Throwback Thursday | Raymond Hill: Then and Now

 

I like to time travel. That’s why I collect original photographs of places that no longer exist. Grand places like the first resort hotel in San Gabriel Valley, The Raymond. Which is – I mean was – located on Raymond Hill in South Pasadena around 85 to 130 years ago.

How to Time Travel

I go to the site where the photo was originally taken. Then I position the vintage photograph in the same view from where I’m standing (where the photographer once stood).

- Advertisement -

 

It doesn’t take much for me to go back in time. I merely access my imagination, and I’m there – watching President Theodore Roosevelt walking from the entrance of the hotel only a few feet from where I am standing. He lifts his head and gives me a nod.

Visiting Raymond Hill Today (“Then and Now”)

Would you like to visit The Raymond one hundred years ago? All you have to do is put on your “way back cap” and check out my Then and Now pictures below.

You’ll want to grab a snack though. Time travel will give you a bad case of the munchies!

THEN – Raymond Waiting Station (103 years ago)

NOW – Bus stop (waiting station restored in 1973)

THEN – Observation Overlook (113 years ago)

NOW – Observation Overlook (concrete foundation)

THEN – “Arroyo Stone Wall” at The Raymond (102 years ago)

NOW – “Arroyo Stone Wall” at an apartment complex

THEN – “Box Seats” at The Raymond (107 years ago)

NOW – “Box Seats” on Raymond Hill