Our lead photo this week comes from the Ralph Morris collection at the LA Public Library. According to the library, it's just one of thousands of photographs by Morris, a commercial photographer. Here's how his son Michael described the collection when it was donated years ago.

Over 40,000 photographs by commercial photographer Ralph Morris, who had a studio on 8th Street in the Los Angeles area from 1939 until 1981. He and his associates specialized in advertising and industrial photography, and their clientele included department stores, restaurants, businesses, the automobile and petroleum industries.  Two of his major clients were Popular Mechanics Magazine and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, plus the Press Club for over 35 years, and the staff photographer for the Jonathan Club (a very prestigious business club) from the mid 1950s through the late 1970s.  When he moved to Los Angeles (from Toronto) in 1939 he bought an existing business named Luckhaus Studios. The collection includes all of their glass plate and acetate photographs of architecture, fashion, the movie industry, sports and street scenes from 1910 to the late 1930s.

The collection is online and searchable. Browse through it and get better acquainted with Los Angeles!