31 Amazing Vintage Photographs Capture Daily Life in Whittier, California From the Early 20th Century

Whittier is located in Los Angeles County, about 12 miles southeast of the City of Los Angeles, California.

The City of Whittier has a diverse and colorful history beginning with the Gabrielino Indians who first inhabited the area during the City’s pre-history. Later, Spanish California (1769-1821) would influence the region with the establishment of both missions and large ranchos. It was the Spanish land grant given to retired solider Jose Manuel Nieto in 1784 that would encompass part of present day Whittier.

During the 1920s and 1930s, residential and commercial development was becoming increasingly geared toward accommodating the automobile. This became evident as residential garages replaced barns and streets were widened and paved with parking spaces to accommodate automobile traffic as the use of public rail for transportation waned and eventually ended in Whittier by 1938.

Here, below are some rare and amazing vintage photos that show the life in Whittier, California from between the 1900s and 1920s.

Whittier College Girls Basketball Team in 1900 in front of Founders Hall in Whittier, California.

Driving on Turnbull Canyon in Whittier, 1914

Whittier, CA Fire Department in 1904

Whittier Bakery truck, 1900

Celebrating the building of Turnbull Canyon Road in Whittier, CA, 1913

Golden Rule Store, 1910

D.E. McDaneld Packard store, vintage cars and lots of girls back in Whittier, California, 1925. They even used girls to sell cars back then!

The Greenleaf Hotel on Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier, 1910

First National Bank, corner of Greenleaf and Philadelphia in Whittier, California, ca. 1907

Citrus Packing, California, 1910

The Quaker community of Whittier in 1907

J.A. Buckmaster Shoe store with owners on Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier, 1910

County Road in Whittier, 1920

Vintage Road Rally, Whittier, 1912

William Penn Hotel, early 1900s

Carrying telephone poles, 1910

Lady plowing California in 1910

California farm school, 1900

Santa Fe Springs oil crew

Kids at Bailey Street School, 1907

Whittier, California had many walnut trees back in the early 1900s

Phildelphia St., Whittier, CA, 1924

Cabbage packing industry near the Whittier Brick Company in 1910

Barber shop 1906

Croquet game, 1920

Whittier Sanitary Dairy, 1925

May Pole Dance, Whittier, 1905

Hazlitt Market and A&R Cleaners on Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier, California, ca. 1920s

Walnut shipping at Rivera Freight House, 1925

The News, Whittier, CA, 1905. This was the location of the The News and its employees in Whittier, California.