Southern Pacific Railroad Vintage Train Card

This vintage business card reminded me of Tom Waits', 9th & Hennipen, in which, Waits references the clang and thunder of the Southern Pacific going by. When I came across this ancient Southern Pacific Passenger Trains Service Agent's card, naturally, I thought of those lyrics.

I was drawn to this particular card, not just because of the Tom Waitsconnection or the collectible appeal of Southern Pacific, but also because of the hand-written notes made by the card holder.

I'm fascinated by cryptic scribbles on ephemera. They add depth and character to what otherwise might be a pedestrian piece of paper. You could say I have a different outlook on little things like this card. But as John Steinbeck's biographer, Jackson Benson, points out:

There are two kinds of people in the world--those who say, "Look at that!" and those who say, "So what?"--Steinbeck was the former.

This blog celebrates the people, like Steinbeck and Waits, who say, "Look at that!"

Comments

[BrianZ]

Beautiful post.

Your blog opens up worlds previously hidden to me.