Friday, March 2, 2018

From Los Angeles to Toronto 108 years ago

This post card was mailed 108 years ago today. The message is Jean is telling Rosena that, although, she sent pictures to others in the area, she knew that Rosena would see them. My take on this is that Jean moved to Los Angeles
in 1909; her family built a new home and sent pictures of it to the old neighborhood. I went on line and searched the addresses of both the sender and the receiver. For the sender I found that the home is now very close to the Santa Monica freeway. It was built in 1909 with 4 bedrooms and 1 bath. The total square footage is 2,336. The estimated value on the real estate market today is just under $800,000. The home to which this message is being sent is almost straight north of downtown Toronto. It is a 5 bedroom and 1 bath home on a piece of property 15 feet wide and 90 feet deep. It is described as a semi-detached bungalow, but it looks like a multi-story duplex. Jean adds that it is the "rainy season " in the Los Angeles area so she cannot go sight-seeing. So, she sends Rosena a picture of a sight near Los Angeles:
This is a picture of the incline railway that takes visitors up to the top of Mt. Lowe. Visitors arrive via the street car that you see in the lower left of the picture. They transfer to the cable car to ascend 1300 feet in altitude over a 3,000 foot installation of tracks: the incline. From there, there catch a tram that takes them over the "circular bridge", across Los Flores canyon, through the "Granite Gate" and on to the Mount Lowe Tavern. I have 95 post cards that depict the various scenes of this day-trip from Los Angeles.

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If you know anything about the history of the cards, the trains or the locations, please add them.