Palm Desert California-1953: A View of the Sea and a Sign That Says Salton Sea

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1953
Decade1950s
LocationPalm Desert, California, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1953 California

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

A View of the Sea and a Sign That Says Salton Sea — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1953, this vintage home movie captures a quiet scene at the Salton Sea in Palm Desert, California. A weathered informational sign stands prominently, reading 'Salton Sea 241 Ft. Below Sea Level,' with text detailing its geology and history. In the background, calm blue water stretches to the horizon under a pale sky, with a wooden picnic table and a thatched umbrella visible on the sandy shore. The footage exhibits classic Super 8 grain, color shifts, and a nostalgic, archival quality, offering a rare glimpse of mid-century California landscape and tourism.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 123349878

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

No recognizable people, logos, or music are flagged. Lower-risk for commercial use, subject to your own review.

People visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1398 · 8mm · 6″ reel
Reel-level year note: 1953
Reel-level location note: california
Date: 1953 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: Palm Desert, California, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

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retro film
historical footage
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1950s California
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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1950s 8mm home-movie footage suited to documentary or educational requests for Salton Sea visitor viewpoints, roadside geography signs, and mid-century California travel cutaways.
Period detail: The sign, picnic table, thatched shade, and color 8mm texture may show a mid-century tourist stop at the Salton Sea, supported by the supplied 1953 metadata.
Home-movie behavior: The camera holds on an informational sign from a visitor's viewpoint, giving the clip an unstaged travel-record quality rather than a composed scenic postcard.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include the Salton Sea sign, blue water horizon, sandy shoreline, picnic table, thatched umbrella or shade, posts, and dark film-frame edges.
Film character: The footage has visible 8mm grain, soft focus, blue-magenta color shift, slight exposure variation, and handheld framing that read as physical home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief establishing insert, location identifier, travel transition, or reflective cutaway before broader Salton Sea or desert tourism material.
Historical context: The scene documents a quiet visitor-facing shoreline display, linking landscape, leisure infrastructure, and public geographic interpretation without showing crowds or activity.
Research note: No people, faces, logos, or private interiors are visible, but the sign text and site identification should still be reviewed for copyright, location, and property-context issues.
Research search match: Useful search matches include 1950s 8mm Salton Sea sign, California desert travel home movie, below sea level marker, and vintage shoreline tourism footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1953 Salton Sea or Palm Desert material, then broader mid-century California desert travel and roadside-sign clips.

Still Frames From This Clip

1953 8mm view of a Salton Sea sign reading 241 ft below sea level, with blue water, shoreline, picnic table, and shade structure behind it. — Salton Sea sign stands near the shoreline with picnic furniture and calm water in the background.

1953 8mm frame showing the Salton Sea 241 ft below sea level sign close to camera, with blue water and shoreline fixtures behind it. — Close view of the Salton Sea informational sign with the lake and shore structures beyond.

1953 8mm visitor-shot view of the Salton Sea sign, partially cropped, with shoreline, blue water, a round marker, and picnic table behind it. — The camera shifts across the Salton Sea sign, keeping the shoreline and picnic area in view.

1953 8mm frame of the Salton Sea sign on a sandy shore, with a picnic table, small round marker, posts, and calm blue water beyond. — Salton Sea shoreline sign appears with picnic furniture and still water under a pale sky.

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