{"product_id":"antique-kreme-de-koke-vegetable-label-salinas-ca-1930s-ice-skater","title":"Antique 1930s Kreme De Koke Ice Skater Vegetable Label ⛸️ from Salinas","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Was Kreme de Koke? ⛸️ Kreme de Koke Selected Vegetables\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9 1\/2\" x 7\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GYhvOfpfY80\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA blonde figure skater spinning across a box of lettuce! This is an antique 1930s Kreme de Koke Brand vegetable crate label from the Salinas Growers Exchange of Salinas, California, printed in San Francisco by Schwabacher-Frey and never pasted on a crate. It's one of my favorite pieces of crate art, and I think you'll see why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🔍 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA smiling skater with curly blonde hair, arms flung wide, in a short white skating dress and white skates, with a long white scarf swirling around her. Behind her, \u003cstrong\u003eKREME de KOKE\u003c\/strong\u003e in huge white-and-red block letters, with a little \u003cstrong\u003eBRAND\u003c\/strong\u003e under it, all on a black ground, and an olive-green band across the bottom. In red on the green: \u003cstrong\u003eSELECTED VEGETABLES\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003ePRODUCE OF U.S.A.\u003c\/strong\u003e, and in the corner, \u003cstrong\u003eSALINAS GROWERS EXCHANGE\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eGROWERS SHIPPERS\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eSALINAS · CALIFORNIA\u003c\/strong\u003e. Down in the bottom corner in tiny type is the printer, \u003cstrong\u003eSCHWABACHER-FREY\u003c\/strong\u003e. The back is plain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e❄️ The skater and the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brand was registered for the Salinas Growers Exchange in \u003cstrong\u003e1940\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the story collectors tell is that the skater is \u003cstrong\u003eSonja Henie\u003c\/strong\u003e. It fits. The Norwegian star won three Olympic golds, in 1928, 1932 and 1936, and ten straight world titles, and she was the skater who made the short skirt and white boots the look of the sport. Right after the 1936 Games she signed with Twentieth Century-Fox, and \"One in a Million\" made her one of the biggest box-office names in Hollywood. Then she toured the country with her ice shows. If you were drawing a pretty skater for a label around then, she's who everybody pictured.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lore goes further: \"Kreme de Koke\" is said to come from Norwegian, meaning \"cooking cream,\" which would be a sly nod to Sonja. And collectors like to say she was a little racy for a box of vegetables back then, with that skirt flying up in the spin!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a skater on a Salinas box makes sense for another reason. Everything in that box traveled on ice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥬 Salinas, the Salad Bowl\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe railroad made the Salinas Valley. Once refrigerated rail cars came along, lettuce grown there could cross the whole country, and the valley earned the name \u003cstrong\u003e\"America's Salad Bowl.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e John Steinbeck, a Salinas boy, put it right into \u003cem\u003eEast of Eden\u003c\/em\u003e. The first cars were cooled with ice: big wood crates were loaded into box cars and packed in ice, and that's how crisp head lettuce came to be called \u003cstrong\u003e\"Iceberg Lettuce.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e Labels like this one were pasted on the ends of those wooden crates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt changed in the \u003cstrong\u003e1950s\u003c\/strong\u003e, when \u003cstrong\u003eBud Antle\u003c\/strong\u003e brought in vacuum cooling and corrugated cartons. Lettuce could be packed right in the field, the cartons went into mechanically refrigerated cars, and the ice and the wooden crates went away. So did the labels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🖨️ Schwabacher-Frey of San Francisco\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSchwabacher-Frey was a major West Coast printer and stationer, and the Schwabacher name belonged to one of San Francisco's best-known families. The firm printed everything from billheads and stock certificates to postcards and crate labels, and Kreme de Koke is one of the labels that carries its name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine hanging this antique advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! That black ground makes the skater pop, and it's a perfect gift for a skater, a Steinbeck fan, or anybody from the Salinas Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOld labels like this are a reminder of a bygone era, and the lithography on them is unparalleled even to this day, in my opinion. Museums have galleries of them, and more and more collectors are seeking them out to preserve their history. The presses that printed these went quiet a long time ago, so what is out there now is all there will ever be. Once the last of the supply is on display with collectors and in galleries, finding one gets very difficult.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-tot-crate-label-watsonville-ca-cute-baby-1940s-treasures-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1940s Tot Brand Vegetable Crate Label 👶 — T.O. Tomasello Co, Watsonville CA — Cute Baby Produce Art\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1940s-valley-king-vegetable-crate-label-elk-buck-stag-san-francisco-ca\"\u003eVintage Valley King Brand Vegetables Crate Label 🦌 — 1940s San Francisco, Elk Stag \u0026amp; Ripe Tomato Graphics\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-coin-asparagus-crate-label-san-francisco-ca-usa-icon\"\u003eAntique 1930s Coin Brand California Green Asparagus Crate Label 🪙 — Nash-De Camp Co. Distributors, San Francisco\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43568674996456,"sku":"VAG-7899273855208","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4076237316_a0vm.jpg?v=1785357504","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-kreme-de-koke-vegetable-label-salinas-ca-1930s-ice-skater","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}