The Neighbors at Mission Court, 1919

Are you wearing your mask?  These residents of Mission Court in Pasadena California are all abiding by the rules.  As luck would have it, I found a Wikipedia entry for the small apartment complex, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. These small Mission Revival style courtyard bungalows are a common feature of Southern California architecture of the era.  The complex had eighteen apartment in all, so these aren’t the only residents. However, a good portion of the occupants were apparently older.

What about these older women’s style?  In general they look quite conservative.  Except for the younger looking woman in the back, all have long hair worn swept back or up into a bun, a much more tamer look the short cuts that were coming into fashion.  Many wear high collars. Already before the war the open collar was coming into style, but these women stayed with a covered up look. The shortest white haired woman in the middle has on a shirtwaist and dark skirt. Although this style was most popular at least a decade before, her shirt does seem to be open at the neck. We have the best view of the outfit on the right—a dark colored dress worn with a high white collar.  I found similar looking dresses in the 1912 Sears catalog.

To me the most chilling thing about this photo is the date—February 1919.  These people probably had been wearing masks for a long time.  And perhaps we will too.

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2 Responses to The Neighbors at Mission Court, 1919

  1. Juliana @ Urban Simplicity says:

    Officially that pandemic didn’t end until December 1920, so they probably wore them for almost two years beyond this date.

    I expect we are in for at least 18 months of hard times, given the trajectories.

  2. JS says:

    The date is chilling. A Harvard report published recently said we may have to practice social distancing until 2022.

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