You made a believer out of me with the first two pix below
FW. That was my question a view posts ago, What was on the site of the future Coliseum in 1914? Was it a match with the old racetrack? What made the spot so special back then? Without a photo prior to 1921, one couldn't be sure if the big oval was the racetrack or an early design element for the Coliseum.You even solved the mystery of why the tree was on its own island back then. Brilliant work! Really impressive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyingwedge
Looking east at Exposition Park, 1918. Look at the far end of the oval:
USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/3611/rec/301
Closeup of the same photo showing Figueroa Street and 39th Street, and something in its own island on the west side of Figueroa:
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The new pix of the Arcade Palm are incredible! The first finally gave me a sense of scale for that well. It's much bigger than I had imagined. The second, showing the method for placing and lowering the tree, is even more astounding, not so different from building the pyramids or Stonehenge (only down, not up). I cannot thank you enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyingwedge
No location is given, just “California Fan Palm” and “c. 1886.” But given the subsequent photographic evidence, this is a pre-1886 view of the Hammel Palms, perhaps with a special guest appearance by Mrs. Hammel:
CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...24IANV93FA.jpg
They’re ready to plant the tree in its third home. FWIW, the handwritten info at bottom is similar to that written on the photo of the crated but not yet moved tree (three photos up):
CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...FYLX1J9IQ9.jpg |
Thank you for being so incredibly dogged with this. It would be nice to have a news account and pix of the third replanting at Exposition Park and the monument unveiling, but, thanks to your sterling work, I can live without it.
It's so random that a friend's question about River Station led me to Nathan Masters' recent post about the old stations which contained that photo that
e_r posted long ago with the jaw-dropping news-to-me (apparently
e_r knew) caption about the tree ending up at Exposition Park. The other recent articles about the tree shook out of Google with no problem after that. You, however, have taken the subject well beyond anything else that's been written.
I hope our tree doesn't become so famous that people start carving their initials in it or worse. Anonymity has served it well.