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Reliable Hams: 1943
April 1943. "Baltimore, Maryland. Street under viaduct." Where the manufacturing is ... address of Kinghan's Reliable Hams at 355 Guilford Ave. in Baltimore. That location is now a parking garage: View Larger ... was originally a Streetcar Barn (13 and 15 lines) for the Baltimore Transit Company at North Avenue and Belair Road. View ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/19/2014 - 11:00am -

April 1943. "Baltimore, Maryland. Street under viaduct." Where the manufacturing is Dependable and the hams are Reliable. Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size. ArtThat's what it is. LocationAn article found online put the address of Kinghan's Reliable Hams at 355 Guilford Ave. in Baltimore. That location is now a parking garage: View Larger Map Reliable HamsThe only kind I buy. I hate hams that are always in the shop for repair. Must be these guys: Observation PlatformAnyone know the purpose of the sturdy observation platform? Is there a nice view from that location? Some other purpose? Artisanal HamsCured on our exclusive rooftop sun deck. Control TowerI'm guessing the platform above the Reliable Ham factory is a control tower. You know--for when pigs fly. Art it isIn fact, it is a stunning composition, by an obviously gifted photographer. It reminds me of the Mark Twain quote, "Fiction is obliged to stick to the possibilities. Truth isn't." Platform useThat platform looks like a location for a rooftop tank of some sort like a water tank for fire sprinkler systems. The TowerThe photo was taken in the dark days of WWII, and the wooden structure looks much newer than everything else around it. I wonder if the srtucture was a Civil Defense spotting tower for use by an Air Raid Warden? Possible Platform PurposeIt's the right size for a water tank. History of KinganWhile most of us can remember the great meatpackers of the past, Swift, Armour, Cudahy, Hormel, Kingan was name name I did not know. Yet it was one of the top 10 meatpackers. The PlatformGiven the year, the platform would be the perfect spot for the men and women of the Civil Defense to keep watch for enemy aircraft. Here's Another OneAs soon as I saw the platform I remembered a similar platform not far from my childhood home. I know for certain (cuz Momma told me) it was used for aircraft spotting during WWII. The large buiding below our platform was originally a Streetcar Barn (13 and 15 lines) for the Baltimore Transit Company at North Avenue and Belair Road. View Larger Map (The Gallery, Baltimore, Marjory Collins, Stores & Markets)
Route 1: 1940
June 1940. "Baltimore-Washington Boulevard. U.S. Highway No. 1. Baltimore, Maryland." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. ... I felt this photo offered little content, but it was Baltimore -- my childhood home 6 years before I was born. So a little ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2019 - 7:09pm -

June 1940. "Baltimore-Washington Boulevard. U.S. Highway No. 1. Baltimore, Maryland." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Ward WarehouseThe nine-story ivory building in the distance is the Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store, built in 1925. The warehouse served a large part of the East Coast. It's been converted into Montgomery Park, an office complex, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. Always an adventureThis website, coupled with a bit of curiosity, can take the visitor on many adventures. At first glance, I felt this photo offered little content, but it was Baltimore -- my childhood home 6 years before I was born. So a little detective work. The key clue: the Lord Calvert theater on the left. The building still exists (as a church) and is located at 2444 Washington Blvd -- in the Morrell Park neighborhood of Baltimore. This theater operated from 1935 until 1954. The owner would sue the city for its failure to widen the street and preventing a newer building from obscuring the view of the theater. The owner won, years after it closed. The two-story house with attic on the left still exists with new siding. You can still see the older shingles in the attic areas. The brick row houses on the right still stand, but are worse for wear. My father worked in the Morrell Park area in the 1950s and we lived several miles away near the "North Bend". Shorpy plus curiosity equals adventure. Approx view todayAssisted greatly by captivated's comment. Marble StepsWhen I was a boy, the National Geographic Magazine had an article on Baltimore. Many row houses had marble steps, and in one picture some neighbors were scrubbing theirs. I remember thinking, "That's too much work!" Old Montgomery Ward'sI thought that was the old Montgomery Ward's in the background. We used to drive all the way from Southern Md. to go there. Aunt Jimmie From West-by-God-Virginia and PigtownThis photo was taken at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Harman Avenue, known as the Morrell Park area. My Uncle Walter, who started to brew beer during Prohibition and my Scots-Irish Aunt Jimmie from West Virginia lived on Harman Avenue. Uncle Walt's brewing went on for many years to mixed reviews but it was always an adventure when visiting because he never got the bottle capping procedure down right, and once in a while you would hear a cap pop in the basement. My Aunt Jimmie introduced me to the pleasures of bluegrass music and festivals where they actually do pickin' and grinnin' in the audience. On a historical note just beyond Montgomery Wards towards Baltimore is Mount Clare, the 18th-century plantation of Charles Carroll, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence plus the first RR station in the US. Farther east of Mount Clare is an section of Baltimore called Pigtown. Supposedly the denizens of Pigtown would rustle pigs though the coal chute windows into their basements. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, Jack Delano)
Celery Cola: 1908
... time the guy at the convenience store asked this kid from Baltimore if he could put my dope in a poke, I was completely confused. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/10/2011 - 1:37pm -

John Howell, an Indianapolis newsboy. Makes 75 cents some days. Begins at 6 A.M., Sundays. Lives at 215 W. Michigan St. August 1908. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. This is as close to a Hine self-portrait as we've seen. Who can tell us about Celery Cola? Celery ColaMy guess is that is was similar to Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, a celery flavored soft drink. http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/drbrowns/ Celery flavored ?Yuk! Celery SodaYou can find it in any deli in New York; I believe it's a regional treat. Dr. Brown's is the most famous. Here's the Wikipedia entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-Ray Celery Colasounds to me like blow cola i found this little paragraph at: http://www.greenparty.org/coke.html The birth of Coca-Cola can not be properly understood without knowledge of its broader historical-pharmacological background. With the coming of capitalism, workers were forced into long hours of hard and tedious employment. As a reaction, various stimulants and narcotics began to find a mass market; tobacco, coffee and tea first and then in the 19th century opium, morphine and cocaine. By the 1880s, many cocaine laced soft drinks had become popular, drinks with names such as Celery Cola, Pillsbury Koke, Kola-Ade, Kos-Kola, Cafe-Cola, and Koke. The reason Coca-Cola rose to national and than international prominence out of this ocean of syrupy stimulation may in part have been due to Pemberton's special "secret recipe, but more likely it was superior marketing; a job done by others who followed him. Another interesting one: http://www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=10 -cheers www.donkeyrunner.com/blog VeggieApparently, like many colas back in the late 1800s, it had cocaine in it. The USDA filed suit against the company because the company did not label that it had both cocaine and caffeine in it. You can read about the USDA's interesting cocaine crackdown in soda (circa 1910) here - http://www.bottlebooks.com/Cocastory/coca_mariani.htm Celery Cola Cont'dA couple CC newspaper ads I found from 1926. Click here and here for the full-size versions. Celery ColaGoogle produced a number of results for " celery cola" "formula" - here are the two most relevant results from the first few pages: www.southernbottles.com/Pages/Mayfield/Mayfield.html (lots of info, but no recipe or formula...) www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com (only a passing reference, in the history of Coca Cola) There may be more but my library time is up. Enjoy! :-) Celery Cola origin...Uh, why not just Google :Celery Cola Bottling Co., Danville, Virginia" and see what comes up? That's what Google is for after all. (You'll find it on the Danville site.) Happy Sunday. E=Mcee-flared...Richard Laurence Baron, www.signalwriter.blogspot.com [The page you're referring to is about Porter Brewing in Danville, and how it switched from beer to Celery Cola. But it doesn't have anything to say about the origins of Celery Cola. This was just the local bottler for that part of Virginia. - Dave] Celery ColaI have nothing to add to the above, but notice how similar the branding (font) is to later Cola-Cola. [True. Although Coca-Cola was earlier, not later. This photo was taken in 1908; Coca-Cola got its start in 1885. - Dave] Celery ColaCelery Cola was invented by James C. Mayfield in the early 1890's and first sold at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition in 1895 in Hutchinson stoppered bottles. Mayfield was a partner with Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton in the 1880's and became president of the Pemberton Medicine Company on the old doctor's death. Mayfield was involved with the Wine-Coca Company of Atlanta and Boston in the early 1890's before venturing out solo with Celery Cola and Koke. He opened a factory in Birmingham in 1899 and soon had branches at St. Louis, Nashville, Richmond, Denver, Dallas and Los Angeles. Celery Cola was sold across the US, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and as far away as Australia by 1906. Mexican General Pancho Villa was a fan of the drink bottled by a local franchisee in Vera Cruz. In 1909 Mayfield formed the Koke Company in Louisiana. By 1911 it was reorganized as the Koke Company of America and Mayfield's Cola was sold extensively under the trade names Koke and Dope. Coca-Cola claimed ownership of both Koke and Dope even though Mayfield owned both registered trademarks. The two rivals wound up in the US Supreme Court in 1920 and Koke was declared an invalid trademark. Mayfield continued to sell Celery=Cola and Dope and introduced other soft drinks throughout the 1920's. I am working on a book on Mayfield and his various enterprises and would appreciate any new information. celerycola@yahoo.com Very nice siteI am the great-grandson of James I. Thanks for your site. Warmest regards, James C. Mayfield IV Celery Cola bottlehello, i cant help you with info about Mr. Mayfield, i was actually hoping you could tell me more about celery-cola bottles, i found one yesterday that says it was bottled in danville, va?.......-brad Celery ColaI too am a great-grandson of James C. Mayfield. If you would be interested in contacting me for further details my e-mail is jrukenbrod@nc.rr.com. Rgds, Joe Koke and DopeNever realized there had been a soda called Dope. When I moved to Tennessee in the 80s, some of the folks there referred to Coke as "dope." The first time the guy at the convenience store asked this kid from Baltimore if he could put my dope in a poke, I was completely confused. Celery ChampagneI have a copy of a circa 1898 photo of the Dr. Pepper Company in Dallas. The picture shows a wagon in front of the building, both the wagon and the building have advertising on for Dr. Pepper, Zuzu Ginger Ale, and something called Celery Champagne. I googled "Celery Champagne" but there was no match. Could the champagne be similar to Celery Cola, and what is celery cola?? This picture sits above my desk at work, so it catches my eye dozens of time a day. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could satisfy my curiosity on the whole celery champagne/celery cola thing I'd appreciate it. Celery Cola CapI was reading the various comments regarding Celery Cola when I remembered I had seen a small newsie wearing a cap with the Celery Cola logo. He is first row, second from right, next to that poor cross eyed boy in this photo. Don't some of these pictures just break your heart? Origins of promotional headgearIt struck me that the most American thing I can think of which nobody ever mentions is the advertising ballcap. This paperboy is a prime example from 1908 and I bet it wasn't new then. You'd think his paper would have outfitted him and his confreres with caps with the paper's name on it, for goodness sake! Celery Cola with a direct ripoff of Coca-Cola font was his lot. In a crowd at going to work or leaving work times, it would seem these diminutive boys would have benefited from having a cap with the paper's name on it. After all, anyone in the police, military or fire services had hats that identified them and had for a good century one way or the other. I grew up in England before my parents took my family to Canada in the late 1950s as immigrants. I was used in the UK to a cap for my school that had a logo sewn into it. Cricket caps, which were not much different, had similar logos, and had origins going back to the 1700s, so the baseball cap as such wasn't an American invention. But using it purely as an advertising vehicle was. Can't say there was a whole bunch of promotional ballcaps in Canada in 1959, but a decade later it all started in earnest when the super-cheapy adjustable holed headband was invented. After a visit to the UK in 1993, I sent a big package of different advertising ballcaps to my grandnieces and nephews. This was met with a dull thud of indifference, and the adults gently told me they regarded advertising hats as a bit crass. Five years later, that opinion had changed as times changed over there, and my by now vintage caps were "just the job". Yes, I searched for the history of promotional headgear, but it seems to be a topic nobody has paid much attention to. Makes you wonder. (The Gallery, Indianapolis, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Victory: 1943
May 1943. Baltimore, Maryland. "Electric welders working on the Liberty ship Frederick ... The late Senator Robert Byrd also worked in one of the Baltimore shipyards building ships during the war. No Liberty today ... Frederick Douglass Launching Saturday BALTIMORE — The Liberty Ship Frederick Douglass will be launched at the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/22/2013 - 10:46pm -

May 1943. Baltimore, Maryland. "Electric welders working on the Liberty ship Frederick Douglass at the Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards." Photo by Roger Smith for the Office of War Information. View full size. V for VictoryWith apologies to our British friends. Family connectionAlthough I do not know who the two guys in the photo are, my maternal grandfather worked in the same shipyard during WWII. The late Senator Robert Byrd also worked in one of the Baltimore shipyards building ships during the war. No Liberty todayMaryland Shipbuilding and Drydock, the last name of this facility, was a B&ORR customer of mine in the 1970's, and a shadow of its WWII self. The site where Liberty ships were cranked out at a rapid rate for liberty, is today a facility for imported Japanese automobiles. Way back in the 1960's, my banker father helped MSD set up a pension and profit sharing program for its employees.To show their gratitude, MSD for many years sent a liveried driver by our house at Christmas time with a giftwrapped bottle of fine scotch for pop. SOSAbout five months later: On September 20th, 1943, German submarine U-238 attacks the New York-bound convoy ON-202, torpedoing U.S. freighters Frederick Douglass and Theodore Dwight Weld. British rescue ship Rathlin rescues all hands (40-men merchant complement, 29-man Armed Guard, and one female stowaway) from Frederick Douglass, which remains afloat until finished off later the same day by U-645. Theodore Dwight Weld sinks so quickly that 20 of the 42-man merchant complement and 13 of the 28-man Armed Guard perish. Rathlin rescues the survivors. Ref - Cressman R. J., Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in WWII Kilroy Was HereI half expect that any minute Kilroy will pop his nose over the top edge of that steel plate. SS Frederick Douglass Afro-American, May 22, 1943. Frederick Douglass Launching Saturday BALTIMORE — The Liberty Ship Frederick Douglass will be launched at the Fairfield, Md., yards of the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipbuilding Company at noon on Saturday, Willard Briscoe, company public director, said this week. … It was James Drury, local port agent for the National Maritime Union, who several months ago first requested the U.S. Maritime Commission to name a Liberty Ship after some famous Negro American. Later, officials of Local 43 asked that such a ship be launched from the Bethlehem-Fairfields yards here. Atlanta Daily World, May 24, 1943. Race Captain at Helm of Douglass WASHINGTON — A Negro captain and a colored and white crew were awaiting completion of the SS FREDERICK DOUGLASS at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, in Baltimore Md., this week, following the launch of the third Liberty Ship named for an outstanding Negro on May 22. The vessel was christened Saturday afternoon by Anne Wiggens Brown, Baltimore-born concert singer and original staff of “Porgy and Bess,” as the Negro master, 51-year-old Capt. Adrian Richardson, and three members of his crew witnessed the ceremony. Also present at the launching was Frederick Douglass III, grandson of the former slave who once worked as a ship caulker in the Baltimore area and who escaped from there in 1838 to become an internationally famous abolitionist, orator and editor. The grandson is now a public school teacher at Dunbar High School in Washington D.C. … The first Liberty Ship named for an outstanding Negro American, the SS BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, is already in active service under a Negro master, Capt. Hugh Mulzac. The second, the SS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, was recently launched at the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, Cal. Captain Adrian RichardsonBaltimore Afro-American - Oct 5, 1943 (The Gallery, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, WW2)
A Crowded Field: 1943
May 1943. "Pimlico racetrack near Baltimore, Maryland. Parked cars in spite of gas ration." Photo by Arthur ... Parkway and a few hours later a couple of Northeast Baltimore kids were in the wilds of Northwest Baltimore. We saw off to our left a herd of horses rounding a track and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/22/2013 - 6:35pm -

May 1943. "Pimlico racetrack near Baltimore, Maryland. Parked cars in spite of gas ration." Photo by Arthur Siegel, Office of War Information. View full size. The 1943 PreaknessWon by eight lengths by Kentucky Derby winner Count Fleet, ridden by future hall of fame jockey Johnny Longden. Two weeks later Count Fleet earned the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes. Quite a fewUpper middle class cars - Packard, Lincoln, etc. There is a non-conformist Ford owner in the crowd, who doesn't know parallel parking from perpendicular parking. He's probably the only one at the track who's not wearing a tie. Where are the old cars?I'm surprised at how (relatively) recent all those cars were in 1943. I see one mid-30's car but most are relatively 'modern'. Where are all the 10-15 year old cars that were still so common during WWII? I can only guess this was a much more upscale crowd than usual. Not one Model A, let alone a Model T, among them. An artificial shortageThe US had sufficient petroleum production capacity to supply home front as well as military demand. There was no inherent need to ration fuel. The critical material we really lacked was rubber. Although the crop originated in the Amazon basin, the majority of the world's supply during the war was in regions controlled by Japan. Large-scale production of synthetic rubber did not take off until later in the war, and even then was not nearly sufficient for demand. The production of tires for civilian use was halted very early, but it was feared that lack of availability would not deter people from wearing out their tires. Gasoline rationing and a nationwide speed limit of 35 miles per hour were effective ways of forcing people to conserve their tires for the duration of the war. AmazingHow did they manage to get all those cars parked without any space lines marked out in the grass? And yes that is a sarcastic comment on the inability of so many of todays' drivers to park correctly. Buick Rally!Awful lot of '41 and '42 Buicks in that bunch. I don't know what it is with those car designersI don't know what it is with those car designers and with those car makers. All those cars look more and more alike. If it wasn't for the ornaments there would be no telling one type of car from the other. CarsNot only upper middle class cars. I see many Chevys and Plymouths, along with the Fords and also a Pontiac! I also note that there seems to be a big number of '42 Buicks in the group. Many of these patrons were able to get a hold of one of these beauties before they stopped civilian auto production around February of 1942. Going in StyleLooks like everyone was dressed to the nines to go to the races... almost everyone, men and women, were wearing hats. Suits or jackets and ties for the men (or I spot a few military uniforms), and many of the women are wearing suits- must not have been a very warm day in May either. I love how everyone dressed up in style for a day at the races. Where's MY car?Wow! And I thought today's cars all look alike! What car is thisnot sure how to search the internet for 1940's front ends, but what is this oddball? [1942 Lincoln. -tterrace] Embarrassment of riches Imagine that sight if you were a restorer of old autos. What's left?Looking toward West Belvedere Avenue, I think. Not much remains of those big old houses, but some bits are still recognizable. Extra lightsThat Lincoln seems to have extra lights between the headlights and the grill. Police car maybe? BuicksBack in the day when health insurance didn't exist It used to be said that doctors preferred to drive Buicks. It showed that they made enough money to demonstrate that they didn't have too many patients die on them; yet they didn't make enough so that folks would say they were over charging There Goes a Herd of HorsesAbout ten years after this photo was taken my friend Bob and I jumped on our bikes and went off on an adventure. We would load up our war surplus canteens with plain old tap water, our Moms would pack a sandwich and a Tastycake and off we would go playing our own game "Let's Get Lost" which consisted of heading off to nowhere in particular just to see if we could get lost. The only admonition from Mom was to be sure to get home before dark. We went out Belair Road took a left on Northern Parkway and a few hours later a couple of Northeast Baltimore kids were in the wilds of Northwest Baltimore. We saw off to our left a herd of horses rounding a track and heard a roar coming from the Old Pimlico's grandstands and to our right where these huge Victorian mansions. Since in our neighborhood the only horses we ever saw were the Araber's produce wagons and housing to us was brick row houses we both called it... We Are Lost!. Fortunately we had own own internal GPS and were able to make it home before dark. Something is not what it appears to beHow can this photo be from 1943 when I see mid/late 40's cars in it??? Might also be the reason why there aren't very many older cars in it. Booming economy after the war equals many newer autos. [None of these are post-war cars. The reason some resemble them is because most of the earliest 1946-1948 cars were retooled versions their last pre-war models, some of which are seen in this photo. -tterrace] (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Baltimore, Cars, Trucks, Buses, WW2)
And His Little Dog, Too: 1938
July 1938. "Man who lives in row house. Baltimore, Maryland." Walkies, anyone? Photo by John Vachon for the ... seeing this gentleman's abdominal development could doubt Baltimore's former pre-eminence in the brewing industry. Awww... We ... Painted Brick In the 1950s and 1960s, many old Baltimore row houses that were built with soft, porous brick were covered with ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/05/2013 - 11:47am -

July 1938. "Man who lives in row house. Baltimore, Maryland." Walkies, anyone? Photo by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. re: Pre-Fab stepsI thought the same thing regarding the steps until I realized that they follow the incline of the sidewalk, hard to do with pre-fab. I think they are wooden. They say people look like their pets.Not so much here. Walkies?More like rollies! Rockin' that Harness. I love rat terriers, they are surprisingly lazy dogs for their trim size and would suit this guy perfectly as they love nothing more than to sit next to you and sleep. I so want that harness for my dog. Lucky Dog!Obviously a much loved pooch. Bet they had a wonderful life together. A pet can make life so much better. National Bo, Anyone?No one seeing this gentleman's abdominal development could doubt Baltimore's former pre-eminence in the brewing industry. Awww...We acquired a ratter this summer as a rescue dog (30 lbs. overweight!) He's down to fighting trim again (22lbs.) - a little stockier than this chap, we were told he's a type of rat terrier know as a Teddy Roosevelt, somewhat akin to a Jack Russell with an off switch. If the dog could do it... I'm just sayin'. Pre-Formstone Painted BrickIn the 1950s and 1960s, many old Baltimore row houses that were built with soft, porous brick were covered with formstone, a fake stone/stucco product. Before formstone, the soft brick often was painted to protect it from moisture seepage. What appear to be bricks set in mortar in the picture actually is a brick wall painted in a dark color (usually dark maroon) that then was painted with a white stencil to give the appearance of bricks. The telltale signs are the thin, perfect white "mortar" lines and the slight change in coloration at the point where the house in the picture joins the house next door. Although there were lots of similarly painted houses when I was growing up in the 1960s, I have not seen one in many years. What's going on to the left of the door? Two and 1/4 full bricks to the left of the door there's a vertical line showing a change of tone that looks like poor photoshopping. Is that actually the color of the wall or was the photo manipulated somehow? [As a previous commenter has already pointed out, those aren't real bricks. - tterrace] re: re: Pre-Fab stepsWith the varying bits of trim, they definitely look like wooden construction. The notches would provide drainage. Pre-fab stepsFor all you construction aficionados, these steps appear to be pre-fab concrete. The notches on the base are slotted so they can be moved into place via a fork lift. Didn't realize they were available back in '38. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Dogs, John Vachon)
Beer Here: 1937
... size. Clever slogan Free State was located on Baltimore's Hillen Street, I believe; the site is now occupied by a Baltimore fire house. Their slogan was one of the neatest going: "Your Thirst ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/25/2013 - 2:03pm -

Sept. 1937. "Barber shop and pool hall. Berwyn, Maryland." Between rounds, you can get a haircut. Medium-format negative by John Vachon. View full size. Clever sloganFree State was located on Baltimore's Hillen Street, I believe; the site is now occupied by a Baltimore fire house. Their slogan was one of the neatest going: "Your Thirst Choice". Unfortunately for them, their beer WASN'T Baltimore's first choice [or second or fourth...]. Shaefer took over Gunther's and dropped the name, dropped the recipe and thought Baltimoreans would flock to Shaefer. It didn't happen. Globe Brewing had a lineage dating back to the late 18th Century. All gone todayArrow Beer was a brand of Baltimore's Globe Brewing and lasted until 1963. Gunther Beer merged with Schaefer around the same time, with the Baltimore facility lasting about another decade. Free State closed in 1952; there is now a popular Kansas microbrewery of the same name but I don't believe they are related. I Wondered What The Good Head Was OnNow we know. I only need a shave.Make mine a shorty and a shot. Handled CorrectlyYou could stay there forever. No need to go home. Trolley Tripper?With one or two transfers John Vachon could have easily traveled from his Rosslyn, VA photo locations to this one. Most of Berwyn's business district was within a block or so of the trolley line. In fact, I have a dim memory of my dad and I visiting a barber shop there in the 50's that sat right next to the track. Old Hopfheiser (Hop-Hi-Zer)Hopfheiser Beer was contract brewed for a distributor in the Washington, DC area by the Globe Brewing Co. The beers may be gone, butThe building lives on at 5000, 5002 and 5004 Berwyn Road, Berwyn Heights. Berwyn Road is of of US Route 1 just north of the University of Maryland. Short walk to trolleyThe trolley ran on what is now the College Park Trolley Trail that is approximately 50 yards away. The correct current address is 5002 and 5004. 5000 is corner building not pictured in Vachon image. Growing up a GuntherGrowing up in Baltimore with the last name of Gunther could be hazardous. I was always subject to any juvenile humor that would turn around a jingle to my disadvantage. The ad in the comment below was before my time thankfully but I still remember being playfully taunted by my friends whenever a new campaign would roll out. My bearing the brunt of the jibes was finally paid off when in 1954 the Baltimore Orioles came to the American League and Gunther became their TV sponsors and out in left field was a big scoreboard with my last name along the bottom. (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon)
Read All About It: 1903
... Whiskey Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey I Crave At one time Baltimore or Maryland Rye Whiskey was the choice of many, especially before ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:35pm -

New York circa 1903. "A characteristic sidewalk newsstand." Who can help us date these period periodicals? Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Racy CoverWas a bit surprised at the provocative pose on the cover of Vanity Fair. I figured a more conservative display given the times. ElevatedAs soon as I saw this photo, I thought of a Martin Lewis print from the early 1930's that I have hanging on my living room wall. I wonder if it's the same station? In any case, both are great images. Scientific AmericanThe two Scientific Americans are the Dec. 13 and Dec. 20, 1902, issues. "Sunset"is the November 1902 issue. Tastes Good Because It Is GoodAn adman in 1903 had a damn easy job. "Figaro Illustré"Above the guy with the hands in his pockets to the right, "Figaro Illustré" is the December 1902 issue. http://www.journaux-collection.com/fiche.php?id=356185 The Art of WarThe art print in the center is of British soldiers fighting in the Boer War. ArgosyThe Argosy on the lower right (below "Success") is the January 1903 issue. Harper'sI know that Aram identified the Harper's Magazine as being dated Oct. 4, 1902. But I found the same cover dated Jan. 3, 1903. [Harper's used the Statue of Liberty cover a number of times. - Dave] Poetic gelatinI don't have anything to share about the magazines, except to marvel at the variety available. I would like to know how Knox Gelatine can turn a "prosy" dinner into a poem. Because everything tastes better when it's gelatinous? "Success"The January 1903 issue. Florodora CigarsDo you think that is Evelyn Nesbit pictured on the cigar sign? The timing would be right as she was a sought-after model as well as a "Florodora Girl." Harper'sThe Harper's with the Statue of Liberty is the October 4, 1902, issue. Thank you, everyoneI have nothing to add except to note my good fortune and gratitude at finding this site. The photos are, of course, brilliant. But the background research of the commenters is both amazing and entertaining. As soon as I saw the array of magazine covers, I knew that a deluge of crowd source detail was going to flood in. I'm rarely disappointed. Thanks, everyone. I'm off to Google Street view to check out the neighborhood mentioned by jsmakbkr. The locationappears to be 23rd Street just east of Sixth Avenue, facing south and looking toward the "new" (i.e. after 1896) location of drygoods company James McCreery & Co., at 64 West 23rd Street (less than a block west of the not-yet-completed Flatiron building). It looks like there is still a newsstand there, next to the subway entrance. The McCreery building, however, is gone. Magazine of MysteryJust to the lower right of the Boer War art print is the "Magazine of Mysteries", which covered topics from pragmatic vegetarianism to divine emanations. A 1901 ad for the magazine reads: Remember the Name MAGAZINE OF MYSTERIES A Large Magazine, Beautifully Illustrated, Containing Special Articles by Adept Writers, Mystics, Astrologers and Yogis, explaining the MYSTERIES of Dreams and their Meanings, Glorified Visions, Occult Powers, Astrology, Hypnotism, Psychology, Telepathy, Psychometry, Magnetism, Soul Charming, Clairvoyance, Graphology, Palmistry, Hidden Powers, Spiritualism, etc. THE ONLY MAGAZINE OF THE KIND PUBLISHED IN THE WHOLE WORLD. THE MOST PHENOMENAL SUCCESS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. ALL are delighted with it, because it tells ALL how to get Occult or Psychic power and force, which make for Health, Wealth and Happiness. $1.00 A YEAR, 3 MONTHS FOR 25 CENTS; SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS. For sale at news stands, bookstores, hotels, and on the railroad trains, or mailed direct by the publishers. Address THE MAGAZINE OF MYSTERIES 22 North William St., New York City. On the purely physical plane, the editors recommended chewing your food 40 times before swallowing. And I always thought that was just an "I Love Lucy" gag. LifeChristmas 1902. Peel Me an AdjectiveOne has to wonder if prosy (meaning dull, ordinary, the root word for the now-common prosaic) was a common word 110 or so years ago, or if the copywriters were educated to the level that they didn't care if the general public really understood their advertising slogans. Obviously there are fads and trends in language. Humbug, for instance, was a common 19th century word, which only survives in contemporary use as part of "A Christmas Carol". Still, "changes a prosy dinner into a poem" has to be one of the worst advertising slogans ever, even by 1903 standards. Who the heck wants to EAT poetry? The Knox ad people were reading too much of it. Delightful detailsThanks Shorpy, I love this photo.. from the randomness of the social interactions and expressions of folks on the street, to the wonderful display of all those old magazines and that cute little Tutti-Frutti dispenser. Great clarity and detail. Santa ClausWhat's the magazine with Santa Claus on the cover? [It's the "Juvenile Number" of The Housekeeper. Right next to Toilette. - Dave] Rye Whiskey Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey I CraveAt one time Baltimore or Maryland Rye Whiskey was the choice of many, especially before Prohibition.      As a Marylander I did my civic duty and had my share of Pikesville Rye and I knew I became a man two days after my 21st birthday when I had the traditional shot of Pikesville Rye with my extended family on Christmas Day. I still keep a pint around the house for my Christmas shot and use as a cold remedy. Family lore has it that my grandfather kept all well during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic by administering ample shots to anyone with a sniffle then making them go to bed while being covered with many many many blankets. This caused the patient to sweat out the bug and thus break the fever. I tried this a few times myself and used it when traditional medicine failed. You wake in the morning feeling weak but the bug is usually gone. History of Maryland Rye. Is this the place?"Olde New York" at 00:21 in the clip. Re: ElevatedAnonymous Tipster, you are indeed fortunate to own the Martin Lewis print, "Snow on the 'El'" (1931). Here is what the book, "The Prints of Martin Lewis, A Catalogue Raisonne", by Paul McCarron, has to say about the location of the "El" in your print: "The location depicted in this print is Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue." (p. 174) The previous comment made by jsmakbkr is therefore correct in its identification of the location in the photo. It would appear that the "El" in your print and the "El" in the photo are one and the same. How neat. Harper's WeeklyThe issue of HARPER'S WEEKLY shown is the January 10 1903 issue. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Raggedy Andy: 1938
July 1938. "Young boy in Baltimore slum area." Potential model for the A&F catalog. Medium-format ... yourself; I uploaded a photo of my son. (The Gallery, Baltimore, John Vachon) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/20/2013 - 6:04pm -

July 1938. "Young boy in Baltimore slum area." Potential model for the A&F catalog. Medium-format nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size. re: You really do have to wonderNo, you don't. When you consider the venue, it's easy to discern between poor people and pampered kids sporting faux "authenticity". Fashion or Fortune?You really do have to wonder - are the pants the product of poverty or is there a fashion statement too? Fashion Trendsetter!I know kids who would pay lots of money for those jeans! They buy new ones with the holes already in them. That's proof that many people have too much, these days, in my opinion! SlummingFor living in a slum, this guy is clean, well groomed, and generally looks healthy and well-fed. Also, the steps are in good order, and the ground is clean. A far cry from the condition of some of the NON-slums in modern Detroit, where I live. Smoke If You Got 'EmLooks like the boy rolled his own. NicotineThe opiate of the underclass. Uncanny resemblance to my sonMy son who died last year in April at the young age of twenty looks identical to this boy in the photo. You can imagine the shock on my face when I was shown this picture; my son dressed like that, holes in jeans button-up long sleeves and all. He would even glare at someone like that when he wanted to provoke a fight. I am just amazed; it's like my son jumped back thru time and posed for this pic. Does anyone know the boy's real name? He has to be a relative; You can see for yourself; I uploaded a photo of my son. (The Gallery, Baltimore, John Vachon)
Second Shift: 1943
... jam on the road from the Bethlehem Fairfield shipyard to Baltimore as the second shift of workers leaves the plant." Medium-format ... River is at far right. The landmark gas tanks of South Baltimore are in the distance directly above the Esskay sign. The long line of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/27/2014 - 7:03pm -

April 1943. "Traffic jam on the road from the Bethlehem Fairfield shipyard to Baltimore as the second shift of workers leaves the plant." Medium-format negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size. Hope they had rideshare!They had 27,000 employees at their peak 2nd shift?Second shift ending in daylight? Most places 2nd shift ends between the hours of 11PM and midnight. Yet this seems to be an overcast morning. [The second shift at the shipyard ended at 3 p.m., according to the Office of War Information. - Dave] Presto, Changeo!Four lanes magically become two! Long way aroundWe're looking north on Hanover Street. Frankfurst Avenue is slipping in to the right,and the Patapsco River is at far right. The landmark gas tanks of South Baltimore are in the distance directly above the Esskay sign. The long line of billboards behind it was later occupied by South Baltimore General Hospital, known today as Harborview Hospital. The dump truck on the left side road was likely headed for the city landfill at Cherry Hill, closed in the early '70s. The Baltimore Transit No. 6 line streetcars have come up through Fairfield and Brooklyn to get to this point; the autos at right got here much quicker directly from Fairfield on Frankfurst Avenue. This mess was later relieved by construction of Potee Street parallel to and one block west of Hanover Street. What's seen here is now one-way northbound, and we don't have to put up with shift changes at the Shipyard anymore. Long Way HomeMy maternal grandfather worked at the Bethlehem Fairfield shipyard during WWII even though he was a butcher by trade (and bought a small grocery store/butcher shop after with war with the money he made at the shipyard). Although my grandparents lived about only a few miles away from the shipyard as the crow files, they were on the other side of the harbor and, thus, my grandfather had a long way home. Given that my grandparents did not have a car until the 1950s, my grandfather commuted by streetcars just like the ones in the photo. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Marjory Collins, Streetcars, WW2)
Military R.R.: 1865
... 17, 1863. Renamed General J.C. Robinson. Sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1865. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 8:53pm -

City Point, Virginia, circa 1865. "Gen. J.C. Robinson" and other locomotives of the U.S. Military Railroad. From views of the main Eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Robinson ahead by a nose Seems that the Lt. Genl. Grant is running a close second. The named locomotives are from the Wm. Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Mass. The engine ahead of both seems unnamed. Might be an "American" locomotive or a Wm. Mason. LocationThe terrain and the enormity of the facilities in place makes me almost certain that this was taken at City Point, Virginia, the Union's main supply depot for the area at the time. [Another clue would be the first three words of the caption. - Dave] Who's DrivingThe engineer is definitely not Buster Keaton. Any ideawhat the black things are in the upper right hand portion of the picture? When I looked at the blown up picture it looked a little bit like a lot of black socks hanging on a clothesline but that's obviously incorrect. [It's a scratch in the emulsion. - Dave] A bigger nameHard for me to see, but appears to be "Lt Gen. US Grant" on loco behind the Robinson machine. I am amazed at the hillside, ships and living conditions of the period. Grant's Iron HorseSaturday we saw Grant's horse "Cincinnati;" today we see Grant's Iron Horse, "Lt. Genl. Grant," on the left. Union IroncladA turret of a Union ironclad can be seen in the background over the top of the pier-side warehouse. This could be the USS Onondaga, which was stationed at City Point to prevent Confederate ironclads from breaking out of the James River and attacking the supply base. The problem is that the USS Onondaga had two turrets and I only see one. Grant and Lee There is a photo so similar to this one in the book "Grant and Lee" by William A. Frassanito that it must have been taken about the same time. It is in the City Point chapter view 8. The tents and buildings on top of the bluff were part of the Railroad Hospital. The wharf shown is a replacement for one that was blown up by saboteurs on August 9,1864. The explosion killed 43 laborers and according to Mr. Frassanito narrowly missed General Grant who was in front of his headquarters tent at the time. His books have photos taken during the Civil War and then the same scene in modern times. IroncladIn regard to the comment by Excel08 about the ironclad. Also according to Mr. Frassanito there would be about 200 vessels anchored off of City Point on any given day by the fall of 1864 including the ironclad ram "Atlanta" with one stack. Poor LightingAmazing that all the headlights on these locomotives were a kerosene lamp in a box with a magnifying lens. Spectre-visionNifty ghost in front of main tent! Hillside erosionAttention troopers! Gen. Grant has authorized the issuing of hazard pay due to the hillside erosion and the location of the outhouse. It is further recommended that only those soldiers who know how to swim should make use of the facilitiesafter dark. Buster Isn't ThereI'll bet he is out visiting Annabelle Lee. InterestingAlmost as interesting as the locomotives are the view of the ships in the harbor. OopsHow did I not see that? Boy, is that embarrassing. Hey youget back to work. 25 years of progressIt amazes me to think that these beautifully turned out engines are only one generation away from the dawn of American railroading (think Tom Thumb and iron-plated wooden tracks). A person born in 1820 grew up with horse, foot or canal-boat travel, when 50 miles was a good day's journey. During their adult years, they saw the rise of well-established railroads that could travel fifty miles per hour. This, together with the telegraph, was the dawn of the "shrinking world." The Third LocomotiveThe locomotive moving forward between the "Lt. Genl. Grant" and the "Genl. J.C. Robinson" is the "Governor Nye." This 4-4-0 was built by the Richard Norris & Son locomotive works in Philadelphia, and was acquired new by the USMRR on February 18, 1863. Sent to North Carolina in 1865 to work on the USMRR, it was still in the USMRR inventory in April 1866. Another photo taken within minutes of this one shows it in the yard. Watch that last step...I don't think that cliff-side staircase meets any imaginable safety regulation. Bridge Of Beanpoples & Cornstalks General J.C. Robinson 4-4-0 (Construction # 124) Formerly known as the USMRR locomotive General Haupt and acquired new by USMRR on January 17, 1863. Renamed General J.C. Robinson. Sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1865. http://www.nvcc.edu/home/csiegel/USMRR%20Locomotives.htm "That Man Haupt has built a bridge over Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and upon my word gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and cornstalks." Monitor identityThe monitor noted by others is most likely a Passaic-class ship and probably the Lehigh. The primary assumption is that the ship is perpendicular to the line of sight (as are the other ships). In that case comparing the monitor's funnel (tall thin light-colored tube to the left of the turret) to the turret, they are signifiicantly closer spaced than would be the funnel-turret distance for a Canonicus-class ship, the only other type which fits what is visible. This marks it as a Passaic. To identify it as the Lehigh is the stretch. At least three Passaics were known to have been in the City Point area at this time; the Lehigh, Patapsco, and Sangamon. The Patapsco and Sangamon were both confusingly identified as having a white ring at the top of the turret/base of the rifle shield. There is no ring visible on the turret of this monitor. The Lehigh was all black. O Scale model Civil War model railroadBernie Kempenski is building a model railroad with these kinds of locomotives, etc. His is dated 1862. http://usmrr.blogspot.com (The Gallery, Civil War, Railroads)
Michigan Avenue: 1962
... for the first time at Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland on July 4, 1960. Since the flag on the front of the Art ... 
 
Posted by shawnv - 12/04/2008 - 12:05pm -

Chicago, Illinois, circa 1962. At 10:27 a.m. Looking north along Michigan Avenue at Adams Street, with the Chicago Art Institute on the right. View full size. What they didn't knowJust think of all the things these drivers and pedestrians didn't know... They didn't know there was going to be a band called the Beatles which would have such an impact on the culture They didn't know that Vietnam would dominate the news and effect huge cultural change They didn't know Kennedy would be killed within a year or so... They didn't know that in 7 years the impossible would come true, men on the moon They didn't know we'd become so dependent on some weird electronic device called a home computer They hadn't heard of or seen: Doctor Zhivago (1965); Dr. Strangelove (1964); The Graduate (1967); A Hard Day's Night (1964); Mary Poppins (1964) etc etc etc They never saw a roofed sports stadium (Astrodome 1965) I love to ponder these things and try and get into the head of people in old photos... What are they thinking? What's important to them this day while they are turning left? Do they have a doctor's appointment? A first date? Cheers! Wow.A pink Edsel in turn lane. Wish I had one today. [Not quite. That's a Mercury. - Dave] Car SpotterPart of me wishes I was 20 years old in 1962. I love the 1957 to 1962 cars. From left to right, 1959 Ford, looks like a 1956 Plymouth grille behind it, the photographer is following a 1957 Olds, and yes that is a pink 1957 Mercury. In front of that looks like a Checker Cab. Next to the Mercury is a 1962 Oldsmobile, and behind it is a 1955 Chevrolet. Behind the 55 Chevy is a 1960 Chevrolet. The PrudentialWas the tallest building in Chicago at that time I believe. Also, my dad works there. Good view of Grant Park! They also didn't know...... that the little black kid with the white mother would one day be President. Michigan and Adams 2008Seems to be a new high-rise next to the Art Institute. View Larger Map Car StylingIf this picture were taken today, one wouldn't see much difference in car details. Most vehicles for the past 10 years have looked about the same. But in this picture, such amazing variety in just a seven-year span of models! Somehow, uniformity makes our society poorer. So much has changed...... But one thing hasn't - THE TRAFFIC! Chicago ..."My Kind of Town," so sayeth the chairman of the board. MusicThis photo is best viewed while listening to The Thrashmens classic "Surfin' Bird" Eerie how that happened to be playing here precisely when I saw this photo. Changed?Honestly, this intersection really hasn't changed much. I recognized it right away. Go a few blocks in either direction, and there will be plenty of new stuff, but not at this intersection. On a weekend with a car show, you could probably take nearly the same picture. Car Styling I agree with you on that. It wasn't until recently that cars went through another design revolution. The minivans in the '90s and early '00s. At least now there are some differences between them. They all had the same shape and looked exactly the same from a distance back then. Same thing with mid-sized sedans. It was only in the last year or two that the cars gained some new distinguishing styles. Nothing beats the old cars though. Palmolive Building mastThe tall silver mast on the Palmolive Building was the WGN-TV antenna back in those days. I believe it's used by an FM station now. PrudentialThat's the Prudential Building with the mast. The Palmolive (a.k.a. Playboy) building is farther north and not visible in this photo. That one modern buildingI walk by that spot all the time. The modern Prudential building dominating the photo was the first big Chicago skyscraper after a 20-year Depression/WWII hiatus. Compare to all the buildings lining Michigan Ave which date from the 1910s and 1920s. Most are still there. CarsAs for me and my family we would rather be in one these old big safe cars than the Tinkertoy cars of today. [I'd rather be surrounded by six airbags and two crumple zones. The death rate per passenger-mile circa 1960 was pretty horrific. Those big old cars (and their passengers) did not do especially well in collisions. Roofs in the era of the wraparound windshield did a poor job of supporting the weight of the car in a rollover. - Dave] No squabbleI was half as tall as my sister so the hump was my pillow. I loved to hear the rush and rumble of the road through the floor and, if my dad stopped too fast, I couldn't roll off. ExactlyFeel the same way AJ, I can spend hours watching and analyzing every bit of these photos. Wish I had a time machine. Old CarsThose old heavy cars used to have a lot of decapitations. The hood was solid and heavy and in a collision would release from the hinges and go back through the passenger compartment and slice off heads. As Dave stated, today's cars have crumple zones so the hood now just crumples up on impact... Much safer. [Cars now are generally heavier than their counterparts 50 years ago, or at least denser. A 1959 Ford and 2009 Honda Accord both tip the scales at around 3,500 pounds. My Japanese car weighs a little over 4,100 pounds. - Dave] Backseat SquabblersThe first car I remember was the family's green and white 1959 Ford Galaxie. My sisters and I used to fight over who got to sleep in the back window ledge on the way home when we would visit relatives in South Dakota. Winner got the package-shelf perch, second place got the back seat, loser ended up on the floor on hump. Actually we traded off, but the window shelf was prized. Riding like that with a Dad that smoked, it's a wonder we survived! Yikes. 1961It could have been taken in 1961, since the center green car is sporting a 1961 Michigan tag, which is the 59 yellow on green with a silver 1961 metal tab. Illinois had white on red plates in 1961, white on orange in 1962 - colors too similar to identify in the photo. Could also have been early 1962, but I think we’d notice both orange and red IL plates. As a kid in Chicago, I loved to see new plates appear each winter. Route 66The white sign on the lamppost (in front of the lion) marks the beginning of Route 66. Clues from the U.S. FlagWe featured this picture as our quiz #188 photo for the week of 14 Dec 2008. We essentially asked readers to identify the location and to tell us how they recognized it. See www.forensicgenealogy.info/contest_188_results.html We received many responses - one from regular reader Mike Dalton was worth writing to Shorpy about. Mike dated the picture to after July 4, 1960 based on the admission of Hawaii and Alaska to the Union in 1959. As Mike wrote: Timeline referencing 50 star American flag in photo: Alaska entered Union on January 3, 1959 - rank 49th state; Hawai'i entered Union on August 21, 1959 - rank 50th state. President Dwight David Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10834 on August 21,1959, regarding design and implementation of 50 star American Flag. 50 star American Flag raised officially for the first time at Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland on July 4, 1960. Since the flag on the front of the Art Institute of Chicago has 50 stars on it, the photo had to have been taken after July 4, 1960. ===================================== [The earliest this could be is late 1961 -- that's a 1962 Oldsmobile under the Prudential tower. - Dave] I am amazedDave. Your knowledge amazes me. Not many folks can identify a 1962 Olds. Ferris BuellerIf you ever saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you could see this is the Art museum from that movie. It shows the lions at the beginning of the museum montage played to the instrumental version of "Please Please Please Let Me get what I Want" by Dream Academy. Great movie. Some things never changeThe spectacular "Lions of Michigan Avenue" in front of the Art Institute, placed there in 1894, are considered the best work of artist Edward Kemeys. They're not identical; the lion on the north pedestal is "on the prowl" while the one on the south pedestal is "in an attitude of defiance." I have pictures of my family in front of the south lion when our children were small. We used to eat at Bennigan's (no longer there) directly across the street, gazing (if we were lucky enough to get a window table) out at the Art Institute and the southern end of the Magnificent Mile. I took a picture looking west down Adams Street towards the Sears Tower (it has another name now but I never use it) from this very spot in late September of 2019. Then there's that lovely peek of the Wrigley Building glowing in the distance to the north -- Michigan Avenue at Wacker Drive, where the Chicago River flows beneath the DuSable Bridge. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Hiawatha Temple: 1908
... Hamms I remember Hamm's well. When I was a kid, the Baltimore Orioles were sponsored by a popular local brewery named Gunther's ... junked and replaced by Hamm's. Hamm's didn't stay in Baltimore for long. I think they sold out to Schaefer's, which didn't last much ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/18/2019 - 4:21pm -

St. Paul, Minnesota, circa 1908. "Wabasha Street." Abundantly equipped with the standbys that Shorpians will recognize as essential to a smoothly functioning business district: fraternal organization, painless dental parlors, purveyors of cigars and prosthetic eyeballs, optician-jeweler (with the 8:17 clock-sign) and, last but not least, "Business Men's Lunch (And 2 Beers)" for 15 cents. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Oy VeyOn the extreme right, the worn out old horse in front of the carriage parked at the curb near Dr. Merrill, dentist, personifies exactly how I feel today. I'm experiencing great empathy with that tired, weary nag, we understand each other. Urban Renewal PrevailsI lived in St. Paul for 30 years. This part of the downtown underwent extensive urban renewal and looks nothing like this any longer. The Hotel Clarendon sat on the NE corner of Wabasha and Sixth. Not even the churches survived. Pretty bland landscape now. Nothing like the community life that once abounded here. View Larger Map Pants Pressed While You WaitHowever, there will be an extra charge if you want to take them off first. Ah, the businessman's lunch!There are several spots in sight to get your lunch. Do you prefer Hamm's or Schmidt's, the local St. Paul based brews? (The Schimidt sign is down the block on the right) Or perhaps Blatz? The beer that made Milwaukee famous. They have their own storefront, wow! Minnesota staple.I see those two staples of Minnesota life readily available, Blatz and Hamm's. I remember visiting Minnesota when I was in the military and seeing those two brews advertised at every tavern and roadhouse. Mealey GoodsWhy would any one want to buy Mealey dry goods? And the storefront labeled "The Cable Company" made me chuckle. The two beers were most likely Hamm's or Blatz. No traffic lights as yet but there is a sign hanging up high that cautions "cars stop before crossing street." ["Cars" meaning streetcars. - Dave] Hamms BeerDoes anyone here remember the Hamms beer Jingle? I am just guessing but it was probably mid to late 40's when Hamms was advertising on the radio. From the land of sky blue water Comes the beer refreshing Hamms, the beer refreshing. Idlers and ghost horsesAccounted for. Public transportation>> Abundantly equipped with the standbys that Shorpians will recognize as essential to a smoothly functioning business district And, I would add, streetcars! Interesting how so many of these old photos of city streets show the presence of streetcars. Typically quieter and much less contributing to air pollution than today's unimaginative buses - and most likely with much more efficient service to the masses. More and more cities are now realizing the superiority of streetcars over buses, and are building today's versions which we call "light rail." [The electricity for these streetcars came from a soot-belching, coal-fired powerhouse. - Dave] Yayyy! I finally earned my Shorpian photo recognition badge!I recognized all of the signs that are essential to a fully functional business district during the early 1900's before I read the comments or checked out the title commentary. I'll be in the Hotel Exchange drinking alternating mugs of Hamm;s and Blatz beer to help take away the pain of my recent dentist visit. I'm the guy wearing my new eyeglasses and smoking a "Segar." Don't look down because my pants are being pressed as I wait for Dave to present me with my photo recognition badge. What's on TonightI wonder what was on tv back then, I see the very generically named "Cable Company" on a building on the right. [It's a piano showroom. - Dave] I remember the beer refreshingThey had that same jingle on TV in Illinois in the '70s. With trippy cartoon bears, as I recall. No Street Lights?There are poles for the trolley wires, but I don't see a street light. Perhaps the good folk of St. Paul stayed home in the evenings? [Depending on their eyesight. - Dave] HonkThere seems to be a large phonograph horn sticking out of that wagon. I wonder if it has to do with the phonograph Store across the street next to The Cable Company. (How many channels did you get with their basic package?) [Just for the record (so to speak), the Cable Company is a showroom for Cable pianos. - Dave] Businessman's Lunch - updatedHasn't this tradition been replaced by the "3 martini lunch"? I remember HammsI remember Hamm's well. When I was a kid, the Baltimore Orioles were sponsored by a popular local brewery named Gunther's ("Gee, what a wonderful beer"); it had its name on the centerfield scoreboard at Memorial Stadium. About 1959, Gunther's was bought out by Hamm's. It replaced Gunther on the scoreboard, and instead of keeping the old recipe available, Gunther was junked and replaced by Hamm's. Hamm's didn't stay in Baltimore for long. I think they sold out to Schaefer's, which didn't last much longer than Hamm's. Artificial EyesI wonder if they installed the fake eyeballs in house or if you had to go to a separate location for that? What a Show!Sure would like to see them "Dancing Pianos" in the Hiawatha Temple! Optical delusionThe horse-drawn wagon facing us on the left: the roundish thing looks like either an umbrella or a phonograph horn, depending on whether it's concave or convex. I'm leaning toward the concave, and speculating that it's a type of megaphone used by the driver to make himself heard over the urban racket. If so, I wonder if it was a sideline of the Edison Phonograph emporium across the street. Plenteously the Waters GeneratedRegarding public transportation and soot-belching, coal-fired powerhouse: The Twin City Rapid Transit Company ran most of the system around 1908 with electricity generated using the waters of the mighty Mississippi. It seems that the operation's efficient and well-managed affairs were in marked contrast to the organized theft that characterized so many traction systems elsewhere - particularly those looted by the Whitney syndicate in the East. Everything old is new againI grew up in St. Paul. We had a street car system. Certain businessmen in the cities enriched themselves with the switch to buses from street cars. Now what are we building in the Twin Cities? Light rail. They didn't tear the trolley tracks up. They just paved over them. In building the light rail they are finding a few artifacts in the digs. We had an on-campus, open air football stadium at the university. It was a war memorial. Domes became fashionable so they tore it down and built the dome. Now even though the dome has worked for many years what do they build? An open air, on-campus football stadium. Man With a HornAs mentioned in a few comments, the object on the wagon driver's lap might be a phonograph horn. I, as a phonograph collector, believe it is (of course, I'm biased!). Many of the "morning glory" style horns were painted with a lighter area deep in the horn where it was very dark. That seems to be the case here. I'm wondering if he just bought it or is about to make a u-turn to deliver it to the phonograph store?! (The Gallery, DPC, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Streetcars)
Potomac Yard: 1925
... Potomac Yard included: - Pennsylvania Railroad - Baltimore and Ohio Railroad - Southern Railway - Chesapeake and Ohio ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 4:00pm -

Circa 1925. "Potomac Yards, Alexandria." The railyard just outside Washington in Alexandria, Virginia. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Trackless VoidThe entire Potomac Yard area is now just big box retailers, chain restaurants and hotels. What's left of the RF&P is just a real estate company. Hump YardWhen I was a Boy Scout in the early 1960s we took a tour of Potomac Yards, including a trip to the two-story brick "control tower" in the backbround. Freight cars were pushed by a switcher engine to the top of the hump (a gentle hill) and then cut loose and rolled downhill by gravity, shunted to their particular assembling track by the levers in the control tower. This tower housed all the switches for the entire yard. There were also external air brakes on the side of the rails that could be remotely actuated from the tower to control the speed of the cars. The employees had to park along Route 1 on the left of the picture and take the pedestrian bridge (seen in the background) over the main line to the control tower. Click the map to enlarge. W&OD FlyoverThe Washington & Old Dominion RR had a flyover track across Pot Yard here that connected with the Southern Ry. a little farther to the SE of where I think this photo was taken. View Larger Map My Dad's RailroadMy dad worked at Potomac Yard as a train engineer from the very day he returned from World War II in early 1946 until the very day he retired in 1990. Then saw entire company disappear virtually overnight when the Richmond, Potomac & Fredericksburg line realized the land the yard was on was far more commercially viable than any railroad. The Washington Redskins were going to build their new stadium there and a ground breaking took place. Local residents fought to have the football stadium put elsewhere. They won. And Potomac Yard is now a shopping center with mixed-use residential being now added. How strange to see Route 1 on the left side of this photo a small, quaint two-way street. Today it bustles with traffic. And although the railroad still moves people and freight along the corridor, the tracks were moved to the the east, next to Metro's above-ground tracks. Growing up, I spent many hours in Potomac Yard playing on the engines with my father. Potomac Yard, Stadium, AirportMy former office in Crystal City overlooks the remaining RR yards between CC and National Airport. (not everyone calls it by the current name) Yes, there was a protest about the stadium being located at the yards, but the real backstory is that Jack Kent Cooke, Redskins owner, played VA, MD and DC like a set of violins until he got was he wanted. The protests were not really a factor in the final decision; Cooke's marionette show did the trick. Potomac Yard from aboveThis aerial view from 1975 shows the tower at Hume Street and the man bridge at x East Glebe Road. The W&OD flyover shows at Randolph Street. Until the early 1980s, maybe later, there was a restaurant across Route 1 (locals called it Number 1 or Number 1 Highway), called Steve's, open 24/7 for the Yard workers. Would stop for breakfast on the way home from Georgetown. Re: Dad's RailroadHi: I noticed you edited my comments about My Dad's Railroad. That's fine--I appreciate you posting my remembrances, but your inference (re-write) that "RFK Stadium's owners realized the yard was far more commercially viable than any railroad" is absolutely incorrect. RF & P Railroad OWNED THE LAND--not The DC or Federal Government. ... [Back up a little. Your original comment did not say "RF&P's owners." It said "RFK's owners." - Dave] My Granddad's RailroadMy grandfather was a brakeman on the Southern Railroad in 1925 on the Spencer, N.C., to Washington run. My question is: Was Potomac Yard used for Southern RR traffic, or was it only for the Richmond, Potomac & Fredericksburg Line? Users of Potomac YardRailways using Potomac Yard included: - Pennsylvania Railroad - Baltimore and Ohio Railroad - Southern Railway - Chesapeake and Ohio Railway - Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and - Seaboard Air Line Railway Potomac Yard in Wikipedia. Our GrandfathersI can't help but wonder if our grandfathers knew each other. My grandfather was a career RR worker and worked at Potomac Yard, transferred to Spencer NC, on to Monroe VA, and then back to Potomac Yard. His career span included 1925. To answer your question, yes. Where there's smokeThe smoky sky in this and many Shorpy photos is a reminder that not everything about the good old days was so good. Rails run deepI'm sure they probably did cross paths at some point. My grandfather (known as "Pa" to us grandchildren) was a brakeman, flagman, and conductor on the Southern from 1908-1950. He lived in Spencer but worked "on the road" for several days a week between Spencer, Monroe, and Washington for 42 years straight. It was hard but honest work. He is sorely missed. When we sat down to dinner, as only a true brakeman would say, instead of asking "Pass the biscuits" he would routinely say "Knock the brakes off the biscuits, please"!! Thanks, Dave for showing us a glimpse of the past. Southern's use of Potomac YardSouthern was one of six railroads that managed the yard and its operations. Except during a period in the 1920s when Southern felt the RF&P, which basically managed the yard and its switching, was getting a little too cozy with at least SAL and ACL, giving them preference. At least that was the allegation. Southern then built the Cameron Street yard, which still exists as an intermodal yard for transferring I think LPG. When Southern built this yard, it apparently also enticed the C&O to join, and then the fit hit the shan, so to speak. The Pennsy, which was a co-owner in the yard operations like the other RR's, sued Southern charging breach of contract and other things, and after a year or two of squabbling, all became peaceful again and Southern rejoined switching in Potomac Yard, although it also maintained its own yard just south of Duke Street, which is totally unrecognizable today as a redeveloped region known as Carlyle. This yard had it origins in the 1850's and the beginnings of railroading in the region with the Orange & Alexandria. Supposedly, the reason for the Cameron yard's location was because that was the vicinity of where the never completed Manassas Gap Independent Line was to cross the Orange & Alexandria in the 1850's. Title to the lands passed to descendants of the O&A, which became Southern in 1894. This may not be 100% of what happened but I have reason to believe it is the basic idea, if you get my drift. A Local Historian Monroe to SpencerSince a couple of comments mention the railroad run from Monroe, Va., to Spencer, N.C., you might like to know that this is the run that is the basis of the folk/bluegrass song "The Wreck of Ole 97," made famous by Flatt & Scruggs. White polesWhy are the utility poles are painted white at the bottom? WhitewashThe whitewashed pole bases were for night visibility. Normally, the lower 6-8 feet of all buildings + poles, especially in the roundhouse area, were whitewashed, including the inside walls of the turntable pit. Incandescent lighting was pretty dim in railroad yards back then, and the whitewash really made a safety difference. Where?"Southern rejoined switching in Potomac Yard, although it also maintained its own yard just south of Duke Street, which is totally unrecognizable today as a redeveloped region known as Carlyle" I work at the Patent Office on Dulany St. Where was this yard, exactly? Wes Clark wes.clark@uspto.gov Potomac YardsMy father also worked at Potomac Yards, from 1924 to 1963. He was a machinist at the round house. We lived not far from the yards in the Del-Ray section. (DeWitt Ave) For Wes Clark who works on Dulany Street, that street of course did not exist before the Carlyle project. The Southern yard was right about where your desk sits now. There was a small round house and several tracks. There was also at one time a small building housing a club that had an extensive model rail display. George "Walt" Gray Retired fire captain. Haz-Mat Officer Station Captain #2 Station, Windsor Ave. Alexandria VA. RR ClubThe RR club was in the Southern Railway yard behind Herby's Ford on Duke Street, not Potomac Yard. They were there until the early 70's. Seen in the background here. Re: RR ClubThat's what I said: "The Southern yard was right about where your desk sits now. There was a small round house and several tracks. There was also at one time a small building housing a club that had an extensive model rail display" Just happened by this site.Just happened by this site. I wonder if my grandfathers knew yours. Both of mine were also career Southern RR men out of Monroe, Va, two uncles worked for Southern in Alexandria, and 2nd cousin was a conductor with Southern also out of Monroe. Had a great grandfather that also worked on the Southern RR in Monroe too! Small world! RF&PMy father, Granville A. "Granny" Corr, Jr. worked for the RF&P for over 40 years. Wasn't it referred to as the "richest and smallest" railroad in the country? (The Gallery, Natl Photo, Railroads)
Icecapade: 1921
... Philadelphia yesterday after a perilous experience near Baltimore, when the senator and two friends were compelled to leap from a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/11/2020 - 11:00am -

January 1921. Washington, D.C. "Penrose car, accident." Beside Senator Boies Penrose's car, casualties here include a mailbox, emergency call box and a lamppost. The tree survives with a dented trunk. View full size. Sharp rideI used to work in automotive and the last company that I worked for, before heading into my new field, was in automotive glass. Check out the windshield on this car. It was plate glass; no safety glass but just plain old window glass. Can you imagine what would happen to your face if you went through such an accident? Even in this photo, it looks as though the front glass just broke up on impact. Still very dangerous. Man --They sure don't make trees like they used to. Time to upgrade.If Senator Penrose insists on driving on the sidewalk, maybe he should look at the FWD from an earlier photo. Fatal crash?I noticed that this crash was not listed on his Wikipedia entry, so I added it and cited this photo as a reference. I also noticed that he died in 1921. If this photo is circa 1920, perhaps this crash was fatal. [This crash had nothing to do with his death, which came from pneumonia after a year or so of declining health. - Dave] It's a wonderful lifeGeorge Bailey, you been drinking? Got Mail?That has to be the biggest mailbox in town. He must have been admiring it when he crashed into it Early ExcuseI understand the USPS is still using this crash as an excuse for undelivered mail. OuchYou can see, quite clearly, that car windshields did not have safety glass in those days. Was it the Senator's head that broke the windshield? Accident ProneCan't find any info on this specific crash but Penrose had a history of automotive mishaps. Washington Post, Aug 22, 1917 Penrose in Peril When Auto Blazes Senator and Friends Leap from Car to Escape Death. Senator Boies Penrose returned to Washington from Philadelphia yesterday after a perilous experience near Baltimore, when the senator and two friends were compelled to leap from a blazing automobile. The car is believed to have taken fire from a lighted cigar which had been tossed from a passing car and which lodged in the top, which was down. IN an instant the car was ablaze in the rear and directly over the gasoline tank. The senator and his friends escaped injury owing to prompt action by the chauffeur, who brought into play and extinguisher and put out the blaze. The body of the car was badly scorched and the top entirely destroyed. This is he second experience of this kind Senator Penrose has encountered within two years. In 1915, while motoring from Pittsburgh headed for Washington, his car caught fire near Greensburg, Pa. and became a total wreck, the senator and his party having a narrow escape from the flames. A feature of the campaign of 1914 in Pennsylvania, when Senator Penrose was a candidate for reelection to the Senate, was his large red touring car, which became well known throughout the state, as it took him into nearly every country. The senator is considered the most enthusiastic motorist in the Senate. In the last three years he has crossed Pennsylvania along the Lincoln highway and other routes from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and return more than 100 times. WikipediaPenrose's Wikipedia page has already been updated to add a link to this picture and note the possibility that the crash may have been related to his death the following year. [The senator's death came from pneumonia after years of declining health. - Dave] Text messagingIs it possible the Senator was text messaging with the window open that caused him to have the accident and while awaiting EMS caught pneumonia ? Winton SixAccording to the following delightful story in Boies Penrose, Symbol of an Era, by Robert Douglas Bowden (1937), Penrose's auto was a Winton Six painted "screaming red." The senator's driver was one Walter Mancer. Colorize this Winton Six, please!Shorpyite stanton_square's post, with the embedded book preview on the life of Boies Penrose, details on page 209 that the color of Mr. Penrose's touring car was "screaming red" with a bright red leather upholstery. Could someone please colorize this photo to show the bent automobile in all its red glory, and post it to Shorpy for all to see. When I zoomed-in to the radiator emblem on the wrecked auto, it does seem to be a Winton Six medallion. Attached below is a photo of a Winton Six radiator emblem that I found on the internet. Multiple dangersIt's not just the lack of seat belts and the non-safety glass (though those alone were good enough to kill). The steering column in those days was essentially a harpoon, and any head-on collision was likely to spear the driver. Red WreckA red Winton Six for Fellow Oakie. Re: Sharp RideIn 1923 when my mother was 3, she was in a car accident in the D.C. area that put her through the windshield. The left side of her face was cut from temple to lip. It must have been pretty bad because she said the hospital doctors weren't going to do any repairs. However one doctor took on the task and saved her life. This photo has answered questions I have had for so long. Quote"I believe in the division of labor. You send us to Congress; we pass laws under which you make money...and out of your profits, you further contribute to our campaign funds to send us back again to pass more laws to enable you to make more money." -- Senator Boies Penrose (R-Pa.), 1896, citing the relationship between his politics and big business. An honest politician! Not Necessarily RedThe circa 1920 Winton shown in the photograph is not necessarily painted red. Page 209 of Bowden's book is mentioning events from 1913 or 1914. The car Senator Penrose purchased back then was red. This car, built around 1920, is not the same one as described in the book. Both cars are Winton Sixes. Senator:"Ugh, thanks God I am not some James Dean." (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo)
Sunday Skoal: 1941
... had taps on his shoes (we always called them cleats ... a Baltimore thing??). I bet the guy in the picture also has taps. Blue ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/29/2022 - 5:29pm -

August 1941. "Farm boys in beer parlor on Sunday afternoon. Finnish community of Bruce Crossing, Michigan." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Raising HelsinkiYou knew somebody was gonna say it ... Gottleib Grip TesterThe coin-operated machine at the far left of the counter is a Gottleib Grip Tester. Drop a penny and either pull the two halves of the grip together, or push them apart. See how strong you are -- compete with your friends. Easy money for the bar owner. (Photo lifted off the web -- my grip tester is long gone.) Belt, no capI believe we have a handsome rake in this Finnish community beer parlor on a Sunday afternoon. Sisu with a little uff da too, eh?At first glance I thought that this might be a Michigan bar, maybe tipped by the antlers & Stroh's Beer sign. All of the men look at least a little like my late Uncle Otto, hence Finnish. Therefore, a Yooper bar. Raised canesIt seems like an odd habit to store canes on the antlers. I that some tradition that I don't know about? RepeaterOne of those Yoopers has been here before. https://www.shorpy.com/node/25973 First step to becoming hepI remember the belt buckles being worn like the fellow on the right. One of my cousins wore his that way too and he also had taps on his shoes (we always called them cleats ... a Baltimore thing??). I bet the guy in the picture also has taps. Blue Law Sunday?What is hidden behind that cloth on the back of the bar? Did the blue laws state that hard liquor couldn't be sold and had to be hidden on Sundays? Familiar faceAt first glance I thought that was a young Johnny Carson. I remember those Gripmasters. I'd do well to be able to put the penny in it now. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Small Towns)
Park Terminal: 1943
April 1943. "Baltimore, Maryland. Trolleys inside the Park Terminal at night." Photo by ... View full size. Timely Photograph The last Baltimore streetcar ran on November 3, 1963. Thus, this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the end of streetcar service in Baltimore. The Park Terminal, which was built in 1909, was the largest ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/01/2013 - 8:47am -

April 1943. "Baltimore, Maryland. Trolleys inside the Park Terminal at night." Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size. Timely PhotographThe last Baltimore streetcar ran on November 3, 1963. Thus, this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the end of streetcar service in Baltimore. The Park Terminal, which was built in 1909, was the largest streetcar barn in the Baltimore system. It still stands at Druid Hill and Fulton Avenues. Some still runningRestored street cars and interurban cars are still running at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Il, about 50 miles NW of Chicago. It's the largest railway museum in the US and, April through November, runs at least one restored street car every weekend on a mile-long loop. This past summer about 60 electric cars ran on one day -- not just sat for viewing, but ran on tracks. The IRM is run entirely by volunteers and has over 400 cars and engines. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Marjory Collins, Streetcars)
Chevy Baby: 1963
... slower then I remember parts of the beltway around Baltimore being built and my father sneaking on to it for an exit or two before ... 
 
Posted by deluxeczech - 12/31/2008 - 6:46am -

Circa 1963. I'm not sure what's worse: that my brother is in the front seat or the metal baby seat itself, hooked to the seatback of the car. View full size. Love it.Where is this? RestraintAt least little brother had a car seat. I rode (like nearly all children in those days) unrestrained in the front seat, sometimes even standing up. My mother would reflexively fling her right arm across us kids when she had to stop suddenly. As if that would have helped. And dashboards then were made of sturdy metal! Right arm reflexI was still doing that when my son was about 18 years old. He didn't appreciate being smacked in the chest with a fast right arm fling. But, hey, none of us had restraints then. '59 or '60?Judging from the instrument hoods, that looks to be a 1959 or 1960 Chevy wagon. And yes, I remember those car seats. My little brother, who was born in 1965, had a blue one, with a padded bar in front. Not quite like today's car seats. Darwin Awards for Baby SeatsMy mom was just visiting. I'm 30, turns out that when I was a babe we were placed in the backseat in a "baby bed." This was basically a crib that fit in the car. No restraints. Terrifying. Ow. Ow. Ow.The middle of the dashboard looks like it melted. Or is it that from Baby's head repeatedly smacking into it? Yet we survived!!I had a seat just like that, only red plaid. It had a horn to beep too, which I remember doing till Mom yelled. I also had a carbed, which they put me in for 4 hour drives to the grandparents every weekend. I guess we were pretty durable kids! Great photo. OverreactingIn addition to slamming my 18-year-old in the chest, both of our children when they were babies were placed in the back seat in the basket part of the buggy with the wheels deposited in the trunk. Somehow an awful lot of children did not die or get maimed. We had no better choices in the 50's. We also did not have cell phones to distract us while we were driving and sibling squabbles were dealt with when we got home. Amazing that we're all alive -- right? BTW, I think seat restraints should have been required with the first horse-drawn carriage but they weren't. Toot SweetOh hey, that could have been me! Right down to the year and the car seat. Though I'm pretty sure my parents drove a Ford. (And I'm not a boy.) Photo qua photoThe setting, the color, the lighting - this is a fabulous photo. Happy MomThe feature that leaps off the screen at me is the lovely expression of complete delight on deluxeczech's mom's face. I've found a few photos of my own mom looking at me like that when I was that age (later was often another matter, but happily we worked it out). Amazing and wonderful to see. Jogs many memoriesI'm pretty certain that's a 1960 Chevy wagon. My parents had a '60 Chevy Impala convertible before I was born (in early 1963) and photos show it having the same dash in the same layout and shade of blue. What looks like waprage in the center was actually a design element; the full-size Chevies' dashes were meant to echo that of their sportier little sibling, the Corvette. By the time I rolled around they owned a 1962 Pontiac Catalina 2-door hardtop. Photos exist of me sitting in a very similar car seat. Family oral history has it that I was seated there when news of JFK's assassination came over the Delco AM radio. Family oral history also has it that I later did some damage to the car's transmission by reaching over and moving the gearshift selector from D to R while the car was in motion (note how close the gearshift knob is to your brother's reach). How much damage and at what speed, I don't know. Baby BeeperAs soon as I glimpsed the car seat it brought back a long forgotten memory of a car seat somewhat similar we had for my younger brother, born 1963. It had a horn button (Operative! My suffering parents) in the center of the steering wheel and attached the same way to the seat back. Right Arm Reflex Part BIndeed, that brings back memories. I had a car seat like that with a steering wheel (no horn however) and it was mounted to the back of the passenger seat of our 1947 Plymouth coupe. My second most terrifying childhood memory is my mother slamming on the brakes and the seat starting to fold forward (no catch to hold the seatbacks upright as have been on all 2-door cars since about 1974). As my 4 year old self tilted towards the Detroit steel dashboard, Mother's right arm came screaming across and slammed me right back where I belonged. There was probably a sonic boom; it just sent the breath right out of me, it happened so fast. But she accomplished her mission: I have a full, normal set of jaws and teeth, and my baby teeth lasted a normal amount of time. ExoneratedBless you, Capt. Jack. We moms did what we could with what we had -- a good right arm! We got you on the other end sometimes too, didn't we. And, yes, we did have a two-door car with the same seat problem. Right arm fling!My youngest child is 32 and out of the house, but I still can fling my arm with the best of them. I've saved my purse from an ugly death so many times, I even save my groceries! That is a reflex that will probably never leave me! [On "Seinfeld," known as "stopping short." - Dave] Caught sitting downI rode standing up so often that on one memorable occasion, my mom did the arm fling out of reflex to catch me in the chest and restrain me. But I happened to be sitting down that day, and she broke my nose with her Mexican Topaz cocktail ring. OUCH. We drove slower thenI remember parts of the beltway around Baltimore being built and my father sneaking on to it for an exit or two before the road was officially opened. The roads my mother drove on were relatively low speed roads with plenty of stop signs and red lights, which probably accounts for the kids surviving those car seats. Not to mention the pedestrians and kids on bikes all over the place. Backseat RiderI was put in a seat like this when I was a very wee tot. When I outgrew it I joined the rest of the kids in the back seat -- and usually all of us stood up. I can't imagine what people would think today if they saw my mother driving our old '59 Buick, windows rolled up tight against the Indiana cold, cigarette parked in her mouth, and several kids standing on the back seat (and usually one lying down on the rear window package shelf, which was my favorite spot). If Mom slammed on the brakes all of us would go flying -- over the front seat or under it. I think back on that now and wonder how we ever survived it. From the Back Seat, Cont'dI'm struck by the number of comments from people who rode standing up in the back seat. My sister and I did the same thing when we were tots. I guess so we could see out the windows. We were strapped in with some sort of harness. Mom had a 1956 Lincoln Premiere. Robin's egg blue. The "Winkin," we called it. Seat BeltsThe first car that I ever rode in that had seat belts was a new 1956 Ford belonging to the family of a fourth-grade classmate. It'd be nearly a decade until our family car had them as a front-seat option in a 1965 Corvair Monza, which had to be retrofitted for the back seat belts. Rear window seatWhen we got our 1956 Rambler wagon, my favorite spot was all the way in back, looking out the rear window, watching the roadway spiraling away into the distance. No seat, no padding, sliding around on the metal deck on turns - imagine a rag doll in an empty tool box. In good weather, I'd insist on the back window being rolled down and then got the additional benefit of sucked-in exhaust fumes. But I apparently survived. I was also able to get otherwise unavailable angles for photos, like looking back up a freeway onramp, such as this shot from 1963: 1950s pinko carsFellow Rambler wagon back-end rider Mimi1942 asks What was with pink cars back then, anyway? Answer: pink and charcoal (runner up: turquoise and white) were the official colors of the 1950s, viz this gorgeous 1955 Studebaker I shot on a recent July 4th parade: A Decade of Fads.tterrace nailed it. The '50s were a series of fads and they extended way beyond car color. Each fad really impacted the life of a teenager. In the spring of 1956 the de rigueur outfit for boys in my high school was black penny loafers, white socks, black pegged (way tight) pants, pink short-sleeved shirt and a "D.A." haircut. For you young-'uns, it looked like the south end of a northbound duck. For girls it was the same loafers, the same white socks, (only "fast" girls wore nylons), black or gray wool full skirt with pink poodle, pink blouse (initials optional), hopefully a boyfriend's ring on a chain around the neck, and a ponytail. Wear anything else, and risk being called a "fruit." The term "nerd" was years in the future. By the next year we had moved on to blue suede shoes and white T-shirts, but the car companies were slower to respond. Our 1957 DeSoto was Bittersweet and Smoke -- yes, pink and black. 1956 Nash RamblerWhen I was a sophomore in high school, my dad bought a used rose-pink and gray 1956 Nash Rambler station wagon that I thought was the living end. When he retired from the Air Force and took a job at Cape Canaveral in my junior year, I rode in the very back (ours was carpeted) the whole way from Albuquerque to Cocoa Beach with my boxer dog Vicky so that I wouldn't have to sit in the back seat with my 6-years-younger sister who loved to prattle. It was wonderful! I was never so sad as when my dad traded it in a couple of years later on a light pink sedan. What was with pink cars back then, anyway? Arm FlingingAll of the arm flinging is too funny. I used to ride standing up in the front passenger seat and my mom did the arm fling thing. And 30+ years later she still has that instinct. Apparently, when she was a baby her mother put her in a laundry basket behind the front seat to keep her safe. Apparently it worked fine. Those carseats were helpful in some waysEven though they would be of little help in an accident, there was one benefit and that was that the parent driving didn't have to keep looking to see where the baby was, or trying to get him/her out from under their feet, away from the window, etc.. My brother's had a belt and although it wasn't very strong, like the ones we have in carseats now, it did keep him from climbing out of it. I think the car beds, tucked on the floor behind the front seat were probably a pretty safe place to be in an accident, provided that the baby was young enough to stay lying down and the car didn't roll. I'm thankful that we had good car seats by the time my oldest son was born, in 1983. I was amazed at how many people didn't use them, until they became mandatory. Wonderful!What a wonderful capture! I love the fall colors, the reds and plaid (and stripes!). Also her glasses and ponytail are perfect. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Fairview Hotel: 1916
... hearing. Fairview is a one-room hotel, opposite the Baltimore and Ohio freight yards. On the spotless whitewashed walls the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 1:21pm -

Washington circa 1916. "Fairview Hotel, 1st Street and Florida Avenue." The proprietor is former slave and "colored philosopher" Keith Sutherland. See the comments below for more on him. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size. Room comes with outside bar.I wonder if he ever tried to patent his Pepecual Motion machine? Soup to GoTake a good look at the wooden cart. It has a kerosene container with a tap. It looks like it goes under the "soup" pot. Maybe Mr. Sutherland took his cart around and sold food as a vendor. He has a counter on both sides! Amazing. I don't know why......but I have sudden craving for a delicious CORBY CAKE™. Gold Dust Twins"I will agree with you sister why do they want to break up Fairview for" Cryptic sign. One might assume the city wanted to tear down the, um, stately Fairview Hotel. I can't imagine this was seriously a room for rent, unless it's just the check-in. Looks more like a ramshackle lunch stand. Fair View?Why, I'd say it was better than fair. It's downright byootyfull. Gold Dust Twins"Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder - The Many Purpose Cleaner. Gold Dust products were represented by the Gold Dust Twins, two African-American children surrounded by gold coins. The orange box with the universally recognized twins practically jumped off the shelf. In fact the twins were one of the best known trademarks of the 19th century. Let the Twins Do Your Work was the tag line. The back of the box shows the twins tackling several household chores as well as a list of 34 cleaning jobs made easier by using Gold Dust. http://www.the-forum.com/advert/golddust.htm Wow!Now this is one of the most interesting photos posted on Shorpy in a long time. I would love to know the story behind the "I will agree with you sister..." sign. This Quaint StructureWashington Post, September 3, 1916. PLEAD FOR QUAINT HOTEL Hundred Neighbors Sign a Petition To Save Sutherland's "Fairview." A petition eight feet long, signed by about 100 neighbors of the Fairview Hotel, First street and Florida avenue northeast, will be introduced as evidence against the condemnation and closing of this quaint structure when a hearing is held at the District building Tuesday to determine whether the property shall be razed for sanitary reasons. Keith Sutherland is the aged colored proprietor, and he hobbled to the District building last week and appealed to Daniel Donovan, secretary to the board of commissioners, to save his place. Since filing his appeal the health department has investigated the property. Its report has been turned over to Commissioner Brownlow, and will be heard at the hearing. Fairview is a one-room hotel, opposite the Baltimore and Ohio freight yards. On the spotless whitewashed walls the proprietor, Sutherland, has written some quaint bits of philosophy for the edification of his customers -- truck drivers and employes about the yards. Corby - Washington's Biggest BakeryArticle from October 1915 issue of Bakers Review courtesy of Google Books: The largest bakery in Washington--and model one, too, in every sense of the word--is that owned and operated by the Corby Baking Co., one of the most progressive baking concerns in the United States. The firm was organized twenty years ago, when they started a little bakery down town. In 1902 they bought out a baker at 2305 Georgia Ave., (where their present plant is situated), and then built the first addition. In 1912 they built again, giving the Plant of the Corby Baking Co., Washington, D. C. building its present size. The article even has pictures! Say!I think I stayed there one year Thursday night! Roof GardenFor me a most entertaining aspect of the photo is the three rusty tins being used as planters on top of the shack:     FAIR     VIEW     HOTEL And the whiskey bottles on the stand tell a lot about this place. Those signsKeith Sutherland's quaint signs would qualify today as genuine folk art. Gold Dust TwinsFred Lynn and Jim Rice were known as the Gold Dust Twins in 1975. I figured the name came from somewhere, but I didn't know it was from washing powder. Sage DiesWashington Post, Feb. 21, 1933. Sage Dies Former Slave Prophesied Voters' Landslide for Roosevelt. Keith Sutherland, colored philosopher and prophet whose political forecast won him the thanks of President-elect Roosevelt, fulfilled his final prediction Sunday when he folded his hands about a Bible and died at his home, 1640 Eleventh street. The former slave felt the approach of death Friday, his children said. He called his family together and instructed them to prepare a funeral, saying that he would die on the Sabbath. Last August Sutherland dreamed of a great voters' landslide for Franklin D. Roosevelt. The dream was so "clear" that he wrote Mr. Roosevelt a description of it. Mr. Roosevelt responded with a "thank you" note saying he found the prediction "very encouraging." For the past half century Sutherland has kept a restaurant in Washington where the walls were posted with his prophecies, many of them showing unusual foresight. He was 79 years old. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the P.A. Lomax funeral home, Fourteenth and S streets. Interment will be at Harmony Cemetery. He is survived by four children. The Real McCoyIt actually looks like Grandpappy Amos McCoy's apple cider stand. Hostelry Spared Local News Briefs Upon recommendation of both the health officer, William C. Woodward, and Building Inspector Hacker, the District commissioners decided not to condemn "Fairview," the famous hostelry at First street and Florida avenue northwest , owned by Keith Sutherland, colored philosopher. About a month ago complaints reached the health office that "Fairview" was insanitary and a menace to the health of the city. The commissioners decided to investigate, but before they were ready to take action, an eight-foot petition signed by hundreds of residents of the northeast section, asking that "Fairview" be allowed to remain, was presented to them by Sutherland. Washington Post, Sep 9, 1916 District Building Notes Keith Sutherland, the aged colored proprietor of the Fairview Hotel, at First street and Florida avenue northwest, impressed city authorities so much last week with a plea for the retention of his property, which had almost been condemned to be razed, that it is likely the "hostelry" will be allowed to stand. Sutherland hobbled to the District building and presented a petition for his place signed by about 200 neighbors. Health Officer Woodward investigated the property and it is understood reported favorably on letting it remain. The building inspector, Morris Hacker, has the matter now under consideration. Sutherland is famous throughout his section of the city for his bits of philosophy, with which the walls of his establishment are painted. Washington Post, Sep 10, 1916 Alley Cook-ShopsWashington Post, Jan. 1, 1897. LICENSES FOR ALLEY COOK SHOPS. Judge Kimball Decides They Are Liable To a Fee of $25 a Year. The alleys of this city are filled with colored cook-shops, which heretofore have paid no license fee. Judge Kimball said yesterday, however, that every one of them must pay $25 a year. Only the police and the people who visit the numerous alleys and little streets of the city know how many of these cook-shops exist. The colored people generally resort to these places for pigs' feet, meat pie, and substantial provender prepared by the old mammies and quaint old colored men who run them, and cook dishes to the taste of the people of their race. The police yesterday brought into court, as a test case, Keith Sutherland, who has conducted a cook-shop for many years at 1111 R street. He was released on bonds after he took out a license, and as the matter has now been tested the police will bring all the proprietors of unlicensed cook-shops to the Police Court. Into the FutureThe descendants of Keith Sutherland's little counter 100 years ago were still going strong when I moved to Washington in the 1980s. I was directed by my new colleagues to explore the alleyways around our offices at M Street and Connecticut Avenue for (legal) hole-in-the-wall eateries for lunch and breakfast. It didn't take long for these places to become favorites of mine. I've been gone from D.C. for 20 years now; I'm wondering if these establishment still exist. Sutherland Family 1880 Census 1643 Vermont Avenue Sandy Sutherland, 54 Rach Sutherland, 57, (wife) Webster Sutherland, 12, (son) Keith Sutherland, 25, (son) Hattey Sutherland, 22, (daughter-in-law) Mary Sutherland, 6, (daughter) Willie Sutherland, 4, (son) 1900 Census 1112 R St Keith Sutherland, 46 Hattie Sutherland, 44, (wife) Arthur Sutherland, 3, (son - adopted) Webster Sutherland, 32, (brother) 1920 Census 104 Seaton Place Northeast Keith S Sutherland, 65 Hattie D Sutherland, 64, (wife) Webster Sutherland, 52, (brother) ???, 14, (daughter) Arthur L., 21, (son) Cora, 15, (daughter-in-law) Pinkey ???, 52, (mother-in-law) Just like India of todayHere in India, we still have thousands of "hotels" just like this one. I can walk to the end of the street here and find three of them that in black-and-white wouldn't look so different. Many are even on wheels (carts with bicycle wheels). Most have similar folk-art signs complete with misspellings. And similar records of cleanliness. I always thought it was interesting that restaurants in India are still called hotels. Now I see it's not odd, just archaic. Corby BakeryIt later became a Wonder Bread bakery (last time I was by there, the old "Wonder Bread" sign was still in place). The Corby buildings are still there (east side of Georgia just north of Bryant Street) and now house a strip of retail shops and fast food places. "Arbiter of all Brawls""Keitt" Sutherland was getting towards the end of a colorful life here. Washington Post, February 4, 1900. EX-KING OF THE BOTTOM Once Dominated a Notorious Section of the City. WHERE CRIME AND EVIL REIGNED. Reminiscences of "Hell's Bottom," Which Formally Kept the Police Department Busy, Recalled by "Keitt" Sutherland, the Odd Character Who Figured as Self-appointed Arbiter of all Brawls –- His Curious Resort in Center of that Section. KEITT'S. I, am, going, to, put, my, name, above, THE DOOR. The above legend with its superfluity of commas, inscribed on a piece of board about a foot square, nailed above the door of a tumble-down building at the intersection of Vermont avenue, Twelfth and R streets, marks the abode of the “King of Hell’s Bottom.” The structure thus adorned is the pool room of “Keitt” Sutherland, overlord and supreme ruler of the negroes in the vicinity. Although the encroachments of modern dwellings, increase in the police force, and other accompaniments of growing metropolitan life have somewhat shorn him of his feudal rights and curtailed his former realm, “Keitt” is now, and always will be, monarch of all he chooses to survey. It is still within the memory of the present generation when “Hell’s Bottom” was a fact and not a memory. The swampy, low-lying ground bred mosquitoes, malaria, and – thugs. It was the quarter set apart for and dominated by the tough element of the colored population. A white man with money in his pocket studiously avoided the locality after dark, or else set a fast pace to which he adjusted the accompaniment of a rag-time whistle. Half a dozen saloons congested within the radius of a block served the barroom habitués with whisky as hot as chile con carne and as exhilarating as Chinese pundu. Fights arose approaching the dimensions of a riot, and the guardians of the law had all they could do to quell the disturbances. A policeman or two was killed, and that, together with the growth of the city, led to the rehabilitation of “Hell’s Bottom.” Now it is interesting mainly in its wealth of reminiscence. “How did I happen to put up that sign?” Keitt repeats after the inevitable query. “I’ll tell you. You see my folks used to own that property, and they was sort o’ slow dyin’ off. I knowed I was going to come into it some day, an’ I thought I might as well let people know it. About that time a show came along, and they sang a song somethin’ like this: “I am going to put my name above the door. For it’s better late than never. An’ I’ll do so howsomever.’ It gave me an idea. I just put that sign above the door. After while the folks died, an’ I got the property.” Queer Sort of Place. Guided by the much-be-commaed signboard, the visitor goes to the door of the poolroom and inquires for “Keitt.” He finds the room filled with colored youth of all sizes, the adults of which are engaged in playing pool at 5 cents a game. The balls on the table are a joblot, the survivors of the fittest in many a hard-fought game. The cushions are about as responsive as brickbats. But the players do not seem to care for that so long as they can drive the balls into the pockets and make their opponents pay for the sport. An ancient, dingy card on the wall informs the reader that he is within the precincts of the “Northern Light Poolroom.” The same placard also gives the following warning: “Persons are cautioned against laying around this building.” “Where is Keitt?” inquires the intruder, who finds himself regarded with suspicion. “Two doahs down below. Jest hollah ‘Katy,’ an’ he’ll show up,” is the answer. “Keitt” on inspection justified the right to the title of “king.” He is a giant, weighing 250 pounds, well distributed over a broad frame six feet and one inch in height. He looks like a man who would not shun a rough and tumble fight. He does not have to. A registered striking machine off in the corner shows that he can deliver a 500-pound blow. He might do better, but unfortunately the makers of the instrument did not figure that a man’s fist was a pile driver, and 500 pounds is as high as the machine will register. Many are the tables told of his prowess; of how he whipped in single combat the slugger of the community, a man who had challenged any five to come on at once; of how when only a bootblack in the ‘60’s, he sent three bullies about their business with broken heads and black eyes; of how he used to suppress incipient riots in his saloon by means of his strong arm and without the aid of the bluecoats in the neighborhood. Indeed, the police used to say that “Keitt” was as good as a sergeant and a squad with loaded “billies.” But “Keitt” (the name is a popular conversion of the more familiar “Keith”) has not won his way entirely through the medium of brawn. He is a man of intelligence, and has a keen eye for business. He is the magnate of the neighborhood, with property in his name, money in the bank, and a good comfortable roll about his place of business. He can go down in his pocket and bring out more $50 bills than the average man caries about in the $5 denomination. If one hints robbery or burglary “Keitt” simply rolls his eye expressively, and enough has been said. No one cares to tamper with his till. Plenty of Local Color. The saloon on the outside looks like a combination coal and wood shed. “Keitt” apologetically explains that it was formerly a stable, and that he has not had time to fix up much. Nevertheless, the fish, beans, sandwiches, and other eatables are so tempting that the frequenters of the place do not pay much attention to external appearances. The magic of the proprietor’s name draws as much custom as he can attend to, and fully as much as the customers can pay for. There is a charm about the old haunt that cannot be dispelled by police regulations or the proximity of modern dwellings. On Saturday night the place takes on something of its old glory. In the smoke-begrimed room – hardly 12 by 12 – are found thirty or forty men eating and talking. Through the thick clouds of smoke the lamps throw out a dim gleam, and the odor of frying fish and the fumes of the pipe struggle for the mastery. The crowd gets noisy at times, but any attempt at boisterousness is quieted by a word from the dominant spirit of the gathering. If any one gets obstreperous he is thrown out on the pavement, and it makes little difference to the bouncer whether the mutinous one lands on his head or not. This is the negro Bohemia. They who live from hand to mouth love to come her. The boot-black with a dime receives as much consideration as the belated teamster with a roll of one-dollar bills. Business is business, and “Keitt” is a business man. Consequently there is very little credit given. “Five or ten cents is about the limit,” says the autocrat. But “Keitt” is something of a philanthropist., although he makes his charity redound to his personal benefit. An illustrated placard, done in what appears to be an excellent quality of shoe blacking, has the figure of a man sawing wood. It bears the following words, “Just tell them that you saw me sawing wood at Keitt’s for a grind.” The term “grind” is synonymous with mastication, the wood sawyer thereby being supposed to do a stunt for the recompense of a square meal. This does away with the tearful plaint that is ever the specialty of the hungry and penniless, gives employment to the idle, and increases the size of “Keitt’s” wood pile. The latter is sold to the negroes of the neighborhood at prevailing prices. “Keitt” figures that his method is wiser than giving unlimited credit, and he is probably right. “Keitt” is a mine of reminiscence. He has been in Washington 1862, when he came from Charles County, Md., where he was born a slave. He was a bootblack around the Treasury building, and he remembers seeing Lincoln’s funeral pass by, with the white horse tied behind the hearse. His history of the rise and fall of “Hell’s Bottom” is quite valuable from a local standpoint. Divested of dialect, it is as follows “’Hell’s Bottom’ began to get its name shortly after the close of the war in 1866. There were two very lively places in those days. One was a triangular square at Rhode Island avenue and Eleventh street. It was here that an eloquent colored preacher, who went by the name of ‘John the Baptist,’ used to hold revival services, which were attended by the newly-freed slaves. The revival was all right, but the four or five barrooms in the neighborhood used to hold the overflow meetings, and when the crowds went home at night you couldn’t tell whether they were shouting from religion or whisky. “Then there was what was known as the ‘contraband camp,’ located on S street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth. The negroes who had just been freed stayed there waiting for white people to come and hire them. They got into all sorts of trouble, and many of them settled in the neighborhood. Money was scarce and whisky was cheap – a certain sort of whisky – and the combination resulted in giving the place the name which it held for so many years. The police force was small. There was no police court, and the magistrates before whom offenders were brought rarely fixed the penalty at more than $2. Crime and lawlessness grew terribly, and a man had to fight, whenever he went into the ‘Bottom.’ “The unsettled condition of the locality made things worse. Men used to shoot reed birds where Corcoran street now is. I have caught many a mud turtle there in the 60’s. I saw a man get drowned in the creek at Seventh and R streets. At the point where the engine-house is now located on R street a man could catch all the minnows he wanted for bait. Tall swamp grass afforded easy concealment for any one who wanted to hide after a petty theft or the robbery of some pedestrian. Consequently, it is small wonder that the law was defied in those days. Many Disorderly Rowdies. “A white man never wanted to cross the ‘Bottom’ after dark. If he did he had to keep stepping. Just how many crimes of magnitude were committed there no one can tell. The life of the negro was far from easy. If a fellow took a girl to church, the chances were that he would not take her home. A gang of rowdies would meet him at the church door as he came out. They would tell him to ‘trot,’ and he seldom disobeyed. They escorted the girl themselves. It was impossible to stop this sort of petty misdeeds. “At times the trouble grew serious. I have seen 500 negroes engaged in a fight all at once in ‘Hell’s Bottom.’ That was during the mayoralty elections, and the riot would be started by the discovery of a negro who was voting the Democratic ticket. I have had big fights in my old saloon, but there was only one that I could not stop with the assistance of two bouncers I had in those days. There were fully fifty men in the saloon at the time, and most of them were drunk. They began to quarrel, and when I could not stop them I blew a distress call. About fifteen policemen came, for in those days it was useless to send two or three to quell a disturbance around here. When word came that the police were after them the last man of them rushed through the rear part of the saloon, and I’ll give you my word that they broke down the fences in five back yards in getting away. Not a man of them was captured. “Ah, those were the days. Things are quiet around here now, but sometimes we have a little fun, and then the boys go to the farm for ninety days. I keep ‘em pretty straight in my place, though, let me tell you.” (The Gallery, D.C., Eateries & Bars, Harris + Ewing)
Santa's Little Helper: 1924
... shots. Hutzler's Hutzler's? Are you from Baltimore? I used to spend summers there with my mom as a kid. Even ... Department stores I remember being taken downtown (Baltimore) by my grandmother at Christmas time to see the decorated windows at ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 1:55pm -

December 1924. "Santa's toys." Toy World at Wanamaker's in New York. Be nice, boys and girls, and you might get a Packard! Be naughty and you might get arrested! 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. Santa looks rather frazzledAnd perhaps a little shnockered, too. Santa Claus is coming to townYou better watch out You better not cry You better not pout Or the evil clown policeman will beat you with his nightstick! Ho ho ho! DisappointedI got dragged down to the store in the dead of winter, got all dressed up in this flimsy summer dress with my knickers hanging out and all I get is this stupid brochure! Modern SantaNewspapers always run articles about how the Santa we know and love today didn't appear until the late 1930s Coca-Cola ads. Before that, we're always assured, he was more of a "jolly elf." But this Santa looks fairly modern to me. [True. The idea that Haddon Sundblom is responsible for the modern incarnation of Santa Claus seems to be kind of a popular misconception. Although he certainly did help to slickify the look. - Dave] Fleet's in!I wish kids still wore sailor suits like the lad on the far left. Adorable! Mrs. Claus looks like she's been been having a nip of The Grownups' Eggnog. Too Many SantasI remember my cousin asking why there was a Santa at Hutzler's and at Stewart's. We must have been about 8 or 9 at the time, old enough to be concerned that there was something fishy about this whole Santa brings presents story, but still very much wanting to be sure to tell Santa what we wanted. I wish I could remember what answer my aunt gave. That Store TodayWannamaker's was a Philadelphia based chain and their store there is still around but now operating as Macy's. In fact they were on the CBS Evening News the other day because of their organ recitals (they have the largest fully operational pipe organ in the world). At one time Wannamake's New York store was the largest department store in the world. Today the building is an office building with a K-Mart as a retail tenant. You'd better watch out!Love the spats on the kiddies. I've never seen socks or pants like that before. 8 Tiny Autos"Now! Packard, now! Willys, now! Buick, and Ford, "On! Chevy, on! Hudson, on! Oakland and Cord!” Future Paint TycoonAt least we know what became of the lad standing to the left of Mrs. Claus - he became the face of Dutch Boy Paints. Is there a dike cracking somewhere in Holland while he tries to score a Packard back here in New York? Please SantaIf I were to find that Packard under my tree this year, I would be the happiest 61 year old kid on the block Skid Row SantaHe's a pretty rough-looking character if you study his face. And what's that? A truncheon his helper is carrying? Good thing all those moms and dads are there to keep an eye on the action. This particular Christmas, by the way, was my mother's first one. She'd been born that August in the Bronx. One of these days I fully expect to see her and her family in one of these crowd shots. Hutzler'sHutzler's? Are you from Baltimore? I used to spend summers there with my mom as a kid. Even creepierSomehow, the scary clown playing police officer rather than delivery boy is even creepier. This is truly the stuff of nightmares. [He's wearing the same policeman costume in both photos. - Dave] Wanamaker'sThis was one of the big-name department stores back in the day. The department store Christmas displays for kids used to be really special. I'd say everyone looks pretty happy to be here. The Wanamaker OrganistHe is currently Peter Richard Conte, one of the great American virtuosos, organist at St. Clements in Philadelphia, in demand as a concert organist, has classical recordings both as an organist and as director of choral works. He will be giving the dedicatory concert for our recently restored 1926 organ here in 2009. Hutzler's againWhat kind of reaction will I get if I say Hochschild Kohn's? Heh. The first time I played hooky from school I took the No. 8 downtown and went to the flagship stores of Hutzler's et al. Do you remember the glorious wall of windows of the Hutzler's Towson store? The building is still there but, sadly, the windows aren't. I'll look around a bit, I've probably got pictures. Maybe Shorpy can do a before and after. Hutzler's and Stewarts--Been a long time......since I have heard someone utter "Hutzler's and Stewarts" in the same sentence. Timonium and Towson MD must've been your stomping grounds! I love the little boys expression as he looks askance at the clown/policeman. These children look pretty terrified of the guy. Brought back year after year.I think Santa looks peeved and ready to flee. Is that Jackie Coogan there behind Santa? The best part of this Santa ordeal for shy children was the Christmas atmosphere and wonderful anticipation while standing in line. The actual sitting on Santa's lap was scary. And yet we were brought back year after year. Wanamaker'sGlad that's cleared up! I saw that news segment about the organ and remember it from my time in Philadelphia, but thought--Macys'?. Wanamaker's was a great store -- I loved their chicken salad with grapes, and sitting on the balcony watching people shop. This is how the "real people" lived, I thought. These little kids are so captivating. The clown must be threatening Santa with a thrashing, and the mean moms love it even though the kids are "ho-hum". I hope that the Packard winner came from an affluent family because there's no room in the flat for that dang thing. The little girl front and center gets my Santa gift this year. Hutzler'sIn the 1960s, Hutzler's opened a modern branch on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, or it might have been in nearby Harundale. They had a nice lunch counter with one of the best crab cake sandwiches in Maryland. Hochschild's, as my mother called it, was okay, but Hutzler's was classy. Wanamaker's 1947My mother would leave me in the toy department while she went shopping. I remember watching the World Series on DuMont station WABD in the store. What a treat, as this was two years before we got our TV. Department storesI remember being taken downtown (Baltimore) by my grandmother at Christmas time to see the decorated windows at Hutzler's, Hochshild Kohn's, The Hecht Co, and Stewarts. It was spectacular! The stores really went all out to have moving objects, colors, and sparkly stuff. Kids would be three deep looking and dreaming. (The Gallery, Christmas, G.G. Bain, Kids, NYC, Scary Clowns)
On the Waterfront: 1905
Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1905. "Payday for the stevedores." 8x10 inch dry ... for the Di Giorgio Importing & Steamship Company of Baltimore, docking at Bowly's Wharf. A portion of the cargo would be unloaded ... wholesalers, while the larger portion was unloaded into Baltimore & Ohio Railroad boxcars on floats on the water side. In June, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:46pm -

Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1905. "Payday for the stevedores." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Ripe for unrestPresumably they didn't get paid in bananas. Banana Boat on Bowly's WharfThe steamship Bodø was variously described in period newspaper accounts as a United Fruit Company freighter and a Norwegian fruit freighter, but the flag on her funnel indicates that she was registered as an Italian merchant ship. In 1903 the Bodø was one of several ships transporting bananas from Jamaica and Cuba for the Di Giorgio Importing & Steamship Company of Baltimore, docking at Bowly's Wharf. A portion of the cargo would be unloaded by stevedores on the dockside and sold directly to local wholesalers, while the larger portion was unloaded into Baltimore & Ohio Railroad boxcars on floats on the water side. In June, 1903, the railroad failed more than once to supply the needed transport in a timely fashion. Cargos were spoiled, and the importer sued the B&O. The transcript of that lawsuit provided the details above. On March 20, 1906, the SS Bodø ran aground on the beach at Fire Island, New York, after clearing a sandbar in heavy seas, and could not be freed. There's a clown in every crowd.The kid holding the "cell phone" and smoking a banana seems to be having a pretty good time. Nice to see a spark of life in a few of those smiles.A few years later than this picture my grandfather would leave the house early every day with a chunk of yesterday's bread and walk 3 miles to the local docks in my home town. Mostly he was picked for work, but regularly he spent the whole day loafing around because he wasn't chosen. As a youngster, when I asked why he didn't just go back home he said that he didn't like to be under my grandma's feet all day, especially considering he would be bringing home no money. SweepingI will say that the guy sweeping the bricks (just to the right of the horse, behind the fella sitting down) by the waterline is doing a fine job. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Mad Men: 1959
... 1923 The Munsell Color Company relocates from NYC to Baltimore. 1946 Gretag AG Established in Switzerland. 1955 Macbeth ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:24pm -

c.1955 c.1959*. Ad men at work with a gizmo. My uncle, at the time vice president and production manager at the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency's San Francisco office, is at left. The gizmo is a "Chromocritic," a term which up to now returns zero hits on Google, so here's another first for Shorpy. It's obviously something used for viewing color transparencies under differing lighting conditions; the switch at the lower right toggles between "Daylight" and "Artificial." Extreme magnification reveals that its sole distributor was the Macbeth Arc Lamp Company of Philadelphia, PA. There Google helped me, and they were indeed suppliers of precision-calibrated lighting devices for the graphic arts industry. The graphic itself is in classic mid-50s illustration style. From an 8x10 print in a stash of my uncle's memorabilia I just acquired. *Thanks to Dave and others for narrowing down the actual dating. View full size. McMann and TateGentlemen, as you can see here, Darren has as usual incorporated his wife Samantha into his ad campaign sketches. Try Google BooksFrom "The Lithographers Manual" - Charles Shapiro- 1974 The Macbeth Chromocritic Viewer contains two light sources that can be mixed and measured and the pair of readings can be given to the lithographer by his client for each color transparency. This enables the lithographer to view the job in the same light in his own plant Looks like a viewer for color separations in a controlled way so as to ensure accurate color reproduction. Foote, Cone & Belding stashDid your uncle still work for F,C&B two years later, in 1957? If so, do you have any photos or ephemera involving their Edsel account? I assume Ford Motor Company worked with a Detroit or Dearborn based crew, but the ads they made ran nationally, so SFO might have had some role in the western states campaign. F,C&B was their 1957 and 1958 ad agency. A whole lot of current Edsel owners will drool all over their keyboards if you do. ElectropunkGotta love a transparency viewer that has meters and a giant knob. The device protruding from the top section looks like it could be a spirit level, but that wouldn't make sense on such a machine. Perhaps it's some form of light detector to help you criticize the chromaticity of the image. The AdFrom 1959-60, on eBay. Thanks to willc for the clue. Somewhere between Chromocritiquing and the final artwork, the arms and legs were shifted a bit. That's Very Nice,but get me a martini. Make it a double. Curiosity killed the cat Having been around advertising people on the east coast from 1959 until about 1963, I remembered that Foote, Cone and Belding had offices in S.F., Chicago, N. Y., etc. but could not remember their clients. DoninVa (another commenter) I believe is on the right track with the tanning lotion theory. There used to be a lotion called "Man Tan" around that era, but my search turned up nothing so it apparently no longer exists. I did find the history of the advertising agency and it is enormous, the oldest and largest and most prize-winning ad agency with offices around the world. We always seem to learn something new every day because of Shorpy and I thank you for yet another trip down memory lane. Market conditionsWhen I worked for a major food company, they had a special room with mockups of supermarket shelves, and in which the lights could be switched among the number of different modes found there. The idea was to see how the packages grabbed the consumer under various conditions. This may be something similar. Or not. Pay attention!"Edgar! look at the picture!" "I can't Fred...those cartoons have bikinis on, and it makes me feel funny..." Name this productLooks to me the ad is for a tanning product. Woman goes from pale to tan while hunk holds a clock. ColorblindNot to many years ago I worked for an apparel manufacturing company and we had a machine called a Macbeth box (or something). As I recall it was a four foot cube with the front face open and lighted on the inside. The folks who could tell the difference would use its precisely calibrated light to evaluate the color of fabric samples. Not being able to tell one shade from another, calibrated light or not, I never touched it. It's Tanfastic!Something about that ad artwork tipped over the big junk bin in my head, and out came the product name "Tanfastic." Here is a 1961 ad for that product that ran in women's magazines like Glamour and Seventeen. I tried Googling "Chromocritic"Five hits now, every one of them straight back to this post. On this side of the pondMacBeth are best known for densitometers, devices for measuring the density of negatives as part of the printing process. For all you young'uns, negatives are what we used to use before memory cards became the fashion!! Function over formThose were the days in which machines were still designed by engineers, not stylists. This thing shouts FUNCTION, with its 'clack-clack' switch levers, Flash Gordon dials and ventilation slots you can slice cheese with. Love it. WowBoth the ad and the machine within 24 hours. Shorpy fans are simply the best! FCBI worked for them. But that's way before my time. Foot Corn & BunionIn the book "The Edsel Affair," the author worked for with the Foote, Cone & Belding agency, which was referred to as Foot Corn & Bunion by its own people! Macbeth Artificial Daylighting Co.1915 Macbeth Artificial Daylighting Company started in New York to provide daylight fixtures to retailers in New York City. 1918 The Munsell Color Company founded in Boston to supply color standards with Munsell notations. 1922 The Munsell Color Company moves from Boston to New York and continues to sell color books and charts, Munsell Crayons and high-grade tempera to artists and teachers for color instruction of schoolchildren. 1923 The Munsell Color Company relocates from NYC to Baltimore. 1946 Gretag AG Established in Switzerland. 1955 Macbeth relocates to New Windsor, NY. 1965 Kollmorgen Instruments Corporation and Macbeth merge. 1970 Kollmorgen acquires the Munsell Color Company, the internationally recognized manufacturer of precise color standards. 1979 Gretag Color Control Systems becomes an independent profit center within Gretag AG, focused on color measurement and color quality control products. 1984 Gretag Color Control Systems produces the first portable spectrophotometer. 1989 Macbeth acquires a German-based manufacturer of spectrophotometer systems. 1997 The Gretag Color Control System Division of Gretag AG merges with the Macbeth division of Kollmorgen Instruments Corporation. 1998 Gretag Macbeth GmbH acquires LOGO Kommunikations, a developer of color management software. 1999 GretagMacbeth acquires Talia Tecnoequipe, a software company focused on the textile industry. Viptronic, a manufacturer of hand-held instrumentation, acquired by GretagMacbeth 2001 Gretag-Macbeth Holding AG becomes Amazys Holding AG 2003 GretagMacbeth announces acquisitions of SheLyn Inc., a textile software and applications provider and Sequel Imaging, a graphic arts solutions provider. 2006 X-Rite Incorporated acquires Amazys Holding AG and all its holdings. Cone, Belding and FooteThat's the order they're in l>r in this photo from my uncle's stash. He's not in it, but for you Mad Men fans we do have the drinks and the cigs. Emerson Foote at the right is smoking, which is particularly interesting in light of his later history. He also seemed to have inspired a film character. I've tentatively dated this from about 1948. A companion shot, with Fairfax Cone smiling, was used in a number of trade publications Macbeth lampsTechnical Arcanery: The machine is a whiz-bang version of a lightbox, used to view the color in the transparency under different lighting conditions, and probably also to suggest color corrections for the artist. Don't know what all the controls do, but probably just for all the different light conditions and intensities. In sequence, this color viewing step is way ahead of the color separation process. Macbeth (originally Macbeth Arc Lamp Company) did indeed make densitometers, but its primary product for years was the high powered lamps used in graphic arts cameras and platemakers, pre Macs and Pagemaker. The company's biggest competitor was NuArc. Every camera I ran (geezing alert) had NuArc or Macbeth lamps, as did all of the platemaking equipment I operated. Ford, Corn & BunionC. Gayle Warnock, the author of "The Edsel Affair," who died in 2007, did not work for Foote, Cone & Belding. He was the PR head of Ford Motor Company, and worked with FCB on the Edsel account. Man TanAs I recall, Man Tan was one of the first, if not the first, tanning liquid that required no sun at all. Gross stuff, creepy and bizarre results. Link, pleaseTo Bobby Darin's newest 45 single, "She's Tanfastic." "She's Tanfastic"http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,72889-594798,00.htm... Bobby did this one for the money. (Use IE since my Firefox doesn't seem to want to play it.) iChromocriticThanks for this post and for all coments! Ad-mazing! Just for completenessThere's a note about a demonstration of the Macbeth Chromacritic [sic] in the January 1949 issue of the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Simulcast: 1922
... the 1920s version of screen names ("3NR took a trip to Baltimore"). "Radiophone" would be audio broadcasts, which in 1922 would be ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/04/2011 - 3:25am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "McHugh & Lawson." The name of a music store selling pianos, radio sets, phonographs and, it seems, light fixtures. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. "Kiss Me by Wireless"I found the lyrics and the cover of the sheet music to "Kiss Me by Wireless," which is the last song in the 10:30-11:30 hour on Woodward & Lothrop's station. Change the below to "cell tower" and there you are. There's a wireless station down in my heart, And it calls in my dreams all night long; It is operating just for you and me, And it's spanning the hills and the sea. Your message I love the best, The call to happiness. Chorus Send each caress to me by wireless, Its tenderness you can to me express; I love to call you dear, Across the atmosphere. I hear your voice, It thrills me through and through. My lonely heart sighs for you, just for you! Oh, radio-phone the answer "Yes!" Kiss me by wireless. There's a pulsating current, Runs 'round my heart, It's attuned with your own sweetheart mine; Though you're far away, We're never apart For the radio station's my heart. So on the air impress, Our new found happiness. (repeat chorus) That'll teach you!Someone gave the poor violinist a black eye - did she hit a sour note? You rang? I'm sorry to have to say this, but that worman looks like "Lurch" on the Addams Family. And bare knuckle boxing in the backDig the shiner on Miss Fiddle Player Live broadcastThe sign above the piano, and the gent in the background (who is evidently adjusting some equipement with his right hand), make me think this duo is being broadcast live on radio station WJH. The first broadcast station authorized in the Washington DC area was WJH, the White & Boyer Company, on December 8, 1921, so this would have been a very early broadcast. McHugh & LawsonThe store was at 917 G Street in DC. It's now the site of the MLK Memorial Library. Full-Contact ViolinAnd our lesson today is not to use too much rosin on your bow as this may lead to eye-injury. WJHChronology of call letters WJH Date: April 1, 1922-June 30, 1923 Frequency: 833 khz (April 1, 1922-June 30,1922) 1140 khz (June 30, 1923) Location: Washington, District of Columbia Owner of license: White & Boyer Company In those days the letters 3NR could be Amateur Radio, or perhaps experimental. Wonder how the violin lady got that shiner? Or was 3NR TV and she was painted up to look good? Can you see me?Second lady has a hat and makes four in the photo. Be still and don't blink. ShinerI have a friend living on the Upper West Side in an apartment above a professional harpist. Her practicing is totally annoying, not only the harp music but the vibrations. I have to show him this picture in order for him to understand that violence doesn't work, in this case she's still playing her violin. Ba dum dumWith such a small store they must have a small overhead, which is ironic because there's so much over their heads. Broadcast to You LiveFrom our spacious showroom. Another marvelous look back. Stations 3NR and WJH? More proof that you've gotta 'full size' these wonderful photos or you'll never come close to full appreciation of the secrets they hold. Who hit her?Did the pianist give her that shiner? "E-flat. E-flat, I tell you!" MakeupI'm wondering if she was going for a really interesting bohemian look. Because if she was, she succeeded. She appearsto be quite deceased. Ghost of SchubertI suppose Princess Leia's kiss of death face stems from blinking during exposure? Took me a while to find the pretty lady with the turban (?) reflected in the piano. Maybe she should have posed with the fiddle. EquipmentI love the pickup horn. The radio engineer in the back does his duty, intently. Pity the violinist's eyes! 3-NRAccording to the March 10, 1922 "U.S. Broadcast Station List" (Radio Service Bulletin 59), White & Boyer Co. owned WJH, with "authorization to transmit on the 'Entertainment' wavelength of 360 meters (833 kilohertz)." It also owned amateur station 3NR ("Amateur Radio Stations of the U.S.," Dept. of Commerce, Radio Division). One can only wonder how the stunning virtuosa came by the apparent shiner. Are they playing Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, or something by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers? Half dozenI count six in the photo: two musicians, one technician, the lady with the hat and two men in the background. Arc, Spark, RadiophoneWashington, D.C., "Amateur Radio News" from 1926, and a schedule from 1922. Note that the Post Office had its own station. (3:30 p.m. -- "General fruit and vegetables.") Interesting to see how amateur call letters were the 1920s version of screen names ("3NR took a trip to Baltimore"). "Radiophone" would be audio broadcasts, which in 1922 would be heard mostly with headsets. The other broadcasts would, I am guessing, be the original "wireless," i.e. telegraphy. CasualtyIt looks like the dear woman might have been the victim of "violins in the workplace"! I think it's makeupAnd probably applied by the same hands which selected the dainty wristwatch. Some have a "look" that best befits radio. Mrs. Ritterhouse!Or, more likely, her mom. There does seem to be a strong family resemblance between 3NR's soloist and George Booth's irrepressible Norene Ritterhouse, seen here in a detail from her July 7, 1980 New Yorker cover, performing "The Battle of the Somme." Needed: Lemon PledgeAnother photo showing how our grandparents and great-grandparents lived in dirty and dusty places. Couldn't anyone see the thick dust settled everywhere? The floor needs sweeping and wax. Grimy fingerprints on the piano...tsk, tsk, tsk. I guess everyone was waiting for 1935 when Johnson's Wax would become the radio sponsors of Fibber McGee and Molly and America learned to clean and wax! Hey Princess LeiaThe force was a little too strong with you, no? Violence And The ViolinThe fellow wearing the headset appears to have a bandage on his nose making me think the piano player belted him too. A Radiola RecordI found a recording of "Kiss Me By Wireless." No words, and I could only somewhat follow along, but it was still fun to hear. How do I prize Thee'' Those common appliances would be 'Lowbrow trash' by the thirties, only to become exquisite antiques of today. The light fixtures alone are worth six figures. and what about the vegetation..tucked into her belt? Helped her to "keep thyme"? The Victrola horn is being used to gather the sound for the radio broadcast. Note the wires leading from it. (The Gallery, D.C., Music, Natl Photo)
The Drugstore: 1913
... a pharmacist. He bought out an old time drugstore in South Baltimore after the elderly gent passed away. His old store looked much like ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:14pm -

1913. No location given. "G.W. Armstrong drugstore." Seidlitz Powders only 25 cents. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. You get all wrapped up in the cigarsand completely neglect the righthand side, where Peter's, Red Rapt and Romance brands of chocolate, among others, are being offered along with Beech-Nut peppermints. And back on the left: can one imagine anyone going to the trouble now of re-sharpening safety razor blades? Can one even imagine it then? Those were the daysMy late uncle would have known what toilet cream was. He once told me he used toilet water but he stopped after the seat came down and hit him on the back of the head. Salida, Colorado?I was curious to find out where this was located. On another site, I found this picture was labeled as a gift from the Colorado Historical Society. There was a G. W. Armstrong who owned a large drugstore in Salida, CO - though it looks like he sold it in 1910. [Every one of the 25,000+ Detroit Publishing glass negatives in the Library of Congress archive is a gift from the Colorado Historical Society. This drugstore was most likely in Detroit or New York (or maybe Boston). - Dave] Toilet CreamWhat is toilet cream? Preparation H? Commode to JoyWow, so much to look at in this shot. This is going to waste several hours of my time this afternoon. I see at the upper left that Gibson's Toilet Cream is only a quarter (although it may be an exorbitant 75 cents). I'll bet it smelled unique in thereThis reminds me of a drug store I used to go in as a kid. They also sold photography equipment and some cosmetics. Really had a neat aroma about it. Hard to explain, but if there's any other old farts out there, they will remember what an old time drug store smelled like. Chocolates!Scrolling around on my little laptop screen, I came to the stacks of wrapped packages, first, and wondered what was in them. When I scrolled a bit farther, I saw the answer. What I wouldn't give for a chance to taste those chocolates! I wonder if the cup holders on the left were for sale, or were for holding coffee and tea in some kind of disposable cup. I love pictures like this! [The holders are for soda fountain customers. - Dave] Continental In Europe, once you get out of the big cities, you can still find drugstores that don't look unlike this one (you have to ask for things behind the counter and/or try to figure out what the HECK THAT IS behind the counter!) In the USA however, this kind of lovely, quaint drugstore is pretty much gone, sad but true. What a treasure!My head almost exploded when I saw this! Fantastic snapshot full of history -- and 75 cent toilet cream! Toilet creamGibson's Toilet Cream sounds interesting. What the heck is that for? [For the complexion, a la toilet soap. - Dave] Vinol, a Nutritive Tonic.Now we know what it is. Two things I would hate to do:Take inventory of the place or be the sap who had to build those coffee displays on top. I can see the poor guy with a handlebar mustache, garters on his sleeves, a green visor, and button down shoes trying to accomplish those tasks. Noble TobaccoPrince Albert had his can; Peter the Great his box. Mahogany & MarbleI'm always impressed by the incredible craftsmanship and the intent of permanence in the construction of these old stores. That paneling is fit for Rockefeller's study and the mosaic floor is a work of art. If a modern drug store was built with the same level of skill and materials today, we couldn't afford to shop there due to the overhead! Gibsons Toilet CreamFor dry, chapped Porcelain. I took one apartAs a young kid, my neighbor was a pharmacist. He bought out an old time drugstore in South Baltimore after the elderly gent passed away. His old store looked much like this one, although it hadn't been open in a year or more. My neighbor gave several of us young fellows a little spending money one summer to help him take this old store apart. My druggist neighbor purchased any drug stocks and equipment, including soda fountain items. We spent the better part of the day hauling things out to the truck. Some of the more valuable items had already been taken. That old store on Cross Street must have looked like this in its heyday. Pardon meBut do you have Peter the Great in a Box? well you better let him out! Sometimes a cigar is just a cigarRuby Star Cigars Look Like 15 cents - Smoke Like 10 cents Our Price 7 cents - 4 for 25 cents The last bit comes out to 6.25 cents each, but it still looks like 15 cents and smokes like 10 cents! And that was a lot of money, back then. It was expensive to be a cigar smoking waif, back in the day. Western Union ClockThe clock over the doorway is a Western Union Self Winding pendulum clock. It used one of the old telephone batteries to re-wind itself after it had run down a certain amount. Western Union sent out a time pulse from the central office every hour which had been synchronized with U.S. Naval Observatory time at noontime every day. If the clock in a customers office was more than ten seconds off it would not reset automatically on the hour and a tech would have to go fix it. Every main W.U. office in metropolitan areas had a Master clock which was synched with Naval time. These master clocks set sub-master clocks in smaller towns and the sub-masters sent the time pulse to the customers premises. Perhaps BostonA case could be made that the store may have been here. No G.W. Armstrong appears in various directories of druggists around the time of the shot, but the G.W. Armstrong Dining Room and News Company was a strong presence in the New England railroad scene. The company ran the restaurant and the newsstand at the Boston station at the time, and a druggist trade journal describes how the company opened, and later expanded, a drug store in the same complex. From a 1908 ABC Pathfinder Railway Guide: A note from the "Boston Briefs" section of the trade publication Journal of the N.A.R.D (National Association of Retail Druggists): VertigoIf you have never experienced vertigo, now is your chance. Focus on the bottom of that floor. Now use your browser button to push that image quickly up to the ceiling. Whew! Now down. Now UP. Whew. Now down. Now UP. Whew. Now down. Now UP. Whew. Did Last In Last Out (LILO) rule in this store, or who got stuck with the old stock. I'm thinking a parent sent in a kid to get a can of Prince Albert and the clerk went up the ladder and pulled out the FILO can for him. I'm thinking this because when I was 8 my aunt sent me to the grocery for a loaf a bread. The clerk gave me a day-old with a torn wrapper. My aunt and I were back in the store before the clerk could say "got rid o' that one, boss". I want to be the bookkeeper for this place. I direct and you stock. Great photo, Shorpy. Thanks. Re: VertigoI did that trick and felt the sensation you described. I didn't get vertigo bad enough to keep me from finding a dime or quarter on the tile floor left of center about seven tiles up from the bottom. Love all drug store pictures, especially earlier than the 50's. SpongesI like the three grades of sponges available in the lower cabinet right in the middle of the picture: Velvet sponges Bath sponges Automobile sponges Manistee, MichiganI have no idea where this was taken, but if you are ever in Manistee, Michigan, there is a historical society museum on Water Street that looks very much like this...but with side rooms and an amazing upstairs. The drugstore closed suddenly and the whole thing...including contents...was given to the museum. It is preserved much as it was. Bonus: The most interesting thing is a preserved (through taxidermy) double calf head, yes real, from a two-headed calf born nearby. http://www.manisteemuseum.org/about_us (The Gallery, DPC, Stores & Markets)
Ranges and Latrobes: 1901
... Roofing will be clear. A Latrobe I found being a Baltimore Heater . Thanks to Dave's tip to use Wiktionary we now also may know ... stove with many hotplates . And let there now also be a Baltimore Range! Look below for the 1914 prices . Latrobe Followup for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/25/2020 - 4:53pm -

Washington, D.C., 1901. "View of 13th Street N.W., west side, looking south from H Street." One-stop shopping for all your cooking and heating needs, as well as a trifecta of sidewalk bread lockers. 5x7 inch glass negative, D.C. Street Survey Collection. View full size. Ranges & LatrobesCould someone explain the meaning of those words? [Click here ! - Dave] Roofing & Spouting &c.At first I read "pouting," that didn't make sense, but "spouting" does! Dictionary says it is used in midland U.S. with the meaning of "guttering", Wiktionary thinks it's only used in Australia and New Zealand. Roofing will be clear. A Latrobe I found being a Baltimore Heater. Thanks to Dave's tip to use Wiktionary we now also may know the meaning of the mentioned "ranges," as being a cooking apparatus, or more specifically a large cooking stove with many hotplates. And let there now also be a Baltimore Range! Look below for the 1914 prices. Latrobe Followup for DaveI followed your link in Papa Bear's post and I now know what a Latrobe is. Do you have any images that show a Latrobe in use in a fireplace? [Click here! - Dave] Child's CigarAlways good to see cigars offered to Children. Latrobe Definitionla-trōb′, n. a form of stove set into a fireplace, heating the room by radiation, and the rooms above by hot air—from I. Latrobe of Baltimore. The Doctor's LatrobePicture a Dalek standing in a fireplace. Pretty much what it looks like Out with the spoutAfter reading Alex's comment, I want to point out that contrary to what Wicktionary might say, "spout" is in use far beyond the borders of Australia and New Zealand. Generations of school children will tell you about the itsy-bitsy spider that climbs up the waterspout only to be washed out by the rain ... so it climbs up the spout again. And let me spout off about the oversized teapot that's sticking out over the sidewalk between the first two buildings. It's facing us, and what do we see? The pouring spout, of course. North Carolina Paleolithic Pickup TrucksWe had two of those two-wheeled carts in my dad’s barn in NE NC till the '90s. Kind of a flatbed of its day. I’m reminded of the small three-cylinder Japanese trucks that have shallow beds with fold-down sides. Fin de siècle fashionsOkay I may be cheating a little with use of that particular fancy French term, this photo having been taken at the beginning of the twentieth century rather than the end of the nineteenth, but I have to say that in movies set at the turn of the century, I've always loved the outfits -- particularly the long gored skirts that swing so beguilingly at the ankles as a lady briskly walks. The fetching lass ambulating down the sidewalk is really working hers. (The Gallery, D.C., D.C. Street Survey, Stores & Markets)
Harpers Ferry: 1865
... east. Of course before Amtrak this town was served by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the original Capital Limited. That House!! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/19/2008 - 11:37pm -

1865. "Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. View of Maryland Heights at confluence of Shenandoah and Potomac rivers." Wet plate glass negative (detail) by James Gardner. Civil War glass negative collection, Library of Congress. View full size. Bridge and BoatThat bridge is lovely! And it looks like there's a boat being drawn by horses in the canal on the left. Harpers FerryFirst saw a picture of Harpers Ferry in a 1950s National Geographic. Took the family to see it in 1958 and we climbed to the top of mountain where early pictures showed Union Troops. Now the National Park Service runs everything. Maryland HeightsThis view looks downstream; the rocks on the far side are Maryland Heights. The bridge in the center is still represented by a line of piers adjacent to the present bridges. Anniversary of the RaidNext year marks the 150th anniversary of the raid on Harpers Ferry. More info, including some very nice photos, here: http://www.harpersferryhistory.org/johnbrown/index.htm Harpers FerryThey've done a lot of restoration in the town over the past few years. It's always breezy because of the two rivers, so even on the hottest days it's usually pleasant. Plenty to see and learn, and the restaurants provide rest and excellent provender! Beautiful spot that we revisit often. Harpers Ferry BridgeThe bridge spans are some of the earliest examples of the Bollman truss, a hybrid truss/suspension design which originated on the B&O. The only surviving example is in Savage, Maryland. Harpers Bridge Recent ViewsAnyone interested in "current" views? 1974 from very roughly same location: and 12/6/07 opposite direction, Bollman bridge piers remain in river at left, 1893 replacement bridge in center, 1930's replacement bridge at right as the railroad addressed the horrid original alignment here (look at those curves at span ends in the 1865 version). The predecessors to the Bollman were blown up over and over again as the Civil War surged back and forth here. Harpers FerryAnd Amtrak can take you right there on the spot. There's the train station on the west side of the rivers, which provides a great view as well. Amtrak train the Cardinal from NY to Chicago through Washington DC will take you there. It's a beautiful trip through the Adirondack mountains going west, been through there myself more than once. Harpers Ferry TodayThe C&O Canal Towpath, a national park, follows the Potomac River from Cumberland, Maryland, to Georgetown (D.C.). That makes it a 185-mile park, and the stretch through Harpers Ferry is among the most beautiful parts. Strongly recommended for anyone who can walk, bicycle or roll for a mile or two. [There's also a nice footpath through the woods to Maryland Heights -- the top of the cliff to the left. The view is spectacular. - Dave] One of my favorite places on Earth!I can remember stopping there on my way back to live in Kansas after graduating from high school and college in Maryland. I foolishly stood in the middle of the street and stared across the river at the tunnel. A horn honked and I turned and saw a beautiful long-haired blonde driving a huge red convertible. The world seemed rife with possiblities at that moment in a way that was different from anything that followed in later years! Harpers Ferry by TrainIt's the Amtrak Capital Limited, train No. 29 west, and 30 east. Of course before Amtrak this town was served by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the original Capital Limited. That House!!Having visited Harper's Ferry several times, I started to search my photos to see if I had a modern comparable shot... but the thing that stood out most to me was that tiny white house on the left edge of the photo!! The structure is still there and people always stop to explore it! There's also an old ad that seems to be painted into the side of the mountain, which I've never been able to figure out what it says... I see "powder"... Last Trip TogetherMy husband Steve and his brother-in-law Jack visited Harpers Ferry in March of 1995. Steve, the shutterbug of the family, took along his camcorder and we have lots of footage. I've never been there and now, thanks to this photo, I'm going to "revisit" the area by viewing this footage again. Steve and Jack will never know how poignant their vacation was. Jack passed away the very next month and Steve less than four years later. Both died in their 40's--both lives cut way too short. Powder SignAccording to the FAQ page on the NPS website for Harpers Ferry, the sign reads (or read) Mennen's Borated Talcum Toilet Powder, and it was painted some time between 1903 and 1906. http://www.nps.gov/hafe/faqs.htm (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War, James Gardner)
Flyover: 1928
... beneath an overcast sky, and then slipped north to visit Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton and New York, passing as she went ... dipped in formal salute and then straightened away toward Baltimore on her way to New York and Lakehurst. Run for your lives!! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:23pm -

"Graf Zeppelin over Capitol." The German airship on its visit to Washington in October 1928. National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size. I knew Cheney was rightObama has left us undefended! Do I sense a..Homeland Security alert? Cue the F-18's. FalloutWhite House Military Director Dewey Tellum immediately apologized for the incident, and the German government has promised to cover the entire $88.95 cost of the promotional stunt. Oct. 15, 12:30 p.m. Washington Post, Oct 16, 1928 Battle With Winds Marked Air Voyage Log of Transatlantic Flight Tells Tale of Struggle Against Elements. New York, Oct. 15 (A.P.). - Graf Zeppelin, proud aristocrat of a long lineage of aircraft, cruised triumphantly up the Mid-Atlantic Coast today to show herself to millions of Americans who had followed with intense interest and some anxiety the progress of her record breaking voyage from Friedrichshafen, Germany. The great silver ship made her bow to the waiting continent at 9:45 o'clock this morning, Eastern standard time, when she was sighted from Cape Charles, Va., northern promontory of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. Behind her were not only 6,000 miles of land and water, but anxious moments when a damaged horizontal fin had forced her to reduce speed, and long hours of battling winds that were conspiring to keep her from the goal. Triumphant over wind, weather and ocean, she slipped over the American coast at 10:10 a.m. at a point six miles north of Cape Charles, and from then on, with the journey's end in sight, her sturdy motors bore her comfortably over the densely populated coastal plain. She paid her formal respects to Washington at about 12:30 p.m. sliding over the Capitol and White House beneath an overcast sky, and then slipped north to visit Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton and New York, passing as she went many smaller communities, which like their more populous neighbors, saluted the victorious voyager from street and housetop. ... Washington first saluted the Graf Zeppelin at 12:21 when she approached from the east over the Capitol. As she circled above the Government buildings, sharp-eyed naval experts noticed the hole in her port stabilizer - the rent that had caused the anxiety last Saturday. President Coolidge took time to have a look at Graf Zeppelin. Leaving his desk in the White House executive office, he stepped outdoors, bareheaded, watched the dirigible for a moment, as everybody else was doing, and then went back to work. ... First Transoceanic VoyageThis is the Graf after it made the first flight over the Atlantic for an aircraft with paying passengers. It was also notable for damage done to the fabric of the port horizontal stabilizer, which was recovered and lashed tight by volunteers in flight. Due to the newspaper headlines there was a huge crowd assembled at Lakehust when she arrived. Also a ticker-tape parade for Hugo Eckner and his crew in Manhattan and a reception by President Coolidge in the White House. My mom saw it fly over her house on the eastern shore of Virginia as a child. She said it filled the sky. It was not uncommon for airships to fly at an altitude lower than their length. The Graf was 787 feet long. Big enough to "fill the sky!" PANIC!!!Can you imagine the havoc that would be caused if this happened today? WOW!Of all the great pictures I've seen here in Shorpy (and I've seen quite a few!) this has to be one of the most striking. Thank you very much for sharing it with us! 48 States in the FlagIn 1928, there were, in fact, 48 States in the Union. Someone up top needs to retake history class. [That may have been someone's idea of drollery. Or trollery. - Dave] "Sally ship!"Something seems odd about the comparative views of the Capitol building and the ship. It looks as though she's making a sharp turn, but it doesn't seem likely that a zeppelin's speed could ever make her heel like that. Do the crew need to shift some ballast? [There seems to have been quite a bit of dipping and circling involved. - Dave] The Zeppelin entered Washington from the southeast, passing close to the Capitol, to which it dipped in salute as hundreds emerged from the House and Senate office buildings to view the spectacle. Continuing straight through the heart of the city, the dirigible swung through the northwest section over the German Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, down past the State, War and Navy Building toward the Washington Monument. By this time its altitude was estimated at about 1,000 feet. It swung easily with a slight roll, the rip in its port fin plainly showing. It circled the Monument, passing almost over it and dipping in salute. She then turned her nose to the northeast and went directly over the White House, where she again dipped in formal salute and then straightened away toward Baltimore on her way to New York and Lakehurst. Run for your lives!!It's heading for the Capitol!! (five minutes later) Keep on running! It's halfway there!! Fake PhotoPhoto is obviously fake. Flag doesn't even have 50 stars on it. Duh. D'oh! Fake Photo?Let's see ..... 1928 ..... hmmmm.... how many states in the Union? Hat Crime"he stepped outdoors, bareheaded ... " A scandal ensued. Atop the domeYou know, I've probably seen a zillion pictures of the US Capitol in my lifetime, but this is the first time (probably because of the object hovering over it, and because I'm looking at the photo in full size format) that my eyes were drawn to the statue on top. I'm sure I've seen it with my eyes, but not with my comprehension. I had to look it up myself to get a closer look at it. It's a statue called "Armed Freedom" and the best shot of it that I could find was, oddly enough, at AllPosters.com. ProgressThis event was hailed as momentous, and a mere 41 years later, America would plant a 50-star flag on the Moon with space flight. The Moon! In only 41 years after a dirigible was touted as progress! Up in the airThe photo looks like a montage to me. The image of the Zeppelin is exactly the same as the image on the newspaper front page, which was obviously taken while looking up as it flew over. [The propulsion pods are lined up vertically in the Capitol photo. Not so in the newspaper photo. Obviously two different views. Also note that the haze over the zep in the Capitol photo blends in very well with the haze in the rest of the sky. Our source here is a glass negative, as opposed to a print on paper. - Dave] The GrafWhat a beautiful ship. If I could take part in one event in history, I would want to be a passenger on the Graf Zeppelin's around-the-world voyage in 1929. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Zeppelins & Blimps)
A Heavy Load: 1909
July 1909. Baltimore, Md. "One of the small boys in J.S. Farrand Packing Co. and a heavy ... of it all, he looks happy with his lot. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Kids, Lewis Hine) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2011 - 9:09pm -

July 1909. Baltimore, Md. "One of the small boys in J.S. Farrand Packing Co. and a heavy load. J.W. Magruder, witness." Photo: Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Young GranddadGeez. Just about the right age for my grandfather. As rough as his life must have beenI have a feeling that the plump lady in the background smiling at the camera would have kept an eye on his welfare. Safety first!Where are your steel toed shoes?! Poor KidLooks like his suspenders are broken on one side and a pin is holding his pants up. Plus, he seems to have an eye infection. Those gargantuan ears don't help, either. Every grammar school should have this posted in its classrooms. Caption optional. Young WorkerHe has learned to survive on his own at a tender age with no mama or papa to depend on but himself. Kind thoughts...Bless you, kid. I hope things turned out better for you! Mind BogglingIt boggles the mind to imagine where he lives and the precise process by which he found his way barefoot into that workplace. In spite of it all, he looks happy with his lot. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Washington Flour: 1926
... out the boxcars... The front two cars are from the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads. I always went for the RR's ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 5:31pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Wilkins-Rogers Milling Co., exterior, 3261 Water Street." The Washington Flour mill on K Street, formerly Water Street, in Georgetown. The Washington Flour brand had a retail presence at least into the late 1960s. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. The buildingsIt's so great that the two buildings in the picture have survived, and it seems with very few exterior changes. As you travel in the Google videos it's plain to see the brick work and architecture is basically the same as when the picture was taken. I love those Google shots. [Actually both buildings are only about three-quarters their original size; their river-facing sides were lopped off by the Whitehurst Freeway. They started out rectangular but ended up as trapezoids. - Dave] View Larger Map Wilkins-RogersI'm not sure when W-R stopped milling in D.C., but the company still has mills in Ellicott City, on a site that has had a mill since the Ellicott brothers went into business there in 1772. The only product that still bears the Washington brand name, though, is its self-rising flour. Washington also makes Indian Head corn meal, which is the best. http://www.wrmills.com/index.html Cadillac PickupSomebody give us the dope on that odd truck in the lower right is it a Caddy or what? [It's a pickup truck that belongs to the Washington Cadillac Co. - Dave] Check out the boxcars...The front two cars are from the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads. I always went for the RR's in Monopoly, it's fun to see the real deal! Bulb changingDoes anyone else wonder how they changed the bulbs in those sign lamps perched six stories up? In those days bulbs had to be changed often and they didn't have bucket trucks back then. A Georgetown fixture for yearsIf I'm not mistaken, this mill building was a fixture of the Georgetown waterfront area until a few years ago. Our grade school class visited there once. Those sun-drenched bricks and railroad tracks were later shadowed by an elevated expressway, and that blank facade could be seen close to the roadway. The bricks can still be seen peeking out from underneath the asphalt in places. [These buildings still stand next to the Whitehurst Freeway, where the expressway (built in 1949) crosses Potomac Street. They're part of an office complex at 1000 Potomac that sold for $50 million in 2007. - Dave] View Larger Map View Larger Map Objectionable OdorsI seem to recall that in the 70's there was a rendering plant on Water Street that made quite a stink, and that from the freeway, you could see a sign painted on that flour mill that said "The objectionable odors that you may notice in this area do not originate from this plant." A small correctionThe street that runs by the old flour mill and later beneath the Whitehurst freeway is K Street N.W. I used to police this area for some ten years while with the M.P.D.C. 1959-1969. [The street than ran by the flour mill was Water Street, which became K Street after the Georgetown street renaming of 1895. People evidently continued to call that stretch Water Street for years afterward. - Dave] Re: Bulb changingIt seems to me that the only reasonable way is for the reflectors to move to the roof somehow. One can envision the 5 poles on the left being detached at their bases and pulled in while suspended by their guys. The three poles on the right would maybe pivot upwards at their bases, pulled by their guys, to workers on the ledge. Sounds awfully complicated. There must be a more clever way. A Grind in GeorgetownWashington Post, Feb 29, 1940 Lone Flour Plant Grinds on Canal Washington's flour industry is built partly in a modern city's demand for bread, partly in a century and half of tradition. The city's only flour plant is the Wilkins Rogers Milling Co., at Potomac and K streets northwest. It is housed in two buildings, one more than 100 years old with brick walls 2 feet thick, used formerly as cotton plant, ice plant, flour mill, and now office and warehouse. The other is a modern six-story concrete, brick and steel structure, building in 1922 and housing the present mill. The plant is on a hill between the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Potomac River. The canal, which used to bring loaded grain barges from the upland farms to feed the Georgetown mills, now supplies all the power used in the mill. The last century, Georgetown boasted a dozen mills at one time, eight flour mills and four grist mills. Some of the flour went down the Potomac and away to European markets. Now the grain comes in by truck and railroad to the K street side of the mill. In the American milling industry, the Wilkins Rogers firm counts itself at the "end of the line," since the flour centers have shifted to the Middle West. Operators of the mill are Howard L. Wilkins and Samuel H. Rogers. Without exaggeration they could be cast in the roles of traditional "jolly millers." Or they could be typed as businessmen who picked up a dead business and built it to a $2,000,000 annual volume. Wilkins is 73 and president of the firm. He was born in New Jersey, but grew up on a farm near Mount Vernon. His family farm was near the old Dogue Run Mill, built by George Washington, a coincidence that takes added note because Wilkins helped remodel the mill. He was educated in Washington schools. Rogers, 61-year-old vice president, is the son of a Loudoun County miller, who taught him the flour business. He is the father of four boys, and would like to see at the least the oldest one go into the same business. Outside the mill his main hobby is raising thoroughbred horses in his Loudoun County farm. The two joined in 1915 to take over the old Arlington Mill, built in 1847, according to a stone plaque in the wall of the new mill. It had been closed for three years. Their friends advised them against the venture. They went ahead, caught a slice of war-trade by selling flour to Italy, and later turned the mill over to producing flour for America's World War needs. The old mill and its machinery were destroyed in a fire, July 4, 1922. The modern mill was built at the same site. At first glance the inside of the mill gives the impression that it was never finished. The interior is like a building still under construction, a tangle of girders, of gigantic funnels, pipes running at all angles, with a network of power belts winding endlessly from floor to floor. Later you find that girders, funnels, pipes, belts are all parts of one huge machine, which transforms whole grain to flour, and corn to meal, with never a hand touching it. Corn and wheat are mostly purchased directly from farms within a 75-mile radius. Behind the Grain DoorIn order to keep the grain from leaking out of the the car during it's long transit from the wheat belt to the flour mill, the boxcars in the photo would have their doorway openings fitted with wooden grain doors, effectively sealing the interior of the car. The car's sliding door would cover the grain door. As show on one of the cars, upon arrival at their destination, the upper boards would be removed and depending upon the facility's equipment, the grain would be shoveled out of the car or unloaded with a mechanical conveyor. By the mid-20th century, wooden grain doors were replaced by ones made of thick paper with light wooden frames. Some of these were reinforced with metal banding. Today, all grain product is shipped in covered hopper cars. Grain is loaded from the top and unloaded from the bottom of modern cars. It is interesting to note that the B&O double door car was designed to carry automobiles. Many cars tended to be seasonal in their use and thus tended to have multiple duties - all part of maintaining a steady revenue stream for the railroad who built and operated these cars. Under the FreewayBy the 1960's, this was about as "industrial" as Washington got. Under the Whitehurst Freeway you had Washington Flour, Maloney Concrete and the rendering plant, all adjacent to the Pepco power plant. The DMV also had its impound lot down there on the banks of the then horribly foul-smelling Potomac. On the north side of K Street were a number of clubs, jazz, blues & live performance, including the infamous Bayou. In the '60s and '70s, while preppy Georgetown students and affluent trend-setters populated the clubs and restaurants above M Street (the 3rd Edition, Pall Mall, Charing Cross, etc.), it was a very different scene below M and down under the freeway! By the late '80s it was essentially gone, gentrified away. My GrandfatherMy grandfather Harrison Goolsby was caretaker of Mr. Wilkins's 365-acre farm, Grassy Meade, off Mount Vernon Boulevard in the 1940s. You could also get to it from Fort Hunt Road. I surely wish I could find a picture of the old place. Mr. Wilkins's daughter sold out to the contractor, Gosnell, who developed it into Waynewood Estates. I would appreciate any help on this matter. Everybody's pretty much died after all these years. My mom and dad lived in the lower house. Thanks ever so much, Edgar Note the old wooden boxcarwith the "outside" metal frame. I recall seeing boxcars of this construction well into the 1960s. Pennsy box carThat old box car is known as a X-26 single sheathed car. It was built in March 1925. The last car of that series was retired about 1958. Been around the block a few times. Odor in areaI remember the odor from the area. I was told it was the tannery next door to the mill. Makes sense as a tannery does smell. My best friend's father worked at the mill until his retirement. I, too, remember that sign.Pirateer has it almost exactly right. The sign was set at such a height as to be easily readable -- indeed, impossible to ignore -- from the Whitehurst Freeway. It read: THE OBJECTIONABLE ODORS YOU MAY NOTICE IN THIS AREA DO NOT ORIGINATE IN THIS PLANT I know, because my sister and I used to read it aloud in unison at the top of our lungs whenever we passed by. I'm sure our parents looked forward to those drives. My mom, who is quite an accomplished oil painter, did a rendering (as it were) of the old plant that is at once realistic and beautiful. I'll have to ask if she still has it. Flour PowerThe firm's ads used the phrase "water-ground" to describe its flour. When the original water-powered belt transmission system was replaced with a water-powered electrical generator and motors, permission was granted by authorities (FTC?) to continue using the the phrase. Rendering plant?Does anyone remember the name of the rendering plant that produced the horrible smell? My mother grew up in Georgetown and I remember her mentioning the business by name and telling me that it had been there since the late 19th century. The name sounded German, as I recall. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)
Lexington Market: 1903
Circa 1903. "Lexington Market, Baltimore, Maryland." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... Baby Ruth This photo really shows the atmosphere of old Baltimore during the Babe's youth. Hey, where's my sawhorse? Of the ... Pop Jung lived to ninety-six years old. (The Gallery, Baltimore, DPC, Stores & Markets) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:46pm -

Circa 1903. "Lexington Market, Baltimore, Maryland." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. One brick, two bricks...I can't believe the clarity of this shot! I can count each and every cobblestone and brick in the buildings. 8x10 negs are awesome! Nuttin like today's Lexington Market.. Hun.. Lexington market is still there.. but a different shape.. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.291681,-76.621689&spn=0.... But.. do them old guys have a Polock Johney's Hun?? Oops.. per their website, they don't have one there anymore.. http://www.polockjohnnys.com/ There is still a market like the old one pictured in the center of Broadway in Fells Point.. I can't find what I need.Where are the vegan and gluten free alternatives? Baby RuthThis photo really shows the atmosphere of old Baltimore during the Babe's youth. Hey, where's my sawhorse?Of the gazillion fascinating details in this photo, none strike me as odd as the sawhorse on the rooftop in the lower center of the picture. It's been tilted and tethered between the upper and lower fascia, and appears to be serving as a makeshift utility power pole crossarm. With a magnifying glass I can make out what looks like a pair of insulators mounted on the sawhorse with the two wires dangling down over the roof. Sawhorse SpottingRooftop sawhorses may not be so unique. Check out the trio of sawhorse wire poles on top of the Acme Hotel and Restaurant in the Duluth 1900 photo. https://www.shorpy.com/node/6941 Great-grandfatherBarber pole in the lower right of this photo marked my great-grandfather's shop. Louis Valentine Jung cut hair at that location for more than sixty-five years. The lady hanging from the window would be my great-grandmother, the former Elizabeth Mangold. Pop Jung lived to ninety-six years old. (The Gallery, Baltimore, DPC, Stores & Markets)
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