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Islesworth Gardens: 1906

Continuing our trip to Atlantic City circa 1906. "Islesworth Gardens Hotel, Virginia Avenue." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Continuing our trip to Atlantic City circa 1906. "Islesworth Gardens Hotel, Virginia Avenue." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

From Atlantic City to Ocean City

The trolley advertises 2 ways to get to Ocean City:

"SHORE FAST LINE ELECTRIC FLYERS
VIA GREAT EGG HARBOR BAY"

"ATLANTIC AVE. TROLLEY
AND BOAT VIA LONGPORT"

No. 6818 is a local Atlantic City car, maybe even a shuttle out to Atlantic Avenue. It does not have 3rd rail shoes, which Shore Fast Line cars needed, as they used a part of the West Jersey & Seashore RR to get across the meadows between West Atlantic City and Pleasantville, where the electrified railroad didn't use overhead wire.

Shore Fast Line ran between Virginia Avenue and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City to 8th Street and the Boardwalk, Ocean City, both on barrier islands, via the Mainland.

Speaking of Monopoly RR's

Did we ever find out why Darrow used the B&O railroad for his game? The Baltimore and Ohio never served Atlantic City; only the Shore Fast, Reading, Pennsylvania (later these would merge into the PRSL) and the Central RR of NJ (with it's its infamous Blue Comet) did.

This is the kind of picture

that deserves the "even bigger" option, or the colorized version. Lovely, absolutely lovely in every detail. Exquisite photo.

Car 6812

West Jersey and Seashore Type Q semi-convertible, built by the J. G. Brill Co., Phila, 1904-05. Originally single ended, rebuilt as double ended car in 1908. Sold off in 1913-14 when new "Nearside" cars were delivered.

The cars, incidentally, are numbered in the Pennsylvania Railroad fleet as the WJ&S was a PRR subsidiary.

Fastest Way to Ocean City

That interurban trolley on the right is from the Shore Fast Line connecting Atlantic City to Ocean City, New Jersey. It operated into the 1940s and was immortalized as the Short Line on the Monopoly game board.

Good Manners

Notice that the men use proper etiquette when walking with a female companion. The man walks on the street side, ladies to the inside. By the way, what is the covering on the roofs of the horse cabs? Is it some kind of treated cloth?

In praise of Shorpy

Shorpy is my all time favorite web site ! It's like having a portal to the past. Shorpy lets us see in incredible detail what life was like decades ago. I tell everyone I know about this fantastic site. My problem with this site is that I could spend all day looking at the photos. Thank you for all of the work you do in making these Library of Congress photos look as good as they do.

Dress Code

No shorts or tank-tops allowed!

No sunscreen required

I but none of these people is thinking about sunscreen! Also, its a shame that we don't use parasols anymore. I count about 15 in this picture (if you count both sides of the street).

City of the Future

It looks like a futuristic city of dollhouses. They had some kind of super "green" vehicle that ran on hay and produced fertilizer instead of carbon monoxide... and even mass transit that ran on electricity! Wow, imagine if we could harness that kind of technology.

Impossible waists

The women wearing corsets have those impossibly small wasp waists. I wonder about the young woman walking toward the camera. She appears to have a normal waist. The corset must have exacerbated the heat problem. Give me my smelling salts. And Gracious Sakes, I see a few women without their hats in public!

Phones in Rooms

The Islesworth Gardens Hotel was popular with conventioneers (pharmacists, railroad ticket agents, elevator operators ...)

1908 Advertisement

hotel_islesworth

The End of the Line or Back at 'Go'?

The streetcar in the photo is interesting, having just arrived at this location on the track closest to the curb and the horse cabs.

The car seatbacks are in position indicating the right end of the car was the front on arrival, the seat backs could be flipped over depending on car's direction.

The outer arm rests are on the window ledges.

The seats at the front and rear two side windows would have their backs to the window, the patrons facing the aisle.

On cars with sanders the sand boxes would often be located under these lengthways seats which hinged up when filling with sand.

However, the trolley pole has been moved around so the car will now travel right to left when it starts on it's next journey, the left end now the front.

The car is short enough, altho' it has two 4-wheel trucks beneath, that the Motorman or Conductor could walk the trolley pole around with the trolley pole rope still able to hang over the end at either end with the trolley pole stand centered lengthways on the car roof.

Without the trolley pole rope overhanging it would be difficult to centre the trolley pulley on the wire.

A longer two-truck car would have to have a separate trolley pole at each end.

There were also parameters governing the placement of the trolley pole stand on the car roof so that the pulley would track on the wire properly when the car beneath turned at a track switch at an intersection or went straight thru.

Now, there are TWO tracks in the street, and this car will cross over to the far track to 'Run on the right' as it moves ahead on it's new journey.

The 'crossover' in the street is visible by the man's head above the nearest horse cab and thru the cab behind.

Thank You.

Her Town

The sidewalks are full of Mary Poppinses.

The Streetcar!

At first I was confused with the streetcar having its pole up in the wrong direction for a double track line but then I noticed that there is a crossover (a pair of switches in the street) allowing the car to "turn back" or "short turn" without having to go to the end of the route. The pole has been turned but the seats are still facing the wrong direction. The faded lettering on the sign on the roof also suggests that this car might not be going to the end of the line.

Trumped

If this is where the Trump Taj is now, I think it looked much better then!

Look through the window

Young lady in the window under the letter "N" of the streetcar looks like she just realized she has purchased the wrong ticket.

Interesting

The only people I see around here using parasols are Asians.

Remembering Atlantic City in the 1950s

Our family vacationed in Atlantic City for many summers in the 1950s. We would load up our old Buick, include the dog, and take off from Cincinnati for that glorious week on the Jersey Shore. We stayed in an old converted mansion on North Carolina Avenue called the Manlor Guest House. Every morning was an open air breakfast on the Boardwalk, then to the beach and back to the Manlor to squirt off the sand in the backyard and go to dinner at Betty's Restaurant.

The Manlor is long gone along with all the other old converted homes but those places had a charm that no Holiday Inn could replace.

All Gone

I'm about an hour's drive from Atlantic City, though not being a gambler, I don't go there often. With the advent of the casinos, locales such as this, evidently at the Boardwalk, are completely gone. I'll have to make a trip there with a camera and some of these old pictures to see the differences. Thanks for all the great pictures.

Great shot!

I think the Trump Taj Mahal casino is there now.

Just for a moment

I thought the woman in the streetcar was texting a friend. Then I woke up!

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