STEREOVIEWS DOCUMENTING 1925 SANTA BARBARA EARTHQUAKE

Pair of silver gelatin stereoviews documenting the aftermath of the Santa Barbara earthquake, photographed and published by B. D. Jackson, Glendale, California, June 29, 1925. Each on cardstock mount with series title "Southern California Scenes," view title, and Jackson's 710 East Elk Avenue imprint to mount rectos.

1. 508 - Hotel Californian - Santa Barbara earthquake - June 29, 1925.

Opened just 11 days earlier on 18 June 1925, the Hotel Californian was severely damaged. The view here shows an entire exterior wall sheared off, exposing the newly furnished rooms. It was rebuilt over the next year, incorporating Spanish Revival architectural style that defined Santa Barbara's post-earthquake reconstruction.

2. 512 - Arlington Hotel - Santa Barbara earthquake - June 29, 1925. 

The Arlington was a grand Victorian hotel opened on 27 February 1876 as Santa Barbara's first luxury resort hosting such luminaries as Presidents Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt. It was gutted by a devastating fire in 1909 but was rebuilt in the Spanish Revival style reopening in 1911, but could not withstand the severe damage of the 1925 quake. The massive rooftop water tank collapsed through the roof, killing two guests. The hotel was never rebuilt.  

Historically compelling pair of 1925 stereoviews documenting the severe structural destruction caused by the 6.8 magnitude Santa Barbara earthquake that struck the Central Coast of California on the morning of 29 June, 1925.

Bradford "Dan" Jackson (c. 1850–1937) was a Southern California commercial and documentary photographer recognized for his stereographs and postcards capturing regional expansion, landscapes, and natural disasters. Operating out of Pomona, Pasadena, and Glendale under his Southern California Scenes imprint, Jackson left studio portraiture to focus on field work, documenting key historic events, including the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake and the 1934 Montrose–La Crescenta flood. The Huntington Library and the Glendora Historical Society now preserve his extensive output of over 4,800 negatives and stereo prints.

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Western Americana, Western History, Western Expansion, Wild West]