Looking north on Citrus Avenue...
...from Workman Avenue:
...from Badillo Street:
...and from College Street:
The 200 block of North Citrus was the grocery and retail center of Covina in 1938, with Safeway, Alpha Beta and Cornet on the west side and J. J. Newberry adjoining Bank of America across the street.
But when?
The middle 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 others? Judging by the handwriting, these postcards appear to be from the same studio, so I'm going to assume all three 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, specifically the 100 block of North Citrus.
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.
6 comments:
Google says the car is 1936 - a Nash Ambassador or Plymouth 2-door (sedan, but with two doors it's a coupe).
And yellow tags in California started about 1915.
I have confidence that my IDs are correct. :-)
No argument. And relying on Google? Ya get what you pay for.
I spent much of my career analyzing a different sort of subject matter and left any car identifications I left to my dad.
Hello — I'm the great grandson of Thomas Finch, who sold and repaired watches at the Finch Brothers Jewelry Store in Covina. Thank you for digging up these photos! They're very much of interest to my dad, Tom Finch's grandson. My dad remembers the store well. Can I ask how you found the photos? We would love to locate the originals.
Hi Garrett. I can't reply to comments directly anymore, so I hope you visit this page again so you can read my response. All the images in this post are from old postcards called RPPCs (Real Photo Post Cards). I got them from eBay at various times. I don't know the name of the photographer nor the name of the company that produced them. Sorry I couldn't be more help with your query, but I'm glad you and your dad liked the images. :-) —Scott
Hi Scott — Thank you for this kind reply and information! I see that your email address is available on your about page, so I can follow up there if we have any other questions.
My dad tells me, by the way, that by 1938 his grandfather, Tom Finch, owned the buildings adjoining his shop and leased them to the businesses seen in the photo. Tom was a special person, very important and influential in my dad's life. We're grateful that your research has uncovered these images!
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