.
I have quite a mystery on my hands.
I happened upon this fascinating cabinet card on
eBay.
The seller labeled it as
... "
Antique 1880s Original Photograph Men Hats Daily Newspaper Argyle House, Drawing"
As you can see the actual location is a mystery.
I thought Argyle House sounded familiar so I looked it up in some old Los Angeles Directories from around time the photograph was taken.
Sure enough
, there was an Argyle House
LAPL
. . .but no street address.
Argyle House shows up again in the 1893 Los Angeles city Directory.
LAPL
. . .but still no street address.
I wonder who, among the men in the photograph, might be Robert Turner
(the real estate agent in the 1888 directory) or Clarence Haviland
(in the 1893 directory).
The seller also included this:
...It mentions a newspaper named THE DAILY.
I assume the boy sitting on the ground is holding the newspaper. (perhaps he's a newspaper carrier)
But
, frustratingly
, all
we can see looking at the photograph is a few letters.
detail
And sure enough, Los Angeles had a newspaper named The Daily.
LAPL
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now let's take a closer look at the people.
How many of you noticed the twin boys sitting on the banister?
detail
They remind me of the twin girls in
The Shining.
Here are the people on the left side of the photograph.
detail / left
I like that the workman (gardener?) was included in the photograph.
. . and on the right.
detail / right
Note the wide variety of the men's clothing styles. The gentleman in the middle on the right, the one in the lighter colored clothes, looks like a Southerner to me.
When I look at photographs like this one I am always mesmerized by the people. Each and every one of them have a story to tell.
Sadly, we'll never know what kind of lives they lived or what the future held for them.
...I inevitably succumb to a certain wistful melancholy.
BUT is this the Argyle House located in Los Angeles?
... Is there any way to prove this is Los Angeles?
...(I believe we'd have to find another photograph of the Argyle House, right?)
I'm in the process of deleting the redundant photographs so bear with me.
I'm seeing double.
.
If anyone is interested in buying the photograph go
Here