How Corona's Lester Houck became a postcard photographer
As I've mentioned before in a couple columns, the golden age of postcards was generally considered to be the 1910s to the 1930s. Starting in the 1930s, though, senders of postcards could purchase ones that were actual, or “real” photographs. This was a big improvement over the previous versions, which tended to be blurry and unrealistic. Several photographers got into the business of offering the “real photo” postcards, and one of them was Corona's Lester Houck.
Lester was born June 24, 1901, in Daykin, Nebraska, the oldest of four children born to Noah and Mattie Houck. He grew up in Nebraska and studied chemistry after high school. On Dec. 5, 1928, he married Inez Klemke. Very soon after, he got a job as a chemist in an oil refinery in El Segundo, thus bringing the young couple out West.
The job as a chemist for the oil company did not last long, probably with the onset of the Great Depression. By 1931, Lester and Inez were in Corona. The 1927 Corona directory lists a Norman Houck living in the city, so there may have been a familial connection there.
Regardless, the Houcks seem to have adapted to Corona well. They were listed many times in the newspapers as part of several church and community-based organizations and meetings.
In August 1937, Lester and Inez Houck purchased the existing Roberts Photographic Studio in Corona and changed the name to the Houck Studio. This apparently was a learning experience for both of them. Soon after the purchase, an announcement was made that the studio would close early on Thursdays so that Inez could attend the Art Center in Los Angeles, where she would learn about portrait photography. Lester, on the other hand, would spend time studying business and learning about wholesale markets.
The Houck Studio specialized in portrait photography, but apparently travel was in their blood too, as they began early on to take pictures around the region for postcards. Several Houck postcards in my own collection depict downtown Corona and various buildings in that city (the library, City Hall, and theater).
However, the desert beckoned. There are many Houck postcards of the Salton Sea, various plant life in the desert, and some shots of Blythe. In addition, developments such as the gypsum plant near Midland (close to Blythe), and the Eagle Mountain Lift of the Colorado River Aqueduct project were part of their repertoire.
These postcards, and the thousands of others like them, were meant to be purchased by people to write to friends and loved one's back home. But there was another side to them, too — advertising.
In an era when varied landscape vistas and fascinating desert flora and fauna were popular, these postcards helped to attract others to the region, and perhaps even to stay. People like Lester Houck did their part to ensure that.
Lester Houck died
May 15, 1977, in San Bernardino with no descendants. It would be nice to know if his collection of photos survived. If anyone knows, please let me know.