Monday, February 18, 2013

Old Ox Cart Ale - Standard Brewing Co.



The Standard Brewing Company was founded in 1889 as an ale brewery.  It was originally located at 10 Cataract Street in Rochester, New York.  By the time of prohibition, the brewery's capacity was 30,000 barrels per year.

After repeal, Standard reopened at 436 Lake Avenue, the previous location of the Flower City Brewery.

In 1956, as a result of competitive pressures, Standard Brewing entered into a merger with its local rival, Rochester Brewing Company.  The consolidated firm was renamed the Standard-Rochester Brewing Company and continued in operation at Rochester's plant at 770 Emerson Street until the brewery ceased operation in 1970.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Cape Cod and the Pilgrimland


A couple of 1930 vintage postcards of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard...with maps! I'm always a sucker for a postcard with a pretty map!


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Southern Pacific 4449


In 1983, train enthusiasts voted the SP 4449 the most popular locomotive in the nation. Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of the SP GS-4 class of steam locomotive. The GS stands for Golden State since operated in regular service in California. It was built by Lima Locomotive Works (Lima, Ohio) in May of 1941 and received the red and orange "Daylight" paint scheme for the passenger trains of the same name which it hauled until it was retired from service in 1956 and put into storage.


SP 4449 was restored in Portland Oregon and returned to operation April 21, 1975 wearing a special paint scheme of red, white and blue to celebrate the American Bicentennial (card below). As part of the American Freedom Train, it pulled a display train around the United States. After nearly 2 years on the road, 4449 was returned to Portland. The "Daylight" colors have been restored and the train has made several appearances throughout the country since then.






Sing Fat Company, Los Angeles



The main store for Sing Fat Co. was in San Francisco's Chinatown. 
This branch was located in downtown Los Angeles. 


The logo above is from the back of the card.




Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Chinese Gardeners in California


These 2 guys don't look to happy about having their picture taken. Strange looking postcard with a very interesting design on the back. I couldn't find any info on Mr. Reeves, the Mission Artist.



Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Santa Barbara, California - 1920's



These views of Santa Barbara are published by W.W. Osborne of Santa Barbara. The cards were manufactured by the Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, New York. When the divided back postcard were authorized, the Albertype company created a line down the back of their cards with the words "Post Cards of Quality"...and I couldn't agree more! These cards also label "Hand-Colored" on them. The coloring on these cards (and the other cards of theirs that I have) is done with subtlety. Unlike many colored cards that tend to be bold and garish.



Santa Barbara 's first and only eight-story building was designed by A.B. Rosenthal and constructed by Charles Urton and opened April 9, 1924. Urton had never attempted a steel high-rise before, so he sent away for a series of "how-to" books to assist him in completing the project. After the earthquake of 1925 did almost no damage to the new structure, Urton proudly hung a banner from the top floor of the building proclaiming: "Built by Charles M. Urton, Builder." The Granada has been completely restored and is home to the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts.



Saturday, January 26, 2013

New York Zoological Park

A few more cards (by popular demand) from my NYZP collection. Not particularly valuable cards but I've always liked the way they looked.

The caption says "Handling Python"...Whose handling who?







Why wouldn't they create a mountain habitat for mountain goats as opposed to having them climb on a log cabin?...maybe they're actually Cabin Goats?