March 3, 1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
Left there the next morning and drove through some very rough, rocky mountainous desert to Jacumba then to Coyote Wells, Seeley and finally to El Centro. There was a lot of lettuce, grapefruit and lemon growing down here. Went to church in a basement. The building had been condemned and torn down. Everyone seem poor here and there were a lot of Mexicans.
Drove to Calexico after mass and by this time there was a terrible windstorm in progress but it was warm and sunny. Had dust in our teeth and our skin felt gritty. Crossed the border to Mexicali, Mexico, which was more like what we expected of Mexico. Shopped around some more – wanted to buy some nylons but they were $5.50 a pair. Went back to Calexico and walked around. It is an old town and has a great deal of history connected with it.
Drove back to El Centro and the north to the Imperial Valley to Brawley. Saw many date groves, passed the Painted desert, Salton Sea, Travertine Rock and finally came to Coachella. Stopped there at a curio shop and saw many gemstones which came out of the desert. Drove out to Indio where we spent the night at a cabin – had hot water for bathing that had been heated by the sun in a metal tank on top of the cabin. The sun must not have been shining there that day. Indio is near Palm Springs and there had been an army camp there during the war. Called Frances in Pocatello and made arrangements to meet her in Las Vegas the following Tuesday.
Walt’s Comments
I get the sense that Mom was about ready to be done with this trip.
Nylons and WW2
As fashions changed and skirts got shorter, women were expected to cover their bare skin. Initially, women’s stockings were made of silk from Japan. The silk was delicate and tore easily. The stockings didn’t stretch and were difficult to clean.
In 1935, Wallace Hume Carothers, a chemist for DuPont, created the synthetic material nylon. When Dupont decided to try selling stockings made of nylon, they sold 4000 pairs in three hours! Nylon stockings had been on display in the 1939 World’s Fair only a few weeks earlier. They quickly became a staple in women’s wardrobes.
When WW2 started, nylon production quickly shifted from fashion to use in war material. Everything from parachutes to ropes to mosquito netting to aircraft fuel tanks used nylon. Women were encouraged to turn in their stockings to help support the war effort.
Black market stockings were available, but most women resorted to the use of make-up with a dark line drawn down the back of the leg to mimic the seams that were common in stockings of that time.
In 1945, nylon stocking began to be available again, but they were still hard to come by. In fact, there were a series of “nylon riots” around the country when hundreds of women would try to get a pair.
In early 1946, they were still not that easy to find, and the price was often high, as Georgie found when she saw a pair in Mexicali for $5.50.
Digging Deeper
Read about why women started shaving their legs in WW2.
The Smithsonian Magazine has a good article on the invention of nylon and its use in WW2.
Smithsonian Magazine also has some great advertising history about paint on hosiery.
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