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St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1908. "St. George Street." Where ice cream cones and gun-trunk-umbrella-sewing machine repairs are just a few steps apart. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
I hope the rooms are better tended than the landscaping. Curb appeal is certainly lacking, even if they leave a light on for ya!
In small print below.. Ice Cream Cones 5 cents.. Ice Cream, extra 5 cents.
Also, speaking of signs, I find this interesting, the carpetbagging Union Grocery (haha) sign seems to have a period at the end of it. So is it a sentence whereby the verb and all that follows is understood? The Union Grocery _________. (..sells cabbage? ..stinks like chicken livers and horse dung? ..has prices double that of their perrenial evil competitor Wal Brothers & Sons?). At first, I thought it was a spot on the photo, but the text is distinctly aligned to the left with extra spacing on the right of the sign for a period. I thought maybe they got to the end of the text and realized they made the sign too long.. so they added the period to fill space? Maybe this was what one did in 1908 when one started a sign with "The"? Anyway, maybe a early 20th century english major would have an answer.
Then I noticed "Repair Shop." has a period after it too. As does the pressing club sign on the window below and Cozy Inn sign over the walkway on the right of the photo. I've never noticed this on any other Shorpy photos. Local custom maybe?
[The periods on period signage are a frequent topic of discussion here at Shorpy, where hundreds of examples may be seen. The practice goes back at least to the 18th century. - Dave]
I would say this is probably at or near Treasury Street looking South. The "Museum" banner is probably down at Cathedral Place, which is where the Government House Museum is now.
They are native Florida palms. The tall one is a Sabal Palm, the State tree. On the left is the Sago and on the right, the Saw Palmetto. Technically, the Sago is not a palm but a cycad, but everybody here refers to them as palms.
"Trunks, guns, umbrellas and sewing machines" is almost as preposterous a mix as "alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives"!
It's an arc lamp.
I don't know why but everything in this photo looks old fashioned to me except the palm trees. They look "modern."
Is a good five-cent ice cream cone!
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