As I continue to digitize my parents photo collection and explore my family history, I thought I would share these photos I found of a ski jump that was built at the Los Angeles County Fair in 1951. These pictures also include shots of my dad, who had been an avid ski jumper since a young age, and got the "opportunity" to jump this faux hill. I believe he was among the volunteers that helped pack the artificial snow for the jump and in return he got the chance to jump the hill.
The scaffold construction was 225 feet high and from some accounts was not the most stable.
very rickety scaffold that resembled a standard ski jumping profile.
Sepp Benedikter was the mastermind behind this creation. He was born in the Austrian Alps and migrated to the USA in the 1930's. More on the specs of the jump can be found here.
Here is my dad at the top of the jump preparing to launch himself into the air.
Mid-flight down the hill to a hopefully a successful landing.
The view from the top.
And another view of a jumper in mid-flight. Looks like there were some days with when there were some good sized crowds.
A tandem jump. Judging by the width of the in run from the pictures above, just getting in the air had to be a little scary.
I guess going shirtless is one of the perks of ski jumping in LA.
All photos except one (fair logo) were taken by Charles Kassler. He has an interesting story involving a mural he painted in the 1930's. Some of his history and that story can be read here.
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Thanks for sharing precious glimpse of your family album! Very interesting and informative.
You're welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
That was quite something. I like skiing, but I'd be scared to go down that. People worried less about safety back then. Your dad was a brave man.
I don't think I would be brave enough to go to the top let alone go down it. I'm not a big fan of heights. Throw in "rickety" and I'm out. lol
I don't mind heights if I feel safe, but if that thing was wobbling then I'd be reluctant.
Nice to see another ski jumping post, this time with (artificial) snow and not pulled by horses over a ramp haha! What daredevils and amazing captures! Also love the clothes your dad is wearing. It's like hillbillie ski jumping! Love it!
Yeah, this was a little more of a conventional looking jump but still somewhat out of place in LA. The high temps during the fair back then were between 65-80 F. I'm sure most jumpers/workers were wearing something different than there normal ski attire. I would have been in shorts. 😁
Whoa! The structure looks fascinatingly scary :)
It must be amazing to be seeing this shot of your Dad doing what he loved.
The term "rickety" would give me pause about stepping foot on it. 😄
The whole process of going through the pictures has been an eye opener that is for sure.
Oh man I love those pre-safety structures. Although I wouldn't want to be up there with too many others or in the wind. Epic photos!
My dad did some crazy things. Probably lucky I'm even here. 😀
Well I'm glad you are obvs!
Amazing to see this in Los Angeles, where there's also real mountain snow within the county.
You're right a lot of people don't realize that. My grandfather ran sled dogs around Lake Arrowhead and my dad helped renovate a ski jump there.
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