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[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
"Bread & Coffee." The new Department of Public Charities municipal lodging house at 432 East 25th Street in New York, which opened in February 1909 after four years of construction. "The first municipal lodging house fitted up by the city was a boat moored at the foot of East 26th Street in 1895, followed a few years after by the building at 398 First Avenue, just north of 23rd Street." (NYT) 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
Life is hard and I'll bet that none of these guys ever thought he'd be in a place like this. I wouldn't, either - and I'll bet YOU wouldn't, either! Life can be full of unpleasant surprises that many or most of us looking in on these pictures, from the vantage of our middle-class conceits, would never foresee. All of these men are dead now and their life-stories have ended. Ours are still being told. Who knows what may be down the road for us? Cheap philosophy, I know - but still ...
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