from Illinois after marrying my grandfather (an LA native). Also, I was friends with an older couple who had so many stories about going to see great big bands and jazz artists in the city, it sounded amazing. For those of you who don't live in SoCal, I hope that you find these old postcards to be as fun as I do! Here's Steve:
After watching the 1992 Los Angeles riots from the comfort of my suburban home in Agoura, CA, I started taking a real interest in the history of the city where I was born, reading loads of books on Los Angeles and taking self-guided walking tours of downtown LA streets and sights. Around the same time, I got my first Disneyland Annual Pass, and started visiting the Park regularly.
The One of a Kind shop in New Orleans Square was a favorite evening-time destination, probably from the warm glow that emanated from the doors and windows, beckoning one to come in and examine all the interesting antiques inside. Most of these cards were purchased from the shop, a few at a time over the course of several visits. The imagery of these early postcards was both charming and fascinating, bringing Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles to life for me “in living color.” Sadly, the One of a Kind shop closed in May of 1996.
The cards were sold with their corners inserted into simplified cardstock “frames,” with the back side giving a little background on old postcards. The frames were double-sided and could be opened to free stand, sandwich-board style, displaying your cards. I don’t recall what I paid for these—they were probably only a couple bucks each.
I’m definitely no expert on postcards, but many of them are “Linen” finished, with an almost canvas-like texture to them. Many of these were taken before the advent of color film, and so were hand-tinted with colored pigments to give the illusion of being color photographs. If you like these, and want to see many, many more, I suggest picking up a copy of “Greetings from Southern California,” by Monica Highland, which features color images of hundreds more.
I will share the postcard's original caption in orange, and any of Steve's comments in blue!
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Wednesday, July 02, 2025
Storybook Land 1956
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Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Knott's Berry Farm Souvenir Slides
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Monday, June 30, 2025
Tomorrowland, August 1960
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Sunday, June 29, 2025
Snoozle Cruise, August 1970
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Saturday, June 28, 2025
Beauty Contest - Venice Beach, CA
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Friday, June 27, 2025
Tomorrowland, September 1983
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Thursday, June 26, 2025
Tom Sawyer Island Bridges
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Frontierland, July 1958
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