Six boudoir card views of California and Pacific Northwest landmarks document the commercial landscape photography trade of the late nineteenth century. Four cards bear the imprint of A.J. McDonald, photographer at 426 Kearny Street, San Francisco, a Canadian-born commercial photographer who settled in San Francisco in the late 1880s and published city and regional views with his son George. Two additional cards carry the imprint of Herbert A. Hale, whose studio was listed at 590 Union Avenue North, Portland, and who had lived and worked in Portland since arriving on Christmas Eve, 1891.

The six views comprise a cohesive survey of celebrated West Coast destinations. The McDonald cards are individually captioned on their face mounts: no. 107 "Carpet Flower Beds, Sutro Heights," showing a broad formal parterre with patterned bedding plants and a central gravel path flanked by mature trees; "Sierra Madre Villa," depicting a large multi-story resort hotel with a flagpole cupola set against a steep mountain backdrop; "Sierra Madre Villa," a second view showing the villa's formal garden with a circular reflecting pool, tall Norfolk Island pines, and fan palms; and no. 370 "Golden Gate Park from Terrace, Showing the Garfield Monument," an elevated panorama across open lawns and native plantings toward a small structure in the middle distance. A fifth card shows a densely packed colony of sea lions hauled out on coastal rocks with surf in the background, captioned along the lower mount border. The sixth card presents a wide cityscape view with a prominent Victorian building and forested hillside visible through haze.

Sutro Heights was the landscaped public park developed by San Francisco philanthropist and former mayor Adolph Sutro on the bluffs above Ocean Beach in the 1880s and 1890s, and its celebrated carpet flower beds were among the most-photographed horticultural attractions on the Pacific Coast. The Sierra Madre Villa was a fashionable resort hotel in the San Gabriel foothills east of Los Angeles, drawing wealthy visitors seeking the Southern California climate in the same era. The Garfield Monument in Golden Gate Park, erected in 1885, was among the park's earliest commemorative sculptures, honoring President James A. Garfield following his 1881 assassination.

Reverses of the McDonald cards bear the printed imprint "A.J. McDonald, Photographer, 426 Kearny St. San Francisco, Cal." Reverses of the Hale cards bear the printed imprint "Herbert A. Hale, Photographer, 590 Union Ave., Station B, Portland, Oregon." One card reverse bears a penciled notation "X1 / D234." No dimensions were provided.