Search All Items

Caption: "Peninsula and Occidental R.R. Florida. July 2, 34." View of railroad tracks carried over water into the distance on a wood trestle. This is likely part of the Overseas Railroad, an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, built to connect Key West with the Florida mainland.

Date: 7/2/1934

Caption: "Market St. S.F." Shows Market Street in San Francisco, possibly during a parade to celebrate Admission Day on September 9, when California was admitted as a state into the U.S. See also 96-07-08-alb05-136, with caption: "Market St. Sept 9, 1910 S.F."

Date: 1910

Caption: "Sea Beach Hotel," c. 1910. The Sea Beach Hotel, located on Beach Hill in Santa Cruz, was built in the 1870s by S.A. Hall. Originally called the Ocean View House, it was sold in the 1880s. Its new owner dubbed the building the Sea Beach Hotel. The resort hotel operated until burning down in 1912, never to be reconstructed.

Date: 1910

Caption: "Touring De Luxe -- All Set for a Comfortable Rest. Oct. 10, 1934." William and Grace McCarthy posing with posing with the automobile they traveled across the U.S. with, showing it set up for sleeping with a canvas pulled across the top and windows for privacy. The vehicle appears to be a Studebaker sedan, possibly dating from the mid-1920s.

Date: 10/10/1934

Caption: "Mortar Target Practice," c. 1910. Large-caliber mortars with associated gun crews at target practice. At least one gun has just been, or is about to be, fired, given that the men are all holding their hands against their ears. See also 96-07-08-alb05-105 and 107.

Date: 1910

Caption: "6" Disappearing Battery," c. 1905-1909. A 6" disappearing gun in a barbette (gun emplacement). Retracting or disappearing guns were a form of artillery developed in the nineteenth century in which heavy artillery guns were placed on rotating carriages that allowed retraction of the weapon after firing, to enable reloading while under enemy fire.

Date: 1905

Caption: "Nudist Colony - San Diego Expo.," c. 1935. The Zoro Garden Nudist Colony, named for the Persian mystic, Zoroaster, was an unusual and controversial attraction that featured partially nude men and women performing as nudists. Exposition visitors were charged twenty-five cents to watch the "nudists" perform ceremonies and other activities. Today, the sunken Zoro Garden in Balboa Park is a butterfly garden.

Date: 1935

Image withheld due to copyright considerations. For more information, please contact the California State Archives Reference Desk at ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov or (916) 653-2246. Caption: "A movie dog team -- Truckee." This postcard shows a sled dog team pulling unidentified occupants in snow.

Date: 1927

Caption: "Point Firmin [sic] Lighthouse," c. 1915, shows the Point Fermin lighthouse, built in 1874 in San Pedro Bay, which was the first navigational light into the bay. It served as a federally-operated lighthouse until 1927, when its operations were turned over to the City of Los Angeles. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the west coast was blacked out for fear of being an easy target to enemy forces. It was never lit again, but during WWII it served the U.S. Navy as a lookout tower and signaling station for ships coming into the San Pedro Bay. In 2003, the lighthouse was opened after being restored, retrofitted, and rehabilitated for public use. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and managed by the Department of Recreation and Parks of the City of Los Angeles.

Date: 1915

Caption: "Subtreasury, Wall Street, New York. Washingion [sic] Statue Marking the Spot Where Washington took his Oath of Office, April 30, 1789, Aug. 6, 1934." The original building on this site, constructed in 1700, served as New York's City Hall, then as the Capitol for the newly-created United States under the Constitution of 1789, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first U.S. President. The original building was demolished in 1812, but a new building, designed to house the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York, was opened in 1842. It is this building that is seen in the photograph. The new building subsequently housed one of six U.S. sub-treasuries between 1862 and 1920. A statue of George Washington (John Quincy Adams Ward, sculptor) was erected in front of the building in 1882, to commemorate the approximate site of Washington's inauguration.

Date: 8/6/1934