•
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, he 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.
•
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 weresold 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. Zan's work later crossed over
into a full color lithographed postcard line of Nori-Cali views.