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Frank Patterson •
Frank
Patterson was born December 20, 1883 in Klickitat, Washington.
On February 16, 1907 he married his first wife, Cora,
and they had three daughters. They divorced on September
7, 1921. During this time he started taking stereographs
in the Hood River area.
On
June 28, 1922, he married Josephine Champie who was
a young widow with a son and daughter. She was also
a minister in the Christian Church. In 1922, be also
opened a photography shop in Medford, Oregon and concentrated
mainly on the Crater Lake area. About 1926 he started
doing postcards of towns, buildings, commercial spots,
etc. from the Medford area to Red Bluff, California.
He also traveled from Grants Pass, Oregon to Ukiah,
California along the Redwood Highway. In the summer
of 1928 be moved to Santa Rosa, California and added
Sonoma County to his postcard list. At one time be had
228 dealers selling his postcards.
In
June of 1940, Patterson was sentenced to San Quentin
Prison and was there until 1946. At first, his son-in-law,
Harry May, attempted to run the business and did so
until 1942 when it was closed. In 1944 the inventory
and equipment was purchased by another photographer,
Robert Laws.
Whoa....San
Quentin?.. This question too crossed my mind, so
after further investigation, I can present the following
information as received from my correspondent.
OK
here is the straight dope from his court record. He
was convicted of Penal Code Section 288 PC, Lewd and
Lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14.
He plead No Contest (guilty without admitting anything)
and was sentenced to 12 years. He got out after
6 years and went to work in the city. He was later committed
to Napa State Hospital when he developed Alzheimer's
and died due the effects of that disease in 1961.
Now you know why there were all those little girls in
his photos...
When
Patterson was released from San Quentin, he went to
work for Bear Photo in San Francisco from 1946 until
1959. In 1959 he was sent to Napa State Hospital where
he remained until his death in 1961.
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Art Ray •
The
post card company, known as "Art Ray", was owned by
Charlie and Leslie Payne. Art and Ray were not
the names of the two men who owned the business as most
people thought. The name was used, it is believed,
because it was a short catchy name easily remembered
by the various business owners who stocked the cards.
The
two brothers and their mother made their headquarters
in various places in Northern California, Their family
home was at Paynes Creek California where their father
once owned a saw mill. The family moved to Boyes Hot
Springs near Calistoga and Charlie was employed in photo
studios in the San Francisco area before he became interested
in the scenic postcard business. Their large travel
trailer was a familiar sight along the Redwood Highway.
They lived in and operated their post card business
from the trailer for many years. They later settled
in Crescent City California in the early 1950's.
Their
post card route extended from Ashland and Grants Pass,
Oregon area to Garberville, California and the redwood
resorts area in Southern Humboldt County. Charlie's
beautiful photographs of redwood trees were very popular
with tourists from all over the United States.
The cards were sold in gift shops, drug stores, and
sporting goods stores throughout the area in the early
1940 and 1950's. Charlie was a good salesman and
contacted each business in person and never sold by
mail. Leslie was his right hand man throughout their
business career. Art Ray cards are regularly listed
on Ebay's postcard auctions today.
Neither
of the brothers ever married and their mother lived
with them until her death. Charlie died in about 1954
and was probably in his mid 60's. Leslie continued the
business for several years after his brother's death.
The
above information came from Al and Ruby Knowles of Watsonville
CA. It was given to me by a friend and I have
no idea if the Knowles' are still alive.
Thanks
again Ron! ~ for the help with these bios.
•
Alexander J. "Zan" Stark •
Zan
Stark (1890-1967) was a postcard photographer from Mill
Valley, California. He worked from the 1920's into the
early 1950's under the name Zan of Tamalpais. He photographed
the California coast from Monterey Co., Big Sur, the
Redwood Highway and most of Northern California and
also up into Oregon. He also photographed in Sonoma
Co., Napa Co., and Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake and over
into Nevada. He was the official photographer of the
Redwood Empire Association from 1936. Here is a short
review paean to one of his Real Photo Post Cards or
RPPC....
This
is a uncommon purely ARTISTIC ART photography image
by Zan who by this time in his career had already
developed a very high degree of mastery over his camera.
And his by now fully developed and honed widely experienced
eye of a master fine artist photographer is completely
evident by this image, surely one of his best. This
GEM is with an unreal soft light and softly rich brown
tones. The trickling and running creek is purely fine
art developed, very 100% IMPRESSIONIST PHOTOGRAPH,
with the water softened dramatically, as is the surrounding
forest. Looking at it in following the waters path
downstream this "atmosphere" in this caliber
piece is quite mysterious and charming. Any imperfections
are completely minor and would not, do not detract
from either the quality nor its solid value. This
is a high quality typical caliber photograph by the
important and well documented California postcard
photographer specialist Zan Stark.
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