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California circa 1904. "Our baggage is coming on ahead." These novelty scenes were a relative rarity in the Detroit Publishing catalog. View full size.
Your comments may be long closed for this photo, but I believe it was taken from the Monterey Hills in South Pasadena, looking slightly northeast, toward Pasadena. The peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains seem to match my research, and it looks like the photo was taken from a hilly area. That's my hometown, and that view was one I would have seen almost every day of my life. That is, on the days that were clear. I grew up when a view of the mountains was a rare sight, due to the smog. Today, it's blessedly clear much of the time!
I usually look at the photos a couple of days, looking them over for bits I might have missed. I came back to this one today to try and see why it was labeled Eyesore Express. Give me two things back from when I was younger -- eyesight and comprehension.
My money says this is near Glendora.
BUT -- I quite disagree with CCMayMD in his estimation of California. I too grew up there and even as there have been many changes in the Los Angeles area, my family still lives there and it is hardly a "festering toilet" as he calls it. It is still an area full of many lovely spots and warm, kind people. It's far from perfect,but then no place is-it's all in how you look at it and when I look, I still lovingly see my home.
I'm guessing it's taken from the San Gabriel valley, or maybe from what is now Burbank/Glendale.
When I see pictures like this, and think back to the Golden State of my childhood, it is so very sad to observe what a seething, festering, bankrupt toilet it has become.
[Perhaps it's time to move to a better neighborhood. - Dave]
I would love to know exactly where this was taken, the Mountains in the background look an awfully lot like the ones I see from my back yard.
This is one of the reasons I'm glad I grew up in the city.
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