Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
San Francisco, 1918. "Sunshine -- Mitchell touring car." Possibly members of the International Sunshine Society. 5x7 glass negative by Chris Helin. View full size.
In heavy togs, women of the pre-flapper era resembled nothing so much as stocky shrubs cloaked in burlap to survive Winter's Arctic bluster.
is really earning the stars in her crown today. And San Francisco hasn't changed: you can use an overcoat almost any day of the year.
really deserve a "like" button for the great chuckles they've given me!
One of the things that deeply fascinates me when looking at photos like these is the brevity of history.
I'm 56. My grandfather, my mother's father, was born in 1918, the year of the photo. All but the driver had to have been born well before the Civil War. I'm sure a few of their mothers were born during the presidency of George Washington, their grandmothers being born before George III ascended the throne of Great Britain.
I was very close to one of my great-grandmothers, who died at the age of 99 and in very good health in 1997. I've often reflected that the lives of only 20 individuals reaching her age takes us back to the time of Christ.
OK, I stand corrected -- laundry, bread, whatever. And dang! I had first considered a reply that was uncannily almost identical to Sewickley's except I was gonna say "sleepy" instead of "weepy". Creepy coincidence!
There are a variety of countenances here, including one indicative of a power nap in the back seat, but the only other one who doesn't appear to be hating life is the guy delivering the laundry.
Those folks look like they just missed out serving in the Civil War. They saw AMAZING inventions.
Pensive, Huffy, Stormy, Sulky, Dismal, Gloomy, Weepy, and Bitter.
The Odd Hat Society.
The breadman on the porch may have something to make you smile.
[The International Sunshine Society was a service organization that, among its other virtuous works, delivered baked goods to shut-ins and invalids during the influenza epidemic of 1918. - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5