Free Orange Crates
Orange crates were an invaluable resource for children unable to afford store-bought toys. Neighborhood boys could rummage through piles of wooden boxes at local grocers’, with friendly employees allowing neighborhood boys to search through them freely. Crates for peaches, lettuce, or grapefruit had narrow slats that weren’t suitable for construction; orange crates stood out because their end pieces could be cut with a coping saw into various toys – bands made from old inner tubes could stretch over rounded tops of these crates creating rubber band pistols while they could also be attached clumsily to old roller skate wheels to form scooters which could then be controlled using clothesline rope!
Every crate was equipped with an informative label identifying its packing house and grade of oranges and designed to be loaded into railroad cars for transport to eastern markets quickly. They are now treasured reminders of Tustin’s once thriving citrus industry, used today either for storage or decorative art purposes by collectors; some artists even paint and refurbish these pieces for sale or are reclaimed by residents and restored into use.
