LA History

(1916) - Aerial view of the Lookout Inn, south from Lookout Mountain in Hollywood. Notice the vast undeveloped expanse below.

(1916) - Exterior view of the L.A.F.D. Fire Department, Engine 27, and the L.A. Police station, sharing the same building at 1629 Cahuenga Avenue in Hollywood.

(1924) - Police officers stand on the street outside of the Hollywood police station, Division 6, located at 1629 Cahuenga Avenue, just north of Selma Avenue. Neighboring businesses, a hotel (left) and a shoe shop (right), are also captured in the image.

(ca. 1916) - Exterior view of Cahuenga Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, located at 4591 Santa Monica Boulevard. It opened in 1916 and was intended, at the time, to serve a community of workers in the then nearby orange and avocado groves and wheat fields.

(ca. 1916) - Aerial view of Hollywood, looking south on Western, circa 1917. Two orchard fields are in the foreground.

(1919) - Northeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue. S. Robinson & Co. real estate and investments office is located on the corner. A man with a dark suit and hat can be seen leaning against the building next to one of the widows. It appears that a small field of flowers is to the right, and houses in the background. A lone automobile is parked along Western Avenue.

(ca. 1920) - Photograph of stores, shops and street traffic near intersection of Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Sam Seelig Co.’s Crescent Heights Public Market on left.

(1922) - An aerial view of Hollywood High School from the southeast. There is practice of some kind on the athletic field where two basketball courts have also been marked off.

(1920) - A view of Hollywood High School campus, or quadrangle, looking northwest from Highland Ave. Cars are parked in front of fan palms that need to be trimmed. Yucca trees grow by the stairs leading to the entrance of the original 1905 building. "Hollywood Union High School" is chiseled over the entrance.

(ca. 1920s) - A policeman stands on a low box in the middle of the intersection in Hollywood, directing traffic, including a streetcar with a sign on the front for Santa Monica. In the background can be seen the back of the Hotel Christie.

(1880s) - Horses plowing a field in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1880s. Al Redden is the foreman, viewing the teams of eight horses each.

(1919) - Map showing the old Spanish and Mexican ranchos of Los Angeles County. In the center left can be seen the San Fernando Mission as well as the three main Ranchos that made up the San Fernando Valley at the turn of the century: Rancho Ex-Mission de San Fernando, Rancho El Escorpión, and Rancho El Encino

(1873) - This is the first known photograph of the San Fernando Valley as seen in 1873. View is looking to the south, showing San Fernando Rey de España Mission in the center of the photograph. Apart from the mission, the vast land appears to be completely deserted. Mission San Fernando Rey de España is located at 15151 San Fernando Mission Boulevard.

(ca. 1875) - A closer panoramic view of the San Fernando Mission and the Valley looking south, circa 1875. A clearing stands in the foreground, separated from the buildings of the mission by a line of trees. The buildings stand mainly to the left: a long, two-story adobe can be seen most prominently, surrounded by smaller buildings. The ruins of shorter adobes stand to the right as well. Dirt roads and tree-dappled flatland extends behind them towards the mountains in the distance.

(1800s) - View of the San Fernando Mission's Convento Building, also known as the "Long Building." Two families stand next to their horse-drawn carriages, which have stopped along the road that would eventually become "El Camino Real". Construction of the arched Convento Building began in 1810.

(ca. 1870) - Exterior view of the Mission San Fernando, ca.1870. Two dirt paths enter in from the foreground, intersecting at the adobe cloister of the mission, which stands to the right of center. A collection of archways holds the eaves of the terracotta-tiled roof up over the cloister's patio. More adobe buildings can be seen to the left, with two-story adobe building standing to the left of an older cloister whose roof has collapsed.

(ca. 1812) - Photograph shows a large group of people standing inside the adobe chapel adjacent to Mission San Fernando Rey de España after the 1812 earthquake, which all but destroyed it. Rubble litters the ground, and sunlight filters through the open roof.

(1800s) - View of the interior of the adobe chapel adjacent to Mission San Fernando Rey de España after an earthquake all but destroyed it. Foliage has grown on the ground, and sunlight filters through the open roof.

(ca. 1800's) - View of the original chapel structure in a state of ruin, many years prior to its restoration. Photograph shows the rear portion of the church and bell tower. Two palm trees can be seen in the distance on the extreme lower right.

(ca.1800s) - View of the original chapel structure in a state of ruin, circa 1800s. Photograph shows the south portion of the church as well as a few crumbling adobe walls.

(ca. 1857) - Photograph of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España in disrepair, taken from(?) the bell tower in front of the church by photographer Edward Vischer, Los Angeles, prior to 1857. Dry, overgrown grass fills the foreground, behind which a two-story adobe building is losing its spackle. The building features several glassless windows and terracotta roof tiles. To the left, an adobe wall obscures part of a smaller building annexed to the front of the former.

(1865) - Photograph of a drawing by Edward Vischer in 1865 of General Andres Pico at San Fernando Mission. Pico stands in the corida de vaqueros (the exterior corridor) holding the hand of a child. A dog lays in front of him. Another man sits on a low wall under one of the arches supporting the roof, playing a guitar. Three people sit on the tile floor of the corridor at left. A chicken stands in front of them near an empty plate. In the background is a horse-drawn carriage, a fountain with two people and a horse beside it, and a group of horsemen riding in the distance as they lasso a steer. Caption reads: "Corridor of the farm building; a Californian magnate in his home; Ex-mission of San Fernando", "General Don Andres Pico of Los Angeles, 1865", "Vaqueros lassoing cattle."

1867) - Photograph of a drawing by Edward Vischer depicting General Andres Pico and two old Indians at the Mission San Fernando looking west, 1865. Pico stands among the aged Indians, Alfonso (130 years old) and Agupito (115 years old) who sit around a campfire in the center foreground, as he holds the hand of his adopted daughter, Anita Gale. Another small group of Indians sit nearby. In the background, three men are visible on horseback with the mission buildings behind them. The larger building at right has a long exterior corridor whose thatched roof is supported by a long series of arches.

(1870) - Photograph of an exterior view of the Mission San Fernando. The two-story main building of the mission is pictured to the left, having lost most of its spackle. A cloister extends out from it to the right, and features a terracotta-tiled roof that has collapsed inward in spots, the entire eave gone to the extreme right. A stretch of short, dry grass stands in the foreground.

(ca. 1875) - Photograph of a front exterior view of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España ruins showing corridors, taken by photographer Edward Vischer, before 1875. A two-story adobe building stands to the left, visible behind the remains of adobe walls. The building's walls are losing their spackle and a glassless window can be seen on the top floor. To the right, the columns that once belonged to the patio that extended from the main building are visible, partially unroofed. The tiles of both the patio and main-building roofs are terracotta and in disrepair themselves. Tall grass can be seen in the foreground.