Cawston Ostrich Farm by Cawston Ostrich Farm - 1907

South Pasadena: Cawston Ostrich Farm, 1907. Loose Leaf. Very Good. No Date, but circa 1907. Trade Card. 5 3/8 x 3 1/4 inches. Heavy card stock printed on both sides; recto with a black-and-white half-tone illustration of a man (Edwin Cawston?) riding an ostrich while wearing a suit and a bowler hat, the verso with a decorative initial and a description of the Farm; small abrasion on the illustration (minor), corners a bit worn. SCARCE. Very Good. Scarce early trade card for Cawston Ostrich Farm, and the salesroom of "the new industry, the manufacture of Ostrich Feathers at South Pasadena Ostrich Farm." The Cawston Ostrich Farm, located on nine acres in the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena, was opened in 1886, the first Ostrich Farm in the United States. In 1885 Edwin Cawston shipped 50 birds from South Africa to Galveston, Texas, and then put the birds on a train to Southern California. Despite a mortality rate of 64 percent, the population of ostriches at the farm reached over 1,000 before the farm closed in 1935. Cawston Ostrich Farm became a premier tourist attraction for many years due to its proximity to the Pacific Electric trolley line that passed through downtown Los Angeles and stopped in South Pasadena at Main Street. Guests rode on the backs of ostriches, rode in ostrich-drawn carriages, and purchased ostrich-feathered hats, boas, capes, and fans at the store and factory located on the property. Cawston Ostrich Farm feather products were shipped and sold throughout the world. Most of the original brick structure of the factory and store remain today as South Pasadena Cultural Landmark No. 18.