January 4, 2012

Fourteen bound volumes of the Santa Monica Topics newspaper were donated to the Santa Monica History Museum today by the Friends of the Santa Monica Library.  Fourteen volumes date from 1935 to 1940, and include the wonderful full color Sunday funnies we all loved.

Each volume houses remarkable items from the pre-war era, with information about earthquakes, opera, business and social news. World news headlines include, “Famed Dogs Banished from the Alps” and “Hitler Lauded in Rome.”  Grocery store ads tell us that 2 lbs of bananas could be purchased for 5 cents. Deanna Durbin was starring in the latest movie at the Majestic Theater and Major Bowes was performing his Second Anniversary Special Vaudeville show at the Ocean Park Municipal Auditorium. On the weekend, you could take a dip at the Venice Plunge.

This collection marks the first and only material from the Santa Monica Topics newspaper in the museum’s archive.  The volumes are in excellent condition, and are available for browsing or conducting research in the Museum’s Morley Builders reference library.

 

As this photo illustrates, an old newspaper has something interesting for everyone.  A seven year-old visitor to the Museum pulled out his notebook to jot down some facts as he perused a volume with Museum volunteer and recent UC Northridge History graduate Stacey Nembhard-Taylor.

After the youngster completed his tour, he reported to Museum Operations Manager Mary Pat Cooney that he planned to tell all his friends about the Museum so that they could come and enjoy all the cool things we have.

We’d love to learn more about the Santa Monica Topics newspaper. If you wrote or shot photos for the paper, please contact Mary Pat at info@santamonicahistory.org or 310-395-2290.