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Arlington: 1924
May 30, 1924. "Memorial Day, Arlington National Cemetery." View full size. National Photo Company ... moved to the last Monday of May in the early 1970's. Arlington Again Sad to know so many that rest beneath the stones with only a blanket of grass to warm their weary bones. Arlington It's her half-kneeling, half-seated position — is there a word ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 10:32am -

May 30, 1924. "Memorial Day, Arlington National Cemetery." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. HauntingThis is a picture that's going to stay with me for quite some time. Decoration DayMemorial Day got its start in the late 1800's as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of the Union dead. Most Southern states have a separate Confederate Memorial Day, too. The original day set aside was May 30th, but Congress moved to the last Monday of May in the early 1970's. Arlington AgainSad to know so many that rest beneath the stones with only a blanket of grass to warm their weary bones. ArlingtonIt's her half-kneeling, half-seated position — is there a word for that? — that makes the picture. If she were simply standing at her boy's grave, with head bowed, the impact would not be as great as it is, in my opinion. Or even if she were in a classic kneeling position, as if in church, it still wouldn't be the same. I interpret her posture as one of a woman weary with grief, yet trying to maintain her dignity. I'm WonderingI'm wondering if this was republished on Shorpy if the exact location at Arlington National Cemetery could be found. With the larger audience Shorpy has today it should not be too hard. The large monument behind the lady's head and the monument to her right are great landmarks. I wish I lived in the Virginia/D.C. area to go do this myself. Exact Location of Grave - Section 17, #19232The woman is kneeling alongside the grave of Leo Crisman. Crisman was from Armour, SD, was born on April 23, 1894 (in Neb.), and had enlisted in June of 1917. He served in the Navy, with an ultimate rank of Seaman 2nd Class. He would die at age 24 of "angina ludovici" (an infection of the mouth) at a naval hospital in the Virgin Islands on August 4, 1918. He must have been buried in Arlington later that month, given the interments on nearby adjacent graces. His mother is listed as the next of kin: Ida L. Crisman, of Armour, SD. This could very well be her, that's harder to prove. Zcarstvnz was correct, it wasn't too hard to find the exact location. The key is of course the large obelisk directly behind the woman. A few minutes with a satellite image puts the grave in Section 17. We're looking north. The large obelisk is the grave of William Krause (+1910). Using alignments with the foreground and the larger monuments (e.g., the large cross on the left, the tall white memorial on the right), and getting the row of the obelisk right (it's two rows over, not one, and this cost no small amount of time), we can get all the lines to converge in the southern part of the section. But can we be sure of which one? Surprisingly, it is the very faint, blurry markings on the few gravestones we can see that nail down the location. The closest grave in the foreground is that of Karl Bernston, USN, #19228, +08/15/1918. Two grave sites further up is Wladyslow Mordorski (W. Mordorski on the stone), +08/14/1918. The are other small confirming details I've left out for space. This quest was very thought-provoking. A hundred years ago is not all that long of a time. The same site todayThe picture below was taken in June, 2013, and is very close to the same perspective from 1924. Leo Crisman's grave has the rock on top of it. The trees have changed considerably (as they are wont to do over 89 years!) The obelisk still dominates, and the cross is there, harder to see now from this distance well shadowed by a large old oak. The Confederate Memorial, which was perfectly blocked by an evergreen tree in the 1924 photo, now is clearly visible just to the right of the obelisk. This section it seems would be much less visited now than in 1924. Time marches on, and there are not many alive who knew, or held, or were held by those that lie here. I was curious to see the Union Jack on a grave in the 1924 picture (left side). There are five British sailors buried in this section. They were all shipmates on the HMS Warrior, a yacht loaned by Cornelius Vanderbilt to the Royal Navy in 1917-18 for World War 1. For the Royal Navy's North American Station Commander, the Warrior was his flagship, and was berthed in Washington DC. The British crewmen all died of pneumonia during the influenza pandemic in late 1918. The grave at left in the photo is that of Elmer Darrock, 23 years old from Cardiff, Wales, who died on October 19, 1918. His shipmates are just yards away. Leo CrismanLeo Crisman, the sailor buried here, enlisted with his brother Roy, and they both served on the USS Dubuque (convoy escort duty), and Roy was surely there when his brother died in August, 1918. There's much more to see here (pages 15-20). From family photos the woman kneeling looks very much like his mother. Behind every stone is a story waiting to be told. 100 Years Ago - August 4, 1918Rest in peace Leo Crisman. The picture is from the memorial service held in Wagner, SD. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
Maine Men: 1896
... glass negative by Edward H. Hart. View full size. Arlington Memorial Fittingly, the foremast from USS Maine is the centerpiece for the USS Maine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Re: Arlington Memorial The mast from the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2016 - 11:57am -

Circa 1896. "Ship's company, U.S.S. Maine." Two years before the battleship blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, killing most of the crew and precipitating the Spanish-American War. 8x10 glass negative by Edward H. Hart. View full size. Arlington Memorial Fittingly, the foremast from USS Maine is the centerpiece for the USS Maine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Re: Arlington MemorialThe mast from the USS Maine that is located at Arlington Nat'l. Cemetery is actually the mainmast. Her foremast is at the Naval Academy. No nonsense crowdWould be a good crowd to take with you on a walk down a dark alley. It's a theme, I tell ya!I observed three years ago the phenomenon of sailors reclining on the decks in group portraits. I'd noticed it many times in Shorpy photos of the US Navy, and I was particularly struck by seeing the same thing in the Russian Navy. I'm pretty sure that in the dreadnought era, that stopped. Still standing proudin May 2012 They Are Scattered O'er The WavesBut they also brought back a lot of pieces. There are no less than 102 accounted for (and probably many more) parts attributed to the U.S.S. Maine either on display in various countries or in private collections. Probably more ports of call than she made in her short and tragic history (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Louisita Wood: 1913
... for a 13-year-old. The family of five is together in Arlington National Cemetery. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lwood.htm ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2024 - 11:45am -

Washington, D.C., 1913. "Louisto Wood," it says here. AKA Louisita Wood, daughter of Major General Leonard Wood, Army chief of staff. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size. Louisita WoodA bit of digging reveals this to be Louisita Wood, daughter of Major General Leonard Wood, Army chief of staff. 90 milesThe N.Y. Times reported that year that Miss Wood "recently took the ninety-mile riding test with her father." Not bad for a 13-year-old. The family of five is together in Arlington National Cemetery. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lwood.htm Louisto WoodMetrosexual? You're not aloneDon't know if it's a boy, a girl or whatever? The dog doesn't look very sure either. Winner!I think the horse won the Louisto Wood look-alike contest. I will now go hide from the lightning bolt and say my mantra: "nothing is sacred as long as it's funny ... nothing is sacred as long as it's funny..." Pardon my asking...Is Louisto a boy or a girl? Long hair, but very boy like features and dress. I at first thought the hair was the mane, but it seems the mane on the horse is on the opposite side of the horse's neck. A clueThe coat buttons up on the woman's side. Mercy DictatesThat Louisto is a boy. Life for a young lady with such big hands and feet would have been pure hell. He looks like Mark McCain, Chuck Connors's son on the Rifleman TV series. And the winner isMy vote: Girl. This gal gets around!Here she is on eBay! We were all thereGirl and an adolescent one. We all had to go through that 13-14 year old range when parts of the face--especially the nose--grew before the rest. She has a very girly stance and hands that aren't all big when you consider they're gripping something. Louise B. WoodHer dad we know. Her mother was Louisa Adriana Smith Wood. I imagine the diminutive "Louisita" distinguished her from Mom. I guess we can also speculate that Louisita was born in Cuba in 1900, while her dad was military governor there. Hence another reason for a Latin-sounding diminutive. Louisa had two older brothers, Leonard (b. 1892) and Osborn (b. 1897). Louisa was born in 1900, as reported. The odd thing is that there is no record of marriage, children or death for Louise or for either of her brothers. No Census records came up, either. I'd be interested to know if any of them had descendants. Maybe another reader can tell us. Any of little Louise's relatives out there? [Louise died of a heart attack in November 1960. More here. - Dave] Pretty HomelyEver notice that the beautiful people in school grew up to be less than beautiful adults and that the remarkably plain people turn out to be very attractive adults? Every time I see a pretty child I hear a voice say "oh that poor kid." I would like to see a picture of Louise at about thirty five years of age. Ugly CommentaryI am glad she is no longer around to see all these ugly comments. The teenage years are not pleasant for most people and I have not met anyone yet, completely pleased with their looks. As one has already commented that many homely children grow up to become attractive adults and she may have had golden character, too. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Horses, Portraits)
Arlington Brewing: 1920
Arlington Brewing Co. circa 1920. An 8x10 glass negative that would leave your ... Prohibition Victim If this photo was shot in 1920, the Arlington Brewing Co. had already been out of the beer business for four years. ... the stable below. The iron gate is for equine access. Arlington Brewing Co. probably used big draft horses - Belgians, Percherons, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/03/2012 - 11:52am -

Arlington Brewing Co. circa 1920. An 8x10 glass negative that would leave your fancy-schmancy digtal SLR crying for its mommy. View full size. Nat'l Photo. DetailWhen your pixels are molecular sized you can usually get more detail. [The obvious difference is that in an SLR the verticals would be tilted inward toward the top because you have no perspective control. The "pixels" would probably be around the same size or a little bigger than a CCD pixel (a 12-megapixel SLR can capture far more detail than a 35mm film camera). But there would be many more of those pixels -- the image sensor in an SLR is around one square inch; an 8x10 glass plate is 80 times as big. - Dave] Watch That First Step!Those doors on the second floor look pretty dangerous! Prohibition VictimIf this photo was shot in 1920, the Arlington Brewing Co. had already been out of the beer business for four years. The state of Virginia went dry in 1916, and the brewery was located in Roslyn Virginia. During Prohibition it produced a soft drink called Cherry Smash. It didn't reopen after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and was used as a warehouse until the building was torn down in 1959 to build a new hotel. Presumably the hotel resembles a box (doesn't all 1959 period construction). [Key Bridge Marriott. - Dave] HayloftThat "second floor door" is where hay was stored in the stable. The exposed beam above the door is a pulley post. Wagons loaded with hay and feed would drive up and their loads would be lifted into the hayloft using block and tackle. When it was time to feed the horses, hay was dropped down a chute or opening into the stall cribs in the stable below. The iron gate is for equine access. Arlington Brewing Co. probably used big draft horses - Belgians, Percherons, Clydesdales or the like. Barrels of beer are heavy! And, it's still hereNot only is it incredibly detailed, but more importantly, it's still here. This negative survived by just being stuck in a box somewhere in a reasonably favorable environment. Do nothing over the next 88 years with the digital image you take today and see if anybody's able to view it in 2096. Also, a new Shorpy pastime: Count the Bricks! Does that faded sign say"Wiener the perfect beer?" "Wiener the Purified Beer?" Can't quite make it out. [Pure. - Dave] Sharp"An 8x10 glass negative that would leave your fancy-schmancy digtal SLR crying for its mommy. " To say the least. An Excellent PointThis worries me too. When we cleaned out my Great Grandmothers house after she died we found a huge album of photos taken in Alaska between about 1880 and 1920. I'm not sure what, if anything soomeone would do if they came across a bunch of my backup dvd's or and ancient external hard drive a hundred years in the future. Hopefully technology will settle on one photo format soon and stick with it. Those TracksThe details are beyond anything that a digital camera will record. As a rail fan, I noticed the trolley wire frog in the top left hand corner of the photo. While there does not appear to have been a siding to the building, the area was served by an Interurban electric railroad. By the mid thirties, most Interurbans were being abandoned. It's hard to tell if those tracks were still in use. But it does not look like they were. Fancy-Schmancy?No doubt that an 8 x 10 view camera can outperform my fancy-schmancy digtal SLR, but I'll take that SLR and day over hauling around the equipment needed for that 8 x 10. Besides, I find that spending time in my "lightroom" beats those many hours spent in the darkroom over the years. Definitely HDI was literally gasping here for a moment. Then I laughed. That has got to be one of the sharpest images I've ever seen. Obviously the photog knew his business. Then the fact that the full-size image actually contained the information for the small print: VIRGINIA REALTY TITLE CORP. CERTIFICATES & ABSTRACTS OF TITLE FURNISHED TO VIRGINIA REAL ESTATE ==== ==== TITLES INSURED OFFICE ALEX CO. C.H.VA ...made me laugh. In happy astonishment. I'd quite like a digital SLR, though. Sigh!Once again, the replacement building doesn't even approach the the original. But at least the new building serves a purpose - in my hometown (Joliet, IL) there used to be a similarly beautiful brewery of the same vintage as Arlington, which was torn down about 40-50 years ago for a parking lot (which the site still is today). And it's in a part of town which doesn't have much demand for off-street parking anyway. Prohibition VictimIt certainly looks derelict in the photo, except there some kind of exhaust coming out of a small smokestack next to the larger brick chimney. Perhaps it was already producing Cherry Smash, a process which probably wouldn't require all the brewing apparatus - which I'm assuming all the fancy stacks sprouting from the rooftop are for. Also, was that a greenhouse on the roof, or an elaborate skylight? What a beautiful building - at first glance, I thought it was a church! (I'm sure for some it would be!) Is that a greenhouseon the roof? Nice picture. W&ODThe tracks in the foreground were the Arlington's own Washington and Old Dominion railroad, which started out in 1847 and lasted until 1968. This shot was taken on the Rosslyn Branch, which was abandoned in the early 1960s. This part of the line is now I-66. (The Gallery, Natl Photo)
Record Time: 1943
June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girl in her room playing phonograph at Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work in the government for the ... in Swannanoa, NC that burned down a few years ago. Arlington Farms? OK, Shorpyites, who can tell this fan of the DC area where ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/22/2013 - 11:18am -

June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girl in her room playing phonograph at Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work in the government for the duration of the war." Photo by Esther Bubley, Office of War Information. View full size. Beacon blanketThat's an old Beacon blanket on the bed. My parents had one like that and it lasted for years. They had a big woolen mill in Swannanoa, NC that burned down a few years ago. Arlington Farms?OK, Shorpyites, who can tell this fan of the DC area where Arlington Farms was? [Google. - Dave] Equal time for lookersI think this one deserves the Pretty Girls tag. (The Gallery, Esther Bubley, WW2)
Arlington: 1922
"Arlington National Cemetery, 1922." With the USS Maine Memorial rising at ... thank you for your service. Location of the Grave Arlington's precision layout and a bit of sleuthing indicates that this is ... rolls of the fallen, nor is there a date of death on the Arlington online database. The photo above lines up on a diagonal (1 grave ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/27/2013 - 1:41pm -

"Arlington National Cemetery, 1922." With the USS Maine Memorial rising at left. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Lest We ForgetNever God Bless Those Who Serve (Past & Present)I placed flags on Memorial Day on the graves of my Dad (Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands), and my father-in-law (Burma, China, India). THANKS DAD (BOTH OF YOU) - because of your sacrifices, I am free to write this today. To those who have passed - let us never forget them! To those who serve now - Thank You for your service! And here's Maine's foremastAt the US Naval Academy. Thank YouTo all members of our armed forces current and to our vets, thank you for your service. Location of the GraveArlington's precision layout and a bit of sleuthing indicates that this is almost certainly the grave of Harry Brooks. Who is Harry, how and when did he die, and who is the woman is not as easy to uncover. He is surrounded mostly by graves of Rough Riders, whose bodies were disinterred from Cuba and returned for burial in the US in April of 1899 (less than a year after the battles). But unlike the others he is not listed in the rolls of the fallen, nor is there a date of death on the Arlington online database. The photo above lines up on a diagonal (1 grave across, 1 grave up, ...) which points to the right of the Maine memorial. From another photo in the collection, we know the west facade of the Memorial Amphitheater is just out of frame to the right. Using the photo's other grave alignments to the right and left, one can draw lines on a present day view of the cemetery and hone in on the location. That alone would get you close, but the clincher is the shadow along the row of graves in the foreground. It is definitely the shadow from the memorial to Claude Christman, who died in the Philippines in 1899. More left to discover. This is why I love Shorpy. Details on the GraveThe woman is kneeling at the gravestone of Harry Brooks, D Company, 10th US Cavalry, in Section 22 of Arlington National Cemetery. Brooks died of acute gastritis on October 21st, 1900, in Holguin, Cuba. The 10th US Cavalry at the time was a segregated, African-American regiment, an original "Buffalo Soldier" unit that also fought alongside the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war. The backs of the gravestones to the right of Brooks' and just beyond the woman match in markings to those pictured on the Arlington website. The shadow across the graves in the foreground is from the large memorial to Claude Christman. This was a big help in pinpointing the specific headstone the woman is kneeling on, after getting a close read from the alignments of the gravestone rows with the background. 91 years laterThe photo below is from the same perspective, taken in June, 2013. It appears that the two trees just right of the Maine Memorial in the original photo have grown up, and now hide all but part of the pedestal from this perspective. The Memorial Amphitheater is partially visible in today's photo, just barely out of frame in the 1922 shot. The distinctive markings on the graves are easily seen in both photos, though the gravestones are sitting higher out of the ground in 2013 versus 1922 (not sure why). Harry Brooks and the woman visiting his grave remain a mystery. (The Gallery, Harris + Ewing)
Arlington Beach: 1925
Circa 1925. "Arlington Beach." An amusement park in the general vicinity of today's ... and girls who go on the Gospel Mission's outing at Arlington Beach park next Sunday. A handsome prize, donated by the park ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 10:41am -

Circa 1925. "Arlington Beach." An amusement park in the general vicinity of today's Pentagon, removed in 1929 to make way for an airport expansion. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Crank it up to 11From the looks on the faces of the patrons, that has got to be the world's most boring Ferris Wheel. Boring ferris wheelObviously the wheel has stopped. From the look of the guy on top, it has been a while. These days there would be an uproar over those two children alone. In the Good Old SummertimeI notice when looking at our old family pictures going back to these halcyon days that so many of them are taken at beaches, amusement parks and picnics and the people always wore a lot of white clothing and straw hats. Most apparently absent then was today's look of stress which seems to be ever present in many current candid shots. Was it because leisure time really made them carefree or because they were not so worried about being robbed, assaulted and pillaged as we are today? (And come on all you imaginative and inventive Shorpy commenters, this photo needs some commentary and story lines). I must say I relish the variety of writing styles by the brilliant viewers just as much as I enjoy the appealing photography. Don't just sit there, SAY something. Probably because it isn't moving...You can see that the leaves on the trees are blurry with movement, but the people on the Ferris Wheel are nice and clear. This would seem to indicate that it isn't moving, and a Ferris Wheel that isn't moving is a pretty boring place... 'Great Sound'Quite the sound system on the Gazebo floor... bet the kids loved it and the parents hated it? Warts and All Washington Post, Jul 26, 1925 Children With Warts to Compete at Outing The more warts the merrier it will be for the underpriviledged boys and girls who go on the Gospel Mission's outing at Arlington Beach park next Sunday. A handsome prize, donated by the park management, will be presented to the child showing the most of them. About 200 kiddies will go on the trip. John Newbold has donated four big vans with which to carry the children across the Highway bridge to the beach. Other conveyances will also be used. The run of the park will be given them when they get there. CC: GrandmaI was talking to my mother recently about her visit to the circus (Ringling Brothers) around 1934. My grandmother wouldn't let her have any cotton candy because "it was dirty." (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
Girls Gone Wild: 1924
... models from Washington's spring fashion show snapped at Arlington Beach." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Arlington Beach was an amusement park on what is now the grounds of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 7:36pm -

May 7, 1924. "Three models from Washington's spring fashion show snapped at Arlington Beach." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Arlington Beachwas an amusement park on what is now the grounds of the Pentagon. Unheard ofCan you imagine three "fashion models" of our day allowing themselves to be photographed in such a state of relaxed and comfortable undress, with their hair crumpled and their dresses spattered? They look so ... what's the word I'm looking for ... so happy. All I can say isHubba, hubba and hubba. In my humble opinion..the one in the middle has the best gams.And the Drew Barrymore look doesn't hurt either. Scandalous!Or should I say, Scandal-lust..... Here comes TrebleA trio of real charmers, regardless of year! Very nice, lots of happiness and glee in these three! Hem and HerWhat are the young girls of today thinking. Just look at how high the girl on the right is hiking up her hem. Shocking I tell you, shocking. What would their mothers think? Next thing they'll be dancing in public. Women didn't act this way until they got the vote. QuestionDid anyone say why the three models snapped? Rare GlimpseVintage thigh! Snapped...Some insensitive cretin called them "a bunch o' flappers!" Girls Gone Wild -- in colorOr so I like to think. Click to enlarge. Better and BetterDave, you are to be complimented. SHORPY gets better every day. [We can thank Fred for these groovy colorized images. - Dave] Well!And to think, my wife won't go swimming with me because her bathing suit has a hole in the knee. My GoshThey're not even wearing shoes and socks! Photographer used good filmThe photog used good film as its ASA was fast enuf to capture the ripples in the water without distortion. Really good for its day. Probably used a 4x5 grafik camera ... huge neg [None of these photos were made with film. Which is why it says "glass negative" in the caption. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Pretty Girls)
Arlington Swimmers (colorized)
Colorized version of Boys and Girls: 1923 . View full size. (Colorized Photos) ... 
 
Posted by motobean - 01/21/2010 - 1:59pm -

Colorized version of Boys and Girls: 1923. View full size. (Colorized Photos)
Zestfully Clean: 1943
June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girls in two of the long line of showers at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, suburban Washington residence for women who work in the U.S. ... for the Office of War Information. View full size. Arlington Farms Arlington Farms had various uses after World War II, but was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/02/2015 - 1:47pm -

June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girls in two of the long line of showers at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, suburban Washington residence for women who work in the U.S. government for the duration of the war." Medium format negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size. Arlington FarmsArlington Farms had various uses after World War II, but was razed in the 1960s and its site is now part of Arlington Cemetery. During the war, Arlington Farms was known to male soldiers, sailors, and Marines as a great place to get a date when in town for a few days. Wartime shortagesCurtain rods, but no shower curtains. Another captionAre my fingernails clean enough to pass inspection today? (The Gallery, Esther Bubley, WW2)
Yellow Dog Blues: 1919
... as well. One More Generic Hoover. Kanns in Arlington During the time my family lived in Alexandria, Va., in the late ... Ticks, Skips, and Pops." (TM) Kann's in Arlington The Kann store in Arlington was in the Clarendon section off Wilson Boulevard. In the mid-1950s ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:08am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "S. Kann Sons & Co. phonograph department." I count at least a dozen Nippers here, and one Yellow Dog. S. Kann Sons & Co. was a department store on Eighth and D streets at Pennsylvania Avenue ("the Busy Corner"). National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Hear "Yellow Dog Blues"! Heavy ListeningThose old records are very heavy. My mother has a Victrola in her living room with roughly 50 records stored in the lower cabinet. They pretty much have to be taken out if you want to move it because they make the whole thing so very heavy. My favorite song from them is "Listen to the Mockingbird" and any of the big band music. It really is amazing how very loud it can be too! 27 Nippers is my count!Enlarging the image a bit on my iMac I count 27 Nippers in various parts of the photo. Which brings me to Apple's logo. Among others, at least as recognizable as Nipper was them, probably more so within the current generations. Yellow Dog BluesThe sheet music cover for Yellow Dog Blues helps to date the photo. Written in 1915 by W. C. Handy, this was a song with a racetrack theme originally called "Yellow Dog Rag." It didn't sell too well, and in 1919 he retitled it "Yellow Dog Blues," to take advantage of a new fad for blues songs. It had been written as an answer to the 1913 Shelton Brooks song "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?" Here's the Yellow Dog cover with its original title, and the same illustration of the hapless easy rider Jockey Lee. [The other thing that helps date the photo is the "New Records January 1919" poster on the wall. - Dave] Listening BoothsI think those might be listening booths on the left behind the Victrolas, where patrons could play a record before they bought it. AmazingAs a collector and Victrola enthusiast (Victrola being a brand of phonograph, not a generic name for all crank phonographs), I find this pic amazing. Every time I look at it I see another Nipper. The little terrier is very highly prized among collectors of antique music machines. Technical marvels...these glass plate photographs. The detail they can capture is just astounding. Beautiful tonal range, incredible sharpness and resolution. Forget Waldo, where's Nipper?Nipper was such a great logo. I can't think of anything in today's advertising world that could compare. The Geico gecko is cute, but they don't have gecko figurines at insurance agencies. [Actually they do. Just sayin'. - Dave] Pigtailed Wendy of the hamburger chain doesn't really have anything to do with hamburgers the way the Victor Talking Machine/RCA dog was hearing "his master's voice." And though one would have to "hoe, hoe, hoe" to plant the jolly Green Giant's vegetables, that is about the only thing he has to do with cream style corn. I love Nipper (and all the Nippers in this photo). Try Before You BuyListening (or preview) booths in record stores were phased out by the mid to late 1950's. A very few remained until the mid 1960's. Listening booths existed because the records were expensive. Most 78's sold for between 75 cents and a dollar. That would be $9 to $12 in today's money. Nowadays your larger retailers have headphones to listen to certain recordings. Ma-ma!Could that be an Edison talking doll on the right? GenericsVictrola might as well have been a generic name. The customers in the 1950s asked to see a Victrola but would go right to a Magnavox on the showroom floor. The other near generics were Frigidaire (or Fridge), Bendix and Foodarama (a Kelvinator product) for a side by side refrigerator. Thanks, Pilsner Panther!Terrific! Thanks for making the music come to life. (Wonder who is doing the laughing on the track...W.C. Handy himself?) Yellow Dog RagThe crossing of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad with the Southern at Moorehead was something of a sacred spot known to Handy and Robert Johnson: http://www.deltablues.net/dawg.html This makes me wonder if the much debated crossroads where Johnson sings of trying to flag a ride could be this place. Flagging could mean hitchhiking, but it is also has a railroad context. Johnson wrote another song about the "Yellow Dog" railroad as well. One More GenericHoover. Kanns in ArlingtonDuring the time my family lived in Alexandria, Va., in the late 50's-early 60's, Mom always took us to Kanns to have our pictures taken with Santa Claus. You're Welcome... Ha Ha Hah Hahhh!I doubt that Handy himself is laughing along with that weird "Laughing Trombone," but it's possible. There are other examples of "laughing records" from this period, but don't ask me what the fad was about. Ninety years from today, people will be just as puzzled by hip-hop. That is the same record that's shown in the newspaper ad, it has the same Victor serial number. I don't know how Dave feels about us plugging our own sites here, but there's plenty more ancient music at, www.myspace.com/pilsnerspicks "Your Headquarters For Scratches, Ticks, Skips, and Pops." (TM) Kann's in ArlingtonThe Kann store in Arlington was in the Clarendon section off Wilson Boulevard. In the mid-1950s the children's shoe section featured a glass wall behind which Capuchin monkeys frolicked. I would often go watch the monkeys while my mother or grandmother shopped. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)
Boylston in Boston: 1910
... across from the Public Garden, between Charles and Arlington streets. (The trolley is turning left onto Arlington, in front of the Arlington Street Church.) There are now some rather ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/17/2018 - 12:10pm -

Boston circa 1910. "Boylston Street." The place to go for corsets and riding habits. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A warm day... judging by the many opened windows and both ladies and gents in their shirtsleeves. I don't believe any of the buildings on the left still exist - this appears to be the block of Boylston across from the Public Garden, between Charles and Arlington streets. (The trolley is turning left onto Arlington, in front of the Arlington Street Church.) There are now some rather nondescript modern brick buildings along this block. The Women's Educational and Industrial Union, which only closed in the last 10 years or so, was one block farther west on Boylston in the years that I knew of it. Boston Common at TwilightNearly matches the famous painting of 1885, my favorite at the MFA: Lift yourselves up, ladiesAnd there at #264 are the offices of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union [qv], one of the early efforts to assist under-privileged women and children in Boston. The Union lasted from 1877 to 2006, when it merged with Crittenton, Inc. to form Crittenton Women's Union, continuing the organization's mission. Arlington Street Church (1861)in the background was the first church built in Back Bay (which was literally a bay until filled in the mid-19th century). Railing Against ProgressThe buildings may all have fallen to progress, but the beautiful iron fence remains! Lady in the foregroundThat's some bad hat, Harriet! Seemingly also for hatsThere is rather a fine selection on display here, not least the one on the elegantly dressed lady in the right foreground. (The Gallery, Boston, DPC, Streetcars)
Over the River: 1905
... plate glass negative. View full size. More on the Arlington One of three identical propeller driven double-deck ferries, the Arlington was the first launched on November 21, 1903 at the Burlee Dry Dock ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/23/2017 - 1:27pm -

Hoboken, New Jersey, circa 1905. "Holland America Piers with view of Manhattan across Hudson River." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. More on the ArlingtonOne of three identical propeller driven double-deck ferries, the Arlington was the first launched on November 21, 1903 at the Burlee Dry Dock Co., Port Richmond, Staten Island, NY. The other two boats were the Tuxedo, and the Goshen. Each was built by a different shipyard. They were 224 feet long, 64 feet wide, and drew 16.4 feet of water. Powered by two 1200 HP compound engines with steam supplied by two Scotch boilers at 150 PSI. The Arlington was the first launched and the last in service closing out Erie Railroad ferry operations on December 12, 1958. Was at 5th Street.The Hoboken Holland America facility operated from 1882-1963, and was a backdrop for much of the filming of the classic On the Waterfront. Nowadays, all of the Hoboken waterfront is park land with commercial shipping moved to Port Elizabeth and Port Newark. Brooklyn & Manhattan shipping is gone as well due to lack of rail access. Yes, you read that location correctly, Frank Sinatra Drive, named for the famous resident. Midtown from HobokenTaken in 2010 from Frank Sinatra Drive. (With apologies to TimeAndAgainPhoto for the imprecision.) Cunard has a ship inI don't remember if we arrived at pier 51 or 52 when immigrated here, coming over on the Queen Elizabeth in, as my mother called it, steerage, more politely called tourist class. Because the Cunard ship has three tall masts, it is probably either the Umbria or the Etruria, the last Cunard liners with auxiliary sails, built in 1884 and scrapped in 1910. Over the TopShorpy has done it again. This photo has it all from laundry hung out to dry, men in rowboats, the Uneeda Buscuit sign, oodles of wooden barrels with who knows what inside them, great Manhattan skyline, boxcars, boats, but no Brando. Bravo Shorpy! The "Railroad Fleet"Out of the huge fleet of barges, lighters, car floats, pier floats, ferries, tugs, etc. once owned by the railroads that served NY harbor, very few remain. To my knowledge, only ONE covered barge, formerly owned by the Lehigh Valley, is still documented as an active vessel in the Hudson: Lehigh Valley #79, now owned by The Barge Museum and used as an exhibition and performance space. The identity of the Erie ferry in the background could be a subject for some sleuthing. The word "Erie" on the side of the ship is probably just an owner's mark: the name of a double-ended ferry is usually on nameboards under the pilothouse windows. It's washday aboard the New York Central covered barge; you can see a line of clothes drying. In those days, many barges had a live-aboard "barge captain" in charge. In these days of sealed ocean shipping containers which are trans-loaded only as a unit, it's difficult to grasp that it was once economically possible to trans-load loose freight between ships, barges, and railcars, including "less than carload lots," which might have to be transloaded multiple times before reaching their destination. They were different times. Re: the Erie FerryI believe that the vessel's name is "Arlington" and that it is (was) owned by the Erie Railroad system. The "E" in the diamond was the logo for that rail line and one I used to see often in western New York when I was a kid. SS Potsdamseems to be the liner to the right. She met her end in 1944, scuttled by the Germans in Cherbourg harbor. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Super Giant: 1964
... This is just like the Super Giant on South Glebe Road in Arlington, close by where my family was living in 1964. It's where my mother ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/22/2008 - 6:35am -

1964. The Super Giant supermarket in Rockville, Maryland. Color transparency by John Dominis, Life magazine photo archive. View full size. Twins?Look at the two ladies above checkout #7 and #8. They could be twins .. at least sisters. I love this photo ... there is so much to see! Funny how the Clorox label has not changed. That's good branding! Plaid ElephantDidn't that fellow come from the Island of Misfit Toys? Nice to see him or her gainfully employed. Credit cards?Are them Credit Card Imprinters on the registers? I didn't think grocery stores took credit cards until the late 80's. [The imprinters would be for charge cards, which for gas stations, grocery stores and other retailers go back at least to the 1950s and the era of the Charga-Plate. Charge accounts go back even farther, to the early days of retailing. Below: Artwork from a 1966 newspaper ad. What goes back to the late 80s is using bank-issued credit cards as an everyday substitute for cash, as opposed to merchant charge accounts, which generally had to be paid in full at the end of the month. - Dave] How little has changedIt's funny how things haven't changed. some of the equipment looks antiquated, but the whole checkout process is still the same. Little detailsLook closely at the rack at the checkout. One thing that stands out for me is razor blades. Lots and lots of razor blades. Now you're lucky if you even find them buried in among the 3-, 5-, 19-blade razors. (Don't even look for a safety razor today. I've tried 10 different stores here, no luck.) Next, just above the Lane 5 sign is a Brach's candy bin. Looks like the good folks at Time-Life have photoshopped the LIFE logo onto the bin. Anyone back me up on this? [That's not "photoshopped." It says "As advertised in LIFE." Often seen on product displays back in the Olden Days. - Dave] GeeSure were a lot of Caucasians back in 1964. Paper or plastic?It was at a Giant supermarket in suburban Washington in 1983 that I was first asked by the cashier "paper or plastic?" At first I was confused, thinking that she was asking me whether I wanted to pay with paper money or a credit card.... Keep GoingOh my great good God. I've never wanted a picture to "keep going" more than this one! I wish they had invented 360 degree viewing back then. AMAZING!! The good old daysI worked in a grocery store similar to this. Same cash registers. Brings back a lot of memories. Life Sure Got CasualComparing the turn-of-the-century pictures with this one shows the remarkable change in American public attire. The fellow writing the check in the right foreground might have been arrested for public indecency in earlier Shorpy Land. Didn't see too many men in short pants in 1905 stores. Deja VuI'm amazed at the number of products which are still instantly recognizable today. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for those prices! Check out the checkoutI can only imagine how long it took to get through the checkout line in the days before bar code scanners. It looks like the cashiers had to consult that notepad they all have propped up against their registers. Random musingsThose elephants are, like, crazy! People were thinner back then. The Clorox label hasn't changed a bit. Curious that the checkout ladies visible are all men. It's too bad we can't see the tabloid racks at the checkout stands. I just know there's a juicy headline on the Enquirer. Wow!I work about two miles from Rockville. Does anyone know the address of this store? Is it still there. This site is unbelievable... The ViewWhat strikes me about this is no one in view is morbidly obese. Look at the kid...... eyeballing that open Brach's candy display. Those are almost unchanged from than till now. I wonder if he copped a "sample"? CheckersThe checkers, the ones shown at least, are all male. This was once a well paid and somewhat skilled job if only for the sharp memory and hand-eye coordination. The gaudy merchandising hasn't changed much in 44 years but the checkout experience? Well, what do you all think , better or worse? Convenient beer & wineAt least in the late 70s, Marylanders learned to spot Super Giants, because through some complicated shift of definition (like SUVs = trucks), these stores were not subject to the prohibition that grocery stores and convenience stores can't sell alcohol. Today Giant Food remains but Super Giants are gone, and it's no longer possible to buy wine with your packaged ground beef. Pre-UPCOne of the more striking things here is the checkout registers where the clerk actually had to read a stamped-on price and key it in manually (after consulting a list of what might have been on discounted sale that day). Within ten years many registers would have their displays as bright glowing fluorescent digits (later LED/LCD) vs these mechanical pop-up number tags. UPC scanning lasers wouldn't be common for another 10 years or so. Look at all the Men!I am not accustomed to seeing so much testosterone in a grocery store! Everything looks supersized, even the hairdos. It's kinda funny how high they stacked the displays, you'd need a ladder to get at some of it. LinesThe lines are still as long after the "wonderful" invention of Bar Codes, Scanners and Chip & PIN credit/debit cards. One step forward, two steps back. So much to see!Dave, would you mind enlarging this to about six feet high? I can't make out all the details! What is Loon?On one of the ends.... [The sign says LOOK. - Dave] Supermarket "Where's Waldo?"Not one of these people have bottled water in their cart and there's no gum or candy visible on the registers... Now, find the: box of Life cereal, the Cracker Jacks, the Domino sugar, the Raisin Bran, the grape jelly, the grape juice, the box of Cheer detergent, and the anxious store manager. Brach's CandiesThe display of the bulk candy bin appears to read "Advertised in Life." I wonder how many Life readers caught the subtle product placement. A refreshing lack of "expression"Nary a tattoo nor a facial piercing in sight. Where's Waldo?I think he's in Aisle 6. Very interesting photo! Brach's CandiesScary how 21 years later, I could have been the kid looking into the Brach's Bulk Candies bin... I totally forgot about those bins until this picture. People were slimmer back thenOther than the antiquated cash registers and the male cashiers, what has changed the most is that we are more obese now. I love this pictureSo rich. So much to keep the eye busy. Almost like a Where's Waldo cartoon. From the Plaid Elephants advertising "Top Value" something-or other, all the way down to the Quaker logo on a box of Rice Chex. And who's that woman in line in front of the chip rack? She has a BIG BUTT! (If anyone tells me that's my mother, then she's YOUR mother.) Charge-a-platesThey go back to at least the 40's -- I remember them well. It was metal and specially notched for each of the stores which accepted them and where you had a charge account. Current plastic models, good for almost anything, are great but far less secure. Modern LifeThe Life cereal box behind the Rice Chex is virtually unchanged! Not so inexpensiveMedian income of all families in 1964 was about $6600. For female full-time workers, the median income was $3700. Median income of nonwhite males was $2800. http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-047.pdf I'll bet they didn't think these prices were all that cheap. I do wonder what day of the week this photo was taken - I'll bet it was a Saturday. Get your slob on!I imagine that this was taken on a very hot day. No matter what the weather, though, imagine this same scene in 1934 or 1904 - you wouldn't see people out in public wearing undershirts and shorts. I wonder if there's a particular moment in time or series of events when it became OK to look "slobby" in public? No sagging pants or backwards baseball caps, anyway. I second the vote For blown up sections of this photograph, a lot of shelves I would like to explore. [Click "view full size." That's as blown up as it gets. - Dave] Checking outWhen I worked in grocery in the mid 1970's, with only slightly newer registers, the checkout time would be about the same as now. Good checkers could check and bag at about the same rate as now - the difference being that the checker had to pay attention and couldn't have conversations with their coworkers while checking. The notepads have the produce prices on them. Typically, you would remember those after the first few checkouts of the same produce item per day and not need to refer back very often. Remember that the range of produce available was less than today, both because of improved distribution and widening of tastes. The preferred checking technique is to pull the item off with the left hand, check the price, and enter the price into the register with the right hand. The register we had had plastic covers to cover the keys for anything past $9.99, since items of that price were pretty rare, since grocery stores sold groceries and not other items. In general, we had fewer stoppages for price checks than a modern system will because of missing items in their database. The grocery stocked fewer items back then. The flip side is that inventory management was a pain - we would manually order based on what was on the shelves and did a periodic total inventory to find the correct wastage values from spoilage and shoplifting. I much prefer the wider range of food and produce available today. And just think...This could be one of the few larger group Shorpy pictures where most of the folks are still alive. The cute girl in the cart would be my sister's age; the adults are mostly in the mid-late 20s to early 40s range, giving them ages from the high 60s to the mid 80s. The older kids would still only be in their fifties. Anyone from Rockville know these folks? Fantastic Photo!Even though it's far "younger" that most of the great photos that Shorpy features, it's one of the most fascinating you've ever put up here. I can't take my eyes off it. Do we know the address?My partner and I -- en route to Bob's Noodle House -- have wondered about the origins of a now-empty grocery store in Rockville, near "downtown." Perhaps this Super Giant? Certainly of this era. You can just make it out in the middle of this view -- between the bus shelter and the tree -- through the parking lots. [The Super Giant was at 12051 Rockville Pike and Randolph Road, where Montrose Crossing is today. See the next comment up. - Dave] View Larger Map Rockville Super GiantThe 25,000-square-foot Super Giant that's the subject of this post opened November 12, 1962, at 12051 Rockville Pike at Randolph Road, anchoring a 205,000-square-foot discount shopping center with 3,000-car parking lot (and a "Jolly Trolley" to get you from car to store). Today it's a "lifestyle center" called Montrose Crossing. Below: A long time ago, in a shopping center far, far away ... Wow. Just wow.I, too, worked in a grocery store in the late-70s when I was in high school. As earlier commented, apparently not a whole lot changed from when this picture was taken to then (well, except the hairstyles and clothes -- which changed a *lot*). I remember the registers well -- the columns of keys were dedicated to 10's, 1's, 10 cents, 1 cent. The large palm-contoured key to the right would "enter" in the decimal digits. Lots of noise and moving parts. A good cashier could move the goods along the conveyor belt as quickly as the scanners of today. The rapid spinning of numbers on the register display was mesmerizing. The one big holdup was the dreaded "price check" if a stocker had to be summoned -- but more often the checker already had the price memorized (good thing too, since price label "swapping" was a problem). I stocked shelves using the incredibly complicated but efficient label gun used to print and affix the prices to the products. As a stocker you had a large holster that held this amazing device. The more I think about it, things have not changed that much. We still have lines, conveyor belts, "separators," shopping carts, impulse displays, checkers, baggers, stockers, butchers, and produce guys (the latter two being union jobs). At least until the self checkout and then later RFID based systems (you just walk out of the store with the goods and the store will automatically figure this out and bill your card). Top Value StampsMy mother collected those, they were also used at Kroger's in the Middle South. What surprises me is that there are no cigarette racks at the checkouts. When I was a kid, every grocery store had the cigarette packs in racks right at the checkouts, with a sign screaming "Buy A Pack Today!" Maybe it was a Maryland thing. I also remember drugstores and groceries where cigarettes were sold only in the pharmacies. Go figure. More of these pleaseI add my request for more photos like this of just ordinary life from the '50s & '60s. Sure brings back memories of simpler and I think happier times. When I was a kid I used to imagine how marvelous life would be fifty years hence in the 21st century. Well I'm there now -- and I'd like to go back to the 1950s please. [And you can, thanks to the magic of the Inter-nets! I wonder when we'll have those TVs you can hang on the wall like a painting. And Picture-Phones. Can't wait. - Dave] Mama can I have a penny?You know what would be right next to the electric doors (and that big rubber mat you had to step on to make them open) -- a row of gumball machines! Whatever happened to those? I loved just looking at them. Those glass globes, all those colorful gumballs. Sigh. RealityThats a highly posed photo. Everyone in the photo would have had to sign a model release for this to be published in Life. It is "possible" that the people where chosen for their looks. [I've worked in publishing for over 20 years. You wouldn't need a release for any picture taken in a public place, and certainly not for a crowd or group shot. Actually you don't need releases at all. Some publishers may have looked at them as insurance against lawsuits for invasion of privacy. Probably most didn't bother. As for "posed," I doubt it. - Dave] Blue StampsWhile I miss the concept of Blue Stamps or trading stamps, I get points from my store and they send me a check each quarter to use in the store. I have one premium my parents redeemed from a trading stamp program - a really hideous waterfront print which they had in their home until they divorced. I claimed it from my father and it's hung in the laundry room of every house I've ever lived in since I moved on my own. I remember the old way grocery stores were laid out, and I was always fascinated by the registers. Link: Whatever Happened to Green Stamps? [Down where I come from we had S&H Green Stamps -- Sperry and Hutchinson. And "redemption centers" chock-full of cheesy merchandise. Or you could get cash. When I was in college I chose cash. My fingers would be all green (and minty) from sticking wet stamps in the redemption books. - Dave] Lived next to one just like it in VirginiaThis is just like the Super Giant on South Glebe Road in Arlington, close by where my family was living in 1964. It's where my mother shopped and I loved to accompany her and browse around. You could buy anything from a live lobster to a coat, and just like the Rockville store, it was 20 minutes from downtown Washington. Deja vuMy supermarket experience goes back about 10 years before this one . . . but what a photo! We had women cashiers, and man, were they fast. I was a stock clerk and bagger, and had to move fast to get the groceries in those brown paper bags (no plastic). I also had to wear a white shirt and bow tie. Naturally, we took the groceries to the car for customers and put them in the car or trunk, wherever asked. That was known as customer service. We, too, gave S & H green stamps, although Top Value stamps were available a number of places. Price checkerMy father was a lifelong grocery man, making a cycle from clerk to manager to owner and finally back to clerking in the 1950s until he retired in 1966. He took pride in doing his job well, whatever it was. Each night, sitting in his green leather chair, he'd read our two newspapers, one local and one city, end to end. One night I noticed that he'd paused for quite some time at the full-page weekly ad for the market he worked at and I asked him why. He was memorizing the prices of the specials starting the next day. Brach's candy displayThe shot of the boy near the candy display reminds me of a time back in the very early 1960s where I did help myself to a piece or two. I looked up, saw an employee looking at me and boy, I was scared to death he would tell my parents. Also, with the evolution in scanning and so forth, it brought to an end, more or less, of checking the receipt tape against the stamped prices for mistakes the checker made. Checking ReceiptsI worked in a store just like this while in high school in the early '70s. The main difference I've noticed is that Sunday is a major shopping day now. Our store was open on Sunday, because the crosstown rival was open. We (and they) didn't do enough business to pay for the lights being on. Two people ran the store on Sundays - a checker and a stocker/bagboy. And we didn't have much to do. All we ever saw was people picking up a single item or picnic supplies. How times have changed. Now we check the receipt for mistakes made in shelf pricing. Did I get charged the sale price or not? [So after your groceries are rung up, you go back down the aisles checking the receipt against the shelf prices? Or you make note of the shelf prices while you're shopping? That's what I call diligent. - Dave] Stamp dispensersWhen I was a kid back in the late sixties, there were stamp dispenser next to each cash register, with a dial a lot like a telephone dial that would spew stamps as the cashier turned it. I'm surprised they don't have a similar thing in this store. [The grocery store we went to had an electric thingy that spit them out. Which looked a lot like the brown boxes shown in the photo. - Dave] Checking ReceiptsWe don't check every price - just the sale prices which are listed in the weekly ad, available at the front of the store. Sometimes the ad price doesn't get properly entered into the computer, so I pay attention, especially if it's a significant savings. Relative CostsMy mother kept note of her grocery bills for 40 years -- and in 1962 complained that it cost $12 a week to feed a family of four. Considering that my dad's salary was $75 a week, that was indeed a lot of money. We used to save Green Stamps, Plaid Stamps, and cigar bands for giveaways in the store. [That's a good point. I had to chuckle when I noticed that the most these registers could ring up is $99.99. - Dave] Amazing how pictures take you backThis is what grocery stores looked like when I was a wee lass in the '70's. This could have been our local A&P, except the freezer cases would have been brown instead of white. And I bet if you checked the ingredients on the packages those thin people are buying, you wouldn't see corn syrup as a top-ten ingredient of non-dessert items. A & PSee the short story by John Updike for the perfect literary pairing to this photo. Well, in my opinion anyways; it's the first thing that came to mind upon seeing it. I Remember Those Elephants!My great-grandma lived in Rockville at that time and I remember those elephants!! What a floodgate of memories just opened up! Thanks again, Dave! [Now we know why memory and elephants go together. - Dave] Making ChangeAs those cash registers (most likely) didn't display the change due, the cashiers actually had to know how to make change. [Cash registers waaay back in 1964 (and before) did indeed show change due. And sometimes were even connected to a change-maker that spit your coins into a little tray. - Dave] Brown paper packages tied up with stringThis is such an amazing photo -- I love it! As someone who was still 12 years away from being born when this photo was taken, I'm not familiar with the old customs. What kind of items would have been wrapped up in brown paper like the woman in line at register 7 has? It looks like a big box, so that ruled out meats or feminine products in my mind ...any ideas? [It's probably her laundry. - Dave] White MarketsIn Knoxville we had groceries called White Stores that looked like most any other grocery of the late 70's, early 80's: Dimly lit with greenish fluorescent tubes, bare-bones interior decoration, and indeed a Brach's candy bin. My mom used Green Stamps for years. It took eons to fill a book. At the White Stores you could "buy" various pieces of merchandise. She got a floor lamp one year and a set of Corning Ware the next. It seems like over the last 5-10 years, they've made grocery stores all upscale looking. Almost makes you feel like you're getting ripped off. Warehouse LookSay goodbye to this timeless shot and hello to the warehouse stylings of the local Costco. Grocery stores have been jazzing up their interiors hoping to attract and keep customers. It's not working. When I go to one, they are far less busy than even in the recent past. They have cut the payrolls down significantly here in San Diego due to losing profit to the warehouses. Consequently, the help is far less competent, far younger, far less helpful, and far below the wage scales of the wonderful veterans they cannot really replace. We need some grocery stores for certain smallish items that the warehouse giants will never carry. But they will dwindle down to a very precious few, and do it soon. Of course, this grandiose Super Giant displaced their mom-and-pop competitors. Same tune, different singers. Multi-tasking fingers>> the columns of keys were dedicated to 10's, 1's, 10 cents, 1 cent. And a really good clerk would be pressing at least two keys at a time, which modern keypads can't do. Pure gold.What could lure me from my busy, lurk-only status? Only this amazing photo! Wow. Just wow. And not a cell phone in sight... Pre-Obesity EpidemicAnd look. No great big fat people. Sure, there a couple of middle-agers spreading out here & there, but you know the ones I mean. Smaller aisles and carts!Because people are much bigger these days, everything else is too! I remember shopping with my mom and for the big holidays and having to use more than one cart. Super GiantThe Super Giant was in the shopping center that now has a Sports Authority, Old Navy and a much smaller Giant. Super Giant was similar to what you would find at WalMart now -- part department store, part grocery store. I grew up in Rockville and we used to shop there all the time, until they closed that is. Guess the world wasn't ready for that combination. I could be in that picture, but I'd be too young to walk. GurskyesqueThis reminds me of Andreas Gursky's photo "99 Cent" -- it could almost have been taken in the same place. Fiberglass tubs on conveyor belts.Great picture & website. I remember them bagging your groceries, putting them in fiberglass tubs, and giving you a placard with a 3 digit number on it. The tub would go on a conveyor belt to the outside of the store, you'd drive up, and they'd take your placard and load your groceries. Wonder if there are any pictures of those... Proto-WalmartThis store was huge and it was quite unique in the same model as today's Walmart with groceries, clothing, etc. It is odd that the concept did not survive in that era considering the success of Walmart today. Personally, as a kid, I didn't like it when my mom got clothes for me from there. They were the off-brands. I also remember the GEM membership store which was in the current Mid-Pike Plaza on the opposing SW corner, which was a precursor to Price Club except that it didn't have groceries. I Remember It WellI grew up in Rockville, MD and was in this store many times. It was a full "one stop" department store with a grocery store attached. I loved going there with my mother because while she was grocery shopping I could make my way to the toy department. Kid nirvana! I might have been there!Oh do I remember that! My family lived in Rockville until 1965, and my mother usually took me along. After moving, we'd go to the Rockville Super Giant only if we needed to stop at the department store side. The beige boxes that you see at Checkouts 6 and 7 were the Top Value Stamp dispensers. (The man in the T-shirt is signing a check on top of one.) They automatically spit out the right amount of those yellow stamps. We bought quite a few things with Top Value Stamps, including a well-built Westinghouse room dehumidifier. The Giant Food at Friendship Heights had a conveyor belt but this store did not. This one had so much land, there was a huge sidewalk area out front where you could bring your carts -- but not to the car. Instead there were pairs of plastic cards, one with a hook for the cart, one with a hole. They had a three digit number, and the note "NO TIPPING". Took me a while to understand that wasn't about tipping over the carts. When you pulled up, an employee (probably young) put the bags in your car for you. Speaking of brand names, I can see the stacks of Mueller's spaghetti in Aisle 6. It's the brand we ate then. (Now I know Farina flour has no business in pasta!) The meat department is along the wall at the left. Deli and seafood were at the far back corner. There were a pair of "Pick a Pickle" barrels in front of the deli counter. One Dill, one Half-Sour. Good pickles, and great fish. The fish department has always been a source of pride for Giant. Of course this was back when a flounder was over a foot long, not these six-inch midgets we get today. All the fish were whole on ice, only gutted, and they scraped the scales, and cut or filleted the fish to your order. The produce department starts behind the Brach's counter, and extends out the photo to the left. There were one or two manned scales there, where they would weigh your brown paper bag of produce, mark the price with a grease pencil, and staple it shut. If it was something tender like cherries, they would put "XX" on it, so that it would be correctly bagged. So the checkers only needed to know the prices of "piece" produce. There was a "post mix" soda machine at the end of Aisle 12, 13, or 14, which would mix syrup and soda water into a cup. I'd often get a Coke. Probably 5 cents. I remember getting Mercury dimes as change from that machine -- this photo is from the last year of silver dimes and quarters. (Serious inflation was kicking in to pay for the Vietnam War.) Cigarettes? Where were they? I should know, my mom smoked then. They were only in cartons, they were so dirt-cheap that nobody bought them by the pack, except in vending machines. They certainly didn't need to be kept "out of the reach of children" then. They were in a six-foot set of shelves somewhere. I suppose I had no taste in clothing at the time, as most of my clothes came from there. Well, let's be honest -- they were much nicer and more stylish than clothes at Sears. (Oh, those horrible Sears Toughskin jeans with the rubber inside the knees!) The department store side, which started to the right of the checkouts, was easily twice the size of what you see here. It had a lot of selection, and lots of good specialty counters. There was a photo counter at the front of the store (pretty much under the photographer, who was up in the balcony where the restrooms were). They sold things at fair prices, and gave good and honest sales help. There was a hobby counter in the far back right corner. Speaking of the restrooms, they had seats that automatically flipped up into the back of the toilet, with UV lights to "sanitize" them. Spooky. The current Giant Food store at that site, which my friends call the "Gucci Giant," is on the former department store side. When they first shut down the three Super Giant department stores, they left the grocery store were it was. I think about the time that White Flint Mall started "upscaling" Rockville Pike, they built a much fancier store on the old department store side. Compared to now, Rockville Pike was very working class, very blue collar. Congressional Plaza (on the site of the former Congressional Airport) had a JC Penney as the anchor, and a Giant Food. Near the Super Giant was an EJ Korvettes, now the site of G Street Decorator Fabrics. A little off Rockville Pike was GEM -- Government Employees Membership. These were the days when "Fair Trade" pricing (price fixing) was still legal, and enforceable everywhere but the District of Columbia. But GEM, being a "membership" store, could discount, so that's where you bought Fair Trade products like Farberware at a discount. Of course, GEM had to compete with discount stores in the District, which Congress had conveniently exempted from the Fair Trade Act, so they could shop cheaply. Scan itI enjoyed coming back to this photo for new comments -- I had one before, but long before the new post. I live not far from Troy, Ohio, where the local newspaper just had an article about the bar code scanner. The very first item scanned -- anywhere -- was at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, in 1974. Troy is less then 30 miles north of Dayton, where NCR developed the scanner. The Marsh store is still there, but NCR is leaving. King Soopers, 1960I work for a division of Kroger called King Soopers in Colorado. My store, which opened in February 1960, has a lot in common with this one. They have tried to modernize it but you can still see the old store showing through in places. Great photo. Bagger NostalgiaRegrettably, the baggers are out of view to the right. My greatest nostalgia for supermarkets past concerns the bag boys, practitioners of a high art. They took pride in how compactly they could pack your groceries with attention to putting the fragile items on top -- not to mention that they all tried to outdo each other in speed. Bagger Nostalgia...Part DeuxWhen I was a kid (1950s) I used to go with my father to the grocery (Kroger's) on Saturday morning. I always helped bag the groceries, especially if they were short handed, and he would always remind me of his bagging rule: "Don't even think about putting the meat next to the soap or even in the same bag." In the 50s as I remember it the majority of the cashiers were women and that was their only job at the store. I notice that even as early as the 60s they had the security screens next to the cash register to keep unwanted fingers out of the till form the adjacent aisle. I also remember making the family excursion to the Top Value redemption store to select the "FREE" gift that the household needed when we had sufficient stamp books filled. The other Super GiantThe third Super Giant is in White Oak. They took the "Super" off ages ago, but it is all still there. Mostly we went to the one in Laurel, which still retains its huge circa-1960 sign in the parking lot. Around 1980 it ate the old Kresge store next door, but by that time the department store features of the biggest stores were mostly gone. It's kind of funny -- the mall they built just south of the shopping center almost killed the latter, but now the shopping center is very busy and the mall may well be torn down. Memories from the early '60sMy mom worked at Chestnut Lodge and would often stop by the Super Giant on Rockville Pike on her way home to shop for groceries -- and clothes for me! I was much too young to be brand- or fashion-conscious and I remember loving the little cotton A-line dresses that Mom would bring home. We lived in the District and a big thrill for me would be to drive up to Rockville with my parents on the weekends and shop at the Super Giant and Korvettes! Crossing the PotomacThe hype of Super Giant was enough to entice these Northern Virginians into crossing The Potomac River into Maryland. The commute is commonplace today but not so much in 1964. We had not seen anything like it. Racks & racks of mass produced clothing and groceries, too! Grandmother bought the same suit in 3 different sizes. She and my mother got their money's worth. I was 13. It never left my closet. The NoiseThe old registers were so noisy. No screens to check what was going on, just quick eye movement to try and keep track. Ahh...back in the day when every item had a price on it. Ohhhh yeah and is that Blake Shelton?I spent many weekends at this gigantic store on Rockville Pike. I think I even bought a prom dress here....is that possible? I very clearly remember going up to the glassed in observation balcony on the second floor, which gave an overall view of the store (as this photo shows). That way I could scan the aisles in order to see where my Dad was at any given moment. I love this photo, and HEY isn't that a time-traveling Blake Shelton a little left of the center wearing a white short-sleeved shirt?? (LIFE, Stores & Markets)
Gingham Style: 1943
June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girl getting food in the service shop at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work for the U.S. government for the ... cold milk for the malteds. Straws are at the ready. Arlington Farms Arlington Farms one of the many construction projects in DC ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/17/2014 - 6:14pm -

June 1943. "Arlington, Virginia. Girl getting food in the service shop at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work for the U.S. government for the duration of the war. The shop help is run on a self-service basis." Photo by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size. War is Heck"The shop help is run on a self-service basis" Well, it was until miss gingham here plunged her hand into the deep fryer. Looks familiarThis young lady looks very much like my daughter (born 1981). The fact that there's a coffeepot close by is also no surprise. "Now what's in this one?''My educated guess is ice cream and very very cold milk for the malteds. Straws are at the ready. Arlington FarmsArlington Farms one of the many construction projects in DC done by the John McShain Inc Construction Company. Having done a brief search of the company I have found little of its liquidation after McShain's death. There was definitely a lot of difficulties after McShain began to spend more time in Ireland and web searches yield a great many lawsuits during that period. Any information on the history of this company after his death would be appreciated. (The Gallery, Esther Bubley, Stores & Markets, WW2)
You Are Here: 1926
... but you're on the wrong side of the river. - Dave] Arlington House Look through the second truss from the left and you can see Arlington House, Robert E. Lee's old house in the middle of Arlington Cemetery. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2013 - 11:12am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Ford Motor Co." is all the caption says. Who can pinpoint our location using the visual clues provided? Extra credit for Street View links. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Same abutmentsIt looks as if the bridge itself has been replaced over the years, but the stone abutments appear to be original! East Potomac Park / Hains Point areaTaken on what is now Ohio Drive under the railway bridge with Long Bridge (over the Potomac) in the background. Ohio DriveIt's Ohio Drive Southwest with the two bridges next to the Potomac. It appears as though more bridges have been added between them. View Larger Map 14th Street BridgeLooks like this was taken along the Mount Vernon trail looking south, just under the 395/14th Street Bridge. [The right bridge, but you're on the wrong side of the river. - Dave] Arlington HouseLook through the second truss from the left and you can see Arlington House, Robert E. Lee's old house in the middle of Arlington Cemetery. Horse hitching post?Just to the right of the lamp post in the center of the photo is a smaller post with what looks like a short rope and loop. Is this possibly an equine hitching post, hardly used any more since these four-wheeled things came along? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo)
Parade Rest: 1865
... cemeteries,and several national ones, including Arlington. I always come away reminded of the imensity of the loss we have ... by the US Veterans Administration. Better than Arlington Cemetery! One of the more overlooked historical sites in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/09/2013 - 5:48pm -

Circa 1865. "Alexandria, Virginia, Soldiers' Cemetery." When the Civil War ended for these men: In 1861, 62, 63, 64 and 65. Wet plate negative. View full size. Awesome clarityFor a photo nearly 150 years old! God bless themand may they rest in the peace they earned - either side. Always sobering I have been to the local state veterans cemetery, many on-post cemeteries, a few battlefield cemeteries,and several national ones, including Arlington. I always come away reminded of the imensity of the loss we have suffered as a nation, to enjoy the liberties so many take for granted today. As was stated, may they rest in peace, and may they and their sacrifice never be forgotten. Present location?Wonder what's in that location now? A strip mall? [Alexandria National Cemetery. - tterrace] Similar current viewAlexandria National Cemetery dates back to 1862. It is a 5.5-acre site operated by the US Veterans Administration. Better than Arlington Cemetery!One of the more overlooked historical sites in Alexandria, it's one of the first national cemeteries, the wooden chapel has been replaced by a stone house, but the flag pole is still there. +150Below is the same view from October of 2015 (very close to what Larc posted previously). (The Gallery, Civil War)
Well Connected: 1922
... and debates of Congress through the Navy Air Station at Arlington." This is Harris & Ewing's version of the scene first glimpsed ... a National Photo glass plate. View full size. The Arlington (Virginia) station has also been on Shorpy before: ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/24/2013 - 9:05am -

December 19, 1922. Washington, D.C. "Rep. Vincent M. Brennan of Michigan listening in at his office to the debates on the floor of the House. Mr. Brennan has introduced a resolution providing for broadcasting to the country of the proceedings and debates of Congress through the Navy Air Station at Arlington." This is Harris & Ewing's version of the scene first glimpsed here four years ago in a National Photo glass plate. View full size. The Arlington (Virginia) stationhas also been on Shorpy before: https://www.shorpy.com/node/5457 a.k.a. NAA Arlington, Radio Fort Myer, Radio Virginia, The Three Sisters. The towers were dismantled in 1941 to clear the airspace around the then new Washington National Airport, but the base of one, up to the first "platform" was left standing for several more years. The land they occupied is now the "Towers Park", a doggy park. At least that's what he tells people-But he's probably really listening to Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. Tourist AttractionBased on this brochure, the towers rated as much attention as the monuments and cherry trees in those halcyon days of unrestricted airspace. (Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, The Office)
Moving to Florida: 1956
Taken at the end of December in Arlington, Virginia, as we hauled our belongings behind our 1950 Dodge, heading ... Dominion Cleaners is still around. Outta Dodge, er, Arlington. I love this color photo, as a product of the 70's myself I was ... 
 
Posted by JohnZ14 - 01/20/2011 - 1:21pm -

Taken at the end of December in Arlington, Virginia, as we hauled our belongings behind our 1950 Dodge, heading to our new home in West Palm Beach. Image is from a Kodachrome slide, taken by my grandfather. View full size. For better or worseThe house with the round window is actually the back of a church. Based on its appearance on streetview, it looks freshly-painted and well-maintained. The dry cleaner building has lost all of its charm, though. National Trailer Rentalis now National Trailer Leasing. You can see its trailers behind tractor trucks all over the county! We rented a trailer from them to move the other way, from Southern California to the Northwest back in 1963. I was in the third grade. Re: KodachromeI thought I'd mess around a bit in Photoshop to take a crack at approximating Kodachrome for EQJohnson in the shot. Don't think I made it. 55 Years LaterThe drycleaner is still there as are a gas station and the homes like the one with the round window (you have to move the view a bit to find that one). View Larger Map Re: re: Re: KodachromeOnce again tterrace proves that he's the Master of Imagery. Delivery TruckTo the right of the Cleaners is a two-toned brown and beige delivery truck. My dad's company had a whole fleet of those in two shades of blue with their logo on both sides -- Dolly Madison Cakes. The trucks took fresh commercial bakery products to grocery stores all over their areas, working out of a network of "thrift stores" in cities and towns of all sizes. The thrift stores were small company-owned stores that sold day-old and surplus baked goods; pretty much the "outlet" stores of their day. But the core of their operation was the retail distribution. And the design of those delivery trucks, like the one seen here, were brought back in the last decade in cars like the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR small truck. None of which has anything to do with this photo. Except that seeing that delivery truck made me think of it. Thanks for all the great memory-joggers Shorpy provides! re: Re: KodachromeHere's my stab at Kodachrome-izing timeandagainphoto's +55 shot. Careful thereWas wondering if you had extended mirrors for towing a trailer, but your Dodge doesn't have even a regular side mirror! (Although, as we can see from the other cars, side-view mirrors were hardly standard equipment back then, along with arm rests, dome lights and other things we take for granted today.) Main Street 1956I'm glad Dave moved this to the main gallery. It shows what a typical commercial district looked like at the time, before the storefronts got blandly "modernized." Also, look what this kind of climate does to cars: the 1952 Chevy on the left is only 4 years old, but it already looks like a wreck. The Ford at the right is in sad shape, too. Korean Chrome Material shortages brought on by the Korean War adversely affected the quality of the chrome on automobile trim in 1951-52-53. I believe that the underlying copper plating was what was lacking. Lee HighwayLower Cherrydale or Upper Roslyn. That section of Lee Hwy had the hills and houses uphill on the South side of the road. Between I-66 and new construction they are all gone now. Norman Rockwell eat your heart outDoesn't look at all like a photograph. This looks like a painting, particularly the way the gas station ends up on top of the frame and the road perspective leads into the center. Two tone Olds in dangerLooks to me like that two tone Oldsmobile directly ahead is in mortal danger. I recall that the brakes of the time were not altogether that impressive, and there is a bit of ice here and there. How times have changedWhat I find most striking about this photo is that a family of 3 (4?) could move themselves, with only a large trailer in tow. Today it takes at least a large rental truck, if not a full-sized moving van (or two). We seem to have entirely too much stuff these days (cue George Carlin). Go South, Young ManYour photograph says to me: Snow all around, you are South-bound: good choice! The rest of the storyFrom what I can remember, car paint did not hold its shine very long in those days and rust was a big problem. Our 1950 Dodge (only 6 years old) seemed very old to me as a child. You're right that side mirrors were not standard in those days. It truly is amazing that no extended mirrors were required for towing that trailer - or, if they were, we never were stopped for breaking the law. Many things that are standard today, were once options - even turn signals. We were a family of FIVE and my mother was pregnant (but we kids did not know that). A few months earlier my mother had hauled another trailer of family belongings to our new home. She used our 1956 Plymouth for that trip and took my 5-year-old sister with her. My father stayed home to work and to watch my other sister and me. Remarkably sameThese buildings on Lee Highway look very familiar. Old Dominion Cleaners is still around. Outta Dodge, er, Arlington.I love this color photo, as a product of the 70's myself I was always sure before me everything was black and white. I really want to take all these cars and put a buffer to them. I notice the paint is a bit duller, wonder if the old paint had clear coats back then. Anyone know where this is in town for a contemporary picture? They don't make them like they used to.I doubt any modern family sedan could pull that load that far. Great PhotoMal Fuller is exactly correct about the war-related problems with auto chrome! Also, base coat, clear coat paint started around the mid 1980s I believe, so Simoniz ruled the day! (note: the blurry black car above the green Olds is a 55 Pontiac Chieftain). Thought it was New EnglandTake away the cars, and you really couldn't tell if it was 1956 if you lived here in New England. Texaco uses the exact same logo as does Firestone. The storefronts and the houses in the back would all be right at home here in 2010 New England. Fluid-DriveThis just proves that if you don't know something's impossible it can be done in spite of it. That '50 Dodge with its 103 HP 230 cubic inch (3.7 litre) flathead six had all it could do to move itself empty, let alone with a thousand or more pounds added! Its Fluid-Drive transmission was one of the most inefficient drivetrains extant, with lots of slippage in all ranges. Maintaining even 50 MPH with that load would have required the pedal to the floorboard constantly with no reserve at all! Postwar chrome and brakesThe problem with immediate postwar chrome was a lack of nickel for the base coat, which was all being put into jet engines. Fortunately by the time they got around to making my 1951 MG saloon they seem to have sorted it and the chrome is still in excellent condition. Some late-40s MGs had black painted headlights because of the impossibility of chrome plating them. When I see cars of this period pulling heavy trailers and caravans, I wince. The brakes on my car are (still) awful and I can't believe that they were considered an improvement on pre-war brakes. On the other hand it was probably still possible to drive long distances at a steady 50 mph without gathering a queue of irate traffic behind. Second the New England commentOther than the wealth of classic Detroit iron, and the Texaco "banjo" sign (the last of which were phased out by the early '80s, as I recall), this could easily be Danbury, Connecticut, in the '90s, when I lived there. As for braking power: I wasn't around in '56, but is it possible the trailer had an inertia brake? Moving to FloridaI was thinking we had my brother's parakeet traveling with us, on this move to Florida. I'll have to check on this. Car Paint and RustA picture right out of my childhood, and it seemed to me autos did age a lot more quickly then. When I reached the age of cognition, my family's 1954 Ford sedan also appeared aged compared to other cars on the road (maybe because automobile styles were rapidly changing in the late 1950s, and definitely because of the quality of auto finishes then, which oxidized quickly and lost their luster without constant waxing and polishing). JohnZ14's mother certainly was a woman of great fortitude to make the trek to Florida on her own with a 5 year old in tow in the days before interstates, fast food restaurants, and rest areas! Not Only Lack of MirrorThe trailer only has one brake light on the driver's side. I thought I recognized thisI used to live in this neighborhood from 1994 to 2003. Neat to see how it looked 40 years prior to my being there. Nothing like Kodachrome film too. They're RegisteredThe most evocative thing is this picture for me is the "Registered Rest Room" sign at the Texaco station. You could stop with confidence if you saw that. Mom taking a trailerProps to your mother pulling a trailer with only your little sister with her. My grandmother would have, but my mom nor my wife would ever attempt such a feat. Downtown CherrydaleThe round-windowed "house" is indeed an old church - St. Agnes, which has moved up a block. The intersection is essentially the same today, most of the old buildings have been remodeled but are still there. When it snows you can squint and pretty easily pretend it's the 1950s. Lee HighwayMuch of Lee Highway still looks as if it's in mid-century time warp. The same can be said for Route 1. It always seems interesting to me that a place of such wealth can have shabby looking main thoroughfares. KodachromeComparing timeandagainphoto's very helpful shot with the original makes me yearn once again for that wonderful emulsion! This is CherrydaleRosslyn is several miles east, across the Potomac from Georgetown. I-66 is a couple of miles from here, and construction did not impact Cherrydale directly. I lived near this intersection of Quincy and Lee Highway/Old Dominion Drive for over 20 years, and it looks strangely much as it did in 1956, as one can see from Google street view. TrailerNotice the California plate on the trailer. It's been around the block a few times. The Grapes of Wrathin living color! +55I figured I'd swing by today and take a shot from the same perspective (below). It's looking southwest from in front of 2121 N. Quebec Street. JohnZ14 - while I was there, I thought your car may have been parked in next to or across the street from your house or that of your grandfather, so I took shots of those in case you were interested to see what they looked like today (they appear to be old enough to have been around then). The brown house is 2120 (just out of the frame behind and to the right of the trailer) and the grey house is 2121 (directly behind the photographer). (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Bingo Zimba: 1943
June 1943. Arlington, Virginia. "A soldier treating his date to a coke in the service shop at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work in the U.S. government for the ... to cavalry and other horse mounted personnel. Arlington Hall This is, no doubt, part of the Arlington Hall complex that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/27/2014 - 1:33pm -

June 1943. Arlington, Virginia. "A soldier treating his date to a coke in the service shop at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work in the U.S. government for the duration of the war." The Zimba Kola people (as well as the Coca-Cola Co., whose logo is barely visible above the machine) would probably be pained to see their products referred to as lowercase-generic "coke." Photo by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size. ShinyThe reflections of the couple on the shiny vending machine surface are a treat. Esther Bubley is our favorite slice-of-life photographer. What's in her left hand?Maybe the remnants of a cone with something good from the ice cream box against the wall. Bet there's a metal scoop in water somewhere out of view. In those days, a generous scoop of ice cream was only a nickel. Make mine butter pecan, please. "Lowercase-generic 'coke.' "Except that in parts of the country, "coke" IS generic for any kind of soda. "What do you want to drink?" "Coke" "What kind?" "Root beer..." TeamworkThe girl has him entranced in conversation and her partner is picking his pocket. V-MailThere are some real artifacts in this photo. For one, the "coke" machine dispenses fountain drinks into a cup, rather than cans or bottles. I vaguely recall using similar coin-op machines when I was a kid in the 1960s but haven't seen one since. And on the shelf is a display of V-Mail stationery. The wartime V-Mail system involved photographing the mail in the U.S., then shipping the negatives overseas where they were printed and sent on to the recipient. [V-Mail could also be sent back home by military personnel overseas. -tterrace] I remember those soda machines!They would often dispense the product first, then the cup. Stylin'Note the "bi-swing" back on the PFC's blouse. This was an option for officers of any branch (who were required to purchase their own uniforms) but for enlisted personnel, who were issued theirs from government stocks, generally restricted to cavalry and other horse mounted personnel. Arlington HallThis is, no doubt, part of the Arlington Hall complex that would ultimately move to Fort Meade as the National Security Agency. [Actually, it's not. - Dave] Me bad! Me Wrong! (The Gallery, D.C., Esther Bubley, WW2)
Strike Up the Band: 1925
"Arlington Beach." Circa 1925, the dance pavilion at the amusement park across ... Washington Post, May 23, 1925 Arlington Beach, Many Attractions Added, Opens Today Bathing Facilities ... to Accommodate 1,000 With many added attractions, Arlington beach, Washington's only bathing beach, located at the south end of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 10:46am -

"Arlington Beach." Circa 1925, the dance pavilion at the amusement park across the Potomac from Washington. National Photo glass negative. View full size. Replacing bulbsAn interesting structure for sure, requiring a lot of skilled labor to piece together all those angle joints. It appears this was lit with a series of small bulbs running up the underside of each truss. Probably gave a nice atmosphere but I wonder how they got up there to replace them which must have had to be done often. Does this structure still exist? [Torn down in 1929. - Dave] Disco Ball!And here I thought Disco balls dated from the Disco era. I wonder if that ball actually managed to survive into the Disco era, somehow. In case anybody wants one...those mirrored balls are still available for $34.99 at the party store. And I thought that we psychedelic hippies invented them. Dance pavilionsWhat memories. I think there were dance pavilions up to WW2. We would drive out from Detroit to Walled Lake with its dance pavilion and really enjoy the dancing. This was the summer of '41 before Pearl Harbor and it has not been the same since. Lions and Rotarians, and Shriners, oh my!I like the banners of all the lodges surrounding the ceiling. I can't imagine..the carpentry/framing skills required to build something like this.With all the odd angles and radial trusses,must of been quite a challenge, even for true craftsmen. Room for 1,000 Washington Post, May 23, 1925 Arlington Beach, Many Attractions Added, Opens Today Bathing Facilities Enlarged; Dance Pavilion to Accommodate 1,000 With many added attractions, Arlington beach, Washington's only bathing beach, located at the south end of the Highway bridge, will be opened today. With the Tidal basin closed, the bathing at the beach will be one of the leading attractions, and realizing this the management has announced that 2,500 new bathing suits, 4,000 new steel lockers and several shower baths have been added. The beach this year will be operated under the management of Jesse Thomas and Lloyd Schafffer. Mr. Thomas said no expense has been spared to make the park one of the leading amusement places of Washington this year. The leading Washington orchestra will furnish music for dancing in the pavilion, which will accommodate more than 1,000 persons. While the roller coaster will not be ready for the opening, work is being rushed, and it will be completed in a few days. Mr. Thomas said that the management this year will specialize in making Arlington beach a family resort and a place for all-day outings for clubs, schools, lodges and church societies. Ample room has been provided for parking. Thanks again, Shorpy!Once again, you have revealed a gem from the past. I marvel at all the man hours and wood that went into the construction of this big ol' barn. I can't help but wonder how the music sounded as it bounced off this cavernous structure with dancers on deck. I believe Brunelleschi himself would appreciate this dome. Breaker, breaker, for a Walled LakerAh, yes, good old Walled Lake: See it larger here. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
Down in the Dumps: 1923
... Dump? Washington Post, April 7, 1923. Arlington Hopes for End of Odors The construction of a new terminal at ... throughout the county at one time a committee from the Arlington county health department, made an investigation. The committees' ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/01/2012 - 12:12pm -

Washington, D.C., 1923. "Dump story." Wagons for hire; James Terry Express on the left. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Rosslyn Dump? Washington Post, April 7, 1923. Arlington Hopes for End of Odors The construction of a new terminal at Rosslyn for the Washington and Old Dominion railway and the filling in of the dirt incident to the grading around the structure is expected to decide the question of whether the disagreeable odors at Rosslyn are due to what is known as the “Rosslyn dump” or the packing plant and abattoir nearby. The cause of the odor has been subject of much conjecture among members of civic bodies throughout the county at one time a committee from the Arlington county health department, made an investigation. The committees' report was to the effect that the odors came from the dump. With the dirt filled in over the dump, it is expected the odor will disappear or be laid to the abattoir. (The Gallery, D.C., Horses, Natl Photo)
A's 8, Giants 2: 1913
... ballparks -- he has memories of Coogan's Bluff, I've got Arlington Stadium and the Astrodome. Polo Grounds cont'd I stand ... Luke Easter of the Old Negro Leagues did it, too. Arlington Stadium? Scribe 9999, Do you have a Kodachrome of Old ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:30pm -

October 9, 1913. The scene at the Polo Grounds in New York after the third game of the World Series. Philadelphia Athletics 8, New York Giants 2. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Polo Grounds RailroadThat should be the Ninth Avenue Elevated line... http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html Ow"Green River, The Whiskey Without a Headache" -- say, where do I get some of that? 'Cause the whiskey I'm drinking contains several headaches in every bottle. Railroad in backgoundDoes anybody know anything about the railroad that can be seen behind the left field wall? Its the 9th Avenue Elevated LineThe polo ground shuttle was merely the cut down remnant of the 9th Avenue Elevated line which had a station at the Polo Grounds as shown in this photo which shows the station with the stadium at the left... http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?47747 PS: It's interesting to see that one of my favorite brews "Bass Ale" was sold in the states as early as 1913! Train YardsThe trains seen in this photo are in a layup yard behind left field in the Polo Grounds. These trains were assigned to the 6th and 9th Ave els and were used during rush hours when more trains were required to handle the increased need. Polo Grounds ShuttleThere was a NYC Subway shuttle train that ran from 167th Street and Jerome Avenue to 155th Street and 8th Ave (the Polo Grounds stop). That could be the station in the picture. I believe it also went from 161st Street and River Avenue as well. Service was discontinued in 1958, about a year after the Giants moved to San Francisco. When the line was running it moved people from the Bronx or those who came uptown on the IND subway to the games. In another picture, it shows fans walking across the field. They were heading to the exits and the buses and trains. It was a great experience, today the security people won't let you anywhere near the turf. Polo Grounds ShuttleYes, the "Polo Grounds Shuttle" was the last functioning piece of the Ninth Avenue El. Same railway! Exiting the BleachersIf I remember correctly, there were staircases that led from the bleachers to the ground floor and you went out of the park, passing the turnstiles. The bleachers were behind the outfield, separated by the clubhouse (locker rooms etc) with 2 long staircases, one from the visitors side and the one on the right from the Giants side. The players entered the field from there. The distance from home plate to those bleachers was 505 feet, the only player I know of that hit one out was Richy Ashburn of the Phillies. Willie Mays patrolled center and caught just about anything that was hit there. The bullpens were also out there and when a pitcher was taken out, the walk to the mound seemed to take forever, and then he took the ball from the guy he was replacing and he had to walk back to the showers. At the end of their reign the Giants started using cars to transport them. Mel & RichieMel Ott is a New Orleans hometown hero. Yes, sadly he is not given enough ink. Richie Ashburn of the Phillies swung an extra heavy bat for a lead-off batter. That big bat helped him hit some very long balls. Speaking of Mel OttSpeaking of Mel Ott, he was one of my favorite players from the All-Time All-Star dice baseball game I had as an early teen, and is one of the greatest mostly-forgotten stars of the 20th century (I'd put Stan Musial first in that category). Ott has the distinction of having among the third most severe home/road power discrepancies -- 63% of his dingers came at home (Home Run Handbook via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ott ). The Polo Grounds helped Babe Ruth in his two greatest seasons of 1920 and 1921 too, as he perfected pulling balls right down that short right field line. Oh, the outfield wasn't completely doubled-decked. I envy Mr. Mel for having actually been to one of the classic old ballparks -- he has memories of Coogan's Bluff, I've got Arlington Stadium and the Astrodome. Polo Grounds cont'dI stand corrected, it wasn't Richy Asburn who hit the homer into the bleachers but Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. Hank Aaron also did it later. Outfield bleachersIt looks like the only way to get out of the outfield bleachers is to climb over the wall and drop down onto the field. re: Exiting the bleachersMr. Mel's memories are of the Polo Grounds following its 1923 reconfiguration when the entire outfield was double-decked. In 1911-1922 center field was "only" 433 feet from home plate. After expansion that weird notch in center field placed the clubhouse steps 483 feet from the plate. The 505-foot figure may have been to the scoreboard above the clubhouse. http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html has diagrams of the original (well, this was actually the FIFTH Polo Grounds!) and expanded configurations. Amazing that someone such as Richie Ashburn, with only 29 career home runs, could hit a ball out of his back yard, much less a major league stadium. Polo GroundsMy memories the stadium don't go back to a previous life. Two things I remember are the "505 feet" sign on the front of the single decked bleacher section and the "257 feet" sign high on the right-field wall. I saw my first baseball game there in 1943 or 44 and Mel Ott, my hero and namesake, popped one over that wall for a home run. That shot would have been a medium long foul ball in just about any other ballpark. A's won it all, right?Wasn't this the series where the upstart A's shocked the heavy favored Giants? There's an interesting story by Christy Mathewson about why the Giants lost that World Series. Into the BleachersSo did Lou Brock, then playing for the Cubs. I've also read that Luke Easter of the Old Negro Leagues did it, too. Arlington Stadium?Scribe 9999, Do you have a Kodachrome of Old Arlington Stadium? Or just the memories? I have several collages of Arlington Stadium that are really neat. I am trying to find different pictures of Arlington Stadium pre-1984 before the wrap-around scoreboard was added. Also, any wide shots of stadium before the Upper Deck/Plaza was added before the 1972 season and any pics with the old Texas Shaped scoreboard. You can shoot me an E-mail at buckynance@hotmail.com Thanks, Bucky Polo Grounds If I'm not mistaken Aaron never did it. If my memory serves me well the 3 people who hit it in the bleachers were Adcock, Orlando Cepeda and Lou Brock of all people! Hank AaronI found this by Googling Baseball Almanac Four sluggers have put a ball over the center field wall in the Polo Grounds (Version IV). Those sluggers are Luke Easter of the Negro Leagues in 1948; Joe Adcock on April 29, 1953; Lou Brock on June 17, 1962; and Hank Aaron on June 18, 1962. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Sports)
Triptych: 1917
Arlington, Virginia, circa 1917. "Radio." Masts for the Navy's wireless ... of early Navy wireless. The signal from NSS at Arlington was audible across the country. I used to hear it easily in ... Will Build 3 Towers U.S. Wireless Plant at Arlington to Eclipse Monument The construction of three wireless towers ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 3:19pm -

Arlington, Virginia, circa 1917. "Radio." Masts for the Navy's wireless station, built in 1912 at Fort Myer. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size. Questions Could it have been in contact with the Titanic, or was it too early? How about the Lusitania or other ships in distress? Was it used in WWI? What were its accomplishments? Wireless TelegraphyThe Navy's wireless communiques transmitted over the Fort Myer and Chollas triatic antennas, and well as ship to shore, were all sent with telegraph keys using Morse Code and naval encrypted telegraph codes. For the inaugural commissioning ceremony at Chollas Heights, a special sterling silver and ebony telegraph key was created by a local jeweler. Voice and other forms of data transmissions between these stations would come much later. Old FaithfulA concise history of early Navy wireless. The signal from NSS at Arlington was audible across the country. I used to hear it easily in Kansas.... the rhythm of dah-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit remains in my memory like a favorite song. [I think you linked to the wrong article. - Dave] Fort Myer's Twin SisterIn 1917 the triatic antenna at Fort Myer was linked to a series of similar wireless station antennas that allowed the Navy to communicate with Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. San Diego provided the transcontinental relay to Hawaii with the Navy's 600-foot triatic antenna at Chollas Heights (a few miles east of San Diego Bay), seen here in a San Diego Historical Society "Journal" image. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Chollas antenna relayed the news from Pearl Harbor to Fort Myer, and remained in use until the 1970s. It was demolished about 8 years ago to make way for a naval housing project. The three 600-ft. towers supported a solid copper wire, the actual antenna element, suspended vertically between them from the top level down to a radio room on the ground. Those little horizontal catwalks at the top of each tower in both photos were 32 feet wide. Naval Dreams Navy Will Erect a 600-Foot Tower at Fort Myer A powerful wireless telegraph station of the navy, capable of communicating with naval vessels 2,000 and possibly 3,000 miles distant from Washington, will be erected at Fort Myer. The high-power plant will be designed to keep the headquarters of the American navy in close touch with war vessels in the Atlantic Ocean. It has been the dream of naval officials for years to erect such a station in the environs of the National Capital. At one time it was suggested that a wireless mast for the purpose be constructed on top of the Washington monument, but strenuous objections were raised to the proposition, and several sites have been suggested since and discarded. .... Washington Post, Mar 27, 1911 Will Build 3 Towers U.S. Wireless Plant at Arlington to Eclipse Monument The construction of three wireless towers to be erected on the government reservation at Arlington by the Navy Department will mark a new era in electricity. The towers will be arranged in the form of an isosceles triangle, the central one being at the apex and standing 600 feet over all. The other two towers will be each 450 feet in height and self supporting; that is, there will be no guy ropes of any kind reaching from one tower to another. Some idea of the massiveness of the frame work in the towers may be gathered from the fact that 900 tons of steel will be used in the construction. Notwithstanding this fact, they will not be bulky, but will present a pleasing appearance of a delicate cobweb tracery against the skyline. The original plan called for towers of reinforced concrete, but as one of the structures will be higher than the Washington Monument, patriotic naval officials decided that a change of idea would be necessary to avoid detracting from the memorial to the first president. ... Washington Post, Jun 13, 1911 War of the Worlds!Three machines, striding across the misty landscape and the leader, with arms outstretched, about to tromp on an unsuspecting household. VLF transmittersVery few are left. There's one preserved in Sweden, still used one day every year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimeton_VLF_transmitter What a rare treat ! I love this!I am the radio System Manager for Arlington County, Virginia, and I needed to thank you for the photos at Fort Myer, in San Diego, and the newspaper article from 1911! To be able to peer into 1917 and see those towers is a gift. We cannot build towers in our urban Arlington any longer, but must use existing office buildings for our radio sites. Thank you for this, it is meaningful in so many ways. I only wish my grandfather were here to ask if he remembered them!! A big thanks to my co-worker, Paul, who found this site. TimeclockThe Arlington, Va. towers sent out a regular time signal from the clock at the National Observatory. Weather reports were also broadcast. Permitting others to synchronize with an official time was significant. Time of day is a subtle empire thing. You just cannot imagine the difficulty created when there is no settled arbiter to declare the top of the hour. ["Subtle empire"? - Dave] San Diego tower sistersI was in San Diego and watched a similar set blown up in the 90s. They were the ones that had recieved and passed on the news from Pearl Harbor. (The Gallery, Harris + Ewing)
Lucky Ducks: 1927
... November 20, 1908 (in Northern Virginia), died (still in Arlington, Virginia), July 27, 1998. She seems to have lived most of her life ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 4:25pm -

April 21, 1927. "Do ducks swim? Misses Eugenia Dunbar and Mary Moose." The main focus here is of course the horse trough, once a common item of street furniture in many big cities. National Photo glass negative. View full size. Ducks in a RowMiss Eugenia sure is lovely, no denying, but Miss Mary looks like a better time on a 1927 Saturday night. Bathtub GinnyGreat photo. It sums up the dissipation of the 1920s just about as well as can be done. Absolutely Gorgeous!The girl on the left is STUNNING! Man I'm hooked on this website! Puts Marilyn to shameI am captivated by Miss Dunbar's feminine charms; her beauty is that of Pallas Athena and Venus together. The TroughPutting aside the obvious va-va-voom comments for the cutie on the left, I'd like to ask about the trough. (God I must be getting old!) Did someone have to fill these daily? (I'm guessing the Fire Dept.) It looks like there's a compartment on the end, maybe for ice to melt slowly through the day? It's strange to think that may have been someone's job once. [These were plumbed and self-filling, with what looks like a covered float valve at the far end. - Dave] Wow!Two beautiful women, especially Miss Dunbar. You mean there are ducks in the picture? Fun FactDipping a hat in a horse trough is a crime in Mayberry, North Carolina. Eugenia's PoetryEugenia won a poetry contest in the Washington Post. I can't find any other information about her. The listed home address, at 1755 P NW, was close to Dupont Circle. The curved curbstones in the photo suggest that might be where the photo was taken. Life's Stage. (Winner of $1 Prize.) The dance is on, and the dancers      Drift out in the hall As leaves are blown by the west wind      In autumn after they fall. Some look o'erjoyed and carefree      And smile and laugh as they talk While others look overburdened and careworn      Like a withered rose on the walk. The music begins and the joyous      Float into the lands of dreams. And the sad shake their sorrowing heads and say:      "Life is not what it seems." Why be so withered and careworn,      Thinking only upon your sorrow; Why not join in life's little play      And think not yet of tomorrow? So let's help build this wonderful stage,      Let's aid in this great erection, And let each actor in life's game      Play his part to perfection Eugenia Dunbar (17) 1755 P street northwest. Washington Post, Sep 26, 1926 A Great ShotWOW -- Then as now, a photographer will use any pretense to photograph a beautiful woman! Re the horse trough, in the late forties and early fifties there were still horses hauling goods around D.C., and these cast iron troughs were all over the downtown area. Lor' luv a duck!These are a pair of nice-looking birds! Where's the SPCA?Ya daft preeverts! Everyone's looking at the girls and not the poor ducks with ropes tied around their necks! Ms EugeniaNo question here, Eugenia is a timeless knockout. "Nanny"Sometimes it's hard to get a decent guideline as to how old a person truly is from these older photos, but this one hits just right. My wife's grandmother, Nanny, is about to turn 100 at the end of March (yes, there will be a big party); my daughter will be turning 18 in June. It just so happens that Miss Mary and Miss Eugenia here would be the same age as Nanny, give or take a few months, having been born in 1909, as these two were. They are at the same age in this photo, roughly, as my daughter. Those are a couple of cuties, all right, but they both might, like Nanny, have now over 80 descendants. But as cute as they both were, I bet they had some fun times for the next two and a half years, with no lack of male attention during that era of copious money and speakeasy gin. Duck on a leashThose are some strict leash laws! I wish Toronto had a law like that. Nothing is worse than trying to walk down a street and having your ankles accosted by ducks amok. I haven't seen a horse trough in years. The city tore out the last ones back in the early 90s near St. Lawrence Market when the condo dwellers complained about hobos bathing in them. In love with a ghostMiss Eugenia Dunbar, wow! I think I am in love. Born in the wrong time. Does anyone else have any info on her? [She rhymed. - Dave] Big Ol' LoveShe's a spitting image of Jeanne Tripplehorn, or vice versa. QuackedWhat I see here are four real "flappers." Nice. Thanks. What time of year is this?I notice the attractive young ladies have coats and it appears the wind is blowing but the two younger girls in the back are wearing sundresses. The trough reminds me of my paternal grandfather. He drove horse drawn beer wagons for many years because not for tradition; his brother-in-law owned the warehouse and he was a drunken Irishman. My other grandfather was a railroad conductor, luckily I caught the train bug and not the drinking bug. There is so much to notice about our history in everyday photographs. Thank you for cleaning up and sharing these unique glimpses into history but also allowing us to comment. If you subtract everything ...from this photo except Miss Eugenia - dressed just as she is - it looks like a photo of a young woman taken only yesterday. I have seen my own 30+ year old daughter-in-law dressed nearly identically, and the hair style is in no way dated. Now that is rare in a photo that is 80 years old. A new dimensionBeautiful and talented, our Miss Dunbar was. I think it's interesting to see another dimension of someone who was never a celebrity (not that I'm aware of, anyway), but just a regular person. Do you think she imagined that a poem she penned for a newspaper contest to win a dollar would be read 80-odd years later? Not Dickinson, but pretty darn good for a 17-year-old. There's some really good imagery there in the first stanza. It is certainly better than anything I might have composed when I was 17. Of course, one now wonders what sort of hidden talents did her friend Mary have? Eugenia and MaryEugenia Dunbar, born April 18, 1909, died September 13, 2000, Pasadena California. Eugenia was living somewhere in Wisconsin during the mid 1930s or early 1940s. Mary Moose: This might not be her, but it could be. Mary Moose, born April 27, 1909, died sometime in January, 1981 in Tennessee. That Mary fits a lot of the patterns, but she was both born in Tennessee, was again living in Tennessee in the late 1930s-1940s period, and died there. If that's not our Mary, then I think her name is slightly misspelled, and it's actually Mary MUSE, born November 20, 1908 (in Northern Virginia), died (still in Arlington, Virginia), July 27, 1998. She seems to have lived most of her life in the DC area. [After these girls got married, which seems likely, they'd have different names. Which is the reason it's hard to dig up reliable information about women when all you have to go on is a maiden name. Dunbar and Moose are mostly likely the married names of Pasadena Eugenia and Tennessee Mary. - Dave] Eugenia and Mary againDave, I looked them up by their birth names. This was the only Eugenia Dunbar that came up, so I'm pretty confident in that one. [Where was Eugenia born? - Dave] Right for meIt looks like I am the only one more smitten by the girl on the right. A real ringer - MaryIf I didn't know better, I'd swear that Mary Moose above was the woman I dated for nearly 2 years at the beginning of this decade. Her name was Marie - she was 24 years old when we started dating, 5' 3", about 110 pounds, short light auburn hair, big piercing blue/gray eyes and identical features to Ms. Moose. Shoot, they even dress(ed) the same when stepping out. What a jaw dropper seeing this picture - Marie passed away from throat cancer at the age of 29 in late 2007. Just a touchingly timeless image, at least for me. Thanks again for the wonderful work, Dave. Eugenia DunbarI also found Eugenia Dunbar's Pasadena death record, so I immediately requested the obit from the Pasadena library. They said it takes three weeks. Who knows, maybe she didn't get married, or otherwise kept her maiden name. I am hoping the obit will confirm whether she's the one. From ducks to flamingos?The Las Vegas Sun and the Las Vegas Review-Journal of April 21, 1999 each had an obit for a Eugenia Dunbar McCall, age 95. Obviously I don't know if she's the same person, but "she was a retired Flamingo Hilton showroom waitress of more than 30 years." Somehow I can picture this Eugenia ending up at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. Birds of a FeatherEugenia is too young to have been the Flamingo dancer. If she was 17 in September 1926, she was born in 1908 or 1909. Your showgirl was born in 1904, and I don't believe any showgirl would add five years when telling her age! Lucky Ducks Take 2I found another photograph of Misses Dunbar and Moose here. The second picture was taken just before or after the one here on Shorpy; their poses (including those of the ducks) have barely changed. What has changed is that both ladies are looking into camera with rather sultry expressions – oh you kid(s)! It is interesting that the quality of this second picture is far poorer than Shorpy’s standard (it’s fuzzy with too much contrast) despite the site’s rather pleasing magnifying feature. It just goes to remind me what an outstanding site Shorpy is – cheers Dave! [That image was made from a print, as opposed to ours, which comes from the original negative. - Dave] Wow, and double wowI wouldn't mind a date with either one of these beauties, although I'm kind of partial to Eugenia. Pick her up in the old Essex for a malt at the corner drug store, a couple of hours at a dance (maybe the one mentioned in her poem?), and then down to the local motion picture palace to catch the latest Clara Bow movie. Eugenia DunbarThis is Joe Manning. A few weeks ago, I requested the obituary for a Eugenia Dunbar, who died in Pasadena, CA, and was born in 1909. Bad news. The obit is not available. The only other scrap of info is this: In the 1920 census, there is a Rossie Dunbar, born in 1909 in North Carolina, attending the Industrial Home School in Washington, DC. That's the only Dunbar, born about 1909, in the 1920 DC Census. Anybody got any ideas? Eugenia graduatesIn the June 23, 1923, Washington Post, Eugenia is listed as graduating from the Peabody-Hilton School to Eastern High. Photographer?Does anyone know who the photographer was? [The National Photo Service. - Dave] Dupont Circle / Leiter MansionThanks to research by Wikipedia user AgnosticPreachersKid, we can confirm the location is definitely the east side of Dupont Circle. The building in the background is the left side of the Leiter mansion, which until 1947 stood at the northeast corner of the circle. It's now the site of the Dupont Plaza Hotel, formerly known as Jurys Washington Hotel. Links: photo of the mansion exterior · blog post about the mansion · blog post about the site · Levi Leiter bio @ Wikipedia. I suspect the streets have been widened since 1927; Google Street View today seems to show a narrower sidewalk at the location where the ladies would've been positioned: View Larger Map The sidewalks on Sheridan Circle, a few blocks away, are twice as wide, and more closely resemble the one in the photo. But there's no denying the photo was taken at Dupont Circle; too many details match up - tree branches, railed fence, fence column, balcony, position of street lamp; the shrubs were missing in 1927, but that's about it. Olivia Eugenia "Gena" Dunbar Snell (1909-1967)Many thanks to Erin Blakemore, professional genealogist Shanna Jones, and Gena's nephew Edward H. Dunbar, Jr. and his mom for their assistance with this research! I'd love to be able to say "Gena loved to..." but unfortunately, Edward Jr. says the relatives who could've filled in the gaps in her biography and told us more about her life & interests have all died. Olivia Eugenia "Gena" Dunbar was born in Augusta, Georgia, on March 25, 1909, to William M. Dunbar Jr. and Carrie Eugenia Johnson. Gena was the first of six children (three boys and three girls), none of whom are living now. She turned 18 just one month before the photo was taken. Her youngest sibling, Edward, was about two years old at the time of the photo. He died at age 83 at the end of 2008, a mere two weeks before the photo was posted on Shorpy. Gena's mom, Carrie, was from a well-respected family in Gainesville, Georgia. Carrie's father, Fletcher Marcellus Johnson Sr. (1858-1914), was a judge, and her mother, Elizabeth Eugenia Sullivan (1861-1893), was a college professor. This branch of the Dunbar family was from Richmond County, Georgia (Augusta area), and nearby Barnwell & Edgefield counties, S.C. In the mid-1920s, Gena's parents had temporarily settled in Washington, D.C., where William was working as a Maxwell House coffee salesman. Gena's nephew, Edward H. Dunbar Jr., says, "I was told that part of his job was the introduction of an 'instant' coffee product ... an endeavor which did not meet with success at that time," but concedes "I don't know about the accuracy of this. My father, who had a genuine interest in family history, also could exercise a rather impish sense of humor from time to time." His mother, though, confirms the story. Instant coffee existed but didn't really catch on until after World War 2. Gena eventually married William Edward Snell (b. Sept. 21, 1905), whose family was from Gwinnett County near Atlanta, home to Snellville. Thereafter, Gena was known as Gena or Eugenia D. Snell. On May 19, 1932, she gave birth to their only son, William Edward "Bo" Snell, Jr., who eventually graduated from the University of Georgia and became a lawyer. Gena's mom died at age 69 on June 5, 1955, in Augusta. Gena's husband died in Cobb County (Marietta area) at age 56 on Dec. 22, 1961. Gena herself died in Atlanta at age 58 on Nov. 17, 1967. Her son Bo died in Bar Harbor, Maine, at age 63 on Feb. 26, 1995. Melancollic StrangerBy lucky I get into this site, found this photo and suddenly I feel rarely sad and ... small (pequeño). I don't know how to explain, I don't even speak english very well. And is just this picture, I was captivated by it, it's so clear, so close. And then I see that date, and is so hard for me to accept that everything is gone, that she is not there, right know, with that smile. I'm not even suppose to be here, doing this, there is so much work to do, however I can't help my self, I needed to write this. Duck speed on landIt just struck me as funny that these girls have leashes on the ducklings. Back on the farm I would often see our two ducks waddling toward the barn, as I set out to get the cow and take her into the barn to milk her. By the time I was headed back to the house with the milk, or about 20 minutes later, the ducks would have waddled about five yards. Had those ducklings decided to make a run for it, I don't think the girls would have had much trouble catching them! SHE IS MY TWINOkay, the girl on the left looks just like me, it's crazy! Quacking another Mystery.The ducks are named "Diddles" (Dunbar) and Tommie (Moose), according to the caption from Acme Newspictures. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Animals, D.C., Natl Photo, Pretty Girls)
Memorial Bridge: 1931
Washington, D.C., circa 1931. "Construction of Arlington Memorial Bridge over Potomac River." Acetate negative by Theodor ... Hoover and Party Inspect New Span Workings of Arlington Bridge Viewed by Officials, With Grant as Guide President ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/18/2019 - 4:08pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1931. "Construction of Arlington Memorial Bridge over Potomac River." Acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size. The Drawbridge of DignitariesAt the time of the Memorial Bridge's design, planners anticipated a dock for berthing the ocean-going ships of foreign dignitaries visiting Washington, D.C. Such ships would ply their way up the Potomac River and through the drawbridge span, shown in detail here. Immediately upstream of the bridge was a dock featuring a sweeping array of steps on the river's eastern bank up to the Lincoln Memorial. This dock was seldom if ever used, and is now gone. The steps are still there, however, serving as the extreme western limit of the Mall. [Steps perhaps better known as the Watergate. - Dave] Bridge on the River PotomacBeautiful shot. It gives a look at construction methods of the day. I love the perspective given by the three guys under the bridge. Do any DC Shorpsters know the building on the left edge of the frame? [It's the Lincoln Memorial. Next up for identification: That big building down the street with the humongous dome. - Dave] Really builtSo wonderfully built, it should have been named the Thisbe Memorial Bridge. Giant StepsThe steps are so still there, past the Watergate Hotel, Kennedy Center and the volleyball courts. They're used most often now by folks adding a little more aerobics to their jog. I've always wanted to know their purpose. [They are the "water gate" that the Watergate is named after. - Dave] Views from the bridgeCrossing the bridge in to DC you see a beautiful view of the Lincoln Memorial, crossing in to Virginia you see the old Lee mansion. It's even better at night, and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Watergate concertWhen I was stationed there in the late 1950's those watergate steps were used for musical concerts. A barge was placed at the foot of the steps for the stage. Having very little money in those days, my wife and I were very appreciative of what we were able to observe for free. The entertainment was first-rate. The airplanes flying into Washington National were very noisy but we loved it. Like a RockLooks like a proper stone bridge when you cross it. Wear good shoes...Geezer, you will be stunned. I did just the same thing last week. The city -- especially the Mall and surroundings -- is incredibly walkable. No matter who is temporarily occupying those iconic buildings, the history, majesty, power, and beauty of DC was overwhelming--especially at and after sundown. I was a bit unprepared for the emotions I experienced. I wish every citizen could spend a day there at least once in their life. Up and DownThis is the draw span under construction. The Potomac was navigable to Georgetown, north of Memorial Bridge. Until the Roosevelt Bridge was built upstream, Memorial would be opened for river traffic. There was an oil dock in Rosslyn across the river from Georgetown where coastal tankers would make deliveries through the '50s. See for myselfThat does it. My bride and I just talked it over and we're going to DC in two weeks to walk over this bridge and then spend a week wandering around and filling big gaps in our knowledge of our nation's capital. Dave, it was your reply to my comment that did it. I'm an American; I should have recognized the Lincoln Memorial. Who Knew?As an area resident, I consider myself pretty well up to speed on lots of the trivial parts of DC, but I can't say I knew Memorial Bridge could open. There's a great shot at the LOC website. Massive ProjectAs noted by other commenters below, I had no clue that this bridge contained a moveable lift section in the middle. It is a testament to the beautiful design that such basic functionality could be so well disguised. Not to nitpick, but since Hoover witnessed the spans raising at the time of the following article (January 1931), I would venture that the date of this photo is more likely to be circa 1930. Washington Post, Jan 23, 1931 Hoover and Party Inspect New Span Workings of Arlington Bridge Viewed by Officials, With Grant as Guide President Hoover yesterday inspected the nearly completed memorial bridge which spans the Potomac River between the Lincoln Memorial and the Robert E. Lee home in the Arlington National Cemetery. He was accompanied by Vice President Curtis, Speaker Longworth, Lieut. Col. U.S. Grant 3d and others connected with the huge project. The President stood in the middle of the bridge and watched the giant spans operated. Then he went to the control rooms of the bridge to watch the machinery slowly and soundlessly lower the two giant leaves of the bascule bridge. The control rooms are in the central pier of the bridge, partly below the water line of the river. They are reached by a stairway leading down from the bridge surface. The President and the inspection group then waled to the Virginia side, where the bridge enters the Arlington Cemetery, athte base of the hill on which the Lee mansion stands. After the inspection the President returned to his desk at the White House. His only comment on the trip was, "It is a massive project." Open and ShutThe draw span for Memorial Bridge was welded shut about forty years ago. The bridge no longer opens. D.C. SojournMy wife and I are visiting Washington this week and we walked over this bridge last night around sunset. With the gold bridge statues and the Lincoln Memorial behind them, it was quite a sight. The whole D.C. experience is very emotional, as DJ noted. It is my wife's first visit to her adopted country's capital and it has been an incredible experience for her. Thanks for the prompting, Dave, it was your comment that got me out of NYC and down to D.C. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, D.C., Theodor Horydczak)
Amex: 1910
... Bernardino Valley Traction Company and the Riverside & Arlington Railway Company, which comprise the Huntington system, is undoubtedly ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 5:23pm -

Circa 1910. "American Express Co., Main and Sixth." Just steps away from the Aseptic Barber Shop. Who can tell us what city we're in? View full size. Pacific Electric Building, Los AngelesThis is the Pacific Electric Building (or Huntington Building) at 6th and Main in Los Angeles, California. You can see intertwined Ps and Es in the column capitals at the cornice. And, amazingly enough, still there! Main & SixthIt's Sixth Street, not State, but I have no idea what city. On state streetthat great street, I just want to say, they do things they don't do on Broadway. Chicago? [I goofed in typing "State." Should have been "Sixth." - Dave] It's the Huntington BuildingIt's the Huntington Building in Los Angeles. "W.M.Garland & Company" was the clue." Pacific Power and LightPortland? Amex 1910 locationThe lampposts ("5-Globe Llewelin") indicate downtown L.A., unless the design was used elsewhere. But I don't believe so. West CoastI would guess Los Angeles as there is a Pacific Light and Power sign on one of the windows in the building. Dual gauge in L.A.It's Los Angeles. The tipoff (for me at least) is the dual-gauge streetcar track -- 3'6" for the city streetcars of the Los Angeles Railway; standard gauge for the interurbans of the Pacific Electric. I'm going to guess Los AngelesWe're on S. Main Street. Pacific Light and Power Company in one of the windows is a clue we're on the west coast. The real clue are the offices of W. M. Garland Company Real Estate. Mr. Garland was a commercial developer in Los Angeles. He was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1932. That's my final answer. Los AngelesI believe this is the old Pacific Electric building on Sixth and Main. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric_Building In Los AngelesThis is the Pacific Electric Building in Los Angeles. Lazy AnswerMy limited research leads me to guess that the city we're looking for is Kingston, New York. Still There Too!Here it is today. City Of AngelsDowntown Los Angeles. The actual building was called the Pacific Electric Building. AlohaI'm going to guess Honolulu based on the "Pacific Power and Light" sign in an upper window. That Toddling TownI gotta say it's Chicago. InterurbanPacific Electric Building in Los Angeles, CA American ExpressThat building, I believe, is the one on Broadway in NYC. Los AngelesI think this is L.A. Could it besunny Los Angeles? The Magic 8 Ball saysLos Angeles. My bet is on San FranciscoThis is obviously just a local branch office, and a window on an upper floor says "Pacific". And, the number of streetcars. Los AngelesCorner of W. Sixth and S. Main, Los Angeles. All three buildings still there. We are in Los AngelesSixth and Main, Los Angeles. That is the Edendale streetcar line. Los AngelesThe building is the Pacific Electric headquarters at 6th and Main, in Los Angeles. More here. Sitting downBet there isn't a bloke sitting on a stool in the intersection now. More importantWhy is there a man who appears to be holding a newspaper sitting on a chair in the middle of the street? Perhaps the officer is telling him to "move along now, nothing to see here." Trolleys left their markThe attachments where the various wires and cable were are still visible on the building. View Larger Map Follow the trolley toEdendale. AlwaysWonderful to know where you are! But who is that sitting on a stool, in the middle of the interesection, next to the policeman? And why? Pacific Electric Railway Terminal The National Magazine, 1908 The Huntington Interests The lines operated by the Los Angeles Railway Company, the Pacific Electric, the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway Company, the Los Angeles & Redondo Railway Company, The San Bernardino Valley Traction Company and the Riverside & Arlington Railway Company, which comprise the Huntington system, is undoubtedly the greatest system of street and inter-urban railways in the world. It consists of over 500 miles of standard gauge line, reaching from Alpine (Mount Lowe), a mile above the sea, to the south coast ocean resorts, and penetrates all the valleys in the beautiful country adjacent to Los Angeles. … The Pacific Electric Railway was the name adopted by the corporation managing the suburban electric lines of the Huntington system, Mr. Huntington having acquired the line to Pasadena and outlining the plan for an extensive system of suburban railways reaching out from Los Angeles in every direction. Since then there have been completed electric railroads to practically every city and town of importance in Southern California and to the thriving beach resorts tributary to Los Angeles as a center. … One of the most enduring monuments to his public spirit and enterprise is the mammoth Pacific Electric Building of Los Angeles, a building of nine stories, with eleven acres of floor space and which is the terminal station for the wonderfully perfect inter-urban system. This is the largest structure of its kind west of Chicago, and was completed in December, 1904. The American Architect and Building News, 1908 The Pacific Electric Building, and the Jonathan Club Roof Garden, Los Angles, Cal. The rooms and roof garden of the Jonathan Club, on the upper stories of the Pacific Electric Building, at Los Angeles, were an afterthought. At the time the external character of the building was determined by Mr. Thornton Fitzhugh, the architect, the contracts let and the construction work well advanced, no thought had been given to the adaptation of the upper floors for club purposes. This problem was therefore a most difficult one, not only because the changes involved were many and complicated, but owing to official dictation and limitations imposed, the result is one in many respects quite at variance with what would have been accomplished had the architect been allowed freer rein in his work. None the less the Pacific Electric Building presents characteristics that would entitle it to some measure of recognition if built in the largest cities. Its proportions for a city the size of Los Angeles are unusual and its equipment such as will meet every condition of a first-class office building. The building stands on a plot 285x211 feet, and is nine stories high. The total floor space is more than twelve acres, and exceeds in area the Broad Exchange Building in New York, which is 21 stories high. The structure was erected for the Pacific Electric Railway Co. The basement has a clear floor space of 58,000 feet and is designed for use as a freight depot. The main floor ceiling is thirty feet high, supported by cement columns. Through an opening sixty feet high, spanned by a cement girder eight feet deep, the cars enter the building. The upper stories from the second to the sixth inclusive are devoted to offices. There are ninety-nine offices on each floor, or a total of 594 in all. No office is less than twenty by fifteen feet, and they range in size to a maximum of sixty by thirty feet. All three still there!the building on the right looked very modern in 1910, all simple and light. Another vote for LAThe streetcar on the left side of the image says, "Edendale," which was a neighborhood in old Los Angeles. Imagine an LA with ..."completed electric railroads to practically every city and town of importance in Southern California and to the thriving beach resorts." I'll think of that during my commute. Familiar!It looks very much the same today, though I doubt the chap on the stool in the middle of Main Street would find his perch as comfortable today. Before the credit cardWhat was American Express' main line of business? [Express is short for "express mail." Express companies like Adams Express and American Express were businesses similar to UPS or FedEx, relying mostly on the railroads for speedy delivery. American Express specialized in services to travelers -- travelers checks and money orders. The window gives some clues. - Dave] The loneliest man in the worldI love it when a shot of an old building includes a person looking out a window. This one's a classic. You should see insideI worked on a couple of movies in the late '90s inside the abandoned Pacific Electric building. What an amazing space. I wandered all through the building and stumbled into what I was told was Huntington's private office -- awesome, massive, with unbelievable marble stairways. In "Gang Related" worked on one scene right around where the streetcar is shown here coming out of the garage. In the scene was Tupac Shakur, who appeared to be somewhat inebriated. It wasn't too much longer after that that he was murdered in Las Vegas. Yay LAIt's great to see a photograph of Los Angeles on Shorpy. I will have to take a look at this spot this weekend and stand at this corner. There's a great restaurant down the street on 4th and Main called Pete's with great Mac and Cheese. No Traffic ControlWow, no stop sign or anything. I also like the seat on the front of the trolley on Sixth. Does one pay extra to be out in front? 610 South MainIt is indeed the PE Building, later the Southern Pacific’s general offices in Los Angeles. I worked there in the late 1970's and early 1980's when the Red Cars were long gone and the street-level station was turned into a parking lot. Our disptaching office controlled traffic betweeb Yuma, AZ and Fresno /San Luis Obispo, CA. Downstairs it was interesting to park one's car next to marble-covered columns. Working rotating shifts I sometimes had to step over a local citizen or two sleeping on the sidewalk. The building closest to the viewer on the left was the Santa Fe's offices and across the street out of view to the right was the Continental Trailways bus depot. The top floors of the PE building housed a handsome two-storey atrium - perhaps Mr Huntingdon's offices. We had a “Watch Inspector” (a man who sold and serviced approved railroad timepieces) in the building and I bought a Ball Trainmaster wristwatch from him for about $120. Years later it cost that much just to have it cleaned. Understand the neighborhood is much nicer now and this building is a condominium. StillWanna know what's up with the seated person in the middle of the intersection! (The Gallery, DPC, Los Angeles, Streetcars)
The Unknown Soldier: 1863
... from Iraq or makes press coverage of military funerals in Arlington cemetery almost impossible. [That's not quite the situation. ... to do with whether you can take pictures of coffins at Arlington, or news coverage of funerals there, which are covered all the time.- ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 8:58pm -

Circa 1861-1865. "Unknown location. Embalming surgeon at work on soldier's body. From photographs of artillery, place and date unknown." Wet plate glass negative, photographer unknown. Library of Congress. View full size. Take a good lookThis, along with the color picture of the sailor treated for burns received at Pearl Harbor, is part of war. It must be faced squarely. In fact, if we don't look at pictures like these, we are disrepecting the fallen. I think it was Sherman who said, "It is good that war is so terrible, or we should become too fond of it". My vote Dave, is more of these types of images, not less. Spare me this photoI can appreciate that this old photo is from the civil war, however, seeing the remains of a young man being embalmed is somewhat macabre and disrespectful to a soldier who bravely served his nation. This is not a battlefield photo. There is no dignity in this photo. You also run photos from the sixties. I don't think you would feature a photo of a young Marine being embalmed in Vietnam. [No, we wouldn't. But in a hundred years we might. - Dave] Solemn reflectionI believe there is dignity in any photo of any soldier, dead or alive. Most people who visit Shorpy reflect upon photos like this with proper and due respect. Also with an acute awareness of what this young man, and others like him, sacrificed. In other words, most people here know this isn't posted for the shock value. This just isn't that type of site. "It is good that war is so terrible"That quote was from Robert E. Lee, not Sherman. Sherman's famous quotes on the war include "I can make Georgia howl" and "war is hell" (which he actually said several years after the war). I agree with anonymousWar is harsh. Too many of our generation think it's glorified and great. Being raised on video games and movies that don't show actual consequences, it's important to see it. Fits the new tag line"Always something interesting" ... boy, you said it! This is a great image for a number of reasons, the grit of our human plight never fails to impress me. thanks, jonny We need to be remindedI agree with posting this photo, as well as the battlefield photo of the other day. That one has haunted me since seeing it, thinking of the millions of people who have died in wars since then. Here we have a photo of a dead man, who otherwise would be thinking about his family, dinner, next season's crops. Instead, those who remain behind must do without him. I do think there are necessary wars, but we must remember what going to war means. Civil War RequiemFrom a series of photos that appeared here a few months ago. War's WindfallThis photo is featured in Drew Gilpin Faust's "This Republic of Suffering" (Knopf, 2008) along with a detailed account of America's "new relationship with death" as the result of the estimated 620,000 solders killed or lost to disease in the Civil War. Faust reports this staggering number is approximately equal to the total American fatalities in the Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War combined. Some historians estimate that nearly 50,000 civilians also lost their lives as a result of Civil War military action. Never before, or since, has America endured so many deaths to a single cause. If a comensurate proportion of deaths hade occurred in World War II, Americans would have lost 6 million soldiers. Faust's fascinating book recounts the cultural and societal impacts of the Civil War's dead. Emblaming was a new technology in the 1860's and there seems to have been a specualtion market in corpses of the killed during the war - some enterprising embalmers would embalm first, then seek the greiving family to strike a bargain. Prices were scaled according to military rank - presumably because officer's families could pay more. One Undertaker reported charging five dollars for a private soldier, one hundred dollars for a colonel, and two hundred dollars for the emablming of a brigadier general. According to Faust, he undertaker told a Yankee newspaperman, "There's a lot of them [corpses] now, and I have cut the acquaintance of everything below a major. I might,' he added, 'as a great favor, [embalm] a captain, but he must pay a major's price. I insist upon that. Such windfalls do not come every day. There won't be such killing for a century." Goober Pea Government policyInteresting how so many are rushing to the defence of posting pictures of embalming or medical autopsies of fallen soldiers and yet in these modern times our government has forbidden any photographs of flag draped coffins of the fallen returning home from Iraq or makes press coverage of military funerals in Arlington cemetery almost impossible. [That's not quite the situation. The U.S. government never banned photographing coffins, flag-draped or not. What it did was decline to release official photos of same at the request of news organizations, which then filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which they won. The government is now obliged to release official photographs of coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Details here. Also, this has nothing to do with whether you can take pictures of coffins at Arlington, or news coverage of funerals there, which are covered all the time.- Dave] The last journey homeThis photo has considerable historical importance, because for centuries a dear wish of soldiers and their families has been that, if they fall, their bodies be returned home for burial. The Civil War saw great strides both in awareness and in the technology of embalming for this purpose. Thousands of fallen officers and soldiers were buried at home rather than where they fell. The culmination was the long journey home of Abraham Lincoln, whose embalmed body was viewed across the country for 19 days before finally being laid to rest in Springfield. The deceased in this photo was likely as not an officer, since the military's original commission of professional embalming was intended, at least primarily, for officers. DignityI'm interested that Dr. Campbell sees "disrespect" and "no dignity in this photo." My response is almost the exact opposite of his. I am reminded of images of Christ entombed, and at the same time, looking at the face of this dead soldier, I feel a connection to a particular person. I am moved by the tenderness of the surgeon's left hand, resting on the soldier's body. The opening of the tent into darkness behind the pair. For me, this is a powerful picture, and one I'm willing to open myself to in a way that I can't or won't to the (also powerful) pictures of the dead on the battlefield. EmbalmingAs a former embalmer, I find the photo interesting. It's difficult to tell if the tube with the valve is entering the chest cavity or if it goes to the tubes that can be seen entering the neck. Modern embalming is done through the carotid artery and jugular vein. I assume that the fluid was poured from the pitcher into a funnel attached to the hose. Later years saw the introduction of the gravity-fed "percolators." Electric pumps are used today. This unfortunate fellow seems to have died from illness. He is very gaunt and I can't see a fatal wound, though there does seem to be a mark of some sort on his abdomen. History is his storyLife isn't always pretty. When I first saw this picture my thoughts went out to the poor solder lying there. I noticed that under his beard was a very handsome face. I wonder if he had a sweetheart, wife, or mother praying for his safety. I also noticed how skinny he was and if perhaps he was in a POW camp where conditions were harsh for everyone. I noticed the primitive embalming methods but wondered if his family found some small comfort in knowing what happened to him and having a body to bury. Many never knew. Some of the pictures here are very lighthearted, but others like the poor children working in factories always make me sad. No matter the pictures I always think and wonder about the subjects. I like the mix you have here because it is a reflection of what life is really like. Sometimes warm, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. The Lean YearsI imagine a lot of soldiers were on the skinny side by the time the war had been going on a few years. Final SaluteThe picture at the following URL was nominated and won its category in 2005 or 2006. http://rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/nov/11/final-salute/ Pause for a moment and witness American's reverence and respect for our fallen (as seen in the photo). Then read of the pain of a wife coming to claim her loved one. There is no cover up. Dignity of CareFor me, it's the almost tender expression in the surgeon's face as he looks down upon this young man he is laying to rest. His care adds to the dignity of this photo. War is hell, and so long as the photos are for our observation and education, it is a good thing to post them. They are difficult to look at, but they give us a clear view of what men went through, and men and women are going through now. Keep them coming Dave, you have an excellent eye for a captured moment in time. Tastefully doneA both timely and appropriate photo. The link provided above is especially poignant. I've seen this particular photo in a number of venues. It was handled very tastefully on this site. Such photos educate and enlighten us about a day and age we'll never see. Final SaluteThanks for the link to the Rocky Mountain News story. Some read stories and statistics of war and think "That's war." Shorpy's pictures and this story make it very personal. A MemoryOne of my fondest memories (if fond is appropriate) was, as a teenager, being in the family car of my father's funeral. On the drive to the cemetery we passed by a house where an old man was raking leaves. He heard the hearse approaching and then turned, removed his hat and stood at attention with his hand over his heart until we had passed. A poignant tribute to a fallen fellow citizen, veteran or otherwise. Dr. Richard Burr, PhiladelphiaAccording to this link the embalmer is Dr. Richard Burr of Philadelphia. Photographer KnownThis was taken by Mathew Brady. I recently saw it in a book of his photography. The Unknown SoldierI have to use this photograph for a project that I have to do in History. It is called the Gallery Guide, and I really don't care for this project but I do apperciate the photographs of the Civil War that we have to use. This is one of the better photographs that I am using for the project. I like to wonder who this person is in the photo. I wonder if he had children, or a wife or parents who were worried. The less you know about a photograph makes it all the more intersting. The Unknown Soldier of GettysburgIf you're curious about soldiers and their deaths' impact you should read the fascinating multi-part piece Errol Morris is doing on Amos Humiston. His body was found on the Gettysburg battlefield with no ID except for a photo (Ambrotype) of his three children. To date there are three installments. The first of which is at: http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/whose-father-was-he-part-one/ Could be my great-great-grandfatherI have a great-great-grandfather who served in the Civil War (and more family as well). His name was Mansel W. Brown; he died in Richmond, Virginia. I had heard he died of measles outbreak. I enjoy any and all pictures of OUR HISTORY. WarMansel W. Brown Is my Family also. (The Gallery, Civil War, Medicine)
Confederate Veterans: 1917
... Many were intent on attending the memorial exercises at Arlington and to obtain a glimpse of President Wilson. The first excursion ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 9:00pm -

The Gray and the gray. "Confederate veteran reunion, Washington, 1917." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. The last soldierThe last Union veteran to die was in 1947 in Minnesota. Life Magazine had a write up on this. There is one veteran from WW1 now living. It is in the newspapers as I write. He is 108 and lives in Pennsylvania. [The Wikipedia article on last surviving veterans, which is never an exact science. The most we can usually say is that someone is thought to be the last survivor of a particular war. That article has the last two Union vets dying in 1953 and 1956. - Dave] Johnny Reb in his 60'sThis was an eye opener for me as to just how long ago the Civil War took place. These guys were teenagers when it happened and here they are they are in their 60s in 1917. A cool and timely picture. Convention Center MarketBuilt in 1874, the city’s first convention center extended the length of Fifth Street between K and L Streets, and was known as the Northern Liberty Market. It was an immense single room 324 feet long, 126 feet wide and 84 feet high at the center. The architecturally significant structure featured a curved roof and was supported, without any interior columns, by a series of enormous iron and steel trusses. 1893 A second floor was added to form a large auditorium, with seating for 5,000. The building was renamed the Convention Center and popularly known as the Convention Hall. The facility operated there for 50 years, hosting revival meetings, fairs, auto shows, roller-skating, bowling and a variety of amusement and sporting events. 1930 By the early 1930s, Center Market – the city's largest building – was located at Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street. It was later demolished for the government's Federal Triangle construction project. Many of that market's vendors moved a half-mile north to the Convention Center building, which was renamed New Center Market. News Travels SlowlyLooks like the Gillette Safety Razor was slow to take hold in the South. Great image!I'm guessing that this group from Nashville had ridden with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest based on the flag they carry. I bet they all could tell stories to keep you going for days if anyone would listen. Commander at the front looks like he takes his position very seriously. Old DixieDying (slowly) for their cause. StubblyI must say, Confederate vets knew how to rock the facial hair. UniformsObviously these men are better dressed than they ever had been during their war when the Confederate uniforms were nominally gray, and later "butternut" but sometimes ended up being whatever you could find or even scrounge off of dead bodies. I wonder how many of our images of Confederate soldiers and how they dressed come from seeing images like this and the studio portraits that the young men going off to war had taken rather than the reality of the field. Yes they all look oldYes they all look old, but what does that say about me? I can remember when the last Confederate (in fact the last Civil War) veteran died, sometime in the 1950s, and the reason that it is in my memory bank is that it happened near where I lived at the time (Baytown, Texas) and the high school band from Robert E. Lee High School (Go Ganders!) played at the funeral. I would later attend REL. And apparently, things going the way they are, I will live to see the last WWI veteran die. A Mighty Host of Gray1917 marked the 27th annual Confederate reunion and the first to gather outside of the Confederate States. I've extracted only a few of the many newspaper articles of the time, and in just this small sample, there are inconsistencies regarding the age of the youngest. [Upon Stanton Square's blue fingers, I hereby bestow the Purple Heart. - Dave] 1,500 Veterans in City Special Trains Bring Gray Hosts From as Far as New Orleans. More than 1,500 Confederate veterans, representing a majority of 22 States that are to send delegates to the annual Confederate reunion that opens here tomorrow, were registered at headquarters yesterday. In addition incoming trains from the South brought Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy and thousands of others whose sympathies are Southern. Col. Robert N. Harper, after hearing reports from John Dolph and others of the registration committee lat night again expressed the opinion that the total number of visitors, including delegates, will reach the 75,000 mark before the first day of the reunion is over. From an early hour yesterday shifts of volunteers were busy constantly registering the veterans at the Union Station, where scenes similar to those that characterized the inauguration preliminaries prevailed. An extra force of policemen was on duty at the station handling the crowds and seeing to the necessary enforcement of rules. As early as 6 a.m. the "vets," many wearing the suits of gray that will be conspicuous here during the week, began to arrive. Many were intent on attending the memorial exercises at Arlington and to obtain a glimpse of President Wilson. The first excursion train to pull into the station was the "Tom Green Special," from the cotton belt, bringing veterans from Memphis, Texarkana, Pine Bluff and the vicinity. Closely following it came others from Augusta, Ga.; Newberry S.C., and New Orleans. At noon several special excursion trains, each carrying an average of 300 veterans and others, arrived. In the afternoon, the Elliott Tour Special brought large delegations from Birmingham and Atlanta. H.F. Cary, chairman of the transportation committee, said yesterday that at least 38 specials from every point in the South would reach Washington before Wednesday. It is conservatively estimated that of the 40,000 survivors at least 5,000 will attend this year's reunion. ... Veterans were taken either to their hotels or to the "tented city" not far distant from the station. Last night, close to 200 of the visitors slept under canvas. The majority were fatigued after long journeys and expressed a preference to "stick close to quarters" rather than see the sights as some suggested. More than 500 were quartered in a large red brick structure at the corner of New Jersey and C street northwest. Arriving there they were assigned to rooms. Meals were served under a large canvas tent close by. Washington Post, Jun 4, 1917 Sidelights of Confederate Reunion About a half hundred veterans responded to the sounding of the dinner gong at the tented city yesterday and enjoyed the first meal served "under canvas." The menu consisting of vegetable soup, fresh pork, prime ribs of beef, new potatoes, green peas, stewed tomatoes, assorted pies, iced tea, coffee and bread and butter, was a sample of the generous treatment the "boys" can expect during their stay in camp. ... When some one had the audacity to inquire of A.B. Rowland, of Fulton Ky., one of the party at the tented city, as to his age he answered, "I'm one of the kids. I'm only 72." As a matter of fact, the youngest Confederate veteran is 69. Washington Post, Jun 4, 1917 Dixie's Sons Own City Washington surrendered yesterday to a mighty host of gray - without a struggle. White-haired and gray-coated veterans owned the city. Streets and avenues were a dense gray mass from early morning until late at night. Hotel lobbies were crowded to the doors. Public parks, the Capitol, government buildings and nearby places of historic interest were given over ungrudgingly to the venerable guests from Dixie. Bands played familiar airs, fife and drum corps beat age-old battle marches and buglers sounded the reveille and taps. ... The Tented City on the Union Station plaza was the mecca last night for veterans and sightseers from all parts of the District. The large mess hall was the busiest place in Washington from 4 p.m. yesterday until 8 o'clock last night. Nearly 15,000 meal tickets had been issued to veterans since Monday morning. Camp fire meetings were held last night in every nook and corner of the plaza. War time stories were "swapped" and Southern songs filled the air with melody. Officials of the registration booth at Union Station said last night that between 15,00 and 20,000 veterans had arrived in Washington since Sunday morning. Washington Post, Jun 6, 1917 Sidelights of Confederate Reunion Editor C.A. Ricks, of the Courier, Huntington, Tex., who was born February 28, 1851, claims to be the youngest Confederate at the reunion. He enlisted August 1, 1863 in Courier battery at Shreveport, La. ... The Georgia delegation greeted the President with a shower of peanuts, while the ladies literally bombarded the stand with flowers. Washington Post, Jun 8, 1917 Third Veteran Wins Bride at Reunion The third Confederate veteran to take unto himself a wife while attending the recent reunion is Dr. John A. Pollock, 71, of Kingston, N.C. His bride is Miss Lula L. Aldridge, 50, of the same city. ... Dr. Pollock also is the next to the oldest of the three "vets" who are going South with brides. The oldest was Frank H. Raum, of Richmond, Va., who was one of Mosby's men. He is 73. The "vet" who got the youngest bride is James A. Thomas, 63, of Atlanta, Ga. He married Miss Elizabeth Roberts, only 25. Washington Post, Jun 10, 1917 ObservationsNotice Santa Claus on the left has a peg leg. As for facial hair, if you look at silent movies of the period they usually have old geezers shown with similar whiskers. I think this stereotype was based on truth, that the oldsters kept the style from their youthful days. There are only about 11 confirmed WW1 vets still living, as listed on Wiki. All of the Central Powers guys are gone. Only 2 remain who actually spent time in the trenches. MedalistsSeveral of the veterans, including the officer in the frock coat, are wearing the Southern Cross of Honor. These were given by the United Daughters of the Confederacy starting in 1900 to Confederate army and navy vets. The Confederate States of America did not issue any medals. And the last Civil War widowI read the article below a few years ago. The Shorpy photo brought it to mind. "Civil War widow, final link to old Confederacy, dies" The cantankerous 81-year-old man struck up a few conversations with the 21-year-old neighbor and a marriage of convenience was born. They were married in a civil ceremony at the courthouse in Andalusia on Dec. 10, 1927, and 10 months later had a son, William. The story actually gets better but I'll leave it to everyone to read the whole thing. It still amazes me that so much history walks among us. Whenever I get the opportunity to talk to a WWII veteran I grab it because they are fast disappearing also. Oldest Confederate WidowThere may still be a couple of Confederate widows among us but it's their choice to remain in anonymity. Maude Hopkins was the last one publicly known. She died Aug. 17 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudie_Hopkins Why did young girls marry veterans old enough to be their grandfathers? The pension was attractive in Depression days. BeardI think the guy on the far left bought his beard at the Acme Novelty Shop so he could join this Facial Hair Club for Men reunion WW2 VetsI saw on Fox News on Veterans Day that there are about 2.1 million veterans of WWII left. About 900 die every day. Actually, the United Confederate Veterans were organized locally into camps and drew from veterans living in the area. They took their names from famous officers, units and the like. The label on the flag here is more likely the name of the camp from Nashville. Southern Cross of HonorThe UDC awards a Cross of Military Service to any veteran of WWII or Vietnam upon application. The only additional requirement for the award is that in addition to proof of their own service, he or she provide proof of direct lineage to a soldier similar to one of the men shown in this fine picture. These crosses are beautifully made pieces and serve to establish a remarkable lineage to the present day. Many, if not most, of the men shown in this picture had grandfathers or great grandfathers who were soldiers of the American Revolution--and many of their fathers served in the War of 1812. Shades of GrayI've colourised this picture at https://www.shorpy.com/node/11187 if anyone's interested. (The Gallery, Civil War, D.C., Natl Photo)
Ford Target Computor: 1922
... I have no idea what kind. I can't ask him because he's in Arlington now. Fire Control A few months ago I toured the USS North ... (Major General Hanson Edward Ely, Sr.) are buried at Arlington Cemetery . Washington Post, Apr 30 1958 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 12:38pm -

October 2, 1922. Washington, D.C. "Ford Target Computor. Capt. H.E. Ely." An electro-mechanical approach to the aiming of large artillery pieces. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Tech SupportAn analog trunk-line call to India was a spot of bother in 1922. Hello? Tech Support?"I've been holding for fifteen minutes ... Oh, wait, they're coming on now. Hello? Hello? Can you speak up please? You sound like you're in India or something. Yes, OK ... I was going along fine and then everything just froze and I got a message about an 'illegal operation.' Right. And now nothing works. Uh huh. You say I should ... restart the computor and that should take care of it? That's it? Wait, hello? Hello?" Model 1?As noted below, Hannibal C. Ford developed target computers for the U.S. Navy. It's odd that Capt. Ely in the photo seems to be an Army officer rather than Navy, because the first applications for target computers were for navies. The British developed the first one, the Dreyer Table and the Dumaresq, prior to World War I and used it during the war. Mr. Ford was somehow exposed to the British technology -- I forget the details of this but it's covered in a series of articles in Warship International magazine. But he also had his own original ideas, and the Ford computer was considerably smaller than the Dreyer Table and looked quite different. Inherently, in the battleship era, guns on ships required calculated aiming because both the firing and the target ship could be moving in different directions at different speeds, and the guns could often outrange the horizon from the point of view of deck level. A "gun director" on a tall tower could measure range and bearing with a powerful binocular range finder, and those measurements were transmitted to the computer mechanically or electrically. The computer then calculated the bearing and elevation at which the guns should fire to score a hit. In 1985, I attended the sea trials of the restored battleship Iowa. I saw the Ford range computer. It was a different model than the one in the photo, considerably larger, but it still had the clear cover (probably glass to begin with and Lexan when I saw it) seen in the photo. Underneath you could see a maze of gears and linkages, color coded, for maintenance I guess. It had its own room with electrical panels on the bulkheads. In the Wikipedia article it explains that the device weighed over a ton, but of course on a batteship that doesn't matter. There was no graph plotter as shown in the photo. Still unresolved is why the Army was interested in this device at a period when its artillery was normally attacking stationary targets from a stationary position. In 1922, could there have been research on antiaircraft fire direction? Possibly. Or maybe Mr. Ford was just covering all his possible customers. Related question: is the civilian in the background Mr. Ford himself? Hannibal FordThe Ford Instrument Company, Long Island City, NY, was formed by Hannibal Ford in 1915. It built analog fire control computers in the pre-electronic days. The company was later merged into the Sperry Corp. Dad's serviceMy father's stint in the Army during WWII (Battle of the Bulge, crossing of the Rhine and Ruhr) had him working as a "Computer" for anti-aircraft artillery. He used some kind of calculating device for aiming the big guns, but I have no idea what kind. I can't ask him because he's in Arlington now. Fire ControlA few months ago I toured the USS North Carolina battleship in Wilmington and saw the targeting command center. There are several large rooms completely full of enormous computers used to track enemy ships, planes, and also to properly guide missiles and guns. I'd say there were at least 30-40 of these massive vacuum-tube computers paired to walls of controls on either side. The level of complexity was amazing. Field ArtilleryWhen I was in the Army's Artillery School (mid 1970's) at Fort Sill, Oklahoma we had something called a FADAC (field artillery digital automatic computer) to aid in positioning artillery rounds on a target. Was this an early version of FADAC? The Forddid the same job -- providing aiming data for artillery -- but it was not digital like the FADAC. It was an electromechanical analog device. There were precisely machined gears and shafts driving dials/pointers either mechanically or by controlling variable rheostats to drive indicating voltmeter dials. Operators input data on the location of the target and the weapons, as well as factors like wind and temperature by setting voltages or turning shafts to certain angles. The operators then read off the firing data and transmitted it to the appropriate Fire Direction Center personnel who passed it on to the firing batteries. Manual FDCI was likewise in Fire Direction Control, trained at Fort Sill. Never saw a contraption like this while I was there, but we were taught how to find deflection and elevation for the artillery pieces using slide rules, while plotting targets on a grid board and finding range with a range/deflection protractor (RDP). This was in the early 1990's. Of course, once I left the training school I never used such manual devices again; nevertheless, every Marine Corps artillery FDC still packs the manual tools--RDP, chart board with plotting pins, slide rules and books--just in case the primary and backup computers fail. Where are the flippers?And how many points does it take to get a free game? I can't even light up the "special" bumper yet! Back to the Plotting BoardThe October 1923 issue of the Coast Artillery Journal has a report (starting on Page 349) on various mechanical fire-control devices including the Ford Target Computer and Ford Battery Computer, which were tested as replacements for manual plotting boards. Among the findings: a. They are complicated and frequently get out of working order. b. They require very expert operators who should be trained for several months. c. A trained mechanic is required for even minor repairs. d. They operate solely by electric power. e. Too much time is required for changing target and base line, and these operations require special skill. f. The azimuth dials are hard to read, resulting in frequent errors. ... i. They are noisy, making telephone conversation difficult in their vicinity. Tests indicate that the Ford Target Computer, operated by and under the supervision of the Ford Company's engineer, frequently failed and, when in working order, gave results little if any better, either in accuracy or time of operation, than might be expected from a properly designed manual plotting board at ranges which permit a scale of 300 yards to the inch, if the board be carefully adjusted and skillfully operated. It's interesting to note that fire control (i.e. "solving the range triangle" for the aiming of large artillery guns, which involves lots of trigonometry and a spot or two of calculus) was among the very earliest applications for digital computers in the 1940s. A Royal Inspection During World War 2 my mother was stationed on anti-aircraft batteries including one in Hyde Park, which was frequently visited by VIPs. This photo shows Queen Elizabeth (the "Queen Mum," in interesting boots!) inspecting the battery. To the right is a gunnery "predictor." It required two people to keep the target plane on cross-hairs in two sights on the top and lots of cogs, gears and electricity to do the sums of where to point the guns. It looks very like the M7 model described here. Ordnance CorpsWith reference to Captain Jack's question, Capt. Ely is wearing Ordnance Corps insignia, not Artillery, so I assume this was just an early procurement test of some sort. The Queen Mum's Boots - - -aren't boots at all, but galoshes. They kept our feet and shoes dry in wet weather. Oh oh, now I've given away how old I am. Yech. Ely of CantignyUpdate: Upon further inspection of the photo and considering the caption of "Capt.", it may be that the uniformed man in the photograph is Hanson Edward Ely, Jr., son of the "Ely of Cantigny." Both son and father (Major General Hanson Edward Ely, Sr.) are buried at Arlington Cemetery. Washington Post, Apr 30 1958 Gen. H.E. Ely Is Dead at 90 By Dorrie Davenport (Staff Reporter) Maj. Gen. Hanson Edward Ely, USA (ret.), known as "Ely of Cantigny" for his leadership of the 28th infantry which captured Cantigny on May 28, 1918 died Monday in Atlantic Beach, Fla. He was 90. He was one of the first officers sent abroad to study the Allies' trench fighting tactics and was later made chief of staff of the First Division Repeated requests for troop duty gave him command of the 28th Infantry and his leadership in the Battle of Cantigny convinced European doubters of the fighting qualities of American soldiers. Raised to brigadier general, he was head of the Second Brigade of the Second Division when the Americans captured Vierzey, near Soissons, in July 18, 1918. In order to direct the attack personally, Gen. Ely attempted to enter Vierzey before it was cleared of the enemy. Fired on at short range by machine guns, he attacked and enabled his men to take the town despite strong resistance by vastly superior numbers. Gen. Ely was cited for "indomitable bravery, disregard for his own safety and devotion to his men." During the battle of Vierzey, his troops took more than 7000 prisoners. It was "Ely of Cantigny" who, in command of the Fifth Division and promoted to major general, achieved what has been hailed as one of the outstanding major exploits of the Army Expeditionary Force when it forced its way across the Meuse at Dun-sur-Meuse. Gen. John J. Pershing wrote that "this operation was one of the most brilliant feats in the history of the American Army in France." Years before his World War I exploits, he had been given a silver star for "gallantry in action against insurgent forces at Taliahan River, Luzon, Phillippine Islands, March 25, 1899." When soon afterwards Gen. Frederick Funston formed his celebrated mounted scout unit, Hanson Ely was listed as its commander. His 44 years in the Army included serving as a lieutenant in the Spanish American War. Considered one of the most forceful figures in military service, he was considered as a leading authority on modern tactic and battle leadership. After World War I, he reverted to his permanent grade of colonel but Congress, in 1921, endorsed his appointment as brigadier general and his promotion in 1932 to major general. ... Army coastal artilleryIt's odd that Capt. Ely in the photo seems to be an Army officer rather than Navy Coastal artillery was an Army responsibility. For example, Army Fort MacArthur (named for Douglas MacArthur's father) protected Los Angeles harbor. The big concrete emplacements are still there, for guns up to 16". In the 50s the guns were replaced with Nike nuclear missiles. The Fort MacArthur Museum web site has more fun facts. The 14" batteries look like baseball diamonds from above. View Larger Map (Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
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