Christmas in SoCal

December 24, 2013, 8:24 am

Here are some Christmas themed photos from Southern California. These are from the collection of the Dick Whittington Photography Studio.

Children visiting Santa, Southern California, 1931

Christmas card photo, Southern California, 1934

Christmas decorations at Breakfast Club, Southern California, 1930

Christmas group in playground department, Los Angeles, 1930

Christmas kids, Breakfast club, Southern California, 1932

Christmas pageant dancers from Poinsettia playground, Southern California, 1932

Christmas party at College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, 1953

Christmas party at Sunshine Mission, 1953

Christmas party in Cocoanut Grove, Los Angeles, 1934

[what's with the two little storm troopers?]

Christmas party, Southern California, 1931

[a great wacky Christmas party...my two favorites are

the gagged kid and the old man with the scarf at right]

Christmas trees in bonfire, 1952

Distributing Christmas bags of food at Salvation Army, Southern California, 1931

Publicity for Christmas pageant, Southern California, 1932

Saints and Sinners Christmas party, 1953

Walker's kiddies and Santa Claus, Southern California, 1930

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UC Berkeley

December 26, 2013, 8:37 am

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Dance, San Francisco, 1951-56

Group of young women [at social event?], Oakland, California, July 1956

German Day, Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915

Group of seven young women, some of whom are identified as Francisca Vallejo McGettigan (daughter of Dr. Platon Vallejo), William, Wheeler, Wheeler, Freda Ortman (Shumate), ca. 1885

Group portrait of children at doll tea party, Roland G. Brown residence, Oakland

Group portrait of four adults and child at window

Group with dog on grass. Johan Hagemeyer, second from left? 1910

Group with horses on outing

Man and child in doorway

Man and woman with tandem bicycle

["Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..."]

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Vintage Korea

December 27, 2013, 8:25 am

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Gordon Paddock and Senator Newlands with Koreans, 1905

[Gordon Paddock was appointed Secretary of the American Legation in Seoul in 1901,

as well as Vice and Deputy Consul General; he became Consul General in 1902]

Korean farmer and daughter under thatched roof, ca. 1904

Korean kisaengs, or singing girls, dressed up for singing and dancing. Korean kisaeng is special women's occupation that exists for helping parties enjoyable by singing and dancing, ca. 1904

Korean porter with wicker chair on back

Korean shopkeepers with wares, ca. 1904

Namdaemun (Great South Gate in Seoul) is shown here with the tramtrails,

which was instituted as a public transportion system in May 1899. ca. 1904

Namdaemun (Great South Gate in Seoul) is shown here with the tramtrails,

which was instituted as a public transportion system in May 1899. ca. 1904

Senator Newlands, ca. 1904

Seoul from a distance

Three people on a swing in the countryside, ca. 1904

[the one constant everywhere in the world? people like to have fun]

Water-carrier, ca. 1904

Western man and Korean laborer resting by statues, Yi Dynasty kings' tombs, 1905

Women are shown washing laundry in the stream running through a side street, ca. 1904

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Joseph Pennell

December 28, 2013, 7:28 am

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Joseph J. Pennell was another great midwestern photographer who documented life in turn-of-the-century Fort Riley, Kansas and neighboring communities, especially Junction City.

Crowd of men watching Zeke Guddy on horse wearing a large sign saying 'Baseball Today', 1896

[Do you notice what's unusual here? The guy on the horse is black, and his name is given.

That's a rare acknowledgement of basic humanity that was often withheld, back then.]

Double Portrait of Alice Hardin, 1898

Double portrait of two women, one wearing man's suit, 1898

[wish I knew the backstory here]

Enfield girls playing cards, 1897

Gormley Family, 1898

Group of women at M. E. Picnic, 1896

Group of women exercising, Junction City, Kansas, 1901

Jim Miller's house with people in front, 1899

Portrait of Burnside girl, 1898

Portrait of Florence Swenson and Lillie Nelson, 1901

[a ravishing portrait of two supremely elegant ladies - and those hats...!]

Retreat soldiers holding rifles, Fort Riley, 1897

Senior Tea Party, Junction City, Kansas, 1902

Soldier and woman standing under mistletoe at party, 1903

[is this staged or candid? I would hope the latter but there's no knowing]

Vera and Alma Jolley beside river - one photographing the other, ca. 1900

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Vintage Japan

December 29, 2013, 8:18 am

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Japanese woman with parasol dressed for winter

Japanese women picking tea leaves, with Mount Fuji in the distance, ca. 1895

Japanese women with parasols, dressed in kimonos,

standing on stone steps below cherry trees, ca. 1890

Japanese women, wearing bamboo hats, planting rice, ca. 1895

Large group of women in kimonos, possibly geishas dancing, ca. 1890

Peony garden, Tokyo

People threshing harvested rice

Tea house girls

Three women dancing

Two girls at Mankayen Garden, ca. 1890

Two girls playing with ball, flower arrangement, hanging scroll,

and biwa (musical instrument) hanging on wall in background

Two young women greeting another woman,

presenting her with a gift box tied with mizuhiki, ca. 1890

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When the Ship Comes In

December 30, 2013, 9:19 am

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From the USC archives, here are photos of US Navy ships arriving in port after deployment (some during the Korean War), showing reunions of sailors with their loved ones. Some serious heartwarming here to close out 2013.

Arrival of USS Helena at Long Beach from Korea, 1951

Arrival of USS Juneau, Long Beach Harbor, 1951

Arrival of USS Missouri, Long Beach Harbor, 1951

Arrival of USS Rochester, cruiser, San Pedro, 1952

USS Rupertus arrives, Long Beach, 1953

USS Saint Paul arrival in Long Beach, 1952

USS Worcester arrival, 1956

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Panoramas

December 31, 2013, 8:00 am

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Sixteenth Head Camp, M.W. of A., Buffalo, N.Y., June, 1911

[As far as I can tell, "Head Camp" refers to the governing body of a

fraternal organization, presumably the "M. W. of A."
I think it's the Modern Woodmen of America.]

South Beach Alligator Farm, ca. 1910

[this may be the single coolest image I've posted on this blog]

The officers quarters on the Hogsback and cavalry horses at Pine Camp, NY, ca. 1910

Upper Eagle Falls & Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, ca. 1910

West Point Centennial, ca. 1902

White cotton, black pickers and a gin. Humble and crude, but the crop

Uncle Sam depends on to maintain his gold balance, ca. 1915

William Jennings Bryan's Presbyterian Tourist Bible Class, Miami, Fla., Feb. 6th, 1921

[In the image below I've circled my best guess for Mr. Bryan]

Wreck on I.C.R.R., near Farmer City, Illinois, Oct. 6, 1909

["I.C.R.R." = "Illinois Central Rail Road"]

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Hedda Morrison

January 2, 2014, 8:34 am

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Landscape with tree

Making noodles, Nanking

Man handing a child a plate of food on a cargo junk,

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong Island, 1946-47

Man preparing cooked food, Eastern Districts, Hong Kong Island, 1946-47

Man spinning? Nanking

Man with camels
[camels really do give the best "derp" faces, don't they?]

Man with child sitting in a junk amid baskets

in Aberdeen harbor, Hong Kong Island, 1946-47

Market stalls

Mother and child on watercraft, Nanking

Mother and child, Nanking

Old man in doorway, Nanking

Painter, Beijing

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San Francisco Earthquake - The Fire

January 3, 2014, 8:16 am

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The great earthquake of 1906 did a lot of damage to San Francisco. The ensuing fire did more. Here are some amazing shots of the fire in progress.

Arnold Genthe: The last day of the fire

Burning of Call building. Lotta's Fountain

Call Building on fire, Market Street

Crowd at foot of Market Street watcing fire in distance. Near Sacramento Street

Crowd watching fire

Fire on Market Street, viewed from Nob Hill

Fires burning in Wholesale and Financial districts. Looking east from Nob Hill

Fleeing from the flames. Refugees filing down Market Street

People viewing fire from Halliday Hill

Refugee crowd during fire

Refugees viewing fire toward southeast from Lafayette Square.
Photo "probably by Arnold Genthe"

The burning of San Francisco, April 18, 1906, view from St. Francis Hotel

Union Square, San Francisco fire

View from southeast slope of Nob Hill of fire burning, south of Market district

↧

Hikaru Iwasaki

January 4, 2014, 8:04 am

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In the food store of the Wilmington, Delaware Cooperative Society, Inc., Tom Toyoji Yamane is putting to use the experience he gained in conducting his own produce business at Huntington, California, for four years prior to evacuation, 1944

Mr. Kenji Muraoka, formerly of Los Angeles, California, and more

recently of the Rohwer Relocation Center, is shown at work in his

laboratory with Mrs. F. Brown. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1944

Mrs. Emon Ikuda has plenty of household tasks to keep her busy now

since her return to their home near Kent, Washington, 1945

Mrs. Harvey Suzuki is preparing a snack for him in the kitchen of the

six-room tenant house which they now occupy on the L. L. Logan

poultry farm at Kennett Square, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1944

Mrs. Kiye Iyoya is shown at work with two Caucasian workers in the

kitchen of the Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Her husband

is also employed as barman at the same hotel. 1944

Nisei instructors in the Japanese language are busy youngsters

teaching army officers at Stanford University, 1945

Pfc. Thomas Higa, 27-year-old Japanese American war veteran and smallest

member of the 100th Battalion, who is in Denver to tell other Japanese Americans

about the wonderful treatment the United States Army gives its soldiers, 1944

Shibo Hayashi, his wife Kimiye, and daughter Kuye stand by the truck

which carried their first load of cauliflower produced on their farm,

located in Berlin Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, 1944

The Poston, Arizona, Center is the former residence of the four bell hops

shown in this picture. They are employed at the exclusive resort hotel,

the Elms, located just north of Kansas City, Missouri, 1944

This social has been dubbed COSMO NITE. For over half a year,

evacuees and Caucasians have been meeting twice monthly for a

Cosmo Nite at the YWCA in Kansas City, Missouri, 1945

Three charming daughters of Henry Nomura pose for their picture

outside the Nomura home in Madison, Wisconsin, 1944

University of Connecticut campus group with Caucasian and Nisei friends, 1944

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Old West

January 5, 2014, 9:03 am

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Northern Pacific Railroad station at Gardiner, Montana, train in station, 1905

The William B. Douglas party, including Navaho and Paiute Indians, celebrate their discovery of Rainbow Bridge, Utah, as they eat watermelon in Paiute Canyon, 1909

Theodore Roosevelt preparing to go into Yellowstone National Park, 1903

Trappers and hunters in the Four Peaks country on Brown's Basin, Arizona Territory.

Two Crab Tree boys, their father and the dogs and burrows which they hunt with. 1908

Turning over first sod on homestead. Sun River, Montana, November 5, 1908

Two common methods of hauling water in Old Mexico

and southwestern United States. Encinal, Texas, 1905

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Vintage Photos of Vintage Cars

January 8, 2014, 8:45 am

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These are from the Dick Whittington collection.

A view of Carl's Restaurant seen from its parking lot which is filled with cars

[would that be Carl's Sr.??]

Actresses publicizing a show, 1927

Buster Keaton and Austin car, Southern California, 1930

Car washing mop, Southern California, 1926

Couple in sporty Ford, Southern California, 1931

Couple speeding in open roadster, Southern California, 1931

Electric automobile, Southern California, 1928

Lina Basquette & her Packard for India Tires, Southern California, 1928

Lincoln car - Constance Cummings and John Wayne, Southern California, 1931

Lincoln with Spanish dancers, Southern California, 1927

Pierce-Arrow with Dorothy Granger, Southern California, 1930

Service station, Southern California, 1934

Stylish couple with auto, 1928

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Vintage Australia

January 9, 2014, 8:58 am

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Grace Bros Ball at Palais Royal Moore Park

Group of men and women on a dirt road

Final dance competition of 1933 at the Jack Keating Dance Studio

Four well-dressed men holding beer bottles, ca. 1900

George Street, looking north from GPO Sydney

George Street, looking south from Hunter Street, Sydney

George Street, looking south, Sydney

Govett's Leap Falls

[I had to look up the name...Govett was a surveyor who probably discovered the falls, and "Leap" is a Scottish word for waterfall. Here's what it looks like now (mysteriously it has acquired color :)]

Grand final dance championship at the Jack Keating Dance Studio

Grose Valley, Blackheath, New South Wales

Hardie Rubber Co Ltd annual staff ball, 1939

Horse team and wagons

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San Francisco Bay Bridge Construction

January 10, 2014, 8:56 am

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This series of remarkable photos (sequential by date) documents the construction of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The bridge connects the "East Bay" (Berkeley, Oakland) with San Francisco. The Bay Bridge has always lived in the shadow of its showier cousin, the Golden Gate Bridge, but it is perhaps even more impressive as a feat of engineering. (I say this as someone who has been across the Bay Bridge many times.)

The Bay Bridge has recently undergone an extensive renovation. Most recently before that it was in the news when it was damaged as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (the one that interrupted a World Series - I wasn't at the game but even 80 miles inland we felt the quake strongly).

I've driven through this tunnel many times.

It's the eastern side of the same tunnel seen in #12 (6 photos above).

↧

Toni Frissell

January 11, 2014, 7:40 am

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Eleanor Roosevelt with female machinist during Goodwill Tour, 1942

Fado singer in Portuguese night club, Lisbon, 1946

Showing kids her camera

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UC Berkeley

January 12, 2014, 11:07 am

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Some great stuff here...

Mrs. Perrelet -- the flivver

["flivver" was a slang term for a small car that gave a

rough ride...later replaced by the term "jalopy"]

Nevada Stage Company's stage on the Big Oak Flat Road,

Tuolumne County, California, about 1884

Nurses, Golden Gate Park, 1924

Nuts

[yes, that's the given caption for this photo]

On the beach, Monterey, California

On the way to Rhyolite

People on a forest path

Pine forest, lake and man

Portrait of unknown group, 1920s?

Produce market, food overturned, July 1934

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Frank Hohenberger

January 13, 2014, 9:07 am

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Hillary Bailey models posing, Jackson Branch, Indiana, 1929

Home Economics Club, Van Buren township, Indiana.

Onya LaTour's home, in yard, 1946

House fire, Nashville, Indiana, 1943

Ice polo, Salt creek, 1925

Jane Foster at well, 1931

Jimmy Davis and aluminum drive display, 1941

[love the Hitler cartoon]

Junior high school class at Dick Coffey's, 1926

Kathryn with gun, 1921

["My name is Kathryn. I'm the NRA."]

Lake study with pond lilies in foreground, boat at side, 1925

Leila David and ticket-sellers for play, 1942

Librarians at Spearsville, Indiana, 1926

Line full of quilts on the Monrovia road, 1927

[this is my favorite of the lot...wish I could see these quilts in color]

↧

Joseph Pennell

January 14, 2014, 8:46 am

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≪ Previous: Frank Hohenberger

Bakers in front of Frey's Bakery, Junction City, Kansas, 1900

Children at Zollinger party, 1903

Erwin Family, 1897

Group of men, including Tom Bishop, holding stringed instruments, 1898

Group of people at M. E. picnic, 1896

Interior of Miller and Shoemaker Soda Fountain, 1899

Jim Daley seated in front of building holding cat, two women standing nearby, 1896

McCormly Family, Chapman, Kansas, 1897

Portrait of Corda Pennell and Miss Griffen, 1895

Portrait of Mrs. Marse and baby, 1898

Soldiers playing cards in front of tent, Fort Riley, 1897

Three Munnert girls in horse cart, 1896

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Edward Bangs Drew

January 15, 2014, 10:45 am

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Chinese travelling to market, 1886

Mr. Hancock & his staff ascending the Red River, Tonquin, 1892

Rusticating in country, near Ningpo, 1878-80

Tartar general (front row, center) and other Chinese officials posing outside with Western diplomats and military officers, including Japanese naval officer, ca. 1905