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Blas Coyazo posing with the rest of the Military Police Unit at the Columbia Army Base in South Carolina where he was stationed in 1944 during World War II. "After experiencing segregation at home, from barbershops to the local roller rink, Coyazo was amazed to find himself in an all-white unit with access to facilities far superior to his black comrades, who were housed at and fought in segregated units. The following letter was sent on January 1, 1945 to "Pelanchos" and Charlie: 'Here I am with the boys from the 2nd Relief. I have white gloves, white leggings an M.P. band and a holster with my lassito around my shoulder, only it can't be seen, it's too bad. But anyway here I am, hope you can find me. With all my love, Blas.'" (Vasquez and Carpio, 35)
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Manuel "Manny" Villegas pictured with his nephew Donald Montgomery, a sailor during World War II. Both men graduated from the University of Redlands and taught in Redlands schools.
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This is one page of a large scrapbook maintained by Consuela Coyazo. The book contains over 100 images from candid scenes of every day life in the barrio to penny arcade booth photographs, to formal portraits.
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This is one page of a large scrapbook maintained by Consuela Coyazo. The book contains over 100 images from candid scenes of every day life in the barrio to penny arcade booth photographs, to formal portraits. One identified image is of Simona "Sammy" Castillo (third row down, far right) with a bow in her hair. Sammy was born in East Highland and spent most of her career at St. Bernardine's Hospital as a surgical registered nurse.
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This is one page of a large scrapbook maintained by Consuela Coyazo. The book contains over 100 images from candid scenes of every day life in the barrio to penny arcade booth photographs, to formal portraits.
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This is one page of a large scrapbook maintained by Consuela Coyazo. The book contains over 100 images from candid scenes of everyday life in the barrio to penny arcade booth photographs, to formal portraits.
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Small penny arcade image of a young girl wearing a large brimmed sombrero. This photograph is one of many photographs part of a large scrapbook maintained by Consuela Coyazo.The book contains over 100 images from candid scenes of every day life in the barrio to penny arcade booth photographs, to formal portraits.
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This small black and white photograph is one of a series of two photograph showing the unidentified young man "after" and "after" donning military uniform for World War II. From unknown civilian to unknown soldier.
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This small black and white photograph is one of a series of two photograph showing the unidentified young man "after" and "after" donning military uniform for World War II. From unknown civilian to unknown soldier.
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This small black and white photograph is one of a series of two photograph showing the unidentified young man "before" and "after" donning military uniform for World War II. From unknown civilian to unknown soldier.
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This unidentified man stands in front of a common symbol for the era, the segregated barbershop. For decades, segregation in shops and services was common in Redlands. Manasses Soto recalls: "When I'd go downtown to get a haircut I couldn't get a haircut because the signs said, 'For Whites Only' and that kind of disturbed me because I was a student going to school and I couldn't see it in school with the students too much, but the adults seemed to push it on us. The only person that would take me to give me a hiarcut was Abe. We used to call him Abe Lincoln. He had whiskers and he had a barbershop downtown, and he used to go every year when they had the Lincoln Memorial Parade and they had a celebration for Lincoln at the Bowl, he would go and give a speech and that was very enjoyable to see the guy that gave me the haircuts."
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Three solders identified from left to right as "Babe," Mac," and Nello" pose at a Panama City Bar in 1947. The back reads: "Taken in Panama City, Sept 13, 1947" Nello, Mac, Me, My love (Babe).
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Three soldiers sitting on a rock or log near a forest. They are in military dress and are posing for the camera.
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Black and white photograph of an unidentified woman heading to work at Norton Airforce base during the 1940s. Her hair is short with a headband and she wears overalls. During World War II many women entered the workforce especially in the defense industry. While the common image was Rosie the Riveter, women workers were of all races and ethnicities. Due to federal rules against segregation in the defense industry, Mexican American, African American, Asian American and white women worked side by side on production lines.
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A portrait of an unidentified Mexican American naval seaman in military dress taken at a photography studio. The image is also a post card and has written on back "Daniel, Taken 3 months ago at Fresno"
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"The Guzman family home was located on Stuart Street (515) in Redlands. The house was near the family's Blacksmith shop owned by Carlos' father Epimenio. Connie Guzman McFarland recalled, 'My grandmother [Jesusita] was born in Magdalena, Mexico. That's where they have the coffin of San Francisco Javier .... When she came over, she was a little girl, she brought a sapling of a tree. And that tree, they planted it in front of their house. I think I have the picture of that. And that's why my mom and dad had this type of tree. In fact, those trees are planted, would you believe, at what they call the Catholic Hill at Hillside Cemetary.'" (Vasquez and Carpio, 21)
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The Guzman family home was located on Stuart Street (515) in Redlands. The house was near the family's Blacksmith shop owned by Carlos' father Epimenio. Connie Guzman McFarland recalled, "My grandmother [Jesusita] was born in Magdalena, Mexico. That's where they have the coffin of San Francisco Javier... When she came over, she was a little girl, she brought a sapling of a tree. And that tree, they planted it in front of their house. I think I have the picture of that. And that's why my mom and dad had this type of tree. In fact, those trees are planted, would you believe, at what they call the Catholic Hill at Hillside Cemetary."
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Black and white image of Rafael Gonzalez sitting on the lawn with his daughter Melinda on his lap in the early 1950s. Rafael Gonzalez apprenticed as a shoemaker in Mexico before coming to the United States as a Bracero in 1942. Gonzalez dreamed of returning home and establishing a business but was delayed during the war and was among a group of Braceros stranded in San Bernardino without a contract or transportation home. Later, Gonzales met Eunice Romero while working for her father, Jacinto Romero, at Fairbanks Ranch.
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Color image of Eunice and Rafael Gonzalez holding Bianca, their granddaughter, at their home on Ohio Street in the 1970s. Rafael Gonzalez apprenticed as a shoemaker in Mexico before coming to the United States as a Bracero in 1942. Gonzalez dreamed of returning home and establishing a business but was delayed during the war and was among a group of Braceros stranded in San Bernardino without a contract or transportation home. Later, Gonzales met Eunice Romero while working for her father, Jacinto Romero, at Fairbanks Ranch.
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Rafael Gonzalez is pictured here at Cone Camp in 1943. Gonzalez was recruited from Mexico City as part of the United States - Mexico Bracero labor program during World War II. "Coney Camp" as it was known to the local Mexican population, was a former jail and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) training center located on the banks of the Santa Ana River in East Highlands. Converted to house Mexican laborers, the facility held up to 1,500 men at a time. Despite federal mandates for reasonable living conditions, wages, and medical care many braceros like those living in Cone Camp lived in wooden barracks and sometimes in tents where the men endured severe winter weather and extreme heat in the summer. The Bracero Program officially ended in 1964.
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Black and white postcard with an image of the corner of Orange and Colton in Redlands, California. Sunset Market, Winn's Drug Store, and the Casa Loma Service Station opened at the corner of Colton and Orange, on the site of the former Wyatt Opera House in the early 1930s. Aurelia Ruiz Reyes recalled other businesses that provided goods and services to the Mexican colonia: "Don Sabas we used to call him. Well, that little store [on Colombia street] belonged to that man first. No, no, it belonged to Japanese people, and then he took over. Then when the war came he took his son to Mexico, and that's when Tommy [Martinez] bought it. Tommy had it for a long time, and that was the only little store. This other man had a bakery of Mexican bread right there on Lawton Street in front of the House of Neighborly Service. My brother-in-law used to have a little gasoline station on Stuart Street right across from Sam's Cafe. Oh, there was the Resbalon, a bar where they used to have food, it was a wife's help for their husbands to go."
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A color postcard of Redlands, California, reading "Snow capped San Bernardino Peak as seen from Orange and Colton Avenues." The picture also shows Winn's Drug Store, a fixture in the neighborhood. From its beginnings in the 1930s, the store had a soda fountain and grill that attracted people from all over for its pie, milkshakes, and local gossip. By the time the photograph on the postcard was taken, the freeway had created a permanent barrier between the north and south sides and made the imaginary line separating the town all too concrete and real.
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Lincoln School Choir provides a concert at the Divine Savior Presbyterian Church in Redlands, CA. The performance happened in 1967 or 1968. The black and white photograph shows 4-5-6 grades. The choir was led by Mrs. Kanfmann, Lincoln school teacher, and Mrs. Baker provided accompaniment.
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Black and white photograph of Ronald, Robert, Vicki, Felix, and Nelda Roque in 1955. The back of the photograph lists their ages: Ronald, age 10; Robert. age 8; Vicki, age 5; Felix, age 9 and Nelda, age 14.
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Black and white photograph of brothers Ronald (age 10, center), Felix (age 9, right), and Robert (age 8, left) Roque.