Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
View of the natural branch wood fence bordering the Sunset Trail along the edge of the bluffs in Palisades Park, with the beach, a pier and crane, tents, and automobiles in the background, in Santa Monica, California.
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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.
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Visual Materials
View of men and women gathered on beach for group portrait, with canyon wall and hill behind them. The Santa Monica Canyon Bath House building with the lettering “F.E. Bundy’s Canyon Bath House” is in background.
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Visual Materials
Image of the shoreline as seen from the roof of a railroad train at end of the Los Angeles and Independence Wharf with the Santa Monica Hotel on the Palisades bluffs and the Santa Monica Bath House on the beach below in Santa Monica, California.
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Visual Materials
Image of a man sitting on the edge of the Palisades Bluffs while looking down at the Santa Monica Bath House on the beach in Santa Monica, California; a walkway is seen in the foreground. "Santa Monica B[ath] H[ouse]" visible on the side of bathhouse building.
photCL 555
Visual Materials
Image of the Beach Road north of Santa Monica, California (in present-day Pacific Palisades), with the Japanese fishing village next to the Long Wharf at upper right. The Santa Monica Canyon Beach House can be seen at the mouth of the canyon beyond the wharf, with the beaches of Santa Monica and the bluffs farther south.
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