Thrifting Some Local History

What a fun day of thrifting. I ran into one of my friends at the very first sale so we got to run to a few garage sales together.

My first favorite unique find was this radiator water bag. I've never seen one of these for sale before. Can't you just imagine someone buying this at Jimana Inn in Arizona and driving to California back in the days when you had to worry about your radiator overheating?

I found this old image of the Jimana Inn in Arizona. I love studying the history behind thrifted objects.

A little less unique but something I always like are these Spun Head Santas. Their whole body is made from the same spun cotton.

As usual, I picked up some vintage office supplies. My favorite is this carved wooden calligraphy pen. Shhh... I bought it for my sister so don't tell her.

I also found three sets of party forks that were souvenirs from different places. These say California and Niagara Falls. 

The second sale that I went to was at the former home of a pharmacist. My guess is that the family once owned a local pharmacy and closed the store many years ago. The garage had some surprising boxes filled with old apothecary jars and bottles still filled with dry herbs and chemicals. Here are some of the treasures that I found.

A real apothecary jar. Well, I found two but I thought the shape was too odd and it had a slight crack in the glass plus someone else grabbed it before I realized what I had acutally found. Anyway, here is my real apothecary jar and an old brown glass medicine jar. The clear jar is so unique.

I also found several medicine bottles but I was amazed to see that two of them are from drug stores in the Anaheim, California area. These can be dated back to the early 1900s when Anaheim was only about 30 years old and California was only 50 years old.

One bottle says "From J.P. Hatzfeld Drugs Anaheim, Cal". Doing a little research, I found this image of J.P. Hatzfeld's house in Anaheim circa 1906.

The other bottle says "W.B. Hutchinson, Anaheim". I found an old city directory advertisement for Hutchinson's Drug Store dated 1903 when the store was located in the very heart of Anaheim. In the same directory I found J.P. Hatzfeld listed as a druggist. And the third bottle is from "C.H. Case Drugs, Jefferson, Ohio".

I found a dusty box with seven large jars with various labeled and unlabel ingredients. I'm not quite sure what to do with the contents just in case anything is toxic. I will have to call the local collection facility in my city and get their suggestion for disposal of the contents. What a unique predicament this is.

I also found a large blow-mold Santa and reindeer. I love these kitschy plastic decorations. I checked the electrical cord and it works perfectly. The package in front contains Christmas cupcake picks still in their original package.

And my final favorite unique find is this very large science beaker. It is about 11 1/2" tall. I am fascinated with the idea that this was probably used in a real old pharmacy. Love this! I want to fill it with flowers!

I found a lot more but this is turning out to be an exceptionally long post. Today was one of those days where I came home with so much history and this is why I enjoy thrifting so much.

I will be adding some of these items to my Stuff to Treasure store so please stop by and check it out or Like my Facebook page to find out when new items are listed. I hope everyone had an amazing and fun day of thrifting. Did anyone else find any history today?

This is linked to:
Apron Thrift Girl, Cherished Treasures, Coastal Charm, Hey What's For Dinner Mom? and Mod Vintage Life