UCLA Library has posted a wonderful series of photos circa 1896-1900, taken by amateur photographer H.H. West, who built his house in Lincoln Heights. I don't believe we've seen these. I copied the captions from the library's blog:
Henry Hebard West (known as H. H. West) was an amateur photographer who documented his life in Los Angeles and his travels around California and across the United States from about 1895 until his death in 1958. The H. H. West Collection consists of the negatives of his photographs, along with accompanying negative sleeves, which West himself annotated. His annotations are invaluable, as West documented the who, what, where, when, and why for almost every single photograph in the collection, giving catalogers an excellent jumping-off point for creating detailed metadata.
In this time period, West lived at 240 South Griffin Avenue in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles with his parents, brothers (Guy, Wayne, and Wilson), and sister (Nella). West’s father, George, who was a contractor and architect, built the home around 1896. Here it is, still under construction and with a West family relative standing on the roof:
Once it was finished, the house was a frequent backdrop for West’s photographs. He captured his family as they hosted dinner parties, relaxed on their front lawn, played in their backyard, socialized with neighbors, and reunited with relatives.
H. H. West and his siblings pose on their front porch with their cousin, William Mead, Los Angeles, about 1900
Wilhelmina West, Guy West, and H. H. Cooper sit around a table, Los Angeles, 1897
Wayne West and Wilson West sit in the library of the West's house, Los Angeles, about 1900
Dr. Bim Smith vaccinates Nella West while William Mead watches, Los Angeles, about 1900
West photographed some of the means of transportation available to Angelenos of the day, including streetcars, horse-drawn carriages, and bicycles. West’s brother, Guy, appears in two such images. Once, with a Los Angeles Railway car as it pulls away from its stop at the corner of Griffin Avenue and Main Street:
Guy West and his dog stand by a Los Angeles Railway car, Los Angeles, 1897
Horse-drawn carriage passes in front of the West's house, Los Angeles, about 1898
Men ride on a three-seat tandem bicycle, Los Angeles, 1897
Group of H. H. West's friends and family walk through Lincoln (Eastlake) Park, Los Angeles, 1899
Ben Tyler, Lena Weideman, Mary Dixon, Daisy Connor, and Mr. Weideman sit on the grass in Lincoln (Eastlake) Park, Los Angeles, about 1900
Of note among the images of local parks is this one of a man steering a bicycle boat in Hollenbeck Park:
Man steers a bicycle boat with passengers on the lake at Hollenbeck Park, Los Angeles, about 1898
According to the Los Angeles Times article, “Fatal Boat Ride: Will Rogers Meets His Death in Hollenbeck Lake,” [25 Sept. 1899: 9] a young man died after a bicycle boat capsized on Hollenbeck Lake. It is possible that the bicycle boat in question is the one in this image, as the newspaper article seems to indicate that there was only one boat of this kind in the park.
West worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and often photographed railroad depots, employees, and the sights surrounding train stations both in Los Angeles and on his travels.
This photograph of a fellow S.P.R.R. employee, J. E. Brown is fascinating in its depiction of office life at the turn of the century:
J. E. Brown in his office at the Southern Pacific Railroad Arcade Depot, Los Angeles, 1900
West took several photographs of “cribs” (buildings which were rented out exclusively for the transactional business of prostitution) on Alameda Street in Los Angeles. He wrote on the negative sleeve accompanying these images, “[b]oth sides of the street were lined with these cribs, and passengers on S.P.R.R. trains arriving in Los Angeles looked out of the cars on these scenes.”
Prostitute sits in the window of a crib on Alameda Street, Los Angeles, 1896
Outside of S.P.R.R.’s River Station, West photographed soldiers who were preparing to take the train up to San Francisco, possibly during the Spanish-American War:
Military troops walking by Southern Pacific Railroad's River Station, Los Angeles, 1898
With these early photographs as an entry point, the H. H. West Collection is both an important document of Los Angeles history and a rich portrait of the West family’s life. A deeper exploration of the collection will allow you to see both the city and the family grow and change over the course of more than sixty years.
H. H. West and Mertie Whitaker stand in the Whitaker's front yard, Los Angeles, about 1898
H. H. West poses with his wife, Mertie Whitaker West, and son, Los Angeles, 1941
Link:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/taxonomy/term/840/node/1942