Carbon Canyon Historic Artifact #50: La Vida Mineral Springs Coffee Shop, 1960s

Here's another in the growing set of 1960s chrome postcards from the "Arts Card" series by Escondido's Amescolor Publisher of views from the La Vida Mineral Springs resort; in this case, the interior of the coffee shop.

Many tell-tale signs of the era are there in the decor--the vinyl covered booth and lunch counter stool seats and backs, the formica tops with aluminum edging, the three-part gold-colored light fixtures, the faux brick wall in the back separating the kitchen from the dining area.

This is also the case with some of the people--check the guy at the left with the loud red Hawaiian shirt, shades, sandals and straw hat.  One of his table mates obviously demonstrated that there was no "No Shirt, No Service" restriction—after all, they probably came straight from the baths.

The woman seated at the counter and looking at the camera has one a very bright and busy patterned dress--apropos of the era. As for the waitress at the right behind the counter, she is sporting a lovely lime green uniform.

The windows at left faced the parking lot and Carbon Canyon Road would be in that direction.  Behind the counter and the row of dispensers, cabinets and other material was Carbon Creek and the hillside.  The building was narrow left to right and longer from the photographer, on the east end, toward the kitchen, on the west side, because of the configuration of the property.

Today, it's hard to visualize, when at the site, all of the elements that were there, from the coffee shop to the motel to the bath house.  But, when this image was taken about a half-century ago, La Vida was still a well-kept and busy place, though that was going to change over the next couple of decades.