Photographs of Mulholland Highway, City of Los Angeles, 1924

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Summary

Creators:
Reaburn, D.L.
Abstract:
Two albums of photographs documenting the construction of Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway in May 1924.
Extent:
2 albums (215 photographic prints) : b&w, 25 x 35 cm (albums)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Photographs of Mulholland Highway, City of Los Angeles (Collection 94/2). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

These photographs document highway construction of Mulholland Drive, with views from all of the aforementioned points. In addition to construction scenes of workers blasting, drilling, and digging, and using steam shovels and mule teams, there are shots of construction camps of tents set up to house workers, and mountain-top fire lookout stations manned by fire lookouts. Other photographs show trees and plants in the area, such as eucalyptus trees and poinsettia gardens, and homes in various canyons, including the residences of "Mrs. Curlew," and film director Clarence Badger. There are also several views of the Encino Country Club. The group portrait, dated May 15, 1924, includes construction engineers, D.L. Reaburn among them, members of Los Angeles Water and Public Works Departments, including William Mulholland, the chief engineer for Water Department, for whom the road was named, Harvey A. Van Norman, Mulholland's chief deputy, and Arthur Eldridge, commissioner of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works. Also pictured are Gen. M.H. Sherman, local capitalist and president of the Consolidated Electric Railroad Company of Los Angeles, Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and Carman Runyon, coal magnate from the East, and Los Angeles capitalist, for whom Runyon Canyon is named. In other photos, Los Angeles mayor George Cryer views the construction.

Biographical / historical:

Mulholland Drive follows the ridgeline of the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains, running east from Woodrow Wilson Drive and Cahuenga Boulevard at the Cahuenga Pass, and extending west past the 405 Freeway to Encino, crossing (from east to west) Laurel Canyon, Coldwater Canyon, Franklin Canyon, Benedict Canyon, Beverly Glen Boulevard, Stone Canyon, and Sepulveda Boulevard along the way. The road offers views of Hollywood Park, San Fernando Valley, and Universal City. Just past Topanga Canyon Boulevard (California State Route 27), Mulholland Highway splits off from Mulholland Drive, and continues on southwest to end at Leo Carillo State Park on Pacific Coast Highway, near the Los Angeles and Ventura County border.

Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

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Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
Physical facet:
Photographs, numbered in negative on photo, are mounted on rectos and versos of 55 leaves of black board (box 1), and 53 leaves of heavy black paper (box 2); most of the photos bear captions neatly printed in white ink below. Formerly bound in black morocco grain cloth covers, with typed paper labels affixed to upper covers. Both albums now disbound, with upper covers and leaves stacked in beige cloth clamshell boxes; spine title "Mulholland Highway" stamped in black.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Roads -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Photographs.
Canyons -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Poinsettias -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Eucalyptus -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Steam shovels -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Labor camps -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Fire lookouts -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Reservoirs -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Roads -- Design and construction -- Photographs.
Photograph albums
Photographic prints
Names:
Encino Country Club (Los Angeles, Calif.) --Photographs.
Mulholland Highway
Woodin Hunt and Bridle Club (Los Angeles, Calif.) --Photographs.
Badger, Clarence G., 1880-1964 --Homes and haunts.
Chandler, Harry, 1864-1944 --Photographs.
Cryer, George E., 1875-1961 --Photographs.
Eldridge, Arthur, fl. 1919-1953 --Photographs.
Mulholland, William, 1855-1935 --Photographs.
Runyon, Carman -- Photographs
Sherman, M.H. (Moses H.), 1853-1932 --Photographs.
Van Norman, Harvey A., 1878-1954 --Photographs.
Reaburn, D.L. -- Photographs
Places:
Mulholland Highway (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Laurel Canyon (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Coldwater Canyon (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Benedict Canyon (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Topanga Canyon Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Ventura Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Cahuenga Pass (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Hacienda Park (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Lankershim Park (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Universal City (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Encino (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Woodland Hills (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Mulholland Drive (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Fernando Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Monica Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Photographs of Mulholland Highway, City of Los Angeles (Collection 94/2). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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