San Gabriel

San Gabriel is often referred to as the birthplace of the Los Angeles region. The area's first inhabitants were native peoples often called Gabrieleño because of their association with the San Gabriel Mission, which was founded in 1771; the mission became the fourth and most productive of the 21 California missions built along El Camino Real. Saloons and gambling halls arrived during the Wild West era, and shoot-outs became commonplace. Joshua Bean owned one such saloon until his 1852 murder. His brother, the future judge Roy Bean, inherited and operated his Headquarters Saloon until Roy was run out of town by local authorities. The vintage images in this book chronicle San Gabriel through the 20th century, covering city growth and oddities, including early resident William Money, the region's first documented cult leader and founder of the Moneyan Institute, and the infamous Man From Mars bandit, who terrorized the community with grocery store robberies.

Local historian Richard J. Arnold, lifelong resident of San Gabriel, is a retired captain of the San Gabriel Police Department, in which he served for 33 years. Arnold culled these images from his own collection and many sources including the California State Library, Huntington Library, Los Angeles Public Library, USC Digital Library, San Gabriel Historical Association, and other institutions and private collections. Many of these images have never before been published.