Downtown Riverside, an old Sunruco toy car, and a new politician!

     Downtown Riverside is nicer than you’d expect—or at least it’s nicer than I expected. I knew the city was once a favorite destination for the rich and famous, starting in the late 19th Century. Nowadays? Not so much.
     The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa has in some sense existed since 1876, but the now-standing Inn—or part of it—was built in 1903. According to the Inn's website, "The Mission wing was built in Mission-Revival style. [The owner] went onto add three more wings to his hotel: the Cloister, Spanish and completed it with the Rotunda wing in 1931." Check it out. (These three photos were taken with my sister's toy Nikon.)

A cool manhole cover

     Around the corner, me 'n' the gang found some goofy retro store selling, well, goofy retro stuff. I bought a package of "red meat" band-aids. (As a vegetarian, I couldn't resist.) The store sold "eye ball" band-aids too.
     Down the way, we came upon a shop that specialized in antique toys. Naturally, I was drawn to it. You know how I am about old things.
     I bought this:

     I dunno. It just struck me as very cool. Judging by the car design, I figured it to be an artifact of the 30s, and it was.
     When I bought it, the owner asked, "You into rubber?"
     "Rubber? Nope." (The thing seems to be made of iron, not rubber.) "I like the 30s car designs and, well, I like old things," I said.
     That was a week ago, and so, today, I finally got around to looking at the thing. It's pretty cool all right. I wanted to identify the manufacturer, so I looked underneath and found this stamp:

     My eyes aren't what they used to be. I actually had to photograph the stamp with a macro lens, load the photo onto my Mac, and then blow it up on Photoshop before I could read it: "Mfd by Sun Rubber Co, Barberton, O, U.S.A."

     I Googled that and learned that Thomas William Smith purchased the defunct Avalon Rubber Co. factory in the early 20s and then opened the Sun Rubber Company of Ohio in 1923. A year later, Sun started making toys. By 1934, it made car toys, including its celebrated DeSoto Airflow (very cool). Owing in part to its practice of making "futuristic" toy cars, it grew, though it took quite a hit when some Japanese manufacturers flooded the market with cheap Sun knockoffs, complete with the company's stamp! Then came the war. The company seems to have folded in the 50s.

     Evidently, people collect these things, and I found quite a few photos of old Sun Rubber Co. ("Sunruco") toy cars on the internet, especially on Ebay. 

     Eventually, I came upon this Sunruco toy:

     The toy is described as a "Sun Rubber Toy Ambulance antique car—rare." The price: $50.

     It is almost identical to my car, for which I paid $15. It appears, however, that someone attempted to modify my car by grinding away the first aid crosses and even part of the windshield. Also, a hole is drilled into its right side window. Don't know what that's about. It's the kind of thing I might have done as a kid.

     Am I the only one who thinks this thing is cool?

     That's probably the end of my toy collecting career. I'll likely buy more red meat bad-aids, however. You can never have too many of those. I gave 'em--or, actually, Annie gave 'em--to my niece, Sarah. She loved 'em and immediately covered every booboo she could find.

* * *

     A close friend of mine (and former student) told me maybe a year ago that she was thinking of running for school board in her town (Fargo, ND). Last week, I discovered that she had just won the election—against a powerful incumbent and the president of the board.
     Congratulations, Kris!
     As you can see, Kris now graces the cover of a local magazine. She looks mighty bemused. And she is.

     She received philosophical training, you know. (As you know, I take credit for all my former students' successes.) After her time at IVC, she attended UC Berkeley, though she didn't major in philosophy. Then she earned a Masters at SF.
     Kris is very bright. I call her "Smarty Pants."
     I have high hopes for this new politician.