Stargel Cory - Vanishing Los Angeles County

Early promotional material proclaimed the paradise to be found in the Los Angeles region, luring tourists with stories of oranges growing in winter and of enormous rose hedges blooming year-round. The thousands of postcards mailed east to friends and relatives in the early 1900s served as illustrative companions to these tourist guides. Images such as the one on this postcard were often accompanied by captions declaring the scene to be common or typical.

The first grapes in Los Angeles County were grown at the San Gabriel Mission in the early 1800s. Commercial vineyards were planted near downtown Los Angeles in the 1820s, and by the late 1800s grapes were one of the countys top agricultural products. Grape production began to decline as the citrus industry gained popularity in the 1890s.

To emphasize the areas growing potential, postcards of exaggerated fruits and vegetables such as this one became common in the early 1900s. Hoping to entice Midwestern farmers to settle in the county, Los Angeles boosters advertised that with the regions fertile soil and year-round sunshine, farmers enjoyed larger, more bountiful crops than could be grown elsewhere.

Facing north from Elysian Park, this postcard depicts the vegetable fields located adjacent to the free-flowing Los Angeles River. Though insignificant for much of the year, during heavy rains the river was subject to serious flooding. After floods in the 1930s caused major damage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers encased the river in a concrete channel.

In the early 1900s, fields of California poppies covered the expansive open spaces of the countys foothill region every spring. Tourist excursions often made special stops when the poppies were in bloom so that visitors could gather a bouquet of the popular state flower.

Los Angeles County farms featured not only acres of citrus, vegetables, and grains, but also fields of commercially grown flowers. Postmarked in 1926, this postcard depicts two girls among an aster field in Glendale. After the invention of the refrigerated railroad car, flowers grown in Los Angeles County were shipped throughout the country.

When Albert Ecke settled in Los Angeles in 1906, he became interested in the poinsettia, which grew wild throughout the area. Believing that the winter-blooming plant would make an ideal Christmas flower, Ecke began cultivating fields of poinsettias in Hollywood and selling them at roadside stands in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. As development in Hollywood increased, Ecke moved his ranch to Encinitas, where it continues to be a leading poinsettia producer.

Postmarked in 1909, this postcard depicts a carload of tourists admiring the rustic foothill landscape found in Brand Canyon in Glendale. Scenic roads abounded throughout the countryside of Los Angeles County, and visitors often embarked on day-long auto trips to explore the scenery. At the time a small agricultural community of small farms and citrus groves, Glendale was an ideal place for a pleasant drive.

As the automobile surged in popularity, motoring became a popular recreational activity. Scenic drives and tree-lined boulevards, such as this one leading to Long Beach, began to appear, winding through the countys expanse of farms and citrus groves. Early guidebooks frequently listed auto drives among recommended activities, and visitors often noted the good quality of the countys roads. The author of this postcard writes, We often motor down here. Wonderful roads everywhere.

One of Los Angeles Countys major rivers, the San Gabriel River is shown here near Azusa, where it enters the county from its source in the San Gabriel Mountains. Along with the Los Angeles River, the San Gabriel River was a primary water source in the countys early days. However, after a devastating flood in 1938, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers implemented a series of flood control measures. Both the San Gabriel River and the Los Angeles River are now almost entirely cemented in concrete channels.

This postcard pictures an orange grove in Santa Fe Springs, with oil derricks behind. After Edward Doheny made the first oil strike in Los Angeles in 1892, oil derricks began appearing everywhere, even in orange groves and backyards. One of the largest oil fields was discovered in Santa Fe Springs in 1921.

This 1913 postcard depicts pickers harvesting an olive orchard. Olive production in Los Angeles County centered in the San Fernando Valley community of Sylmar, which was noted as early as the 1870s to have an ideal climate for olive cultivation. The number of olive groves surged after the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913 ensured a steady supply of water. Although Sylmar was annexed to the city of Los Angeles in 1915, Sylmar brand olives and olive oil were known throughout the country.