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Ferry Field: 1909
... of Yost Ice Arena. ( U-Mich AEC ) Base Ball vs. Baseball? I remember seeing the two word version of the spelling in an old ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/03/2011 - 6:07pm -

Ann Arbor, Michigan, circa 1909. "Entrance to Ferry Field, University of Michigan." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Named for Dexter Ferry... of seed repository fame. [Life is a circle! - Dave] The Gate survives.After Michigan Stadium was built in 1927, the Ferry Field stands and wall began to come down, first to make way for the Intramural Sports Building in 1928. The former football field was converted for track and field. The corner gates and wall were removed in 1954 to make way for the new Athletic Administration Building (now called Weidenbach Hall). The original main gate bearing the Ferry Field legend was moved at this time to the north side of the Hartwig Building (color photo). Additional sections of the ornamental cast iron gate survive as well, one on the south side of Hartwig and one on the northeast side of Yost Ice Arena. (U-Mich AEC) Base Ball vs. Baseball?I remember seeing the two word version of the spelling in an old encyclopedia. Can anyone come up with a reason for the change? The Not-so-Big House!Ferry Field itself still kind of survives as well, as an outdoor track and field facility. and I think it is really cool that the main gate is still there. An earlier U of Michigan football venue, Regents Field, was where Bo Schembechler Hall now is. Hail to the Victors Valiant! (The Gallery, DPC, Sports)
Prosperous Poughkeepsie: 1906
... on the fence, so we know the cross street. -Dave] Baseball To-day! With the hometown Poughkeepsie Colts! Sparse ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/10/2014 - 11:29am -

1906. "Columbus Institute, Poughkeepsie, N.Y." With a tailor, cycle shop, dentist and chewing gum close at hand. Along with whatever it is the Columbus Institute does. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Washington Street?Found an old business card online for Dan Sceli the tailor, and the address was 20 Washington St., not 16. But there's nothing like that now on Google Earth at that location. [There's a street sign on the fence, so we know the cross street. -Dave] Baseball To-day!With the hometown Poughkeepsie Colts! Sparse Informationconcerning the Columbus Institute. Quite a few references to chamber of commerce meetings at this place, as well as a few other municipal bodies. It seems to be connected to the Catholic Church, possibly a Knights of Columbus hall. Interesting stained glass windows up on the fourth floor. Boxing VenueA quick bit of googling came up with a list of the very not famous welterweight Dick Bell's boxing matches, many of which seemed to be held at the Columbus Institute. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=503675&cat=boxer (The Gallery, DPC, Stores & Markets)
The Boys of Summer: 1905
Washington, D.C., circa 1905. "Georgetown Prep baseball team." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. ... 9, 1906 Georgetown Prep. Team Encouraging Baseball Outlook for Blue and Gray Youngsters Although only four members ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 4:02am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1905. "Georgetown Prep baseball team." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Cohen, Sitterling & more Washington Post, March 9, 1906 Georgetown Prep. Team Encouraging Baseball Outlook for Blue and Gray Youngsters Although only four members of last year's team are available, the Georgetown Prep. School is highly elated over the prospects of putting a strong baseball team on the field this season. As the Georgetown Varsity candidates have been using the Prep. field for the past week, the Preps have had little opportunity to practice, but as soon as the varsity practice is transferred to Georgetown field the school squad will be called out for regular work in preparation for the fist game of the season on March 30. Jimmy Cohen, who was a member of the track and baseball squads last year, will captain the team. Besides Cohen, who plays third base; Sitterling, catcher; Mohn, shortstop, and Tierney, left field, will all try for the team again this season. Second base will be contended by Scully, O'Hara, and Cahill, while Fury, Gill, or Pallen will play first. The most prominent of the candidates for the outfield are Brady, Wilson, and Ballargen. One of the greatest losses will be Montgomery, the pitcher who has entered college. Farrell, Martin, Miller, Carrol and O'Connor are pitchers who have come to Georgetown School with good records. Love the GlovesI must not have paid much attention to the gloves in pictures past. I can't imagine playing ball with the likes of those, but it was done. Amazing. The LeftyThat handsome dude, middle row far left - lefthanded pitchers who can throw strikes can earn a splendiferous living far into their dotage. He'd be about 109 years old by now. If you check big league rosters, he may still be on one as a situational lefty. [109? Check your math. - Dave] Popped CollarsSome of these young men were way ahead of their time in style. Brotherly LoveDid they tell Mr. Middle-row-second-from-left to put his arm around his buddy, or was that voluntary? Could have been the photog, who also apparently told them to do that cross-armed pose. Mr. Back-row-second-from-left: How do you do? Team ManagerGuess which one is the manager? I am sure he had a great mind for strategy and stats. 109 --> 119>> 109? Check your math. - Dave OK, he'd be 119. Even a southpaw wouldn't last to that age. He'd be retired by now, quite recently, although waiting for the Mets or Orioles to call. Sorry - can't break the habit of thinking the 2000's are years away, I'm still young, and have a chance with hot young Peggy Lipton. He's the Bee's Knees!Back row, second from left. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Portraits, Sports)
Modern Family: 1914
... Granville (a year after running away to watch baseball ), Alice (future fashion magazine editor ), Rose, John and ... Says Granville Dickey Ten-year Old Lad, Seized with Baseball Fever, Is Brought Home After Runaway Trip to Charlottesville, Va. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2020 - 10:24am -

        The globular tree, the unhinged affect, the undercurrent of barely suppressed rage -- yes, it's our annual holiday missive from the family of Washington lawyer Raymond Dickey! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. "Dickey tree, 1914." Our fifth Christmas visit with the family of Washington lawyer Raymond Dickey, whose portraits mix equal parts Chekhov and Addams with a dash of Dickens. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Is it just mebut no one seems happy! Un-MerryForget about Merry; are they even Happy? [You know what Tolstoy said about happy families. - Dave] Ornaments with faces.The kid is holding a Santa ornament, reminds me of the Pine Cone with a face in tterrace's photo. Another similarity, an ornament with a reflection of an arched opening. Keep it down, folks!Obviously the Grinch paid a visit just before this photo was taken. Shiny ballsHey Dave can you enlarge the dark Christmas bulb to the left of the picture, halfway between the bottom of the tree and the banner on the wall? I think you can get a nice reflection of the room and the cameraman's feet. Thanks! (A user speculates: the assistant setting off the flash.) Spirits of ChristmasDad appears to have a large flask in the inside pocket of his suit coat. Say "cheese"!Photographers evidently hadn't yet discovered that back in those days. I Spy- a little pinecone guy; like yours, tterrace. ReflectionsAs always I find the fascinating aspect of these pics is the details unintentionally revealed in the reflections in the ornaments. "Young man, straighten your collar!""You don't want people ninety-seven years from now thinking you're a slob!" I note that the ornament he's holding shows up next to mom in the 1922 picture. What might this be?At the very right of the photo just above the father's arm is something that looks to be a ponytail. It looks like human hair. Wonder what it is? [A toy horse's, um, tail. - Dave] But they have such lovely presents.Along the back wall, on the left, appears various toy houses, kitchens, etc. And on the right there looks to be the business end of a rocking horse? I love all the ornaments, especially the one the boy is holding. I'd find it quite sweet too, if only there was just a hint of a smile on his face. CreepyThat the two oldest children seem to be emulating the expressions on ornaments hanging near them -- directly to the left of the boy, and above the girl. Maybe that's how you were supposed to look at Christmas. The LookThe little girl has exactly the same expression my wife has whenever I screw up. Which is hardly ever. No really. Ornamental reflectionslooking closely at the ornaments I was amazed to see and recognise many that were still in use by my mother and grandmother well into the 1970s, when alas the very thin glass they were made from gave way apparently all at once. I remember lifting the boxes down from their storage place and finding that despite being wrapped in tissue as they had been every year of my life, virtually every one of them had shattered. As my own kids were small then, we replaced them with the plastic variety common today. My grandmother had used her set on an outdoor tree (in Australia, it used to be common in the 60s to decorate an outdoor tree), and the ornaments that had been outside had faded unevenly. I wish I still had a few of the ornaments now, but alas they are long gone. A beachy ChristmasSo I am wondering if they picked up the flamingo ornament at Colonial Beach. Cash for ChristmasThose ornaments would be worth big money today. Dickey FamilyFrom left-to-right: Granville (a year after running away to watch baseball), Alice (future fashion magazine editor), Rose, John and Raymond. He's a member of the intelligenciaFountainpen in breast pocket of coat - check - necktie on -check. Yup, he's not one of the Great Unwashed. [Or perhaps he's a member of the intelligentsia. - Dave] Where to beginI have studied this photograph before but apparently not well enough. What is with the creepy ornaments? Far left, a great big bug; hanging between the older two children's heads, a weird face; what's above and to the right of the weird face -- a genie released from a bottle? Lots of strange-looking heads ... and speaking of heads, there appears to be a fish hanging off of Mr. Dickey's. Mrs. Dickey's pupils are dilated to match the buttons on her dress. Big brother put his coat on so fast, the collar is twisted and one of his lapels is bent under. Nobody saw that? Why is he holding up a Santa head, and what's in his other hand? Sister is either traumatized by the whole event, or the only one who knows what's really going down. The mini-cossack baby is semi-catatonic. Why does Mother have a tense fist jammed into his thigh? They all seem dusty, unkempt, tired, jaded, and demoralized. Or maybe they've just consumed too many Christmas cookies. A family traditionI've looked at the collection of Christmas pictures of this clan, and I need to know why did they buy a tree too tall for their home and just jam it in? My Christmas journey 2020Shorpy has given me the appropriate destination for an end-of-year trip: the grave of Granville E. Dickey (on the left, holding the ornament), in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, Maryland, less than ten miles from my house. Granville's future: He studied journalism at Northwestern University, where he was an all-American swimmer (backstroke). He was briefly (1925) the writer for the newspaper comic "Men Who Made the World." He married La Verne Carnes in 1928, but divorced her in 1941 on grounds of desertion; he married again, to Ceril Cousins, who died in 1945. He worked in advertising in Chicago, then in Washington in the 1930s as chief statistician of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1941, he testified before a Congressional hearing on wildlife conservation. Granville died at 45, leaving a daughter, Rosemary--likely named for his mother, whom the sources identify as Rose M. This was a life. Granville's AdventureThe link that mentions Granville seems not to work, but I found the story in the Washington Herald. "We'll Win Pennant," Says Granville Dickey Ten-year Old Lad, Seized with Baseball Fever, Is Brought Home After Runaway Trip to Charlottesville, Va. According to the article, Granville "had a talk with Griff" (that would be Washington Nationals manager, and later owner, Calvin Griffith) after hopping a train to Charlottesville to visit spring training. Granville went on to say, "One of things that interested me most was the way the Cubans, Calvo and Acosta, are tearing up the diamond. You bet Griff isn't going to let them go. Calvo is as quick as a cat and it's wonderful the way he can get around the bases." Jacinto (Jack) Calvo played just 34 games in his major league career, batting .161 and stealing no bases. I can find no record of Acosta. Looking Around the WebSome information on Granville Dickey’s life is at the following website (he’s the kid on the far left in the picture with the freckles): http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2020/05/ink-slinger-profiles-by-alex-... The Looks of This FamilyThey look like they're having their own personal 2020, one hundred and six years before ours! Merry Christmas to all and may we all meet after the New Year! Dilated pupils not surprisingThe enlarged ornament image shows the Dickeys were sitting in a dimly lit room. The photographer squeezed a bulb to open the camera's diaphragm, or maybe just removed a cap over the lens and then ignited flash powder, creating an instantaneous blast of light. The camera was loaded with an emulsion-coated glass plate. Its light sensitivity was a fraction of that coated onto roll film for use in snapshot cameras decades later. That sudden ball of light lit the room very brightly in a fraction of a second. It happened so fast the family members' eyes were caught wide open, as they needed to be in a dimly lit room to be able to see. In the aftermath, they probably experienced an aftereffect ghost image of that blast of light for several minutes. If the photographer made several exposures, some or all of the subjects probably experienced discomfort along with the annoying ghost image. And that ghost image might've obscured their vision for an extended period, because the effect is cumulative. If so, the Dickeys' lack of festive gaiety becomes understandable. Somewhat less-traumatic flashbulbs became available in the 1930's, thanks to General Electric. The early ones were big compared to those in use in the 1940's through the 1960's, when the peanut-sized AG-1 bulbs became available. As film emulsions became more light sensitive, flashbulbs could become smaller, easier to carry and handle, and less expensive. Angry dadThis is possibly the most depressing series on Shorpy. There are ten different years and poses, and I’ve commented about it before, but I can’t shake the feeling that we have a stern, likely mean father here who gives everybody what-for just in advance of the photo. Jabbing a forefinger in their faces, cigar tip frighteningly close, he warns them not to act up. Straighten up and fly right. Don’t make me put down my cigar. Behave or there’ll be hell to pay. Y’know, friendly stuff like that, the kind of thing that puts you in the proper festive mood for the annual Christmas photo. Mrs. DickeyShe’s got the thousand-yard stare. Persist, endure, stay the course. Resistance is futile. She knows the drill. And she knows it all gets worse the more Mr. Dickey pulls out that flask of his. Different interpretationI don't see unhappiness at all. You don't see people smiling in a lot of old photographs, but it doesn't mean they're unhappy. Personally, I like seeing people with natural looks on their faces and not phony smiles. Merry Christmas!Ah the much-maligned Dickeys...so many unanswered questions. Were they happy? Sad? Well-to-do or just middle class? Did the father drink? Was the mother upset to find out after the picture developed that the tree had pushed her collar up, making her appear somewhat disheveled? Why did the photographer not think to warn her? And what of the perennially over-sized and over-grown tree? Can we even call it a tree? Or is it a large Christmas bush? Why such a tight fit, year after year? Were tape measures luxury items? One thing is for certain : their appearance on the Shorpy front page means the Earth has made another revolution around the sun. Merry Christmas Shorpy-ites! (The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Natl Photo, The Dickeys)
Bambino: 1919
... Babe Ruth hit more home runs than any other player in baseball, except for two seasons, 1922 and 1925, when he lost the homerun crown ... five-month minor league career, became a major league baseball player at the age of 19. Babe was the original "natural"; he excelled ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 7:49pm -

Babe Ruth in 1919. View full size. National Photo Company Collection. 11 times in 13 yearsIn every season from 1918 to 1931, Babe Ruth hit more home runs than any other player in baseball, except for two seasons, 1922 and 1925, when he lost the homerun crown to Rogers Hornsby, who also won a Triple Crown in each of those years. Just a thought on the BabeJust occurred to me, that Babe Ruth has one of the most recognizable faces ever. Always easy to pick out of a crowd. And you instantly know who it is when you see a picture of him. Doubt if there are many more 20th century Americans that are so instantly recognizable. Further thoughts on the BabeBefore steroids, before "the cream" and "the clear," before the three-letter chemical enhancements that "were only for injury recovery, honest, man!" there was the Babe. It's sometimes forgotten that George Herman Ruth, following a nominal five-month minor league career, became a major league baseball player at the age of 19. Babe was the original "natural"; he excelled at whatever position he played. Mentioned in passing is that he was a winning pitcher for the Boston Red Sox for the first six years of his career. What's sometimes forgotten is that Babe pitched a complete game for the Yankees on the last day of the 1933 season (against the Red Sox, fittingly), this as a fading, overweight, thirty-eight year old outfielder. Ruth was rightly called one of the best pitchers of his era. But the Babe's renown will always be as a hitter. As Bill Jenkins notes in his excellent book "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger", Ruth remains "the greatest hitter who ever picked up a bat." Jenkins goes on to note that "twenty-eight years of intense research has revealed that Babe Ruth hit baseballs harder and farther than any man who ever played." Ruth's natural abilities were masked at times by his spindly legs and burgeoning weight (and large number of strikeouts), but when he emerged from the dugout for pre-game practice, "other players would stop and gaze in his direction, hoping he would take batting practice. When he did, all eyes were on him as he generated sights and sounds that never ceased to amaze his fellow professional athletes." Further, "the resounding crack of Ruth's bat against ball was like no sound produced by any other man. The sight of the ball soaring into oblivion was unlike any other vision seen on the field. If fellow pros never got tired of those events, imagine the reaction of a fan who saw Ruth just once in a lifetime." Granted one wish to travel back in time, I'd pick almost any game in which the Babe, in his prime, knocked a ball "into oblivion." Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska The Bambino! The Sultan of Swat! Curse of the BambinoMust have been just before the Curse of the Bambino, cited as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 until 2004. (The Gallery, Boston, Natl Photo, Public Figures, Sports)
Twelve Horsepower: 1911
... tterrace, keep the pictures and the comments coming! Baseball Looks like perhaps that group of boys behind the horses, stopped their baseball game to gaze on all of that horsepower. Either that, or they lost ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/12/2014 - 12:51pm -

"Merchants Transfer & Storage Co., Washington, D.C." In 1911, moving a boiler on D Street within sight of the Capitol with a 12-horse team. Bonus: Many old billboards. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Shucks!My fingers tell me there are but ten horses. [Maybe you should stop listening to your fingers. - Dave] Cheap buzzSix beers for a quarter should just about do it. Is the bar open yet? Twelve?Upon a cursory look, I only spy ten horses. [2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 12 - Dave] I agree but a cursory look should exonerate me from this foo-pah... Spare Horses?Unless there a pair of horses bringing up the rear and out of view -- I only see 10 horses (5 pairs). [See below, and above. A more interesting question might be: What is the cross street here? - Dave] ThreeThere looks to be three horses in the second bunch from the right, but nowhere else. [Three heads plus six forelegs = three horses in the middle group, too. - Dave] Military precisionAll those horses have their front hooves together but one slacker in the rear. That makes it easy to count but is that boiler full of water requiring lots of horse power or are they going a long way? D Street and Delaware Ave SWThe Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol faces east, and we're a little off the diagonal from the top of the Capitol and the SW corner of the building. The view from the same spot today is blocked by the Rayburn House Office Building. There Are Clearly 10Even in the "close up" from mailman7777777 you can clearly see that there are 2 horses not 3. Unless the horses are magical semi-transparent horses. What is 3 is just a horse that moved a bit in a long exposure. Come on people! [Horse 3 has a noseband, horse 2 does not. The exposure wasn't long enough for horse 1 to have moved that far. Horse 3 merely bobbed its head quickly during the exposure. Dave posted the closeup. -tterrace] [There are also three horses in the second group from the right -- three rumps and three tails at one end, and three necks and six ears at the other. Sarabellum might also want to count the legs.- Dave] Yep, TwelveYou can see the nose band on the blurred nose of the middle horse in the second team of three and three pairs of hames in the first triple team. It's an odd setup, usually seen only on fire engine teams, but what probably happened was they needed the added horsepower, but the two extra horses may not have teamed well together but worked well with the other teams. Normally, teamsters would have simply doubled the wheel team (closest to the the load). I guess they had their reasons for this configuration. It may be that those middle teams tended to drift and the third horses were there to keep them straight. I noticed that the only mounted driver is on the wheel team. Often there would be at least another driver on the near lead horse. In the old horse drawn artillery, there was a driver on each pair. Oversize Load, 1.0Very impressive example of the way large loads were moved back in the day. And no signs were needed to indicate the obvious, either. Delaware AvenueThe cross street is most likely Delaware Avenue. The Statue of Freedom on the dome faces east, which means we're on the south side of the Capitol (remember, there's a D Street on the north side, too). The cross street aims directly at the southwest corner of the Capitol Building, which, if it still extended that far, Delaware Avenue would do. The majority of the road is gone now. It is a huge parking lot to the southwest and the Rayburn House Office Building to the Northeast. What remains of it is a security screening area for delivery trucks waiting to enter the loading docks of one of the house office buildings. CameoDid anyone else notice the Alfred Hitchcock lookalike looking out from behind the bars of the window in the bar? But Wait - There's More!What is the large pole (leading out of the picture to the left) for? The fellow sitting on the pole would seem to suggest that it is well supported out of the picture. Now That's Entertainment!One of the many things that make SHORPY such a great site is the interaction of the commenters and Dave and tterrace. Not only do we get to see great old pictures, but on occasion we become privy to folks getting confused, or being mistaken, or just plain flummoxed by the pictures. Such fun! SHORPY is always good entertainment; always good for a grin, or a chuckle, or a good ol' belly laugh! Thank you to all the commenters for their input, whether confused or not. You make the day for so many people. And to Dave and tterrace, keep the pictures and the comments coming! BaseballLooks like perhaps that group of boys behind the horses, stopped their baseball game to gaze on all of that horsepower. Either that, or they lost their baseball diamond with all of the commotion. (For what it's worth, I think there might be a 13th horse in the second group from the back... an awful lot of legs. But perhaps they are ghost legs). More than meets the eyeBut wait asked: What is the large pole (leading out of the picture to the left) for? I think it is part of the wagon and there is more to this drayage than meets the eye, or fits in the picture. There could be a second boiler or more parts in another wagon connected to the visible wagon via said pole. But Wait, There's More...Based on the method of attachment to the pole under the first boiler trailer, the pole could be easily used to attach a 2nd trailer. Large PoleTo me it looks like the long pole the guy is sitting on is part of the trailer. The rear axle is adjustable for longer loads. The PoleLook at the undercarriage parts in front of the rear wheels...the pole is actually an adjustable chassis/backbone for the wagon, which seems to be adjustable for a load at least twice as long as the boiler with that particular pole. The pole seems adequately supported by the attachments to the axles and held up by the colossal weight of the load. You can see a simple holder there with what amounts to two huge hoseclamps to hang the axle unit onto the pole. I'm guessing that this is a seldom-used rig for the most awkward loads, and that it was disassembled for storage when not needed. Extended truck "log" frame under wagon.Signalman noticed that log to the left. Looking under the wagon you can see the adjustable collar used to extend or shorten the overall wagon length. This was a heavy haul wagon to start with based on the wheel rim, spoke, and axle sizing. No brakes either, though city hauls would be fairly level and some of the helpers might have been carrying wheel chocks to slow it down during downhill travel. Coatesville Boiler WorksHaving grown up just next to Coatesville, the town name on the new boiler was the first thing to catch my eye. The boiler works was most likely associated with (or at least bought their boilerplate from) Lukens Steel, which to this day is the oldest steel mill in commission within the United States. MoreGreat photo. As a retired structural engineer I would like to see more photos of turn-of-the-19th-century construction sites when the predominant power sources were men, horses and mules. Must of wore them plumb outFrom the March 5, 1911 edition of The Washington Times: (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Horses)
Frozen Summer: 1913
Washington, D.C., in 1913. "Baseball, professional. St. Louis players." Harris & Ewing Collection glass ... compact. - Dave] Bunter banter For all you ex-baseball players out there, is that not the strangest bunting stance you've ... keep sharing your knowledge and insights. Thanks! Baseball As a former catcher, I couldn't help but notice how much farther ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 4:22am -

Washington, D.C., in 1913. "Baseball, professional. St. Louis players." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size. Freeze FrameWas it common to be able to capture high-speed action in the format used for this photograph? Or is this a "squeezed the shutter at the right moment" thing? [It was a matter of squeezing the shutter at the right moment -- just as it would be today. Although "burst mode" makes doing that a lot easier for us. This photo demonstrates a quirk of the focal-plane shutters used a hundred years ago. Can anyone spot it? - Dave] 1913 St. Louis BrownsHe's not bunting, he's full-out swinging the bat. He utilized the Ty Cobb split-hands grip, not so rare back then. Last player I am aware of that used the grip was Don Wert in the 1960's. No power, but with the mush ball they used then, placement was more important than distance. Double bat?Think what you see as two exposures of the bat is actually another player in behind? [Not quite. - Dave] Double Reflex/Double Exposure?Dave, is it that this plate is actually a double exposure? The fact that the bat can be clearly seen in two different orientations in the shot kind of gives that away.... And isn't that caused by the picture being a double reflex (shutter opens twice in very rapid succession)? [Nope. Getting warm though. Next guess? - Dave] Focal Plane anomalyBecause the bat and ball are travelling in the same direction as the slit in the shutter, they appear elongated. The same effect made race cars appear to be leaning forward in photos, and the effect is still used in drawings and cartoons to indicate speed. The effect is apparent in the older images because the film size was so large, and the shutter slit took a longer time to cover the film plane. In today's 35mm cameras, you couldn't notice the effect. [Not quite. The shutter in cameras of this era traveled vertically, which is what gives rise to the quirk noted in the caption. The ball appears elongated horizontally because it's traveling horizontally. - Dave] Focal planeAt high speeds, the shutter is only a slit. As it traverses the film plane, a round object being photographed is frequently shown as an oval. Old-time racing cars were a good example. [Kind of. The example often cited is racecar wheels being ovals that are tilted in the direction of travel. - Dave] And the Answer IsOr maybe I should say "and the question is." The quirk is that the ball has no shadow, and the batter's shadow shows him before he's swung. Who can tell us why? SwingerHey, thanks Ole Cooter, for that bit of knowledge on old time batting styles. Would have never figured that was a swing, not a bunt. That explains the straight stance. My first comment was what a weird bunting style. Now I'm going with it being a verrrry weird hitting style, Ty Cobb split hands or not. Matter of fact, I looked him up to see if I could find something about his batting style...and found this quote attributed to him: "Someone will hit .400 again. Somebody will get smart and swing naturally." Maybe he was referring to that split hand thing. Also found out he became quite wealthy, as in millions, as an early investor in Coca Cola shares and cotton futures amongst other things. Focal plane shutterWell, a focal plane shutter is something like a window shade; visualize the photographic plate being the window pane and the shutter, like the shade, being pulled down its length. In the camera, though, the action is horizontal, so in effect the shutter is following any horizontal action that may be in the scene. With a normal leaf shutter, an object going too fast for the shutter to stop it is an indistinct blur; the same object shot using a focal plane shutter would have tendency to distort the object horizontally as the shutter follows it, as we see with both the bat and the ball here. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. [The bat and the ball appeared elongated horizontally because this is, in effect, a time exposure of horizontally moving objects. - Dave] Bottom's UpDave asks, "The quirk is that the ball has no shadow, and the batter's shadow shows him before he's swung. Who can tell us why?" Because the shutter travels from bottom to top, so that the bottom half of the image was exposed first? [Exactly. When the bottom of the plate was exposed, the ball hadn't entered the frame yet, and the batter hadn't swung. Since most fast motion in photographs is horizontal, camera makers changed the direction of shutter travel with the advent of 35mm SLRs to address the issue. But in recent years switched back to vertical-travel shutters because they're more compact. - Dave] Bunter banterFor all you ex-baseball players out there, is that not the strangest bunting stance you've ever seen? And at the pro level. I mean everyone of my old coaches would have chewed us good for not squaring around and getting our hands farther apart for better bat head control. Of course, maybe that just shows us how bunting principles have improved over the years. And that catcher was just asking for a few broken fingers with his hand exposed like that. But then you have to consider the glove he had to use. Sort of weird the angle of the glove though. Tough guys back then. Shadow questionHow is it that his shadow and the ball change places, but his feet move? Wouldn't the shadow and his feet be in the same spot when the picture developed? Or why would it not be that his feet and shadow stay the same, but his upper body moves? Help a non camera friendly person out please! [Eh? I have no idea what this means. - Dave] Shadow Question 2"When the bottom of the plate was exposed, the ball hadn't entered the frame yet, and the batter hadn't swung." So why is it that the photographer was able to catch the bottom half of the batter in motion, even though his shadow is of before he moved? [The shutter curtains create a slitlike horizontal aperture that moves from the bottom of the frame to the top, smoothly traversing an interval of, let's say, around a hundredth of a second; the farther you get to the top of the frame, the later it is. That should explain it. Right? As far as the bottom half of the batter goes, that part of him isn't moving much. The things that are moving are his arms, the bat and the ball. Think of the picture as being made of a hundred skinny horizontal photos, all taken at different times, stacked on top of each other. As you move to the top of the picture, each one is taken slightly later than the one under it. - Dave] Simply Amazing!Dave, your website never ceases to amaze me! Not only do we get to see incredible photos but we also get to learn along the way as we enjoy these great photos. We get to learn about photo anomalies, some of the changes that have taken place in photography over its many years and in this case we also learn about unusual batting stances. Keep up the great work of locating and posting these fabulous photos and to all the Tipsters, anonymous and otherwise, keep sharing your knowledge and insights. Thanks! Baseball As a former catcher, I couldn't help but notice how much farther from the batter the 1913 receiver is than what is common today. From the position of his hands, he may not be in much of a squat. Those were the days when starting catchers often hit .190 to .220, since their hands and bodies took such a beating. George at batThat's George Stovall swinging the bat. Shutter direction of Travel...On modern SLR cameras the shutter slit moves in a vertical direction (the slit is horizontal and the direction is vertical). That is why you get a black band at the bottom of the image if you exceed the max flash sync shutter speed. Back in the early 60s when I played around with an old Speed Graphic the direction of slit movement was definitely horizontal. You could set the shutter to a slow speed and see it open and close from left to right (or vice versa, I don't remember which) on the ground glass if you didn't put a film holder into the camera. I suspect there was more room for the shutter mechanism for it to move side to side in those old cameras even though it had to travel a farther distance since it was traveling across the wide direction of the format. Here is a link explaining how it works, including the race car photo mentioned in an earlier post... http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-slit-scan.html The elongated baseball and the curved bat in this Shorpy photo are exhibiting the same distortion as the wheel in the race car photo. [The "old cameras" that took this baseball photo and the racecar pictures used vertical-travel shutters (if the baseball camera had used a horizontal-travel shutter, the bat and its shadow would match, and the ball would have a shadow). The baseball is elongated horizontally because it's moving horizontally. The shutter artifact exhibited by the racecar wheels is tilting, not elongation. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Sports)
Old Corner Bookstore: 1900
... days to return. Face it, all I have to choose from is a baseball cap, which makes me look like the world's oldest 10-year-old, or a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 1:13pm -

Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1900. "Old Corner Bookstore, first brick building in Boston." Detroit Publishing Company 8x10 glass negative. View full size. Dentist NeededThere must have been a corn-on-the-cob vendor nearby. Three pedestrians are picking their teeth. Ann Hutchinson lived thereMy 10th great-grandmother, Ann Hutchinson, lived at that location! Just visited it this summer, fun stuff. No OverweightsPre-automobiles and pre-fast foods.... look how trim all of the men are regardless of age. Compared to todayEveryone's so... thin. Old JokeI bought a suit with 2 pairs of pants and burned a hole in the jacket. Old Corner BookstoreA picture and more information about the Old Corner Bookstore. Covered HeadsEvery man has a hat on. Also, I wonder what the guy in the 4th floor window is doing and what's that circular object in the window? Great PicUsing Google Street View, you can see the building still stands. I'm fascinated by the people you can spy through the windows--the barber, and assorted other folks. I especially enjoy the class case suspended on the second floor full of trousers. Too coolI'm fascinated by the two young dudes leaning against the lamppost. Are they ogling or hoping to be ogled? Only the attire has changed since then. Old bookstoreI love the finger-o-doom pointing downwards on the building behind. Where are all the women? The Corner StoreI'm always wondering why I can't find a good old corner bookshop-barber-loan shark-jeweler-wood engraver-tailor place anymore. Is that...The current Boston Globe Bookstore? Circa 1900Must be the photo, not the bookstore that's circa 1900 since Boston's first brick building must have been built many years before 1900. [There are two giant signs on the store that say when it was built. - Dave] Quick, Marty! I see a time-space wormhole!Jeez, the man standing right on the corner is using a cellphone! Shorpy Zoom PleaseCan we get the Shorpy Zoom to shed some light on the three windows with people please? The barber, the wood engraver, and the kid in the attic. DiamondsThe Old Corner Book Store is now a jewelry store - the building is still there, but the books have long since departed. The cobblestones are still there, though. Time Machine is Working Just FineBeautiful and fascinating photograph! WowLoved this picture - so much to look at! Very cool. Thanks! Another Cool Boston FeatureAnybody interested can also check out this Google Earth tour of the sites in the famous children's book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Rens Spaans - Hair CutterThere's a Dutch name for you. It takes one to know one I guess... Mr. Spaans was apparently "badly injured" in the March 14, 1887 Bussey Bridge Disaster, the train accident following the collapse of a railroad bridge that left 38 dead and some 40 "more or less injured". More here. Sam, you made the pants too long.By the way, when do you suppose this building was built? (Just kidding). One common-tater asked what the guy on the fourth floor was doing and my guess would be that he is sewing on a sewing machine as that is exactly the posture he would be in and being that it was on the fourth floor, with no a/c, it must have been warm, dark and stuffy, hence the wide open window. The circular object MAY be a sewing machine or other tailoring tool. I wonder if your younger readers know that in the 1950's and early 60's, men's suits often featured two pairs of pants because most men would remove their jackets at work and the pants would wear out long before the jackets, making the jacket useless. It was a really good idea. I love this photo and particularly the very well-dressed people in the street. There was a time when people had to be "presentable" before they left the house. Since I saw some people last night at the local Seven Eleven in their pajamas, slippers and robes, I fear those days are gone forever. Thanks for a fascinating look back. UsuryTwo percent per month works out to "only" 26.82% when compounded annually. Unfortunately, Google Maps shows this building is gone. This may be a stupid question but...I'm assuming the 'circa 1900' refers to the photo, but now I became curious as to when the actual 'first brick building in Boston' was built. I found this site, which said it was built in 1712 and has pictures of it still standing today. [Look at the photo. There are two giant signs on the store that say when it was built. - Dave] Pants!I'm somewhat partial to the sign off to the left side for the Eclipse Pants Co., where they offer pants made "at very short notice." Was it common to suddenly need pants in 1900? Never mind any kind of sub-joke about their pants being too short or anything. Man: Excuse me, shopkeep, but I'm in dire need of pants! Shopkeep: You've come to the right place. Short notice is all we need. The Banker and the BearBook ad from June 1900. Closeup of DoorwayWould it be possible to get a closeup of the door with the "Suits ... 16.00" sign to better read the placards. By the way, other than patronizing your advertisers, is there anything we can do to support this wonderful site? [Buy a print! - Dave] Where are the women?For pete's sake, man! This district has bookstores, engravers, loan sharks, and cut-rate tailors! This is no place for any respectable woman! By the way, I think Mr. Cell Phone is actually picking his nose! Dave? Closeup? Different CornerI grew up in Lexington, MA and Boston was my playground. There are a lot of wicked pissa hidden treats all over. Brattle Book shop was established in 1825. Not as old as this building but it smells like history inside and they have an amazing collection of rare books. http://www.brattlebookshop.com/Stuff/rarebookroom.html Pockets and shoesNot the best fitting suits, but they sure beat pajamas. Check out the pocket-watch pocket on the gentleman in front. No wristwatches yet. And how about the shine on the shoes in an era where piles of manure had to be navigated while crossing the street. Modern men can take an example of that. 1900Interesting that the pawn shops and quick loans still exist. And the people, caught in the windows--they had no idea they were being preserved for posterity. 108 years from now, one of us, caught on a cell phone or digital photo will be on Shorpy! This is within a few years of James Joyce's "Ulysses"--I know it's not Dublin but the details are intriguing. Hats off to Shorpy!For another excellent find. I always appreciated the era of hats, and being bald now, I long for those days to return. Face it, all I have to choose from is a baseball cap, which makes me look like the world's oldest 10-year-old, or a cowboy hat, which unless you happen to be riding a horse just doesn't cut it. Let's bring back the derby and fedora! Me too...I love how everyone is dressed smartly and I was wondering about the color of their suits. What was the predominant suit color back then ? [An intensely deep, dark purple. - Dave] Another slice of lifeI love the "slice of life" images on Shorpy. The sight of people in the windows is fascinating. These pictures make history come alive and I wish more people could share in that sense of life. Too many think History is a dry, static thing and are unable to make a personal connection. Make Way for DucklingsIn an interesting bit of serendipity, I Just happened to run across my childhood copy of Make Way for Ducklings at my mom's house last weekend. I found every word was deeply lodged in my subconscious although I hadn't read it in at least 30 years. As I re-read it, I wondered if the Old Corner Bookstore (which as a child I assumed was a generic description) still exists. And lo and behold, thanks to Dave and Shorpy, I now know the answer! Another Old JokeWhy did the golfer buy a suit with two pairs of pants? In case he got a hole in one... So what is that "cell phone" thingy then?By the way, re: JimsShip, if people can wear pyjamas to the 7-11, you can buy yourself a dapper hat and wear it any time you like! Bowler hatsYes, these are still available. Easy to find on eBay, if you are confident of your size. I bought mine at a western store in Lincoln, Nebraska that has a large period clothing section catering to re-enactors. That way I could try it on. I wear my bowler every few weeks (to the dismay of my children) and always get positive comments. Wood engravingI have degree in printmaking and have actually created several wood engravings so I'm especially intrigued with the Robert Stockin Wood Engraving business and wish I could see inside. Wood engravings (not the same thing as woodcuts) were used for newspaper and commercial illustrations. That might be a proofing press in the window immediately left of the shield "erected AD 1712" sign or it might be wishful thinking on my part. I'm especially fond of the pointing hand of doom on the side of the building in the upper right. This is a great photo. Fickle Finger of FateSomething I always like in signage of this vintage is the Victorian Directional Hand, employed here to show the way to the Bay State Loan Co. and the Eclipse Pants Co. It makes me wonder what the giant VDH painted on the side of the building at upper right is pointing to, though. CommentedWith 42 and counting, this has provoked comments galore! What is/are the most commented upon photo(s)? [The Beaver Letter. - Dave] The Victorian-era Pointing Hand.Now we know what inspired the Microsoft programmers when they were developing the Desktop for Windows. Street signsLike many other commenters, I've been to the current store and walked or driven by this building hundreds of time. One thing I found interesting is the street signs on the building. Both are partially hidden by the awnings, but one says School Street and the other says Washington Street. Were street signs on poles not used in that era? [They were, but not everywhere. - Dave] Bring back the derby and fedora!Fedoras are back, especially here in New York. I've been wearing them for 4 years. I have a total of three felt fedoras and a straw one, two porkpies, felt and straw and a homburg. Back then was definitely the good old days. People knew how to dress. I wish more people would bring it back. In my opinion after 30 years of sports clothing as the "average daywear" I think it's about time we change back to formal and dress casual. This must be the original negative for our postcardThe museum I work at has a postcard published from this photo in its collection. You can see this colorized image here. It's interesting to see how this image was used back then. (The Gallery, Boston, DPC, Stores & Markets)
Washington: 1925
... Union Station in Washington, D.C., circa 1925, with a baseball game next door. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. ... full size. Only in Washington That's the first baseball field I've ever seen where the bleachers are facing away from the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:19pm -

Union Station in Washington, D.C., circa 1925, with a baseball game next door. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Only in WashingtonThat's the first baseball field I've ever seen where the bleachers are facing away from the action. Railroad lighthouse pagodaThat little guardhouse or traffic tower or whatever is wild! Backward BleachersI noticed that too, but then saw the track running around the outside of the field. Trolley Switch TowerThat switch tower was moved to the National Capital Trolley Museum after the DC transit system was dismantled. It was moved to the new museum site late last year to make room for the ICC. [Wow. Amazing! - Dave] All Three Buildings Stand TodayThe Government Printing Office now has a lot of additional equipment installed on the roof, the Post Office is now an office building and Postal Museum. The former Postmaster's office is now a brewpub -- the heavy door to the safe has been cut in half and is part of the decor. Union Station looks today much as it did then. The streetcars have been replaced by car, bus and taxi lanes. Some of the nude statues indoors were given shields for modesty. Change We NeedOne thing changed in this photo is the baseball field in the foreground: now it's an ugly parking lot for Congressional workers. I can't imagine that Congress would ever decrease the amount of parking for themselves, but how about consolidating the multiple surface lots in the area into a well-designed parking garage? Let's get rid of all the atrocious expanses of asphalt in the area and replace them with parkland. Hey, it would be investment in infrastructure, right? Also changed from this time is the traffic pattern around Columbus Circle. It is due to be altered again in the near future with a newly designed pattern of roads and sidewalks. Government Printing Office roofHaving been employed at the GPO from 1972-1985, I would like to add that the open shelter atop the GPO building covered a shuffleboard court for lunchtime gamers. Tables & benches were also furnished. The roof-top area also was used for Peter Falk's opening appearance in the "The In-Laws"(1979). Ballgames Huge in DC - Grandfather built Union StationI remember my father taking me to many DC Parks for Baseball games when I was very little. Most were at schools, but many were in regular parks too. (1953?) Every one of my fathers friends played baseball, he said everyone did back then. Of course this photo was before that time, but it carried on to his generation too. He was born in 1920. My grandfather also helped to build Union Station. One of my cousins has a photo of him while it was being built, but getting a copy is like pulling teeth. I don't remember it having any landmarks that shows that it's at Union Station, but it is part of our family history, and in his work record on ancestry too. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads, Streetcars)
Prairie Schooner: 1915
... likely this is the same John Drebinger who was a baseball reporter at the New York Times for over 40 years. ... York Times, Oct. 24, 1979 John Drebinger, 88, Baseball Reporter, Is Dead John Drebinger, who was dean of the nation's ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 2:41pm -

March 1915. "San Francisco by wagon from Staten Island, New York." Three guys and a dog and their two-horsepower hybrid in Washington, taking the Overland Trail west. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Wandering and Wonderingif they made it to San Fran and how many spare wheels they carried. Not to mention support for the horses. Looks cosy enough though for three. Maybe it's their midlife crisis. FriendsI wonder how good friends they all were when they finally got there? Any more details?Any more information on this trek? Trying to discern some details on the canvas (with the peculiar map drawn on the side with east to the left): Highlandtown, Maryland seems to be a neighborhood inside Baltimore. I can't find anything on Frank A. Blum. "Ask the driver for a booklet"? Anyway, it's nice to see the Capitol again with private cars driving right up to it and no surrounding guardhouses, fences, and bollards. Coastal ConfusionStrange that they have the Pacific Ocean (and west coast) east of Staten Island. I hope they didn't just drive off a pier into the Atlantic. Boosting the Eden of NYCI noted the curious geographical sense of these boys as well. I think the map might be drawn this way (flipping East and West) so that as they travel westward, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are oriented with the wagon. In Wagon to San Francisco Staten Island Boosters Reach Washington On Coast-to-Coast Trip. Three hardy young men, tanned with exposure incidental to life in a prairie schooner passed through here last week en route to the exposition at San Francisco over the old overland trail. They were all residents of Staten Island and are boosting that particular spot as the Eden of Greater New York. They are John Drebinger, William Stephens, and Edward Smith. They left Staten Island February 27, and expect to reach California about September 1. The trio paid a visit to Secretary Bryan yesterday. They Secretary greeted them cordially, they said. An expressed desire to see President Wilson was not gratified. The party will continue on their way today. Washington Post, Mar 14, 1915 UPDATE: It appears the boys made it as far as Denver. I'm not positive, but it seems likely this is the same John Drebinger who was a baseball reporter at the New York Times for over 40 years. Drebby's Hobo LifeNew York Times, Oct. 24, 1979 John Drebinger, 88, Baseball Reporter, Is Dead John Drebinger, who was dean of the nation's baseball writers when he retired in 1964 after 40 years with the New York Times, died Monday at a nursing home in Greensboro, N.C. He was 88 years old. His colleagues called him Drebby and one of them related his departure to "the retirement of Winston Churchill, the storming of the Bastille, the discovery of gunpowder or the instituting of income taxes: life goes on, but an era has ended." Indeed, when 11-year-old John Drebinger saw his first baseball game, it was played in the afternoon on real grass. The Boer War had ended in that June of 1902, ZuZu ginger snaps first appeared on grocery shelves, Wanamaker's was selling patent leather shoes for $1.90 a pair and a pound of coffee was 10 cents. The youngster was on his way to becoming a concert pianist -- his father was a violinist with the New York Metropolitan Orchestra -- but a thumb wound suffered while sharpening ice skates ended that aspiration. After an eight-year stay with the Staten Island Advance -- which included an ill-fated cross-country journey in a covered wagon that he termed the most exciting experience of his life -- Mr. Drebinger joined The Times for the "hobo life" of a baseball writer. For the next four decades he traveled 30,000 miles a year with the Yankees, the Giants and the Dodgers, saw 6,000 baseball games and ate "tons of hot dogs." From 1929 through 1963, he covered all 203 World Series Games. Not heard during the course of the trip...."Are we there yet?" Westward Ho! By Wagon"Staten Island Prairie Schooner is Going to S.F." Driving up to the City Hall yesterday in an old-fashioned prairie schooner drawn by two horses, John Urflinger and William Stevens obtained a letter from Mayor Mitchel to deliver to Mayor Rolph of San Francisco. The odd trip across the continent is being made in the interest of Staten Island business men, who want it advertised that Staten Island is the gateway of the Eastern Coast, just as San Francisco is supposed to be the gateway of the Western. The schooner was driven about Manhattan yesterday, and today a trip will be made through Brooklyn. Tomorrow at noon Charles J. McCormack of Richmond Borough will start the wagon on its long overland trip to the Western city where it is due to arrive before the Panama-Pacific International Exposition ends. NY Times, 24 Feb 1915 That title Panama-PacificThat title Panama-Pacific International Exposition kind of threw me for a second since I live in San Diego and thought that was held in San Diego's newly completed Balboa Park, not San Francisco. But then it dawned on me that ours was called the Panama Exposition in the same year, 1915. Never thought why it had the Panama in the name, but now I know from Wikipedia that both these events were celebrating the Panama Canal opening, along with some opportune marketing. Okay by me, Balboa Park was a great result, and is still a jewel as far as I'm concerned. (The Gallery, D.C., Dogs, Harris + Ewing, Horses)
Earl Smith: 192x
... day. - Dave] So it's 1920 According to Baseball-Reference.com Pete Kilduff retired after the 1921 season, playing for ... Giants received, in return, Hank Gowdy and Mule Watson. (Baseball Encyclopedia) Baseball Uniforms According to the "Dressed to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 11:36am -

Earl Smith, New York National League (Giants). Date written on this glass-plate negative is June 9, 1923. Although another from this 5181 series of pictures taken at the Polo Grounds has "5/13/20" scratched into the emulsion. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. 1920? 1923?According to Retrosheet, on June 9, 1923 the Giants played at Pittsburgh. Images of Forbes Field do not match the upper deck facade as shown here. Retrosheet shows the Giants at Cincinnati on 5/13/20, and Crosley Field (called Redland Field in 1912-1933) appears similar (see http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=71652668 for an example from 1938), but not identical. However, the Polo Grounds does match (http://www.dugout-memories.com/goffpol7.html). So it appears the game was in New York, but on neither date given. I'm stumped without knowing who the opponent is. [It's definitely the Polo Grounds. Another shot from this series shows Pete Kilduff of Brooklyn there on what would seem to be the same sparsely attended day. - Dave] So it's 1920According to Baseball-Reference.com Pete Kilduff retired after the 1921 season, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins in 20 and 21. Let's check 1920. Retrosheet shows the Giants hosting Brooklyn on May 5-7 1920, just days before the May 13 date given. May would also fit with the low attendence, since school would still be in session. Oh, the Giants took 2 of 3 against Brookyn that week but finished 7 games behind the Robins, with Brooklyn losing the World Series 5-2 to Tris Speaker's Cleveland Indians. Thanks for the lead on Kilduff, Dave. Could this...possibly be a photo of pre-game batting practice? The catcher appears to be wearing the same style/color uniform as Earl, the "crowd" is a bit sparse and that filthy home plate would bring shame to any whiskbroom-toting umpire. (Note: in 1923, Smith only appeared in 24 games for the Giants, spending the remainder of the year [72 game appearances] with the Boston Braves although I've not been able to find the date he was traded). Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska Earl SmithSmith was traded to Boston along with Jesse Barnes on June 7, 1923. The Giants received, in return, Hank Gowdy and Mule Watson. (Baseball Encyclopedia) Baseball UniformsAccording to the "Dressed to the Nines" baseball uniform database, the uniforms of both players match New York (batter) and Brooklyn (catcher) for 1920 and 1921. New York's home and Brooklyn's road uni's are virtually identical those years, including the socks. Brooklyn had a B on the right sleeve. It would be hard to detect the gray of the catcher's uniform. Even their caps were the same, except for logos. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Sports)
High Modern: 1960
... the world. Steak Dinner $1.95 Al Schacht played pro baseball for only three years, pitching for the Senators from 1919 to 1921, but ... its lease expires next year. - Dave] Clown Prince of Baseball Washington Senator pitcher and coach, Al Schacht, served up steaks ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/25/2015 - 8:08pm -

July 8, 1960. "New York City views. Seagram Building plaza, from 400 Park Avenue roof." Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. ThorndaleThis one has a North by Northwest feel to it. InfluentialHigh modern, indeed. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, with lobby and some interiors by Philip Johnson, two of the biggest names in modernism. Mies incorporated as many modernist features as he could - little or no ornamentation, the steel structure within reflected by the exterior bronze beams, glass curtain walls, even down to ensuring uniformity in the window shades (down, up or halfway, nothing else). For good or ill, it influenced the design of hundreds of glass box skyscrapers around the world. Steak Dinner $1.95Al Schacht played pro baseball for only three years, pitching for the Senators from 1919 to 1921, but he coached third base for over a dozen years, first for Washington and then for the Red Sox. Being a funny guy, he went into comedy as a solo act and entertained the troops during the war. He opened his restaurant after the war. The menus were round, like big baseballs. British invasion!Amidst the all-American dinosaurs roaming the Summer streets of Gotham on that fine day we spy at least two "Englishmen in New York". An Austin-Healy 3000 roadster, and (I believe) a Hillman Minx. There's a third one just entering frame from the left that I can't I.D. -- anyone else? Car spottingIn row by the curb: 1960 Oldsmobile, Two Tone something, 57 Mercury, Foreign something, 57 Chevy Convertible, 57 Ford, 59 Ford. Those are the easy ones, someone else will have to do the rest. The third "mystery car"Appears to me to be a Simca Vedette, a pretty rare piece in the U.S. even in those Euro-car-loving days. French auto imports were mainly Citroen D-Series, Peugeots and various Renaults. Simcas were quite thin on the ground. The parked Austin-Healey appears to have whitewall tires, were were a short-lived affectation on sports cars. The Four Seasons RestaurantIs one of the most beautiful and famous dining places in New York City. With a bubbling white pool and four seasonally-changing trees at each corner, the Pool Room is breathtakingly beautiful. The Pool Room features The Four Seasons' signature shimmering chain curtains and a collection of furnishings and tablewear that are part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. There are currently highly controversial plans for making changes to this iconic room. [Actually the plan is to kick the restaurant out when its lease expires next year. - Dave] Clown Prince of BaseballWashington Senator pitcher and coach, Al Schacht, served up steaks and the requisite "trimmings" for many years at the location shown. As a kid, I ate there a few times with my parents, and remember being fascinated by the menus, really two-dimensional baseballs. Several hints dropped during the waiter's presence failed to get me one, however. Fin LandAh those wonderful, massive rear fenders of the 50's and 60's. DocumentaryI remember this plaza from the documentary The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces where the film examined the use of the plaza and urban spaces by humans. Lever HouseThe iconic modernist office building, Lever House at 390 Park, shows a corner of itself on the right hand side. Precursor to (by 6 years) and companion of the Seagram Building, Lever's innovative design provided a more usable plaza and a more graciously sized mass but was always overshadowed by its stiff neighbor, aptly named Seagram. (And it was designed by American Gordon Bunshaft rather than a guy named Ludwig.) He must be there somewhereTrying to spot Don Draper in this shot. (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)
Vest Test: 1923
... I gather that it's somewhat like being smacked with a baseball bat. Could still be dangerous if the impact centers on the solar ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 1:44pm -

September 13, 1923. Washington, D.C. "W.H. Murphy of the Protective Garment Corp. of New York stood less than ten feet from [Frederick County, Md.] Deputy Sheriff Charles W. Smith in police headquarters Wednesday and let the deputy fire a .38 caliber revolver straight at his chest. When the bullet hit, Murphy never batted an eye. Inventors ot the bulletproof vest, which weighs about 11 pounds, have put iten the market for the protection of police and other officers in emergency cases. The bullet which Deputy Smith fired into the vest Wednesday was presented to him for a souvenir." View full size. National Photo Company. Live Rounds?Well, the caption suggests this testing was indeed done with live rounds vs. blanks. But despite Mr. Murphy's calm expression, it is hard to believe that "when the bullet hit, Murphy never batted an eye." Color me incredulous. [There are dozens of news items from 1923 about these salesmen making (and taking) the rounds at various police departments. Also reports of lawsuits filed by a few who experienced wardrobe malfunctions: Pierpont Potter, sales rep for United States Armor and the Bulletproof Corp., sued for $20,000 in October 1923 after a bullet pierced his vest, necessitating multiple surgeries to put him back together. - Dave] But the impact...So the vest prevents the bullet from penetrating. But the torso underneath still absorbs the impact. From accounts, I gather that it's somewhat like being smacked with a baseball bat. Could still be dangerous if the impact centers on the solar plexus or something. I mean, ouchie. [On a related note (below), don't try this at home. - Dave] DC Sheriff?The District has no Sheriff's Office. Prince George's or Montgomery County, maybe? [Charles Smith was deputy sheriff of Frederick County, Maryland. The demonstration in the photo was in Washington. - Dave] Steve OThis would be the 1920's equivalent of "Jackass". Steve O is wearing the suit, Johnny Knoxville is pulling the trigger, and Bam Margera is in the white shirt waiting for his turn to fire his pistol. There is absolutely nothing new. Every "new" idea is a rehash as this proves yet again. What A Sales Rep.That is a man who is dedicated to closing the deal! KevlarRandom fun fact: The guy who invented Kevlar shot himself in the chest while wearing a vest to find out if his product would really work. The "guy" who invented KevlarI suspect the most recent comment is an urban legend. Kevlar wasn't invented by any one person, technically, since it was developed at DuPont by a team of people, but the scientist credited with its discovery is Stephanie Kwolek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Kwolek KevlarKevlar was not as much group effort but rather it was invented by a lady in 1965 by the name of Stephanie Kwolek while she was working for DuPont. So while they get to keep the intellectual rights to her work, it was indeed a single person who is credited with the invention. [The article you cite does not credit Stephanie Kwolek with the invention of Kevlar. It does, however, note that she is the person who discovered the polyamide solution from which Kevlar fibers are made: "Following this breakthrough many fibers were spun from liquid crystalline solutions, including the yellow Kevlar fiber." - Dave] Check the collar brassThe shooter is a Park Policeman. Vested interestAccording to news reports, this took place in Potomac Park, just north of the train tracks. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Curiosities, D.C., Natl Photo)
Win: 1896
Circa 1896. "Mercer, Washington baseball." George Barclay "Win" Mercer (1874-1903) . Glass negative from the ... Jan. 13 -- Winnie D. Mercer, a pitcher for the American baseball team, registered at the Occidental Hotel last evening and was found ... AL 1901 Detroit Tigers 1902 Career Stats Baseball Reference Expanded Bio from Society for American Baseball ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/20/2017 - 8:58pm -

Circa 1896. "Mercer, Washington baseball." George Barclay "Win" Mercer (1874-1903). Glass negative from the C.M. Bell portrait studio. View full size. MERCER'S TRAGIC END Ball Player, 28, Takes Own Life in San Francisco.         SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 13 -- Winnie D. Mercer, a pitcher for the American baseball team, registered at the Occidental Hotel last evening and was found asphyxiated in his room to-day. Mercer was registered under the name of George Murray and gave his residence as Philadelphia. The watchman of the hotel in making his rounds detected the odor of gas coming from Mercer's room, and, failing to receive a response to his knocking, broke down the door. Clad in his night clothes and lying in the bed with his coat and vest covering his head, Mercer was found. From the gas jet in the center of the room was suspended a rubber tube, and the end of this Mercer had placed in his mouth, after turning the gas full on.         Mercer's identity was established by papers found among his effects, one of which read: "Tell Mr. Van Horn, of the Langham Hotel, that Winnie Mercer has taken his life." He also left letters, one to his mother and another to a young lady of East Liverpool, Ohio, expressing regret over his deed and bidding them fond farewells. He left a statement of his financial accounts addressed to Tip O'Neill, and advised his friends to avoid games of chance and women. -- Washington Post, January 14, 1903. Alternative FactAn odd mistake for the WaPo to have made here, especially for one as well known at the time as Win Mercer was. It should have read "former" pitcher with the Washington Americans, as many called them--because in fact he had been gone from there more than a year, playing for the Detroit Tigers in 1902 and expected to serve as their player-manager in "03. After his sudden demise, Ed Barrow was hired and later saw great fame as Yankees exec in the Ruth/Gehrig era. [The newspaper article is correct. At the time of his death, Win played for the American League. - Dave] Cigarettes, whiskey and wild women... threw him a curve he couldn't hit. Positions: Pitcher, Third Baseman and Outfielder Bats: Left • Throws: Right 5-9, 154lb (175cm, 69kg) Born: June 20, 1874 in Chester, WV USA Died: January 12, 1903 (Aged 28-206d) in San Francisco, CA Debut: April 21, 1894 (Age 19-305d, 1,762nd in MLB history) He played 9 years with a record of 132W-164L with an ERA of 3.98 and a BA .285 and OPS .689 In 1901 at the age of 27 he made $3,600.00 which is $105,282.66 in today's dollars. That would be a bargain for a three position player today since the average MLB salary is over $4 million and players still get $100 a day in meal money. Teams Washington NL 1894-1899 New York Giants 1900 Washington AL 1901 Detroit Tigers 1902 Career Stats Baseball Reference Expanded Bio from Society for American Baseball ResearchIt throws a little more light on his sad ending. (The Gallery, Bell Studio, D.C., Handsome Rakes, Sports)
Shibe Park: 1913
... 1964 = NY Mets 2007. (For those not in the know, those baseball teams experienced two of the biggest September pennant-race collapses ... even in 1964!!!! Only a die hard Phillies fan or big time baseball fan will know what that means. Here is a good web page with some facts ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/12/2019 - 4:50pm -

October 8, 1913. First-base grandstand at Shibe Park, Philadelphia. 1913 World Series. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. Sorry about 1964, RonPhillies 1964 = NY Mets 2007. (For those not in the know, those baseball teams experienced two of the biggest September pennant-race collapses in Major League history.) My only memory of Shibe is watching an Astros game on TV in the late 1960s, and Phillies outfielder Alex Johnson fielded his position in the shadow of a light standard. As the shadow moved, so did Johnson. Standing in the shade was more important than who was at the plate. I'm quite sure the Houston announcers were quite critical of Johnson. Boooo! Connie Mack StadiumBy the time I got to see this ballpark it was renamed Connie Mack, this was in the 60's, note the people looking at the game from rooftops, this park was knocked down in the 70's and a church is in its place. I have great memories of the ballbark even in 1964!!!! Only a die hard Phillies fan or big time baseball fan will know what that means. Here is a good web page with some facts and pictures: http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/shibep.htm BowlersI'm likely wrong, after a less-than-a-full minute scan of this photo at full size, but I can only identify four women among this crowd of bowler-hatted men. Anyone else see more? Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska Connie Mack StadiumI lived about 10 blocks from Connie Mack Stadium and in the 60's went to a # of games. Can still see Stan Musial standing in the outfield during batting practice. Once, I saw Roberto Clemente and other Pirates getting off the team bus in front of the stadium (I liked to get there early for batting practice); was there the time the Phillies' Art Mahaffey struck out 17 Cubs (think Ernie Banks) and watched Richie Allen hit a ball over the LF roof- 529 feet. Do not miss obstructed view behind those pillars though! (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Philadelphia, Sports)
A's 8, Giants 2: 1913
... one of my favorite players from the All-Time All-Star dice baseball game I had as an early teen, and is one of the greatest ... above the clubhouse. http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html has diagrams of the original (well, this was ... feet" sign high on the right-field wall. I saw my first baseball game there in 1943 or 44 and Mel Ott, my hero and namesake, popped one ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:30pm -

October 9, 1913. The scene at the Polo Grounds in New York after the third game of the World Series. Philadelphia Athletics 8, New York Giants 2. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Polo Grounds RailroadThat should be the Ninth Avenue Elevated line... http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html Ow"Green River, The Whiskey Without a Headache" -- say, where do I get some of that? 'Cause the whiskey I'm drinking contains several headaches in every bottle. Railroad in backgoundDoes anybody know anything about the railroad that can be seen behind the left field wall? Its the 9th Avenue Elevated LineThe polo ground shuttle was merely the cut down remnant of the 9th Avenue Elevated line which had a station at the Polo Grounds as shown in this photo which shows the station with the stadium at the left... http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?47747 PS: It's interesting to see that one of my favorite brews "Bass Ale" was sold in the states as early as 1913! Train YardsThe trains seen in this photo are in a layup yard behind left field in the Polo Grounds. These trains were assigned to the 6th and 9th Ave els and were used during rush hours when more trains were required to handle the increased need. Polo Grounds ShuttleThere was a NYC Subway shuttle train that ran from 167th Street and Jerome Avenue to 155th Street and 8th Ave (the Polo Grounds stop). That could be the station in the picture. I believe it also went from 161st Street and River Avenue as well. Service was discontinued in 1958, about a year after the Giants moved to San Francisco. When the line was running it moved people from the Bronx or those who came uptown on the IND subway to the games. In another picture, it shows fans walking across the field. They were heading to the exits and the buses and trains. It was a great experience, today the security people won't let you anywhere near the turf. Polo Grounds ShuttleYes, the "Polo Grounds Shuttle" was the last functioning piece of the Ninth Avenue El. Same railway! Exiting the BleachersIf I remember correctly, there were staircases that led from the bleachers to the ground floor and you went out of the park, passing the turnstiles. The bleachers were behind the outfield, separated by the clubhouse (locker rooms etc) with 2 long staircases, one from the visitors side and the one on the right from the Giants side. The players entered the field from there. The distance from home plate to those bleachers was 505 feet, the only player I know of that hit one out was Richy Ashburn of the Phillies. Willie Mays patrolled center and caught just about anything that was hit there. The bullpens were also out there and when a pitcher was taken out, the walk to the mound seemed to take forever, and then he took the ball from the guy he was replacing and he had to walk back to the showers. At the end of their reign the Giants started using cars to transport them. Mel & RichieMel Ott is a New Orleans hometown hero. Yes, sadly he is not given enough ink. Richie Ashburn of the Phillies swung an extra heavy bat for a lead-off batter. That big bat helped him hit some very long balls. Speaking of Mel OttSpeaking of Mel Ott, he was one of my favorite players from the All-Time All-Star dice baseball game I had as an early teen, and is one of the greatest mostly-forgotten stars of the 20th century (I'd put Stan Musial first in that category). Ott has the distinction of having among the third most severe home/road power discrepancies -- 63% of his dingers came at home (Home Run Handbook via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ott ). The Polo Grounds helped Babe Ruth in his two greatest seasons of 1920 and 1921 too, as he perfected pulling balls right down that short right field line. Oh, the outfield wasn't completely doubled-decked. I envy Mr. Mel for having actually been to one of the classic old ballparks -- he has memories of Coogan's Bluff, I've got Arlington Stadium and the Astrodome. Polo Grounds cont'dI stand corrected, it wasn't Richy Asburn who hit the homer into the bleachers but Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. Hank Aaron also did it later. Outfield bleachersIt looks like the only way to get out of the outfield bleachers is to climb over the wall and drop down onto the field. re: Exiting the bleachersMr. Mel's memories are of the Polo Grounds following its 1923 reconfiguration when the entire outfield was double-decked. In 1911-1922 center field was "only" 433 feet from home plate. After expansion that weird notch in center field placed the clubhouse steps 483 feet from the plate. The 505-foot figure may have been to the scoreboard above the clubhouse. http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html has diagrams of the original (well, this was actually the FIFTH Polo Grounds!) and expanded configurations. Amazing that someone such as Richie Ashburn, with only 29 career home runs, could hit a ball out of his back yard, much less a major league stadium. Polo GroundsMy memories the stadium don't go back to a previous life. Two things I remember are the "505 feet" sign on the front of the single decked bleacher section and the "257 feet" sign high on the right-field wall. I saw my first baseball game there in 1943 or 44 and Mel Ott, my hero and namesake, popped one over that wall for a home run. That shot would have been a medium long foul ball in just about any other ballpark. A's won it all, right?Wasn't this the series where the upstart A's shocked the heavy favored Giants? There's an interesting story by Christy Mathewson about why the Giants lost that World Series. Into the BleachersSo did Lou Brock, then playing for the Cubs. I've also read that Luke Easter of the Old Negro Leagues did it, too. Arlington Stadium?Scribe 9999, Do you have a Kodachrome of Old Arlington Stadium? Or just the memories? I have several collages of Arlington Stadium that are really neat. I am trying to find different pictures of Arlington Stadium pre-1984 before the wrap-around scoreboard was added. Also, any wide shots of stadium before the Upper Deck/Plaza was added before the 1972 season and any pics with the old Texas Shaped scoreboard. You can shoot me an E-mail at buckynance@hotmail.com Thanks, Bucky Polo Grounds If I'm not mistaken Aaron never did it. If my memory serves me well the 3 people who hit it in the bleachers were Adcock, Orlando Cepeda and Lou Brock of all people! Hank AaronI found this by Googling Baseball Almanac Four sluggers have put a ball over the center field wall in the Polo Grounds (Version IV). Those sluggers are Luke Easter of the Negro Leagues in 1948; Joe Adcock on April 29, 1953; Lou Brock on June 17, 1962; and Hank Aaron on June 18, 1962. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Sports)
Mr. Magazine: 1908
... this was published Siever played his last major league baseball game although he played another two years in the minors. Less than a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 3:46pm -

1908. "Smallest news & post card stand in New Orleans, 103 Royal Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Next doorI see cabbages, bananas, oranges, apples, peaches, walnuts, and ... waffles? Re: BlueBookAnother bid for one of each! From Antiques Roadshow archive: APPRAISER: "This is one of the later ones-- there's no date here, I think this was done about 1915, 1916 or 1917.the last copy I was able to track down at auction, sold for more than $2,000, some years ago. GUEST: Wow. APPRAISER: My guess on this is it's worth somewhere between $3,500 and $4,500. GUEST: My goodness. APPRAISER: Not bad for something you picked from the garbage, right? Magazines and NewspapersI'll say what we're all probably thinking: I'll take one of everything on your stand, sir. Hey, there's a magazine for everybody. The Information HighwayBefore the internet was invented. Sagebrush Philosopher"Sagebrush Philosophy" was published by the Wyoming writer Bill Barlow: Shortly after locating at Douglas he began the publication of a little monthly magazine called Sagebrush Philosophy, which soon had a circulation that extended to all parts of the Union. His writings scintillated with wit, philosophy and optimism, and his vocabulary was both extensive and unique. Sagebrush Philosophy was built up on his personality and when his death occurred on October 9, 1910, it was realized that no one could continue the publication of the magazine, so its last number was issued in November following his death. The JewelThis photo has a great example of an Etched - Glue Chipped Glass doorway on the right. I would lay money down and say that the gilded wood letters (on the upper left & above clerk) are most likely manufactured by the Spanjer Bros. This photo would look great in color with all those magazine covers too. Dietz Sign Co.Saw that at the top of the picture. Googled it. Got as far as this page. Dietz Lantern Company. Read through it, you'll see mentions of places and things seen on Shorpy. I will start a-looking. The Big QuestionHow did he get IN there? ThurberesqueShe came naturally by her confused and groundless fears, for her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house. It leaked, she contended, out of empty sockets if the wall switch had been left on. She would go around screwing in bulbs, and if they lighted up she would hastily and fearfully turn off the wall switch and go back to her Pearson's or Everybody's, happy in the satisfaction that she had stopped not only a costly but a dangerous leakage. Nothing could ever clear this up for her. -- James Thurber ("The Car We Had to Push") No Business Like ItPublications suspended under the ledge, below the proprietor, are The Dramatic Mirror, Billboard, Variety and Show World. Someone once said that everybody's second business was show business. Looking at these magazines for sale in 1908 New Orleans sort of reinforces that theory. Gimme the lot!I'd buy the whole lot. Can you imagine what all those are worth today? It looks like this may have been a cafe entrance once. June 1908The Saturday Evening Post in the lower right corner was dated 13 June 1908. I did a quick search online and voila, now I have that warm, fuzzy feeling one can get from a successful treasure hunt. Thank you, Shorpy, for the thrill of the hunt. My Order"Hey buddy, I'll take a bunch of bananas, two pineapples, some mixed nuts, five melons and a dozen postcards. By the way, do you have July's edition of The Railroad Man's Magazine?" Ex-PresidentGrover Cleveland--definitely him--has been out of office for nearly ten years. Why is he gracing the cover of the Chicago Tribune? [His uncanny impersonation of William Howard Taft. - Dave] Naughty BitsInteresting to note that on the bottom row is the notorious "Blue Book," the guide to houses of ill repute in Storyville, the area of New Orleans where prostitution was legal until WWI. Just CuriousHow did they close up shop for the night? It looks like this is right on the sidewalk. I can see that some of the display looks like it might swing into the opening where the proprietor is standing but it still looks like there's a lot of effort to open and close for the day. Tag SuggestionCould you also tag this and future images like it with "Postcards"? Images like this that depict the retailing of postcards are incredibly rare and of great importance to we deltiologists. Thank you. Taft of Ohio, Not ClevelandThe Chicago Tribune cover is graced by the future president, William Howard Taft. He was the Republican candidate in 1908. [I think you're right. At first I thought it was Cleveland, who had died on June 24, but this does look more like Taft. Especially the ear. - Dave] Oh yes, we have bananas!Didn't say they were fresh, just said we had them. For everybody, indeedCowboy Bill is surely referring to this. 1908.It took me a while, but here is the evidence. First, "The Railroad Man's Magazine" on the bottom cannot be from 1906, because it wasn't published until October of that year. I then found the cover for Collier's Magazine from June of 1908. Finally, there is an advertisement on the bottom left for the 1908 World Almanac! [I misread the date on the cover of the 10 Cent Story Book last night when I posted this, thinking the 8 was a 6. Thanks to all who set me straight! - Dave] Hardly Naughty The Blue Book Magazine displayed on the bottom row is not the notorious Blue Book guide to "sporting houses." It's a copy of a legit magazine that was published until 1975 featuring fiction by writers like Agatha Christie, Booth Tarkington, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. [This particular magazine, Stageland Blue Book, was a theatrical publication. - Dave] Re: Naughty BitsThe Blue Book would not have been sold openly at a newsstand. It was also very plain in appearance. Sugared SnacksThe stacked, flat items in the case on the far left could be beignets, the Official State Doughnut of Louisana, but more likely are New Orleans-style Pralines. Clean 'em outAccording to my rough count, there are about 100 different postcards on display. Figuring 10 of each at 15 cents per dozen, one could have the entire stock for just over $12. Great magazines, buttucked in among the postcards is a very interesting, small publication: Sagebrush Philosophy. It wasn't the magazine for everybody, but that's what made it so special. MoneyTime travel to this place in order to buy these itmes would be very interesting, just don't forget to first get into your family's coin collection and grab some Barber dimes and quarters, Liberty nickels, and Indian Head pennies. You show this guy dead president coins and bills and he'll have you hauled away by the police. Another ClueChecked one more thing on why that is probably Taft on the Chicago Tribune cover. The Republican convention that nominated him was held in Chicago from June 16 to June 19, 1908 which would coincide with the time frame here. It is interesting, however, that Grover Cleveland died June 24, 1908. Please note that the Tribune was a very Republican leaning newspaper in those days, so it's more likely they would feature the new Republican nominee that the recently departed former Democratic president. Dangerous leakagesWe can laugh at it now, of course, bit it was common during the early years of electricity for people to believe that electrical sockets "leaked electricity" if they didn't have something plugged or screwed in. Many families have stories of people insisting on removing the plugs or bulbs and putting in stoppers at night. People even complained of smelling the electrical "vapours" coming from the sockets. Closing up shopRegarding how they closed up shop at night. The middle section above the hatch flips down. The two shutters on either side close inwards. The magazines below are simply unclipped and taken indoors. Sidewalk CafeLOVE the tile sidewalk sign for the Jewel Cafe. It's the same type that some streets still have that say Rue Royale or Rue Bourbon. Very cool. Then and NowThis photo is featured in the 1996 book "New Orleans - Then and Now." In 1996, there's also a newsstand, just to the right of this one. In addition, I found a vintage postcard (postmarked June 1908) that shows this same newsstand. So it's a postcard of a postcard stand. (I know there's a name for things like this, but my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.) Speaking of post cards within postcardsWonder if any of the pictures featured on those postcards ever appeared on Shorpy? Now there's a heck of a scavenger hunt for you. Politically Incorrect Period HumorLook inside the kiosk to the left of the proprietor and you'll notice section of postcards devoted to those comical darkies and their antics. Very popular at the time, and very collectible now despite (or perhaps because of?) the transgressive stigma of racism. Now I understandI always wondered why they called it the Kelley Blue Book. Now I get it. It lets you know how the car dealer is going to #@$% you on the value of your car. Learn something every day on Shorpy. Cornucopia--The younger man on the right has the look of one not to be trifled with; --The cafe doors are almost identical to the doors on the front of Antoine's Restaurant; --I wonder who the ball player is on the front page of the Sporting News. Walter Johnson? Ty Cobb? Honus Wagner? --Among the many old framed articles and pictures on the walls of the main dining room at Antoine's there is a lengthy one about W.H. Taft and his eating exploits at the restaurant during a trip to New Orleans. Marvelling at his stature as a "trencherman," the writer tells that Taft had a great love of boiled shrimp but didn't like to have to peel them. Taft claimed there was no serving of boiled shrimp so large he couldn't finish it. In an attempt to test this claim, Jules Alciatore (the proprietor at the time) had 50 pounds of shrimp delivered the morning before Taft was to dine there. They boiled them and he and his staff peeled them all, yielding a seving bowl with 7 1/2 lbs. of shrimp meat. According to the article, Taft finished them all but was so surfeited that he could barely speak afterwards! --The items in the case look too big, flat, and uniform to be either beignets or pralines, but I'm not sure what else they would have been. They certainly do look like waffles, which would have kept all day in the case I suppose. About that ArgosyIt's the July 1908 edition. What fun hunting this stuff up! Cover BoyWhile the individual covers of Sporting News are not readily available, issues of Sporting Life can be easily found. The photo shows the June 13, 1908 issue of Sporting Life with Edward Siever of the Detroit Tigers on the cover. Five days after this was published Siever played his last major league baseball game although he played another two years in the minors. Less than a year earlier he had been in the 1907 World Series. A copy of the front of this issue of Sporting Life, along with the caption that goes with Siever's photo, is shown below. Note that most sources state he was born in Kansas in 1875 (not Illinois in 1878). He died in 1920 while coming home from his job as an inspector for the City of Detroit. "EDWARD SIEVER. Pitcher of the Detroit American League Club. Edward Siever, the noted south-paw pitcher for the Detroit American Club, was born April 2, 1878, at Lewistown, Ill. Siever was originally a locomotive fireman of the Grand Trunk. He made his professional debut with the London Club, of the Canadian League, in 1899, which, largely owing to Siever's fine pitching, won the championship. He was sold to the Detroit Club the following year, and sported the Tigers' stripes continually until the Fall of 1903, when he was transferred to the St. Louis Club. After a season with the Browns he was transferred for 1905 to the Minneapolis Club, with which he did such fine work that St. Louis re-drafted him for 1906. During that season he was sold to the Detroit Club for which he has played since. In the 1907 season he very materially helped Hughey Jennings' Tigers to bring to Detroit a championship pennant for the first time in twenty years." Jewel CafeThe Jewel Cafe, at 131 Royal Street, was listed in the program for the 5th Annual Sugar Bowl Classic in January of 1929 as a sponsor:         Jewel Cafe ... 131 Royal Street; Oysters 45 cents per half dozen; First time in the history of New Orleans, Oysters a la Rockefeller are prepared before your eyes. This deep mystery of the culinary arts is now almost within the price range of raw oysters. Louisiana's choicest cultivated oysters, served in all styles at our counters and tables; open all night. (The Gallery, DPC, New Orleans, Stores & Markets)
On the Edge of the 60s
... over from the teacher. I'm pretty sure he was kind of a baseball hero in high school. Some of these lads look like the kind of ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:37pm -

Even though it's 1960, it's obvious that the 60s haven't started yet. My eighth grade class photo in Larkspur - or as Dave would say, idyllic Larkspur. I must say, though, that we're looking somewhat less idyllic than when some of us were gathered at the same spot eight years earlier. I'm in the front row, second from left. So, when did the 60s begin? A case could be made for 1963, 1964 or 1965, but I'm going for 1965. View full size. 60s != sixtiesThe problem here is that the Sixties as a cultural phenomenon has very little correlation with the decade of the 1960s. In most of America, the Sixties (drugs, sex, rock-n-roll, decadence) began in late 1968 with the large demonstrations against the war, and faded out around 1975. By contrast the 1960s, as seen in this picture, were a time of prosperity and optimism, a time when boys looked like rocket scientists and girls looked like rockets. Did any of these boysserve in Vietnam? Great photo BTW When the 60s beganThe 60's began on Sunday night, Feb. 9, 1964! I'm from a later generationbut I think Buddy Holly (among others) had a influence on kids back then. (Or was he just that way?) The 60sI'm in the group who think the '60s started at the end of 1963 with JFK's assassination, followed by the Beatles in '64. And the end of the decade came in 1973 with the U.S. pullout from Vietnam and Nixon's resignation in 1974. No moreAn innocence that no longer exists in our children. So tell us, tterrace, just how innocent *were* you kids? Starting from top right, moving counterclockwise. On a scale of 1 to 10. -Dave] I was six in 1960This shows life as portrayed in "Leave It To Beaver." Then came the Beatles and life changed. That's how I remember it anyway. Girls ARE more matureIf you enlarge this photo, and carefully scrutinize all the faces, it is apparent that all of the girls seem to be certain of who they are and comfortable in their own skin. Many can also pass for high school students. The boys on the other hand show various characteristics of rebelliouness, moodiness, sadness, some seem troubled and pensive, some look like cut-ups and wise guys, just a lot less certain of the image they wish to portray and many can pass as fifth graders, looking at least three years younger. I'm thinking perhaps some parents were much harder on their sons than on their daughters as the girls seem relatively content while the boys show signs of personal conflict. I hope they all found happiness. Thank you for this very nostalgic picture. O.K. RomeoWhich girl (?!!) did you have the hots for? I was in 2nd grade in 1960 ... and you're right, we were all still blissfully living in the fifties then. I think the sixties began with the assassination of JFK and arrival of the Beatles in 1964. The era was in full swing by the time of the Summer of Love and the murders of RFK and MLK. And, btw, if anyone ever perfects a time machine, I'm going back to live with your family, tterrace. "Idyllic" is the right word for most of your pics. Nothing screams 1960... like a Hawaiian t-shirt! Such a lively group of kids, and to think, in just under a decade this same group of youngsters will introduce the world to pot, LSD, and the Grateful Dead! When did the 60s begin?I too was an eighth grader in 1959-60. It's hard to say just when the culture of the "60s" first emerged in the national consciousness. I guess I would say 1964-1965, with the beginning of the Vietnam buildup, the civil rights movement in full swing, campus protests, inner city riots, and the emergence of an entirely different style of popular music. Anyone who leapt from 1963 to 1968 would have been completely lost. I Want to Drivemy '50 Ford to the drive in with that little gal next to the teacher, whew, what a doll she must have become in high school, "Apache" (1960) on the AM car radio. How many?Point of curiosity -- if you know -- how many of your classmates are still alive? It seems like every class starts losing members about a year after graduation so I suspect you've lost your share as well. Innocence of youthWell, our names were innocent-sounding enough anyway: Albert, Bob (2), Bucky (really Harold, but who knew?), Carla, Christine, Cynthia, David (2), Dennis, Earl, Frances, Hilliard, Jack, Jean, John (3), Johnny, Ken, Laurie, Lenore, Lonna, Marcia, Margaret, Paul, Peggy (2), Richard, Roberta, Roger, Russ, Sam, Sharon, Sheila, Tom. Ashley, Brittany, Brandon, Justin and Dakota were absent that day. Could be my classI believe the 60's started around 1962, but in a small way. The folk music scene, and coffee houses contributed to it. Early Dylan, Baez helped nudge us into a new decade. But the really visible 60's didn't occur until around 1964/65 with the British invasion of music, and fashion. The guys in the photo defiantly exhibit a late '50s sensibility in their clothing choice, and hairstyles. [Definitely. - Dave] Decades vs. ErasOne of tterrace's contemporaries takes on the '50s-'60s thing. Let's go back to the '40s. '40-'45: the Depression jarringly became the WWII Era--privation and sacrifice. '46-'51: the Post War Era--baby boom, consumer goods and housing in short supply. '52-'63: "The Fifties", the "Fab-u-luxe Age"--tail fins, massive consumption, rock and roll, shadow of nuclear destruction, JFK. Started to peter out with Cuban missile crisis. Ended November 22, 1963 '63-'72: "The Sixties", civil rights, the British Invasion, Women's Lib., Viet Nam, student riots, Stonewall Riot, M.L. King and RFK assassinations, Chicago convention, Nixon, war winds down. '73-?: Beyond here lies Disco, gay rights, bad presidents, trickle down, AIDS, Iran, energy crisis, limited wars, cell phones, the Internet and Shorpy. Positive IDI graduated a few years later at LCM and recognize about 14 of the people, all boys by the way, as some of those were the ones you had to look out for. Do you remember all the names to go with the faces here? Too Cool for SchoolPlease let us know (if you know) what happened to the dude sitting next to you on the right. I bet he wound up in juvy. Front row guyI wonder what happened to the James Dean guy in the front row. He had an obvious magnetism and confidence that the other boys seem to be lacking. More than 10 years to the SixtiesHaving graduated from 8th grade in the same year, I would say that the 60s began in 1955 with Rosa Parks in the front of the bus and with the trial and ended with the sentencing of Patty Hearst in 1976. For me, just starting to open my eyes to the world, the Sixties began with the Civil Rights movement, JFK, and the Space Race. In between there was Vietnam, the draft and the anti-war movement; the assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcom X); the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the rest of the drugs, sex, and rock & roll scene; and all the societal and personal changes, large and small, that we remember in different ways. It ended with Altamont, Kent State, Manson, Nixon and the Symbionese Liberation Army. A long, strange trip indeed. I'm glad I was on the ride. The girl by the teacherShe is not only seriously cute, but that direct gaze, as if she's looking right at ME, indicates she really knows who she is (as someone else pointed out). That, and she's quite a flirt. Alpha Male spottedBack row, between Buddy Holly and Susan Boyle. An ath-uh-lete. Those are some seriously huge looking trees in back. Redwoods? Casual Friday?I was in public school 8th grade in 1964, my first experience with "real clothes" after parochial school. I am amazed at the attire in this photo. In the front row alone I spy sneakers, rolled-up pants, and dungarees. All would have been verboten in our school. There's also the glaring absence of shoe polish. The gals, though, all appear demurely and appropriately dressed. Could this have been "class day" or some other occasion calling for "dress-down" attire? BTW, the gal at the top right is hottimus maximus! My wife posed in front of these redwood trees.And she did it many times through her school years. She also remembers Mr. G, the teacher in this photo. Seemingly fondly. Some of these guys look familiar to me. My sister was this age, and ended up going to Redwood High School with most of this crowd. I think she even went out with the guy in the second row from the top, two over from the teacher. I'm pretty sure he was kind of a baseball hero in high school. Some of these lads look like the kind of guys you'd have to avoid if you were younger like I was. There was a pretty good pecking order that went on back then between age groups. And if you were from out of town, then you were in real trouble. I was from the next town over, but would head to Larkspur to run amok in the abandoned houses along the Corte Madera Creek. Dangerous and fun. No real teasing quite yet... of the girls' hair, that is. In a couple of years those natural looking bobs would be teased and sprayed into larger than life beehives and bouffants. By 1962 I am doing just that and seeking great heights of unnatural hair that looked just like the styles in Hairspray. Although my sixth grade year of 63-64 was certainly pivotal between Dallas and the Beatles, the 60s started for me in 1962, when hair was hard to the touch, shoes were very pointy, and boys that looked like the Danny Zuko lookalike in the front row would have been the object of my desire. That day in Dealey PlazaDefinitely the 60s started that Dallas afternoon on November 22nd 1963 Fan ClubOh tterrace....you need to have a fan club! And I want to be your president! Your photos make my day, Daddy-o! Bye, Bye Miss American Pie!I’ve been wrestling with what I could ad to these observations. I’ve decided that Don McLean knew what he was talking about when he sang about “The Day The Music died.” That did seem like the day of transition to me. Before, it was the optimistically innocent time of early rock ‘n roll, Davy Crockett and Annette Funicello. Afterwards came the threat of nuclear war, the Beatles & Stones and the threat of being drafted. The onset of darkness seemed overwhelming as our high school years commenced. Most of us got through it. People from The Edge of the 60sI met up with a number of them at the 40th reunion of the Redwood High class of 1964 and learned that the gal next to our teacher Mr. G. is, I'm afraid, one of the ones no longer with us. The fellow in the second row from the top, second from left was indeed an athletic-type guy, but it was his older brother who became a tennis pro of some note. This wasn't a "casual Friday" or any other kind of special-clothing day. This is pretty much how we all looked day-in, day-out. CreepyThat is how I feel whenever the adult male visitors on Shorpy make comments about the physical appearance of underage girls in the pictures....even if the pics are decades old ... it is just creepy. [There is definitely one creepy comment here -- yours. Ick! - Dave] Why so few girls?Was there a Catholic girls school nearby and thus the out of whack boy-girl ratio? I am about this age and this looks a lot like one of my Indiana school pictures of the time. Socks that always fell down. Checked shirts. Buzz (butch), flat top cut or Brylcreem. Jeans with a cuff. Always a white T-shirt under your shirt. Girls more mature so they were always going out with guys 2 years older. Thin and NowOne notable difference between your class picture and one of a current 8th grade class is the lack of fat kids! Everywhere schoolYou guys are youngsters. That year, 1959-60, was my first as a teacher. Every kid in the photo reminds me of one I taught. When in a group, mob psychology seems to rule, and these kids, especially the boys, could give any teacher problems. But in one-on-one situations, you would probably enjoy getting to know any of them. One of the best things about kids is that most of them eventually grow up! If you replaced all the girls in the photo... with iPods, this would look like a pack of present-day Brooklyn hipsters. Creepy?Hardly -- I look at this photo, and I feel part heartbreak, part bittersweet nostalgia. I see tterrace and his friends, and I see myself and MY classmates*, now scattered to the winds. This is a reminder of lost opportunities, a reminder of the futures we saw for ourselves -- mayhap, realized, more likely not -- and above all, a reminder of the fleet passing of our lives. Still, it's nice to remember what we were, and not try to force ourselves into the shorthand of decade-sized boxes. *Admittedly, some of us were smitten with other classmates. Remembering those early crushes -- and that's what has been commented on -- is part of who we were and are. Something in the WaterI distinctly remember my eighth grade class & none of the girls looked like this. 3/4 of these girls here look like 25-year-old women. It's a strange phenomenon. The beautiful girl sitting on the far right has a timeless look but definitely exemplifies wholesome fifties beauty to me; the dark girl with the sweater sitting in the middle looks four years ahead of her time, like she should be dancing to Spector records. Biology is strangeCan't help but notice - with this photo as well as my own grade eight class photo, taken 17 years later - the disparity between the girls and boys. Some of the boys look like seniors in high school already, while some - the line sitting in the front - could be in grade 5 or 6. The girls, on the other hand, look around the same age, and far more mature than kids just a summer away from high school. They do, as someone said earlier, seem like 25-year-old women. The same strange phenomenon is present in my own grade school grad class photo, shot in 1977. The stretch between 10 and 14 really is a biological roller coaster for boys in a way that girls seem to have been spared. I would love an explanation for that. The 60s started, for me, in the early spring of 1965, when I was 10 years old. My dad, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, came home from work and said that he had to get on board ship in a few days. He said he didn't know where he was going or when he would be back. We went down to the dock and waved goodbye and he said, "I'll see you by Christmas." I am sure he really knew where he was going, but couldn't say. He did come back, thankfully, 13 months later. I don't think I had a single waking moment, over the rest of the decade, that I was not conscious of the Vietnam War. I guess when the 60s started depends on what about the 60s you are thinking of. If it is civil rights, then I agree that it started even before 1960. If you are thinking of the hippie culture, campus demonstrations, etc., then I say it started in 1965. There were certainly all ready things, like the JFK assassination and the arrival of the Beatles, that had kind of paved the way, though. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kids, tterrapix)
The Old Ball Game: 1908
... jersey details are hard to pick out and compare to the Baseball Hall of Fame's uniform database. I do however see a tall, thin man ... Be the Browns After looking at Marc Okkonen's book, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, I think the visiting team may be the St. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/17/2014 - 10:35pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1908. "Ball grounds, League Park." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Nappy, not yet the IndiansIn 1908 the Cleveland AL franchise was nicknamed the Naps in honor of star player Napoleon Lajoie. It would not receive the Indians nickname until 1915. I'm having a hard time determining the visiting team as the jersey details are hard to pick out and compare to the Baseball Hall of Fame's uniform database. I do however see a tall, thin man in a suit and straw boater in the visitors' dugout; that makes me want to believe it's Connie Mack and his Philadelphia Athletics who are playing the Naps. Home of The Cleveland SpidersHome of the Cleveland Spiders, Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Buckeyes. The field was built in 1891 and part of it still stands on the corner of E66th St and Lexington in Cleveland. Could Be the BrownsAfter looking at Marc Okkonen's book, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, I think the visiting team may be the St. Louis Browns. Other than the Naps, who are the home team here, the Browns were the only other team in the American League who wore a gray road uniform with lettering printed across the shirt. I may be wrong, but two of the visiting players appear to have this kind of lettering on their uniforms. All the other teams carried an initial (or two for the New York Highlanders) or wore navy blue uniforms on the road. The stockings on this team are also consistent with those worn by the 1908 Browns. GlovesDuring this era it was common for the outfielders to leave their gloves on the field when they were at bat. You can see them in this photo. (The Gallery, Cleveland, DPC, Sports)
Long May She Flap: 1924
... the Goose I found this on the Society for American Baseball Research site, about Helen and Goose Goslin: A doubleheader ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/05/2009 - 2:59am -

August 21, 1924. "Miss Helen G. Sweeney." Helen represented the District of Columbia as Miss Washington in Atlantic City and, as Miss Treasury Department, led a fashion revue in "Uncle Sam's Follies," a musical put on by federal employees. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Scandalous!At least she has stockings on. What's with that flag?It looks awful dingy. Compare the stars and bars with the guy's white shirt. Pick up that Flag!Not very patriotic for letting the flag drag across the ground! I realize that it is a roof but it is the same effect. Miss Treasury Department (!)I wonder who the current Miss Treasury Department is? In these troubled economic times, we need her lighthearted, uptempo revues more than ever. Helen and the GooseI found this on the Society for American Baseball Research site, about Helen and Goose Goslin: A doubleheader was scheduled September 2, 1924, at Griffith Stadium; the first pitch was thrown by Helen G. Sweeney, the reigning Miss Washington, D.C. Between games of the twin bill, she hosted a reception for the players and apparently met Goose for the first time; she and Goslin were considered to be quite an item on the Washington social scene that fall. But Goose remained a bachelor until 1940, when he applied for a license to wed Marian Wallace, a Philadelphia social worker. Stars and Stripes and SootLots of coal soot in the air back then. Slim Pickin'sActually, not slim at all. That's the best they had to crown Miss this and that? Hubba hubbaRemember back then that wearing glasses was a sign of weakness and contact lenses were not yet invented. You know what they say...Good enough for government work. (The Gallery, Natl Photo, Patriotic)
Shulman's Market: 1942
... Window posters Yikes. I figured they were baseball players, but you are right. They are Mussolini, Hitler and Admiral ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/27/2017 - 4:25pm -

        This large-format Kodachrome by Louise Rosskam from 1942 first appeared on Shorpy some 20,000 posts ago, back in 2007. 1942. "Shulman's Market at N and Union Street S.W., Washington." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Louise Rosskam. Alternate view. In one of the many comments for this post, an alert FOS (Friend of Shorpy) points out the posters of Axis leaders Mussolini, Hitler and Admiral Yamamoto in the window. Along the bottom of each it says What do YOU say America? The smiling windowLook closely at the window and you'll see two swirls at the top that appear to be eyes and grinning mouth at the bottom. It's a happy store. WowI am really loving these pictures, especially the color ones... Its amazing how dirty things were back then. Do you think it was just the subjects the photographer was capturing, or was there less focus on public works back then? Same Store?I was hoping I had a newer photo of that same store, but it appears the one I took--though similar and also on N St--is not the same one. Here they are compared. Same Store?Thanks for the detective work! Here is another view of the store. One thing that puzzles me (I live just outside of Washington, and work downtown) is there is not, as far as I can tell, a Union Street in the District. The street sign clearly says N and Union (the S or N in SW or NW is broken off). The street number behind the bars above the door is 485½. I notice that the windows on both the store and car have been soaped. Harry ShulmanThere seem to have been several Shulman's Markets in D.C. An archive search shows there was one at 1349 Sixth St. NW in 1958, in addition to the one in the picture, and one on O Street NW. Harry Shulman died in 1984. From his obituary in the Washington Post: "Harry Shulman, 85, a grocer in the Washington area from the time he moved here in 1928 until he retired in 1971, died of a liver ailment May 15 at the Washington Hospital Center. He lived in Rockville. Mr. Shulman moved to Boston from his native Lithuania in the early 1900s. When he moved here, he opened Shulman's Market, which he operated at O Street NW for 39 years before closing it in 1967. He worked for several other grocers until he retired four years later." There are about 250 mentions of addresses on Union Street SW in the Washington Post, with the last one in 1959. The ones I found are in the 1200 block: houses at 1255 and 1271 Union St. SW, the Lincoln Market at 1212, etc. Either it got renamed or disappeared in some kind of redevelopment. (There are 51 hits for Union Street NW, with the last mention in 1990. Those may be mistaken references to Union Court NW.) In 1908 there are a couple of ads listing merchants who would redeem Sweetheart Soap coupons. One was E. Cockrill, whose store was at 485½ N Street SW at Union. Re: all the dirt. A coupleRe: all the dirt. A couple ideas: 1) these are pretty rough, poor places. 2) The country was at the end of a very long and difficult depression that made many people poor. Routine maintenance is one of the first things you cut back on when money's tight, and money was very tight. I sent this site to my grandma, and she told me how they used to love playing with mud during the depression. :) wonderful siteI am enjoying this site VERY much. I, too, particularly like the color photographs because they provide a certain immediacy and timelessness. I don't THINK of 1941 as being "in color" (having been born 13 years later). Anyway, keep up the great work. It's a pleasure to visit here. More like this one, please!Street scenes like this one are just fascinating to me because the level of detail enables me to imagine that I'm actually walking down the street in 1942. At first glance it doesn't appear all that much different than today, but then you notice all the little details, such as the posters in the window of what I presume to be Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini! this siteI've only just found this site and am loving it. thank you for doing this...lisavc (from australia) Window postersYikes. I figured they were baseball players, but you are right. They are Mussolini, Hitler and Admiral Yamamoto (see comment with poster links below). I added your observation to the caption along with a blowup of the posters. Thanks! And thank you, too, lisavc in Australia! dirt or soot?Did US homes use coal for heating in the 40s? Britain used to be black with soot. CoalYes, lots of buildings and homes had coal furnaces in the 1940s. I would say the balance tipped in favor of oil (kerosene) heating sometime after World War II. Although I am not sure where people are seeing dirt here. The yellow paint is soiled from where people have been leaning against or touching the wall. You can see the same thing on either side of the doors in this picture. Window Posters... where Hitler Says: "We shall soon have our Storm Troopers in America!" And Yamamoto: "I am looking forward to dictating peace to the United States in the White House at Washington." And Mussolini: "We consider peace a catastrophe for human civilization." Great site! Poster LinksAmazing. I am shocked and awed! Thank you, Anonymous Tipster! AmazingI love the site, especially pictures like this. The colors are so vivid, the image so clear, that it almost takes away the time barriers. I could imagine myself walking right up to those people as if they were still alive today, looking now as they did then. As for this comment... "Its amazing how dirty things were back then." Come take a trip to Philadelphia; the level of filth is exactly the same in 2007. Re: "Amazing How Dirty Things Were Back Then"Really? That is a very funny statement. When I first saw the photo, I thought it could be from anyhere on the Hill or in Georgetown today. Aside from a few neighborhoods, The city really isn't much cleaner. In fact, the brick sidewalks are actually flat. Now there are so many roots pushing them up that it's difficult to walk at night without tripping. This 1897 map of DC showsThis 1897 map of DC shows that Union St SW ran from M to O in between 4 1/2 St. (which seems to have been where 4th St. is now) and 6th St. If you look at a current map of DC, there's no trace of the former Union St. in the midst of a bunch of large buildings. If you plug in 485 Union St. SW Washington into Google Maps, though, it does show it being about where Union St. was. 1897 MapThank you so much! Click here for a closeup of the map (which is quite beautiful). Union Street is toward the bottom. Another mystery solved thanks to Anonymous Tipster. Southwest WashingtonSouthwest D.C. was probably the most destitute parts of town at the time this photo was taken. Union Street SW no longer exists because this part of town was almost completely leveled by eminent domain in the 1950s, in one of the country's first urban renewal projects. Prince AlbertLooks like Shulman's has Prince Albert in a can... ;-) Seriously, though, it is absolutely amazing how well these Kodachrome images have held up for all these decades. Kodak's scientists came up with a magic emulsion which has never been bettered... Ninth StreetMy grandparents lived on 9th Street S.E. There was a corner store with the same yellow paint job just down the street (300 or 400 block.) I'm guessing it was also owned by Shulman. As for the soot I'm sure it was from coal, their house was heated with coal until my grandmother sold the house in 1960. Bernard ShulmanAccording to the 1942 Polk Directory, 485½ N Street S.W. was Schulman's Grocery. That's how it was spelled in the directory. Bernard was listed as the owner. He lived at 1412 K Street S.E. His wife's name was Clara. Across from Shulman'sI lived directly across the street from Shulman's Market from 1946 to 1949. We shopped there all the time, and not only were the houses all heated with coal (we had a large shed in the back yard to hold it), but most all of us had ice delivered in huge blocks for our iceboxes. Hardly anyone around there had a refrigerator. My mother, who is now 90, remembers discussing the Old Testament with the owner often. They were both very religious. Union Street SI live at Union and N Streets, SW. Technically. After the redevelopment of Southwest DC, Union Street was replaced by apartment/coop buildings. The streets that still remain off M Street are 4th and 6th. I bought the print with the old car in front of the market for nostalgic sake. Great PhotosThis series of photos was what first got me looking at Shorpy. Been hooked ever since. Sad Little GirlThe Commentators so far seem to have skipped over the sad looking little girl sitting under the window. Beautiful child. The Washington CanalI compared the two maps and managed to trace the route of the Washington Canal. Looks like the canal came down Independence Ave along the Mall, veered a slight right Down Washington/Canal street, Right on South Capitol, another slight right at the RR tracks onto Canal again perpendicular to Delaware Ave, slight left down Third Street to the river. The Fort Meyer complex absorbed and changed Third Street to 5th Avenue. If you go down M Street from South Capitol SW (west), take a left on 4th Street SW, go to N Street, the right on N would go to Union and N Street. Of course the canal was filled in due to outbreaks of disease attributed to the terrible things dumped into it, the likes of which you aint never seen. [Take a right on what again? -tterrace] I recall the area vaguelyI was 6 years old, and lived near an old deli (Snyder's?) on the corner. I recall Miss Minnie's candy and variety store I think on the same block. I was able to walk to Bowen school from the "Jefferson Gardens" white 2 story deco building courtyard we lived in. I believe I lived near K and I streets. There were super-old abandoned red brick buildings across from me. Windows removed, and facing the demolitions to come like a tempest. 1953 or so, and then we moved. Later we went back and saw the barrel roofed buildings that emerged. I recall the vegetable man taking his horse cart through the alley. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, D.C., Louise Rosskam, Stores & Markets)
The Girls of Summer: 1922
... sand. ... The site of the former beach was occupied by baseball fields and tennis courts. So, I assume the beach was located where the current baseball fields are across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial? The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 5:01pm -

Washington, D.C., 1922. "Potomac bathing beach." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. Hubba-Hubba!These ladies are hot even by today's standards! I love the Star Trek alien on the far right. I bet he thought he was the coolest dude at the shore! ZowieNice find. The Silent Movie......Kirsten Dunst, Cate Blanchett and, er, Helena Bonham-Carter? Three GracesMy goodness. The young lady in the middle ... wow. Beach history fan.I got curious about where this beach was and if it was still open. I guess I found where it "was" but it was apparently closed in 1925. Based on earlier comments here and monuments/buildings in the photo backgrounds, I found this in a report on the Jefferson Memorial and its grounds at nps.gov: In 1897, Congress established that the entire area, including the Tidal Basin, formerly known as Potomac Flats, should become a public park. ... the bathing beach adjacent to the future memorial site became popular. Swimming in the Tidal Basin continued until about 1925 when it was stopped by the newly merged Office of Public Buildings and Grounds and Office of Public Parks of the National Capital. The reason for this was twofold; firstly, because of the health risks caused by the debris which floated in the Tidal Basin through the Inlet Bridge and second, due to the racist policies which limited the use of the beach to whites only. Rather than allow access to the beach for everyone, it was closed and returned to its former condition, a natural waters edge without sand. ... The site of the former beach was occupied by baseball fields and tennis courts. So, I assume the beach was located where the current baseball fields are across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial? The cutie in the middle? She'd be 104-110 years old today ... sigh. Bathing BeachI looked through more of the LOC photos tagged under "Potomac Bathing Beach" and similar. There's a photo looking parallel to the beach that faces the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. There's another photo taken looking perpendicular to the beach, facing out over the water. What appears to be the Lincoln Memorial is far off in the distance. Another photo taken parallel to the beach (with the beach on the right) shows the Washington Monument in the background. The beach must have been nearly on the grounds of the Jefferson Memorial itself rather than what I "said" earlier, trying to put it across the Tidal Basin where the current baseball fields (and Roosevelt Memorial) are now. Between the wars. Before the Depression. That must have been quite a time to have been living in Washington. Wow1922?! Aside from the costumes those girls look like 3 attractive lassies tha you might see on a beach today. Maybe that's the point of posting photos like this. Thank-you. Harry McGrawMy great-uncle, Harry L. McGraw, drowned along with a friend two days before the beach formally opened in the 1890's. A lawsuit followed, but I don't know the end result. Apparently neither 13-year-old Harry nor his friend could swim, and stepped off a ledge into some kind of crater that dropped off 12 feet. The authorities found the boys' clothing in a bathing house on shore and were able to identify them. This sad story has always made me wonder exactly where the beach was located, and I'm assuming it was right near the Jefferson Memorial. Pictured, left to rightSmall, Medium and Large. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports, Swimming)
Minneapolis 1908
... been to urban redevelopment what the Metrodome has been to baseball. Lileks! OMG My wife and I absolutely LOVE your book ... 
 
Posted by Lileks - 01/01/2009 - 10:54am -

The buildings on the left were razed in the 80s for a ghastly development called “City Center,” which wasn’t as imaginative as its name. The retail portion struggled for decades to fail, and finally succeeded. The sliver of white stone on the right was Donaldson’s, a department store that eventually moved into City Center, where it the brand died in a merger. (The old building was demolished for an attractive Cesar Pelli-designed retail / office complex.) Down the street on the right, it’s the Syndicate Building, later the home of Penney’s. (It was torn down for a retail / office complex.) In the distance, the pointy tower of the remarkably ungainly Minnesota Loan and Trust Building, a 49-foot-wide building that stood until 1920 before it was clawed down for a new Woolworth's. Everything here is gone except for the light-colored building in the middle. It still bears its original name: Andrus. It’s an office complex. No retail. View full size. TodayThe view today: Hi JamesHey James!! It's great to see you here on Shorpy. I can't tell you the number of hours I've spent combing through your website and nearly pi**ing myself reading your captions! KodaksNotice the sign on the left for T.V. Moreau. In addition to eyeglasses they sell "Kodaks." E B MeyrowitzI never realized the scope of E B Meyrowitz, Opticians. I thought they were a local NYC optical store and now I see them in turn of the century (20th Century, that is) Minneapolis. City Center not that successful for retail...In the past five years two of the three levels of retail shops in City Center have been converted to office spaces. It is not longer a major retail presence in downtown Minneapolis. Hitting the high notesWhat dedication it would take to sell piano/organs from a second-floor shop, and then deliver them with a horse and buggy. Re: SuccessMore to come? From Lileks? Holy smoke, is this New Year getting off to a great start! SuccessI meant it succeeded at failing. Minneapolis razed four giant blocks for enclosed multi-level retail, and not one can be called thriving. thxdave - thanks! More to come. 180 degrees & 62 years later. . . Turn around and face the opposite direction, and wait about 62 years, and you'll be able to see Mary Tyler Moore throwing her knitted tam in the air (over and over and over again). Road RulesI guess there were no rules then such as "keep right", etc. Everyone just seems to go where they want and the devil take the hindmost. Those poor ladies standing in the middle would look like easy prey. Jim!We're not worthy! We're not worthy! Seriously, your web site is the only one I know that can reduce me to fits of hysteria - no matter how many times I read it. I was shopping for bread the other night and saw the Sunbeam bread girl on the wrapper, and was completely creeped out. And that Gobbler motel - I would pay handsomely to go back in time and spend one night in that place. WHAT'S THE SITE?A couple of people have talked about Mr. Lileks "site." How can we find it? Sounds interesting. [If only there were some easy, obvious way to find out! - Dave] "City center used to be the center of the scene..."Minneapolis' own Hold Steady have mentioned City Center a few times in their songs, most notably in YOUR LITTLE HOODRAT FRIEND: "She said City Center used to be the center of the scene. / Now city center's over, no one really goes there." Craig Finn, lyricist for the band, has this to say about the mall: "City Center is a lame mall in downtown Minneapolis that is 50 percent vacant with 50 percent low budget gangsters hanging out. The Champs store in this mall is the best place to get the super new school ghetto Twins/Vikings/T-Wolves gear. I mean the non-traditional stuff." MoreauThe Eyeglasses of Dr. Moreau: Half Human, Half Animal, Half Spectacle! Throwing stones in a glass BauhausLileks' comment about the fate of the Donaldson's building is correct. It was torn down (or perhaps to be even more precise, in the middle of being torn down and carted off) when kids trespassed and started the fire that consumed the remains and the Northwestern Bank Building next door. A more complete account of the circumstances of the fire is here. The City Center has been to urban redevelopment what the Metrodome has been to baseball. Lileks! OMGMy wife and I absolutely LOVE your book on the 70's decorating! It is wonderful restroom reading and cracks me up everytime I pick it up! Thanks so much! Love the webpage too. (it was soooo hard to find ;) ) SwoonFirst I stumbled upon Mr. Lileks' site where I found the perfect combination of humor, Minnesota and old things. Then I found Shorpy, a perfect combination of photography, history and blazing photo enhancement. Oh, and yes, blazing wit to boot. To see them together is just too much. Thanks for starting my 2009 off with a smile! Oh, nuts!!!Thanks to Lileks, my day will start even later, now that I have this site to check before heading out! Lileks has poor attention to detail"Minneapolis razed four giant blocks for enclosed multi-level retail, and not one can be called thriving." Nonsense. Retail was just one component of the project, which also included an office tower (initially the Multifoods Tower, now mostly occupied by Target). The office tower is 95% occupied (which, in this economy, can be called thriving), the remaining office space in the complex (where Donaldson's/Carson Pirie Scott was) is 100 percent occupied by Marshall's, an office-supply store and the Minnesota Bar Association, and the Marriott hotel is a thriving concern. A third level of retail failed as did a high-profile restaurant space (Scottie's/Goodfellows), but that was a small chunk of the total development. Hell, he's not even right about Donaldson's. Its store burned down and was cleared before Gaviidae Common -- which was NOT desiged by Pelli; Lileks confuses Gaviidae with the Norwest Tower (now the Wells Fargo Tower) -- was built. The Donaldson's lot sat empty until Gaviidae construction began. Lileks isn't nearly as smart as he thinks he is. [I can't be certain but I think I hear the sound of an ax being ground. Or is it a bone being picked? On the wrong side of a bed in a rubber room. - Dave] Caveat VenditorGiven that Retail is a constant drumbeat among Downtown Resurrectionists, I'd say that Lileks is right on the money. While the office towers are doing well, the retail sections of City Center are looking very poor. Half the retail space on the ground floor is vacant, and the skyway floor is populated by three or four restaurants and a Brooks Brothers. There was a lot of money thrown at that center recently, with the end effect of a long row of empty glass storefronts. Beyond all this drama, the original picture is fascinating. Considering that almost everything is gone, I couldn't tell which street the photo was taken on until James posted the current view in the comments. (Taken on Nicollet, pointing roughly northeast.) A short tripHuzzah! Lileks is the reason I found Shorpy along with Achewood. All three are on on top of my browser. With the wonderful contributions of tterrace and others, I've thought that James was a natural for these pages. Re the attention to detail. Not withstanding the poster's opinions and assertions as to what construe facts, well, we all may be driven to distraction by petty annoyances. For some of us (dear 10:40 poster) it is a much shorter trip. But, still, thanks for your opinion. That is what Shorpy is about along with the incredible images, Dave's incomparable dry humor and, yes, his needling/lampooning of us as required. We're all a bit ADD, but in a Happy WayDr. Lileks, I welcome your additions to Shorpy. Between our good friend Shorpy and your daily multimedia presence, we can all live someplace else for a few minutes. As for our colleague who questions your accuracy, it sounds like he needed a convenient platform. For some odd reason, I smell the faint perfume of James Rouse. Please come back and visit us often. Hey!Looking at this image of Minneapolis 1908, I thought, "James Lileks would be interested in this!" then noticed "Submitted by Lileks." I'm a regular visitor at your wonderful web site, James. Just knew you'd find Shorpy. Can't resist clarifying one pointAs a native Minneapolitan who's a fan of both Shorpy.com and Lileks.com -- and bugged at the tone of the 10:40 reply just enough to do a quick Google search re Gaviidae and Pelli -- I can't resist noting that Gaviidae Common is listed on Pelli's website as one of his projects. Keep up the great posts, Lileks!! Down the Street"Down the street on the right, it’s the Syndicate Building, later the home of Penney’s." Actually, it was home to Power's. Lileks was wrong about that, too. The cult of personality is strong. But if you've worked downtown for 40 years -- as I have -- you know Lileks' description is inaccurate. [If you've ever wondered what effect working 40 years in downtown Minneapolis has on a person, now you know. - Dave] Either Rouse or ... Rocky Rococo! "My nostrils flared at the scent of his perfume: Pyramid Patchouli. There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear *that* scent...and I had to find out who he was!" Also: very cool photo, James. Thanks. James, I trust you over 10:40James, Keep up the good work. Obviously, everyone has an opinion about the rise and fall of there particular city. Having never been in Minneapolis I would just have to trust Lileks' perspective. Wha?!?A troll?!? On the interwebs?!? Who ever heard of such a thing? (You, "sir" are holding the "ax" (sic) you hear being ground. Congrats on being the biggest nerd in the ST:TNG's equivalent architecture thread. Bloody good job, that) [Speaking of sic, "ax" is the preferred spelling in most dictionaries. - Dave] State of BlissI am now very happy that, I have been loging in to a site one hundred years of useful service, to the mankind! I heard that Minnesota is a land of 10,000 lakes! Is it so? I will supply the latest photo in the next week! Harmonic Convergence Is Complete; Scattered Chance Of ApocalypseShorpLeks. This? This is gonna be *great*. Thanks, folks. Clarifications.I apologize in advance for the pedantry. Anonymous Tipster quoted the original post: “Minneapolis razed four giant blocks for enclosed multi-level retail, and not one can be called thriving." Anonymous replied: “Nonsense. Retail was just one component of the project, which also included an office tower.“ I was referring mostly to the retail portions of the project – hence the oblique line referring to “the retail portion” - and apologize for not making that more clear. Anonymous notes that “the remaining office space in the complex (where Donaldson's/Carson Pirie Scott was) is 100 percent occupied by Marshall's, an office-supply store and the Minnesota Bar Association.” I’m not sure what he means; it was retail space, not office space, and I wouldn’t call the MBA retail, unless they have a walk-up counter where you can get a smoothie and a will. In any case, I believe these three establishments occupy only half the original space of the departed department store. The rest was carved up into new retail after the department store closed, and those spots had mostly emptied out the last time I strolled through. Anonymous continues: “ . . . the Marriott hotel is a thriving concern. A third level of retail failed as did a high-profile restaurant space (Scottie's/Goodfellows), but that was a small chunk of the total development.” In terms of the total development, yes – if you count the horrid office tower and hotel, it’s a bang-up success, but I was referring to the retail portion of the project, which included a three-story mall crammed with stores and eateries. Most are gone. “Thriving” is a subjective term, perhaps, but the current tenant list is rather thin. Aside from the aforementioned shops, the website lists the following tenants: Brooks Brothers, GNC, Jamba Juice, UPS, Starbucks, a dry cleaners, and Elegant Nails. A far cry from the original list, which I believe was over 60 stores. I covered the opening day of the mall for the U's paper; I worked downtown and went there daily. What it was, it ain't. (BTW, The “high profile restaurant space,” as I’m sure Anon knows, was an exact recreation / restoration of the old Forum cafeteria, which had survived for decades on the spot before it was consumed by City Center; why it succeeded for decades as a low-priced eatery in the middle of a thriving commercial street with theaters, shops, and offices, and failed as a high-end restaurant synthetically inserted into an upscale mall, is one of those mysteries for the ages.) Anon continues: “Hell, he's not even right about Donaldson's. Its store burned down and was cleared before Gaviidae Common (which was NOT desiged by Pelli; Lileks confuses Gaviidae with the Norwest Tower (now the Wells Fargo Tower) -- was built.” Again, I was being maddeningly vague for the sake of brevity. When I wrote “The old building was demolished for an attractive Cesar Pelli-designed retail / office complex” I meant that it was torn down, and something else put in its place. If I gave the impression that Gaviidae Common was constructed before the building on the site was removed and the department store had vacated the premises, I regret the implication. As for confusing Gaviidae with Norwest, well, they’re the same project, and as for identifying Cesar Pelli as the architect of Gaviidae, I made the same mistake you’ll find on the firm’s own website, which also seems to think they designed it. Perhaps I should have said “Cesar Pelli and Associates,” to make it clear that the great man did not personally design the tile or the hue of the restroom stall dividers. In any case: City Center replaced a block of endlessly varied structures with a soul-sucking bunker, and while it’s grand that the tower has high occupancy rates and the hotel is a going concern, it’s a blaring example of the insular, charmless, high-concept projects that cleared away a century of history and gave us blank walls, mirrored glass, and parking ramps. If one finds the site’s modern incarnation preferable, Shorpy must be an aggravating site indeed. Unless one takes comfort in the fact that all that messy old stuff got its comeuppance, of course. Apologies for the length. Re: ClarificationsSeasons changed, calendar pages turned ... and then actual scattered applause was heard in our workspace as people finished reading your comment. Three cheers for civility and good manners. In the interests of historical accuracySaid the original post: “Down the street on the right, it’s the Syndicate Building, later the home of Penney’s." AnonTip said: “Actually, it was home to Power's. Lileks was wrong about that, too. The cult of personality is strong. But if you've worked downtown for 40 years -- as I have -- you know Lileks' description is inaccurate.” Here’s a detail from the original of the picture. The Syndicate Building and the Powers building are two different structures. The Syndicate is in the foreground; the Powers sign (no apostrophe) is fixed to the ornate entrance of the original store. The taller white structure was a later addition. The Battle of ShorpyWell that was exciting. In the midst of our Quaker quilting bee, suddenly it's Cinco de Mayo. Lileks is livin la vida loca, in Minneapolis at least. Trolls with popguns lurk behind every lamppost! How I found Shorpywas through a mention of the site at James Lileks' place. Small world, as I see many of the commenters here have also been there. Speaking of TrollsWhere's that anonymous buffoon who claimed, in a previous episode of The Shorpy Skirmishes, that Dave "makes his comments from the safety of a black box"? Sure looks like Dave's "box" is the same shade of Peach Flesh all the rest of us sew our quilts in! [#F7DFCB if you want to get technical. - Dave] Thanks againHoly mackerel, I had no idea the amount of work that went into some of these images WonderfulThank you Dave for the answer. And double thank you for all the work you do to bring us fantastic images. My daily production is severely limited by the day dreams your photos invoke. [Well thanks. But please note that this photo is the work of Dr. Lileks. - Dave] Mystery objectI have been staring at this photo of Minneapolis for several days now as my desktop wallpaper. I cant get past a mysterious object in this picture. Just to the right of the buggy in the foreground, coming up out of the street is a tall dark thin object that appears to be casting a shadow that appears to have been "removed" from the scene. Also, the photo appears smudged in that area. Any sleuths have any ideas? Or did the cat leave a hairball on my monitor? [It's a crack in the glass negative that got mostly Photoshopped out. - Dave] (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, DPC)
Ebbets Field: 1920
... format? Ebbets Field http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/EbbetsField.html is a wonderful site for former and current ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 4:12pm -

"Crowd at Ebbets Field. Oct. 5, 1920." In the first game of the 1920 World Series between the Indians and Dodgers, the final score was Cleveland 3, Brooklyn 1. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. "Dem bums!!"They'll always be the BROOKLYN Dodgers to me! World Series 1920Observations: Few if any women in the stands. The men all have jackets, ties and hats on - no fan attire here - not even a pennant to wave! Spectators are walking to their seats on the field, with uniformed policemen keeping them on the sideline. It looks like all the seats are bleachers - no reserved seating here. And there is still quite a bit of empty seating available, though maybe the game hasn't started yet. If the only way to get to the stands was through the fields, how did they go to the concession stand or the bathroom? Temporary bleachers?I suspect the outfield bleachers were built for the Series. They cover part of the scoreboard - it looks like there's a place below the strike-ball-out count where the inning-by-inning score would usually be displayed. This is partially covered by the bleachers and there's a line score posted on the wall at the front of the bleachers. Also, there's a car ad that's almost completely obscured, and some of the other ads are partially obscured. Other interesting things to notice: there are vendors on the field selling to spectators at the front of the bleachers. In those days Lifebuoy was a "health" soap, not a deodorant soap. The metal railing looks like it could be dangerous to a fielder who goes after a foul fly ball. Ebbets Field 1920WOW! Great stuff. MORE, PLEASE. Ebbets FieldNotice the advertising is for men's products. Lifebuoy soap was a popular brand in the US into the 1940s. It had a very distinctive smell and, as I recall, not a very pleasant one. Wikipedia says, "When the Philadelphia Phillies played at the Baker Bowl during the 1920s, an outfield wall advertisement for Lifebuoy stated, 'The Phillies use Lifebuoy'. One night a graffiti artist sneaked in and added to the ad, 'And they still stink'." The CrowdIf you look at the folks walking by the cops, you'll see a woman...and it looks like that may be another woman ahead of her where the group is stepping into the stands from the field. Also, if you look in the lower left side, to the left of the boy walking in the aisle in the paperboy cap, you'll see a boy in what appears to be a ballcap/fan attire. Hats!Did you find someone without hat ?!!! Great photo which needs to be enlarged more to see details under the "Gem Safety Razor" advertisement. Dave, is it possible to have it in extra large format? Ebbets Fieldhttp://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/EbbetsField.html is a wonderful site for former and current ballparks. If you mouse over the different years you can see when the outfield bleachers and upper deck were added - starting in 1926. The original stadium did not have outfield bleachers, so these were obviously added for the World Series. PiedmontSo, Piedmont's a blend, right? Yikes!That fence existing atop the left-field line wall must have presented "challenges" to left-fielders going after a foul ball fly. I'm sure Zack Wheat ("the most graceful left-handed hitter I ever saw," Casey Stengel), the Hall of Fame left fielder for the "Robins" (as they were known in 1920) had probably mastered putting his gloved hand up above those spiked tops, but visiting players, especially from the American League Indians, may have hesitated when faced with a foul ball in that area. Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska How do I get to the bleachers?I agree that the bleachers seem built for the series, and it appears to me there's no way to get to them other than walking along the foul area. Could it be these folks are arriving spectators? The male to female ratio seems right. I bet it got awkward if they needed to get to the restroom. Splendid. But not ...It is not a blend, Not a blend, Not A Blend! At no time has Piedmont been blended. Nor will it ever be blended. Piedmont is unfamiliar with the concept of "blending". So, at last, I hope we are clear? Yes? (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Sports)
Caffeine Warehouse: 1935
... to Selma, not to mention the Kona Koffee Kids -- a girls' baseball team. Is there trouble brewing in that Kon-Koffee-Ko name? Probably ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/05/2023 - 3:38pm -

December 1935. "Coffee house in Selma, Alabama." The Sadler Grocery Store, purveyor of Kon-Koffee-Kompany's Table Talk and Selma Pride ("Roasted Last Night") as well as Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper. Nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Resettlement Admin. View full size. TimingLet's see ... if I can have Dr. Pepper at 10, 2 and 4, that means that at 6 and 8 I can have coffee. At the next 6 and 8, I can have Coca-Cola. Start out with lots of caffeine early on, then taper throughout the day. Of course, I could mix either the Selma Pride or Table Talk with Coke for a really nice caffeine hit late in the day. Then I could stay up all night roasting coffee for the next day. Coffee, White --Subliminal messaging?? We may never know if it was intended, but that name certainly conveys it. Yet history had the last laugh: what was known as Sylvan Street (see marker painted on steps) is now Martin Luther King Street. Nice work by BlantonEspecially finding just the right angle to fit "Selma Pride Coffee" and "Table Talk Coffee" in between the windows. Koffee KornerIf Sylvan Street is now MLK, then this is the corner with Water Avenue today. Kitty-corner is the old railroad depot, now a museum, making this a pretty good location in 1935. Sign Of The TimesI tend to agree there is no hidden message in the sign. 1935 Selma wouldn't bother to be coy about the prevalent attitudes and would feel no reason to hide what was obvious in everyday life to a certain segment of the population. The Hawaiian KIdiosyncratic spelling and alliteration were something of a fad in brand names of the 1920s and '30s, resulting in quite a few "Koffee Kompany" businesses in locales from Tacoma to Indianapolis to Selma, not to mention the Kona Koffee Kids -- a girls' baseball team. Is there trouble brewing in that Kon-Koffee-Ko name? Probably not. Must have been pretty bad coffeeI roast my own coffee and had a laugh when I saw that the company used "Roasted Last Night" as a slogan. Roasted coffee needs to "air out" for 2-3 days before grinding and brewing. The roasted coffee beans release CO2 during the "airing out" time, and if brewed before that happens, the coffee tastes terrible. The first time I roasted coffee, I didn't know that, and wondered why it tasted so bad. Now, I can't drink most coffee made outside my house because it is hard to compare to the quality of home-roasted coffee made from fresh green coffee beans almost straight from a coffee plantation. Koo Koo Ka ChooI am the yeggman Watch Your StepsIt's interesting that the railing only begins about halfway up. I guess the stairs aren't dangerous before that point. The BikeEarly Grub Hub vehicle? Have a Nice Trip --That first step at the bottom is a doozy. The Circus!Three railroad trains, double length! Circus Was HereThank you Paul Schmid for that beautiful circus poster. The remnants of a Cole poster on the side of the grocery store. Feel sorry for those poor animals such as lions and elephants that have no place to be kept in such conditions. (The Gallery, Stores & Markets, Walker Evans)
Second Home: 1943
... in Michigan, originally designed by Stormy's wife from a baseball cap and made to stay on a railroad engineer's head no matter how ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/08/2014 - 12:39pm -

January 1943. "Freight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. The caboose is the conductor's second home. He always uses the same one and many conductors cook and sleep there while waiting for trains to take back from division points." Medium format nitrate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. "Stormy" and brake tests."Stormy" Kromer was the inventor's name, the hat was a Kromer Blizzard Cap. The last one my wife bought for me was made in China, so I don't buy them anymore. There used to be a pair of hand (lantern) signals in the rulebook to handle brake tests: Rule 12(f), the lamp swung horizontally over the head was the signal for the engineer to apply the brakes for the test, Rule 12(g), the lamp held at arm's length overhead was the signal to release. If all was well and the pressure recovered at the caboose, the next signal would be the "highball", otherwise someone would start walking the train to find the problem. Classy RV-ingWouldn't it be great to have an RV these days that looked more like that than the generic, mundane look most modern RVs have? I suppose one could refit an RV to look like this, but the weight of the wood paneling might be a problem, not to mention the weight of the woodstove. One can dream, however unrealistic one's dreams might be. The Modern CabooseIn Canada at least there are still uses for cabooses. Mainly they're used on short switching runs where one or two cars are dropped off and or picked up at a specific shipper. I suspect that this is a time saving measure since it would be inefficient to keep moving the ETD (FRED) to the new end car, and it poor electronic brain might not be able to cope with a movement that temporarily splits the train in the middle. Lots of factors killed Cabeesemost already mentioned, but there were a large number of workers comp incidents that arose in a people transporter located a mile back of slack action on a freight train. One of the best ways to improve safety is to eliminate the need to expose workers to the danger in the first place. So this was a big improvement. Cheesecake, though, is something to be missed. Comforting memoriesAs a young boy in Maine my brother and I would watch the trains go by and count the cars. It was a thrill to wave to the conductor. My grandfather, an old railroad man, introduced us to a conductor friend of his and we even got a quick look inside a caboose. A dream come true for a young railroad fan. Proper pinupsSome tasty cheesecake here. Contemporary girls a la Sundblom and Elvgren along with some smaller older pieces. I Miss the CabooseNice man cave. September snowThe graffiti is correct; it did indeed snow in Illinois and Iowa on Friday, September 25, 1942 - up to two inches (in Iowa Falls). Newspapers the next morning reported that this was the first September snowfall in Des Moines in the history of the weather bureau. The high school football game between Garner and Buffalo Center was called because of darkness after "driving snow" knocked out six lights. Wall CandyI worked on a railroad for 36 years and the cabooses never were allowed to look like that. Years ago the caboose was assigned to the Conductor for each trip he made so it was decorated it the way he wanted it. I rode these for many years until they were replaced with a flashing rear end device. FRED Back in the day!It would have been nice to be there. Caboose LoreWhatever happened to cabooses? Were they stopped as a cost-saving measure, or was the conductor no longer needed on freight trains? They were a "natural" ending to trains as they looked so different from the other cars. When they passed you knew that it was OK to cross the crossing. Now freight trains just end and it is sad. Part of the fun with trains was waving at the caboose. Quite often, the conductor or whoever was in it would wave back. Cabeese and conductorsThough the cabeese have been replaced, not so the conductors. Their office has been moved into the cab of the locomotive..Conductors are actually in charge of the train, not as ususlly believed, the engineers. Engineers run the locomotives and the conductors tell them where to pick up and drop off freight cars. I prefer the caboose to the Freds that are used now. The Freds not only have a flashing light, but they radio air pressure and other information to the engineer, but the conductor is usually a nice friendly guy, much more than the Freds, A Place to HangI feel sorry for the modern conductor and brakeman. They used to have a home away from home at the end of the train but now only have a seat in the lead locomotive or a seat in the empty slave locomotives. Get a load of the CabooseGet a load of the caboose on the broad on the wall of the caboose. LOL (Am I the only one to post this obviouse joke?) A glimpse of the cabooseFrom "I Like Trains" by Fred Eaglesmith Sixteen miles from Arkadelphia right near the Texas border traffic was stopped at a railway crossing I took it to the shoulder I stoked the kettle I put it to the metal I shook the gravel loose I missed the train but I was happy with a glimpse of the caboose (chorus) cause I like trains I like fast trains I like trains that call out through the rain I like trains I like sad trains I like trains that whisper your name I was born on a greyhound bus my Momma was a diesel engine They tried to put me behind the wheel but I wouldn't let them You should have seen the look in their eyes and how it turned to tears when I finally told them I wanna be an engineer Now you think I've got someone new but darlin' that ain't true I could never love another woman besides you It's not some dewy-eyed darlin' darlin' that's gonna drive you insane But anymore I'd be listenin' for the sound of a big ol' train (chorus) cause I like trains I like fast trains I like trains that call out through the rain I like trains I like sad trains I like trains that whisper your name Cabeese have always intrigued meThanks for the view of life inside a caboose, I have always been fascinated with them. After reading Lectrogeek's link about the demise of the caboose I learned quite a bit of info about trains that I just took for granted before reading the link. The link's explanation of the features of the FRED device does bring up one question though. Before the days of computers and the prevalence of two-way radios from the back of the train to the front, how did the engineer get all of the air pressure and movement information from the conductor? Stormy Kromer!I spy an actual Stormy Kromer hat hanging on a peg! Still made in Michigan, originally designed by Stormy's wife from a baseball cap and made to stay on a railroad engineer's head no matter how windy. Technology overtook them.Renaissanceman asked "Whatever happened to cabooses?" Technology, in the form of flashing end-of-train devices (acronym is FRED, I think) and computerised detection for when the rear end passes critical points (signals, switches, etc) replaced the need for a man at the back. Home sweet home!Except for the slack action when a long train started up, I'm sure. Note the stout rod holding the potbelly stove down to the floor. And here is an explanation for why we no longer have cabeese. MemoriesMy brother forwarded this shot to me and boy do I love it. Our father was a conductor on the C&NWRR and the photo brought back so many wonderful memories of my childhood. As a railroading family, my father would periodically take me to the yard with him to work. One of the highlights of the trip was reaching for the curved handrail on the side of the caboose and let the train's passing movement pull you up for the ride. Once on-board, I loved climbing up to the copula for a bird’s eye view (usually it would be a trip to Proviso Yard where I could be handed off to see my uncle, grandfather or a cousin). Thank you for any train picsMy Grandfather, whom I adored, worked on the Erie Lackawanna from the early 1910's to the late 1960's. Any old pics of the great train days are so appreciated. Thank you. I find it interestingwith the cheesecake motif that in the upper left hand of this photo (near the stove pipe) there's a picture of what appears to be a mother consoling a child. Penny for his thoughts.Pipe smoker is wearing a Stormy Kromer as well. I wonder what he's thinking? How long will the war last? How long till he sees his son again? How long till lunch? How long is it gonna take this photographer to get his shot? The end of the endTwo innovations contributed to the end of the caboose. Roller bearings on the freight cars meant the guy in the cupola didn't have to watch for "hot-boxes" from the earlier cotton-waste oil-saturated bearing packing. The advent of the walkie-talkie meant communication between the engineer and the guy on the ground taking care of the switching. Not Politically CorrectPersonalized cabooses like this started dying off probably by the 1950s when most large railroads and the unions agreed to use "pooled" cabooses where the caboose stayed with the train and only the crews changed. Today it is totally politically incorrect to post lewd photos or drawings like those in the photo. If doing such today does not get you fired, it will certainly cause you to have to attend Diversity and Sensitivity Training Sessions. Oh yeah, most jokes are strictly off limits, too. The railroad is a changed place these days. It's all in the detailsAnd what a wealth of details in this photo! Like the splatter on the side of the cabinet just above the waste basket. Probably from tobacco juice, or possibly empty beer cans? Neither of which would fly in today's railroad workplace, according to several of the comments. And the guy with the pipe would probably be out of a job as well. And what's up with the rolling pin hanging on the wall? Maybe to roll out a few pancakes for cooking on the stove when they got hungry? The print of the mother and child on the left looks like it has been hanging there since the caboose was built. And, echoing several of the other comments, I miss the caboose and the waving conductor. I still remember that as a kid, and this was back in the 1970s. Outstanding photo and keep up the great work. Politically Correct PinupIt's in the eye of the beholder. Working on the railroadI come from a railroad family. My grandfather had 50 years on the job, as did my father. I haven't seen the interior of many caboose cars but I did not see any decorated like this one. My dad used the downtime to study his safety rules for the next level of exam, necessary for promotion, not looking at nekkid women. Men were paid on time in grade status, but to promote you had to take a test and wait for an opening. Railroading was a serious job, the company took safety very seriously as did the men, particularily the brakemen because they would be out there on the track swinging the lantern to guide the engineer on his back-up as well as to switch the track. Never would alcohol be on the job, not ever. It would not be tolerated by the company, nor by the men whose lives were at stake. My dad smoked cigarettes, as did his father. Everyone smoked cigarettes and since it was not an issue like it is today, I cannot image that it wasn't allowed in the caboose. My dad quit railroading in the 1980s saying he was quitting because the new men coming in did not care--they were not interested in learning the job the right way, just "get it done quick, rest, play cards, and get my pay". It hurt him to see this low standard of work ethic, as it did other men. Sad commentary on progress, is it not. We loved seeing the trains pass--ran from our play when we heard the whistle blow just to wave, first at the engineer who would sound the horn for us, and then at the caboose where the men would wave back. it was especially nice if it was our dad in the caboose. Dining carI assume the "Dining Car in opposite direction" sign is a joke? If so, very clever. Afterlife of CabeeseA friend of ours, who has a stand of sugar maple trees and a hobby sugaring operation, got a retired Canadian National caboose (red, of course) with the idea of using it as a warming hut during the sap boiling. He paid some nominal price, and it was delivered to his site on a flatbed truck. He'd determined how high the caboose should be mounted -- you get the caboose only, not the wheels -- and he'd prepared a foundation for it that would place it at the actual height of a operational caboose. To get the thing off the truck an into place, he rented a crane and operator at something like $100/hour (this was three decades ago). Well, it took the crane operator four hours to get that caboose off the truck and onto the foundation! Yes, it all worked out OK, and yes, there's a red CN caboose sitting in a southern Ontario stand of maples. But that "freebie" caboose ended up costing a whole lot more. Air on the BrakesAccording to the air brake gage on the back wall there is air on the train so the caboose is hooked up (coupled) to the train. I wonder who's cut out head is pinned to the lower left door window? (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Good Gulf Gas, phone 262
... spent most of my adult life in the South...but my favorite baseball team is the Angels. Somewhere in the dusty archive is a photo of ... 
 
Posted by DoninVa - 04/06/2009 - 9:38am -

Grand opening of my father's Gulf Gas station in Gulfport, Ms, circa 1955. The family's 2-door Ford station wagon to the right of the building would make two cross-country Mississippi to California trips in a few years before we finally settled in The Promised Land of southern California. The clown's outfit was covered with Gulf embroidered patches and he has poorly made-up. I was about 7 at this time. View full size. So which hurricanefinally put this station out of business? The other promised landGulfport is now, to many, The other promised land. 2 door Fords were "Ranch Wagons", big open area in the back for us pre-seatbelt boomers to bounce around in. Great picture, thanks for sharing. Sound RentalIt's good to know that that Rambler wagon is "sound"; I'd hate to think it was otherwise! I do like the term "sound"; no longer a familiar usage. Cool. [It's a "sound car" because of the giant bullhorn on top. - Dave] Just Wonderin'I see a median strip--was this on U.S. 90? If so, I passed by many times in those years, maybe even bought gas there in the late '50s and early '60s. And I see only two bathroom doors. Was there a third around back? (Men, Women, and Colored.) Torn DownJust last year a service station identical to the picture was torn down in my town. I also heard on the news today that a service station built in 1933 was being moved so as to preserve it. I missed where that station was located. Sound Car For HireWe had a 53 Ford wagon too. I like the "Bathtub Nash" with extra added features -- a large paging horn and a roving billboard. For a moment I thought the service station also rented "sound" cars, until I saw the loudspeaker. Come one, come all, and join the fun! Hi kids! I'm Gulfy!I don't suppose you have any close-up shots of the clown? Those would be priceless. A guy in Mississippi dressed as a clown, covered with Gulf patches. You can't make this stuff up. Love that station design. Goober Pyle'd sell his mother to own a station like that. Minus the clown. Nash wagonThe car with the sign Sound Car for Hire looks like a Nash. I would love to see what this looks like today. How long...was the station there? Could it still have been there in the early Seventies? If so, I think I might have bought gas there on one of my trips between east Texas and south Georgia; I typically diverted from the direct route just to see the countryside. A Simpler TimeThat was a time when my friends and I, standing on a street corner, could identify the make, model, and year of every car that went by. I can almost identify all the cars here except I can't see the details to get the years right. The big dark fourdoor sedan reminds me of our family 1948 Plymouth Deluxe but I can't see the trim well enough to be sure of the year. I loved that car. I also got in a bad accident with it but I can honestly say it was not my fault. My father then got a 1954 Plymouth Belvedere with a strange kind of breakdown-prone no-shift fluid drive whose proprietary name I can't recall. Moving onWhen I was last in Gulfport, 1990 or so, the building was still there on Pass Road but had become a quick oil change place. My father and mother decided on California and we left Gulfport. I never learned the details of the business decisions to open the station and then leave it, but in California he found his niche selling Fords. We are descended from pioneer folk who in colonial times moved from Virginia to Georgia, and then on to Alabama and Mississippi; so, the trek to California was another step in the process. Perhaps curiously, I have spent most of my adult life in the South...but my favorite baseball team is the Angels. Somewhere in the dusty archive is a photo of the clown and he was a truly amateur joey. Today we have guys with twirling signs and huge foam hands to entice us; an improvement in marketing? 1954 PlymouthThe transmission you're referring to was called Hy-Drive. What Is It About Clownsthat is so scary? I would drive clear of any clown in a gas station - especially this one. HyDriveThe Plymouth scheme of combining a fluid clutch with a three speed manual transmission was called HyDrive. Happy DaysI love this picture! My dad was a salesman for Atlantic Refining in the early 1960s in North Carolina. I have some photos of an Atlantic station grand opening that looks almost identical to this picture, right down to the clown! I recall being scared of the clown as a 3-year old. It was common then at grand openings to have a clown, helium balloons, the trianglar flag streamers (in primary colors like red, blue, green, etc) and a big stack of Coca-colas to give away with every fill-up. Even after the hoopla died down, attendants in pressed uniforms washed your windshield and checked the oil and tires, at least until the first oil shock in '73 put an end to that luxury. What a great time to start a business! City or country locationIt is hard to tell. During my Greyhound driving years I would come upon a little cinder block gas station that still had the "Good Gulf" or "Chief" logo with the trademarked lettering styles over the garage bays in the deep rural South. We had a Phillips 66 in our part of the county, part auto center (gas, service, etc), part convience store and part boyhood education (auto parts calendars). Sound carsI remember the "Sound Cars." They would drive through your neighborhood and you would hear this deep voice saying something like "Come to Meyer's Department Store today for our pre-fourth of July sale, everything 25% off." The voice sounded like the voice of God on an old Charlton Heston movie and it was so loud you could hear it all through the house. Usually the speaker would pause 30-45 seconds before repeating it again as he drove by slowly. Looking back on it, it was a bit eerie. I never heard them after the mid-60s, they probably were outlawed in most towns. Where in Gulfport?Was the station on Highway 90 or on 49? P-15It's definitely a P-15 sedan. I'm betting on '48. I've one in the garage and I'd know that shape anywhere. An "After" PicIf you could remember the address, I could take a pic of whatever's there now for a before and after... I live right next door in Biloxi. Gas Prices in 1955Can anyone zoom in on this to tell me how much per gallon regular gas was selling at this station? When I bought my first used car, a 3-toned two-door 1952 Pontiac Catalina. purchased off a lot in Port Arthur, Texas, not far from a big Gulf refinery there, I think the price of regular leaded was about 31 cents. A year later, in Plainfield NJ, the price was about the same, but the car had worn out completely by then. So my dad co-signed a loan and I bought a brand new, stripped down 1957 two-door Ford Fairlane in Delaware, which was a terrific car. FillerupIn 1955 we handed the attendant a dollar bill and he pumped about four gallons into our car. And that came with a window wash and an oil check. Not long after, with the same car, we did the usual "fill it with oil and check the gas." When gas was cheapMy dad owned a gas station & store around this time period & gas was around 25 cents a gallon. Those were the days, huh? And our city must have been bigger than this one - our phone number was 4 digits & I still remember them - 6621! I have seen this building!I am from Gulfport and I believe I have seen this building just up from the port. I think is was 30th Avenue. My grampa used to paint all the signs around Gulfport. He went by the nickname Munch. Do you know who did the signs Don? Great to see this anyway! Thanks! Have I been there?I think I may have gotten gas there...if its the one I am thinking of, its on the highway that runs parallel to the gulf of Mexico? I stopped at a similar place on the coast about 5 years ago for gas. BathroomYes to the question for Just Wonderin, there is a third bathroom around back. It has a very high ceiling and a window over the top of the door. Gulfport Tire & Auto CareHello - we just bought the old Gulf Gas Station; other than an add-on to the side and read of the building this just as it was then. The address is 1606 Pass Road Gulfport, MS 39501. We will be posting new pictures of the building; we are in the middle of cleaning and painting now. Re: Gulfport Tire & Auto CareAs a preface to the "now" pictures, below is the Requisite Shorpy Google Streetview of the location. View Larger Map (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Gas Stations)
Aunt Mary's Car: 1920
... she got while sitting on the ground watching Granddad play baseball), and died when Dad was 5 (1930). Dad, born with TB, was cured of it ... the single men. There was a mess hall, pool hall, and a baseball field. The Lumber company was noted for its Incline Railway system ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 06/24/2009 - 5:12pm -

c.1920, in the vicinity of Merced Falls, Calif. My mother's older sister and her car. Maybe someone here can identify it. From original 116 negative. View full size. Model T Runabout Mary's CarThe rear license plate seems to say 1928 or 1929---what do others think? ["20." - Dave] Aunt Mary and Her CarThanks for the auto ID, Anonymous Tipster. As for the date, I'm afraid that Mary died in 1922, of tuberculosis, two weeks shy of her 29th birthday. Clothes Make The LadySo Aunt Mary was only 26 years old when this picture was taken? Those clothes make her look at least 50. Mary's back storyThank you, Aunt Mary's niece, for more about her and her family, poor things. You are right about TB. It was a terrifying disease with an unpredictable but often fatal course. Even worse, there was considerable stigma associated with having it. When my mother-in-law was a child in the 1920s, her father spent several months in a TB sanatorium (he survived, lived a long life and died of something else). She said the children were forbidden to ever speak of it to anyone, for if it was generally known he would lose his job and friends would be reluctant to be with them. She was still uncomfortable talking about it in the 1980s. Something About MaryShe was a very pretty woman nevertheless. About Aunt MaryIf this was taken in 1920, Aunt Mary was pregnant with her first child, who was born in October of 1920. What is surprising is that she had her photo taken while pregnant, something most women of that era were too embarrassed to do. (Even in the 1940s our mother was quite chagrined to find out someone took a snapshot of her while she was expecting.) Aunt Mary's story has an even sadder ending. During her second pregnancy, her tuberculosis, which had been in remission, flared up again, and she died two weeks after the birth of the baby. The baby, being exposed to TB at birth, died of fulminant tuberculosis at age 6 weeks. Mary left a husband and a 2-year-old. Mary was born in June, married in June, and died in June. This was the tragedy of our Mother's family. We have forgotten today the toll that TB took on people's lives in the early to mid 1900s. Until medication for treatment was developed in the 1940s-50s, TB was one of the top ten killers. -- Aunt Mary's Niece, who never knew her Aunt Mary's Clothes"Those clothes" were simply the style of Aunt Mary's era. Yes, today those styles are old-fashioned and pretty silly looking. Just like the clothes we wear today will look old-fashioned and silly looking in 2096 (yes, 2096!). Girls born in 1892 wore those kind of clothes in 1920. Actually, if you take a closer look at Mary, she's pretty easy on the eyes. Some 21st century treatment on her wardrobe, makeup and hair and I'll bet she'd turn a few heads. TB's Heavy TollMy paternal grandmother contracted TB during my grandfather's courtship of her (started with a cold she got while sitting on the ground watching Granddad play baseball), and died when Dad was 5 (1930). Dad, born with TB, was cured of it at Johns Hopkins during his first 5 years, but still worries about a recurrence to this day- and he's 83 now. My regret, of course, is that I never got to know my grandmother. Indeed, even my father's memory of her is very sketchy. Mary's Model TThe car seems to be a ca. 1917-1919 non-starter car. There is an accessory "keyed" ingition switch on the coilbox on the firewall. I put "keyed" in quotes because the stock Ford switch had a key, but they were all the same! I see an electric taillight, which may have been added on. One popular package on 1919 and later cars that had starter motors and generators included demountable rim wheels and an electric taillight. Those cars had no kerosene side lamps. We can't tell if this car has them because of Mary's position. This car does not have demountable rim wheels. The toolbox on the running board is an accessory item. It looks like something on the end of the tail pipe, too. Maybe a warning whistle. It also looks like there is an accessory dashboard, and auxiliary outside brakes on the rear drums. The outside brakes and keyed ignition tell me Mary was a cautious woman. 1917 Model T RoadsterI think the car was a 1917 model year produced around March–April 1917. See the rationale at the Model T Ford Club of America Forum. Others may see additional items that will alter that recommendation. Respectfully submitted, Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck. Sumter SC. Merced FallsMerced Falls, 30 miles east of Merced and just a couple of miles south of Snelling, was quite a place in those days. Mostly gold dredging in the Merced River. Not a lot left today. There was a cement factory there also. It was in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. There are still a lot of "potholes" filled with water when the dredge would move on to create another hole. The last time I was there (40 years ago) there was still an old dredge in one of the potholes. Great fishing and frogging. Re Merced FallsMerced Falls was at that time a company lumber town. Aunt Mary was a bookkeeper for the Yosemite Sugar Pine Lumber Company. See her photo with co-workers in "Times of Flu." Aunt Mary and the other unmarried lady employees lived in the Company Hotel. There was housing for families and barracks for the single men. There was a mess hall, pool hall, and a baseball field. The Lumber company was noted for its Incline Railway system which brought the logs down from the mountains above. The track was 8000 feet long and 3100 feet in height. It started at an elevation of 5000 feet and ended at 1900 ft el. More technical info for train trekkies can be found here. Aunt Mary married the company town butcher, a young man from a butchering family in England. Later they moved to a house in nearby Snelling. Aunt Mary had moved to Merced Falls from (foggy) San Francisco to live in a drier climate near the mountains, which was thought to be beneficial for tuberculosis. Which it was for a while. The area today is a county park, the town partly drowned under the waters of Lake McClure, formed by the Merced Falls Diversion Dam. SnellingMy family has been going to Henderson Park for 50 years especially at Easter. My uncle Alvin and Grace Halstead have lived near Merced Falls for almost 30 years. Many great memories of the time spent there. Tom Mitchell Killer TBI read with interest the comments on Aunt Mary's pictures and her tuberculosis. Those who wrote that it was a killer are indeed right. My great-grandmother, two great aunts, and one of their sons all died of it within a short time. My grandmother had it when she was pregnant with my mother. She was told that that the baby would either be dead in six months or always immune. Since Mom died at age 72, I guess it was the latter. Her first cousin Edna also had TB and was ill for several years. The picture is of my grandmother and grandfather in the 1930s. While my grandmother survived TB, she died of a brain aneurysm before I was born. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, tterrapix)
Night Game: 1950
... Municipal Stadium during Cleveland-Detroit night baseball game." Photo by Carl McDow. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs ... [In 1918, during the Spanish Flu epidemic, Major League Baseball cut its season short by a month , with the last game played ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/24/2020 - 12:15pm -

June 30, 1950. "Cleveland Municipal Stadium during Cleveland-Detroit night baseball game." Photo by Carl McDow. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection. View full size. Cleveland 11, Detroit 3There were 50,882 in attendance that night -- a good crowd, but far fewer than the 86,563 who saw the Indians sweep the Yankees in a doubleheader. That's generally accepted as the record for Major League regular-season games, although the Dodgers, playing in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, had as many as 92,000 fans at the 1959 World Series and 115,300 for an exhibition game against the Red Sox in 2008. A greater AmericaThese people had lived through WWII and the Great Depression and many had survived WWI and the Spanish Influenza. I wonder what they would have thought of their descendants, 70 years later, banning events such as this and even mandating draconian rules about private household behavior because of a virus. I believe they would have wondered why they fought so hard to keep the Kaiser, Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini and their dangerous ideologies out of this country. [In 1918, during the Spanish Flu epidemic, Major League Baseball cut its season short by a month, with the last game played September 11. Over a dozen college football teams sat out the season. The Stanley Cup finals were canceled. And people didn't complain, because they weren't a bunch of selfish, whiny babies. - Dave] Sorry Dave, I love this site and you do a great job, but you're wrong on this one. The whiny babies are the ones who are too afraid to defend their Constitutional rights as they continue to disappear day by day. Anyone who believes that what America has been forced to give up in 2020 is all because of a virus is terribly naïve. [If only you had been there to guide them! - Dave] It's past timeOh to be among the crowd in a major league baseball stadium again on a muggy night, hot dog and frosty Coke in hand, cheering for the boys of summer. Of course I prefer Wrigley Field some 350 miles to the west, but at this point I'd take Detroit at Cleveland and consider myself the luckiest girl on the face of the earth. All That Green!I grew up in North Central Ohio as a Tribe fan during the late 50's and early 60's. I can clearly remember my first trip to Municipal Stadium, walking up those steps to the inside of the stadium and seeing that incredible green baseball field for the first time in person! Yes Dave you are RightMy Father, a veteran of three wars beginning in Jan 1941, would agree with you Dave. If he taught me one thing it was to sacrifice for the well being of others, even if this meant a temporary suspension of your freedoms, and in thousands upon thousands of cases of service men and women, your very life. America the selfless seems to have become America the selfish. Thank You DaveDave, you couldn't be more correct with your description of how some American citizens have acted throughout the pandemic. Shameful at best. Like has always been said, "it starts at the top". Selfish, whiney babiesDave, I think the "selfish, whiney babies" comment was uncalled for. I agree with KAP about rights. It's easier to take away rights than it is to get them back again. However, even if I didn't agree with him I wouldn't insult him for it. KAPYikes, I didn’t think we’d get into this on Shorpy, but here we are. The view from Canada, where the country is not burning up with covid in the same uncontrolled manner as it is in the US, is that everyone has to buy in to the measures. I don’t like wearing a mask, and I don’t wear one outdoors, but everyone does it indoors in stores and public places, and that’s just the way it is. It’s an all-or-nothing thing, and you need buy-in from everyone. If you want, you can carry on about rights and freedoms all the way to the grave. All you have to fear is fear itselfSorry, Dave. I love the site, but my freedom and liberty is 1000 times more important than your irrational, ignorant fear. It is not selfish to stand against tyranny. We've known scientifically for 100 years that masks are useless, and we had story after story about the uselessness of masks ... until March, when everything suddenly flipped. Why? Because masks are not about science, they're about social control. I believe you were formerly part of the major media, so it's not surprising that you don't want to believe that it's completely corrupt and a single-party controlled propaganda machine. Yet, that is the truth. It's been so long since we've had a full-scale fascist/communist authoritarian attempt at a takeover of power that we think those people just went away. They didn't. We forgot that the normal, historical state of the world is a constant struggle against tyrannical people. The selfish ones are the appeasers. [Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth ... -- Dave] I agree ...... with KAP, and I doubly, triply agree with Groucho. https://spectator.us/salem-thanksgiving-coronavirus-panic-safetyism/ 8.7The US has 8.7 times the population of Canada. If we take the number of covid deaths to date in Canada (11,689) and multiply by 8.7, we get the number of deaths the US ought to have had to date: 101,694. But the US has had over twice that number of covid deaths to date: 267,528. I do believe it might be a matter of public measures and committed leadership. The US is an amazing country, but it has dropped the ball on this one. Whose House is This?The last time I checked, this was Dave's house and he didn't ask anyone what they thought about his comment to KAP. The person who needed and received admonishment is KAP, who ridiculously compared a public safety measure to the invasion of fascism and destruction of our Constitution. KAP clearly didn't study history enough to remember that during the Spanish Influenza outbreak it was common for local public health officials to quarantine people in their homes. It was for the public good and the law allowed it. And I've never read that people in quarantine whined about their Constitutional rights being taken away. You want to talk about taking away our Constitutional rights -- why do we have to wear seatbelts? That really is a matter of personal choice. But we lost that right, not because of fascism, but because of insurance companies. Therefore: insurance companies are destroying the Constitution! Concerning One's RightsI get tears in my eyes when I see people call the efforts to keep the virus from spreading a loss of their rights. Nobody has the right to spread an illness. And if everybody would just wear their masks, observe social distancing, and wash their hands frequently, we might not have strictures about gatherings now, we might not have our hospitals and the healthcare workers strained so badly, and we might not have so many people grieving the loss of friends and loved ones. I love Shorpy and have done for many years. It is a lovely place to visit, in good times and bad. Yet even here, the horrible division that afflicts this country rears its ugly head. And I get more tears. Everybody, please, just care a little for each other. The view from the front lineMy job is to intubate your trachea and breathe for you when you are no longer able to do so yourself. I hope that none of you ever need my services. And I wish that this situation was as simple as allowing you to exercise your "Constitutional rights" but it makes no sense when doing so potentially causes harm to others while benefitting you in no particular way. And as I show up to work each day, all I can do is try my best to protect myself from the selfishness and ignorance of others while keeping the victims alive and hoping to see their recovery. It helps to be able to enjoy Shorpy at the end of the day - thanks Dave! And Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Stunningly beautifulThis image is amazingly beautiful. The lights are liquid, pouring out and washing down on the players. Stunning. Familiar Nameshttps://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=195006300... Box score brings back memories of these guys, all of whom I had in Topps or Bowman's bubble gum cards, sold in packages of five cards plus the gum. Believe the ScienceThanks Dave for your clarification to KAP about pandemic events then and now. The problem of not believing the truth is a serious one. Did people lose rights after the 1918 pandemic? Gosh don't know what it would have been... Folks, as a physician and a scientist I implore you: Believe the science. Wear your mask. Social distance. As Dr. Fauci has said, I don't know how to make you care about one another. There is no more a "Constitutional right"to recklessly infect others with a deadly virus, than there is to drive a car while drunk, or to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. "Selfish, whiny babies" is a charitable description of the anti-maskers who are primarily responsible for the deaths of 2,000 Americans a day. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cleveland, News Photo Archive, Railroads, Sports)
Bathgate Avenue: 1936
... front of the store and sell stockings. I also collected baseball cards, which my mother threw out. My guess is that I had a bunch of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:50am -

December 1936. "Scene along Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx, a section from which many of the New Jersey homesteaders have come." View full size. Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Nothing really changesFunny, I've seen scenes just like this (with different languages on the signs and different clothes) in Cueramaro, GTO and Oakland, CA within the last few months. We don't really change as much as we think sometimes... Billy BathgateI lived on Bathgate and 187th four years ago when I went to school at Fordham. Looking at the address on the bulding I wonder what the cross-street was at this time? The one little boyThe one little boy appears to be carrying a toy airplane while the stroller has a piece of wood being used to keep it from rolling away. TK http://unidentifiedfamilyobjects.blogspot.com/ Bathgate AvenueI googled the address and it is shown to be between Claremont Parkway and East 172nd Street. It was never considered a Garden Spot. Pop vs sodaThis shows that the word "pop" was still in use in NYC at that time, with the word "soda" presumably meaning an ice cream soda. The word "soda" has all but obliterated "pop" for soft drink in most of the country now. If you still say "pop" you're really from the hinterlands. Bathgate AvenueI used to go shopping on Bathgate Avenue with my mother in the early 1950's. I was still a kid and it was an exciting place. Open display cases in front of the stores, the smells of dried fish and ethnic foods baking in the sun. The area was much more crowded in the 1950's. If I remember correctly there were still some pushcarts in those days. Bathgate Avenue is near Crotona Park. BathgateI lived across the street from this address at 1599 Bathgate Avenue in the late 60's thru the mid 70's and my fondest memories were that of Melvin's Eggs right next to this location. This store was right in the middle of the block. Next door to me was F.W. Woolworth. The Manager was Mr.Blackman, funny how some names you never forget. The cross street was Claremont Avenue and that was 172nd street. The next street over was Washington Avenue and the Deluxe Theatre, where I went to my first movie by myself for 35 cents. Gosh I feel old and I'm only 46. Great times playing stickball and kick the can on Sundays, everything was closed because of the Blue Laws. Tone2020@gmail.com Pop vs Soda MapSee this site. Bathgate Avenue ShoppingI lived on Washington Avenue during the same timeframe (mid 60s through late 70s) and can remember a poultry shop where you could buy freshly slaughtered (right in front of you) chicken. Also, the smell of roasted peanuts sold from the fruit stands on Bathgate is something I remember. My first job while in Junior High was at a small variety store across the street from Woolworth (I can still hear the 3rd Avenue El rattling as it heads towards the Claremont Avenue Station). Bathgate AvenueMy grandparents owned a small store called Tillie's Specialty Shop from about 1945 to 1957 on Bathgate Avenue, just next to the stores in the photo and a few doors down from Woolworth's. Tillie's sold housedresses, hosiery, robes, etc. During the summer, when I wasn't attending P.S. 4, I'd sit next to the hosiery display at the front of the store and sell stockings. I also collected baseball cards, which my mother threw out. My guess is that I had a bunch of Mickey Mantles. Wish I still did! I recall a haberdasher (when was the last time you heard that word?) on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Claremont Parkway. The el still stood then. Crotona Park was two blocks away. Nice to remember... Fond Memories of my youthMy grandparents lived at 1663 Bathgate Avenue and 173rd Street. My grandfather owned a tomato store near the corner of 173rd. I was only a small child then but can remember the delicious smells in the hallway when entering the building from all the cooking. There was Italian, German, Irish, Greek and Jewish food that created the most wonderful aroma. I remember all the stores that had their products outside under awnings. There was clothing, shoes, toys, food, etc. My mom used to take me to a clothing store south of 173rd on the east side of the street. I remember a heater in the middle of the floor in this clothing store. I also went to a pool a few blocks away, must have been Crotona Park Wading Pool. I remember the water not being very deep. For some reason many things have stayed with me and the memories are cherished. Memories of a fellow Bathgater..I was born in Apartment 4C at 1663 Bathgate, the southwest corner of Bathgate and 173rd, in December 1933. My dad died in 1934. Vogel's Grocery was on the northwest corner and I delivered groceries for them. Schactner's Haberdashery was opposite 1663 as was the Daitch Dairy. The orthodox synagogue was underneath 1663 on 173rd and Grubmans Interior Decorators was underneath 1663 on Bathgate. (For some unexplained reason the interior decorators' center of NYC was Bathgate between Clairmont Parkway and 173rd, three blocks with about a dozen interior decorator stores. As kids we used to marvel at the chauffeured limousines carrying elegantly dressed ladies from Park & Fifth Avenues in Manhattan to Bathgate to buy extraordinary fabrics for their apartment & mansions.) Tillie's Specialty Shop may also have been Zweigart's Specialty Shop, whose daughter, Sally, I once dated, when I was a student at P.S. 4 on Fulton Avenue. There were many such shops. Freshly slaughtered chickens and live pike & carp for Friday night's "gefulte" fish was a given. Mom used to keep the fish alive in the bathtub so we could see them when we came home from school! Punch ball on 173rd from Bathgate to 3rd Avenue started promptly at 10 every Sunday morning and ended promptly at 2 pm when all the Italian kids had to go home for their traditional Sunday pasta dinner. If there were cars parked on 173rd, we pushed them out of the way. Spectators lined both sides of the street and total bets could be $100 or more. I could punch a "spaldeen" 3 sewers, but Rocky Colavito, the eventual Cleveland Brown slugger, could punch the ball onto the 3rd Avenue Elevated tracks, almost a whole block away! Correction: The movie house on Clairmont and Washington Avenue was the Fenway, not the Delux. Admission was five cents and we were there on Saturdays from 11 to 5 -- two feature films and about 25 serials and cartoons. Our moms came to pull us out for dinner. If you went in the evening, you would also be awarded a free dinner plate. My mom collected an entire service for eight, some of which my niece may still have! The Delux was at the corner of Arthur & Tremont, also 5 cents. The Crotona on Tremont was 10 cents, the more resplendent Loewe's farther east on Tremont at 15 cents and the famous & magnificent Loewe's Paradise at Grand Concourse and Fordham Road, admission was a hefty 25 cents, but well worth the beauty of that particular movie palace! I left Bathgate in 1953 to go to college and never returned. I'm 75, but those memories are as fresh in my mind today as though they occurred yesterday. Please pass on to your Bathgate cohorts ! Fair Winds, Jack Cook Reprinted from an email I received today from Jack. Eat at Paul'sMy grandfather had a deli on Bathgate Avenue. I have a pic taken in 1932. The awning on the store said Eat at Paul's, my grandpa was Henry. That was the way the awning was when he opened the store. Does anyone remember? or know the address number of the store. I want to see what is on that spot now. I remember MamaI was born in 1946 and shopped with my mother on Bathgate as a very small child. I remember watching her choose a flounder at the fish market, and kosher pickles from the barrels on the street. One of the women in the Rothstein photo looks just like my grandmother. She shopped there too. What if? 1593 Bathgate AvenueThe window appearing in the upper right hand corner of the picture is that of a top floor apartment at 1593 Bathgate Avenue. From the early 1940s to the early '60s, our family (Tosca) lived on the first floor (same line as the window) in Apartment 6. 1589 was Geller Bros., a candy stand which in the fifties became somewhat of a supermarket. 1591 was a full fresh fish market, huge water tank and all. The ground floor of 1593 housed a kosher meat market and as well Mr. Cherry's grocery store. 1595 was another tenement. After a few shops, there was a Woolworth's, a drug store and Meyers & Shapiro Deli. After which more shops and at the end of the block 1599, another tenement. Further down from the other side of Gellers, a huge poultry store. With no doubt, hundreds of live chickens daily sold, slaughtered & quartered on the premises. Many many thanks for affording "Junior" the trip down Memory Lane. 1991 BathgateI lived at 1991 Bathgate apt 1A at the end of the 60s into 1976 and I love that neighborhood I still go back there once a year I walk down towards tremont where St josephs church is i had great times there if anyone was from around there at that time email me at bronx1966@hotmail.com Crotona Park PoolI taught myself to swim in the shallow pool and then was daring enough to dive off the diving board towards the ladder opposite in the semi-circular diving pool. I am 83 and still a good swimmer. I recently found a site where I could see the pool and the shallow one is still active but the diving pool has all the boards gone and a fence around the pool to keep people out! damn lawyers for making an end to diving boards due to their incessant suits! Bathgate Avenue1575 Bathgate Avenue, 1946 to 1952: from my grandmother's apartment, I could look across the street and see Daitch Dairy. Sometimes I would be sent there to get butter. Then, it came in a large block, and they would chop you off the amount you wanted, either by the amount or amount of money I was given to buy it. I was never board, after all, I could visit the chickens, watch the fish swim in a tank, go to the deli for chicken salami (which I don't believe is made anymore). Through my grandmother, the shop keepers knew me, so I always got a slice of salami. There was Woolworth to walk around in. The Sugar Bowl for ice cream, the shop around the corner for ices for 5 cents, the leather shop (to smell new leather), and produce stands everywhere. Loved to go to Crotona Park and climb what I thought then were mountains, but just big boulders. You could hear and see the world just by sitting at a window, and ride on a merry-go-round that came by on a truck. Most night the third avenue L put me to sleep. Everything was simple then, yet an awful lot of fun. Good memories they were indeed. Brings tears to my eyesMy Dad and his brothers{ the Geller Bros.} had the candy store, which later turned into a grocery store. There was Bobby{Isadore} Max, Sam, Harry,and Jack. My dad. who was the oldest, lived above the store with his four brothers and two sisters, Faye and Dottie. Will have to post a picture of all of my cousins standing in front of Geller Bros. My uncle Jack and Aunt Millie had the Sugar Bowl, and my Aunt Faye and Uncle Jaime had the chicken market. My dad Bobby died several years ago, and I have fond memories of going to the markets, and visiting grandma Sophie . If you have anything to share, I would love it! This all brings tears to my eyes. Melody Please e mail me @ melody.dancer@cox.net thank you City Girla short video shot on Bathgate in 1958 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgxr03mcVAs Moe, Irv and Max from BathgateMoe, Irv and Max from 1648 Bathgate Ave. in the 1940s are all doing well! I am Max's eldest daughter Aylene. My Dad wrote an article I attached below which was published in a magazine. I spotted this site and couldn't help but to send it to you. Should you wish to reach out to my Dad Max, his e-mail address is primeno19@aol.com. I am sure he would love to reminisce about the days at Bathgate! GOLDMAN’S YARN on BATHGATE AVE. Your last issue on Goldman’s Yarn store prompted me to reflect on some very fond childhood memories. When I was asked for my address as a young boy, at about the age of 11-12, I usually responded, “1648 Bathgate Ave., across the street from Goldman’s”. Mentioning Goldman’s as part of my address not only pinpointed my house but in my mind it elevated the status of my building. To the people in our area, Goldman’s was a neighborhood landmark. It almost ranked with the Loew’s Paradise Theater. My recollection of the Bathgate Ave. area in the late 1940’s was that shoppers associated the ‘market’ as the place to get bargains. My friend claimed he purchased a pair of pants and received a price reduction when he traded in his old pants. The pedestrian traffic on Bathgate Ave from 171st to 174th caused it to be among the most populated areas in the Bronx. Stores were continuous on both sides of the street. There were bakeries, grocery stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, butchers, novelty stores, candy stores, the very first Daitch store, and Olinsky which specialized in appetizing foods. Also, there were many, many vegetable stores which had stands extending half way out onto the sidewalk. Every woman had her favorite stores where she shopped. Also, stationary pushcarts were on the street lined up back to back selling vegetables which added to this already congested scene. In between the pushcarts one can see many horses (how else did the pushcart get to the location?) on the street and some parked cars. The cars which dared to travel through Bathgate Ave. were crawling at 5 mph. This was the environment where Goldman’s was situated. Goldman’s Yarn and Barash Decorators were considered the upscale stores in the area. These stores attracted patrons from affluent Bronx areas, such as the West Bronx (Concourse area), Riverdale, and Parkchester. During the early evening hours (after dinner), Bathgate Ave. took on a different appearance. Pedestrian traffic subsided, pushcarts were leaving, stores were closing, sanitation crews came in for their nightly clean-up job, and many of the residents in the buildings came outside to recapture their street. Mothers relaxed on their chairs outside and discussed the day’s activities with a little gossip injected to spice up their conversation. Friends from various age groups would congregate for their evening activity. One vegetable stand was used for a nightly card game by the older kids. One evening, that card game ended abruptly when a woman in the building above the stand poured a pail of water on the card players for making too much noise. Needless to say, they never played cards at that stand again. For a few years, one of the street games I enjoyed was ‘off the point’. This was a variation of ‘stoop ball’. In this game, we threw a spaldeen at the metal bar just below a store’s window. We used Goldman’s Yarn store for our game because it had a sharp point on its metal bar. On an accurate throw at the metal bar, a ball could travel far and hit the building across the street. If not caught, it‘s considered a home run. Occasionally when we were not so accurate with our throw, we would hit the store’s window above the bar causing the window to vibrate. Of course we kids could never think of the possibility of breaking a window. Evidently Mr. Goldman had a more realistic viewpoint. One evening, as my friends (Pete Palladino, Joseph Greco, and Angelo Pezullo) and I were playing this game, Mr. Goldman ran out angrily chasing us away from his store. The following evening, we needed a substitute activity. We decided to make picket signs which read, “Goldmans is Unfair to Kids”, and jokingly marched in front of the store with these signs. Apparently Mr. Goldman did not see this action as amusing. On the following night, as we were picketing again, 2 policemen from a patrol car stopped and approached us. They took our signs and told us to leave the area. Obviously Mr. Goldman called the police. This was a dramatic event for 11 and 12 year old kids. Who would believe we had a confrontation with the police at that age? During the next few years, I noticed many stores on Bathgate Ave were installing accordion gates. At that time, I naively thought the store owners installed the gates to curtail our evening game ‘hit the point’. Max Tuchman 1657 Bathgate in the 1920s (and maybe 30s)A great-great grandfather of mine (Solomon Beckelman) lived at 1657 Bathgate with his wife (Minnie) and at least one of their daughters (Pauline) in the 1920s. His son, Abraham, was my great-grandfather. Solomon was a tailor, and Abe was a cutter and dressmaker who was married with children by 1912. From the maps I've seen, 1657 and the whole block of houses is (long?) gone. 2068 Bathgate AveMy great-grandaunt, Anna Havemann, lived at 2068 Bathgate Ave from at least 1936 (the year of this photo) until maybe 1950. The building that stands there is a large apartment building. Near as I can tell, it's the same building. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, NYC, Stores & Markets)
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