a breakdown of the 1920 car year sales, in 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinder cars, and how many companies made those engine sizes

Los Angeles' first horseless patrol wagon in front of the prison, a 1904 electric, it also served as ambulance, top speed, 20mph

http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1900%20-%201925)_Page_1.html

1900 horse drawn ladder wagon in the LA FD

http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1900%20-%201925)_Page_1.html

This was going up hill and at least 2 firemen are helping to push the wagon. 

Walter Cronkite, 1962, at Lime Rock, and Monaco, talking about sports cars and racing

People born after 1981 probably don't know who Walter Cronkite is, well, he was the most respected tv evening news anchor. Maybe even the most respected reporter, in the world.

Cronkite was one of eight journalists selected by the military to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17,  as part of a group called the Writing 69th, and during a mission fired a machine gun at a German fighter. He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market Garden.

Before cable tv, and the internet, most people watched the evening news to learn what was happening in the world, and Walter was the go to guy for his eloquence, diction, and delivery.

http://www.thedrive.com/article/474/walter-cronkite-was-the-original-jeremy-clarkson

First automobile in Los Angeles, built for J. Philip Erie

The first automobile in Southern California appeared in 1897. It was built in a shop on Fifth Street in Los Angeles by S.D. Sturgis. The passenger seen in the rear seat was William H. Workman, father of Los Angeles' Mayor Boyle Workman.

It was powered by a four-cylinder gasoline engine. It is the Erie and Sturgis Gasolene Carriage (Trap body style), built by J. Philip Erie and Samuel D. Sturgis (and a silent third party who managed to muck up future production) from scratch based on Erie’s own designs, over a period of nearly two years at a cost $30,000.

The driver is Erie his ownself, and the passenger is indeed William H. Workman, himself the former Mayor of Los Angeles. At the time of the picture he was serving on the City Parks Commission, and later would be Treasurer of the City for three terms from 1901 to 1907. His son Boyle, named for William's father-in-law Andrew Boyle (a fascinating fellow in his own right), wasn't elected to the City Council until 1919, after which he was chosen President of that body and served as acting Mayor on occasion.

William (the dude in the back seat) developed the land that he inherited from his father-in-law into what is Boyle Heights today.

http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1800s)_Page_4.html

Thanks Steve!

the Los Angeles and Independence Rail Road Terminal at Fifth Street and San Pedro Street, 1875.

http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1800s)_Page_1.html

finally, a photo of the Oct 1895 Granville-Paris Express wreck from the other side of the train

above is the view we are used to seeing

here are a couple of photos I haven't seen before, thanks Steve!

and here they are rigging a way to lower it without destroying it

There's the Great Minturn, Colorado Copycat Crash of 1913. At least it was just the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Co. roundhouse: (thanks Steve!)

Machine gun (Hartford Connecticut) equipped police wagon pulled by horses. Huh, so much for due process and a court trial

March 1892 ,

the Gatling is a Model 1872 "Police" Gatling Gun. Second, this is the Hartford PD, Connecticut.

This is not the image that appeared on the cover of the March 19, 1892 edition of "Scientific American." ...

that is a hand engraving of the photo!

http://vikond65.livejournal.com/?skip=40 and Steve! 

1916 police cars. There are people that can outrun these...

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/Fordmodelt/

Leon Herschtritt’s photograph of West Berliners waving to relatives across the Berlin Wall, Christmas Day, 1961

found on http://americana-plus.tumblr.com/

the Beverly Hills racetrack, 1921, banked board trck

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/321577158048111/?fref=nf

Velodrome d'Hiver, Paris, 1911

imagine what it would be like to be so excited to watch motorcycles race, for the first time ever, on an indoor board track, at the beginning of the motor age.

But this isn't a bunch of motorcycles for racing,  as NZ Carnerd pointed out:
They are cycle pacing machines. Note the style of the handlebars which keep the rider upright so he can provide a 'windshield' for the following cyclist.

The Velodrome d'Hiver (literally Winter Velodrome) and 'motor-paced racing' both have wiki pages.

Note the bikes have 'buckets' under the engines so that they don't drop oil on the wooden track, and the bikes have flat belt drive. A Google image search for 'pacing motorcycle' yields many interesting pictures but none I saw had the 'buckets' under the engines like those here.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/654324954604252/ 

the Billy Goat Acres Mob, Time Magazine "events of 1952."

found on https://www.facebook.com/Antique-Images-from-the-Collection-of-Michael-J-Semas-319722608043803/

Pharr, Texas had no fire department and no equipment until Pershing passed through looking for Pancho Villa and brought down hose reels with them. When WWI started up, they left those hose reels behind

https://www.facebook.com/TracesofTexas/?fref=nf

not having anything suitable for a soft inflateable tire, this car made do with large rope

Found on https://www.facebook.com/isabelle.bracquemond.7?fref=nf