Aliso Tree — Los Angeles, rooted in history.
Before the LA riots; before the internment of Japanese-Americans and the massacre of Chinese-Americans; before Slavery; before this land was ever conquered by Spain, Mexico, or the U. S.; before the genocide of Native Americans… millennia after the first humans arrived on the scene, overkilling large mammals to extinction… by the river, within the community of Yang-Na, a sapling sprouted. The sycamore would grow to become a 400-year-old local landmark, called, "El Aliso." Here, a French cooper hybridized the mission grapevine with cuttings from Bordeaux, and together with the terroir, cultivated a vineyard which gave birth to California's wine industry. Indigenous villages and immigrant orchards prepared the ground for what followed: a German brewery; a boxing arena; a mule market; an Edison Electric power station; an artist colony; a gym for indoor rock-climbing; the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States… While the Aliso Tree is no longer standing, it continues to stand for Los Angeles, rooted in history.
"The views were primarily made using the color Photochrom process and a later process derived from Photochrom called Phostint; some views are sepia tone as well. The collection includes images from the earliest 1898 Photochrom publications, through the last series using the Detroit Publishing imprint, which was begun in 1931."
"Los Angeles begins as a settlement of 44 vecinos pobladores of black, Indian and Spanish ancestry on a bluff above the sometimes rambunctious Los Angeles River. A few years later, the Porciuncula, as the river was called then, would change course to San Pedro Bay from its old destination near present-day Marina del Rey. Floods were common and nearly as vexing to early settlers as grizzlies and mountain lions. Tall sycamores and alders lined every creek and riverbed, forming dense forests around the many marshes or cienegas. The hills were dotted with ancient oaks; forests of pine and cedar covered the mountains. In the spring, wildflowers, especially poppies, bloomed from Altadena to the dunes at the beach. Offshore there were whales and sea otters and abalone in abundance. By the end of the first hundred years, things were only beginning to change in this 'delightful place among trees on the river.'"
"Nitrate; Odd Sized; Los Angeles main garage & old steam plant, photographs by G. Haven Bishop, Southern California Edison, 1941."
Aliso Tree — Los Angeles, rooted in history. 