Player Piano Fills Adobe with Music

The San Fernando Valley Historical Society now has a marvelous Armstrong Player Piano in the main museum room (sala), thanks to Dr. Richard and Theo Doyle. The piano of beautiful white oak was built in approximately 1940 and includes more than 147 rolls of music. (They were the Ipods of their time.)

Player pianos produce sound by feeding perforated music spools through a mechanism that reads the holes and instructs tiny hammers in the piano to strike specific keys/strings to create the desired song. Although some self-playing pianos were electric, the Adobe’s is an authentic foot-powered player piano. Dr. Doyle has informed us that pumping the pedals is "great exercise for the heart."

The Armstrong Piano Company factory was located in Rochester, New York. Their slogan, "Sound in Body and Musical in Soul," described their products, noted for refinement of case design, great durability, and beautiful tone quality. At the time, their instruments were among the most widely known of the reliable pianos on the market. According to accounts, Rochester public schools used them exclusively for many years.

Read more about player pianos at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_piano, then stop by the Adobe and see how it works. The music is fun and lightens the heart!

Andres Pico Adobe

The Andres Pico Adobe is one of the oldest residences in the City of Los Angeles. It represents a bygone era and the rich historical past of the San Fernando Valley. Inside are museum displays of native American beads, Mission and Spanish-Mexican era artifacts, costumes and clothing that span more than a century, and furniture from the Victorian era, when the Adobe was home to members of the Pico family.

The Society is caretaker of the
Andres Pico Adobe and the
Pioneer Cemetery in Sylmar

Historical highlights