Smile!

Have you ever been at a tourist attraction or activity and someone from the amusement park or the company hosting the activity takes your picture? I remember being at an amusement park (although I can’t remember which one) and as we came over the top of the roller coaster type of mechanism (perhaps a log ride somewhere) they took our picture. I have also been rafting in Jasper National Park in Canada and someone on the side of the road took our picture. When we returned to the rafting company store, or when we got off the ride our pictures were there on display for us to purchase.

The people riding the cable car up The Mount Lowe Incline had this same opportunity. This post card is a picture at the bottom of The Incline. To the left in the picture you can see the trolley cars that brought passenger to the bottom of the incline from Pasadena and Los Angeles. Obviously, in the middle is the incline itself, 3000 feet of it. At the bottom of the incline is a cable car full of people. They are lined up properly, one above the other and next to each other. There is a person standing next to the car facing downhill. The passengers are facing backwards so that they can see the beautiful valley over which they are about to ascend. But, they are also looking directly into the camera that is about to take their picture. You can’t see it very well on the scan, so in this second view of the same card I have put a little arrow in orange. It is pointing to the camera and to the photographer. He is dressed in a brown suit with the professional felt hat on his head.

This next view, is from my camera. I used it to take a picture of the post card while I zoomed in on the bottom where the man stands. Here you can clearly see the man hard at work.

This card is published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles. I think that, if you have read my previous few blogs, you have heard enough about M. Rieder. What I want to point out to you today is the logo in the top, middle of the card. I have posted about it before. I want to know what it means and where it comes from. I know that the eagle is a symbol of Germany and that M. Rieder had their cards printed in Dresden, Germany. I wonder if the EKC in the middle, where the bird’s feet should be, are the initials of the printer in Germany?? Meanwhile, this card is from pre-March 1, 1907. There is only allowance for the address on the back of the card. Any message will have to be squeezed onto the front of the card, where the photographer can record it for posterity.