Group portrait of passengers for the Balloon Route Excursion of Los Angeles, a trolley trip run on the lines of the Los Angeles & Pacific Railway Company, and later taken over by the Pacific Electric Railway. The route was roughly in the shape of a balloon, as seen on a map. The adults and children here are standing at one of the stops at the Soldiers' Home, Sawtelle. The driver is the man in the cap at bottom of photograph. "2021"--text on image. Title transcribed from printing on back of item. Date devised by cataloger based on clothing styles and history of excursion. "Balloon Route Excursion, Los Angeles, the finest $1.00 trolley trip in the world over the scenic lines of the Los Angeles-Pacific Co. Away in the merry Southland, Far down where the oranges grow ... Photographs of Balloon Route Excursion Party taken at Soldiers' Home, Sawtelle, Cal. Duplicates furnished by C.E. McCarthy, Excursion Photographer 429 So. Hill St."--excerpted from printed text, including poem, on verso. Title transcribed from item; date supplied by cataloger based on the history of the facility: the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, a domicile and hospital for Union veterans of the Civil War, opened west of Los Angeles in 1888 on land donated by real-estate developers. Senator John Jones of Santa Monica helped develop the facility. Barrett Villa Tract, a development of small plots later renamed Sawtelle, was established outside the south gate of the Soldiers’ Home. (- Source: "The Soldiers’ City: Sawtelle, California, 1897–1922" by Cheryl L. Wilkinson, Southern Calif. Quarterly, Vol. 95 No. 2, Summer 2013)
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