- 1 -

COVER CARDS

San Francisco Bay Area Post Card ClubMeetings are held the fourth Saturday of every month except December

Visitors and dealers are always welcomeSee us online at www.postcard.org

May 2006 Volume XXI, No. 4Next Meeting: Saturday, May 27, 12 to 3 PM

Fort Mason Center, Room C-260Laguna Street at Marina Boulevard, San Francisco

Please disarm pagers, cell phones, and alarms during the meeting.

Program Notes: Since he succumbed to the delights of postcards a few years ago Jack Hudson hasbecome an enthusiastic collector and researcher of the cards themselves and of the stories that theytell. He’ll wear both of those hats for this program as well as a Holmesian Deerstalker as he unveilsthe answers to The Mystery of the J Cards. These crystal clear professionally processed real photosof early San Francisco have been noticed in recent years, and several collectors chase them dili-gently. But little is known about them. What does the J in their caption mean? Who was the photog-rapher? Who was the publisher? Jack’s got those answers and much more of the story. But there arestill questions, and we’ll strive to answer some of them at the meeting. If you have any J cards,bring them and share in the excitement.This will be the first meeting at which Fort Mason Center will charge up to $8 for parking within itsgates. There is also a crafts fair scheduled. Parking could be tight.Show & Tell: Collector’s choice; three item, two minute limit.

Springtime... and young men’s fancies turn tobaseball or, in mycase, artichokes. Ilove ’em – large orsmall. I’ve grownthem, occasionallysuccessfully; I buythem, purple or green,mostly at TraderJoe’s, and I collectthem on postcards.

The French love them, too, and have large town markets devoted to theprickly edible flower buds. And they equate artichokes with beauty asseen in this card of an artichoke vendor in Roscoff, a town in Brittany,France’s most westerly region. —LEW BAER

1Underline

http://www.postcard.org/

- 2 -

CLUB OFFICERSPresident:

Ed Herny, 510 428-2500e-mail: edphemra(at)pacbell.net

Vice President:Kathryn Ayres, 415 929-1653e-mail: piscopunch(at)hotmail.com

Treasurer/Hall Manager:Dan Saks, 415 826-8337e-mail: belette(at)rcn.com

Editor:Lew Baer, 707 795-2650PO Box 621, Penngrove CA 94951e-mail: editor(at)postcard.org

Recording Secretary:Bruce Diggelman, 510 531-7381

Webmaster:Jack Daley: webmaster(at)postcard.org

Newsletter Deadline: 5th of each month

MINUTES, April 22, 2006Cards were brought for sale or trade by JosephJaynes, Ed Herny, Scott Zagoria, David Parry, LewBaer, Ray Costa donations, and Sue Scott.Only 29 members and guests signed the rostersheet; several others did not do so. Alex Melteffof San Francisco and his friend Roger Teló, amoderns collector from France, stopped by briefly.We were called to order by President Ed Herny.New members Richard Ivanhoe, Dave Lowry andGeorge Juilly were introduced as were guestsJoann Juilly, George’s wife, and Lisa, a collectorwho found us on line and traveled from Arizonato attend the meeting.There were many winners in the drawing. KayYonemoto won the mug (not a Stein) reading “I’mhaving a great time in Oakland” donated by Quan-tity Postcards..Old Business: Ed Herny reminded us ofWESTPEX, the stamp show that will be held nextweekend and of the SF History Day to be heldnext Sunday at what was known as the Hall ofFlowers.Jack Daley told that he is making a promotionalbrochure for FACING DISASTER, the club-publishedearthquake postcard album. Submit ideas to him.

Ed then led a brief discussion on the paid parkingwhich will start next month at Fort Mason Center.Horrors! We have been looking for alternate ven-ues.New Business: Kathryn Ayres announced that wewill be having a field trip to the Oakland Museumto view the earthquake and fire exhibit. There isparking underneath the museum, and tickets canbe partially validated.Show & Tell: Darlene Thorne showed the adver-tising card she recently acquired for the 1906 bookshe owns on the earthquake and fire; the card isshown on page 30 of FACING DISASTER. She alsoshowed copies of the San Jose Mercury News withfour of her postcards and her smiling face picturedon page 2, and she showed a book, a postcard his-tory of San Jose. … John Freeman told of the ex-hibit by the History Room at the SF Main PublicLibrary with earthquake items from their own col-lection, including many comic pieces; Johnbrought an album of Hearst novelty cards – me-chanical comics and other greetings and cards withimages that appear when heated with an iron. …Jack Daley showed an “earthquake” plate of Straw-berry Hill, made in England, with Sweeney Ob-servatory still standing … Seen here are two cardsRich Roberts showed of a dot on the map where

- 3 -

his family is from: Hornsea, on the Yorkshire coast.He found a card from 1903 in Detroit, and in NewMexico found another, dated 1906, showing thesame view but with a record – and destructive –tide. … Jack Hudson brought two cards: a Case

tractor real photo with six children taken in frontof a photo studio, and an RP secretary, the“Multigraph Girl,” at her early duplicating ma-chine. … Sue Scott showed an advertising cardfor a housing development in Oakland, “com-pletely free of Orientals”; an RP advertisement forthe “Wide Awake Weekly,” and a card fromDunsmuir … Lew Baer brought a card of the Hallof Justice mailed in May 1906 to a Mr. Hives, sec-retary of a Canadian exchange club: “I havemoved.” … George Juilly showed an album ofphotos made in SF by his grandparents in 1906.

… Joseph Jaynes showed the April 19, 1906 issueof the Call-Chronicle-Examiner and an OaklandTribune of the same date: headlined “Citizensforced to fight flames at point of revolver.”

—BRUCE DIGGLEMAN, RECORDING SECRETARYPROGRAM:

Chris Pollock on Golden Gate Park – 1906Our own Chris Pollock is the current expert on the

park having written twobooks on it.

Chris began by telling usthat some two-thirds of SanFrancisco’s population of400,000 residents were dis-placed by the earthquake andsubsequent fire. We saw a

view of a bedroom where a chimney had fallen.An “expert” from Cincinnati wrote that the park’sStrawberry Hill was an extinct volcano and wasthe root cause of the quake. Sweeney Observa-tory, which we saw standing and then collapsed,was built in 1891 and touted to be completelyquake proof – it wasn’t.

Other structures suffered major damage. Thenorth gable of the Park Emergency Hospital onStanyan collapsed; the Sharon Building at theChildren’s Playground, the park’s most photo-graphed building, built in 1888, collapsed in theinitial tremor and even more, later, due to an after-shock; and the 1901 Spreckles Temple of Music(the Bandstand) suffered $15,000 damage withcracks throughout. The Doré [Dore] Vase atthe museum was knocked akilter, and the Memo-rial Museum was badly damaged and some of itsstucco peeled off.

The park was a place of refuge for many thou-sands of shelterless. The unofficial camp at the

- 4 -

Panhandle was emptied by June 5. Official campswere set up on the eastern edge and middle of thepark, by the Park Lodge, in Conservatory Valley –what is now the Dahlia Garden was filled withSibley conical tents. Big Rec had the largest col-lection of tents and barracks with more than 3000people in residence in what was known as Camp5. Speedway Meadow, Camp 6, just west of thePolo Field, was filled with barracks for the agedand infirm.

There were full service restaurants for the refu-gees at the Children’s Playground and SpeedwayMeadow as well as food distribution in the tenniscourts. The lawn bowling greens – a flat grassyarea – had been badly heaved.

Medical assistance was located in a hospitaltent by the damaged emergency hospital and inAlvord Tunnel. Army field hospitals were set up,à la MASH, including maternity wards. (Chris toldus of Norma Norwood, one of the earthquake “sur-vivors.” Conceived in the park by refugee parents,she was raised by prostitutes.) The outbreak of ty-phoid fever that was anticipated did not occur.

Angst about the whereabouts of loved oneswas eased somewhat with huge billboards for refu-gees and seekers to leave notes. And there was aclothing distribution center at the boathouse onStow Lake.

Chris showed several cards featured in FAC-ING DISASTER, among them the Pillsbury view ofthe poor and the rich living side by side.

Schools found homes in tents. Twelve largetents for 300 kids served as kindergartens and werefunded by W. R. Hearst. In all 700 children gradu-ated from 20 tent schools from around the city.

The last refugees left the park in October of1907, and they left it in bad shape with sewers cut

in and trees cut down. But the Museum was soonrepaired. The Tea Garden reported no damage fromhaving served as a medical facility.

The Bandstand was repaired almost com-pletely within a year, and the portico from the frontend of the “Little St. Francis,” the makeshift hotelin Union Square, was taken to the Polo Fields tobe used as a clubhouse.

Big plans were being laid for Golden GatePark. The PPIE was due to be held there, and inNovember of 1911 President Taft turned the firstspadeful of earth in anticipation of the fair. Otherplans were realized more fully: the CaliforniaAcademy of Science moved from its Market Streetruins to the park, and Steinhart Aquarium was built.In 1911 the log cabin built for the Pioneer Womenof California found a home near Stow Lake.

The Memorial Museum sphinxes, lost after thecataclysm and once made of metal, were replacedin cast concrete and installed in front of the newmuseum. The bronze lion that had been in Shreve’sshowroom was given to the park when the jewel-ers rebuilt their burned out building.

The Portals of the Past, entry way of the Townemansion on Nob Hill, was shown in a photographby Arnold Genthe with passersby and the cityframed in its open view. In 1909 it was placed onthe shores of Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park.

A hearty round of applause echoed our appre-ciation and enjoyment as Chris turned off the pro-jector. —NOTES TAKEN BY LEW BAER

TREASURER/HALL MANAGER REPORTAs of May 7, 2006 ................................ $5831.95The club received the following communique: TheFort Mason Foundation extends its gratitude tothose who participate in “Park For Preservation.”

- 5 -

By parking inside the gates at Fort Mason Center,you help preserve and restore this one-of-a-kindhistoric landmark. Your dollars not only mean ahome for dozens of nonprofit organizations andthe continuation of the Center’s diverse program-ming, you also provide opportunities for new andexciting community programs in the years to come.

—DANIEL SAKS, TREASURER/HALL MANAGER

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERSRichard Ivanhoe, a collector who likes everything,

especially the Haight, Golden Gate Park andMarin County. He welcomes approvals.

Mark Adams, a collector of old San Franciscoviews.

Laurie Graham and Jane Graham. Laurie and Janeare new collectors.

Randy von Liski; myoldpostcards(at)yahoo.com.Randy deals on eBay and collects 1950s Chicago,the Columbian Expo, New York City and SanFrancisco 1890-1940s

FIELD TRIP PLANNED — June 4Vice President Kathryn Ayres has announced thatthe club will make a group visit to the OaklandMuseum to view the earthquake exhibit on Sun-day, June 4, at 2 o’clock. Slightly validated park-ing is available under the museum; entry fees are$8, $5 for seniors. We are hoping that John Free-man who was Historical Consultant on the exhibitwill join us and share inside comments on themaking of the displays.Meet at the exhibit door at 2 PM, Sunday, June 4.

POSTCARD CALENDARMay 23, Tuesday, San Francisco, Glenn Koch will

present his tour of The Zone at the PPIE for the

SFHA, Mission Dolores School Auditorium, 337116th Street, 7pm, $5 non-SFHA members.

May 28, Sunday, Healdsburg, Antique & Col-lectibles Show on the Square, 8am-4pm*

June 2-4, Friday-Sunday, Pasadena, Hal’s PaperFair, 400 West Colorado Blvd., Fri. 1pm-7pm,Sat. 10am-6pm, Sun. FREE 10am-4pm*+

June 4, Sunday, club visit to Oakland Museum;meet at earthquake exhibit door at 2pm.

June 17, Saturday, San Jose, Santa Clara ValleyPostcard and Paper Show, 1447 Bryan Avenue,10 am to 4pm. A NEW SHOW!

July 2, Sunday, Healdsburg, Antique & CollectiblesShow on the Square, 8am-4pm*

Aug. 12-13, Saturday-Sunday, San Francisco,Hal’s Paper Fair, Hall of Flowers, FREE EN-TRY – NEW SHOW, 10am to 6 and 4pm*+

Aug. 19-20, Saturday-Sunday, San Rafael, Collec-tors’ Fair, Civic Center. 10am-6 and 5pm*

Aug. 26-27, Saturday-Sunday, Sacramento. Capi-tal Postcard Show, 6151 H Street, 10am-5 and4pm*+

Sept. 16, Saturday, Santa Cruz. Central CoastPostcard Show, UCSC Inn, 611 Ocean Street,10am-4pm*+

Sept. 22-24 Friday-Sunday, Pasadena. Hal’s Pa-per Fair, 400 W. Colorado Blvd., Fri. 1pm-7pm,Sat. 10am-6pm, Sun. FREE 10am-4pm*+

Oct. 21-22, Saturday-Sunday, San Mateo, Col-lectibles Show, San Mateo Expo., 10am-6 and5pm*

Nov. 2-5, Thursday-Sunday, San Mateo,Hillsborough Antique Show, San Mateo Expo Fair-grounds, Thurs.–Sat. 11am-8pm, Sunday to 5pm*

Nov. 18-19, Saturday-Sunday, Concord, Hal’sPaper Fair, 5298 Clayton Road, 10am-6 and5pm, Sunday FREE admission*+

Continued on page 13

- 6 -

1906 – 2006 AND STILL SHAKING

Perhaps these will be our last words on the eventsof April ’ought-sixes for a while. Several mods ofthe 2006 centennial have been seen in addition tothe Rick Geary design and the William A. Coulterpainting shown here last month. The first card, byMaxracks was found at the 5:12 AM memorial onApril 18. WESTPEX, the stamp show at whichseveral club members exhibited postcards, de-signed a pane of four “stamps” of San Francisco –three with quake ruins, one a glorious dawn viewfrom the bay – and published the design on a showpromo postcard. The San Francisco Public Library

put out two EQ cards, the first, for its humorousexhibit on “How to Survive an Earthquake,” re-prises the wonderfully colorful printed Weidnercard of “Refugees watching the burning City.” Thesecond card is a collage of photo views of the af-ter-quake city and residents published to announcethe exhibit “Snapshot Chronicles – Inventing theAmerican Photo Album” which will be on viewin the Jewett Gallery through August 20. There isalso the set of 30 vintage cards of the earthquakereprinted in standard size by Quantity Postcards.

Club members who were at Lotta’s Fountainfor the ceremonies reported that Mayor Newsom

- 7 -was his most charming, but that it was impossibleto see the stage so they watched it on large screentelevisions. “At 5:12, they rang the fire bells, andran the sirens, the Ferry Building bells rang outand the crowd cheered. It was wonderful.” Somethen headed up to Sears on Powell for breakfastand a stroll through the “new” Union Square. Oth-ers were in line later that day to see the movie “SanFrancisco” at the Balboa. Glenn Koch gave alunchtime SF postcard talk to seniors from hischurch. Robb Stokes and Robert Bergdorf were atthe corner of Market and Kearny at 4 AM; theyrushed back to Florida the next day. DarleneThorne beat the crowd and had four of her SanJose quake cards and her own smiling face fea-tured on page 2 of the San Jose Mercury Newsearthquake edition.

To the stamp community’s seeming surprisethe five clubsters who had made postcard exhibitboards for WESTPEX had them installed beforethe opening bell of the stamp show on April 28.Darlene Thorne, Kathryn Ayres, Lew Baer, EdHerny and Bob Bowen participated and all reporteda pleasant experience, a warm welcome and ablasted time dealing with photo corners.

John Freeman (we’ll be meeting to tour theexhibit he had a major hand in at the Oakland Mu-seum on June 4) visited the earthquake show atthe Society of California Pioneers. “Don’t missit,” was his suggestion. It will be running until De-cember 8. They play up the sensational headlinesand exaggerated reports and they have a computerset up with many postcard views.

From the EditorAlthough my IN basket is occasionally overflow-ing, it is usually empty. Your contributions of ar-ticles, letters, comments, cards or any postcardnews is always welcome and needed.

If you wish to submit scans of postcards pleasemake full size, full color (RGB) jpgs at 300 DPIresolution. Save them as highest quality, and sendthem by email. Yes, color for real photos, too.

If you wish to submit photos that you will takewith a digital camera, Web Master Jack Daleymakes these recommendations: When zooming,always stay within the optical zoom. Shoot pic-tures to the largest possible image file size that thecamera allows. (For most cameras that’s more than1 MB.) Do not edit the file; send it in as it is, likeJack did with the two photos in this issue.

Your submissions on any postcard interest areeagerly awaited. —LEW

CORRECTIONPerhaps there are very few errors in the newslet-ter. We receive almost no alerts to them, but mycomments in the April issue were red penciled byour ever-vigilant historian, John Freeman. Johnreveals the truth:

“In the 1905 City Directory at the Main Li-brary I found the address of Dr. George Grossshown on the front-page feature card in the Aprilnewsletter. As I suspected, Dr. Gross, physicianand surgeon, had offices at 326 Kearny Street, be-tween Bush and Pine. His offices would have beendestroyed by the fire and thus he was planting thesign saying that he’d relocated on Fillmore Streetas did other professional offices. In 1905 his of-fice hours were 1–3 and 7:30–8 PM. It didn’t sayM–F, but I’d assume that was a given. I also guessthat Dr. Gross was affiliated with a hospital andspent his morning and late afternoon hours there.”

—ED.

- 8 -

THE (ORIGINAL, OLD, RITZ, BERGEZ-FRANK’S) POODLE DOGOf all the San Francisco restaurants of thepast The Poodle Dog is the most often mentionedand one of the less understood. A restaurant knownby that name opened in the burgeoning Gold Rushcity in 1849. "Poodle Dog" is supposedly the 49ers’corruption of "Poule d’Or," French for GoldenChicken, presumably its ac-tual name. “Poodle Dog,”and variations on it, wereused by a number of restau-rants, some in direct succes-sion to the original, others,competitors or spin-offs. Forour purposes postcards tellthe story best and lead towardunraveling the tangled his-tory.

A multiview card pub-lished in 1910 for the 60th an-niversary of the restaurantgives views of four PoodleDog venues that the then cur-rent owners chose to ac-knowledge. The recent dis-covery of a cache of earlyrestaurantalia, some of whichis now in Glenn Koch’s col-lection, provided clues allow-ing him to trace more of thehistory.

Glenn, like others of us,has long been fascinated byThe Poodle Dog, and he has penciled out a probabletime line from 1849 up to its closing, a victim ofProhibition, in 1922. What follows is much the re-sult of his research and reasoning blended with a bit

of the 1915 data cited in “Bohemian San Francisco”and other books. We’re still in the discovery stage,so every statement should be prefaced with “Itseems that....” Further research is being done, andcontributions to it will be most welcome.

The first Poodle Dog (or, perhaps, Le Pouled’Or) was at the corner ofDupont and Washingtonin 1849, and although itchanged ownership sev-eral times it apparentlydid not move until 1868when it was at Dupont andBush and probably namedthe Poodle Dog. Some-time around 1897 theownership split and theOriginal Poodle Dog wasopened at Mason andEddy run by Blanco andBrun; both locations areshown on the multiviewcard. There must havebeen some hard feelingsas a souvenir menu fromthe previous restaurant,restyled as The OldPoodle Dog, operated byCarrere, Pon andLaLanne, refers to the“Original” as “a preten-tious establishment.”

Meanwhile other French restaurants that wouldplay a role in the Poodle Dog story opened in SanFrancisco. Among them were Bergez’s at 332-334Pine, owned by Jean Bergez, and Frank’s Rotis-

- 9 -

Set of six cards, 824 Eddy Street (1906); 415-421 Bush Street, 1908-22.Eddy and Mason, April 21, 1906.

- 10 -

New Year’s Eve at the Poodle Dog Cafe, 421 BushStreet, 1912 or ’13. The large 1915 on the rear wall

makes it a PPIE booster card.

Ritz Old Poodle Dog, The Aristocrat of FrenchRestaurants, 65 Post Street, card published after 1963.

Ritz French Restaurant, 65 Post Street,“The (sic) America’s greatest family restaurant.”

The back of the 1910 anniversary multiview. Published for a Victoria, B.C. imitator.

Men only at “A Gala Night at Blanco’s Café,” also aPPIE booster card.

- 11 -serie, 419 Pine, owned by Louis Coutard and laterCamille Mailhebuau.

With the earthquake and fire The Poodle Dog,Bergez’s and Frank’s Rotisserie were reduced torubble, ashes and memories.

Almost immediately The Poodle Dog reopenedin a Second Empire style home,beyond the fire line, at 824Eddy Street; it was run by Ponand LaLanne, “formerly ofBush Street corner of Grant Av-enue.” Carrere was gone, re-portedly to open another res-taurant and to be found dead,“out on the Colma Road,” twoyears later.

A business card fromshortly before or after April1906 lists Jean Bergez, LouisCoutard and Camille Mailhe-buau operating Bergez-Frank’sRestaurant at 411-415 BushStreet. An unquestionably post-fire business card reveals fur-ther complexities of owner-ship. It names the business at824 Eddy as Old Poodle DogCo., Hotel and Restaurantowned by Pon, Bergez,Coutard, LaLanne andMailhebuau. This new combi-nation of owners then consolidates operations atBergez-Frank’s, and about 1910 adds Old PoodleDog to the restaurant’s name. As if there were noother names available a New Poodle Dog opens in1906 at 18-20 Marshall Square. The 1913 City Di-rectory shows it at 1115 Polk Street. Nothing fur-ther is known about it.

The 1910 60th anniversary multiview postcard

adds another complication by listing the 1910 lo-cale of The Original Poodle Dog Hotel as Masonbetween Eddy and Ellis and run by A. B. Blancowho also had Blanco’s on O’Farrell, later site of theMusic Box and later the Great American Music Hall.

A postcard of “New Year’s Eve at the PoodleDog” circa 1912 gives the ad-dress of Bergez-Frank’s OldPoodle Dog as 421 Bush Street,and a business card showsLaLanne, Pon and Mailhebuau asowners. It was apparently theywho ran the restaurant until itclosed in 1922, bankrupted by theprohibitions against wine forcooking and dining.

A six card set of postcardswas published – possibly duringthe pre-PPIE era, perhaps as earlyas 1908 – showing the 824 EddyStreet location “Two Months Af-ter the Fire” and views of theBush Street location at the south-east corner of Claude Lane, itsdining room, bar and kitchenwith staff. The printer’s logo forBardell, San Francisco is inmoderne lettering atop an artist’spalette and brushes.

By this time the familiarPoodle Dog logo had appeared

— an erect dog with napkin over its foreleg andcarrying a salver laden with champagne bottle andglasses. It was used as a die cut trade card by theSan Francisco restaurant and is shown marked“copyright” on a postcard issued by a copycat Dogin Victoria, B.C. The Poodle Dog name graced thepostcards and menus of several other restaurantsacross the continent.

Bergez-Frank’s Old Poodle Dog operatorscirca 1908, from top left: C. LaLanne, J. B.Pon, J. Bergez, C. Mailhebuau, L. Coutard

- 12 -

The Ritz French Restaurant was opened byCalixte LaLanne at 65 Post Street shortly beforethe repeal of the Volstead Act in 1933, and in the’40s LaLanne’s son Louis changed its name to TheRitz Old Poodle Dog. This is the Poodle Dog thatmany San Franciscans still remember and mourn.It closed in the late 1970s. Only one postcard isknown of this incarnation, a Mike Roberts chromewith zip code, dating it to 1963 or later. It shows arevamped dog logo: side view, fully erect, and car-rying a tray with covered dish at eye level.

“Sumptuous Dining in Gaslight San Francisco”by Berger and Custis refers to a later Poodle Dogopening in 1984.

Whenever historical references mention ThePoodle Dog under any of its pre-Prohibition names,they invariably cite the sumptuous meals, the rea-sonable prices, the wives being welcome at theground floor restaurant, and the varied manly plea-sures enjoyed in the elegant private suites on theupper floors. Whatever took place above the lowerlevel was never revealed by the owners or staff ofthe restaurant. French restaurateurs took pride inguarding the privacy of their clientele. It is told thatthe elevator operator at one Poodle Dog was so re-spectful of his passengers’ peccadilloes that his dia-mond cufflinks and otherwise comfortable lifestyleattested to his discretion.

Back before the Fire, according to www.sfgenealogy.com, the “gay old restaurants” inspireda parody of the “Marseillaise” that was sung withall the fervor of the original blood-stirring Frenchanthem: “Marchand’s! Marchand’s! The MasonRiche, The Poodle Dog... The Pup!” Would thatwe had reason to intone that chorus today!

Cards shown here are from the collections of LewisBaer, Bruce Diggelman, Suzanne Dumont andGlenn Koch. —LEWIS BAER

THE ROYAL HOUSE OF WINDSORELIZABETH II’s four score birthday came duringher 53rd year on the throne of 16 equal Common-wealth Realms including that of Great Britain.

Understanding the succession of British roy-als is a task. Fortunately postcards can help. Inthis 1911 card celebrating the coronation of KingGeorge V and Queen Mary, several generationsare shown. At lower left are Mary’s parents, the

Duke andDuchess ofTeck, and atthe right areG e o r g e ’ sfolks, KingEdward VII(son of Vic-toria andAlbert) andQueen Al-exandra. Atcenter arethe newlyc r o w n e dcouple, andabove themare their sixc h i l d r e n ,P r i n c e s s

Mary and her brothers, Princes Henry, Albert, Ed-ward, George and John. Edward, called Bertie, wasthe Prince of Wales, and, when named King Ed-ward VIII, rejected the throne for an Americanwife. Albert succeeded him as King George VIand was father to Elizabeth II. In 1917 George Vchanged the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.

—ED.

1Underline

1Underline

http://www.sfgenealogy.comhttp://www.sfgenealogy.com

- 13 -

CALENDAR, Continued from page 5

Dec. 9-10, Saturday-Sunday, San Rafael, Collectors’Fair, Civic Center. 10am-6 and 5pm*

Bolded entries are events by SFBAPCC members.On the first Sunday of every month several dealersset up at the huge outdoor antique market at the OldNaval Air Station in Alameda.*Ken Prag will be at these shows. Call 415 586-9386or kprag(at)planetaria.net to let him know what hecan bring for you.+R&N Postcards will set up with cards and postcardsupplies.Postcards are available for browsing seven days aweek at the SF Antique Mall, 701 Bayshore Blvd.,where 101 and 280 meet, info 415 656-3530.

THE CLUB BOX is being refilledslowly. Lorelei Rockwell sent in a

bulging envelope stuffed with cards – mostly USand Canada views and several Mexican RPs andsome from SF. Another packet came from LorraineWittkorn in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She discoveredwww.postcard.org and knew what to do with herbundle of moderns of Thailand. They’ll all be atthe May meeting for our delectation. We’ve re-ceived letters from nonpostcarders inquiring aboutcards. One gave a phone number, and I called toask where she had found out about the club. Mrs.Pelichowski said she read of us in a senior maga-zine and was hoping for help in learning about hercards and their Polish messages.STAMP SHOW-POSTCARD SHOW? Member RichardCanupp pulls no punches. The shows he hosts backin the Carolinas are all stamp AND postcard events.NPCW! That hobby holiday always catches me un-awares. It’s the first full week of every May, butthe deadlines are loose. Make cards and mail ’emwhenever the urge strikes. Hal Ottaway in Wichitais always on theball. His card for2006, designedby Rick Geary, isalso a birthdaycard for HRHQEII. We see hermajesty withPrince Philip andHal crouched be-hind. Want one?Send your ad-dress and a stampto Hal, PO Box780282, WichitaKS 67278.

THE SCENE ABOVE is the new parking kiosk at FortMason Center as snapped and emailed by JackDaley. Parking over three hours will cost $8, a lotmore than the nothing we’ve been paying, but lessthan even the cheapest of the city garages. There istalk that the historic F Line trolleys will be run-ning again from the foot of Van Ness through thetunnel into Fort Mason. That could make a ride onthe Muni both fun and money saving.

—LEW

1Underline

http://www.postcard.org/

- 14 -

Interview: Dan Cudworth ROAR OF A GENTLE LION

BY DARLENE THORNE

“MY FAVORITE CARD is always the next one,”smiles Daniel Boyden Cudworth III. That nextcard could just as well be a lion or San Francisco’s“Hippieland,” as Dan’s collection detours towardsthe road less traveled.

In collecting stamps as a child, Dan admitsthat he removed them from postcards, regardlessof the damage done to the cards. Dan then gradu-ated to beer cans as a young man, advancing tocomic books, then rare books. “But I could neverhave been a player in rare books; they’re too ex-pensive.” Dan discovered postcards after movingto Sacramento from Washington State where hewas born the eldest son of seven children whosefather was a minister for 50 years.

Dan’s first postcards were of lions. “I waslooking for something that symbolized what Iwanted to be and what I was: the strength of thelion and the fact that I was great with animals,”said the gentle lion shyly. He started by buyingevery lion card he could find, then with the helpof some long time dealers, found that there werebetter lion cards than others and he started buy-ing those.

By the time he had amassed a large numberof lion cards, he realized that all postcards fasci-nated him because they were not meant to last,and yet they had, many for over 100 years. “Acollection rather defines who you are, as it reflectsyour interests and how open or closed you are. Iwant to be as open as possible with postcards, andyet remain focused.” In his openness, Dan findsthat collecting is rather like a game of dominos;one card leads to something else, which leads tosomething else, and on and on.

While the Club roster lists Dan’s interests as“social, political and popular culture and histori-

cal topics and events from pioneer to modern,” Danconcentrates within those categories on civil rights,recent presidential campaigns, computer and iden-tified Silicon Valley images, Vietnam War andcards depicting the culture of the late 60s-early 70sera, “all pertaining to my childhood,” said the manwith the youthful countenance.

The most important aspect of Dan’s collectionis that the cards be representative “of that time.”They must capture a time and place to later revealhow situations have changed with the passage ofyears. And these unique cards must be off thebeaten path, be undervalued, unappreciated withfew others collecting them. The cards that Danselected from his collection are indicative of that:A campaign card from Citizens for Eisenhower-

Nixon 1958 Committee calling for “Civil RightsFor All Americans.” The reverse side reads: “CivilRights Paramount at White House. PresidentEisenhower confers with leading Americans onimportant Civil rights.” The message reads: “DearFriend: the President showed his concern for CivilRights by conferring on the issue at the WhiteHouse. But he needs help. In November elect aCongress of his party to break the Civil Rightsdeadlock.” The second card depicts the world-wide

- 15 -

Y2K concern that never turned into the chaos pre-dicted, and the third is of California’s pride inDecember of 1962 by becoming the most popu-lated state in the Union.

Another category is Contemporary Conflicts.While describing this section of his collection, Danreflected on a great-grandfather and his brother,one from the North and one from the South, whofought on opposite sides in the Civil War. Thatconflict would be in his collection, as it was aglimpse of the times. While Dan includes Klu KluxKlan cards among his topics, he is very particularabout how he groups cards and prefers to remainpolitically obscure. That’s why he has a postcardof the cows on LBJ’s ranch.

“I feel as though I’m a serious collector be-cause I’m passionate about it and I get excited.When I get to a postcard show, I just start running.I feel the same way when I’m expecting a card Ibought on eBay. Sometimes when I get a greatcard, I can’t wait to share it with the club, becauseI know that other people will appreciate it, even ifI don’t always get the reaction that I expect. Butthat really doesn’t matter because I think that it’sspecial,” confesses the seemingly reticent man.“You can tell that I’m not really quiet; I’ve talkedyour head off today.”

Dan has been a part of the club for over 15years. He was President for two years in the early90s. His collection contains Golden Age Postcards

and moderns as well as linens and chromes, andhe is “very, very fussy.” While passionate aboutcollecting, he is also a perfectionist and is disap-pointed with himself when he makes a mistake. “Iwonder if I should have bought that card, or maybeI paid too much for another. Or maybe I didn’tbuy something I should have,” he continues, la-menting on the signed Jules Verne card he let slipby on eBay. He is presently focusing on MikeRoberts cards and is considering writing a bookon chromes. “I really respect people like Dan Sakswho travel the country looking for perfect cardsfor their collections.”

Whatever Dan does, he does with great pas-sion that often leads to a new category. He singswith “The Chorale Project” based in San Jose. Theaward-winning group traveled to Poland and theCzech Republic five years ago and has just re-corded their sixth CD of classically-based contem-porary music. This led to a new postcard categoryof vocal and Big Band groups. While he regretsthat none of his three children are interested incollecting, especially his eldest, a junior at SanJose State University, Dan is slightly relieved thathis wife does not share his passion for postcards,as it might make it even harder to curb the chal-lenge of finding that “next perfect card.”

When pondering where he might see himselfin 10 years, Dan answers with a grin and a twinklein his eyes: “Maybe in an asylum. Yes, but is therea postcard meeting at this place?”

- 16 -

P.O. Box 621Penngrove CA 94951

See us online at www.postcard.org

CLUB MEETINGSfor 2006

May 27

June 24

July 22

August 19

September 30

October 28

November 25

5/06

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA POST CARD CLUBAPPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

New [ ] Renewal [ ] Individual/Family $15 [ ] Supporting $25 or more [ ] Out of USA $25/35 [ ]

Name:

Family members:

Address:

e-mail: Phone:

Collector [ ] Dealer [ ] Approvals welcome: Yes [ ] No [ ]

Collecting interests:

Please clip or copy and make your check payable to SFBAPCCMail to PO Box 621, Penngrove CA 94951

1Underline

http://www.postcard.org/