Old California Views
I admit that this is an oddball selection today. But that's what can happen on "Anything Goes Saturday"!
First up is a scan from a slide that I am pretty sure is from the 1940s; a parade of some kind is going on, with a western theme. "Rogers Stables", says that banner. Will Rogers? Well, no... Trav Rogers, actually. Who he? He was a noted civic leader, developer and founder of the Ranch Club. In about 1940, the Trav Rogers Stables were built at 1445 N. Sunrise Way. The original building, a dining room, flanked on either side by box stalls for horses, was to become the Ranch Club. The stalls were later rebuilt into rooms for paying guests. With the genial Trav greeting arrivals with his familiar, “Hello, Hello, Hello,” and Frank Bogert serving as manager, the Trav Rogers Stables soon became the place to go, the center of desert social life.
Many of the members had well known names—Freeman Gosden, Charlie Farrell, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Bruce Cabot, and Jackie Cooper, who manned the drums many a night. Palm Springs became used to having Trav’s stagecoach and wagons furnish the backbone for most of the early parades down Palm Canyon Drive, before it had lighted palm trees.
Neat! I should add that I had a second slide featuring this parade, with quite a lot of stuck-on mystery gunk. I looked up "How to clean old slides safely", and one article recommended a special chemical, which I purchased. After applying some to a swab, I was horrified to discover that all of the emulsion wiped off like marker off of a white board. OOPS.
Here an old "linen-style" postcards; the inset in the lower left shows the El Dorado Hotel exterior, seen in the first scan. Imagine seeing Clark Gable and Bing Crosby just lounging around. I'd call them "Clarky" and "Bingy" (just don't call Gable "The Clarkster", he hated that).
I like old photos of hotels and motels, and this one just happened to be on top of a stack that I was about to scan. The Rancho 101 Motel - all I could really find out about it is that it was in San Diego, along US 101.
There are several old postcards from what I assume is the same Motel. Here's one, the place looks charming and rustic.
And here's another one:
Each room has a radio! You won't miss Fibber McGee and Molly.
I hope you have enjoyed these oddball images.
2 comments:
Major-
"Full-tile showers; Radios. 'Sleep off the highway - it's quiet".
Now that's a motel speaking my language-!
It's rather distressing to hear the "recommended special chemical" managed to destroy the gunky slide. I assume this 'miracle chemical' was not lighter fluid - as that's the go-to cleaner, gunk/marker remover that works on vinyl records, cardboard, heavy paper, etc., and in my experience has never caused any issues. Period. Truly, "the collectors' friend". (Admittedly, I've never used it on film emulsion). But if you haven't tried it, it would definitely be worth checking, as it's cheap, relatively easy to find [still] and often truly works miracles.
Thanks, Major.
Wow, so the cleaning chemical removed the emulsion? Exactly the opposite of what it was meant to do? How could the source get it so wrong!
The postcards look really nice! All the trees and flowers make Rancho 101 Motel a very inviting place! Not only do the units have radios, there are "some kitchenettes". Does that mean only some of the units had kitchenettes?
An interesting, and pleasant, anything goes Saturday, Major. Thanks.
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