Many weeks ago I scanned some family slides showing the home of my Grandparents back in 1949, when snow blanketed SoCal. I also scanned some other slides, and will share some of those today! All of these are from a 1948 trip to Phoenix, Arizona.
I'll start with this nice portrait of my Grandmother (Ruth), posing with Camelback Mountain in the distance (see how the mountain resembles a sleeping camel?). Ruth is looking pretty sassy; if I could go back in time, I'd tell her not to smoke, but she lived to be 93, so what the heck do I know. There sure isn't much between her and the Mountain, just a few scattered homes.
It was surprisingly hard to find a modern-day photo of Camelback Mountain from the same angle, but I finally nabbed this one. There's been just a little bit of development since 1948!
During their visit to Phoenix, they stayed at the famous Arizona Biltmore, which I mistakenly believed was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, Albert Chase McArthur was the architect, though Wright did work on the site for four months.
Anyway, the slide was labeled, "Culver's new Cad" - the Culvers were long-time friends who made the trip with my Grandparents. I would have assumed they all would have caught a train from Union Station in downtown L.A., but they clearly drove there.
Notice the "textile blocks" that give the Biltmore its distinctive appearance - probably one of the reasons it is so often attributed to FLW.
And finally, there's my mom, then 12 years old. She has the mega ultra Peter Pan collar - it might have actually provided enough lift to allow her to fly. I looked for modern-day photos of the interior of the Biltmore to try to locate this particular room, but didn't see anything that looked quite like this.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Phoenix, circa 1948!
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