This is the earliest photo I’ve ever posted: A horse-drawn streetcar on Main Street, downtown Los Angeles, in front of Pico House, 1870. This is the year that Pico House—a 33-room hotel considered the most lavish hotel in Southern California at the time—opened its doors. That streetcar was probably the latest thing in mass transit but what I really like in this photo is that in a city known for not valuing its architecture, Pico House still stands – it’s a block away from Olvera Street and a short walk from Union Station at the top end of downtown L.A.