"I Love You, California" - Prince's Orchestra (1914) California State Song

I LOVE YOU, CALIFORNIA
(Abraham Franklin Frankenstein)
Played by Prince's Orchestra
Columbia, A-1623 (39597), 1914.

Please watch in high-definition (720p) for best picture quality.

"I Love You, California" was published in 1913, and at the height of its popularity was adopted as the official song for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915, as well as for the California-Panama Exposition held simultaneously in San Diego. By legislation, it was named the official song of the State of California in 1987.

To illustrate this recording, I have chosen scenic images (mostly postcards) that show California around the time the song was written. Several pictures of the 1915 Fair in San Francisco (some from published color photographs) close the video.

Through the years, I have often encountered the work of a San Francisco artist, W. H. Bull, whose illustrations graced the pages of books and magazines of the early 1900s. His painting of a California live oak is the best I have seen. In assembling the pictures for the video, I discovered that some of the most memorable images of California are W. H. Bull's work.
Here, the vertical illustrations of California landscapes (each with an automobile) are his, as are the painted illustrations of the 1915 Fair: the California Building and its flower garden, the scenes with crowds of people, and the night views of the Palace of Fine Arts and the Tower of Jewels. The picture showing the rainbow illumination in the night sky is also his. And, lastly, the sunset through the Golden Gate at the very end was painted as the title page for a college yearbook.

The drawing of the young couple at the 1915 Fair is by Louis Rogers: a magazine illustration for a World's Fair love story.

If you want to hear the words to this song, a great, early version can be found on the channel of Ken Gentry.

Once again, thanks to Betty for this record from her collection. "I Love You, California" is the other side of "1915 San Francisco."