Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
March 1943. "Activity in the Santa Fe R.R. yard, Los Angeles, Calif. All switch lights, headlights and lamps have been shaded from above in accordance with blackout regulations. The heavy light streaks are caused by paths of locomotive headlights and the thin lines by lamps of switchmen working in the yard. Santa Fe R.R. trip." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano, who seems to have been among the earliest photographers of light trails in color.
A Japanese sub shelled a pier at the Goleta oilfields near Santa Barbara just a few months after Pearl Harbor, so it was lights out after that. The cityglow on the horizon was like a neon sign saying "aim here" to any bad guys at sea.
Weird to think there were blackout regulations in LA in 1943 ...
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5