Sorry about the hiatus.
Papergreat returns today in a
big way, with new posts in the morning, afternoon and evening. (Check back often! Tell your friends!) And we have the finest selection of fruits and ephemera, and fruit ephemera, for your browsing and intellectual needs.
These two colorful postcards (likely from the 1960s) feature well-dressed women in high heels doing some fruit shopping at the famous
Farmers Market in Los Angeles, California.
The Farmers Market is still around and dates to 1934, according to
the detailed history on its website. At the start, farmers were charged just 50¢ per day for rent. Over the years, the market has hosted circus acts, parades and petting zoos. Check out the website's
Market Facts for interesting connections regarding Gilmore Oil Company (including Blu-Green and Red Lion gas),
Du-par's Restaurant and Bakery,
Magee's Nuts, Bob's Donut & Pastry Shop, Chef Baloni, Gilmore Field, Gilmore Stadium, the
Hollywood Stars baseball team, Jayne Mansfield, James Dean, Walt Disney, and much more.
When it comes to postcards of businesses and tourist attractions, I always wonder whether the people pictured are real customers or models/actors. In the case of these two postcards, I think I have to lean toward them being posed models. In either case, though, I wonder if the people featured on postcards know about their "fame" and pass that information down to other family members through the decades. Or maybe it's just left to chance that someone sorting through old postcards might come upon Great Aunt Henrietta, wearing a big hat.
So I wonder who these women are. And if any of them are someone's Great Aunt Henrietta.
Finally, here's the logo on the back of these two postcards. These were Plastichrome postcards by Colourpicture, a Boston company. According to
the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City, Colourpicture was in business from 1938 to 1969. The company began with linen postcards, moving into the Plastichrome postcards and spiral-bound souvenir booklets in the 1950s.
