Long before J.K. Rowling had conjured up the worldwide phenomenon of the Harry Potter franchise, Mr. Harry Potter, of Santa Clarita, CA, was completing a daily 72-mile round trip route as an RDF Mailman.

In 1952, the Los Angeles Times profiled Potter, sharing the obstacles faced as a rural mailman, delivering packages and letters through the mountainous region of Southern California. Facing rain, snow, freezing temperatures, scorching heat, dirt and gravel roads, and a 72-mile route, the Times illustrated Potter as the embodiment of the post office motto: "Not snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed routes."ⁱ

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Mailman Potter delivers mail. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Negative 78149. UCLA Library Special Collections.

The Times described Potter as, "a stocky, 56-year-old gray-thatched man with the amiability of an old-time saloonkeeper, the tact of a diplomat and the driving characteristics of an Indianapolis racer..."ⁱⁱ which is in sharp contrast to Potter, the boy wizard, but interestingly (coincidentally?), they both seem to have a similar taste in eyewear.

While Mailman Potter might not be the same wizard who children and adults have been voraciously following since the 1990s, he clearly obtained some magic in the 1950s to make it through his grueling daily postal rounds with a friendly smile and a good story.ⁱⁱⁱ

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By Jen O'Leary

^{i. Attributed to Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian.↩
ii. Will, Bob. (1952, Oct 20). RFD MEN LIVE UP TO SLOGAN--RAIN, SNOW CAN'T STOP MAIL. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File).↩
iii. Information on Mailman Potter taken from the Los Angeles Times story: Will, Bob. RFD MEN LIVE UP TO SLOGAN.↩}