one of my neighbors sent me these digital copies of vintage snapshots taken in the ’30’s. the house on the right up the hill a bit is moss cottage!
i’ve painted the view out my living room window of barbara’s house countless times in the last few years. it’s always a ready subject resting there in its elevated perch above the street. i believe this is barbara’s mother.
here are more shots of the neighborhood. this one looking straight up to the top of the street. from this vantage point, moss cottage is on the right side of the street and 5 or 6 houses down (out of frame). i believe this group of kids is standing in barbara’s front yard in front of the side of her garage. the yard is about 6 feet or so above street level.
barbara was born and raised in this house and lived here until she died a couple of years ago. we were only casually acquainted, but i do enjoy seeing these long ago & faraway photos of her.
when i ran into my neighbor in the market last week she mentioned the photos and said she would email them to me. i was thrilled to come home today and find them in my inbox.
i think i’m going to print and frame the one with barbara’s mom in the photo and moss cottage in the background. seems fitting. also thinking these will be great fun for a series of value studies. hmmmmm…
Is that Dennis the Menace I spy in the 3rd photo? What a treasure these photos are!
what an awesome collection of photo’s! and the mail you received-fun fun fun~
Love all the glimpses of yesteryear, and how cool that some include your house! 🙂
oh my! what a treasure trove of photos. bless your neighbor for sharing with you.
Lovely to see those children so comfortable and well cared for.
Have you taken a pic from the very same spot? I’d love to see the change.
that’s an excellent idea!
Even without a connection to the locale, photos such as these cannot help but evoking a nostalgia that is so bittersweet. I have seen photos for the same period of my youth in NYC and I hd the same feeling looking at yours. Thank you so much, for all you do.
when i was a kid i used to have recurring dreams about photos that i could look at and they would come to life – like little movies. i would stare at the photos and then enter into them. i understand what you mean about the nostalgia.
oh me! oh life!
Treasures! I love old photos. They are stories waiting to be told.
yes yes yes
These are wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing them with us. It’s great to see Moss Cottage in all its glory.
i’m v grateful to my neighbor, lisa for sharing them with me
How fun to see these photos, and see how sparsely populated the neighborhood was back then. I see hills! And your little cottage standing there, on unpaved streets. Thank you for sharing this blast from the past, Mary Ann.
I couldn’t stop looking at the wonderful details of these amazing snapshots of life long ago. My dad had a darkroom in our house when I was a child. I spent many hours in there developing black and white photos with him. Ah, the smell of the chemicals is etched into the fibers of my being.
oh i love knowing that barbara…what a dear memory
How wonderful are these! Both my parents have passed on years ago but I am fortunate to have the family album of photos my father had put together. Mostly late 1940’s black & white photos of the family and then to color as we got older, such great memories!
a treasure trove!
These would be fantastic value studies!
– Tina
going to play around with some today!
How wonderful these photos are, and it’s great that you respect them so much.
As to your travels, maybe pick up this month’s current issue of Sunset magazine-there are several articles on islands off of British Columbia that may appeal to you for travel. Galiano Island sounds intriguing , especially Pilgrimme restaurant! I still hold out for Vashon Island, reached by ferry from Seattle. There’s so much to choose form, up there. Good eating, too.
i’m headed up to that area in july!
I like seeing your garage door open… with a CAR in it! And your neighbors across the lane! Their house looks so much the same. Supah dupah pictures!
Absolutely wonderful and kind!
These are fascinating. My imagination always gets rolling and I try to image what their life was like then, what their jobs were, what they were like, how they loved. Cool for you to see your cottage back then. I think framing the picture is a fantastic idea!
the old photos stimulate my imagination too!
A cousin grew up in Highland Park (Ave. 63) and by chance met someone on Facebook that posted 40’s photos of the area. A dirt road (alleyway) behind homes in LA’s hilly neighborhoods was pretty common back then. My cousin’s grandmother, aunt, and mother lived in a little frame house on Vista Place; not too nice an area now.
Love the photo of a curly haired Barbara hugging the neck of her daddy.
most of my neighbors up the street enter their houses from the back lane to avoid climbing the hundreds of steps up to their front doors! when i walk up that lane next to my house i can see the lights of downtown LA! magical
What treasures! I love b&w photos from that era, and have many of family. The idea of doing value studies is wonderful, I may have to try that myself someday with my photos!
waving and blowing kisses gwen!