Tally’s Phonograph Parlor, South Spring Street downtown Los Angeles, circa 1897

Posted on November 10, 2020 by

Tally’s Phonograph Parlor, South Spring Street downtown Los Angeles, circa 1897This is as early a photograph of the motion picture industry’s beginnings as we’re ever likely to find. Thomas Tally’s Phonograph Parlor was on South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. It was taken circa 1897. He had several locations at different times, so it’s hard to pin down exactly which location this was. Nevertheless, we get to see how people watched movies back then—by looking through a little peep hole!

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5 responses to “Tally’s Phonograph Parlor, South Spring Street downtown Los Angeles, circa 1897”

  1. Gordon Pattison says:
    November 10, 2020 at 9:14 am

    This is an early example of entrepreneurs taking commercial advantage of cutting edge technology. Like Blockbuster and Wherehouse, I wonder how long places like Tally’s Phonograph Parlor lasted.

    Reply
  2. Rich says:
    November 11, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    Are those Kinetoscopes in the middle of the room, the white stand-alone things? Fascinating picture. It looks like Apple wasn’t the first to make earbuds. Would love to go back in time and visit this establishment.

    Reply
  3. Lori says:
    November 12, 2020 at 4:59 am

    Thank you for the hard work. I’ve read all the Garden series, and it is wonderful to see the pictures of locations in the books, and to get a sense of the vibe of the times.

    Reply
    • Martin Turnbull says:
      November 12, 2020 at 6:57 am

      Hi Lori and thanks for stopping by. And thanks, too, for reading my world. I started collecting these photos so that I could describe locations accurately in my novels and then I realized I had so many that I ought to share them. And now here we are 12 novels and 3000 photos later!

      Reply

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