Believe it or not, this is the first automobile in Southern California. S.D. Sturgis built it in his shop on 5th Street in Los Angeles with help from J. Philip Erie, the man credited for being the first to drive an automobile on a Los Angeles street. This photo was taken the same year the […]
Sonora Town in 1871. Photo taken from on top of Fort Hill. The main street below was Buena Vista back then. Today it is N. Broadway Street. The original Los Angeles Times building at the corner of First and Broadway Streets shortly after its construction in 1886. The 600 block of Broadway Street in 1890. […]
A newspaper advertisement found in the Los Angeles Herald, July 7,1880
In 1893, teams ready themselves for a 25-mile bicycle race at Agricultural Park, aka Exposition Park. Photographer: Charles Betts Waite / LAPL 00054220)
Looking west at Washington Boulevard and 3rd Avenue in 1896. (LAPL 00068460)
Colorado Street in Pasadena, c. 1880. U.S. President Benjamin Harrison’s 1891 “motorcade” outside of the Los Angeles House, a hotel in Pasadena.
On April 25, 1896, the Merry Maskers participated in the La Fiesta de Los Angeles Parade by honoring the arrival of the La Fiesta Queen. Approximately 30 men dressed as Pierrot clowns made their way along the parade route (near what is now Pershing Square). The clowns yelled, blew whistles, and occasionally entered participating stores. The clowns then grabbed […]
In 1895, Altadena was a giant poppy field with flowers so colorful that sailors could see them from the coast. Some sailors even claimed that the poppy fields helped them navigate. Photo taken around the area where Woodbury Road intersects with Lake Avenue. (LAPL: 00048787)
Sunset Boulevard facing west from around Wilcox, c. 1883.
In 1895, the Los Angeles Times sponsored a Bicycle Club Run. In this photo, bicyclists are peddling west along Pico Blvd. near Western Ave. (USC Library) The Mark C. Jones tract, now the corner of Alvarado and Pico Blvd. Photo was taken in 1895. (LAPL 00033988)