Title supplied by cataloger.; Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937. In 1883 Altadena founder John P. Woodbury transplanted deodars (cedrus deodara) seedlings to Santa Rosa Avenue between Woodbury Avenue and Altadena Drive from Italy. In 1920 Frederick C. Nash decided to light the trees for the holidays, with assistance from the Pasadena Kiwanis Club and the City of Pasadena. Originally known as the Avenue of the Deodars, after World War II postcards used the caption "Christmas Tree Lane," and the name stuck. Annually approximately 50,000 automobiles travel the lane during the holiday season. Beyond the lighting of the trees on Santa Rosa Avenue, this sunset view of Christmas Tree Lane includes a faint five pointed star in the background and a signal hanging from the utility lines in the foreground.
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Cedar trees--California--Altadena Christmas lights--California--Altadena Streets--California--Altadena Santa Rosa Avenue (Altadena, Calif.) Christmas Tree Lane (Altadena, Calif.) Altadena (Calif.) Sun--Rising and setting Schultheis Collection photographs
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