Thursday, January 03, 2008

Lincoln Park as it was


I'm posting yet another photo from the Mickey Gallivan "Early Pomona" book. This one is an undated photo of Lincoln Park. The photo must have been taken from the south side of the park looking north, given the proximity of the mountains in the background.

It looks like two of the earliest homes in the area were the now-goldish one story bungalow immediately across from the Lincoln Park restrooms (on the north side of the park), and the two story home at the southeast corner of Palomares and McKinley (beigish with dusty blue trim). There's even a third structure in the background near where the 10 freeway now is, but that one must be long gone. If you click on the photo and look at it closely, you will notice that the trees in the park are mere babies. A bicycle in the foreground of the photo gives you a sense of scale of the original park, and makes you think that it belonged to the photographer.

The bicycle reminds me of another old Pomona photo I have seen of a bearded man on a unicycle in front of the Palomares Hotel. This guy was a lawyer I think, and was apparently well known for his eclectic ways, which included riding all around Pomona on his unicycle. Can't you just picture him parking it outside of Stater Bros? Yes, I know we are talking the early 1900's, but he'd better lock it up all the same.

Perhaps the Pomona bicycle photos foreshadow our green future. I'm hopeful like that.

THE END

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have a photo of the house the we once owned at 207 Lincoln Ave.
It has a elderly couple proudly standing in front the house just after it was built in 1931.
What is really cool is that the hedge that is still there (japanese boxwood) had just been planted in 6-8" plants.
It's 76 year old hedge!

Anonymous said...

Just for fun!

If we believe Zillow.com the photo might be from 1912-1913. The two houses in the foreground were built in 1911 and the house in the distance could be 305 San Bernardino which was built in 1912. Since the house at 425 Lincoln was built in 1913 but isn't visible in the photo, we can assume the photo was pre-construction (let's say 1912 to early 1913--is that snow on Mt. Baldy?).

It's also interesting to note that the photographer appears to be above ground level, so the photo may have been taken from an upper window or roof of 418 Jefferson (circa 1911).

Anonymous said...

Wow... what an incredible photo! I'm trying to determine where the swing set would be...
Thanks for posting Goddess! You rule.

me said...

Mark-I know the hedge you speak of and that is really incredible! My big goal is to find a photo of the original owner of our house. Unfortunately I missed his daughter in law's death by one year and have not found any heirs...yet. The second owners of our house actually owned it longer, but I've always been intrigued by the first since there's less info on them. what about your current house, Mark?

And Sherlock, I think you are right, which really bums me out since my house was built in 1911 and is oh so close to having been in that photo. grrrrr! I did notice the photo was taken from up high. I'll have to look what house is 418. There is no one in the house that appears to be attached to the bike.

and as for you Ms. Puppetlady, I'm just so glad to have brought my first, regular poster on the blog back into print! To me, it looks like there is a play area in that photo in front of the closest bungalow, near where the play area is now. Although I have heard that back in those days the park was more like gardens than a play area.

What's nice about posting these photos is that they blow up even bigger than the original photo. I've been looking at the photos in the book with my son's magnifying glasses, but they are actually even more illuminating when I put them on my computer and blow them up.

G of P

Anonymous said...

Goddess.... The photo that we have of 207 Lincoln is a Frasher original.
They must have known him.
Our current home...I have no idea.
We are not even sure when it was built. I would guess it's roughly 1912.

me said...

So who is Frasher? The main photographer around here at the turn of the century?

btw, have you ever seen any old photos that showed the Curtis Grocery Market on 2nd Street? He was the second and longest owner of our home. It was for him that the electric stair chair was built. I've met his daughter once but forget to ask for photos (which I should do before she dies). But I wondered about FRasher.

G of P

me said...

Mark, oops, I meant the 30's, not the turn of the century.

G of P