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help ID Einstien's 1933 USA bike

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kentercanyon

Finally riding a big boys bike
You've all seen the photo. Albert Einstein enjoying his middleweight, American-looking.bicycle in a sunny courtyard in Santa Barbara, California in 1933. In the BG of the full shot is a girl's model of what seems to be a his-and-hers combo. Hard to see his bike but the girl's bike is profile and has a distinctive chain guard. What's he riding? (and is it still in Santa Barbara, one wonders, sitting out at a garage sale....) His bike seems to have the same chain guard seen in the shadow on the ground.

here's a url of the full shot, although there are probably better scans out there, this is one place to start.
http://blog.payrollhero.com/files/2013/05/albert_einstein_10.jpg

A better scan looks like you should be able to see the shape of the head badge.

Also, what's the backstory of the photo for those physics buffs out there who may know more. (Such as, what the heck was he doing in Santa Barbara?)
 
may have been a ladies step through frame

take a look at the shadow on his left leg.
also note the tires are 28"
the bars style are more common on ladies bikes.
the chain guard is an accessory one seen on most ladies bikes of the are, same one on the bike in the background.
would make sense if he was older and didnt want to swing his leg around the top tube.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_80uqRhDtP...s1600-h/0819-einstein-riding-bicycle_sm01.jpg

here is says this was taken in 1931 while visiting Cal Tech
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/20/40954/


maybe something like this
http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle422
 
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Agree it s a ladies bike... and amend that he visited Cali three times....

good eye. I am in agreement with most of this so far. Somethings to add, none of which solve the mystery yet. More clues.

take a look at the shadow on his left leg.
also note the tires are 28"
the bars style are more common on ladies bikes.
the chain guard is an accessory one seen on most ladies bikes of the are, same one on the bike in the background.
would make sense if he was older and didnt want to swing his leg around the top tube.

This makes sense that it is a pair of similar or identical ladies' bikes. I see the shadow of a ladies "top" bar there as well. Still looking for a higher-res scan of the picture that includes the second bike.


As for his mobility issues, he was in his early 50s when the photo was taken and he lived to be 76. I'm guessing he was fairly spry at that age, and that the bike was what was available or what someone thought he would need as much as it was actually needed. But who knows - and how can we find out! I'm enjoying the mystery at present but hope there are answers.

As to his visit to Sunny southern California, it seems he was at Cal Tech to confirm that the sun's gravity bent light rays with the help of an astronomer there, and indeed his theory was confirmed, which is one of several good proofs of his general theory of relativity, which we know as "E=MC squared."

While there for the winter quarter of 1931 originally, he returned in 1932 and 1933 for quieter visits. The initial trip was highly public and he met celerities, etc and was photographed extensively. I'm not sure yet when and exactly where the photo was taken but on one of the latter trips he and his wife (who might want a bike too) stayed in a place that was basically a Men's club on the grounds of Cal Tech in Pasedena.

here's a link to the site of the place, called "The Anthenaeum" and built in a Greek revival style, which may or may not be what we see in the background of the photo. Plenty of stuff in California looks Spanish AND mediterranean.... unsure of the source of the various captions that say he is in Santa Barbara for the photo.

https://www.athenaeumcaltech.com/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=342358&ssid=243574&vnf=1

Of the first publicized visit, there is the cute picture of him holding a puppet of himself which was part of a science themed puppet show/ play he attended. And after his first visit and he had returned to Berlin, the great humorist and cowboy philosopher Will Rogers wrote in his daily newspaper column a funny bit that I'll quote here:

"The radios, the banquet tables and the weeklies will never be the same. He came here for a rest and seclusion. He ate with everybody, talked with everybody, posed for everybody that had any film left, at- tended every luncheon, every dinner, every movie open- ing, every marriage and two-thirds of the divorces. In fact, he made himself such a good fellow that nobody had the nerve to ask him what his theory was."
 
Bars on ladies bikes?? WHy? Diamond frame in the background has the same bars as do a million other teens bikes. My guess is these are Euro bikes which don't really pay attention to the Genders we assign bikes. Men ride drop bar bikes over there just as much as they do our so-called mens frames. I'll guess you'll have a very hard time ID'ing this bike without closer photos. There are so many makes of Euro bikes that we don't know about on theCabe that it's almost funny! In any case...GOOD LUCK! :)
 
Bars on ladies bikes?? WHy? Diamond frame in the background has the same bars as do a million other teens bikes. My guess is these are Euro bikes which don't really pay attention to the Genders we assign bikes. Men ride drop bar bikes over there just as much as they do our so-called mens frames. I'll guess you'll have a very hard time ID'ing this bike without closer photos. There are so many makes of Euro bikes that we don't know about on theCabe that it's almost funny! In any case...GOOD LUCK! :)

First off thanks for the info, Im not sayin those type of bars are just on ladies, just sayin that style drop is often on them. Most images I have seen mens bikes have tillers/napoleon,california or motobike/ with or without the crossbar bars 90% of the time.

Other thing is why would there be some Euro bikes in California in the '30s? At a college?

LOOK at the shadow of his leg on the ground, right between the front and rear wheels, the is not upper bars.

Both bikes have the same chain guard, see shadow. I have yet to see a mens bike with this chain guard in vintage photo, I know it doesnt fit a large Mens sprocket, because a member here tried one on a Mens bike.
Good Luck?, Thanks! I actually like these type of inquires and helping people- if you have something of use to ADD then, please do.

The building it definately Cal-Tech near the "The Anthenaeum" building, I took a tour of this recently, I think it may have been a rear or side entrance as the front are mostly grand entrances. Or a closeby building.
 
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First as found ... and second ... horsepower added ................


........ patric


albert_einstein_10.jpg
0819-einstein-riding-bicycle_sm01.jpg


======================
======================
 
actual image.
einstein ben meyers santa barbara 1931.jpg


I took a virtual tour of the Caltech campus and cannot find the arch way. Sounds like it is Ben Meyers house in Santa Barbara. Probably some giant Estate.
 
Here is a catalog shot of a 1933 Schwinn B3

http://schwinncruisers.com/catalogs/1933.html#b3

Meyers was a wool merchant who became a banker by being the guy the other sheep ranchers trusted their money with. From there he clearly made a lot of money and became a pillar of the community and a trustee of Caltech, where he got to host Albert in Pasedena and Santa Barbara. It's said they like to go on long bike rides together in Santa Barbara. There's a nice shot of Albert alone on a beach there that you can see here: (no bike tho)

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1607298,00.html

1933 was a sad year for germany and after this trip to California, Albert was scheduled to return to Berlin (his home) but the Nazis rise led him to stay over for longer than originally planned and when he did return it was only as far as Belgium. Later in the same year he arrived in NYC as an immigrant to the US like so many other Jewish people who fled the fascists. He never returned to Germany. One might guess this little bike ride was one of the last stress-free moments he enjoyed for a long, long time. Although a pacifist, he wrote to FDR about the possibility of a nuclear bomb and how the principal was known in German academic circles. I can't imagine the burden he must have felt over this issue. It changed the world...

Once he was asked how he came to discover his theory of relativity, and he said I thought of it while riding my bike." The more I read about this man, the more I admire him.
 
Do you happen to know the address of the Meyer Estate in Santa Barbara?
Also I do believe the bike is of the 28" variety as the proportion of the tire is thinner and taller. You can still get the 28" tire frame in '31 and believe you could also in '33.
 
I'm also going to agree with saying the bike he's riding is identical (or nearly identical) to the one in the background, could've been bought and delivered at the same time if it was an estate. I don't see any truss rods in the picture, does that narrow anything down or am I just not seeing them? And not that it adds much info, but looking at the shadow of the rear wheel, the shadow of the spokes is darker on the upper half, which would cause me to think there's a skirt guard on it.
 
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