A 1940 issue of West advertised that California was “throwing a winter party” consisting of “more than 300 colorful pageants, fiestas, celebrations, and sports events.” This one repeats the theme for the winter of 1941-42. No one knew that most of those events would be cancelled on account of World War II. The Rose Bowl, which this issue calls the “nation’s most important football game,” ended up being played in North Carolina.
Click image to download a 7.0-MB PDF of this 4-page brochure.
This issue of West doesn’t have a cover date, but a printer’s mark on the back says it was published on November 1, 1941. The size of this periodical — 10-1/2″x14″ — and the red logo on the cover were obviously inspired by Life magazine. But Southern Pacific did Life one better by using color photos on most of West‘s covers. Life used an occasional color painting but didn’t use a color photo on any of its covers until July 2, 1945, and it didn’t regularly use color until around 1955.
