Throwback Thursday | First Thanksgiving at The Raymond: A Holiday Pictorial

A visual tour of the first Thanksgiving at historical hotel in South Pasadena

PHOTO: Pasadena Museum of History | SouthPasadenan.com | The Raymond shortly after opening (1886)

The Royal Raymond in South Pasadena celebrated its grand opening 132 years ago this month.

The following pictorial of images from that time include the newly-constructed resort hotel, culminating in a Grand Dedication Ball held on November 17, 1886.

The hotel’s first Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated the following week on Thursday, November 25.

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Pictorial: The Raymond 1886

PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | The Royal Raymond shortly after construction (1886)
PHOTO: PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | The Royal Raymond shortly after construction (1886)
PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | Royal Raymond shortly after construction (unincorporated South Pasadena in the foreground)
PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | Invitation for the Grand Dedication Ball at The Raymond (1886)
PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | Guests arrive at The Raymond (1886)
PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | Stereoview – Raymond dining hall (1886)
PHOTO: Rick Thomas Collection | SouthPasadenan.com | The Raymond dining hall (1886)

To all our South Pas families, we extend to you our best wishes for a harmonious and relaxing Thanksgiving Holiday.

Throwback Thursday is written and produced by Rick Thomas


Rick Thomas
Author Rick Thomas is the former museum curator and vice-chair of education for the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation. He served on the South Pasadena Natural Resources Commission, helping to maintain a strict policy protecting the city’s great old-growth trees. Using touchstone photographs from his own collection—one of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest accumulations of historical images and artifacts—as well as national, state, and local historical archives, Thomas provides a window to his city’s past and an understanding of why its preservation is so important.