This blurry but remarkable image is one of the earliest I’ve ever come across. It’s a shot of the parade that Los Angeles threw to celebrate the centennial of American independence. It was taken on July 4, 1876, when the United States of America was only 100 year old, and we’re looking up Spring St. It hadn’t been paved yet, so it’s a good thing that Independence Day takes place during the summer otherwise the parade might have been a soggy, muddy affair.