Citrus Avenue, 1938

Looking north on Citrus Avenue...

...from Workman Avenue:

...and from Badillo Street:

But when?

The bottom postcard can be dated fairly precisely by the movie headlining at the Covina. "Happy Landing" starring Sonja Henie was in local theaters from January to March of 1938.¹

And what about the other? Judging by the handwriting, these postcards appear to be from the same studio, so I'm going to assume that both photos were taken the same day. But let's consider other evidence.

First of all, how do I know that's Citrus and Workman in the top photo? I recognize it from this scene in the Covina Valley Historical Society's "75 Years of Covina" documentary. As far as the date is concerned, I notice Citrus has concrete paving; that happened in 1934 after the new State Highway (today's I-10) was completed.² If we could identify that car, though, that might pin the date down further.

I admit I'm no expert at this sort of thing, but after looking at a bunch of pictures of cars from the latter Thirties, I'm pretty sure that's a 1938 Dodge Club Coupe. And the license plate matches the light yellow color scheme of California's 1938 tags. So I feel pretty confident concluding that the photos on these postcards do in fact date to the same day in Winter, 1938.

Let's go in for a closer look at downtown.

The street clock in front of the Finch Bros. jewelry store reads high noon, and ticket holders look to be filing in to the Covina Theatre for today's matinee. The Reed Block (1900) in which the theater resides sports a new Streamline Moderne facade made of stucco, and both of Covina's old landmark bank buildings on the opposite side of Citrus are slathered with the same modern material, as well. The WCTU drinking fountain still stands on the corner, but with a different pedestal now. Drugs seem to be the most popular retail commodity in town these days, with cafes and bake shops taking place and show respectively.

Back down to Workman and fast forward to the present day: note that the 1934 concrete pavement survived more or less intact well into the 21st century!

Image courtesy Google Street View, March, 2017.

Alas, that last relic concrete section between Workman and Rowland appears to have finally been removed or paved over in 2023.

(Footnote: This article updates and expands upon an earlier post with the same title first published April 6, 2020.)

References:

¹ Los Angeles Times on Newspapers.com.
² Covina Argus, May 25, 1934, p.1.