Palms on the Move

Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Mystery of the Poppy Nymph

Our local girl, the "Poppy Nymph" by Jo Mora
as described in the Museum of Local History's article
"The Poppy Nymph"

One of the fascinating topics of the PPIE: "Where did everything go during the salvage and wreckage phase of the exposition?"

Fremont ended up with the Japanese Pavillion's Commissioner Office, the Chilean flagpole, some of the palm trees, and some medals and certificates.

Legend has it that we also ended up with a sculpture that was displayed in the Palace of Fine Arts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Jo Mora's "Poppy Nymph". This sculpture is presently residing in the Niles library.

I wanted to see if I could find a photo of the Poppy Nymph in her location at the PPIE. What I found is that there is a bit of a mystery. Was she there? or wasn't she? Often what you find is more interesting than what local legend says.

Who is Jo Mora?

Friday, March 20, 2015

Racing Down the Avenue of the Palms at PPIE in 1915

For those of you who like fast cars or slow palm trees, here is a video of the Vanderbilt cup race in 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Read about this race here and scan down to the bottom to see the route on the map. Part of the race was down the Avenue of the Palms. At 0:14, they are probably at the southeast corner of the Palace of Varied Industries! Those little buildings are refreshment kiosks. Here's a night-time photo of that corner.

And if you watched that Vanderbilt movie, this Charlie Chaplin / Mabel Normand movie might have come up as a suggested next movie. Mabel at the Wheel was made the year before Chaplin came to Niles. So if you need more racing cars, it's for you. There is a blog on the 1914 Vanderbilt Cup race in Santa Monica as well.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

"Grown Folks at School" - Hugo de Vries in California 1904

"Group of Distinguished Professors
in the Botanitcal Gardens of the University of California"
There was Professor Arrhenius, Professor de Vries,
Professor Hilgard, Dr. Loeb, Professor Wickson,
Dr. Loughridge, Miss Palmer, Dr. MacCallum,
Henri T.A. Hus, Dr. Osterhout, Arnold Stubenrauch

From "Grown Folks at School; Interesting and Significant Results of the Recent Summer Session, University of California " in Sunset Magazine, November 1904.

Landscape Plan for PPIE

Now that I know what it takes to create a landscape plan, it's a hoot to see the plan for PPIE. At the California Historical Society exhibit "City Rising" the landscape plan for PPIE is hung on a wall in the main room. The tiny signature on right? Looks like it was approved by J. McLaren. Or maybe it's signed by his son, Donald McLaren, with a skipping pen. Fred Hammerstrom was Donald McLaren's draftsman.