Dozens of gleaming pre-war automobiles stretch to the horizon in two dense columns — their chrome bumpers and rounded fenders catching the bright Baja California sun as travelers queue at the Tijuana–San Diego boundary crossing awaiting customs inspection, a vivid linen-era document of the boom years when American tourists flooded into Tijuana for entertainment unavailable north of the border. The bold linen-print colors — deep navy blues, forest greens, and an impossibly blue sky — typify the chromolithographic style of the late 1930s to mid-1940s. California license plates are visible on the nearest vehicles (plate number 226327 clearly legible on the foreground car, 63437 on the car beside it), anchoring the image firmly in the late 1930s. The back carries a charming handwritten message from a traveler named Grace, who spent Labor Day weekend in Tijuana and wrote to "Kling Bros. Trucking Co." in Hamden, Connecticut: "They sure put you through the third degree — but it was worth it." Published by Photo Mantel and printed in China for the Exportadora e Importadora S.A., Tijuana.