A Red Car anniversary

On June 17, 1904, the Pacific Electric Railway opened a "Red Car" line from Long Beach to Huntington Beach. It was an important moment that really breathed life into the new little beach town.

Henry Huntington owned the Pacific Electric. He also owned Huntington Beach. These things were not coincidental. Anyway, today is the 112th anniversary of the Red Car's arrival in Huntington Beach.

I have no time for a full-fledged post today, but I thought I'd share these two photos. The photo above shows the current "Red Car Museum" which sits on a remaining section of track along the Long Beach to Huntington Beach line in Seal Beach. The image below shows an early Pacific Electric excursion car at the foot of the pier in Huntington Beach. The large brick building stood roughly where Huntington Surf & Sport stands today.

O.C. in the British Library

Here are a couple images of old Orange County from the Flickr feed of the British Library. It just goes to show you haven't done all your research until you've looked EVERYWHERE.

Both images are taken in 1893 and used in an early issue of Land of Sunshine magazine. The image one above is a scene from Tustin, and the one below depicts what was probably Atherton's Ostrich Farm in Fullerton.