On to California

We have been in Utah (on top of the Great Salt Lake, to be specific) for the last few posts. Today, we are moving over to California. I have more post cards of Utah, but I will save those for later. I want to visit California, where I lived for 21 years in 4 different locations in both northern and southern parts of the state.

This card seems to be part of an advertising campaign by the Southern California Tourist Agency. It probably isn’t, but it certainly highlights the attitude that people had about Southern California. The description of the scene on the top of the card says, “The Golden State Limited, Passing through Orange Groves, Southern Calif.”. I love that fact that they are combining Southern California with orange groves. I have actually seen train tracks through the orange groves. We moved to Southern California in 1959 and for a family outing would drive randomly through the state near our home. Sometimes we would wind up in an orange grove area and, sure enough, there would be train tracks in the middle of them. I love that this picture also has orange blossoms on the trees! This card is from the Linen Card Era (1930 – 1945). One can certainly tell, though, by feeling it that it was not produced by Curt Otto Teich. It is much smoother to the touch on the front.

The back of the post card makes it clear that this was not by Curt Teich. It is published by the M. Kashower Company of Los Angeles. It even says so twice! The first and clearest statement is on the left of the card, “Pub. By M. Kashower co., Los Angeles, Calif.” The second indicator is their logo. It is at the top, middle of the card between the words POST and CARD. It is hard to tell, but I think it is a bear (the California state symbol) between the two letters M and K. This is in a circle with a sprig of leaves covering from the bottom to about 1 and 11 o’clock on the circle. Most of their cards were scenes from Southern California. The M. Kashower Co. was headquartered in Los Angeles from 1914 to 1934. That means that they ended their business shortly after this post card was printed.