Guide to the Santa Cruz County Exhibit at Los Angeles County Fair Collection(1950s-1960s)

In the 1950-early 1960s Santa Cruz County was featured with exhibits at the Los Angeles County Fair at Pomona. These exhibits were often highly elaborate, combining the efforts and talents of many industries such as agricultural and floriculture industries to create a display that showcased all the best products the County of Santa Cruz had to offer, such as begonias from Capitola, mushrooms from Soquel and apples from Pajaro. In 1956, the Santa Cruz County exhibit included was particularly stunning, an according to Warren Skip Littlefield whom was chairman of the advertising committee, an estimated 1,200,000 were expected to view the Santa Cruz County exhibit which was in one of the prime-spot tents at the Fair. The 1956 exhibit included a spectacular ten foot waterfall with three tiers, 5000 begonia blossoms from Antonelli Bros. Nursery in Capitola, slopes with one-hundred ferns, and two huge 4000 pound redwoods burl slabs. The exhibit showcased items such as apples, strawberries, apple cider, celery, artichokes and more (Source: “County Exhibit Ready for Opening at the Los Angles County Fair”; S.C. Sentinel, 9/10/1956, p.4). Some photos of this exhibit appear in the SC County Fair at LA County Fair Collection at the Santa Cruz MAH.

SERIES I. PHOTOGRAPHS

One (1) Box, ninety-one (91) photographs

Series Scope and Content Summary:

This series consists of approx. ninety-one (91) black and white photographs ranging in size from 5×5” in size to 6×7” to 10×12” at the largest. These photographs depict exhibits featuring Santa Cruz County products which were held at Los Angeles County Fair in 1955-1965. These exhibits featured Santa Cruz grown and Santa Cruz items such as apples, apple cider, strawberries and begonias among other items. Also in this series are twenty-five negatives (25) of photos of the Santa Cruz County exhibits at the LA Fair.  Twelve of these negatives are from 1958 and thirteen are from 1962.

This series is divided into the following subseries:

Subseries I.A. Large Photographs
Subseries I.B. Negatives 1956
Subseries I.C. Negatives 1962

Subseries I.A. Large Photographs

Sixty-seven (67) photos

Subseries Scope and Content Summary: 

This subseries consists of sixty-seven large black and white photographs ranging in size to one 5×5” photo to several 10×12” photographs. The majority of the photographs are 6×7” and 10×12” in size. These photographs are of various exhibits for Santa Cruz County products displayed at the Los Angeles County Fair in the 1950’s to 1960’s. Dates of the exhibits were from 1955-1965 and exhibits feature products such as apples, apple cider, begonias, strawberries, and dahlias. These photographs depict the exhibits close-up and also include close-ups of the products and the growers of the dahlias, apples, strawberries, orchids, etc. Some of the photos have identifications and comments on the reverse such as: “1958 From Left-Skip Littlefield, Lt. Gov. Poiners(?), John Hesketh” ; “California’s Oldest Apple Tree-Planted by Mission Holy Cross Fathers-1796/ Located Mora & Quintana Streets-Cut Down 1970’s Expansion”; and “1958 S.C. County Strawberries Blue Ribbon Winners-L.A. County Fair”;  “Dahlias-Grown I Live Oak-S.C. County/L.A. County Fair Exhibit/ Left, Jean Piexotto (?)”   “Jean Piexotto with Blue Ribbon S.C. County Sun Flower-L.A. County-1960”; “Photo Art Malquel for S.C. County 1964-L.A. Fair”; “Bill Crangle of Boulder Creek, Lynn Jorgensen-T.V. & Screen star, Maray Ayres-Star of New Daniel Boone TV Series 7 screen actress”; and much more.

Box ID:

1

Subseries I.B. Negatives (1956)

One (1) Folder, twelve (12) negatives

Subseries Scope and Content Summary:

This subseries consists of twelve (12) negatives of photos from the 1956 Santa Cruz County exhibit at the Los Angeles County Fair. These negatives measure approx. 4×5” in size and are in a small 7×5.5” protective envelope “Folder”. These negatives include photos of featured products such as celery, tomatoes, apple cider, artichokes, as well as other items, and close-up photos of the exhibit which featured a slope of cascading flowers(begonias?), a waterfall, and a large redwood burl.

Box ID#: Folder ID#:

1:1

Subseries I.C. Negatives (1962)

One (1) Folder, thirteen (13) negatives

Subseries Scope and Content Summary: 

This subseries consist of thirteen (13) negatives of photos from the 1962 exhibit of Santa Cruz County at the Los Angeles County Fair. This exhibit appears to have featured apples, strawberries, begonias, and redwood products on display, as well as cut-outs of Miss California pageant winners. Some duplicates of negatives.  These negatives are located in a small 7×5.5” protective envelope “folder”.

Box ID#: Folder ID#:

1:2