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Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1900. "The Arcade Building, Superior Avenue." (Interior view here.) Ground-floor tenants include the Hat Box, Arcade Pants Parlors and, next door, a Misfit Clothing Parlor (a.k.a. Fitwell Clothing) and Chisholm's Boot Shop. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
The Arcade Building is now a Hyatt Regency hotel. Here is a modern glamour photo from Hyatt.
"Fitwell Clothing" on the sign and "Misfit Clothing" on the awning; any idea what that's about?
[In the clothing trade of the time, "misfit clothing parlor" was a common appellation for a store or portion of a store that sold what we would today call "irregulars." -tterrace]
Thank'ee kindly!
If you look closely you can see there are streetcar trolley wires erected over cable car tracks. By 1890 electric streetcars were becoming the standard for urban transit, but in Cleveland in that year cable car service started on two streets: Superior and Payne. The cable service lasted only ten years, and electric streetcars started running on Superior at the time of this photograph. There is more information about Cleveland's cable cars and transit history here.
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