2005.24.39

Varney Speed Lanes
1924-1929
8.25 in HIGH x 9.75 in WIDE
(20.95 cm HIGH x 24.76 cm WIDE)
Gift of Glenn Lane
2005.24.39

Printed across the back, in purple: "Grand Central Aerial Photo Service, ask for R. C. Talbot, 1941 Bellevue Drive, Glendale, Calif. Phone"

Yellowed photograph of five people standing in front of a single engine plane "West Wind" two unnamed men (the first wearing an overcoat), an unnamed woman in a fur trimmed coat, cloche and leather gloves, then Roscoe Behan (in a dark suit) - Vice President of Varney Speed Lanes and finally General Franklin Rose - President of Varney Speed Lanes.

On August 1, 2012, Nathan Kerr, OMCA Intellectual Property Coordinator, received the following email: I just came across a photograph from your collection after an online search and would like very much to correctly identify two of the men in this photograph. http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/made/grand-central-aerial-photo-service-glendale Don Moyle is in the overcoat and Cecil Allen on his left. Attached is a family photo - taken 11/28/31 with my mother and uncle - These two departed Tokyo September 8 of that year and were briefly lost at sea (marooned on an island south east of Alaska) before making their way to Anchorage and then returning to CA via Seattle. Allen and Moyle appears to be dressed very closely matching your photo - mine documented in my grandmother's hand...November 28, 1931. I hope you can update your online photo and include their identification. Only difference is the sunshine and the missing overcoat! Perhaps their ties are different too. But close enough! Cecile Alessi Paso Robles, CA In another email she wrote: I just came across a photograph from your collection after an online search and would like very much to correctly identify two of the men in this photograph. http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/made/grand-central-aerial-photo-service-glendale The man in the long overcoat is Don Moyle and the second from left is Cecil Allen. I have many photos of both and am confident in my identification. I would date this photo as late fall 1931. (I have other photos of the two wearing similar clothing posed with my own mother . . . from near exactly that time.) The two men were out of the country in the months prior on a well publicized but ultimately failed attempt to complete the first Tokyo to Seattle non-stop crossing . . . having left on a ship late August they did not return to California until mid October. They embarked on a local publicity tour and this photo is probably from that time. . . . I am uncertain as to the woman in the coat. . . . Mr. Allen was a close family friend of my grandparents. I can tell you that they are standing near the exact spot at the Glendale Grand Central Air terminal (GCAT) where Mr. Allen's fiancee Aline Miller (my great Aunt) was killed in a crash in March 1931. He did not frequent that airport very often after her tragic accident. The GCAT terminal building is in the early stages of restoration. . . . Thank You! Cecile Alessi Paso Robles, CA

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