Mt. Wilson Observatory, 100-inch Hooker dome, California, 1954

About this postcard

The white dome of the 100-inch Hooker Reflector rises above a stand of evergreens on the summit of Mount Wilson, framed by dark pine branches in the foreground. A few visitors in mid-century dress walk along a railed path toward the observatory. The caption places the site about 6,000 feet above sea level in the Sierra Madre Mountains, roughly 32 miles from Los Angeles and 20 from Pasadena, with a hotel and cottages for visitors nearby. The Hooker telescope, completed in 1917, was the largest in the world for decades and became central to Edwin Hubble's work on distant galaxies. By the 1950s the observatory was also a scenic mountain destination, drawing visitors to the summit and its views over Southern California.