CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP ~ BOTTLES & MORE

[SODAPOPBOB]

Note:

I anticipate at least 15 pages (with pictures) for this thread initially, so please bare with me if you happen to open it before it is completed, which I expect will take about an hour.

Thanks

Sodapopbob

I just got back from a five day road trip to the eastern side of the California portion of the Sierra Mountains along scenic Highway 395. Along the way I stopped at several small town antique shops where I picked up some interesting finds. I also squeezed in just enough time to do some roadside hunting and found a couple of cool bottles doing that as well. All in all it was a great trip totaling 855 miles of driving through mostly blazing hot sun with average daily tempratures in the low 100s. I'm sure the CaliKid will have a comment or two to make as the area I am referring to is one of his favorite stomping grounds, especially around the ghost/tourist town of Randsburg.

Here's a sampling of what that part of the country looks like. Please stand by because there is a lot more to follow ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of Randsburg, meet Penny and Charlie who are long time residents and sold me a couple of bottle from their antique store ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's one of the bottles I bought from Charlie who only charged me $5.00 for it ... It's a honey-amber "Uncle Jo" from Fort Worth, Texas. Based on the info from the following link, I believe this fully embossed soda bottle was last made around the time that WWII started in 1941.

Link: http://www.scholarlypursuits.com/unclejo.htm

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

After visiting with Charlie and Penny for a while, I drove up the street to Fasig's Antiques (which used to be the old high school built in the 1930s) where I purchased this collection of green soda pop bottles ...

The 7-11 I never heard of before which I thought was cool and bottled in Los Angeles - Owens-Illinois 1946

Check out the Bubble Up. Have you ever seen one with all lower case letters? Owens-Illinois 1948
And did you know that Bubble Up got it's start before 7up? Check it out ...

Links:

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Up

History - Rogers, Arkansas
http://rogersarkansas.com/museum/donation/bubbleupsoda.asp

The Welchade is also from Los Angeles, but no makers mark or date that I can see.

I think the best of the lot (although not in the greatest shape) is the 1937 7up from Los Angeles - Owens-Illinois - 8 bubble ... But there is a bit of mystery surrounding it because the Owens-Illinois mark on the base looks like this ... 24 <(I)> 7 ... And as far as I know there is no O-I plant number 24. The Los Angeles plant number is 23. Has anyone ever heard of a plant number 24?

Note: If you are ever in Randsburg, be sure to visit Fasig's. They have some of the best looking deco sodas I have ever seen in one place. I just wish I had thought to take some pictures, I'm sure they would have let me.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's a couple of Western themed soda bottles I bought in the "Four Corners" area, which is a junction just south of Randsburg ...

The 1967 Bar-B is fairly common, but the 1941 Rodeo is a little harder to find.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

My northerly destination was Lone Pine, California where hundreds of old movies, especially westerns, were filmed starting as far back as the 1920s. Most of the Hopalong Cassidy movies and similar others were filmed just west of Lone Pine in what is called the Alabama Hills. It's the place with all of the huge boulders that Hoppy and Roy Rogers used to ride by and jump from in countless movies. In Lone Pine they have a museum dedicated strictly to movies made in and around the Alabama Hills. A few of the more recognized movies made in the area are ...

Gunga Din - 1938
High Sierra - Humphrey Bogart - 1941
Tremors - 1990
And hundreds of westerns

Here's a picture of the museum ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

The following few pages are dedicated to pictures taken in the museum ...

This first one is of the original car that Bogey drove in the movie High Sierra when the police chased him into the mountains nearby and where Bogey met his maker ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Hopalong Cassidy Poster ...

 

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Roy Rogers Collectibles ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of Gunga Din ...