Santa Fe Southern California

Los Angeles art critic Prudence Woolett observed that the Santa Fe had brought poster design to a higher state of perfection than any other American business organization . . . she credited the company with . . . ’us[ing] the colored poster in its purest form’ to stimulate interest in the territory" (American Railroad, p. 76). And though the railroad typically portrayed the Southwestern region it covered with expectedly rustic advertising-wide-open spaces, rugged natural wonders, Native American heritage-it calls forth a different denizen of these sunny climes to encourage rail travel to Southern California-a leggy, blanched-blonde sunbather whose one-piece suit consists of little more than than repeating Santa Fe logos.