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ryan b. anderson

Environmental, cultural, and coastal anthropology
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Kyle Brown standing next to his Chevrolet truck on Highway One Big Sur, Monterey County, California, Photo by Lewis Josselyn (5x7 film negative # 71-001-BS 0180.). Source: Monterey County Historical Society.

HIghway One in Big Sur (1926)

July 13, 2025

This is a photograph of Highway One in Big Sur from 1926. It was taken by the photographer Lewis Josselyn (1883-1964), who took thousands of great images of the Monterey and Big Sur region. He was also the official photographer for the Forest Theater in Carmel-by-the-Sea. I first learned about Josselyn’s work when I met the photographer and archivist Pat Hathaway in his little shop in Monterey around 1999-2000. Hathaway had an amazing and extensive collection of historical photographs. Now that he has passed away, this collection is now housed at the Monterey County Historical Society.

In Coastal Anthropology, Photography Tags Big Sur, Lewis Josselyn, Highway One

Latest Posts

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Sand loss at Tamarack
August 26, 2026
Sand loss at Tamarack
August 26, 2026

Sometimes it’s a little hard to judge sand loss at a given location. With the sand loss event at Tamarack in Carlsbad this past month, what effectively happened was the return to how the sand and beach looked before the extensive sand replenishment that started in the early 2000s. The image above, which was taken before the seawall was constructed in the late 1980s, shows the beach and parking lot. Notice that the parking lot was already protected by riprap at this time. Here’s another image from after the seawall was constructed (circa late 1980s to early 1990s):

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August 26, 2026
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August 26, 2026
Oceanside Strand in 2019
August 26, 2026
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August 26, 2026
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August 23, 2026
Tamarack erosion and seawall
August 23, 2026
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August 23, 2026
Erosion and sand loss at Tamarack State Beach
August 23, 2026
Erosion and sand loss at Tamarack State Beach
August 23, 2026

I took the photograph above back in March 2018 at Tamarack. That was when the beach was full of sand after a relatively recent replenishment. I went back to the same spot during my most recent trip. I couldn’t take a photo from the same location because the sand where I was standing in 2018 was gone. Here’s what things looked like in 2026:

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August 23, 2026
Tamarack Parking lot in 1959 and 2026
August 22, 2026
Tamarack Parking lot in 1959 and 2026
August 22, 2026

Here’s another photo from my recent trip down the Southern California. I headed down in part because my old home beach of Tamarack was in the news. Check out some of the coverage via the SF Gate here, and NBC7 here.

Long story short, high tides and large waves from a summer south swell swept a lot of sand off the beach at Tamarack. It also undermined the riprap that was protecting the parking lot. In some of the coverage, people express concern about the loss of sand from the beach. Others say that this is how the beach actually used to look years ago.

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August 22, 2026
California Coast Rephotographic Project: Carlsbad Seawall
August 20, 2026
California Coast Rephotographic Project: Carlsbad Seawall
August 20, 2026

After Tamarack State Beach made the news for losing a bunch of it’s sand in the last couple of weeks, I managed to get down there for a few comparative photographs. The composite above shows a stretch of the seawall that’s at the end of Sycamore Avenue in Carlsbad. This one was pretty easy to relocate and photograph. I found the historical image, which dates to the late 1980s or early 1990s, via the Carlsbad Library:

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August 20, 2026
IMG_4984-Blacks Beach DEC 2005.JPG
August 9, 2026
Black's Beach, December 2005
August 9, 2026
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August 9, 2026
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August 9, 2026
Wilder Ranch in 2005
August 9, 2026
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August 9, 2026
The Cliff House in SF
August 4, 2026
The Cliff House in SF
August 4, 2026

Here’s another spot I’d like to rephotograph up at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The photograph above was taken by William Henry Jackson between 1880 and 1910. It’s from the 1974 monograph of Jackson’s work that was edited by Beaumont Newhall and Diana E. Adkins (published by Morgan & Morgan). This is the second Cliff House, so it had to be taken after 1896.

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August 4, 2026
Location Scouting: Lover's Point, Pacific Grove CA
August 4, 2026
Location Scouting: Lover's Point, Pacific Grove CA
August 4, 2026
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August 4, 2026

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