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An original 4.5x2.5" vintage photo (NOT a modern reprint) from the estate of a family that lived in the Los Angeles area during the 1920s. This is likely a one of a kind photo.
Photo Overview
A charming snapshot from 1935 showing four adults - two men and two women - relaxing on a picnic blanket beneath a tree in a Los Angeles park. The women wear fashionable summer dresses and wide-brimmed hats typical of the mid-1930s, while the men are dressed in casual shirts and trousers. Everyone appears relaxed and in good spirits on a sunny California day.
In the background stretches a long row of period automobiles parked along a park road - a wonderful incidental record of 1930s American automotive culture, with models consistent with early-to-mid Depression-era production visible across the frame. The park setting, with its manicured grass, mature trees, and spacious grounds, is consistent with one of Los Angeles\'s larger public parks such as Griffith Park or Exposition Park.
Historical Notes
By 1935, Los Angeles had grown into one of the most dynamic cities in America, its population swelling through the 1920s and continuing through the Depression years. Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, public parks remained vital gathering places for Angeleno families and communities. The automobile culture visible in this photo was already deeply embedded in Los Angeles life - the city was building the infrastructure of car-centric living that would define it for the rest of the 20th century. Griffith Park, donated to the city in 1896, was a beloved gathering spot and would see the opening of the Griffith Observatory just one year after this photo was taken, in 1935.
This photo comes from the estate of a Los Angeles-area family active in the 1920s, making it a likely one-of-a-kind personal document of California social life during the Depression era.
Print analysis
This appears to be a Type 1 original silver gelatin print, developed close to the time the photo was taken in 1935. The print shows period-appropriate tonal quality and paper stock consistent with mid-1930s snapshot photography. No later reprinting indicators are present.
Condition
Fair to good antique condition. Please see photos for exact condition details.
