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Historic Photos of Sacramento
From the Gold Rush to the State Capitol, Sutter's Fort to the Big Four Building, Historic Photos of Sacramento is a photographic history collected from the areas top archives. With around 200 photographs, many of which have never been published, this beautiful coffee table book shows the historical growth from the mid 1800's to the late 1900's of ?Sactown? in stunning black and white photography. The book follows life, government, events and people important to Sacramento and the building of this unique city. Spanning over two centuries and two hundred photographs, this is a must have for any long-time resident or history lover of Sacramento!
216 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2007
5 people want to read
About the author
James Scott
2 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James Christian Scott is a native of Portland, Oregon, and graduate of Marquette University (Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science 1992), of Portland State University (Master of Arts in European History 1995) and of San Jose State University (Master of Library and Information Science 1999). He lives with his wife, son, and labrador retriever in Sacramento where he works as a librarian in the Sacramento Room Archives of the Sacramento Public Library. James is currently writing a book on saloon culture in antebellum Sacramento.
James Christian Scott is a native of Portland, Oregon, and graduate of Marquette University (Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science 1992), of Portland State University (Master of Arts in European History 1995) and of San Jose State University (Master of Library and Information Science 1999). He lives with his wife, son, and labrador retriever in Sacramento where he works as a librarian in the Sacramento Room Archives of the Sacramento Public Library. James is currently writing a book on saloon culture in antebellum Sacramento.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 29, 2019
Nostalgic collection beginning in the 1880s
You know that inexplicable sense of mood about times past that can sometimes come upon us unaware? Maybe a scent from a perfume forgotten, or the flavor of chewing gun not chewed for decades, or a song from a gone by era will trigger it. As I was perusing this fine collection of black and white photos of early Sacramento I was touched again and again with that inexplicable mood that comes from the remembrance of things past.
For Marcel Proust it was the taste of madeleine cake soaked in lime flowers that aroused the memories and evoked the delicious sense of mood. For many of us something similar happens when we look back at photos of what life was like many decades ago.
I grew up in California--although not in Sacramento. Nonetheless the photos showing Kress's and the Owl Drug Store and a theater marquee announcing the showing of a new Shirley Temple or Joan Fontaine picture show as seen in this book are not different from what I recall on the streets of Long Beach or Los Angeles where I grew up. The men in their fedoras and the women with scarves covering their hair bring back a time and way of life that I knew as a kid. The Armistice Day parades with the bands and the soldiers marching past Florshein's shoe store or Montgomery Ward's are nearly the same in Sacramento as in L.A.
There's one photo per page, 199 in all, the earliest showing the Central Pacific Depot in downtown Sacramento, ca. 1880, and the latest showing Spiro Agnew speaking (with Governor Ronald Reagan watching) on the Capitol steps in 1969. There are photos of fires and flooded streets, and muddy streets and dusty streets and even a pretend train wreck at the state fair in 1917 (p. 65). We see the evolution of transportation from horses and stage coaches to steam engine railroad trains to diesels and the electric red cars of my childhood, and also from model Ts and coups to the finned sedans of the fifties. The billboards of the times and the signs on the sides of buildings tell us that you could get a room for fifty cents and then a dollar or two a night. We can see ice trucks and brewery wagons with barrels of beer pulled by horses. I was amused to see that the Western Hotel at 3rd and K streets, ca. 1931, offered nightly rates from 35 cents to a dollar and up, along with "Rummy in our large clean card room." "E. E. Todd, prop.," also advised that rummy checks could be "cashed for rooms or merchandise." (p. 107)
The book is beautifully presented with a handsome glossy dust jacket with the photos on heavy, expensive paper, held together with a sturdy binding. All of the photos are from the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center, and the crisp text and captions are by James Scott and Tom Tolley.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
You know that inexplicable sense of mood about times past that can sometimes come upon us unaware? Maybe a scent from a perfume forgotten, or the flavor of chewing gun not chewed for decades, or a song from a gone by era will trigger it. As I was perusing this fine collection of black and white photos of early Sacramento I was touched again and again with that inexplicable mood that comes from the remembrance of things past.
For Marcel Proust it was the taste of madeleine cake soaked in lime flowers that aroused the memories and evoked the delicious sense of mood. For many of us something similar happens when we look back at photos of what life was like many decades ago.
I grew up in California--although not in Sacramento. Nonetheless the photos showing Kress's and the Owl Drug Store and a theater marquee announcing the showing of a new Shirley Temple or Joan Fontaine picture show as seen in this book are not different from what I recall on the streets of Long Beach or Los Angeles where I grew up. The men in their fedoras and the women with scarves covering their hair bring back a time and way of life that I knew as a kid. The Armistice Day parades with the bands and the soldiers marching past Florshein's shoe store or Montgomery Ward's are nearly the same in Sacramento as in L.A.
There's one photo per page, 199 in all, the earliest showing the Central Pacific Depot in downtown Sacramento, ca. 1880, and the latest showing Spiro Agnew speaking (with Governor Ronald Reagan watching) on the Capitol steps in 1969. There are photos of fires and flooded streets, and muddy streets and dusty streets and even a pretend train wreck at the state fair in 1917 (p. 65). We see the evolution of transportation from horses and stage coaches to steam engine railroad trains to diesels and the electric red cars of my childhood, and also from model Ts and coups to the finned sedans of the fifties. The billboards of the times and the signs on the sides of buildings tell us that you could get a room for fifty cents and then a dollar or two a night. We can see ice trucks and brewery wagons with barrels of beer pulled by horses. I was amused to see that the Western Hotel at 3rd and K streets, ca. 1931, offered nightly rates from 35 cents to a dollar and up, along with "Rummy in our large clean card room." "E. E. Todd, prop.," also advised that rummy checks could be "cashed for rooms or merchandise." (p. 107)
The book is beautifully presented with a handsome glossy dust jacket with the photos on heavy, expensive paper, held together with a sturdy binding. All of the photos are from the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center, and the crisp text and captions are by James Scott and Tom Tolley.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
June 19, 2013
This is a nice coffee table book filled with old pictures of Sacramento. It is fascinating to see how the capital city of California has changed over time. While the photos lacked the majesty of many of the other books available to peruse in the lobby of my hotel, it certainly offered a unique glimpse into history.
While I didn't actually get to visit Sacramento on my brief stay in California, I enjoyed reading this book in the lobby of my hotel after our group dinner.
While I didn't actually get to visit Sacramento on my brief stay in California, I enjoyed reading this book in the lobby of my hotel after our group dinner.
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August 25, 2008Most of the photos in this book bored me. 194 B&W pictures: 27 from 1860-1899, 39 from 1900-1917, 70 from 1918-1939, 56 from 1940-1969. This is from a series of 110 (so far) Historic Pictures books. Only a handful of the pictures are of historic interest. The rest are just old. One star for this book, maybe the other ones in the series are better.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews