Over the years, I have seen a lot of old photographs. But, I have never seen one quite like this. Though taken 140 years ago, the photo is exquisitely preserved and clear. No tears or krinkles, hardly faded. The subject of the photo looks distinguished standing in front of a painted backdrop with walking stick and gloves. He has traditional clothing — skull cap, tunic and shoes. This is a carefully composed in-studio portrait by a top photographer, which implies the man had the means or help to access the studio.
Just who was this guy and what’s his story? Why was the portrait taken and why was it preserved all these years? The whole thing is curious.
I turned the photo over. There, as it often is, important information was right there on the back side of the photo.
The man in the portrait worked at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. Long after the hotel closed, the family of the hotel proprietor, William Porter Rhoades, had saved this man’s portrait. We don’t know if the man gave the family a copy of his photo or if the family arranged for the portrait sitting. We know the man had a special connection to the family. As one of the Rhoades family noted on the photo’s reverse side, this young man was “our Chinaman.”
The fellow probably bunked in a dormitory near the hotel or possibly in the hotel’s wash house. Not sure what his name was nor even the specific work he did. But, he was one of dozens of Chinese workers who cleared the land, planted and maintained the groves, cooked the food, tended the animals, did laundry, and otherwise provided the labor that helped make the old hotel famous.
The photo comes down to us through the William Porter Rhoades family. The elder Rhoades oversaw the building of the family home and hotel and was the hotel’s first proprietor. The Rhoades’ family gave the photo and other Villa photos to local historian Joyce Wenger, who took a special interest in the Cogswell and Rhoades families and the old Villa hotel. Ms. Wenger has since passed and graciously donated the lot to the Pasadena Museum of History.
The image in this post is a scan of the original photo from the Museum files. I have not seen this photo on-line and believe this is the first time this photo has appeared on the Internet.
The reverse side of the photo provides the date — November 22, 1881 — and other context.
Henry Payne and Thomas Stanton were prominent photographers of the day. By their own account, their studio was the finest in southern California. The Homestead Blog has written about Payne, Stanton & Co. and their work, which appears to consist mainly of stereoscopic views of the Los Angeles area. So, the in-studio portrait of a Chinese worker from the Villa was likely an uncommon assignment for Payne, Stanton and crew. It most certainly was an unusual event for the man photogaphed.
Handwriting at the upper left appears to be the man’s name, which I cannot make out. It looks like “Luark,” but that name does not match with other Chinese names associated with the Villa. However, the parenthetical under the name is clear. In handwriting, presumably by one of the Rhoades’ family, are the words, “our chinaman.”
The 19th century descriptor, “our chinaman,” is derogatory and not used today. But, it does address the Roades family’s relationship to the man (i.e. that the man worked for the Roades family). The derogatory term is also consistent with the era’s sweeping anti-Chinese sentiment.
There is much written about anti-Chinese racism and violence of the late 1800’s and save one YouTube link (Buried History: Retracing the Chinese Massacre of 1871), we will not dive into the broader history. For our purposes, we list but one particularly relevant marker to give historical context for the era (and geographic region) in which the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel operated and the photographed Chinese man lived.
The example comes from our own City of Pasadena. In 1885 rioters attacked a Chinese-owned laundry on Fair Oaks forcing Chinese residents to leave Pasadena on threat of death. Soon after that, the City of Pasadena passed an ordinance banning all Chinese from living in the central part of the city. Seems incredulous today, but that ordinance became law and was backed by dozens of Pasadena’s civic leaders. Eric Brightwell and Matt Hormann have written excellent articles describing anti-Chinese racism prevalent in Pasadena during the late 1800’s and beyond.
Getting back to our studio photo — as befits the man’s dignified visage, this 140-year-old portrait has been impeccably preserved. We don’t know much about the man. But we do know that, in 1881, his portrait was taken at a leading Los Angeles studio, that the Rhoades’ family papers contained the man’s portrait and he worked for the family.
Here is another photo from the Museum’s Cogswell/Rhoades file that shows the Rhoades family home with family and Chinese men posed in front. Quite possibly the man in the studio photo is also part of the photo here with the Rhoades family.
And, I include the Carleton Watkins photo below just to show that the Rhoades cottage was adjacent to the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. The photo shows the Rhoades’ cottage and an early version of the hotel to the left of the cottage. The hotel was later significantly expanded as I’ve shown in an earlier post.
In our next post, we will take a look at the 1880 U.S. Census and identify some of the Chinese men who worked at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel and the work they did. Then, we will discover what we can about the Chinese workers at the old hotel. While it is hard to find historical material about local Chinese of this period, we are fortunate to have The History of the Famous Sierra Madre Villa Hotel written by William Lauren Rhoades, son of hotel proprietor William Porter Rhoades. Mr. Rhoades’ first-hand history provides a glimpse of the surprising relationship between the Rhoades family and the Chinese workers.
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