Old Cabo, Los Cabos Pictures

Photographs, Images, Videos and Pictures of old Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Old Cabo Pictures is a digital photo gallery of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico in the early years. Our goal is to create an archive of old images from the area. Sample images are shown from various websites and books. Please visit the links to see some amazing old images of Los Cabos. The oldest photo we have to date is from 1905. The above image was taken November 1989.

HAVE ANY OLD PHOTOS?  Please contact me if you have any old photographs or slides from the Los Cabos area you may want to share.  Joseph A. Tyson  – tyson@loscabosguide.com

Amazing! Cabo 1952 – “Someone gave me this old photo of Cabo San Lucas taken in 1952. AMAZING!! You wouldn’t recognize it unless you look carefully at the ridgelines of the mountain in the background…. yep, that’s Pedregal. And under it you can just make out the old Catholic church that is still standing and in use on Cabo San Lucas Street. To the right is the house that is now MiCasa restaurant. The rest?” Carol S. Billups, August 7, 2009   http://www.caborealtypros.com/ 

The Cabo San Lucas Catholic church in the in the center of the image.

Visit our new site: OldCabo.com
To see more old photos from Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo.

Aerial view of Cabo San Lucas from the Pacific Ocean side in 1993. Photo © Joseph A. Tyson.

Aerial view of Cabo San Lucas Bay, Marina, town, and Pacific Ocean 1993. Photo by Joseph A. Tyson

Panorámica desde la Playa El Médano. View from Medano Beach Cabo – 1970’s – fotosbajacalifornia.tripod.com/id30.html

Panorámica desde la Playa El Médano – 1970’s (Above)
Panoramic view of Land’s End Cabo from Medano Beach.  View from Playa el Médano (Medano Beach) to the old tuna cannery pier and building, and Land’s End rock formations.Photo circa 1970’s •  fotosbajacalifornia.tripod.com/id30.html

BAJA CALIFORNIA, 1950-1967: Photographs by Howard E. Gulick – (Below)

San José del Cabo. 1957. “San José, with its mild climate, somnolent atmosphere and beautiful surroundings, is certainly one of the most attractive towns in Baja California… The original site of the Jesuit mission of San José, founded in 1730, was on the beach at the west end of the estero, adjacent to the cemetery.”

Photographs above by Howard E. Gulick – Church in San Jose del Cabo April 20, 1957.  Cannery Cabo San Lucas, April 19, 1957 – Photo by Howard E. Gulick.  Gulick made hundreds of photographs of Baja California’s landscapes, coastlines, cities and built environment. The Mandeville Special Collections Library houses Gulick’s Baja California-related papers, including his original travel journals, correspondence, map materials and, notably, his photographic slides. A selection of Gulick’s Baja California images dating from the 1950s and 1960s here follows. All quotes are from the 1956 edition (the first edition) of the Lower California Guidebook. The photos in this collection are spectacular.  
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/baja/gulick/gulick1.html
Photos of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas start at this link. http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/baja/gulick/gulick38.html

Cabo San Lucas c1966

The Baja Pony Express originally published this photo in June 2011.   Here’s the write up as it appeared in BPE1118: PICTURE OF THE DAY sent in by Bill and Kay Barbour.

“Here is a picture of Cabo when the only hotel on the beach was the Hacienda Hotel, gone now.  You can see that the Marina was not yet dug.  The picture was among my parents effects and is dated on the back “1966”.  The large sailing vessel in the harbor is the “Goodwill”, wrecked years later on the rocks near Ensenada with the loss of all hands on board, while returning to Newport Beach, CA.” Baja Pony Express: by Bill and Kay Barbour – dated 1966.   http://www.thebajaponyexpress.com/2011/June/1118–061211.htm

1972  –  The original building of the Hotel Mar de Cortez, right, opened in downtown Cabo in 1972 by Simon Yee and Carlos Ungson.  
http://www.mexfish.com/cbsl/cbsl/cbslhist/cbslhist.htm
Note: MexFish photos cannot be used

The Unforgettable Sea of Cortez
Baja California’s Golden Age 1947-1977
The Life And Writings Of Ray Cannon
By Gene Kira First Printing 1999; Replica Second Printing 2008.
http://www.mexfish.com/apgs/ufsc/ufsc.htm
Note: MexFish photos cannot be used

Cabo San Lucas, Circa, 1966
http://www.cabocondoforrent.com/old_cabo_san_lucas.htm

Video of Baja in 1949 with a clip from Cabo San Lucas at 8 min 09 sec

Legendary Caption Thomas Ritchie  1809 – 1872

Cabo 1867 or 1868.

Captain Ritchie was a singular man and outside the common way of life.  He had an adventurous spirit which distinguished the first pioneers of this coast, and owned a generous heart always ready to give of its abundance when needed.  He had that peculiar faculty which sees justice from an abstract point of view, and was guided by the internal principles of his conscience rather than the dictates of convention or the urgency of the laws of society.  When a boy of only seventeen years, he fled an English whaling ship and settled in Cabo San Lucas for more than 50 years.  He had two Mexican spouses (though some say seven).  He founded a great family and by the last years of his life was an absolute judge in the district whose word was considered law. http://www.thomasritchieincabo.com/contenido/biography.html
Photo on right: Cabo San Lucas. Dibujo (drawing by) de John Ross Browne. Año 1867 or 1868.

Published on Aug 5, 2013 on YouTube.com
“Great pictures of old Cabo, some from my own collection and others shared from the internet. Enjoy the experience and feel of a long gone era.”

Visit our new site: Old Cabo