Publisher: Zan

Photographer and postcard publisher Alexander J. "Zan" Stark (1889-1967) moved to San Francisco ca. 1914 (Xan Stark, Alta Studios, 1271 Mission) and then to Mill Valley in the mid-1920s (Zan of Tamalpais, 324 Miller Avenue). He produced thousands of postcards from the early 1930s through the early 1950s, primarily b+w real photo postcards (RPPCs). Zan photographed extensively throughout northern California and beyond. Online Archive of California gives a brief biography and references the Stark collection at Stanford (over 3000 items, but no online items as of 10/2020). A postcard.org article by Frank Sternad discusses Zan and his work in detail.

My postcard collection focuses on cards from 1915 and before, so it includes only a few Zan cards (shown below). But I see a lot of Zan's cards when I browse postcard sites, and I invariably admire his work. He has a wonderful eye and his postcards have a very distinctive look: b+w, caption in script in one corner, "Zan" and stock number in opposite corner, vanilla RPPC back with no information.

Zan 281.
Zan 409, postmarked Sonoma 1/05/1942.
Zan 1115.
Zan 287.

Zan 258. Sternad says this card shows Zan Stark and his daughter.
Zan 839, white borders.
Zan 812, white borders. The Bay Bridge deck is partially complete, so obviously the 839 image must predate 812, implying that Zan's stock numbers are not precisely chronological.