DESCRIPTION: Scarce, early photographic oblique "airplane" birds-eye view of Beverly Hills, California annotated with numerals keyed to homes of Hollywood stars. These movie stars include Buster Keaton, Tom Mix, Mary Pickford, Douglass Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Will Rogers. The view probably dates between 1926 and 1933 based on the marriage duration of King Vidor and Eleanor Boardman (Home # 22) . By Fairchild Aerial Surveys, N.Y.C. Published in an unknown magazine. Verso with glamour photographs of period stars.
The view looks roughly north with the Beverly Hills Hotel, established 1912, slightly to the left of the center. This item may be the earliest published aerial photograph of Photomap of Beverly Hills to locate the homes of movie stars and likely predates Landacre's "Newe Mappe of the Heavens."
"When Wallace Beery flies back from his island camp, or when Ben Lyon volplanes down home to see Bebe and the baby, this is where the magic carpet of Hollywood looks to the returning wanderers of the sky."
Sherman Mills Fairchild (1896-1971), an American businessman, investor, and inventor, founded Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. in the years following World War I. In 1919, Fairchild designed the revolutionary K-3 aerial camera, which featured groundbreaking innovations such as an electrically driven mechanism, between-the-lens shutter, and detachable magazine. The K-3 set the technical standard for commercial and military mapping, as well as vertical and oblique photography, throughout the 1920s and '30s.
By 1924, the demand for aerial photography and maps had grown significantly, prompting Fairchild to incorporate his company. Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. actively promoted the use of aerial photography for various applications, including city planning, tax appraisal work, and transmission line location. In 1925, Fairchild further expanded his business by incorporating two small Los Angeles-based firms, the Pioneer Aerial Engineering Company and The Photomap Company, into Fairchild Aerial Surveys Inc.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1930
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: N/A
CONDITION: Good.
Holes from staples at the centerfold.
COLORING:
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 17
" x
11 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 89
PRICE: $400
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