J. Phillip Erie driving Boyle Workman at Hollenbeck Park in a self-built automobile, 1897

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Title J. Phillip Erie driving Boyle Workman at Hollenbeck Park in a self-built automobile, 1897

Description Photograph of J. Phillip Erie driving Boyle Workman at Hollenbeck Park in a self-built automobile, 1897. Mr. Erie, the mechanic, sits at the helm in a suit and a brimmed hat, steering the tall, boxy automobile with a stirrup-handle while tending the side break-lever. The wheels are spoked and seem to bow out in the front. Mr. Workman, the son of Los Angeles civic leader, William H. Workman, sits in the back seat wearing a long overcoat and dark hat. Trees are visible in the background.; "Postscript [part 1 of 2]: Auto first hit Los Angeles in 1897 and it's still picking up speed. Wary of crowds, they chose a Sunday at 2 a.m. for the test. They pushed the contraption out of a West 5th Street garage and maneuvered it down a long alley to Broadway. The engine was fired up, eight people climbed in, and at the twist of a lever, the first automobile ever seen in Los Angeles chugged off. That was May 30, 1897 -- 80 years ago. It was a signal event, kicking off an automobile culture that Los Angeles would, in the best and worst of ways, come to symbolize. Two years earlier, J. Philip Erie, a wealthy New Yorker who had moved West for his health, had come up with his idea for a 'motorcarriage.' Erie took out 30 patents and spent $30,000 in pursuit of his dream, and for months he and S.D. Sturgis labored over the machine. The trial run of the four-cylinder, gasoline-powered vehicle 'was a gratifying experience in every way,' The Times reported the next day."; "Postscript [part 1 of 2]: Not only did the 20-mile 20 mile-per-hour automobile cross 'car tracks and chuckholes innumerable without any trouble,' it did not even scare horses along the route, as had been feared. But the 'Erie' auto, despite its early rave reviews, was 'not really terrifically successful,' according to James Zordich, associate curator of the automobile history collection at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. The first production car built here was the Tourist. A two-cylinder, four-passenger model, the Tourist was built, beginning in 1902, by the Auto Vehicle Company at its North Main Street factory. It was soon being sold by dealers throughout the state. But financial woes set in, and in 1910 the factory closed. Automobiles by then, however, were firmly entrenched in Los Angeles, and the city already was wrestling with the problem of crowded downtown streets. By 1915, with 55,217 cars spread among its 750,000 inhabitants, Los Angeles County led the world in per capita auto ownership. It still does. Now, 80 years after Erie revved up for that first ride down Broadway, there are 5 million vehicles in the country." -- Dale Fetherling, Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1977.

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Date Created 1897

Subject Automobiles (lcsh), Erie, J. Philip (subject), Portraits -- W (file heading), Transportation -- Automobiles -- General (file heading), transportation features (adlf), Workman, Boyle (subject)

Tags oai:digitallibrary.usc.edu:chs,OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), Los Angeles (city or populated place), Los Angeles (counties), parks: Hollenbeck Park (geographic subject), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1897

Type images

Format 2 photographs : transparency, photoprint, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. (aacr2), photographic prints (aat), photographs (aat), transparencies (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m11701

Identifier CHS-7430 (call number), CHS-7430 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-11114 (legacy record id), chs-m11701 (legacy record id), USC-0-1-1-11852 (legacy record id), 1-70-190 (microfiche number), 7430 (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 11114

Unique identifier UC128326

Legacy Identifier CHS-7430.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 18.6 in × 14.4 in at 300dpi
47.2 cm × 36.6 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

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