A couple of months ago I purchased an interesting old album filled with with interesting photos of Hollywood, Laurel Canyon, and Lookout Mountain (an area that fascinates me).
This album was owned by a collector who acquired the images from many different sources. It's interesting, and a bit of a puzzle. The prints themselves are obviously old, but often less old than the scenes they portray. I surmise that collector was given access to original negatives over the years, and made prints for himself.
Some are famous shots, classics if you will that we have seen on this thread, from the files of LAPL and such. (It really surprised me to open it up and see original versions of many images that I'd first seen right here.) But there are many others that I don't recall ever seeing before -- like this first group, which show Lookout Mountain in 1909.
Most of the photos have typewritten captions, on little slips of yellowed paper.
I was told by the seller that these Lookout Mountain photos came from a Hollywood or Laurel Canyon Realtor who is now deceased. Except for the last photo (which may have a different source) they don't really show any buildings or people. Sill, they are nice, clear images that show what this section of Laurel Canyon looked like before any development took place; before the Lookout Mountain Inn was even built.
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This first image is labeled "Wonderland Valley Looking North". I don't know exactly where this photo was taken, but I think the distant hills are Mt. Lee, the Hollywood Sign, and Griffith Park, though none of them really existed yet. I'd bet that these days this area is nearly unrecognizable, covered with roads, homes, walls, fences, and trees.
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This one is labeled "On the Boulevard to Lookout Mountain Park". The little sign to the left of the roadway reads "GRAND SCENIC DRIVE TO LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN"
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This photo has the same typewritten caption as the previous one. This
might be the intersection of Grand View Drive and Cole Crest Drive. The sign reads "YOU R ON THE ROAD TO C FROM LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN".
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This one was also captioned "On the Boulevard to Lookout Mountain Park". The sign reads "C OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FROM LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN". This
might be the intersection of McLeod Drive and Blue Heights Drive, just below the summit of Lookout Mountain.
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This last one is captioned "Looking South East from Lookout Mountain". The view is towards Hollywood. (Can anyone can identify any of the buildings in the distance? What's the area that looks like a huge parking lot, over the hill?) If the camera were turned about 45 degrees to the right, we'd would looking almost straight down La Cienega, which "points to" Lookout Mountain from West Hollywood and mid-Wilshire.
All images from personal collection.