I do love coming across a striking night photo, and this one is a prime example. This one is of a Union Pacific railroad ticket office sandwiched between a Florsheim shoe store and a drug store. It was at 144 Pine Ave in Long Beach, which Union Pacific moved into on October 1, 1939, so I’m assuming this photo was taken some time after that. They took the trouble to include “The Progressive” in their signage – I wonder if that was part of their company motto? And I especially love the silhouetted lettering above the window: “Road of The Streamliners and The Challengers.”
“The Progressive” was added to their advertising in the era of streamlining to show how they had modernized all their systems. They carried in on during the war period as well as a slogan related to it being the overland route that had been chosen by Lincoln. The sign by the road has their shield emblem just above Union Pacific (Stage?) Coach Parking, so this accomodated the supplementary bus system. Some of it was cross country like Greyhound. Some was for the connection to resorts run by Utah Parks Company (Grand Canyon, Sun Valley). Some was just local connecting to major train stations as they were eliminating passenger rail to older outlying station points. Many lines would have been going “all freight”, if not abandoned altogether, as automobiles became the norm.
Thanks for that background info, Al!
I’d forgotten the name, but The Challenger was the train that got my mother and me from Minneapolis MN to LA in 1943, along with a lot of G.I.’s.
Hey Earl, I’m glad to know this post has jogged your memory!
A young James Dean rode it too…and he kept a cup and saucer as a memento.
This really is a cool photograph. I love the design of the building, the Art Deco/Streamline Moderne morphing into the 40s and 50s.