Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Views of Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley
Image not available
- Description
- A set of 70 albumen prints on cabinet cards depicting early views of Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley, Sierra Madre, and environs by E. A. Bonine (1843-1916), an early Pasadena commercial photographer. Images chiefly depict landscapes, gardens and yards, agriculture, and streets and residences in the Pasadena, California, area, including the homes of Orville H. Conger (Item 30), Moritz Rosenbaum (Items 14 and 43), Abbot Kinney (Item 36), E. F. Hurlbut (Item 45), the Richardson Villa (Items 47 and 48), and Colonel [H. H.] Markham's Ranch (Item 59). Streets depicted include Marengo Avenue, El Molino Avenue, and Orange Grove Avenue, and a few images are of the San Gabriel Mountains as seen from Colorado Avenue and from residences. Along with views of olive and orange groves, many of the images document early Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley viticulture and horticulture, with scenes of vineyards and grapes, including one with an image of a Chinese worker plowing a vineyard; ornamental hedges and cypress trees; yards cultivated with date palms, pine and banana trees, agaves, yucca trees, and pampas grass; homes covered by rose bushes; and streets bordered by pepper trees. A photograph of a date palm includes a caption stating that it was planted during the Mission era (Item 17). Images also show the San Gabriel Mountains, then known as the Sierra Madre Mountains; a man in a horse-drawn buggy en route to Sierra Madre; and people on burros, including a party of approximately 20 identified as visitors from the Raymond Hotel. A few of the photographs show commercial buildings, including the B. D. Wilson School, the First National Bank, and a boarding house. Notably, there is an image of a house with a sign in the foreground for Pasadena architect Charles Ehrenfeld (Item 16). The set also contains two images of Laguna Beach, California (Items 26 and 27); one image of Green Canyon, Arizona, that includes a man sitting on rocks (Item 70); a photograph of a mining site and stamp mill that may be in Arizona or California (Item 38); and two images of redwood trees in Sonoma County, California (Items 32 and 69). There is also one image by C. J. Crandall (1855-1935) of swans on the Campbell-Johnson Ranch (Item 18) with handwritten text on card verso: "Campbell-Johnston Ranche [that is, Ranch]. Taken in 1/250 of a second."
