Saturday, September 14, 2013

South of the Border!

South of the border, down Mexico way... but not very far into Mexico! In fact, Nogales (in the Mexican state of Señora) is right on the border to the US (it is adjacent to Nogales, Arizona). Which makes is a convenient and popular destination for American tourists. Bars, restaurants, strip clubs, curio stores, fireworks (I added that last one myself), Nogales has it all! It's where I go to have my annual face lifts.

I like this first shot, from March 1955, looking down Aveninda Obregon. you can see some of the clubs, restaurants, etc, that I told you about in the first paragraph. And you thought I was lying! It looks very vibrant and fun. Check out the cars! I couldn't help noticing a sign to the extreme left, featuring a certain famous cartoon mouse.


In this postcard from roughly the same era, we get a better view of "Mickey Mouse Curios". I'm sure Walt Disney spent lots of time here when he wasn't making cartoons or building Disneyland.


On a later postcard, the sign has been updated, and so has the store... The NEW Mickey Mouse Curios store. From what I can glean from the interwebs, the store sold cowboy boots and other clothing items.


Now back to 1955! This savvy couple has discovered the store where they could get the best liquor deals in all of Nogales. I'd like a big bottle of pulque (to pour on my Cap'n Crunch). Is the lady's purse made of bamboo?! 


10 comments:

Nanook said...

Olé-!

Thanks, Major.

Anonymous said...

Bamboo purse? Might also be made with popsicle sticks, or #2 pencils.

Great shots Major!

Bill in Denver

K. Martinez said...

I wonder what happened to that couple in the last image.

Nanook said...

@ K. Martinez-

Didn't you hear-? The woman's "wooden" purse suddenly burst into spontaneous combustion; she and her companion narrowly escaped serious injury. Probably related to the ,,, your best buy here.. liquors - amigos-!

Perhaps her purse wasn't constructed of wood after all. Maybe it was Celluloid, made to resemble Popsicle sticks-!

Melissa said...

I had a bamboo wallet like that once. Would've been nice to have the matching purse. She looks a little bit like a young Queen Elizabeth.

K. Martinez said...

@Nanook-

I just knew they were headed for adventurous times.

Nanook said...

@ K. Martinez-

And indeed they were-!

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, the pictures make me wish I was there!

Bill in Denver, I like the popsicle stick idea, especially if they are "used" sticks.

K. Martinez, we will never know, unfortunately...

Nanook again, I actually just happened to see an old Bakelite purse that looked very much like wood when I was in an antiques store last week.

Melissa, you have discovered the secret... it IS Queen Elizabeth, incognito.

Snow White Archive said...

Looks like THE happening destination for curios (and a little booze too).

JG said...

I notice the Chinese restaurant in the building across the street in the first pic is not present in either postcard view. Wonder if that was a "before" or "after" change?

Interesting pics, Major. Mom and Dad visited Nogales in both countries, but I never did.

JG