“…a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.”
This is how John Steinbeck described Cannery Row in Monterey, in California in the opening sentence of his book. Doc, the marine biologist, in Cannery Row was based on Steinbeck’s friend Ed Ricketts.
Ricketts had a laboratory and store at 800 Cannery Row in the period 1928-1948
(By Lord Harris – GNU Free Documentation License V1.2+
As I had no hat connection to Alan’s post I spent some time in the US government archives and discovered this cannery shot.
Noon hour at an Indianapolis cannery (1908)
You’ll notice there’s a lot of young faces here. Apparently the photo was part of a series dealing with child labour.
I then discovered a photo of native girls in Hawaii packing pineapples into cans in an exhibition on the history of work in America.
(By Edgeworth, for Katakura & Company, Nov 20 1928.
Records of the Women’s Bureau, National Archives)
Then I remembered something much closer to home. Scarborough, North Yorkshire was once the tuna fishing capital of the UK. Tuna fishing began in 1929 the climax being reached in 1933 when a gentleman named Mitchell-Henry caught a fish that is still the UK record weighing 851lbs off Whitby.
(Scarborough tuna)
More at Sepia Saturday 58
7 comments:
Wow, those are some huge tuna!. Great photos and history.
Cannery Row is one of my favorite books.
Cannery Row is still there but now it's pretty much a tourist attraction. Fun to visit, though, especially if you're a Steinbeck fan.
Bob, I love the way you take the starting image and go on a fascinating excursion. My post was not intended as a theme : but you have got me thinking.
Alan, as I'm short of sepia photos I usually use your post as a prompt to find connections that interest me, and hopefully others.
I really envious of the family stories other 'sepia-ites' put up.
looking at those tunas, i figure that's a lot of cans... gotta go get me some now!!
:D~
HUGZ
You know Bob I've visited Scarborough many times but I never knew that it had a history of tuna fishing.
Interesting pictures...thanks for sharing them.
Paul, I believe there is a fish and chip cafe in Scarborough called The Tunny. Te premises were once the home of the tuna fishing club of Great Britain.
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