The localities described below would have been household names to Covinans during the the town's first half-century, but most are unfamiliar today.
Meet Mr. Glenn Montague, a/k/a "Monty" to his teammates and friends. I've gotten to know this gentleman pretty well the last couple of weeks, and I think you'd enjoy meeting him, too. Our acquaintance began when I stumbled upon this rare postcard.
Thought I'd show off my Covina orange crates (which were actually referred to as "boxes" back in the day). Although exhibiting some wear, the labels are in overall good shape for their age, and the boxes themselves are still sound enough to stack for display shelving.
Just eyeballing, the "Red C" appears to be the older of the two. Red C was a long-standing brand of the Covina Citrus Association which was established around 1895,1 though my guess is this particular box dates to the 1930s. The Valencia Heights Orchards Association was in business from around 1930 through the mid-Fifties,2,3 and I think its box here is from the post-WWII Forties.
I would still like to obtain a Covina orchard box, which were stouter in construction and had branded rather than applied paper labels, but the only one of those I ever saw for sale went for more than I could afford. I no longer recall exactly what I paid for my shippers, but for sure it was less than a hundred each. They have way more historical and sentimental value to me than that, though!
References:
1 Covina Argus, October 5, 1907, p.12.
2 Covina Citizen, November 19, 1931, p.6.
3 Covina Argus-Citizen, January 30, 1953, p.7.
I know I said a while back that I was done collecting Covina antiques, but bottles were one of my earliest specialties, and I simply can't resist temptation when it comes to old Covina glass.
So, given that affinity, what would a local history nut like me most like to acquire? A Covina orange juice bottle, of course! You might think they'd be relatively common, but it's taken me forever just to find one. And here it is: a beautiful, like-new half gallon juice bottle from the Damerel-Allison Company of Covina that dates from 1946-1950.
A case could be made that Damerel-Allison invented bottled orange juice. Founded in 1901, D-A pioneered storage and refrigeration techniques that made it possible to reliably mass produce orange and other fruit juices for the regional consumer market. D-A also achieved market advantage by controlling its entire supply and distribution chain all the way from the grove to the grocer's shelf. After WWII, Damarel-Allison opened the largest and most thoroughly automated frozen juice concentrate facility in the United States. In 1950, D-A was acquired by a division of the California Fruit Growers Exchange, whose consumer products brand name was... Vita-Pakt! Under that name, the company would remain a staple of Covina's economy for another half-century.
This promotional booklet was put out by the Covina Valley Farmers' Club in March, 1907.1 Some of these images (all by Tucker Studios) are quite rare; a few likely never published elsewhere before or since. Its 12 photos are presented here in the same order they appear in the booklet. (Click on any of the black-and-white pictures to view an enlargement.)
I've always liked this picture of Hollenbeck back when the palms were young. Donald Pflueger says this is Hamilton Temple driving his 1901 Oldsmobile;2 one of the first automobiles in Covina. (No stone pillars on the street yet, apparently.)
Title page of the CHS Cardinal yearbook from 1954: the year I was born in Covina. It shows my home town on the cusp of its transition from citrus-growing capital to suburban residential community.
Still more groves than subdivisions at this point, but that wouldn't be the case for much longer.
The old high school would soon be no more, as well. CHS began transitioning to a new location on Puente at Hollenbeck starting in Fall, 1956. That same year, students from West Covina attended classes at the old campus until their own new high school would be ready in 1957. In 1958-1959, it became an all-freshman high school, where students from all over the area waited for Northview, Charter Oak, and Edgewood to be completed. After closing completely in 1961, the main building was repeatedly vandalized, and in June, 1962, the gymnasium was destroyed by arson. The entire complex was subsequently demolished.
Excellent video summarizing the history of our home town, originally presented in 1977 by the Rotary Club of Covina, and released on DVD in 2006 by the Covina Valley Historical Society. Historical materials compiled and presented by Vernon Jobe with narration by William B. Temple, and supervised by William Stone.
Among the topics covered are the history of irrigation, the citrus industry, rail transportation, schools, social organizations, postal service, the fire department, early telephone service, civic improvements, and a series of very interesting "before and after" views of Covina and environs over the years. Well worth a watch!
