Vintage Yuma AZ Chapel Photo Drive In Weddings African American Rev Coleman 1949

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Estate sale find, vintage original snapshot photo of Reverend Coleman's Drive In Wedding Chapel in Yuma, Arizona, circa 1949.
James Coleman, an enterprising African-American minister, married 9,000 couples in his drive-thru chapel, which doubled as Coleman’s Auto Laundry, where newlyweds could get their car washed. Coleman, aware of racial prejudices, had white and Latino ministers on call.
The Grand Canyon State’s permissive marriage laws once made Yuma a popular round-the-clock wedding destination for California couples.
Once upon a time, love sprouted as prolifically in Yuma as its world-famous winter lettuce crop. “Every bus, every train that came into town, had someone on it wanting to get married during World War II,” 84-year-old Bob Lutes says. His father, R.H. Lutes, Yuma’s justice of the peace during the 1940s, was so busy performing wedding ceremonies that he slept on the sofa in his bathrobe.
Yuma’s wedding attractiveness began as the result of a geographic quirk associated with California’s 1927 “gin marriage” law. This well-intentioned legislation stipulated a three-day waiting period between receiving a wedding license and tying the knot.
The delay was intended to pause ill-conceived nuptials, allowing the sometimes-tipsy participants time to ponder their decision soberly. The California law, however, had some unintended consequences. Impassioned couples embarked on love-fueled voyages to nearby Arizona and Nevada, which didn’t have such ardor-dampening delays.
The item measures approximately 2.5" X 3.5", approximate shipping weight 2 ounces.
PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTION AND PHOTOS FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS -  The item appears to be in overall Fair to Good Minus used condition, signs of wear, creases, fading, tears, chipping, sunning and age toning, soiling, stains, writing, no odors, please see images.
(PH9-206)