This photo is one of the earliest shots of Los Angeles I’ve come across. This is Santa Monica beach in 1887. I’m pretty sure these dozen or so people had their entire beach to themselves, which for this modern-day Angeleno is hard to imagine. It’s also hard to imagine that those cyclists would have had an easy time of it riding their penny-farthings along the ocean shore. (Are they still called penny-farthings if the small wheel is at the front…?)

Al says: “They are Penny Farthings but with the reverse wheel distinction they were known as the Hi-Wheel Eagle. I believe they were first marketed in 1891 or thereabouts.“