At the time of this short, draft horses were still in use in many cities, and water troughs were a common sight along streets. There are still some visible in New Orleans, for example, nearly 90 years later (2023).
Bluto calls Olive a long-legged scarecrow, one of the few times he's not smitten with her.
Floyd Buckley, the voice of Popeye for the radio program, played Popeye in this short only. This was likely due to the firing of Billy 'Popeye' Costello (Popeye's original voice) in 1935 and Fleischer Studio not yet deciding on Jack Mercer as his replacement. Buckley is listed as also playing him several times when Jack Mercer was serving in WWII, but that was Harry Welch, not Buckley.
The sculpture on the fountain behind Popeye and Olive is of a knight in amor running off with a mermaid.