The year was 1947 and my father, David, had turned 15 just two months before. It was time to start earning his own money, and what better way for a teenage boy to do that than to get a newspaper route?

It appears that David and his dad, Emil, went down to the Valley News Company in Bakersfield, California, to see about signing up for a route. It turns out you could buy your bicycle straight from the newspaper company. In our case, the owner seemed to have been out of blank contracts, and so he simply “recycled” an old one.

You’ll notice at the bottom right that the bike was paid off on May 20, 1948, three months early judging from the contract, which specified monthly payments of $5 each for a total of $40. That was one thing Grandpa Johnson instilled in his children: if you can pay something off early, you should do so, and, if possible, it’s better to pay cash up front than to go into debt for things. (Also, save your receipt!)

I was curious to know what the Valley News Company building looked like, and then I wanted to know about the owner, Mr. Eveland. I found the building, 207 Kentucky Street, on Google Maps, and I was able to learn some information on Lester Eveland from Ancestry.com.

This is an ad from the Bakersfield Californian in January of 1948, from Newpapers.com. If you zoom in, you may be able to see that “another wartime curtailment” had just been removed, which allowed the Los Angeles Examiner to bring its readers a complete classified advertising section. Maybe David delivered the LA Examiner as well as the Bakersfield Californian with his new blue bike.

The 1948 Bakersfield city directory on Ancestry lists Lester Eveland, News Dealer, with the Kentucky Street address that you saw above. Interestingly enough, the couple four listings above Lester Eveland were my Uncle Bill and Aunt June.

In this screenshot, also from the 1948 Bakersfield city directory, you can see that the Rev. Emil J. Johnson and family were living at 7 Lincoln Street. Growing up, we heard a lot about 7 Lincoln Street, and I’ve been by it once, years ago.

Sadly, according to Google Maps, 7 Lincoln Street is now in a state of disrepair. But maybe it’s just being remodeled, who knows?

I’m not sure, but I think this undated photo that I had labeled “Someone on porch of unknown house” might actually be the back steps of 7 Lincoln Street.

By 1948, it seemed everyone was in Bakersfield. You can see Hilma Anderson, 2706 H Street, listed at the bottom of the page. According to this, at that time she was a saleswoman at Valley Office Supply Co.

My mom was her daughter, Joan, who would have been 15 by August of that year. Not surprisingly, I found this in one of my Grandma Anderson’s photo albums.

More about the Monark Silver King bicycle:

This is a screenshot I took from an article about the Monark Silver King on the Made in Chicago Museum website. I encourage you to visit the site for information about how the Monark company managed to make it through the second world war.

I also found one on eBay for $4,900. A bit of a markup from the original $40 in 1947.

Interestingly enough, the front of ours (right) actually looks better than the one from eBay. Granted, the logos aren’t identical, so the eBay bike could just be older than ours.

So back to our bike. Fast forward 75 years to 2023, and the blue Monark bike was now in the garage at my parents’ house. I’ve mentioned my recently completed, three-year task of “dismantling” my childhood home in “Vintage Toys”. We knew the bike was in there, I just had to find it.

Once located, it was time to take it out and wash it off with the hose. I was amazed at how nice the blue Monark looked after being hosed down with plain water.

I didn’t scrub it or polish it with anything. Even after being in the garage. probably for the better part of 50 years, it was in remarkably good condition.

Of course, we knew we wanted to keep the bike in the family, but there was a small problem.

It wasn’t going to fit in the back of a Honda CRV. It would have to be taken apart.

“I can do this,” I said. “I’ve done stuff like this before. A little WD40 and some tools, and…”

WD40 didn’t work.

My tools were the wrong size!

After working for what seemed like forever, in a heroic act of “truth in blogging”, I had to admit I couldn’t do it. A friend and her husband came over, and he had it apart in no time. What’s more, he carried the pieces out to my car where they fit nicely for the ride home to Fresno.

It wasn’t as hard to put together as it was to take apart. The blue bike is now on my patio, “amongst the stuff”. If you look closely, you’ll see that I couldn’t get the back tire on all the way, but as long as I don’t move it, it looks fine.