Riviera Restaurant - San Francisco

A colorful 1930's linen of the "Distinctively Continental" Rivera Restaurant
in San Francisco.

Niagara Wall Paper Company

I couldn't find any info on the Niagara Wall Paper Company, but I'm pretty sure they were in Niagara Falls, N.Y and they made wallpaper...guaranteed!

Gulf Oil - Vacation Postcard

This card looks to be from the 40's or 50's, but I was unable to determine the age.

Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Gulf Oil Corporation (GOC) ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with Standard Oil of California.

Pouring Copper

A "Phostint" card from Detroit Publishing Co. The DPC was the only American company to license the Swiss photochrom process, which they would eventually register in 1907 under the name Phostint. Based on the number of this card (10037), it was published between 1906-1907 but is postally unused.

Although the photo doesn't convey it, I'm sure that copper pouring was not only a strenuous job but a hot one too.

Los Angeles City Hall - circa 1928

A RPPC of an artists rendering of the "New Los Angeles City Hall". The card is not postally marked, but the building was completed in 1928, so this card predates that. The description below is from the back of the card.

The RPPC card below shows how the building "towered" over the City of Angels. The building was in fact the tallest building in Los Angeles from 1928 until 1964.  A little bit of trivia...the Los Angeles City Hall's concrete structure used sand collected from California's 21 historic Missions.

"Tap'er Light!"

What does "tap'er light" mean? It literally means, "take it easy," or "be careful and have a good day." It comes from the practice of setting explosives in the mines; they had to pack in certain types of explosive charges by carefully tapping them in with a hammer. Hit the charge too hard, or miss and strike a spark off of rock, and ka-BOOM!  This cards is postmarked 1945

1950's RPPC of Tourist

The stamp boxes (SELLO-Papel Kodak) on these real photo "tarjeta postales" identify them to be of Mexican origin, circa 1950...as if the sunglasses weren't proof enough of the date! The interesting part to me, are the ornate iron doors she's looking through. With a little research, I found that they happen to be the entrance doors to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. The card below gives me the impression that they may have visited the iconic L.A. landmark when it was closed.