Tag Archives: 1940s

Miami Beach, Florida

This image shows a long stretch of Miami Beach, focusing especially on the actual beach itself.
There is no description on the back of this card. The legend on the front reads:
Miami Beach, Florida D-221
–The city is located on an island close off-shore from Miami proper. The beaches are both natural and man-made, but in recent years are extensively reconstructed due to rising sea levels and erosion.
This card was used and is dated 2 March 1946.

Hollywood Farmers Market Dining, California

This image shows a small sit down restaurant within the Hollywood Farmers Market in California.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

The description states:
Scene in the original Farmers Market, West 3rd St at Fairfax — Hollywood’s unique outdoor food market, where motion picture stars and Hollywood housewives shop. The marketplace was opened in 1934 by Roger Dahlhjelm, comprises 80 farm stalls and food specialty shops. The world’s largest, most colorful permanent food fair patronized daily by more than 15,000 Southern Californians.
–The diners visible here appear to be eating a small snack and drinking coffee. The basket in the lower foreground appears to be a shopping bag for one of the diners.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

Hollywood Farmer’s Market, California

This image shows a colorized photo of the famous Farmers Market in Hollywood, California.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

The description states:
Scene in the original Farmers Market, West 3rd St. at Fairfax — Hollywood’s unique outdoor food market, where motion picture stars and Hollywood housewives shop. The marketplace was opened in 1934 by Roger Dahlhjelm, comprises 80 farm stalls and food specialty shops. The word’s largest, most colorful permanent food fair patronized daily by more than 15,000 Southern Californians.
–The photo is credited to “Dick” Whittington on the bottom left.
The market still exists at the same location, and has grown to over 100 stalls. It is situated next to the Grove outdoor shopping mall.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

Streamliner Train through California Orange Groves

This image is an artist’s rendition of a streamlined steam train operating in southern California amidst the orange groves common there in this era.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

There is no description on the back of this card.
This train strongly resembles the Pioneer Zephyr, a train run on the Burlington Route in the midwest United States, and thus not close to the orange groves of southern California. The badging is different on the front of the train, indicating a different company from the Burlington.
Other postings of this image also conclude that this is not a photograph but instead a mash-up of a train and orange groves, as the Southern Pacific did not have streamliners of this design.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

Orange Groves, California

This image is a colorized photo of orange groves in California, likely located in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles, California.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

There is no description on the back of this card.
Such groves have been considerably reduced in number as urbanization has spread through the Los Angeles and Orange Counties, resulting in considerable amounts of farm and orchard land being paved over for homes, businesses and roads.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

CBS Building, Hollywood, California

This image is a colorized photo of the building housing the CBS radio station known as KNX, located on Columbia Square in Hollywood, California.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

The description states:
A magnificent new structure, the Pacific Coast Home of the Columbia Broadcasting System, now stands on the spot where the motion picture industry first took root in Hollywood in October of 1911, — now Columbia Square.
Located on Sunset Boulevard, one of the principal traffic ribbons threading its way through the entertainment capital of the world — a five story office building, ten studios, including the Playhouse and adjoining offices.
–The building still exists today, looking much the same from this vantage point, though there are additional buildings being added to the square. KNX radio moved out of the building in 2005, and all broadcasting ceased in 2007.
This card was used and is dated 4 September 1953, but the card description and the appearance of the building indicates this image dates from the 1940s.

Fair Grounds Court, Albuquerque, New Mexico

This image shows an artist’s rendition of the motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico named the Fair Grounds Court, located at the time on Central Ave. in the city.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”

The description states:
FIAR GROUNDS COURT
T. J. ROBERTSON, Managing Owner
MODERN CABINS
Air-Conditioned — Innerspring Mattresses
6522 E. CENTRAL — ON HIGHWAY 66
Phone — 5-0085
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
— The motel is long gone and since replaced by a small strip mall. The name was given due to its location across U.S. 66 from the State Fairgrounds.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

Central Avenue, Albuquerque, New Mexico

This image is an artist’s rendition of the view down one of the main streets in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Central Avenue.

Art Tone “Glo-Var” Finish, Associated Litho, Des Moines 9, Iowa

The description states:
Here in Downtown Albuquerque, N. M. you can see the lofty peaks of the picturesque Sandia Mountain Range. History rich, this 188 year old city retains much of the fascination of Old Spain — yet is had been assigned a vital role in America’s future. Albuquerque lies in the heart of Atomic America — in one of the most interesting and historic areas of the entire United States.
At Albuquerque you are also in the heart of the Indian Country and within short driving range of a matchless variety of scenic attractions.
–The Masonic Temple in this image does not appear to have survived. This image dates from the 1940s.

Capitol Building, Austin, Texas

This unusual card has a different layout from almost any other on this blog. The image is on the address side, and takes up the area normally used to write a message. The ‘front’ of the card has a long, detailed description of the Texas State Capitol building.
The description states:
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEXAS CAPITOL BUILDING
The Capitol si shaped like a Greek cross, fronting sought, with projecting center and flanks, having a rotunda and dome at the intersection of the main corridors. Construction work was begun February 1, 1882, the cornerstone was laid March 2, 1885, and the completed building was decimated May 16, 1888. It was built at a cost of 3.000.000 acres of land of the State taken from the public domain. This land today is worth about $50,000,000. Architect — E.E. Myers Contractor — Abner Taylor.
Dimensions are as follows: Length, including porticos but not steps, 528 ft. Greatest width, including porticoes but not steps, 290 ft. Height, 311 ft. from grade line to top of statue on dome — 7 ft. taller than dome of National Capitol. Among the Capitols of the Nation, the Texas Capitol is second in size only to the National Capitol, and at the time of construction, was said to be the seventh largest building in the world. Grade line is 600 ft. above sea level.
There are 392 rooms, 18 vaults, 924 windows and 404 doors. The exterior walls were built with more than fifteen thousand carloads of red granite, hauled over 75 miles of specially built railroad from the inexhaustible quarries of Burnet County. The wainscoting is made of old, pine cherry cedar, walnut ash and mahogany, with an aggregate length of about 7 miles. The building proper covers three acres of ground and has about 18 acres of floor space.
Prepared by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and City of Austin.
–Since the time of writing, the building is now the sixth tallest of the State Capitols. This building is the third such to serve as Capitol.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

16th Street Business District, Cheyenne, Wyoming

This image features the Plains Hotel in the center, showing the Lincoln Highway as it passes through the city.

Sanborn Souvenir Co., Denver, Colo.

The description states:
Sixteenth Street is the main cross business street of Cheyenne as well as the route of the Lincoln Highway thru the city. Cheyenne with its miles of paved streets and its numerous large business and public buildings has all the appearances of a city of 50,000 although its population is less than half that.
–The Plains Hotel continues in business to the present, now registered as a National Historic Landmark. The Lincoln Highway has been relocated to bypass the city and is now known as Interstate 80. The street labelled 16th on this card is now Lincolnway.
The cars shown in this illustration indicate that this image dates from the 1940s.