Visual Materials

Athens-Rosecrans Oil Field, Los Angeles, California. May, 1925

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Description: Panoramic view of oil wells and derricks in the Athens and Rosecrans oil field in Los Angeles (present-day Gardena, California). Text on the photograph reads "Athens-Rosecrans Oil Field, Los Angeles, California. May, 1925 – One Year Old, making 25,000 bbls. daily from 50 wells. Has deepest producing well in world, the General Petroleum Corp., Amestoy No. 1, pumping from 6,737 feet.” All of the oil wells are numbered and identified by name (136 total), with names including Union, J. Paul Getty, E. J. Miley, George F. Getty, Mohawk, Walter H. Fisher, etc. Streets are also marked: 131st Street, 132nd Street, 133rd Street, 135th Street and Hoover Street.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1925
Call number

Los Angeles County oil fields

Manuscripts

Consists of 7 maps: Long Beach oil field (removed from Long Beach map folder), Rosecrans, Santa Fe Springs, Huntington Beach, Torrance, and Montebello/Whittier oils fields.

mssHEH

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Panorama of oil fields, Los Angeles, Ca

Visual Materials

This is a collection primarily of negatives and photographic prints depicting the growth of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California, from 1860s to 1980s. Many views are cityscapes or street views, showing buildings, storefronts, homes and roads, and documenting the use of railroads, trolleys, streetcars, and automobiles. There are many card photographs by early professional photographers, and also a number of snapshots made by amateurs, some in personal photo albums. The collection's scope also includes early views of many other communities in Southern California (and a few in other states); the beginnings of aviation in Santa Monica, including the first Douglas Aircraft Company buildings; a photo album of residents in Topanga Canyon, ca. 1913; automobile racing in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, 1920s; maritime views; a photo album of U.S. troops in France during World War I; a 1949 real estate development in Apple Valley, California, and others. Besides photographs, a portion of the collection consists of scarce publications and historical ephemera, primarily related to Santa Monica and Los Angeles, including brochures, advertising cards, menus, event programs and other materials. Highlights of the Santa Monica images are aerial views of the buildings along the coast and pier (1920s); several views of the Arcadia Hotel (1880s); the Long Wharf and adjoining railroad and train depot; the first bath houses on the beach; the beach club culture of the 1920s and 1930s; the amusement piers of Santa Monica, Ocean Park and Venice; and the beginnings of the Douglas Aircraft Company. There is a large set of promotional photographs made late 1920s-1930s by Powell Press Service depicting people enjoying Santa Monica's beaches, clubs and outdoor recreation. An important subset within the collection is 407 negatives made ca. 1890 - 1908 by Los Angeles historian and amateur photographer George W. Hazard (1842-1914). Hazard travelled around Los Angeles and vicinity photographing the adobes, houses, streets and storefronts that told the early history of the city. Many of Hazard's negatives have handwritten identifications, naming streets, former homeowners, ranchos, and other historical details. There are a large number of cabinet cards and other card-mounted prints and stereographs. There are 1,264 stereograph prints, highlighted by the works of photographic pioneers William M. Godfrey, Francis Parker, Hayward & Muzzall, and Carleton Watkins. Other formats represented are: glass and film negatives; panoramic prints; 7 photograph albums, photographic postcards, 20th-century color prints and transparencies; and a small number of tintypes, cyanotypes and a set of chromolithographs.

Venice-Del Rey Oil Field. 7-9-1930

Visual Materials

View of oil derricks in a large industrial oil field next to the beach. View includes canal, houses, storage tanks and streets with automobiles. “Del Rey Hills” is in large letters on hills in background, as well as dollar signs.

photCL 555

Los Angeles R.R. Depot, California

Visual Materials

View of the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad depot (with two towers) at San Pedro Street and Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, with a locomotive and passenger car in front of the station.

photCL 555

Main Street, Los Angeles, Cal

Visual Materials

Street view looking north on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, as seen presumably from about the intersection with Requena Street (later Market Street) with the three-story Italianate Temple Block building visible in the background at center left next to two buildings of decreasing height that were also part of the Temple Block, with the two-story building at closest left housing the Wells Fargo & Co. Express office. At right, storefront signs can be seen including a sculpture of a boot with the sign "Boots & Shoes" and an obscured sign including the letters "ne Haba." With a horse-drawn wagon, wooden sidewalk, and dirt road visible.

photCL 555

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Los Angeles – Oil wells

Visual Materials

Athens-Rosecrans Oil Field, Los Angeles, California. May, 1925

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