Universal Pictures Company Inc. - Universal City Post Office - Collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - gift of Gerald FechtSomeone in the Museum Community will be able to identify the year and model of the automobile parked outside of the Universal Pictures Company Inc. That will go a long way to identify the year this postcard, just added to the collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley, was published.
The San Fernando Valley, including North Hollywood and Universal City, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.
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Eliott Taylor sends this message to the Museum Community
It is a 1954 Mercury Monterey 2 Door Hardtop
ELIOTT TAYLOR added
The car has a yellow and black CA. license plate indicating to me that they are contemporary and no later than 1956. I believe the car is a 1951 - 1953 Mercury. 1952 I think.
Also the curb and sidewalk end just ahead of the car at the old "Road Narrows" sign and the huge Eucalyptus tree. This indicates the transitional era of the Valley because Eucalyptus trees were planted as wind breaks at the edge of orchards to protect the Citrus trees from the Santa Ana winds which would strip them of blossoms and generally cause costly damage. They were usually along access roads for farm equipment and irrigation ditches, to demarcate one farm from another, and planted in rows close together like giant hedges. The fact that it is still there shows the transition in commerce which occurred in the valley from farm to film. Remember the valley was all planted fields at one time because Mulholland brought the water there and his cronies bought up the entire valley for pennies - later parceling it out and making huge fortunes.
The sidewalk ending indicates the relative "youth" of the studio because as you know that area became very busy with a lot of building by the studio and in the area of the studio. It remains a very congested and concentrated area to this day.
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