10 September 2011

Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #24


On the face of it, it is not a particularly striking item, but it's still part of the canyon's history.  This is a matchbook from La Vida Mineral Springs, possibly from as early as the 1960s, but maybe from the following decade.



Actually, the silver lettering on the royal blue background is somewhat eye-catching.  On the front flap is the name of the resort and the listing of its offerings, including the old cottages that sat on the west side of the property, the hotel that was on the east side across a footbridge that spanned Carbon [Canyon] Creek and the cafe that was attached to the hotel.  Interestingly, the text includes a notation that the Springs was "7 miles east of Brea, Calif.," even though it is and has been for decades within the City of Brea, but the reference was obviously to the old downtown on Brea Boulevard north of Imperial Highway.


The back cover, to which the strike is attached, notes that "For General Health[,] Try Our Natural Hot Soda Mineral Baths" and that the resort also offered "Complete Physio-Therapy Dept."  Finally, on the top edge is the addition that the facility had an "Olympic Size Heated Swimming Pool."  It appears that this pool was added to the resort in the late 1950s.

So, it's a small, perhaps insignificant item, but there were probably many of these handed out and used in the cottages, hotel, cafe and out by the pool over some years at La Vida.  Sometime soon, there'll be a few more items to post from the resort.

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