MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME

Search Shorpy

SEARCH TIP: Click the tags above a photo to find more of same:
Mandatory field.

Search results -- 30 results per page


Chinatown: 1900
New York circa 1900. "In Chinatown, Pell Street." Photo by Byron. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... treason and punishable by death. Tong Wars Pell and Doyers marked ground zero of the Tong Wars between rival secret mutual aid ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 8:44pm -

New York circa 1900. "In Chinatown, Pell Street." Photo by Byron. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Eventful year1900 was year of the Boxer Rebellion in China. The siege of the foreign embassies  began in June of that year.  I wonder how the much event was on the minds of the average Chinese immigrant in America.
And, that's a novel way of carrying a tea tray.
Q'dThe man by the door is wearing the traditional Manchurian  "queue" hairstyle, in which the front of the head is shaved every ten days and the back is drawn into a ponytail.
During the Qing/Manchu Dynasty (1644 - 1912) it was mandatory, and to not wear it was considered treason and punishable by death.
Tong WarsPell and Doyers marked ground zero of the Tong Wars between rival secret mutual aid societies. The Hip Sing Association is still on this corner.
Pajama GameThe black PJ's did seem to be the dress of the day in Chinatown back then.
+109Here's the identical perspective from May of 2009.  15 Pell has been replaced, but its neighbor across the street is the same.
Cultural Adaption in ProgressEastern shoes, western hats, a compromise in the middle.  An interesting study in cultural adaptation in progress.
Pell & DoyersFor some reason 15 Pell is now 18 Pell (at the corner of Doyers Street). I have worked in the area for years -- a walk down the curved Doyers Street in the middle of the night is an interesting experience.


Ting's Gift ShopCaption for this 1958 Life magazine photo: "Ting's Gift Shop, alleged supply point for heroin in Chinatown."

(The Gallery, DPC, NYC)

Chinese Tuxedo: 1901
Circa 1901, continuing our tour of New York. "Doyers Street, Chinatown." A wholesome neighborhood where milk can be purchased "by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:37pm -

Circa 1901, continuing our tour of New York. "Doyers Street, Chinatown." A wholesome neighborhood where milk can be purchased "by the glass." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Inside the TuxChinese Tuxedo, No. 2 Doyers St.
Eerie similarityTo the spectral dogs in Francis Bacon's paintings.
Another magnificent photoWhere do you find these? There must be a treasure trove of images you haven't shown us yet!
I particularly love the items in this shot that connect the booming metropolis of today with its more agricultural and haphazard past. Horse carts and horse turds and big milk cans - the countryside is not that far away, just a train ride away into a landscape not yet suburbanized. Is that blurry low-slung four-legged creature a fat hairless dog, or a pig?
The three-story wood-fronted beer joint is also a delight. That building could have been standing since the heyday of the Five Points (which was only two blocks away). 
"Acting" Cool!From left to right, the men in bowlers remind me of actors Marty Feldman, Claude Rains and Charlie Chaplin!
Tong Wars You kid about the "wholesomeness." This is, of course, the infamous Bloody Angle.
And NowFrom cool to bleh.
View Larger Map
FinallyMy band has a name!
1907 or 1912The Sloane poster on the wall to the right of the photograph says that a matinee will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, October 19. According to the perpetual calendar at http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/perpetualcalendar.html, October 19 only fell on a Saturday in 1907 and 1912, during the probable time period of the photograph.
Please see a detailed analysis of this photograph at www.forensicgenealogy.info/contest_260_results.html.  We featured it as a photo quiz on our forensic genealogy website.
Colleen Fitzpatrick
Forensic Genealogy
www.forensicgenealogy.info
[October 19 also fell on a Saturday in 1901, which is the year the photo was taken. - Dave]
(The Gallery, DPC, Eateries & Bars, NYC)

Chinese Opera House: 1908
New York, 1908. "The Chinese Opera House." 5-7 Doyers Street. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/19/2012 - 3:15pm -

New York, 1908. "The Chinese Opera House." 5-7 Doyers Street. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.
Gritty TextureFans of gritty texture and realer-than-real detail should immediately go to the large view.  Great study.
[Also note the two women in the window. - Dave]
Chinese Opera HouseThis is 5 Doyers Street between the Bowery and Pell Street, right along the Bloody Angle. Here’s a current view of the site.
5-7 Doyers, the former Opera House, is now CC Fashion. Click to enlarge.
[Fascinating. A hundred years later the bottom section of that cast-iron drainpipe is still there. - Dave]

Street, meet sidewalkLooks like either the street has grown taller over the years or the sidewalk has been replaced by one that's shorter. Comparing the bottom of that sewer pipe, I'd say the street has gotten thicker.
(The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)

Chatham Square: 1905
... Only 10¢. Hmmmm. Incredible Check out Google Maps street view for Chatham Square. You will be astounded at how many of the ... a sign for the "Chinese Tuxedo" restaurant seen here . Doyers Street by the turn of the century was a major center in Chinatown; the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 8:23pm -

New York City circa 1905. "'L' Station, Chatham Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Ladies in the afternoonOnly 10¢. Hmmmm.
IncredibleCheck out Google Maps street view for Chatham Square. You will be astounded at how many of the buildings are still there. Interesting to note is that even in this picture, many of the buildings look old. I wonder how old some of these "high rises" were in 1905. I have to believe they were already 30 years old, minimum, at the time of this photograph. Also, for you non-New Yorkers, this area is at the edge of Chinatown today. No sign of it in 1905.
Chatham Sq. todayA few buildings still stand, as seen on Google Street View
Ver mapa más grande
I would die happyif I could go back and spend an hour or so in Barnum's Old Bargain House. I wonder if he would accept Visa?
On the Clubhouse turnNotice that the horses are running clockwise in the illustration, the way they still run in Europe.  Belmont ran clockwise until 1921, when they changed course to counterclockwise, which is the direction all horse racing in the United States is run.  The Belmont Stakes was already 38 years old when the new Belmont Park opened to great fanfare in 1905, and is the oldest of the Triple Crown races, inaugurated in 1867, 8 years before the Kentucky Derby.  Over a hundred years later a day at Belmont is still a great way to while away the afternoon under the beautiful trees. 
Going to the Track?1905 was the first year for racing at Belmont Park.
Classy stackI get a kick out of the lion heads gracing the smokestack.
Afternoon Ladies"Go to Proctor's 58th Street, Ladies in the Afternoon 10 cents" -- Can anyone explain this?
Lovely video of 3rd Avenue El.Parsons PrinteryI'd stop off at the Printery before I took the train uptown to Proctor's at 58th Street. Then I'd go visit a neighborhood Fruiterer before returning home to Chinatown.
Chinatown TodayWhat a difference 100 years makes.
Ladies in the AfternoonSo just what do you get for your 10 cents at Proctor's?
Chatham SquareChatham Square in the Bowery was the heart NYC's popular theater and public amusements in the late 1800s. It got rougher and raunchier, and for most of 20th century was home to derelicts, drunkards, served by many bars and flophouses and famous missions, to feed and save the men that haunted its shadows.
Proctor's 58th Street was a vaudeville house, one of several Proctor Theaters, later part of the Keith's Circuit, then RKO.
The brewery shown in the color film of the 3rd Avenue "L" was Jacob Ruppert's. Jake owned the New York Yankees. The last product of the brewery was marketed as Ruppert's "Knickerbocker Beer," which sponsored NY Giants games in the late 1940s and early 50s.
Proctor's Pleasure PalaceYes, "Ladies in the Afternoon" means exactly what you think it does: discount theater tickets for families at a popular vaudeville house of the day.
The Union County Standard NJ newspaper for 2/17/1899 helpfully explains: "The new venture at the Palace of giving ladies in the afternoon the best seats for 25c is proving extremely popular and the result is the big Palace is filled every matinee with ladies and children."
I guess the Palace was forced to cut its prices by 15 cents by 1905. 
An 1899 view of the audience:
Chinese TuxedoOn the wall slightly to the left of center in the frame is a sign for the "Chinese Tuxedo" restaurant seen here. Doyers Street by the turn of the century was a major center in Chinatown; the other end of this short street appeared here on Shorpy.
Theater Lore We still have a functioning Proctor's here in Schenectady NY, with a defunct one in nearby Troy, NY. Our theater was completely refurbished, including 'Goldie", the grand organ. 
(The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Railroads, Streetcars)
Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.