Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #35: La Vida Mineral Springs Cafe, early 1960s

Here is another Amescolor Publishers chrome postcard of the La Vida Mineral Springs resort in the Brea portion of Carbon Canyon, dating from probably the early 1960s, judging from some of the really cool cars parked in front of the business.

Car buffs can feel free to leave a comment to help date the vehicles, but the powder blue auto on the far right looks like it's from the late 50s, while some of the others appear to be from a few years later.

The restaurant was little changed from its appearance in some of the other postcards that have appeared here, notably views of the café from the 1940s.  The large false front with the business name on it, for example, dates from the earlier periods.  The wrap-around porch looks to have been remodeled, if not added.  Note, too, the large chimney at the eastern end of the building.

The stand of eucalyptus trees at the left go back to the 1920s era and they are visible in real photo cards that have been shown here.  A couple of these trees are still there, having survived the ravages of time, including the devastating fall 2008 fire, so these pinpoint the location, as does the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, portions of which still survive, though heavily damaged.  Finally, the exposed rocky hillside behind the building, which was separated from the hills by Carbon [Canyon] Creek, is still much like that.

To the left, behind the trees, were the older portions of the resort, where 1920s and 1930s images showed small cabins and bathing facilities (and there were picnic tables under the trees, as well.)  Today, the lone physical reminder of the resort, the water tank that still has the La Vida name on it, is off in that direction, at the far western end of the property.

To the right, out of the camera's view, the sidewalk leading eastward from the café, took visitors over a footbridge to the two-story hotel.  The last three entries in this series, showing circa 1940s views, provide good examples of how this section looked.  That hotel lasted until a fire destroyed it in the 1990s.

Meantime, the café and its successor business, the La Vida Roadhouse, continued on until about twelve years ago, when the Roadhouse was finally razed.  This great retro card shows the resort when it was still a successful concern and looking at the rundown condition of the site now, it's hard to believe that anything looking like what we see in this image was actually there.

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