Desert Rat History

Mojave River Narrows bridge near Victorville, ca.1905-1910

Golf – Apple Valley, 1958

 8 September 1958. Jane Mansfield; Floyd Jones; Mrs. Lloyd Mangrum. “Sports”.

Caption slip reads: “Sunday. Date: 09-07. Assignment: Sports – Apple Valley Golf winners. Special instructions: For Mel Galagher. S-95/96: Miss Janes Mansfield presents trophy to winners — L/R: Floyd Jones and Mrs. Lloyd Mangram [sic] who had (total) a low of 60 1/2″.

Boulder Canyon transmission towers in the high mesa west of Victorville, ca 1930

left to right: Shows Arthur D. McCain, desert expert on gems and minerals who is known as ‘On de Rocks Mac’ and Ed Vose, rockologist known as ‘Chuckawalla Slim’ who is world famous as a desert character

from the San Bernardino Country Fair 1951 Victorville

 USC Digital Library 

Los Angeles

During our Jenner trip I got real sick with a head cold.

I have been spending my time laying around, being in teacher limbo and looking at pictures from LIFE.

I have specifically been looking at pictures of early Los Angeles.

This one is right by Jonah and Matt and Katy!

“Glendale Boulevard, 1927. The rapid expansion of contiguous suburbs spreading out around L.A. demanded a modern infrastructure. And that meant freeways. How charming that one can actually count the cars on the road in this picture.”

“Pictured: The La Brea Tar Pits, site of a massive fossil repository, c. 1910. The tar pits in L.A. have been around for tens of thousands of years, and have been the final resting place for countless animals — from sabre-toothed cats and dire wolves to mastadons and sandhill cranes — that have been trapped by the tar, and perished. “It’s not too hard to imagine Spaniards coming here 150 years ago to get tar to seal tiles on their roofs,” Heimann says of the place.”

“At one time, there were more than 200 oil companies, large and small, and several thousand oil wells operating within the L.A. city limits. Pictured: Oil fields, Second Street and Glendale Boulevard, 1900.”

The headwaters of the Los Angeles River on the north side of Griffith Park, c. 1898.

Pictured: The intersection of Spring and First Streets looking south, c. 1902.

Laurel Canyon – Early 1900s

“This photo of the almost utterly undeveloped canyon, published for the first time in Heimann’s book, is one of 50 or so from his personal collection, purchased over many years at flea markets and antiquarian book markets around the world.”

Wilshire Blvd. – Brown Derby 1926

I wish this place was around still…. it looks awesome!

There are more photos from the LIFE gallery that can be found HERE

Many of the photos are in the book “Los Angeles: Portrait of a City“