Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #54: La Vida Mineral Springs Water Crate

This was quite a find--a crate for carrying quart-size water bottles from the La Vida Mineral Springs, probably dating to the 1930s or 1940s.

As noted in this blog previously, the naturally hot mineral water seeping down from the hills above the old La Vida resort, north of Carbon Canyon Road, just a short distance east of today's Olinda Village, was bottled and sold throughout western America from the late 1920s.

Over the years, there were various sized bottle of the product, ranging from 7 ounces on up to the quart and a wide variety of flavors, including lemon-lime, cherry, root beer, grape, strawberry, grapefruit, and more.

There was a bottling facility on the premises, which had a Placentia rural route mail delivery address, as well as in downtown Fullerton.  There were branches of the company elsewhere, such as in Sacramento.

Advertisements in newspapers and magazines, especially in the early days of the end of the Twenties and in the early Thirties, touted the health benefits from drinking the water and testimonials from homeopathic doctors, regular users and others claimed that La Vida water was a restorative product sure to help out others.

Whether or not the flavored mineral water actually delivered on the promises and hype, the product had a long life and seemed to have been pretty successful for a number of years prior to the 1960s.  Having this crate, even if a little worse for wear, along with a good sampling of bottles from the company, is a nice addition to a decent little collection of artifacts related to La Vida.