A glimpse of Southern California, circa 1940

Last summer, the Anaheim Historical Society posted an image of the front of an old brochure from the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. (Image shown below.) I mentioned to one of their officers that I had a photo of the interior of that brochure somewhere, and they suggested I post it. Let's just call this post a delayed reaction.

I've photographed several of these over the years, trying to get a good image of the interior map. I can't remember which source finally produced this one. (Possibly Don Ballard?) I've scrubbed image up quite a bit, and dropped out some overlay graphics that detracted from the image. But I still can't correct for the fact that the original "camera ready artwork" wasn't all that ready for the camera. Another sheet of paper encroached along the upper half of the left side of the image, leaving us to wonder what the "ee Aircraft Plant" was.

Still, this is a pretty nifty bit of artwork, and definitely seemed worth sharing. I've posted a higher resolution version of the map on Flickr as well, which will allow you to zoom in for a better look at the details.

It's interesting to see what is and isn't on the map. First, note that freeways aren't shown, and Manchester Ave. is still the main drag to Los Angeles. (And yet a freeway appears on the brochure's cover. Was that page updated in a later printing?) Also note the Norconian Club, which closed in 1940, and the Anaheim Airport, which stood about a mile west of Knott's Berry Farm prior to the war. Speaking of which... why isn't Knott's on this map? Probably because their "Ghost Town" (which really,... ahem,... "put them on the map,") didn't find its feet until 1941.

What other interesting tidbits can you pull out of this map?