SODAPOPBOB
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~ COCA COLA / NEEDLES, CA. / BILL PORTER ~
Question: What do the words in the title have in common?
Answer: Read below.
It has been said before that if you have seen one Coca Cola hobbleskirt bottle you have seen them all. This may be true to some extent, but there is oftentimes more to those little green bottles than what meets the eye. Take for example the one shown below from Needles, California. I recently got in trade for a 1915 Buffalo, N.Y. bottle that I sent to collector and researcher Bill Porter. My Needles bottle is a D-patent, dated 1942, and even though considered common in Bill‘s book, it is still somewhat hard to come by in excellent condition. It fits right in with my growing collection of Route 66 hobbleskirts. I am tickled “Georgia green†to have it, as is Bill with the nice Buffalo bottle that I sent him. (Buffalo doesn’t fit my Route 66 criteria).
Anyway, I thought I would share a little bit of what I know about the town of Needles, Ca. Which hopefully will help to illustrate why each of these types of bottles are a story unto themselves, and that a little bit of history is contained in each and every one of them.
Following this text I will share a handful of photos related to Needles, Ca. that should help to give you a better idea of what the town and vicinity look like.
Needles is a small desert town located directly on the Colorado river which separates California from Arizona. It is about 100 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada. Needles was originally founded in 1883, and at that time was primarily a ranching and farming community. Except for the nearby river, the area is mostly arid desert.
Running east and west through the area are remnants of old Route 66 that was first established around 1926. It is interstate 40 that handles most of the traffic nowadays. If you have ever seen the movie “ The Grapes of Wrath,†made in 1940 and starring Henry Fonda, you may be familiar with the scene where the Joad family first reaches the California border and swim/bathe in the Colorado river. That portion of the river, and the bridge they crossed, is at Needles where tens of thousands of other displaced migrants during the Great Depression of the 1930s also crossed the river into California or, as the movie refers to it, “The promised land of milk and honey.†The bridge is now listed as a historic landmark. But believe me when I say that that particular area of California is by no means a promised land. It would not be for at least another 150 miles farther west, after dropping into the San Bernardino valley, that the first green crops of any kind start to appear.
As for the Coca Cola connection, the Needles bottling plant was established around 1919, which explains in part why there are no known examples of any 1915 Coca Cola bottles, with the 1923s being listed as scarce.
Needles population varied over the ensuing years … 3,144 in 1930, and currently at about 5,200 hardy citizens. A lot of it’s economy today is tourist related, which includes numerous motels and restaurants for weary travelers criss-crossing the country. I have been through there myself many times. But to be honest, you couldn‘t pay me to live there year around. It‘s just too dang hot and dry for my liking.
So there you have it … a little bit of history in a little ol’ green Coca Cola bottle. And if you think any part of this as weird, just be glad I'm not writing an entire history on the 2,000-plus other Coca Cola bottlers across the country. And the next time you pass through Needles, California, just tell them “Bob sent you.†I'm sure it will get you a free ice cold bottle of Coca Cola. (Yeah, right! They don't know me from Adam around there). [
]
I hope you enjoy the pictures that follow.
SODAPOPBOB
{Coca Cola - Needles, California - 1942 - Owens-Illinois - Pat. D-105529 - 6 oz.}
Question: What do the words in the title have in common?
Answer: Read below.
It has been said before that if you have seen one Coca Cola hobbleskirt bottle you have seen them all. This may be true to some extent, but there is oftentimes more to those little green bottles than what meets the eye. Take for example the one shown below from Needles, California. I recently got in trade for a 1915 Buffalo, N.Y. bottle that I sent to collector and researcher Bill Porter. My Needles bottle is a D-patent, dated 1942, and even though considered common in Bill‘s book, it is still somewhat hard to come by in excellent condition. It fits right in with my growing collection of Route 66 hobbleskirts. I am tickled “Georgia green†to have it, as is Bill with the nice Buffalo bottle that I sent him. (Buffalo doesn’t fit my Route 66 criteria).
Anyway, I thought I would share a little bit of what I know about the town of Needles, Ca. Which hopefully will help to illustrate why each of these types of bottles are a story unto themselves, and that a little bit of history is contained in each and every one of them.
Following this text I will share a handful of photos related to Needles, Ca. that should help to give you a better idea of what the town and vicinity look like.
Needles is a small desert town located directly on the Colorado river which separates California from Arizona. It is about 100 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada. Needles was originally founded in 1883, and at that time was primarily a ranching and farming community. Except for the nearby river, the area is mostly arid desert.
Running east and west through the area are remnants of old Route 66 that was first established around 1926. It is interstate 40 that handles most of the traffic nowadays. If you have ever seen the movie “ The Grapes of Wrath,†made in 1940 and starring Henry Fonda, you may be familiar with the scene where the Joad family first reaches the California border and swim/bathe in the Colorado river. That portion of the river, and the bridge they crossed, is at Needles where tens of thousands of other displaced migrants during the Great Depression of the 1930s also crossed the river into California or, as the movie refers to it, “The promised land of milk and honey.†The bridge is now listed as a historic landmark. But believe me when I say that that particular area of California is by no means a promised land. It would not be for at least another 150 miles farther west, after dropping into the San Bernardino valley, that the first green crops of any kind start to appear.
As for the Coca Cola connection, the Needles bottling plant was established around 1919, which explains in part why there are no known examples of any 1915 Coca Cola bottles, with the 1923s being listed as scarce.
Needles population varied over the ensuing years … 3,144 in 1930, and currently at about 5,200 hardy citizens. A lot of it’s economy today is tourist related, which includes numerous motels and restaurants for weary travelers criss-crossing the country. I have been through there myself many times. But to be honest, you couldn‘t pay me to live there year around. It‘s just too dang hot and dry for my liking.
So there you have it … a little bit of history in a little ol’ green Coca Cola bottle. And if you think any part of this as weird, just be glad I'm not writing an entire history on the 2,000-plus other Coca Cola bottlers across the country. And the next time you pass through Needles, California, just tell them “Bob sent you.†I'm sure it will get you a free ice cold bottle of Coca Cola. (Yeah, right! They don't know me from Adam around there). [
] I hope you enjoy the pictures that follow.
SODAPOPBOB
{Coca Cola - Needles, California - 1942 - Owens-Illinois - Pat. D-105529 - 6 oz.}
