Restored 1925 Santa Monica Map with Hillshade

This is a restored vintage 1925 USGS map of Santa Monica (Sawtelle Quad), with modern hillshade.

One of six maps in the Los Angeles Polytych series…six adjacent vintage and retro-future maps, each with three variations, that look amazing as a diptych, triptych, or more.

We take old vintage maps, remove stains, blemishes, tears and stamps, while maintaining the patina and aged character of the document. The patina may include small irregularities or discolorations, but nothing that will detract from the beauty of the antique map.

For the Retro-Hillshade series, we add modern hillshading to create a modern map from a vintage map.

As you examine it closely, you will notice that the modern hillshade doesn’t always align perfectly with the vintage map. Shorelines shift, wetlands are filled, docks and piers come and go. Hillsides are excavated for quarries or freeways, dams are built and valleys flooded. Surveying techniques have become more precise, and landscapes more accurately documented in modern cartographic data. Many of these differences can be seen in every map, and can be fascinating to observe.

These are museum-quality posters made on thick and durable matte paper.
• Paper thickness: 10.3 mil
• Paper weight: 5.57 oz/y² (189 g/m²)
• Giclée printing quality
• Opacity: 94%
• ISO brightness: 104%