Chris Jimenez is searching tirelessly for a family — one that is not even his own.
In late April, Jimenez found several albums with photos dating back to the 1920s while cleaning out a garage on S. Rimpau Boulevard in Los Angeles as part of his job as a construction worker.
“I couldn't even help tearing up because these pictures are somebody's history,” he said.
While other people on the job carried books, mail and furniture to the dumpster, Jimenez froze when he saw photos scattered on the dusty floor.
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“I didn't even know the people, but I felt like I knew them forever, like they were my neighbors," he said.
The images show a wedding, Thanksgiving and Easter dinners, and other warm family moments.
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“I imagined that if it was me in the situation, and these pictures of my family were laying around somewhere, I wouldn't want them to be thrown away. You have to see them before you understand what I'm trying to do," he said.
The other people on the job were confused by his attachment to the albums. “I've found all kinds of stuff before, and I've never thought about keeping anything,” Jimenez said, but these felt different.
Some of the photographs are carefully labeled with names, dates and addresses. Jimenez visited one of the locations written in pen next to a photo, but he said there was nothing there anymore.
After speaking to neighbors, Jimenez said that he believes the home’s most recent residents were not related to the album’s family, and that the couple he sees in the photos had passed away.
From his conversations, Jimenez thinks that the woman in the photos had a career in medicine and that the man was a preacher at a nearby church, but Jimenez was unable to find out which one. He also believes that the couple had a daughter.
Jimenez is not sure what more he can do to search, but he is hopeful that he will reconnect the album with its family.
