Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of a view of Alvarado Street from the Custom House, Monterey, California, ca.1890. The dirt road curves to the right and branches off into two roads forming a V-shaped block in the center. Streetcar tracks line the road. Utility poles line the streets and their wires zigzag across the street connecting to buildings and street lights(?). A majority of the buildings along the street are no more than two-stories tall. A man wearing a sombrero and poncho stands in front of the building in the foreground. "At one time during California's Mexican era the Monterey Custom House presided over Mexico's only port of entry on the Alta California coast. It was here that Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag on July 7, 1846, claiming over 600,000 square miles of territory for the United States. The Custom House is California's first registered State Historic Landmark, and is the oldest public building on the west coast. The building was in existence by 1827, but deteriorated and was replaced by a larger structure in 1841. The construction was done by Thomas O. Larkin. Larkin also did grading and leveling. A tongue of land to the north of the Custom House was used by Larkin as the approach to a wharf of rock-filled cribwork (see sketch). This was completed in 1846. No major additions were made to the Custom House after 1846. The building was restored in the early 1900s by the Native Sons of the Golden West, and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building is now a part of Monterey State Historic Park." -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
1 photograph : photoprint, b&w photographic prints photographs
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