South Pasadena's Ostrich Farm

South Pasadena's Ostrich Farm
Author: Rick Thomas
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738555782

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Edwin Cawston courted the early-20th-century publics fascination with exotic foreign creatures when he began raising ostriches, for more than the use of their feathers in the clothing industry. When Cawston brought the enormous, flightless, African birds onto prime real estate in the Arroyo Seco of South Pasadena, Los Angeles County, more than a few observers thought that the looniest bird might be him. But Cawston was determined to showcase struthio camelus, the biggest bird in the world at 8 vertical feet and 350 pounds. The Cawston Ostrich Farm soon became one of the most popular Southern California attractions, drawing millions to watch people ride the birds bareback at a cruising speed of 35 miles per hour. Cawston supplied ostrich plumes for budget-minded consumers as well as fancy feathers for Vaudeville dancers, movie actresses, and even European queens, becoming a great promoter and showman of his time.

Advertising Ephemera for the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena, California

Advertising Ephemera for the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena, California
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1898
Genre: Ostrich farming
ISBN:

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A small collection of early 20th-century advertising ephemera for the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena, California, the first ostrich farm in the United States, opened by Edwin Cawston in 1886. Included are three advertising cards describing the new industry of ostrich feathers and plumes that has arisen from the breeding of ostriches at the farm. Two of the cards are illustrated with photographic reproductions of a man and a boy riding an ostrich; the third features a photo of one of the ostriches "Fighting Bob Evans." The electric cards brought customers and tourists to the farm every day from Los Angeles and Pasadena. An early postcard or "Private Mailing Card" shows a young boy feeding the ostriches at the farm. A three-panel brochure for the farm from around 1922 advertises "the original ostrich farm of America," with "gigantic birds in their native haunts." The brochure, printed in orange and black, and illustrated with numerous photographs of the farm grounds and animals, describes the process "from egg to plume" of breeding, hatching, maturing of chicks, clipping of plumage, and manufacturing of plumes, fans, boas, ostrich bags, and ostrich-trimmed hats. Visitors could buy excursion tickets at the Pacific Electric Railway ticket office in Los Angeles for 38 cents round trip including admission. A "Souvenir of Cawston Ostrich Farm" ("Made by Curt Teich & Co., Chicago, Ill.") dating from around 1910 presents a color-illustrated portfolio containing an 8-panel accordion fold-out of 16 color photographic reproductions of ostrich eggs and chicks, feeding time, plucking the feathers, feather creations, exhibit room and factory, drying and dyeing the plumes, and feeding oranges to the ostriches. Finally, a 15-page Cawston trade catalog from around 1914, entitled "The beauty of a Cawston ostrich plume," supplies images, descriptions, and prices for different types of plumes, order blanks for new goods and repair work as well as scenes from the farm.

Don't Leave California Without Visiting the South Pasadena Ostrich Farm

Don't Leave California Without Visiting the South Pasadena Ostrich Farm
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 4
Release: 1896
Genre: Ostrich farms
ISBN:

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Promotional brochure for the South Pasadena Ostrich Farm, in South Pasadena, California, probably from around 1896 or 1897. The original birds were imported from South Africa by Edwin Cawston in 1886, and he began raising them on his farm in Norwalk, California, determined to become the leading supplier of ostrich feathers in America. As stated in the brochure, the South Pasadena Ostrich Farm was "a branch of the Norwalk Ostrich Farm, the largest in America."

The Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco
Author: Rick Thomas
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738556086

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The Arroyo Seco, Spanish for "dry wash," drains the southwestern San Gabriel Mountains and flows through Pasadena to its confluence with the Los Angeles River. The arroyo's banks became a transportation corridor of trails, railroads, and highways and an enclave for industrialists and artists. For more than a century, its very name evoking more than a stream, it has been a Los Angeles County region overlaying municipalities, eras, and cultures. Eight museums are located in or around the arroyo. Famous attractions included Busch Gardens and Cawston Ostrich Farm, as well as a real-life field of dreams, Jackie Robinson Stadium, and the granddaddy sporting field of them all, the Rose Bowl. The nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory's storied principals used this wide dry wash to launch the forerunners of space probes.