Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Aerial view of Los Angeles from an airship
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Visual Materials
The J. Allen Hawkins Studio Collection of Negatives consists of 3027 negatives and 3607 prints (both vintage prints and copy prints), 1924-1972, that depict commercial sites, residences, and other subjects in and around Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. The images provide a look at the commercial, residential, social, and cultural development of Pasadena and surrounding areas during the middle years of the twentieth century. The collection also provides, through its breadth and depth of subject matter, an example of the career activities of a commercial photographer in Southern California in the early years of the twentieth century. Some of the early photographs may be attributable to Harold A. Parker.
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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
A collection of 73 black-and-white aerial photographs showing the Los Angeles County, California, coastline. Includes aerial images of Malibu, Topanga Canyon, Santa Monica Canyon, Santa Monica, Venice, Playa Del Rey, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, Point Firmin, San Pedro, and Long Beach. There are photographs of the Hyperion Outfall Sewage Plant, real estate developments such as Castellamare Tract and Belmont Shore Tract, piers, and oil derricks.
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Visual Materials
This collection includes lantern slides of eleven California missions, all of which are portrayed through artists' renderings or through photographs. The missions are shown in states of past affluence and of then present disrepair. The slides are meant to accompany a slideshow lecture given by Mrs. Lou K. Ross to educate Los Angeles club groups about the condition of the missions in the 1920s.
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