Paradise?

We are going to continue with the Southern California orange grove/train theme. This post card is from the white border era (approximately 1915to 1930).

The front of the post card is a picture of the final part of a train passing from an arboretum-like setting into an orange grove. The plants are all in bloom and the orange trees are full of fruit. In the background one can see the coastal range with snow on the mountain tops. Yet, there sit two lovely damsels in the flower garden enjoying the daisies. The title on the card says, “In California, the Land of Sunshine, Fruits and Flowers”. It certainly looks a bit like paradise. Even the people on the train are looking at the two lucky women sitting in the grass enjoying the lovely fragrances.

The back tells us that this is published by the Western Publishing and Novelty Company of Los Angeles. Because we are going to be focusing on California for a while, we will see a few cards issued by them. This company had a decent run – from 1932 to the 1970s. This company was a great promoter of the Southern California tourist business. Their cards were mostly pictures of California and they published some tourist material. There is a code on the top middle of the back of the card (A-101318) but I cannot tell you what it means. I would assume that it means that this is the 101,318th design of post cards that this publisher issued. However, I cannot back up that theory. If you know anything, I would love to hear from you. The back doesn’t tell us who printed the card, but I know that the Western Publishing and Novelty Company had a good partnership with Theo. Sohmer until he disappeared from the business scene.