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New York circa 1908. "Cafe Martin, Fifth Avenue and 26th Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Below is the same view from June of 2009.
The funny looking vehicle out front of the building on 26th Street is an electric cab. In 1897, electric vehicles found their first commercial application as a fleet of electrical New York City taxis, built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia, was established.
I happened to come across the Photochrom postcard made from this photo. It's always interesting to see how they turned out.
The accepted warning sign of beam on barrel plus plank might have lost some weight after nightfall.
N.Y. Times, Jan. 4 1910
I worked on 26th and 3rd for 10 years I walked past this corner hundreds of times on my way to work. It did not look like this though in the '70s and early '80s. This photo amongst many makes me want to crawl into it.
Incidentally grouped: A fancy hansom, behind which lurks a cop in his tall gray hat, two men in derbies, a newsie kid with his wares, and a guy in a straw boater. And this being New York, street work in progress.
The fire plug. I think it's an original "flip-lid" from N.O. Nelson Mfg in St. Louis. Gotta have it. So into the time machine I go with wrench in hand. May have to ask the newspaper boy to distract the flatfoot while the street repair guy and I lug it back to the machine. Wish me luck.
Same building seen here last year. I remember the Mark Cross Leather Goods building. You can see their signs painted on the side. That building and the one to the left of it are still there.
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