[1929 VISIT TO CALIFORNIA TRIP TO MT. LOWE SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO & SAN DIEGO]

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1929

Description: This fascinating 16mm silent home movie dates to 1929, and shows (among other things) a visit to the Mt. Lowe resort in the San Gabriel mountains above Altadena, California. Mt. Lowe was once a major tourist destination. The project, led by Thaddeus S.C. Lowe starting in 1893, included a funicular railroad, an electric trolley line, a hotel, an observatory, and other attractions. It was a popular attraction for about four decades until the 1930s. The Mt. Lowe Railway was built in sections, with the first part opening on July 4, 1893. The railway's construction was overseen by Chief Engineer David J. Macpherson for inventor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe. For the seven years during which Lowe owned and operated the railway, it was not financially successful, and was eventually sold. The railway was officially abandoned in 1938 after a flood washed railway property off the mountain sides. 0:00-00:55: This shaky footage was shot by a passenger who is on the funicular, also known as the Great Incline. There are views of Altadena, and at :30 a view of other Incline car as it passes. The Incline is a steep (60% grade) section of the Mt. Lowe rail system designed to carry passengers up a cable funicular railway to a mountaintop hotel, 1,500 feet above the Rubio Canyon floor. 0:59: Tourists pause at a viewpoint on Echo Mountain. The small railroad car seen here was what was known as the “One Man and a Mule Railway”. This was a railway built and operated by a man named Ed Tobin. Supposedly it was operated at all times with the mule at the front of car due to the mule’s flatulence. 1:54: Views of the Silver Fox Farm, located on a ridge above Mt. Lowe Tavern. The Silver Fox Farm was owned and operated by Arthur Schleicher from 1920 to 1936. It was the largest in the USA, kenneling over 1,500 animals. Schleicher, from Minnesota, was regarded as the foremost breeder of silver foxes in the 1920’s. A silver fox pelt cost about $250 to $500. A visitor could order a coat from the farm, where the hides would be tanned, cured and fashioned into a garment of the visitor’s choice. In addition to foxes, visitors could pet a tamed lynx and see four albino raccoons. 3:25 Boy Scouts with backpacks are seen near the Tavern, apparently on a hike. 3:42 Views of the Alpine Tavern. Opened in 1895, destroyed by fire in 1936. Alpine Tavern had twelve bedrooms a billiard room, a dining room that could accommodate 100 guests, a lobby and five fireplaces. 3:54 Inspiration Point. 4:16: Descending the Great Incline. Photographer Charles Lawrence is seen briefly at 4:37, on the left side of the car. Lawrence ran a business where he took souvenir photos of guests. 4:42: Entrance to Mission San Juan Capistrano, followed by views of the ruined mission. 5:04: A young boy poses with an actress in the "Mission Play", a long-running 1912 pageant by John S. McGroarty. The play chronicled the history of the California missions, with its third act specifically set amid the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano. 6:39: Cadets on parade at the San Diego Army & Navy Academy, a private college-preparatory military boarding school for boys in Carlsbad, California. 8:40: scenes in a busy Mexican restaurant, possibly in Balboa Park or part of the Junipero Serra Museum in San Diego, with mariachis serenading customers. The building at 9:34 may also be the Junipero Serra Museum. 10:39 jockeys horseback are seen riding to the racecourse in Del Mar, and a race is filmed. 12:03 Ramona's Marriage Place aka the Casa de Estudillo in Old Town, San Diego, a popular tourist spot. 12:21 Theosophical School, aka Theosophical Society in Point Loma. 13:23 Views of the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island, San Diego. 13:59 View of the Filtered Warm Salt Water Baths on the shore at Coronado, shots of the beach and more shots of the Hotel Del Coronado. 15:49 Outdoor organ at Balboa Park. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC5CsVK7iV4

Metadata Source:YouTube