Street scene

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Image: source not given; may be UCLA digital collection at http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz00000bv3 .

Downtown Los Angeles facing north on South Broadway between West Second Street and West Third Street, 1939.

Sometimes it is nice to see a plain ol’ street scene showing how a particular place used to look. Notice how the then-late-model automobile at the lower right looks so futuristic when compared with the boxy styling of the other cars in the photo.

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Tyrone Power “lavender wedding”

19jun01weddingImage: Tyrone Power and Annabella after their wedding ceremony in Bel-Air, California in 1939. From https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Tyrone_Power_and_Annabella_after_their_wedding_ceremony_in_Bel-Air%2C_Calif%2C_1939.jpg/340px-Tyrone_Power_and_Annabella_after_their_wedding_ceremony_in_Bel-Air%2C_Calif%2C_1939.jpg

“With the inclusion of morality clauses in the contracts of Hollywood actors in the 1920s, some closeted stars contracted marriages of convenience to protect their public reputations and preserve their careers… The term lavender marriage has been used to characterize these couples/individuals:

“…The term has been applied to the marriage of Tyrone Power and French actress Annabella in 1939.[8]

“8. Bret, David (2000). Errol Flynn: Satan’s Angel. Robson Book. p. 79. Retrieved January 18, 2015.”

Excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_marriage .

Cabot Yerxa and his pueblo

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Image: undated but may be 1939 based on the appearance of the construction just beginning. From  https://image.slidesharecdn.com/extraordinaryspaces-131107155949-phpapp01/95/extraordinary-spaces-sitespecific-collections-and-their-challenges-7-638.jpg?cb=1402667053 . Photographer not identified.

Cabot Yerxa, the man who found the spring that made Desert Hot Springs famous, built a quirky four-story, 35-room pueblo between 1939 and his death in 1965. Now a museum run by the city of Desert Hot Springs—Yerxa was the town’s first mayor—the Hopi-inspired adobe structure is filled with memorabilia of his time as a homesteader; his encounters with Hollywood celebrities at the nearby Bar-H Ranch; his expedition to the Alaskan gold rush; and many other events.

Excerpt from https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/california/palm-springs-and-the-desert-resorts/things-to-do/sights/reviews/cabots-pueblo-museum-580357 .

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Image: undated. From https://66.media.tumblr.com/08bdd7872c1bac13cae88526cb980e82/tumblr_inline_my2uh1ahbx1rpb43t.jpg . Photographer not identified.

Learn more about Yerxa at https://www.palmspringslife.com/miracle-in-the-sand/ .

Shoe store toy

19mar24ringTossImages: from an ebay auction listing

Presumably an individually-owned shoe store, it looks like Triangle sold or gave away at least this one promotional item. Just in case you don’t know how it worked, one would hold it where the Walt Disney’s “PINOCCHIO” lettering is. The trick would be to jerk it upward then jab Pinocchio’s nose into the airborne ring. It seems simple but it took a little bit of skill — it was a good item to occupy a child for awhile perhaps while waiting for a sibling to get their shoes.

Today that address houses Ferguson’s Gallery and Royal Bartending School. It appears to be in the same building that was there in 1939 albeit modernized a little.