This silent, color film, shot in the 1950’s opens with a no-filter cigarette burning in a Belmar Hotel ashtray adorned in the center with a sailfish. The Hotel Belmar is Mazatlan’s original beach front hotel, located in the Olas Altas neighborhood. People stand on the tarmac in front of a LAMSA / Lineas Aereas Mexicanas, SA DC-3 airliner “Ciudad de Mazatlán”. (The airline operated from 1942-1952 so the film predates 1952. For a time, LAMSA was owned by United Airlines, and then was sold to Mexican investors and finally Aeronaves De México / Aeromexico.) The wing and propeller of the DC-3 is shown: 36. Four men board the DC-3 aircraft as an employee checks the men in :40. A man smokes a cigarette as he watches out the airplane window 1:05. Each man looks out his window at Mexico below 1:21. Aerial views of the Mexican landscape 1:32. Camera shot from over the wing with mountains in the distance can be seen 2:07. The plane arrives at the ocean 2:45. Aerial photos of Mazatlán 3:26. Aerial views of the city show the town square and a large cathedral 4:00. Waves crash onto the beach 4:24. Beachfront hotels can be seen in the foreground as waves crash on the breakwater 5:00. Two men look with binoculars from their beachfront, hotel balcony 5:08. A man sits in the hotel room and pours himself a glass of water as the men look down the beach 5:27. Three women sit on the sand below 5:40. Women and a small girl frolic on the beach 5:58. Children inspect the shallow pools created with the tide out 6:10. A man sells coconuts on the street 6:23. Two men and a boy sit on the rocks as the waves crash in 6:35. Families play and enjoy the warm sand 6:48. The near-empty streets of Mazatlán 6:55. Waves crawl slowly onto the shore and breakwaters 7:13. A man sweeps dust and debris from the walkways with a large broom made out of palm fronds 7:30. Children greet the white water from the crashing waves 7:55. A man gets his shoes shined on the beachfront walkway 8:11. Swimmers frolic among the steady waves crashing into shore 8:47. People relax on the beach 9:17. Swimmers dive under the crashing waves 9:43. A little girl looks in wonder at the surf 10:00. Horses pulling carriages rumble down the road 10:14. Two horse drawn carriages approach the camera 10:24. A large turkey vulture preens himself by the water 10:35. A fishing boat slowly navigates the smooth surface of the sea 11:00. The sunshine beats off the glimmering ocean 11:14.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com