Parading in Alameda, California
Click here to view them larger.
Alameda, a town across the bay from San Francisco, claims to have the longest 4th of July parade in the country. I got these photos from an antique shop in Alameda, and they were labeled by the dealer as being from Alameda, though the photos themselves aren’t labeled. At this point, I can’t say with certainty that these are all Alameda, and I suspect they might not even be from the same parade. Mayor Corica was indeed the mayor of Alameda, but I haven’t managed to identify the building in the other three photos. (I even did a Google Street View walk along the entire current parade route.) One group’s banner refers to El Cerrito, which is a nearby town, and it makes sense that groups from the area would come to celebrate. And they all have the look and feel of a 4th of July parade. So for a post on the 4th of July, the spirit of them will have to do. As for dating them, Corica was elected Mayor for three four-year terms, in 1975, 1979, and 1987 (with a four-year gap between the second and third terms). So presumably at least the first photo is from one of those terms, possibly even from the Bicentennial, though the fashions of the other three feel older.
Pics of Then 
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