Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard, with photographic studio stamp on reverse. Circa 1916.
Availability Status: SOLD
Here’s another mystery: A Real Photo Postcard from maybe the late 1910s through the 1920s, showing a beautiful family portrait of a mother with her daughter and son. The mom is posed in the center with the kids on either side; the boy is probably seated on the arm of the chair; the kids are leaning in – a lovely example of a mother and child relationship. The young girl, perhaps about twelve years of age, wears a sailor-style blouse with a large bow, that looks like it might be of velvet, and wears her dark hair in a long braid off to the side. The mother wears a white lace blouse and a choker dangle-style necklace with pearls or faux pearls. And the boy, about five or six, is dressed in striped shirt and narrow tie, probably with his blond hair slicked into place for the shot. There are no names to identify these people, but we do have the photography studio’s name and location:
PocoLocoFotoFonoCo Exchange. Photographs, Phonographs. 2105 Lincoln Ave, Chicago.
Curiously, and as was the case with another postcard put up a few days ago, there was nothing found regarding this company. City directories, census records, and Google books were searched online under various possible formats, but nothing turned up. To top it off, this Chicago address evidently no longer exists. So, here’s another for the mystery category, but what a great, and rather unforgettable name for a business!
Update Feb 23rd, 2016: See posted comment re the studio name listing in a 1916 phone directory.
Chuck Cap posted the following on the Some Unimportant Chicago History Facebook page on February 21, 2016:
“I absolutely treasure a Chicago Telephone Company phonebook from 1916. I would just pick a name o-o Chicago history..and wow! Time machine. E.g., Clarence Darrow, Buffalo Ice Cream!, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Anton Cermak, Cap Anson, James H. Breasted. Here’s a funny one: Pocolocofotofonoco @ 2105 Lincoln Ave.”
Hi Bearhair, thank you, you’ve made my day! (as do all who take the time to post a comment). This not only puts a better date on the postcard, but I love where Chuck Cap is coming from, totally relating as I do to the time travel…but also I find his remarks uplifting – a reminder to find the joy in life – where ever! And back to the company name – it makes you wonder, too – how the Pocolocofotofonoco name came about – there had to be some kind of utterly charming or hilarious story there, and whoever they were, they must be happy to know they’re making us smile a hundred years later.