Floats, flowers and a giant boot: See photos of SLO’s La Fiesta Parade in 1950
There is a reason that a lot of photos from the 1950s look the same. The technology of the time made it hard to take a spontaneous picture.
I recently came across examples of that phenomenon in a stack of negatives marked “5/19/50 parade, #610 to 635.”
Which parade? San Luis Obispo’s beloved La Fiesta de las Flores Parade, of course.
The brown envelope held 24 negatives, but less than half of the images were usable because of camera shake.
The view cameras used by photographers in the early 1950s were bulky and heavy, with a slow focus. Film and lenses of the era limited fast shutter speeds that could stop action except during the brightest parts of the day.
What’s more, view cameras rarely had wide angle or telephoto lenses. They also required a multi-step process to reload after each shot.
Many photos, especially when taken by casual camera users, were limited to bright boring mid-day daylight.
Several of the La Fiesta Parade negatives have chemical stains from poor washing, while others had damaged emulsions from the film processing clips. Film could be damaged by accidental light strikes, depleted chemicals or incorrect exposure.
Now Instagram and other software filters helpfully put those imperfections back into digital images, so perfect in exposure and focus they are boring.
History of La Fiesta Parade in SLO
La Fiesta de las Flores was founded in 1925 as a way to raise money to rebuild a badly damaged Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.
The festival had a fitful history. It went on hiatus during World War II and faded out again after 1953 to be revived 12 years later.
La Fiesta had vanished again by 1996.
In 1950, however, La Fiesta was in full swing. Photos captured by a photographer was on a high viewing platform at the corner of Monterey and Osos Streets as the parade went by.
Here are some interesting cultural notes from that event:
The city already had parking meters, though they took pennies back then.
Float No. 48 was marked “Cal Poly Student Wives” and had a giant, Victorian-era boot in the center. Women were not allowed to be admitted to Poly as students from 1939 to 1955.
Several older men wore fedoras and women wore hats as they watched from the sidewalk. The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce was in the Andrews building location that now houses Koberl at Blue.
One group walked with the sign “Ofishuls frum Dogpatch,” a reference to the popular comic strip “Li’l Abner.” This was back when writing dyslexic letters on a sign was considered humor.
There were a large number of community organizations. The Variety Club had a float, the Moose lodge built a float for their “Mooseheart,” Oceano Elementary School and Paso Robles High School sent marching bands.
It appears that the parade went down Monterey Street to the Mission and turned around at some point and came back, floats can be seen headed in both directions
Most floats were covered in flowers in keeping with the La Fiesta de las Flores theme.
UPDATE: Danny Mynatt of San Luis Obispo called and said that when he was 8-years-old Cub Scouts put on yellow stockings and were the moving force inside the “Willie” the worm.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
