Once upon a time there was A BOXER NAMED MARCUS VASQUEZ

This is a repost from several years ago that most won't have seen. In keeping with the man with the box for Sepia Saturday I give you boxer Marcus Vasquez. All I ever found about him is below.
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You'd think that starting with "Once upon a time..." I'd have a fairytale to tell. No, just an old picture of a lightweight boxer named Marcus Vasquez wearing an apron. Seriously, I have no idea what is going on or how this photo eventually ended up in my hands.

"To a Swell Kid Marcus Vasquez.

From your manager Ben Marcus"

Marcus Vasquez appears to have fought his first professional bout on Dec. 21, 1948 against Cadilla Clemmons at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He won the fight. From then on he fought around Southern California, up to San Jose on March 22, 1949, over to Arizona for several fights, even down to Chihuahua, Mexico on Feb. 8, 1950; he lost that fight to Al Lopez.

According to the online information I've found, Marcus had 17 wins, 19 losses, and 7 draws with a total of 197 rounds fought. The last fight listed was on July 7, 1952 to Maxie Docusen in San Antonio, Texas. Marcus lost and is listed as TKO.

So, was this the end of Marcus Vasquez as a fighter? I cannot find any other information about him.

As to the fellow on the left, his manager, Ben Marcus, I cannot find anything about him other than he worked in the Los Angeles area.

I don't know, but my mind spins when I look at this shot with the inscription and I'm sucked into the world of Raymond Chandler and this little scrap of paper is evidence in a murder. I can't say truthfully anything one way or the other. It is what it is and it will forever be a mystery unless some person with knowledge of the world of boxing in Los Angeles in the late '40s to early '50s steps forward to fill in the missing pieces to the story.

For now, I'm riding in my old Buick on a warm summer night along Sunset, hoping I can run a few red lights without getting caught as I try to make my way to a mysterious meeting in Los Feliz. It began with this photo stuffed inside my morning paper with a note that read, "9:40, Jerry's, Los Feliz. Come alone."

UPDATE: I found this image for sale online at a boxing memorabilia site. This shows that Marcus was in an undercard fight on September 9, 1949 at the Hollywood Legion Stadium.

I looked up "undercard" and found the following:

The undercard, or preliminary matches (sometimes preliminary card), consists of preliminary bouts that occur before the headline or "main event" of a particular boxing, professional wrestling, horse racing, auto racing, or other sports event. (In auto racing, however, the term "support race" occurs more commonly.) Typically, promoters intend the undercard to provide fans with an opportunity to see up-and-coming fighters or fighters not so well known and popular as their counterparts in the main event. The undercard also ensures that if the main event ends quickly fans will still feel that they received sufficient value for the price of their admission. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Marcus, I fear, is lost to history other than this post.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Presenting LAURA MAE WHITE and HAROLD BATEMAN ROBERTS

Harold Bateman Roberts and Laura Mae White were married on June 21, 1939.

Harold was born, I believe, Dec. 19, 1906. Laura graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California in 1936. This would make Harold around 33 and Laura around 20 when they married.

I never knew these people.

Click on any image to see it larger.

The wedding photographer was Witzel-Los Angeles. I don't know if this Witzel, a Hollywood photographer, was the same photographer, but I'm guessing it might have been someone from his studio.

This calendar page is from their scrapbook.

Before being married, Harold had spent many years traveling on various adventures in the U.S. Coast Guard. Specifically, he'd been to Alaska on the USS Northland multiple times.

All of this was purchased several years ago at an estate sale at the Roberts' home. I do not know which of them had most recently passed. In fact I do not know if they were even still together.

At the sale I purchased many photographs, a photo album that contained photos of Harold and various friends before his marriage, and a scrapbook named "Harold & Lolly." I'm still disgusted with myself for not buying his Alaskan adventure album. It was several hundred dollars and they did try to convince me to buy it. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I will always be sorry I didn't. There was an entire office filled with his memorabilia, including a lot of old movies he'd shot in Alaska. I was told there was someone coming from Hollywood to purchase the movies.

Below are a few more newspaper clippings from their scrapbook. And you can click on the labels (Roberts) or do a search of this blog (top left corner of blog) to find more photos of both Harold and Lolly that I have posted over the years.

There were also many photos of a little girl that I purchased, but I have no idea if she was theirs. There are a lot of wedding cards and anniversary cards in the scrapbook, but no birth announcements except for one small one that might have been for Laura.

Below are two handmade cards that are also in the scrapbook. No idea who made them.

If anyone ever finds anything about Laura Mae White Roberts or Harold Bateman Roberts I'd love to hear about it.

For now, they'll always be a mystery in which I know just enough to make me even more curious.

This is my last August submission for this month's them on Sepia Saturday.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 7 available at Amazon.

The SADDEST LION

This is actually a shot I took over 30 years ago. I didn't have any memory of this slide, it was a complete surprise inside a box processed by Fotomat. I can't be positive, but I believe this was probably taken at the Los Angeles Zoo. Hopefully it doesn't look like this anymore, but when I was growing up this was a pretty standard enclosure for animals. As a child I never even noticed the cruel surroundings. But somewhere along the line zoos began to bother me and I stopped going.


Click on image to see it larger.

My heart breaks when I look at this animal and I have to wonder did it ever know freedom beyond its cement walls.
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to find the perfect gifts for those hard to buy for friends.

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Dave and Pat from GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA in 1955

A string of pearls and a man were about all you needed in the 1950s...or so I've been told.


Click on image to see it larger.

Once upon a time there was A BOXER NAMED MARCUS VASQUEZ

You'd think that starting with "Once upon a time..." I'd have a fairytale to tell. No, just an old picture of a lightweight boxer named Marcus Vasquez wearing an apron. Seriously, I have no idea what is going on or how this photo eventually ended up in my hands.

"To a Swell Kid Marcus Vasquez.

From your manager Ben Marcus"

Marcus Vasquez appears to have fought his first professional bout on Dec. 21, 1948 against Cadilla Clemmons at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He won the fight. From then on he fought around Southern California, up to San Jose on March 22, 1949, over to Arizona for several fights, even down to Chihuahua, Mexico on Feb. 8, 1950; he lost that fight to Al Lopez.

According to the online information I've found, Marcus had 17 wins, 19 losses, and 7 draws with a total of 197 rounds fought. The last fight listed was on July 7, 1952 to Maxie Docusen in San Antonio, Texas. Marcus lost and is listed as TKO.

So, was this the end of Marcus Vasquez as a fighter? I cannot find any other information about him.

As to the fellow on the left, his manager, Ben Marcus, I cannot find anything about him other than he worked in the Los Angeles area.

I don't know, but my mind spins when I look at this shot with the inscription and I'm sucked into the world of Raymond Chandler and this little scrap of paper is evidence in a murder. I can't say truthfully anything one way or the other. It is what it is and it will forever be a mystery unless some person with knowledge of the world of boxing in Los Angeles in the late '40s to early '50s steps forward to fill in the missing pieces to the story.

For now, I'm riding in my old Buick on a warm summer night along Sunset, hoping I can run a few red lights without getting caught as I try to make my way to a mysterious meeting in Los Feliz. It began with this photo stuffed inside my morning paper with a note that read, "9:40, Jerry's, Los Feliz. Come alone."

MRS. COLEMAN redux

It's always fun to go to the antique store and find more photos in a series that I didn't find the first time around. For a few years it was photos of Ernie. Alas, I haven't found anymore of Ernie, but I did find a couple more of his young daughter.

Yesterday I found this one of Mrs. Coleman. Mrs. Coleman and the apartment building she lived in in 1915 was featured here and here. What a simple joy it was to find another photos of her. Sadly Mr. Coleman will remain a mystery.

MRS. COLEMAN up close and personal

On March 29th I did a post about a photo of an apartment building in Los Angeles in 1915. You can see that original post here. Well, another trip to the antique store provided me with the following photo of Mrs. Coleman, up close and personal.



It's nice to see her as more than a tiny figure on the front steps of the lovely old building.

The COLEMAN'S CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN

In 1915 the Coleman's lived at 2118 West 16th Street, Los Angeles, California. It was their "Home, Sweet Home." If they wished to return today to this address they'd not find their lovely two story apartment building. The address is now a rather nondescript neighborhood of single family homes. But then it's not actually the same street. I'll get to that.

Click on image to see it larger.

In 1915 they rented the upper left apartment and placed some potted plants on the upstairs railing, one inside a soy sauce bucket. Perhaps there were other uses for such buckets, but in Hawaii we called it a soy sauce bucket and I still have one I use as a stool.

I'm assuming that's Mrs. Coleman with her hand on her hip laying claim to her home. A beautiful building.



Want to rent one of the apartments? Just call the realtor at A-4234.



I give you the soy sauce bucket planter.



So what you'd find today at this address is the image below provided by Google.

But thanks to two readers I now know that indeed the building does still exist and is not the nondescript single family home shown above.

The first comment opening my eyes to the possibility was from Daniel who enlightened me to the fact that over the years many street names had been changed in Los Angeles. Then thanks to Mike Brubaker of TempoSenza Tempo I can now show you what the building looks like today. It's still a stunning building even if the doors have bars on them. Not a particularly nice neighborhood, but it looks as if the owner is keeping the place up. You can see a 360 shot of the neighborhood here.

Thank you Daniel! And bravo Mike!

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To see an ad for a vintage Kodak Brownie Starburst camera visit my other site Tattered and Lost Ephemera.

GEORGE STECKEL, photographer, and MINNIE CHOPIN DUNNING, dancer?

These photos come from Bert's wonderful collection of vintage photos and are my submission for this weeks Sepia Saturday.

Click on any image to see it larger. Believe me, it's worth it.

I have virtually no information about these shots other than some meager info about the photographer, George Steckel. At first I thought the name was Steekel looking at the rather confusing calligraphy. I have not found any biographical information about Steckel, but did discover the following at Google Books, Pacific Coast Photographer, Volume 2 published in February 1893:

As you can see from the back of the mounting boards, Steckel was the recipient of a lot of awards and honors. As to when these actual photos were taken there is no information given.

The few links for Steckel are to collections which contain some of his images, some of "famous" people such as this opera star in 1910, Claudia Albright. And here is a link to a woman, Mrs. Bob Kammey, in a stunning dress.

It seems strange that there is nothing substantial online about this man who won so many awards. I imagine he is referenced in many books that have yet to make it online. If anyone has any information or links to information I'd appreciate your update.

As to the subject of the photographs, well there is the real mystery. The name of the one lovely young girl on the left in the horizontal photo is Minnie Chopin Dunning. That's certainly a hard name to live up to. They appear to be a dance troupe, though the guys could just as easily be members of a circus in those costumes. Lion tamers? Master of ceremonies?

It's a shame nothing is available about this troupe. I put them out here on the net hoping someone someday finds them and sends along information about the lovely Miss Dunning and friends.

UPDATE: Thanks to a reader I now have some biographical information about George Steckel. Thank you Meri!

George Steckel was born about 1865 in Pennsylvania. He was married at least twice. I haven't learned the name of Wife 1, but they had a son John Henderson Steckel who died in infancy January 21, 1901. 



Wife 2 was named Evangeline. Evangeline's maiden name may have been Buck, as there was an obit for Florence Jane Buck, mother of Mrs. George Steckel, in L.A. in 1912. George and Evangeline were married in about 1905-06. She was born about 1875 in Illinois. By 1910, they had a son George Steckel, Jr. He was killed in an accident in Yellowstone in 1933 -- apparently with a friend because there was a similarly worded accidental death obit for another young man who died in Yellowstone on the same day Steckel, Jr's obit ran. Evangeline and George also had a daughter Margaret about 3 years after George, Jr. was born.

George himself appears to have died September 22, 1938 in Covina, California. No cause of death was listed in the obit.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Mark I can now add this additional information. Thanks Mark!

Edward Weston worked in Steckel's studio around 1908-09 before moving on.
It'd be interesting to see images from this studio around that time frame to see if any were Weston's work. 

I agree with Mark that it would be fascinating to see more about Weston's work with Steckel.

SITTING AT THE CAFE with nothing to say

It's one of those days when it would be nice to just be sitting at a cafe watching people go by. Listening to the birds in the trees and watching the sparrows hop amongst the tables hunting for crumbs. The sounds of voices, conversations, noises from the kitchen behind me. No place to be and no hurry to get there.

On the back of this vernacular photograph it says:

        Olvera Street

        At a cafe—

        Jan 3, 1937

For those who aren't acquainted with Olvera Street it's one of the oldest streets in Los Angeles. Click here and here to find out more.