RPPCs with A Musical Theme

All 3 of the cards shown below were 

published in the 50's by the Los Angeles Photo Post Card Company.

Toenniges Instrument Repair was established in 1953 by instrument maker Paul Toenniges. The shop, now called Benning Violin, houses the talents of three recognized master violin makers: Toenniges' daughter, Nancy Benning, her husband Hans Benning and Eric Benning, a preeminent third-generation violinmaker and luthier who has become widely known for his antiqued reproductions of famous Italian-made master violins from the 16th century.

Founded in 1946 by Lowell C. Kiesel, as the L. C. Kiesel Company (now the Carvin Musical Instrument Co.).  He started by manufacturing aftermarket pickups for steel guitars, then began making a few models of basic lap steel guitars.  In 1949, the name was changed to Carvin (from his two eldest sons, Carson and Gavin; coincidentally, Carson Kiesel was born June 4, 1946 - the same year the Kiesel Company was founded).  Therefore, any instrument or amplifier with a Kiesel badge on it can be dated from 1946-1949; unfortunately, more specific dating is nearly impossible, although there are some clues based on the logos.

Here is a link to the Carvin Museum which houses some of Kiesel's works of art:

www.carvinmuseum.com/playersgallery/kiesel.html

The Pennino Music Co. was founded by Jeanette Pennino Banoczi and husband Jack Banoczi in Los Angeles some time after the end of WWII; It later moved to Westminster California. The were primarily a distributor but they did register their own brands and distribute them. On the back of this card is "special" on Circus Band Harmonicas...10 cents each! I'll take a dollars worth!

Italian Swiss Colony - Asti, California - 1950's

In 1880, California viticulture was rising in prominence. For Andrea Sbarboro, an Italian-American businessman, a winery seemed a natural fit for his Italian countrymen who were looking for work. He formed a new association chartered to fund an agricultural investment. Membership would be limited to Italians, but given the closeness of the Ticinesi both culturally and linguistically, Swiss were also allowed to join. He would name his venture the Italian-Swiss Agricultural Colony.

Sbarboro was an Italian immigrant who had arrived in San Francisco in 1850 at the age of 13. He started in the grocery business but later shifted his activities to local loan associations. He would famously found the Italian-American Bank, which merged in 1927 with A. P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy to become the Bank of America.

This card is from a black & white photo that has been tinted. You can tell since some things in the photo are still "shades-of-gray". Weird!...nobody's tasting wine!

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When Asti was founded more than 125 years ago as Italian Swiss Colony, the goal was to create a thriving community that revolved around wine. For a while, that plan worked – at one point in the 1960s, the winery was the No. 2 tourist attraction in the state, second only to Disneyland.

Amid an evolving wine business and a string of ownership changes, the Asti Winery shut its doors to the public in the late 1980s and essentially became an industrial wine factory. 

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.