Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Visual Materials
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
View of people on beach and boardwalk, with shops at right. In the distance is Lick Pier (mostly in Venice) and just beyond it, the Ocean Park Pier in Santa Monica. Signs for businesses read "Creighton Hotel," "Denver Hotel," "Ocean Park Pier," "Tango-jumbo," "Dome Theatre," and "Albers waffle flour." View also shows passengers on the Venice electric tram, with canopy, riding on the concrete promenade.
photCL_555_09_131
Image not available
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.
photCL 555
Visual Materials
A - Erecting 187' tower Long Beach, CA. B - Easy way to climb towers, Long Beach
photCL SCE 10 - 00117
Visual Materials
Image of people on the sand at Santa Monica Beach looking south, with the small Crystal Pier (formerly the Bristol Pier) in the foreground, and the longer Ocean Park Pier in the distance, with a roller coaster and other rides, in Santa Monica, California.
photCL_555_06_2149
Image not available
Manuscripts
Approx. 35 items: contractor invoices and various correspondence related to construction of a bulkhead and sidewalk along Block N, Ocean Pier tract, Long Beach, in 1915 ; 2-pp. "Specifications for...piling and...bulkhead" (2 copies) for same property ; more.
mssLAT
Visual Materials
A panoramic view of the beach, Pike, and pier in Long Beach, taken from just south of the beach, facing northeast. There are hundreds of people and dozens of umbrellas on the beach, and a large number of people in the water as well. The spiral slide in the center and the buildings along the shore are part of the Pike amusement park. A pier extends into the water on the far right. A white stamp in the bottom center reads "Pettit's Studio ; commercial photographers ; 1416 W. Pico Blvd. ; Richmond 8534 ; Los Angeles 15, Calif." Other white stamps read "Long Beach, California" and "1924".
photCL 470 (161)