Old Christmas postcards reflect Southern California's long campaign to portray itself as a paradise — the opposite of cold, wintry parts of the U.S.
Around Christmastime, Angelenos of yore — “yore” being five and six score years ago — became little elves laboring on behalf of the boss.
The boss was not Santa Claus. The boss was not the local department store. The boss was the Chamber of Commerce.was called up to be a seasonal salesman. Even Santa himself was enlisted on behalf of the great, relentless promotional crusade to win over the rest of the country to the credo of Los-Angeles-as-paradise.
Postcards and the sales pitch of Southern California amounted to synergy with a 1-cent stamp. Cards let every intermediate set of eyeballs between sender and recipient have a peek at some alluring graphic. Horticultural authenticity be damned, the cards sometimes crowded pictures of roses, California poppies and poinsettias onto the same Christmas greeting. Poppies don’t bloom in December —
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