The seller explained to us that George Mann had a business where he took 3-D slides of various scenic subjects, filled the viewers with images, and then rented them out to restaurants, doctors or dentists offices, bars, or other businesses to offer as a diversion while waiting for a table, or in the waiting room of an office. They were also used at Trade Shows. The viewers were designed to be mounted on the pedestals with a single hex bolt underneath. Every couple of weeks he would move each viewer from one location to the next, so that every location would have a fresh set of images for viewing every couple of weeks. 

That was the last we knew of George Mann until 2012, after home computers, the Internet, and search engines like Google had become commonplace. 

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One day Susan decided to do an Internet search on George Mann, and found a web site about George that had been created by the the Los Angeles Visionaries Association. It was aptly titled "George Mann's Lost Los Angeles".  It had a lot of fascinating information on George that we didn't know anything about, so we contacted the organization. 

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Susan wrote to the contact information on that web site, explaining about the viewers that we had bought (we kept three for ourselves).

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A lot of correspondence ensued. We learned that George had also become a commercial 3-D photographer in the early 1950s, and had taken thousands of 3-D Kodachrome slides (Realist format) of restaurants, coffee shops, car shows, home and business interiors, tourist attractions, nude studies, travel agencies, children, animals  and more.

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George's son, Brad, and his wife Dianne, were living in Berkeley, CA at the time, and we happened to be going on a trip to that area. We made a date to visit them!

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It turned out that they had all of his 3-D slides, including all of the many sets that had gone into the viewers that we had bought. They had licensed 2D versions of many of the slides to be used on greeting cards, and also had put many of them on the Internet. 

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When we brought up the subject of putting them on the Internet in 3-D, they didn't know how to do that.

 

Susan offered to scan them, and make side-by-side digital versions of them (along with other variations of 3-D formats, for other uses. Over the span of a few years, they sent us small groups of slides, which Susan scanned, re-formated, made a disk for them, and sent them right back.

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In November 2012 we were asked to contribute to a presentation at the Los Angeles Public Library downtown LA. 

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The description of the show was: "The Los Angeles Visionaries Association and On Bunker Hill time travel blog in association with the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection and Photo Friends present George Mann's Lost Los Angeles , a celebration of a newly-discovered treasure trove of mid-century photographs captured by the one-time Vaudeville dance sensation, and projected for the first time tonight in stunning 3-D Kodachrome. Join us as historian Richard Schave (Esotouric) and Nathan Marsak (On Bunker Hill) contextualize the places, 3-D experts Susan Pinsky and David Starkman (Reel 3-D) demystify the format's history and technology, and Bunker Hill native son Gordon Pattison takes us on a virtual tour of his beloved neighborbood, while Dianne Woods shares the story of her father-in-law George Mann's life and her work with his best images."

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It was a fun opportunity to show these remarkable stereo images, that you're seeing here of the old Bunker Hills region, before it was bull-dozed down and remade into tall buildings. 

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According to Wikipedia, "in 1955, Los Angeles city planners decided that Bunker Hill required a massive slum clearance project. The Health department of Los Angeles also called the area a health hazard for its city. This led to the displacement of many families and removal of many of the low income residents of the area.

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The redevelopment was slated to preserve the historical buildings of Bunker Hill, but instead they were demolished since there was no actual rehabilitation planned." 

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Fortunately, George Mann documented some of what still remained before it was lost forever. Bunker Hill today bears no resemblance at all to it's original residential Victorian glory.

 

Thankfully George Mann documented many of the beautiful old residences before they were demolished. I am happy to include a few of the images here.

 

To see more of his other images in 3-D, please go to: 

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George Mann's 3-D Images of Los Angeles coffee shops & restaurants from 1950s & 60's:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35865984@N00/albums/72157632946414556

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George Mann's 3-D Images of 1959 Corriganville, CA:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35865984@N00/albums/72157632945124316

George Mann's 3-D Images of the Pomona County Fair in Los Angeles in the 1950's:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35865984@N00/albums/72157632942306275

George Mann's 3-D Images of the Los Angeles International Airport LAX in 1962:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35865984@N00/albums/72157632942375937

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List of Viewer Header Signs

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SOUTHERN CALIF TOURIST LOCATIONS:
Arboretum: Lucky Baldwin's Queen   Ann Cottage, Arcadia, CA 
Chinatown, Los Angeles
Corriganville: Movie Stunt Art
Death Valley
Descanso Gardens, La Canada
Disneyland, CA 
Griffith Park
Huntington Estate: Desert Gardens
Laguna
La Jolla, CA 
Lake Arrowhead, CA
Los Angeles County Fair
Mission San Fernando, CA
Newport Harbor, CA
Olvera Street, Los Angeles 
Palomar, Road to: San Diego, CA
Point Loma, San Diego, CA
Salton Sea
San Diego, CA
San Fernando Valley, CA
San Gabriel Mission
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa's Village
UCLA

NORTHERN CALIF TOURIST LOCATIONS:
Bay Cruise, San Francisco
Big Sur, CA
Childrens Fairyland, Oakland, CA
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

Hi-Sierra Country
Monterey, First Capital of California
Redwoods
San Francisco Landmarks 
San Simeon, CA
 

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OTHER STATES:
Cedar Breaks, UT
Hawaii
Kansas Flat Lands, Wichita
Kauai: The Garden Isle, Hawaiian Islands - photography by Gordon Weir
Lake Powell, Utah
Las Vegas, NV
Lost Valley of the Goblins, Utah - photography by Gordon Weir
Monument Valley, Arizona and Utah
Oak Creek Canyon, AZ - photos by Tommy Thomas
Red Bluffs of Sedona, AZ - photos by Tommy Thomas
Reno, NV 
San Antonio Mission, TX 
Tombstone, AZ - the town without life
Waikiki, Hawaii - the beach of 
Yellowstone Park - Photos by Rex Wilson
Zion National Park, Utah

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FOREIGN COUNTRIES:
Ensenada, Mexico
La Paz, Mexico
Nassau, Capital City of British Bahamas
Okinawa, Japan - photography by Ed V. Tynan
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Good Neighbor Land, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Punta  Penasco, Mexico
Tiajuana, Mexico

OTHER ODD TITLES:
Circus Clown Alley
Dogs Day
Flower Show
Garden Rainbow
Harvest Time
Here, There and Everywhere
Junior Citizens
Silouettes