North Santa Monica Beach, shortly after the Southern Pacific railroad reached the town, 1880s

North Santa Monica Beach, shortly after the Southern Pacific railroad reached the town, 1880sThis is what the northern end of Santa Monica beach looked like in the 1880s, shortly after the Southern Pacific railroad reached the town. It looks like a long, broad wooden platform was built on the sand, with—by the looks of it—vendors and changing booths lined up along it. Those women in the foreground are in full-length dresses, and probably corsets, too. I can’t even imagine how uncomfortable that must have been. I hope for their sake, this photo was taken in winter.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

 

2 responses to “North Santa Monica Beach, shortly after the Southern Pacific railroad reached the town, 1880s”

  1. Clarkus says:

    Judging from the shadow angles, I’d say this was indeed a summer day, around noon. Those women were probably very uncomfortable. Perhaps the cooling sea breeze (the flag flying at right angles from the flagpole) moderated their discomfort.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *