Here is another 1960s color postcard of a portion of the old La Vida Mineral Springs on the Brea portion of Carbon Canyon. The view looks east and takes in a carefully manicured lawn with two picnic tables used by resort visitors. A simple white board fence separates the lawn from Carbon [Canyon] Creek, which still runs on that course along the rocky hillside to the left.
The rust-colored sidewalk that runs along the parking lot (dig all those groovy cars, man) is still partially there, though much the worse for wear forty plus years later. At the end of the walk, crossing the creek which veers away from the hill and toward Carbon Canyon Road, which is off to the right outside the image, is a wooden footbridge, from which a few folks have just emerged. This leads to the cafe, which is visible directly behind the bridge. Behind the cafe is the two-story motel building. As to the mineral baths, those were located behind the photographer to the west.
On the reverse of the postally used card is an address to The Netherlands and message dated 27 March 1969, with a postmark from Artesia on the following day. Obviously, the message is in Dutch, but a few items can be picked out including the word "cafe," so perhaps the person who visited bought the card there or had lunch there, as well as the place named "Artesia" and "Pomona," so maybe the sender lived in Artesia and went to visit someone in Pomona and stopped by the Springs on their way through the Canyon. There is also a reference to the day being unseasonably warm, topping out at 89 degrees.
The printed caption at the top reads "A restful atmosphere prevails at / LA VIDA MINERAL SPRINGS / CARBON CANYON / BREA, CALIFORNIA." As with several other cards highlighted in this blog previously, this one was produced by Amescolor Publishers of Escondido.
As before, clicking on any image creates a new window with slightly enlarged views, although a recently-added Blogger feature is that all of the images in the post can be seen through one window after clicking any of the photos.
I'm so glad to have found your blog, so many things bring back so many memories.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, when my hubby of 20+ years and I first got married (while living in La Habra), I was boarding my horse at El Rodeo Stables and rode all over the hills, up near the Olinda landfill, through Carbon Canyon Park and Chino Hills State Park and over to the Firestone Boy Scout Camp in Tonner Canyon.
Later on, we moved to Chino Hills and my husband was still working in Fullerton, so his route to work by motorcycle was to ride through Carbon Canyon. We'd go to La Vida before it closed and were very familiar with the old "ski slope" as well as other landmarks in Carbon Canyon.
I've bought horses from Leonard Grenier (the horse farm across the street from the "ski slope") over the years and I reminisced about the murder of "Mac" McKenna on that post of yours...at the Arabian horse ranch I was working at in 1989, we had several of his horses there for training and breeding purposes when the murder happened. What a small world.
Once again, thank you for this blog. There are some great trips down memory lane here!!
Hi SFTS, one of the best results of maintaining this blog is to hear from people like you who discover it and get to reconnect with the Canyon. It definitely makes it worthwhile. Thanks for the comment and I hope you continue coming back to check out what is new.
ReplyDeleteWe'd go to La Vida before it closed and were very familiar with the old "ski slope" as well as other landmarks in Carbon Canyon.
ReplyDeleteHello residential pools, thanks for the comment and for checking out the blog and this post. Hopefully, there'll be more to come in the future.
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