{"product_id":"vintage-1980s-cotton-top-table-grapes-crate-label-tulare-ca","title":"Vintage 1980s Cotton Top Table Grapes Crate Label 🍇 from Tulare, California","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Young Can a Crate Label Be? 🍇 Vintage 1980s Cotton Top Table Grapes Label, Tulare, California\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12\" x 4\" ~ Little to no wear.\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\/2qS7ILtnB1I\" 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\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the youngest crate labels I carry, and one of my favorites for pure charm. A towheaded little farm boy in denim overalls and a plaid shirt, resting under a tree and holding up a big bunch of dark grapes, with vineyard rows, a fence and a barn behind him. That's your \"Cotton Top,\" and he's about as sweet a piece of California farm advertising as you'll find.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍇 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOTTON TOP\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eTABLE GRAPES\u003c\/strong\u003e across the top, a space for the \u003cstrong\u003eNET WT.\u003c\/strong\u003e, and along the bottom: \u003cem\u003e\"Product of U.S.A. Tulare, CA 93291. Grown by Shannon Farms.\"\u003c\/em\u003e It's the long, narrow strip-style label that went on the end of a grape lug.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Cotton top\" is old country talk for a kid with hair so blond it's nearly white, and that's exactly who they put on the label. I love when a brand name is just a description of the picture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👨‍🌾 Shannon Farms and Tulare County\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShannon is a big farming name in Tulare County. The family story starts with Carlton James Shannon, who came over from Ireland to the Kettleman Hills on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. It was desert then. In his great-grandson's words, \u003cem\u003e\"he had a vision that it could be fertile farm ground and he turned it into fertile farm ground.\"\u003c\/em\u003e A C.J. Shannon \u0026amp; Sons still does business in Tulare, and four generations on, the Shannons run their operation out of Visalia, growing table and wine grapes along with citrus, walnuts, almonds, cotton and more. You run into the name all over the county. Over in Tulare, Shannon Bros. runs trucks hauling fruit, milk, walnuts, almonds and wine grapes, and the Tulare County Farm Bureau gives out Scott Shannon Memorial Scholarships to agriculture majors who attend a Visalia school.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook closely at the address, too. The label says Tulare, but 93291 is actually a Visalia ZIP code, the county seat just up the road, right where the Shannon family headquarters today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌊 Tulare, and the lake that keeps coming back\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTulare takes its name from Tulare Lake, which was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, around 690 square miles of water fed by the Kings, Kaweah, Tule and Kern rivers. The Yokuts people lived around it for thousands of years. Starting in the mid-1800s, settlers dammed and diverted those rivers to irrigate farms, and by the early 1900s the lake was gone, turned into some of the richest farmland in the country. That's the ground grapes like these came from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the lake doesn't stay gone. It came back in 1983, again in 1998, and in 2023, after a winter of big storms, more than 114,000 acres of the old lakebed went back under water. They call it the \"phantom lake\" now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two-letter \"CA\" and the five-digit ZIP were both Post Office introductions of 1963, so this label is no older than that, and everything about the art and printing says 1980s. It's a late survivor of the crate-label era, which mostly ended once printed cardboard cartons replaced the wooden crate with a paper label on the end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA great one for a farmhouse kitchen, a kid's room, or anybody with grape growers in the family. It's long and skinny, so it frames up beautifully over a doorway or a window.\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-towne-tokays-crate-label-1940s-sunny-california-treasures-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1940s Towne Tokays Grapes Crate Label 🍇 Sunny California, Red Tokay Grape Artwork\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1940s-sunset-crate-label-fresno-ca-historic-picturesque-americana\"\u003eVintage 1940s Sunset Brand California Fruits Crate Label 🌅 — Packed by Joseph Gazzara \u0026amp; Co., P.O. 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