CA CA - Los Angeles, UP16569, WhtMale, 60, R.G.J., A.T. Thurbor, died in cafe, 1950 April 27

[carbuff]

Seems like it's melting hot everywhere.

My brain is so tired. I keep making stupid mistakes everywhere. Just about ready to say I'm not going to post for a few days until it cools down...

 

[carbuff]

Sure, we all no doubt have a lot of keys but we don't necessarily carry them all around with us.

It's the fact this chap was carrying 11 of them which seems strange.

I guess bringing my mother in obscured my point, which was that I seem to remember people from my parents' and grandparents' generation actually carrying the keys, where now we tend to leave most of them somewhere easy to find.

Though I do like the suggestion that he might have been an apartment manager or caretaker.

 

[coffeeandacig]

The heat may be getting to me, too. This is a stretch...
But I found a woman in the 1940 Census in NYC with the initial A. Thurbor. Her husband was 51 at the time. Which, would make him approximately 60 years old in 1950. He was the manager of a 'Siven' store.
Since he was such a small man, could it have been his wife's coat?
Back then a coat was a coat...not necessarily gender specific.

PS?... Found an Arthur T. Thurbor living in Ventura, CA 1926 to 1934 as an Oil Superintendent in CA voter records.

 

[rainwaterstill]

People used to carry more keys for some reason. I remember Neil's aunt had about a dozen in her purse. I don't think even she knew what they were all for. My mom has an entire row of hooks by the door for various cars and sheds.

Typically, a key for the ignition, a key for the car's trunk, two keys for the front door (lock and deadbolt), a key for the back door, a key to the post office box, a key or more for a place of work, a key for a locking toolbox, a key to one or more yard shed padlocks...I'm up to 9.

Key to a bank safety deposit box for extremely important items/valuable jewelry; key to one of those metal fireproof boxes where people kept important papers at home...

 

[Laughing]

The heat may be getting to me, too. This is a stretch...
But I found a woman in the 1940 Census in NYC with the initial A. Thurbor. Her husband was 51 at the time. Which, would make him approximately 60 years old in 1950. He was the manager of a 'Siven' store.
Since he was such a small man, could it have been his wife's coat?
Back then a coat was a coat...not necessarily gender specific.

PS?... Found an Arthur T. Thurbor living in Ventura, CA 1926 to 1934 as an Oil Superintendent in CA voter records.

Both are great finds!

Oil Superintendent sounds like a guy with office keys, vehicle keys, fenced-in enclosure keys -- coffeeandacig I'm impressed!

(BTW I am chronologically gifted enough to see 11 keys as nothing unusual. Right now, I have keys for 3 vehicles -- mine, hubby's, youngest adult child; house front & back; Dad's house; I'm assigned to two counties at work and have lobby & office door keys for each. In my purse, not all on the same ring. Inside the house, even more. Cars used to have separate keys for the ignition & the body.)

 

[Laughing]

Arthur T. and family are in the 1930 Federal census. Surely a wife & children would have looked for him?

Maybe his coat was passed on?

Off to look for a death record -- he's not obvious on Find A Grave, but those are all submitted.

 

[madamx]

The tickets would be for this attraction, which was also (per article) used by local commuters:

Angels Flight - Wikipedia

"Angels Flight is a landmark 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge[3] funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet, running in opposite directions on a shared cable on the 298 feet (91 m) long inclined railway.[4]"

I was reading more about this Angels flight and sounds like in 1927 it was not really an attraction . It's basically like a giant escalator that goes up a steep hill of a couple if blocks usinging 2 train cars that the people ride on back and forth and get off where they are supposed to. I believe it mentioned it was 4 blocks long. Mentions the street names.
I wonder how many blocks the diner the guy died in was from the Angels flight. Also it mentions tickets.. I wonder if the tickets had been stamped and used or not. Like if they were one way and only one was used. Oh i don't know just thinking out loud.

 

[madamx]

The heat may be getting to me, too. This is a stretch...
But I found a woman in the 1940 Census in NYC with the initial A. Thurbor. Her husband was 51 at the time. Which, would make him approximately 60 years old in 1950. He was the manager of a 'Siven' store.
Since he was such a small man, could it have been his wife's coat?
Back then a coat was a coat...not necessarily gender specific.

PS?... Found an Arthur T. Thurbor living in Ventura, CA 1926 to 1934 as an Oil Superintendent in CA voter records.

Oh good find coffeandacig! An oil superintendent . Many of the buildings had oil burners at that point. He could of been the guy that took care of oil burners in buildings that would make him have a lot keys. My dad was a super of 2 buildings I remember him having lots of keys that is why that came to my mind. And yes like carbuff mentioned people carried more keys back then.. and I actually still do!

 

[madamx]

OT Sorry....we are having a serious heat wave....the worst of the century....jeeee..I think I'm melting....

Omg your not kidding I walked to the corner store and came back sweating ugh!!!

 

[Bit of hope]

The heat may be getting to me, too. This is a stretch...
But I found a woman in the 1940 Census in NYC with the initial A. Thurbor. Her husband was 51 at the time. Which, would make him approximately 60 years old in 1950. He was the manager of a 'Siven' store.
Since he was such a small man, could it have been his wife's coat?
Back then a coat was a coat...not necessarily gender specific.

PS?... Found an Arthur T. Thurbor living in Ventura, CA 1926 to 1934 as an Oil Superintendent in CA voter records.

Great finds!

 

[Bit of hope]

The heat may be getting to me, too. This is a stretch...
But I found a woman in the 1940 Census in NYC with the initial A. Thurbor. Her husband was 51 at the time. Which, would make him approximately 60 years old in 1950. He was the manager of a 'Siven' store.
Since he was such a small man, could it have been his wife's coat?
Back then a coat was a coat...not necessarily gender specific.

PS?... Found an Arthur T. Thurbor living in Ventura, CA 1926 to 1934 as an Oil Superintendent in CA voter records.

What is a 'siven' store btw?

 

[carbuff]

I'm nearly positive Thurbor is the name of the coat's maker or tailor (often the same thing in that era), not the decedent. Damn I wish I could find that photo. More to the point, why didn't I save it?

In that era, Siven is likely someone's name--the vast majority of individual businesses were just named for their owner, no matter what field they were in. There's a Siven sporting apparel company in Bulgaria, but they were only formed in 1992. But they're so popular they dominate any searches I try

It could be a typo or misspelling for Seven, maybe? Siren? If it's a handwritten entry, a cursive r might be mistaken for a v.

 

[Bit of hope]

OT: I miss you and your posts @madamx and @carbuff. Take care, hope you both are doing ok.

 

[Bit of hope]

It's such a shame there is no sketch (made public?). He had a recognizable face. I wonder what the cause of death was. Old age? Illness? Heart attack...whatever. Sad, somebody must have missed him, never coming back home and supposedly felt abondant. Is there a good USA site for people searching a long lost family member or a birth/biological father? I alsways loose track searching for it.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I found one missing man from around that time who sort of fits the profile:

James Albert Cunningham (1906-Unknown) - Find A...

 

[Bit of hope]

I found one missing man from around that time who sort of fits the profile:

James Albert Cunningham (1906-Unknown) - Find A...

Good find! We have to keep this one in mind for future other matches. He is not reported as a missing person as far as I could find.

There is a James Allan Cunningham in the unclaimed Namus index, found in San Bernardino County. Date of finding the body is not mentioned, (estimated age around 68), so I can't do the maths. Namus case was created in 2019, if he was found in that year James Albert C. would have been 113, so definitely not him.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

James Albert Cunningham (according to Find a Grave born in 1906) would have been in his 40's in 1950. I don't give the specialists of that era a lot of credits, mistakes were made constantly or relevant info (about his knee cap f.i.) got lost, so it could be him.

I also found this grave.....of a R. G. J. No further info.
R G J - Find A Grave Memorial

 

[Triss]

Hey @othram how do you feel about 71 year old cases?

 

[othram]

Hey @othram how do you feel about 71 year old cases?

Challenge accepted. That's only half the age of the oldest case we have helped with.

 

[carbuff]

OT: I miss you and your posts @madamx and @carbuff. Take care, hope you both are doing ok.

Thanks. I had to take a break and it turned longer than I expected. But I'm glad to be back. Trying to refresh my memory on all the cases I was involved in.

I did discover a bit about the Angel's Flight. It has a website with pictures here. I think I posted it before but can't hurt to include it again: Angels Flight® Railway | Los Angeles Landmark since 1901

I also found out that there are people who "collect" funiculars. They travel all over the world just to ride them.

 

[Romulus]

Interesting case, does the cafe still exist in that address? Can anyone post with Google Maps?