borrowing a theme from our ann erdman, our public information officer's fantastic mystery history series, i'd like to show you a photograph i have very information on, nor did i take this photo myself.
this image was found on fuller's campus by one of my coworkers. he snagged it when someone in our building was cleaning out their office. i'm not sure of the year, or who took this photo, or even how it survived. But those who are familiar with the area will notice several very interesting things. orient yourself with city hall in the upper left corner, with los robles and oakland as the two visible horizontally moving roads, and walnut and union as the visible verticly aligned streets.
a few things i noticed...
- the massive parking lot behind all saints church where plaza los fuentes now stands
- oakland avenue goes right through fuller's campus where a tree-lined walkway now appears
- there is no trace of our, ahem... beautiful courthouse
- obviously fuller's new library is not in the picture
- likewise, the pasadena museum of california art and the pacific asia museum are missing
so can someone give me an estimation of when this photo was taken? can you spot other differences between now and then?
9 comments:
I can't help you with any of it, but what a picture! I hope the responsible parties are being responsible. Maybe donating it to the city or library or museum of history. Or at least storing it with the proper archiving materials. What a coup!
Yes - actually, the poster that was discovered seems to be one that was printed as part of a big batch - maybe for an anniversary celebration? There must be others around somewhere.
Nice photo, Ben! This co-worker must be some incredible human being... :)
I'm thinking that the pic is probably mid to late 60s for a couple reasons. First, I think it was 1972 when Fuller closed Oakland. Second, there's no 210 freeway, which was completed in 1976. Also, the cars look like mostly 50s and 60s models.
A few more things I noticed:
- What's that long building connected to the back of Payton that points toward city hall?
- Union appears to be a two-way street.
- As I mentioned above: no 210!
- The pic is pre-psych building, so it's also pre-Barker Commons (the buildings located where the psych building is now were moved behind the Catalyst to make Barker Commons).
- I moved my blog to jddamiani.com :)
I'm also thinking it's from the 1960s.
I love it more each time I look at it.
Excellent observations, Jon. I didn't even think of the 210 - just assumed it wasn't visible in the photo. Your detective work is much better than mine, but maybe its because you've been looking at the photo longer than I have!
I'm pretty sure the Pacific Asia museum is there just out of the frame.
-Zak
I dunno Zak - looks like there is a large apartment complex at the corner of Union and Los Robles where there is now parking for PAM.
This is so great! I am so glad the photo was preserved & you posted it. I'll try to hunt around for the date.
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