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.
Includes 2 volumes with photographs:
Los Angeles and Southern California Illustrated. Denver, Colo: Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co., 1903.
Los Angeles and Vicinity, California. San Francisco: Cardinell-Vincent Co., 1915.
Elevated view of downtown Los Angeles, California, as seen looking east from Poundcake Hill and focused on the multi-story commercial buildings on the block of Spring Street between the intersection of Spring and Main Street (not visible, at left) to Market Street (not visible, at right), including the three-story Italianate Temple Block building located at the intersection of Main Street and Spring Street and the Louis Lewin & Co. storefront, with partially visible sign near center (14 Spring Street). New High Street is visible in the foreground with houses including a yard with laundry drying on a clothesline in a yard behind a fence in the foreground has handwritten signs "Fishing tackle of Liddle & Kaeding 538 Wash. St., SF" and "Dr. J.C. Young Cures All Chronic Diseases 618 Sac St. S.F."
View of Spring Street near Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, with storefront signs for "Merrill & Babbock, Plumbing" (listed in the 1881 Los Angeles City directory at 27 Spring), "Herald Steam Printing House" (23 Spring), "Preuss & Pironi (23 Spring), "Eugene Meyer & Co." (17-19 Spring), and "F. Adam Tailor" (13 Spring).
Elevated view of downtown Los Angeles, California, focused on the Spring Street face of the three-story Italianate Temple Block building at the intersection of Main Street and Spring Street; in the background a two-story building, the Lanfranco building, with the sign "El Dorado Store" is visible (listed at 76 Main Street in an 1873 advertisement in the Los Angeles Herald). New High Street is visible in the foreground with houses including a yard with laundry drying on a clothesline in a yard behind a fence in the foreground has handwritten signs "Fishing tackle of Liddle & Kaeding 538 Wash. St., SF" and "Dr. J.C. Young Cures All Chronic Diseases 618 Sac St. S.F."
