Santa Cruz: Before They Invented #TBT… Or Cars

This week’s postcard is from 1902 , and it is one of my favorite postcards even though I have no idea what it says.

115 years ago this postcard was purchased, scribbled on and dropped in a mailbox somewhere in Santa Cruz. Ever since this card was mailed it has settled, unnoticed, quietly crawling through time. But there is something there, on every one of these cards, a snapshot from the past, not only has it not seen the light of day in a century but absolutely has never met technology.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday (#TBT) posts on sites like Facebook and Instagram often tend towards years ago; Last Summer or “Back in the day”. I like it when Throwback Thursdays go back further. This card isn’t just old, this card was sent before the first World War, before the great depression, before the invention of the television, and even a full year before Ford sold his first automobile! Obviously photography was around, but it wasn’t really in color until someone painted it by hand.

Just imagine how different Santa Cruz must have been a hundred and fifteen years ago, without cars or even widespread electricity and plumbing. I will happily welcome these postcards to the information age!

Even though this card is old, I bet you still needed a hoodie after the sun went down.