This is a photo of the Rondout section of Kingston, which used to be a separate city in its own right. The Rondout neighborhood was decimated by an ill-conceived urban renewal plan in the 1960s. There's a good documentary about it called Lost Rondout: A Story of Urban Renewal. However, the buildings on the left side of the street are still intact today and what's left of old Rondout has become revitalized in recent years. Here it is today:

A Victorian Evel Knievel.

Upon seeing the man in the white coat under the Dentist sign to the left I thought: "oh neat, we finally see a dentist after the bevy of dentistry signs on Shorpy cityscapes". However, the barber pole by the curb reminds one that the red and white stripes signify blood letting by the "professional" who cuts hair, bleeds you and can pull a tooth as well. Next victim please!

Of the buildings visible in this photo, only two seem to have survived more or less intact.

(Screencap from a Bing bird's-eye view; neither Google nor Bing seem to have street view here.)

The building in the left foreground was a four-story opera house prior to the Shorpy picture; a fire in 1885 destroyed part of it, and the edifice was rebuilt as offices. Here it is before the fire:

The man with the dolly on the lefthand sidewalk has seemingly just turned his head sharply toward the intersection. I wonder if the brand-new automobile, complete with driver, might have backfired? Those early engines did that, scaring the women and horses. Whatever happened, the auto seems to be drawing its share of interest. The other interesting sight is the boy on the back of the delivery wagon--probably working, but you wonder if he's hitching a ride.

Wonderful pic of city life.

["What happened" is crossing the street. - Dave]

The real sensation of the 1906 Barnum & Bailey performance was "L'Auto-Bolide, a dip of death which makes looping the loop a play-full pastime."