Tuesday, August 19, 2008

San Diego History

I wrote previously about my grandmother being at Tent City for her honeymoon in 1904 (post here)
Coronado's history is fascinating to me.

I recently purchased this original flier, dated 1919, advertising new amenities at Tent City
Coronado Tent City flier, 1919

Here are some of the fees and information, such as "furs are only needed as an adornment".
(click on image to enlarge. The 'all sizes' icon over the flickr photo page will enable you to zoom further)
Tent City, fees and information, 1919

Vintage postcards of Tent City
This one postmarked 1906
Vintage Postcard, Tent City 1

Moonlight
Vintage Postcard, Tent City 2

Main Street
Coronado Tent City vintage postcard

A later postcard, this one from 1944
Coronado Tent City postcard, 1944

And this, the creme de la creme...
Two photographs of what I assume is a family (or perhaps two families) in adjoining bungalows (or tents, or cabanas, whichever you prefer).
The seller I purchased these from didn't realize what she had, so I was able to buy these for a song.
Her description is interesting: "The photos show 13 people dressed for the beach in c.1899. The men are wearing coats and ties. The women are wearing full length skirts or dresses. The boy is wearing a tie. His only concession to the beach is that he is barefoot!
They are standing in front of two different tents. One is tent number S27 the second is tent S29. The tents are made by the San Diego Tent and Awning Company. There must have been a regular tent city on the beach because the tent was on Wyoming Ave."


The expression on the boy's face is priceless (again, click on image to enlarge)
Vintage photo, Tent City

Vintage photo, Tent City

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

All I can say Barb is that the lady in the top photo is overdressed for Beach Volleyball. Thanks for this excellent retrospective on the early days of San Diego. For all of us history lovers, this is meat to our bones.

8:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just finished reading a book on ladies' fashions from the mid to late 19th century. After reading a chapter or two, one thought came to me - quite unbidden: "My God, weren't they even allowed to loosen their collars?"

4:51 PM  

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