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Boomers, First Grade: 1953
... time. You had to be careful not to get them caught in the bike chain. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix) ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 03/04/2023 - 8:07pm -

It's seventy years ago in Idyllic Larkspur™, where we find me (bottom left corner) with Bob, David, Bob, Jim, Jim, Margaret, Sandy, Donna, Rae Ann, Roberta, Virginia, Jerry, Buzzy, Fred, Gordy, Frances, Alice, Alice, Sheila, Mrs. Madeline Drew and others whose names I forget. This was taken within a month of losing nearly half our classmates, they having been siphoned off to the district's brand new school in neighboring "Twin City," almost-as-Idyllic Corte Madera. And that one was already overcrowded, for which first-wave baby boomers such as we must shoulder the blame. As for me, good old L-CM was just four blocks from our home at 9 Arch Street, and I continued to walk the round-trip every school day, rain or shine, until I graduated 8th grade. View full size. I went to that school in about 1955I had the same teacher as the picture. Loved playing around the old electric railroad line long gone and the arch bridge behind the school. Saturday kids show at the Lark Theater or hit the dime store to buy a airplane model. Before that went to Park School in Mill Valley. Great times in Marin. Thanks for posting this. Don Stripes and PlaidsI was also in Grade 1 in 1953, tterrace, so we must be close in age. It looks like the mothers of some of the girls had them wear their best dresses. You can check out my story in this Shorpy photo. It was a great time to be a kidFirst -- I love all the missing teeth. In my memory I was snaggletooth for a year. Second -- Buzzy is a cool name. But in time it will work against him as the name on your ID has to exactly match the name on your ticket. I don't go by my first name and ended up having to put my full name on everything. I've mentioned before when I was in second grade my family moved into a neighborhood with better proximity to schools. The neighborhood was built for getting kids through public schools. We easily walked to elementary, junior high, and high school. Now I see cars lined up a block long of parents dropping their kids off or picking them up and wonder how parents find the time and whether the world between home and school is really that much more dangerous. I also remember my friends and I would go off riding our bikes for hours; our mothers had no idea where we were. No one thought we had bad mothers. I'm grateful we were given the opportunity to go explore our world as much as we wanted ... as long as we were home by dinner. Let's play "I Spy"There's so much to choose from: --at least 12 wearing plaid --at least 6 teeth are missing --one pair Converse high tops --one puppy-love couple (though one party may be cheating) --5 hair ribbons I love this photo so much. When I headed off to kindergarten in 1958 I had the requisite plaid dress, pigtails, ribbons and saddle shoes. Angus J WindsorAngus you and your mom look like the family that left for Australia in 1958. That photo was in Hawaii on your long journey south. Did you ever come back to Canada? I was a little older than you in St. Thomas Ontario 100 miles to the east. Class SizeOne of my old classmates recently sent out via the internet the 6th grade graduation day photo from Loring Grade School in Minneapolis, dated June 1958. There were 38 of us in the photo, and three were absent that day. That was one of two 6th grade classes, the other being of similar size. How did the teachers manage it? I never thought about it at the time -- it was just boomer normality. Bespectacled I hope that being (evidently) the only student in the class requiring corrective eyewear wasn't a significant peer-teasing issue for you. Kids can be cruel creatures, often because of their honesty to emotion and selfishness rather than sheer meanness. This reality however, doesn’t make learning the lesson that life isn’t a walk in the park where everyone gets along any easier. As the years continue to pile-on, my first day at school, Sept. 5, 1950, doesn't seem that long ago! [Well, later on some of my classmates liked calling me "Professor," because of my glasses but apparently also - I later learned at a high school reunion - regard for my embryonic erudition. Which regrettably wasn't reflected on my report cards. -tterrace] Say Che-e-e-seThis is the cutest picture. An abundance of genuine joy in their faces, few faked/forced grins in the bunch. Wish I had even one of my elementary-school class group photos. I wonder if the couple standing in the back, holding hands, are brother and sister -- fraternal twins. They have similar facial features. [No, Gordy and Frances weren't related. -tterrace] 2nd GenerationSons and daughters of the Western Electric Christmas Party. [These would be their grandchildren! - Dave] Zipper43 St. ThomasTop marks for making the connection Zipper 43. My father worked for Ford and introduced the Ford Falcon to Australia. Our family lived in Geelong and Melbourne from 1958 until 1963 when we moved back to Windsor. Two years later my father left Ford and the family moved to Vancouver, B.C. where I still live. In 1967 another job took the family to Winnipeg and finally Toronto. I was a trolley bus driver in Vancouver for 41 years and retired thirteen years ago. I have been back to visit Australia seven times. Dress code?I see jeans, sneakers, and T-shirts. I started first grade in 1959 and we weren't allowed to wear those until 1969, when I was in high school. Names on the backMy mom made sure we wrote the names of all the kids on the back of our class photos. Of course, we thought that was pretty silly, as we *knew* all their names. I should probably annotate the online pictures with text names in case any of those guys search the Internet for themselves. It's fun to read those names. So familiar, when reminded. We moved away in the 6th grade, so all are scattered to the wind. [There are names on the back in my mother's handwriting, but not for all, and with one "?". Interestingly, the blanks are the ones I can't remember now. Everybody else's I've never forgotten. -tterrace] No suits and ties for kids in CaliforniaRe casual clothes -- California! I'm of similar age and also from Northern California and I have school photos of me in a white T-shirt. Don't have a class photos handy, so not sure if I was dressed up in those. At that age I was also wearing button up shirts my mother made. Although I do remember in our Sacramento high school in the early sixties we were finally allow to wear shorts. As long as we had on long socks. I think that was a nonstarter; the long socks were not cool (in either sense). Boomers, Kindergarten: 1953Here's my Kindergarten class picture, also from 1953, at Thomas M. Balliet Elementary School, Springfield, MA. The discolorations result from the fact that this was originally stuck into a plaster backing that we each decorated to give to our parents. My mother ended up cutting the edges to free the picture from its ugly 'frame.' I only remember two of the kids in the class. (I long since left Springfield and have spent my entire adult life in tterrace's area, the Twin Cities of Larkspur and Corte Madera.) Rolled up pant legsNot sure how they felt about it at the time, but if it were acceptable these days to have my jeans legs rolled up as much as those guys in the front row, I'd be grateful, not because I'm soon going to experience a growth spurt like them, but because manufacturers don't make 'em short enough for me. I can vaguely remember those huge cuffs around that time. You had to be careful not to get them caught in the bike chain. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Pittsburgh: 1941
... well as unusual challenges for pedestrians, joggers, the bike police, and especially pizza delivery. . . ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2018 - 11:03am -

January 1941. "Long stairway in mill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the FSA. View full size. HauntingSad but yet beautiful photograph. You can hear the ice crunching under the woman's steps on the long stairway. Would love to see a picture today to see what remains. When the mills closedI moved to Pittsburgh (Ambridge) in 1980 and the sky was yellow. By 1984 when I left the sky was blue...most of the mills had closed. This scene could be anywhere in the Pittsburgh area and is really representative of what it was like. Except for the vintage car, I've been in this scene. I don't understand why I'm coughing......maybe it's the pollen??? Less smoggy, still cloudyWell, the hills are still there! The mills, not so much. The smell of moneyLooks downright Dickensian. There is a pulp mill out in the bay near where I live. For decades it belched a foul smelling brew of toxins from the stacks until the owners were forced to install scrubbers to clean up the exhaust. Now you'd hardly know it was there. When someone would complain to my friend's dad, who worked there for decades, he would reply, "That's the smell of money." City StepsA few years ago Bob Regan documented these stairways in a book called "The Steps of Pittsburgh." There are some 700 stairways all over the city. From the publisher's website: Many of Pittsburgh's steps are legal streets, and all of them reflect the city's unique topography and history. Together, these 712 sets of steps provide a vital link in the city's transportation system as well as unusual challenges for pedestrians, joggers, the bike police, and especially pizza delivery. . . . San Franciscans like to boast about their steps and consider them a top tourist attraction, but they "only" have 350 sets. Cincinnatians do the same, but claim a mere 400. Neither have steps that are legal streets. Pittsburgh is clearly King of the Steps and a place beloved by the self-propelled. Whether you're an active step trekker or an armchair climber, The Steps of Pittsburgh should be on your to-do list! Every year there's an event called the Step Trek that takes participants all over the steps on the South Side Slopes. It's pretty cool and great exercise! Thanks for the beautiful photograph. Led ZeppelinI was raised in a small, very industrial Connecticut town in the 1940's which had a similar wooden staircase from Main Street over the railroad tracks. When we had to attend church, it was necessary to ascend these many, many stairs, after which we were faced with a steep, almost straight up hill, to get to the level of tiers on which our church stood. It was so steep, the concrete was scored about every inch to give better footing and in icy, snowy weather, it was a real challenge. I used to think of it as a stairway to Heaven, and then the title above came out with their hit song. I thought of it first. The town was Seymour, for all you doubting Thomases. The church was St. Augustine's. Good day. Smoke ControlPittsburgh passed strict (for the time) environmental laws a year later, in 1941. What they called "smoke control" back then was delayed until after the war, but went into effect in 1946 and cleaned up the city's air well before the steel industry went south. Smoke Gets in Your EyesMy dad visited cousins in Pittsburgh around the same time this photo was taken. He spoke of sitting on the front porch and watching soot settle on the railing. Hell with its hat offI saw that caption on a picture of a Pittsburgh populated by stacks belching smoke in the bad old industrial days. My daughter is studying ballet there now. It's a different place, really an beautiful city. Not hard to find reminders of those days, though -- soot-blackened buildings and decrepit factory sites. Bisbee, ArizonaAnother vertical metallurgical town where stairways take the place of streets. Three shirt townThey used to call Pittsburgh a three shirt town. You'd wear one in the morning until the sweat and soot mixture was turning your collar gray, then change into another at lunch, and then into a third at dinnertime. I Had No IdeaI had no idea that Pittsburgh was a city of steps. You learn something every day. Thanks for posting this beautiful picture. Photos of some of the city's steps here (http://www.frontiernet.net/~rochballparks2/towns/pgh_steps.htm) for those as ignorant as I of the wonders of Pittsburgh! Epic PicThis is an epic capture. Its like a frame from some Academy Award bait movie. This image is as fantastic to me as something from the new Star Trek movie - and I mean that as a compliment. So inclinedMy son delivers appliances in Pittsburgh, a challenge in that city. And watching a cable guy run a new wire is like having a front row seat a Cirque du Soleil. One of our roofers lives on one of these "stairway streets". He says that there are 214 stair steps to reach his front door and that the number one rule in his household is that you never enter or leave empty-handed. Those Steps...........look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I'm surprised someone didn't rig up some type of trolley to get from one end to the other (both ways). Dig Sixteen TonsAngular staircase, belching factory, grim lack of scenery: Makes me think of the bleak urban intro to Joe Versus the Volcano. Gotta hope someone in one of those houses has a hula lamp. Honore SharrerYesterday's New York Times carried the obituary of Honore Sharrer, "a noted American artist of the 1940s and afterward whose bold, witty, incisive paintings documented the daily experiences of ordinary working people. Known for their jewel-like colors and painstaking attention to detail, her paintings were purposely flat, hyperrealistic and strongly narrative in their depiction of everyday life." It doesn't have anything to do with this particular photograph, but I found this part of the obituary to be of interest to Shorpyites: Ms. Sharrer’s masterwork, critics widely agree, is her painting “Tribute to the American Working People.” A five-image polyptych that recalls a medieval or Renaissance altarpiece, it is more than two yards long and a yard high and took five years to paint. Its central figure, a factory worker, is flanked by smaller scenes of ordinary people at a picnic, in a parlor, on a farm and in a schoolroom. Completed in 1951, the painting was unveiled that year at Ms. Sharrer’s first solo exhibition, at the Knoedler Galleries in New York. Reviewing the exhibition in The New York Times, Stuart Preston called “Tribute” “a notable contemporary American painting” and “a bold, frank and fine achievement.” “Tribute,” which is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, was the subject of an exhibition there in 2007 devoted exclusively to it. Titled “Anatomy of a Painting: Honoré Sharrer’s ‘Tribute to the American Working People,’ ” the exhibition featured much of Ms. Sharrer’s source material, including Farm Security Administration photographs from the late 1930s. Hats off to Jack Delano and all the FSA photographers. "Paper Streets"I live in this neighborhood. The term we use is "paper streets" because on the city map, they look like any other street, but that's only on paper. My girlfriend has called me in tears when her Garmin couldn't get her home because it wanted her car to take staircases. These sets of steps also all have street signs like any other city roadways. Paper Alley"Paper streets" are common here in Pittsburgh and the suburbs, but most common are "paper alleys." There is one directly across the street from me that runs up the side, then in back of all of the houses. It's now covered in grass and woods (and I imagine it has been this way for at least 90 years). My parents used to fight the boro to let them take ownership of the "property," however they have not budged in 35 years. Funny how the local gov't doesn't want to take care of it, and after my parents stopped, the neighbor does on the other side. Love Pittsburgh!I have lived in Pittsburgh all 23 years of my life. I would never live anywhere else. It's sad we can't get this smoke-ridden image out of the minds of people. This is nothing like the city today. Pittsburgh is a beautiful, growing city that is leading the way in green technology. After the steel industry collapse, the city plummeted into debt. Now, we are a shining example. Anyways, that misconception will be shattered with the hosting of the G-20 Summit here in September! Pay attention to the news around that time. Anyways, this is still a great image. You cannot deny this city's history, and the steel industry was vital to the US, especially during WWII. Pittsburgh has always been a pivotal cornerstone in American (and world) history. Does anybody know where this mill is located? Warhol-landThis is the Pittsburgh that artist Andy Warhol was born into in 1928. When this picture was made, a 12-year-old Warhol was living with his family in a house on a soot-covered hillside in a neighborhood just like this. It's Tullymet StreetThese steps connect Sylvan Avenue and Chance Way in the city's Hazelwood neighborhood. The old wooden steps have been replaced with concrete. The house sitting just out of the frame is gone along with most of the homes on Sylvan. [Thanks for the answer to a longstanding question! - Dave] First Three homes are still thereIt looks as if the first 3 homes in the middle of the picture are still there. So cool to finally know where this photo was taken! many thanks to sinking_ship for solving that mystery! This is still one of the most beat up areas in the 'burghWhen I return via Allegheny County airport in W. Mifflin, we always pass thru this area on our way to Oakland. It's pretty sad now but still very recognizable from this photo. My foreign born wife immediately recognized the neighborhood just from the lay of the land. Back in the early 70s I worked the last in-city blast furnaces at Jones & Laughlin steel just down the road towards Oakland. Very glad I had the chance to touch the history before it was gone. Been thereI lived in the third house in from 1953/1960. Glad my house is still there. First Two HomesSince the photo of first three homes still standing was submitted, the third one in is now gone also...along with pretty much everything in the 1940 photo... (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Pittsburgh)
Law and Order: 1918
... most useful motorcycle accessory I've ever seen. Every bike should have one. Manhole cover For some reason, I continue to be ... Hollywood image of a cop, riding at breakneck speed on his bike, guns ablazin', is silly. Red Scare Actually there was an earlier ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/24/2014 - 8:57pm -

New York. May 16, 1918. "Police machine gun." 5x7 glass neg. View full size. They're not so toughJust wait till they meet up with The Rat Patrol! RoboCop, 1918 StyleI'll bet those unruly crowds dispersed in a heartbeat when THAT came buzzing around the corner! Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat!Why did this police department need such heavy firepower? At first, I thought, "bootleggers!," but Prohibition didn't start until the following year. Red ScareThis was at the height of Red Scare when it seemed to certain Justice Dept. people that the Bolsheviks were going to try to take over America next. [The Red Scare was in the 1940s and 1950s. What prompted this was the outbreak of World War I and fears of German saboteurs. - Dave] Firepower, candlepowerI hope they did their shooting in the daytime. That kerosene headlamp wouldn't have been have been much good at night. Other interesting features of the Indian include an extremely primitive speedometer running off the front wheel hub (it looks like an afterthought), and an exposed clutch, just behind the driver's boot. There was an attempt to revive the Indian brand in California in the 1990's, but the company went under after making just a few bikes... based on much later models than this one, of course. Potato DiggerI think that is an 1895 Browning "potato digger" Third Liberty LoanCheck out the poster in the background. MountedThe machine gun is mounted on a sidecar, right? The tripod looks a little tall, the machine gunner will have to stand to use the sights. But you know when the policeman says "pull over," you better do it quick! After WWII think "Tipster" is referring to the Red Scare in this country as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This photo was taken before that occurred. Two things.One, they better get some earplugs. Two, I need one of those on my motorcycle. Believe me. RecoilI can only imagine the kick that monster would inflict on the rider and the sidecar! A ChoiceI think the Indian motorcycle is more interesting than the machine gun. However the gunner appears to be very focused, almost like he's looking for an excuse to fire. Colt-Browning Tater DiggerColt-Browning machine gun Stuffed ShirtWhat is that jammed into the jacket of the cop walking behind the motorcycle? A very low-slung bulletproof vest? A canned ham? Half of a skateboard? Please, someone tell me there's an explanation. Indian MotorcyclesThe Indian Brand has once again been resurrected in 2009. They're being built in North Carolina and they're a pretty sweet looking ride, but time will tell if it's a successful reboot of the brand. AhoyPut these guys on a ship, and dare the pirates to even look like they're going to board. Shoe fetishO.K. I admit it. One of my favorite things about this blog and the photos are the fab boots and shoes these folks were wearing. Right handedIndian motorcycles' twist-grip throttle was on the left side. Because most people are right-handed the cops could shoot and ride. The Canned HamThat lump in the background officer's coat is his sidearm, most likely a revolver in a full-flap holster. As per the earlier photo of the lady traffic cop: https://www.shorpy.com/node/5864 Must have!This is the most useful motorcycle accessory I've ever seen. Every bike should have one. Manhole coverFor some reason, I continue to be impressed that the manhole covers from a century or more ago look essentially the same as those today. So many other practical things are very different from today, but not those. I'd give a mint for one of thoseI wonder if a version of this contraption sits in a museum anywhere? This is a pretty radical law enforcement solution even back in those "uncivilized" days... Maybe it was related to the end of WWI? What might be the legitimate reason for arming motorcycle guys with something like this? [See the newspaper clipping below. - Dave] The whole setup seems a bit unwieldy however and machine guns are notoriously inaccurate in an ideal staging. This would be especially true when you're on a bouncy motorcycle sidecar on 1918 city streets possible getting shot at by somebody while the scared driver swerves wildly to avoid bullets. I prefer the M203 version with my Harley! Cash box?Any idea what the little "treasure chest" on top of/attached to the gas tanks is for? Maybe..doughnuts? Tool bagI was looking at an Indian Big Twin at a motorcycle museum and if memory servers, that's the tool bag on top of the tank. Throttle GripThe idea that Indians used left hand throttles so the cops could shoot while riding ia a myth. There was no standardization of controls back then. Indian used a left hand throttle because that's the way they always did it. Harleys used a right hand throttle and just as many police departments used them as those that preferred Indians. The Hollywood image of a cop, riding at breakneck speed on his bike, guns ablazin', is silly. Red ScareActually there was an earlier "Red Scare" which ran from 1917 to 1920. As a Teaching Assistant in gradual school (25 years ago) I lectured on this subject. This earlier Red Scare was involved with the fear of a Bolshevik-like revolution being imported into America. Fifth Columnists were seen almost under every rock. Union organizers, socialist activists, civil rights proponents, suffragettes, pacifists, Jewish immigrants, German Immigrants, and anyone remotely critical of the government were all suspects. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Motorcycles, NYC)
Shop Early for Xmas: 1922
... I'll take the... Kodak Autographics, bike and Lionel train sets, please! Santa Please... ...bring me the sled ... there are individually wrapped. I don't recognize the bike in the window, but it looks big; in the early 1950s we had a hand-me-down ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/06/2015 - 12:35am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Sport Mart, 1303 F Street N.W." Shorpy would like one of each, please. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Update: For the window-shoppers among us, I've posted a bigger closeup here. Lionel Train SetThat Lionel Electric Train Set is to die for!! I know fellow collectors who, if they had only the original box displayed in this picture, would be in fandom heaven. Joshua Lionel Owen invented the first toy trains in 1901 so New York City Department Stores could use them for window displays during Christmas. The rest as they say is history. Great picture. Also, just can't imagine any store having all those guns in a front window anymore, with just plate glass in front of them as protection from theft. Were people really that honest back then? Don't bother with the girlsLove all the signs. Also interesting to see another pre-WWII swastika, and this one is even turned 45 degrees onto a point, the same as the Nazis did. [That's two interlocking S's, for Stetson Shoes. Ten lines. A swastika has six. - Dave] Airguns $1I'm sorry, Shorpy, you don't want that. You'll put your eye out. Western Auto, Carroll Cut Rite....In the small mill town where I grew up, we had the two stores mentioned as well as United Cigar and Hart's 5 & 10. Their windows examples of just about every single item in inventory. The multitude of tiered shelves allowed one to see what was inside without actually going in. For the kids (like me) that had a total of $10 to buy six gifts, it was great to stand in front of the window and budget out the allotment, figuring out who would get what before actually buying. Mom always got the blue bomb bottle of Evening in Paris or dusting powder, Dad got something in Old Spice, an inflatable toy for my baby brother, handkerchiefs or an autograph book for Sis, etc. Christmas will never be as meaningful as when we had to budget every cent because it really meant something more than just purchasing merchandise. I'll take the...Kodak Autographics, bike and Lionel train sets, please! Santa Please......bring me the sled that looks just like Rosebud, and the Lionel trains, and the golf set with those fabulous hickory shafts. I need a new niblick. Alice MaynardOne wonders what Alice Maynard is selling "upstairs." Probably entirely innocent - probably ladies clothing based on what we can see in the second floor windows - but the filthy mind gets all sorts of ideas. Can I have the .22 please?That Winchester pump .22 would be worth big bucks if it were in good condition today. Re: Santa Please...I couldn't help but notice the fatness of the "pre-pass" era type of footballs. More like a rugby or Aussie rules football. Toy StoryGreat photo, Dave. I can't tell how much the chess set is, but it looks like a nice one. Cowboy suede holsters and Indian feathered headbands would be frowned upon today. I am puzzled why a thermos is more expensive than a golf set. There's so much to look at. By the way, are those irons (the kind for pressing clothes?) What's with that? [The sign under the vacuum bottles is for a $15 "tackle outfit." - Dave] I have a pump .22 a lot like the one in the window......but its a "Savage" vs. a "Winchester", octagonal barrel, you can take it apart with one screw. Last fired about 25 years ago! Not to Nitpickbut it's Joshua Lionel Cowen, ne Cohen. He was the great-uncle of the infamous Roy Cohn, who later was board chairman of the train company. Fix bayonets!That Daisy BB gun has a bayonet on it -- more fun than lawn darts! SavageI believe Savage was taken over by Winchester way back when. I had a 1918 Winchester pump as a kid. I really loved it and used it in the late 40's and 50's. Wish I could find another under $1k. Aw, Why do I have to be a girl?I'm looking at all the really neat stuff in the window. All my friends were boys when I was growing up and their toys were the best. If I lived back then, my mother would have shopped for me one door over to the right, where they have a selection of ugly, boring dolls. Dreaming of the train set... .38How long would those pistols last in a glass storefront in 2008? Not long. Pistols..The pistol on the right is most likely a Colt Model 1903 .32 ACP or perhaps a Model 1908 .380. The Revolver is a Smith and Wesson. I can't identify caliber size or frame type. As to the pistol on the left, your guess is as good as mine. It's interesting that Washington D.C. in the 1920's where you could buy guns no questions asked at a department store with glass windows was much safer than 21st century D.C. where possession of any one of the firearms in that window was a felony until recently. What every boys wants...but should he get a revolver? Oooooh! Oooooh!I was born 25 years later, but in spirit my nose- and handprints are all over that Sport Mart window. I have hundreds of engines and cars in my collection but no Lionel that goes back to the 1920s, much to my sorrow. Dad couldn't wait to put one under the tree, so I had my first one at age 4; at 62 I still play with trains! (Sadly, electric train sales have fallen on hard times and only the old boys are interested.) I do have most of the cameras in that window but they aren't quite so shiny -- but they do work, even the ones going back to the 1870s. Air rifles weren't allowed in my family (had to play with my friend's guns on the sly) and they sure couldn't be had for a dollar then! Even the boys in my family spent a lot of quality time using an iron (the ones that put a crease in your britches and made your starched shirts crisp -- not the ones you hit little white balls with) but I don't remember thinking it was much of a sport! Note that the golf balls there are individually wrapped. I don't recognize the bike in the window, but it looks big; in the early 1950s we had a hand-me-down of indeterminate origin, the only 38-incher in the neighborhood. Not much in the window for the little girls in 1921. The signs seem to indicate they may not have gotten them personally as gifts, but in some families the "tomboys" had their ways! Some things have changed for the better. A Visit from the Innuendo FairyDon't all "bicycles" have "reputations?" Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more! ShockingBesides the toys there are bunches of household items on display (but don't get me wrong, I want the train set and a basement to put it in). I'm suddenly interested in the parallel history of the battery and portable electrical devices. Things like flashlights had to have been introduced for the consumer with a battery in mind. Of course after a few years batteries became ubiquitous, but imagine going to a store and picking up a battery and not already owning anything to put it in. Lionel for ChristmasI had a circa 1941 Lionel freight train complete with all the cars and a headlight. I got it for Christmas. It also had little tablets that you could drop down the stack so that the engine puffed smoke as it tore around the three-rail track. Alas, my dear mom gave it away to Goodwill one day when I was in high school. Sigh! Indoor SportsSome of the Christmas Specials in this display window bring new meaning to the term Sporting Goods. The lower left section is filled with electric-powered household appliances: Irons, a toaster, a coffee percolator ("perculator" in the sign) and a set of antler-handled carving knives for that Christmas turkey. When I was a kid in the 1950s there were a few moms in our neighborhood who seemed to think that Extreme Ironing was a competition sport, but they usually got their gear at Sears. And what about that accordion in the back row next to the electric space heater? $16There's a sign just below the sled for $16 but I can't make it out. Can you blow it up? [Kaboom. - Dave] Electric TorchJust to feed everyone's new interest in the subject, here's a post from the inimitable Daniel Rutter that includes some early flashlight background. $5.50 for a dozen golf balls.A lost ball in a water hazard or the rough had to have hurt! Made In U. S. A.For an advocate of American-made goods which are currently difficult (to impossible) to find for gift-giving, I assume that almost everything in this window was made right here in the USA. A twinge of sorrow takes over as I wonder if Lionel is still made here, or Daisy Air guns or Flexible Flyers. Christmas lights shown here for $8.50 (a huge amount of money in 1921) can be bought today for a couple of dollars. Yes, imports are cheap, cheap, cheap, but also disposable and short-lived. Time marches on and even Levis are made in Mexico, Converse in China. I did find nail clippers made in the USA last week for $1. Maybe I'll be like Jack Benny and give gifts of just shoelaces and nail clippers this year. Don't know of ANY toys or electronics made here. One other non-imported gift suggestion is to give the gift recipient a hand-made gift card for FOUR HOURS of personal advice. (few people will cash it in) Merry Christmas fellow Shorpy addicts. Get the boy something he wants...All he wants now is a Wii, a Playsatation, a Game Cube, an iPod... How unfortunate. I want a time machine. How dare they...Look at them! Creating these restrictive gender roles and explicitly marketing them to impressionable children? The audacity! The horror! Someone call the NOW and shut these advocates of boyhood down! Rampant (and refreshing) political correctness aside, this is a fabulous picture. I love these, where you can just drink in wonderful little details. You can even read the sign company name on the SportMart sign. You really do a great job sharpening these up, Dave. What's the white squiggly line in the upper left corner? Looks like the border of a postcard or something, but how did it get in that rather strange location on this picture? Either that, or I'm missing something very obvious and it's a water pipe or something. [It's the decoration (or alarm tape, which did indeed exist in 1921) on a windowpane. - Dave] Made in USA.Yoda, I know what you mean, but on the other hand, today when we sub out low end manufacturing, the material wealth is so much higher. Most kids today would already own some or most of the goods in the window display, whereas I bet that the overall market penetration of electric trains, etc. was much more limited in the 1920s. Is that a Red Ryder BB Gun?Santa sez "You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!" Jean Shepherd must be chortling (yes, chortling, that's what he said) and smiling down on this scene. Nice gunsGrew up in Rogers, Arkansas where the Daisy plant was located. I had a lever-action '.30-.30' style bb rifle that you loaded from the side - it lasted for years and received all kinds of mistreatment. Also, learned to shoot with my grandfather's .22 that looked quite similar to the one pictured, but I cannot remember what make it was. Smith & WessonThe 3 pistols in the front center appear to be Smith & Wesson. Their boxes sport the distinctive (intricate) S&W Logo, or an earlier version of it. Small Pistol on the LeftI realize this is 6 years later, but what the heck. The small pistol on the left in the group of three pistols appears to be either a Mauser 1910 (25ACP) or the 1914 (32 ACP). (The Gallery, Bicycles, Christmas, D.C., Stores & Markets)
Junior Driver: 1949
A Schwinn bike and its garage-mates circa 1949, from a set of 35mm Kodachromes I acquired ... not carbon fiber composite and Shimano parts. That bike looks as heavy as a tank too. I think when cars hit these the cars got damaged NOT the bike. Trunk Trim The trim on the Pontiac, the car on the right, ... 
 
Posted by historic52 - 12/08/2012 - 5:25pm -

A Schwinn bike and its garage-mates circa 1949, from a set of 35mm Kodachromes I acquired in northern New Jersey. View full size. Too old for the trainersThe kid looks a little too old for training wheels. Maybe it's just the suite and tie. Definitely not carbon fiber composite and Shimano parts.That bike looks as heavy as a tank too. I think when cars hit these the cars got damaged NOT the bike. Trunk TrimThe trim on the Pontiac, the car on the right, indicates that it is a 1951 model. The 1949, 1950, and 1952 trims were all different so it is easy to tell the year by looking at the trunk. Similarly, the Chevrolet parked next to it is a 1950 model. The 1949 model had different trunk trim and the 1951 and later models had the tail lights on the outermost part of the fenders instead of on the slope between the fender and trunk. The photos below show the differences between the years. New Jersey license plates from both 1949 and 1951 were white lettering on a black background. Tight SqueezeIf the driver of the Pontiac wanted to leave first, how would they get in? Clip-on tieBoys' bow ties of that era were usually clip-on. Know this firsthand. Also the license plate on the Pontiac is a 1951 New Jersey tag. Quite impressiveTaking into consideration everything; the well dressed kid, the bike, and the cars, this was a very well to do family in 1951! Sunday MorningLooks like Sunday morning before getting into the car for church... Good Job Zcarstvnz!Great ID on the model years Zcarstvnz. My initial guess was '50 on the Pontiac and '49 on the Chevy, but I could not find any good rear photos for confirmation. Nice informative post. Clip-onsI grew up in the 1950s, and any special event required all the boys and girls to "dress up." My dresser drawer had a selection of clip-on bow ties, and I don't recall learning to tie a Windsor knot until I was about 10. Was this boy's tie a clip on? It sure looks like one. When I was dressed up, my mother wouldn't let me near my bicycle. I wasn't alone?I thought that I was the only kid dressed that way! I had the same bike too but with a blue/cream coloration. Possible Reason for the Suit and TieOne possible reason for our young man to be riding his bike in a suitcoat and tie - it is Easter morning. I have a number of these same kind of pictures that seem to have the exact same feel to them. A bright, sunny Spring day and me dressed up in new Easter clothes waiting for the rest of the family to finish getting ready and go to church. (Look at his clothes and especially his shoes - way too new for a young boy to keep taht clean) I would be bored silly as I was the youngest and usually the first to be gotten ready so I would go off to find something to do while I waited. "Don't get into anything" would be the command from my mother. Most of the time I didn't... Perfect ProportionsI, too, had that model Schwinn, minus light and training wheels. I've always thought it was a particularly attractive machine, with proportions much closer to those of a motorcycle than the bigger bikes possessed. When I outgrew it, I inherited my mother's Schwinn, complete with tank horn, sprung fork, and Pierce-Arrow-style headlamp. Having a silly given name and riding a girl's bike guarantees that one will grow up to be a decent boxer ... if one grows up at all. 1950 Chevrolet and 1951 Pontiac1950 Chevy with Powerglide on the left, and a 1951 Pontiac Catalina. Gotta hurryMr. White's gonna kill me if I miss another deadline at the Daily Planet! Guaranteed for as long as he owns itLooks like the lucky lad has himself a 20 inch Model J-46 Schwinn. The circular badge just forward of the left tail light on the Pontiac identifies it as either a 1951 or 1952. Just like meI didn't know there was another kid who put on his coat and tie to ride his bike. I didn't use training wheels, though, and I had a regular tie with a windsor knot. Didn't know how to tie a bow tie. OptionalLicense plates? Maybe the owner of the new Pontiac was saving the Chevy for a Barret-Jackson Auction in 2013? Young Pee Wee Hermanheads off on his first Big Adventure. Great Caesar's Ghost!He's even wearing Jimmy Olsen's bow tie! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Motorcycle Mama: 1937
... stupid when I rode my Harley... I'd love to have her bike now. Crash Guards By the looks of the crash guard, it had been laid ... her Indian in 1932. Same style duds, but when not on the bike add a gunbelt. Instead of a helmet, add a rakish cap (think Brando). ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:51am -

September 15, 1937. "First of fair sex to obtain motorcycle license in Capital. Although she weighs only 88 pounds -- one-third of the machine she rides, Mrs. Sally Halterman is the first woman to be granted a license to operate a motorcycle in the District of Columbia. She is 27 years old and 4 feet, 11 inches tall. Immediately after receiving her permit, Mrs. Halterman was initiated into the D.C. Motorcycle Club -- the only girl ever to be accorded this honor." View full size. Brain Bucket?Not much of a helmet, but I was pretty stupid when I rode my Harley... I'd love to have her bike now. Crash GuardsBy the looks of the crash guard, it had been laid down a few times on the right side. The front fender and headlight rim didn't fare too well either. Look at her feet.She really is tiny. She can barely touch the ground. Love the boots and the jodhpurs though. If I were still riding, I'd have to think about getting a similar outfit. Aunt Eva was a CarnyRode loop the loops on her Indian in 1932. Same style duds, but when not on the bike add a gunbelt. Instead of a helmet, add a rakish cap (think Brando). I'll have to see about scanning a picture of her in her "uniform." A total packageThose boots just *make* the outfit. And she's got great gloves. You'd think someone could make a bike more her size, though. Maybe she got one eventually, custom-built. Still a girl of 27Wow! 27 years old and still a *girl*! at 4 foot 11, that makes her more like a midget. Wanna Race?Her squint says: Road rash? maybe a time or two. What about it? Go Biker Chick!!Most bikes are too tall for the shorter-than-average woman and man even today. I'm 5-foot-3 and can barely reach the ground on my Harley Sportster. I had to make sure to get boots with good heels. I can't imagine riding in that helmet. It looks like a bathing cap! UpfrontNo riding on the bitch seat for this Hot Mamma. Productive CussingTypically the differences in names between the Library of Congress and Washington Post archives are slight variances of spelling. I don't know what could account the Harris & Ewing photographer mistaking the name 'Robinson' for 'Halterman'. Washington Post, Sep 11, 1937 D.C.'s Lone Girl Motorcyclist Stormed Loudly to Get Permit Sally Robinson - She Weighs Only 88 Pounds - Had to 'Buffalo' Stalwart Policeman but Finally Won His Praise - and License. By dint of stamping her foot Sally Robinson, of 2120 H street northwest, has become the only girl in Washington licensed to ride a motorcycle. Miss Robinson - all 88 pounds of her - has been operating motorcycles on and off since 1928, but last spring she decided she wanted a permit. The policeman assigned to officiate at her examination had different ideas, however. Although the District has no law against women motorcyclists, this examiner apparently thought it should have. "First he said I was too little, then he said I was too young," Miss Robinson declaimed yesterday, malice toward all policeman shining in her eyes." She is 27, years old and 4 feet 11 inches tall, and didn't see what either factor had to do with her sitting behind the handlebars of a motorcycle. "I passed the written examination all right - passed it twice, in fact. The first time I got 80 on it, but that wasn't good enough for him so I went down again and got 92, when that didn't satisfy him, I got my lawyer. "Well, that cop looked from me to the lawyer, and from the lawyer to me, and then he said I could take my road test," she continued. Her difficulties had not ended, however. Thinking all was well, she said goodbye to her lawyer and started out for the road test. Then the policeman announced he would not ride with her in the sidecar of the machine he provided for the test - he said he was afraid to. But when the test was over, the examiner announced, "Lady, you handle it as well as a man could. Your balance is swell and you know the machine. But I didn't see you kick it over so I can't give you the permit." That was when Miss Robinson started "cussing him out." "I called him such names - well, I was ashamed of myself. But it worked, and I have the permit." Miss Robinson uses the smallest type of machine built, but at that it weighs 325 pounds, nearly four times as much as she does. Despite the fact, it occasionally falls on her, she insists she would rather ride that machine than eat when she's hungry. As for automobiles, she has no use for them whatsoever. At present her chief goal is membership in the Capitolians, a newly formed motorcycle club of which Lynn Cook, 1515 U street northwest is president. She will be on the only girl in the club, which does not share the Police Department's prejudice against the sex. Name Difference>> I don't know what could account the Harris & Ewing photographer mistaking the name "Robinson" for "Halterman." It probably wasn't a mistake. Confusion on the distaff sideIf your information is correct, I'd say that Robinson is her maiden name, and Halterman is her married name. "Miss" v. "Mrs. Ya reckonshe had a shirt that said "If you can read this, the bastard fell off!"? Harley SportsterBiker Girl, most people think the Sportster is an easy bike to ride, but that is far from the truth. The Sportster came out in 1958 and was adopted by many as a "bar hopper" motorcycle. The Sportster is really harder to ride than the other models. it has a higher center of gravity and more torque in the lower gears and is by no means a starter bike. I've owned just about ever model and would strongly recommend the Fat Boy model. Harley Sportster or Fat Boy?Jimmy, I appreciate your opinion but disagree. The 883 Sportster is truly an entry level bike. It has centered ergos (no forward controls or floorboards), less weight and more ground clearance than any of the Softail models. Its reduced fork rake and better clearance make it far more maneuverable than any Fat Boy. Unlike the 1200 motor, the 883 doesn't make that much torque and is very tractable and easy to control. I think apart from Harley, there are better starter bikes, but if you must have a Harley and you're a newbie, a Sporty is hard to beat. Where do I buy the poster?I ride motorcycles, and own two, and YES, I'm a chick! I love these vintage pics, and would be honoured to have her splashed against a prominent wall in my home. Good for her!! Girls, get on out there. It's tons of fun, believe me! Leave your fears at the door. This sport is just too much fun to miss out on! Small differences a result of retrospective reporting.The posters story looks to have been written long after, by someone who wanted it to sound like it was written then. The original story as pasted in the comments has two important clues. As mentioned before, the original refers to her as "Miss Robinson" while the more current peice uses a married name. Also, the fabrication states: "Mrs. Halterman was initiated into the D.C. Motorcycle Club -- the only girl ever to be accorded this honor." While the older story says she intended at that time to ask for membership, implying that it wasn't a certainty. [A Shorpy mystery! Somehow you've gotten very confused. At least you've gotten me very confused. Below, the newspaper article that you think was "fabricated." What are you thinking is "the original" -- the original what? The caption under the photo comes from the Library of Congress. - Dave] A little history on "Dot" RobinsonShe was really really something! (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Motorcycles)
Little Red Wagons: 1965
... taken. I think it has a lot to do with the sidewalks, "bike" ramps at the corners and, unfortunately, no trees. Not gorgeous, but ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 06/24/2009 - 4:53pm -

Diamond Bar, California, August 1965. The owner of the MG across the street isn't having quite as good a day as my niece and nephew. I shot this on 35mm Kodachrome. View full size. The Missing BehomethsNotice that the usual big American cars are curiously absent. There is a Rambler/American Motors(?) type station wagon in the driveway, a smaller Ford in the street, the MG, and a VW up the cross street. I guess all the Pontiac Bonnevilles were parked at the office. The neighborhoodIs that the Brady Bunch house up the street? Color, color and more colorI can't believe the gorgeous color that you've still got in these photos. Even the one of your mother's wedding just pops! I have photos from the 70's that are faded to orange and yellow that were taken on Kodak film with a 35mm Minolta. Was it the Kodachrome, the way you took them or the way they were processed, I wonder. I suppose you processed your own. We sent them out. [One reason these look good is because they are scanned from transparencies (slides or negatives), not prints on paper. The other three reasons are Kodachrome, Kodachrome, Kodachrome. Plus of course it was taken by tterrace, the camera-ninja boy wonder. - Dave] No punch backsPunch buggy green! My nephew hit me with that old line over one of those 'new' VW bugs. No place like home, TotoHaving lived in California all of my formative years, I did not need a label to know where this was taken. I think it has a lot to do with the sidewalks, "bike" ramps at the corners and, unfortunately, no trees. Not gorgeous, but home. Thanks for the refresher. Flat.Tire slashing vandals in such a safe-looking, peaceful neighborhood? I still have my 1969 MGB. Wish it looked as good is this one. With fully inflated tires, of course. SubdivisionsAll the trees and bushes are small and paltry; they all have that recently planted look about them. The concrete sidewalks look pristine, no cracks, no heaving, no stains. The houses and the yards all look fresh and new. The trees across the street in the hapless MG owner's yard still have guy wires to keep them up till the root system matures. There's still mud in the gutters, implying there was still construction going on in the neighborhood. I'm guessing the subdivision must have been pretty new. SlashedThat's what he gets for putting white walls on an MG. What's the keen green wagon on the left? Nash? Rambler? Stude? At first I thought International, but their quarter panels didn't look like that until the '70s. And the Travelall was taller. [Hudson Rambler. - Dave] Colorful attributionsThose wedding photos are from delworthio's eye-popping Kodachromes. (My folks' marriage predates the introduction of Kodachrome by three years.) Then and NowWould love to see this same scene exactly as it is today. Possible? Tire Slashing Vandals?...Perhaps the dastardly deed was perpetrated by some public spirited citizen who knew (as everyone did back then) that all MG drivers were leftist pipe-smoking History or English literature professors who listened to Miles Davis and always carried a well thumbed copy of "Quotations from Chairman Mao." They were also fond of wearing Harris Tweed jackets with leather elbow patches.(With matching tweed caps, naturally). Although wearing stringback driving gloves would be going too far! Hmmmm....wait....this guy doesn't seem to fit the description. Oh well, I suppose it's more likely that the car simply hasn't run in months and the tires went flat from just sitting there. Just ask the man who owned one. New subdivisionThis was about two years after my sister and her family moved into their new place here. KodachromeKodachrome, Kodachrome, Kodachrome indeed. The images taken with Ektachrome are all (with rare exceptions) fading into history. Kodachrome was a "dye-additive" processed film where the colors/dyes were added to the film matrix during processing. Ektachrome (and to a similar degree Anscochrome, Agfachrome et al) were "dye-subtractive" where unneeded colors were bleached out of the film during processing leaving behind only those colors necessary to form the original colors. Those 4x5 Kodachromes that Dave posts here are to die (or dye) for! Diamond Bar NowView Larger Map CriminalsFrom the looks on their faces, I suspect these tykes are just returning from a trip up the street to slash some more neighbors' tires. When California was actually affordable.Suburban homes like those in the picture are for sale out here in San Jose for sometimes over a million bucks. I wonder if working and middle class people back then would ever imagine that they would soon not be able to afford their own home if they had to buy it again. A shame. "Made me sigh"Today on Lileks, tterrace gets a shout-out from the man himself. New suburb smellAh, a freshly minted suburb - note the saplings with crutches, the kerbside landscaping and the dirt in the rain gutters. We often forget that every development - even the late Victorian and Edwardian ones in my own city - once had this raw look. Slashed?I would think not. In those halcyon days we used to take the cap off and then sit there patiently holding the valve down until all the air was out. Slashing is a Gen X sort of thing. MGBHad a '63 myself -- white with a red leather interior. I'm of the opinion the thing has been sitting there since the last time it ran and the tires went flat. Held my breathLileks says "You almost expect the ghost of the photographer to show up in the picture." To say nothing of the goose-bumps forming on the skin of the actual photographer. The Old photoGorgeous! That could have been a pic of myself and sister in Pleasanton, 1969 FlashbackMy immediate response on seeing the picture was "Hey! Southeastern L.A. county, or northern Orange county." Sure enough. I moved away nearly 40 years ago, but in an instant I was back again; except that I remember Diamond Bar before the houses started going in. (I grew up in Whittier, my father lived the last 20 years of his life in La Habra.) Thank St. Eastman for Kodachrome. Little red wagonI was just trying to explain to my wife last night about little red wagons, she's Filipina, and how my friends and I, when we were about the age of the boy in the pic, used to ride them down a hill that ended at the brick wall of my house's garage. Sure you could steer the wagons, sorta, and you could use your feet as brakes but often as not the rides ended with boy meets wall. Good times, so much joy to be had. Helmets? Helmets were for fighter pilots and spacemen. '63 MGB,I currently have a '63 MGB, and I tell you (honestly!), it's the most reliable car I've owned. (Wait, does that say more about me or the car?) Anyway, that MG is, at most, two years old, and washed and everything. Someone was probably sending a message about buying those furrin' cars, or the owner is, in fact, an insufferable, rake-shaking, "get offa my lawn" prat and this is what he has reaped. Weeding the lawn again?Is that a dichondra lawn? Insanely labor-intensive! Still, they used to be popular in the area, especially among those employing Japanese gardeners. AmazingDo MG's actually run? I thought they just sat in mechanics' lots. Then and NowHere we are today. No MG in site so he either got it fixed or it was towed. I took this from the street since I didn't want to stand on their front porch. Looks like the tree's finally grew. I'm not sure about the hill in the background, but our neighbor once told us that an enormous amount of dirt had been moved to make the high school. Enjoy! That's My HouseI've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments about our house. We moved to Diamond Bar in '62, and we were the first people on the street. Everyone else's Including the photographer's, was still being built. In this picture, it is a brand-spanking new neighborhood. That is my dad out in front looking at my oldest sister's MG. We also had a Pontiac that he kept for 13 years before replacing it. To solve the mystery, the MG had been slashed to bits... the tires and the tarp. Here's the story; We were going to the beach with the church youth group, and she parked the car at the DB Congregational Church. While we were getting ready to go, there was a terrible accident on DB Blvd, which she witnessed. When the police came, she told them who's fault it was. When they left, we all went to the beach and when we came back, it was vandalized. We knew who did it, but could not prove it. The "now" picture from 2010 shows the house after the folks had passed away. Dad in 2007, and Mom 11 months later. My nephew and his wife who were their caretakers, remained in the house for a while, and remodeled (as nothing had been done since my parents originally moved in in '62, the electrical was a mess as was the plumbing), and they sold it shortly thereafter. That hill was eventually leveled down to build Diamond Bar High School. It was part of a huge piece of empty land, with a big gully in the middle of it. Like all the other hills in the neighborhood (including the one on our bank in the back yard), it has eroded into almost an even flatness. The lawn is not dichondra, it was originally St. Augistine and I think my nephew replanted something else, but not dichondra. I saw it when it was growing in, and I think it may have been some sort of fescue. In the before picture; Yes the trees show the wires as the yard was just planted. He loved trees and planted one for each of us girls (4 of us) and one for Mom. They indeed grew HUGE. Also missing is the huge bird of paradise that Dad planted right near the front "banister". It was a huge eyesore, but he and Mom loved it. My dad and a neighbor put in the sprinkler system and the grass. In those days all the neighbors took turns doing each other's lawns. It was a great time. So thank you for the pictures tterrace, and for another last look at my Dad. I remember your family well, and always wonder what happed to Big Frank, (You should've seen him ride a skateboard) Rosemary, Jimmy and Mary Rose. My Mom and Dad were The Ropers, Mel and Vickey who lived and died in that house for over 40 years. I'm Diamond Bar Girl. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, tterrapix)
D-Day: New York
... my trike when a Western Union messenger rode up on his bike and went into the three-family apartment in which I lived. I heard a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2013 - 10:25am -

New York, June 6, 1944. ALLIED ARMIES LAND ON COAST OF FRANCE. GREAT INVASION OF CONTINENT BEGINS. "D-Day. Crowd watching the news line on the New York Times building at Times Square." Photo by Howard Hollem or Edward Meyer for the Office of War Information. View full size. Unidentified ObjectDoes anyone know what the curved metal object with letters on it is? It appears to be on top of a car on the right. [DeSoto "Sky View" taxicab sign. - Dave] Internet, 1944is what this could have been titled. The scrolling electric sign was as good as it got then, and I am sure those folks were fairly amazed to see it. I wonder what it took to program it? My great-uncle went in at D Day +60 (August 7) as a replacement in the 2nd Infantry Division (L Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment); he was seriously wounded at Brest, France, a month later, died in 1956...and I was named for him. That was never far from my mind when I served in Iraq in 2004 at the same age he was when he earned his Purple Heart and (I believe) a Bronze Star. To all those who went in on D-Day...and throughout WWII, I stand and salute. So what about that moving sign?According to various sources the NY Times installed the first moving "news ticker" in 1928, using 14,800 electric bulbs. Given the technology of the day, I can only guess that each bulb required a relay, which would have to click on and off almost instantly to momentarily light its bulb, as the text scrolls along. This must have been a maintenance challenge (there seems to be a few extra bulbs lit, and some brighter ones that may just have been replaced). They may have used or even invented the "matrix" technique still used today for LCD displays, which uses "crosspoint" wiring to greatly reduce the number of lines going from the elements to the control system, but my mind still boggles at the number of wires remaining, and what kind of electro-mechanical system translated "operator input" to the streaming text. If only Shorpy's world-wide readership included a retired electro-mechanical sign technician! Just the technology of the news line was something...Before zooming in to see the image full size, on first glance the guy on the left and the guy 2nd from the right were in a posture not to different than someone holding a cellphone to the ear. Of course it's clear they were dragging on fags, sucking on coffin nails, drawing down on Pall Malls while taking in the portentous news. As someone not born until 12 years after the war was over - I am fascinated by what day to day life in the US was like, mobilized for war. Of course I grew up knowing it was a success, but at that very moment, who knew how this was going to work out - the intensity of the moment, even for folks in the street in Times Square, must have been incredible. Pausing to rememberMy brother landed D-Day plus 12 and my uncle D-Day plus 20. They were lucky, I guess, and returned to us to live out long lives. Great photo. Really profound. 6-6-44Yet to be born, a twinkle in my father's eye as he dropped from the sky into Caen with the Canadians early that morning. RIP Dad. 23,740 days later Kind of Gladwe can't see many faces in the crowd. We'd have to start wondering what they were thinking -- Is my son there? My dad? My husband? My brother? Funny but I cannot summon up any memory of D-Day. VE and VJ Days, and the dropping of the two A-bombs are sharp and clear, but not D-Day. I think perhaps that it might relate to what happened in early May. I was out riding my trike when a Western Union messenger rode up on his bike and went into the three-family apartment in which I lived. I heard a terrible scream through the open windows of the first-floor unit. All the neighbors (women since the men were in the military or working) flocked to the apartment with screams continuing for some time. I learned that the woman's son had been killed in action. I did not totally understand the horror, but I was sad because the young man had been very nice to the punk kid airplane nut from the third floor, even letting me hold his model planes. The first-floor family were an elderly couple, with the one child, who had become a fighter pilot in the Pacific. The husband walked with heavy braces and crutches, and, as I later learned, they just quit and gave up life. They moved within days and we never heard from them again. I think that I was in a bit of a void for a while. Walking to churchOn January 6, 1944, I was 6 years old in Fort Smith, Arkansas, part of a young generation which at the time had no knowledge of a condition known as peace. On that day, my mother received a phone call from a fellow church member who was calling everyone in the congregation to say that the invasion was under way. This was the signal to come to the church to pray. Our family; mother, father and two boys walked to the church to pray for the safety and success of our "American Boys" on that day. DeSoto Sky ViewThose great old DeSoto cabs had a sliding roof panel to let passengers see the views above them while being carried through the Manhattan canyons. The skyscraper with the clock housed the Paramount Theatre, a wonderful place to visit for a movie and a live stage show. I saw Phil Spitalny and his "All-Girl Orchestra featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin" there with my family. The movie was "Miss Susie Slagle's," starring Veronica Lake and Sonny Tufts. Bright Lights, Big SignRadio CoverageThe National Archives in College Park, Maryland has recordings of the entire NBC and CBS broadcast day from D-Day and anyone can go in and listen to them. It's a very good way to get a sense of what the day was like for people at home listening on the radio as events unfolded. News ZipperFrom a 2005 NYT article on the Zipper: The Motograph News Bulletin, to use its original formal name, began operation on Nov. 6, 1928, election night, as a band of 14,800 light bulbs that extended 380 feet long and 5 feet high around the fourth floor of what was then the Times Tower. It was installed for The New York Times by Frank C. Reilly, according to an article in The Times, which identified Mr. Reilly as the inventor of electric signs with moving letters. Inside the control room, three cables poured energy into transformers. The hookup to all the bulbs totaled 88,000 soldered connections. Messages from a ticker came to a desk beside a cabinet like the case that contained type used by old-time compositors. The cabinet contained thin slabs called letter elements. An operator composed the message, letter by letter, in a frame. The frame, when filled with the letters and spaces that spelled out a news item, was inserted in a magazine at one end of a track. A chain conveyor moved the track, and each letter in the frame brushed a number of electrical contacts. Each contact set a light flashing on Broadway. There were more than 39,000 brushes, which had to undergo maintenance each month. The frame with the letter elements passed up and overhead, forming an endless circuit. Mr. Reilly calculated that there were 261,925,664 flashes an hour. D-DayJune 6, 1944, I was 16 years old and in Basic Training with the the US Maritime Service at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Many of us teenagers had close relatives in the military and wished we were there with them to fight the Axis. A month later, I was in a North Atlantic convoy assigned to a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun hoping that a Nazi plane would dare to fly over. "I'd show 'em." Of course I didn't tell this to my shipmates. skyview cabI believe this is the light-up sign on top of the Sky-View Cab Company. It looks like neon. I was watching an old movie from the forties (?) on TCM and I noticed these cabs. They had a sunroof cut into the roof of the cab so the passengers in the back seat could look up and see the buildings. I can't remember the movie, but the plot involved the passenger looking up and seeing something relevant to the story line. It must have been a gimmick for the cab company. It also must have been one of the early sunroofs in a car! More SkyviewThe Skyview NYC Taxicab that the tipster may have seen on TCM was in the musical "Anchors Aweigh". The scene where Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are Standing up and looking out at the city in Betty Garrett's Skyview cab. Those DeSoto Skyview Cabs were sold exclusively through James Waters Chrysler Agency in Long Island City, Queens. The price for a new one was about $1100. I once heard a story that he was Walter Chrysler's Son-in-Law but I can't confirm it. The Skyview cabs were all over the placewhen I lived in NYC from 1941 - 44. They were stretched DeSotos with a couple of fold-up seats and the roof had glass so that one could see the tall buildings. There was also a radio built into the armrest on the right. The driver turned it on and the passenger controlled the rest. I had many rides in those cabs. Hovercraft at D-Day@sjack: I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I certainly don't wish to denigrate the memory of your father and his courageous service to our nation in World War II, but I'm quite sure he didn't lower tanks onto hovercraft for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The US Army did not make use of hovercraft until Viet Nam, and then it was only on an experimental basis. As your comment is titled, memories are funny sometimes. Perhaps your dad talked about loading tanks onto landing craft, not hovercraft, like the LST (landing ship tank) or smaller versions like the LCU (landing craft utility), which were flat-hulled vessels that could approach fairly close to the beach and lower a ramp on the bow, allowing troops and vehicles to exit. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down"New York, New York, A Helluva Town" was sung in the Broadway "On the Town" but for the film changed to "New York, New York, A Wonderful Town" because of those archaic Hollywood codes at that time. Los Angeles may have our Dodgers but they don't have our songs or our Skyview Cabs. RememberingDuring my early teen's in the 1950's I was invited along on several fishing trips with 3 WWII veterans. One had been an Army Ranger, one a sailor who had been on the Murmansk Run, and the third a paratrooper. You can imagine the banter among those guys. The Ranger was in the D-Day invasion and had been wounded in the buttocks. The Navy vet always asked him how he could have sustained that injury advancing from the beach. Curiously, the paratrooper never spoke any particulars of his service. They're gone now, but I remember them being nice to this kid. Thanks guys. UnawareJune 6, 1944 - I was happily gestating in my mother's womb and would be born during the Battle of the Bulge (no relation to mom's condition). My dad, drafted in 1940 into the 7th Cavalry (yes, Custer's old outfit) had been converted into armor and was preparing to sail overseas to a place called Leyte Gulf in the Philippines where he would be wounded and spend the rest of the war, plus another year, in Letterman Hospital in S.F. Until his death in 1996 he could remember most of his company's buddies names and the names of their horses. More on radio coverageThe NBC and CBS D-Day broadcasts are available at the Internet Archive. NBC: http://archive.org/details/NBCCompleteBroadcastDDay CBS: http://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day That woundHow your Ranger probably caught that one: We were taught in training that buttocks wounds were very common; moving forward under fire without decent cover, one crawls. It is most difficult to accomplish this without making your buttocks the highest point of your body! Let us never forget the men of D-Day.An awful lot of them gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy our todays. 'On The Town'Is the movie 'Mr. Mel' is thinking of; 'Anchors Aweigh' is set in Hollywood. Right Stars, wrong movie. 'Lest We Forget'A line from Ford's 'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' that fits this day so well. Odd TriviaThere are a couple of boats trading on the Great Lakes today that were at the Normandy invasion. One still carries the battle ribbons with stars on her bridge wings. One other point is that the Times building was of very attractive design before it was covered up with billboards. Communiqué No. 1I followed the NBC link provided by hlupak604 and listened to some of the radio coverage and heard, more than once, the short text of Communiqué No. 1 from Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, which appears to form the basis for the scrolling text on the news zipper. It runs as follows: "Under the command of General Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France." Thanks! Uncle SamMy uncle Sam (no pun intended) landed at Omaha Beach, and immediately sustained an injury to his head. He was fitted with a metal plate to replace the part of his skull that he lost. Needless to say, his fighting days were over. However, he went on to be become an accomplished auto mechanic. Family, friends, and neighbors all asked him for automotive advice. He passed away last year at the age of 90. Thanks, Uncle Sam! - because of your sacrifices, I am free today to write this. Yeah, I remember.Although we didn't know it at the time, my brother was in the sand of Utah Beach just then. He survived the war. I remember vividly the headlines in The Detroit Times that afternoon, "WE WIN BEACHES". Due to the time difference, of course, there was plenty of fresh news of the invasion in the afternoon paper. I've been a news junkie since. May we never forgethow brave these men were. My uncle fought in Okinawa in 1945, unfortunately he never made it out alive. I still have the last letter he wrote to his "beloved mama", what a sweet soul he was. Bless them one and all. Memories are funny sometimesMy father was on a supply ship in the English Channel on D Day, lowering tanks into hovercraft that were being sent to French beach heads. Many, many, times I tried to discuss his experiences that day but he never really had much to say. He said that on D Day he was "on the water" (in the Channel) and they were pretty much working constantly getting the tanks loaded and shipped. They slept whenever they could he said. He landed at Utah beach (but didn't say when) and moved up the coast doing whatever was asked (he was in a supply unit) until he got to Belgium. And that was pretty much all I got out of him. His shared memories of the battle of the Bulge were even more meager ("it was very cold"). I'm jealous of people whose fathers discussed their war experiences; mine just didn't seem to want to share. Cold for JuneI realize most people dressed up in public back then, but most of the women in the photo are wearing overcoats. It must have been cold in New York that June day in 1944. Hovercraft tanks, sort ofOne of many unique innovations for the D Day invasion was the "Duplex Drive" tank, essentially a standard Sherman tank which was fitted with an inflatable, collapsible canvas screen and twin screw props which would enable the tank to float like a boat and wade ashore. Unfortunately, the contraption worked best in calm water, something that was in short supply off the Normandy coast that day. I remember a buddy of mine whose dad had served with the US Navy at the invasion re-telling his dad's stories of the DD tanks being dropped off in deeper, rough water due to enemy fire and sinking like rocks. Fortunately enough of the tanks were able to make it on shore to provide badly needed armor support for the ground troops, and the tanks were deemed successful enough to serve in the invasion of Southern France two months later, as well as during numerous river crossing operations during the remainder of 1944 and 1945. Good article with photos of the tanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank Full messageI believe the full message read: "ALLIES LAND ON NORTHERN COAST OF FRANCE UNDER STRONG AIR COVER" (The Gallery, Howard Hollem, NYC, WW2)
Harley-Davidson: 1925
... to work. I want me a Harley-Davidson fifteen speed road bike! [Actually they would pedal to work and peddle at work. - Dave] ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:56am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "H. Addison Bowie." A motorcycle dealer on H Street. With "Harley-Davidson" in the big window under "Distributors," and a smaller sign upstairs. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. If onlyA lot of collective individuality going on here. If only we could find someone who could tell us something, anything, about this crowd. I bet most everyone had a nickname. Like "Chick" or "Buddy." I suppose the most we could hope for is that someone here has a (very elderly) son or daughter, or maybe a grandchild, who will recognize a face. Right now, all we have is this photograph. But it's really something! A little of everythingI love how there are the cops, the women in fur, the motorcycle toughs, the men in business suits, and people who are both black and white. Harley Davidson - the great equalizer? Cast of charactersSylvester Stallone, Paul Newman, Curly Howard, the Dead End Kids, the Jets and more. Whatta Shot! Shorpy in the WindowI see you. FacesWhy are the faces in these early pictures so interesting? Are modern faces interesting too, but we are just accustomed to them? Out of 64 visible faces, only 4 are wearing glasses. Seems like a low percentage. What a hootNearly laughed myself out of my skin in looking at this photo, but then, I looked at my family photos from this era, no perceptable difference, yikes; hopefully tis the fashion that is the comic relief. One notable thing is the quality of window glass which appears to be about the same as the century before. Motley CrewWhat a great picture. Look at them faces. I can't tell if the man in suspenders toward the left is genial or menacing. I hope that's a screwdriver in his hand. Character with a capital C. Look at those mugs. My grandmother would have called them "tough cookies." The hats, jackets and boots are amazing. Right in the middle of the roaring twenties. Look outThese guys are coming after all the 21st century smarty pants who made nasty comments about their kid sisters at the Thayer Studio. Say what you likebut almost every man in the picture is wearing a tie. Unlike the modern equivalent with their pants on the ground or jams or cargo pants and basketball jerseys 4 times too big, the crowd is basically well dressed. This even includes the guy in the Snoopy outfit holding the screwdriver Bikers Galore!It would seem that quite a few of these guys (cop included) rode their Harleys to this photo op. And a chilly ride it was, judging from the clothing. The Wild OnesUnlike the 50-year-old CPAs who ride Harleys today, most of these guys look like true badasses! Text book "Hanging Out"If anyone ever needed a solid example of that idiom this is it in spades. I'll cut yadon't mess with the old guy YMCALooks like a 1920's version of the Village People. What a picThis might, albeit a big might, be my favorite picture on Shorpy to date. The number of characters in this photo is ridiculous. What a deliciously eclectic portrait. WOW TroublemakersI wouldn't trust any of them (not even the three "women") with my sister! Awesome!Great pic Dave. Would love to see their bikes. I don't think 'elf and safety was top priority then. Time TravelerDig the guy with the Storm Trooper outfit, and what does the shoulder patch signify? Ghost Riders627 H has been disappeared. View Larger Map Re: A little of everything.These guys are sharp. I agree with Jay Carolina on the way they are dressed, and man, do I love those boots. And you must see how significant this picture is culturally. Policemen, bikers of multiple races, and the ladies all posed together for this photograph... this is a fantastic find! Real BikersRead the window. The sell bicycles. They're not overweight -- they peddle to work. I want me a Harley-Davidson fifteen speed road bike! [Actually they would pedal to work and peddle at work. - Dave] Dave, you're such a caution. Semper FiGot a Marine in there, too, middle row under "Distributors" on the storefront. Gotta love the leather in this pic. Most of the classic motorcycle wear dates straight from the 20's -- the archetypal leather motorcycle jacket like the one Brando wore in "The Wild Ones" is still made by the original manufacturer, and dates from this era: http://www.schottnyc.com/products/length/waist/classic-perfecto-leather-... This picture made me get an account here.I have been visiting Shorpy for a long time but seeing this collection of great faces early this morning made me actually get an account tonight so I could chime in and agree the faces are like from a master painting. Everyone tells a story. And the diversity in the collection tells us something too. Someone asked if today's faces are as interesting. I think in the US the weight problem makes some faces smoother and obviously rounder and less defined so many of us seem to sort of look the same. Also in this picture people are not smiling for the camera -- they are smiling a bit because they are assured and confident -- they are looking into the camera with a very different facial expression than some might use today. No-motor cyclesYes, Harley-Davidson did sell bicycles as well as motorcycles: The Harley-Davidson bicycles were painted and pinstriped in the same colors as their motorcycle brethren. Ads for the bicycle were primarily directed at pre-teen boys and girls; they clearly intended to capitalize on the Harley-Davidson name and mystique of the day. Most notable is the crank; note the ingenious "HD". Harley-Davidson received a patent for this design. Storm Trooper ShirtThis is a "cotswool" US Army issue olive drab flannel shirt. Interesting in the fact the shirt was closed, having to be pulled over the head to be put on. Fully buttoned shirts were not regulation until 1934 although the low set pockets remained. The patch I assume is a distinctive unit insignia. I do not have a reference handy but it looks like a M1917 helmet (the Doughboy helmet) imposed on what looks like a wagon wheel. There is something on the helmet, perhaps Mercury wings, I cannot tell. Anyone know their 20s unit patches? Every Single OneAll of these guys, every single one, look like a movie character. Amazing! I have to agree that this is one of my favorite Shorpy photos to date. H.A. Bowie H-D memoriesMy father is 93 years young and still talks about H. Addison Bowie. He was only 8 when this picture was taken but would patronize the dealership in the 1930s to buy H-D VL parts. He operated a small motorcycle repair shop on his parents' farm in Maryland, about 15 miles from the Bowie dealership. In the mid-1930s he bought a 1931 H-D VL there. My parents took their honeymoon on this machine and were still riding it up until a few years ago. A big thanks to whoever found this great old pic. I always wondered what the place looked like! That's my Grandfather!Addison is my grandfather and the two women are my grandmother and great aunt. I'm pretty sure your sister would have been safe with Frances and Beulah, "Tipster." I have a cool photo of Addison standing with a motorcycle. My RelativesThis is an email I just got from my wife, Julia. Her maiden name was Julia Bowie. Oh, her dad's name is Henry Addison Bowie too. The owner of this place was my wife's great-grandfather. Jack, this is the craziest picture!!! Remember Cousin Will? Well, a friend of his had read about this pic on a website. Every one is talking about it!! AND IT'S MY DADS POP POP AND NANA!!!!!!! Just make sure you read the replys that cousin Will sent and Leslie so you can know who is who. Also read what everyone is saying about it on the site AND NOTICE MY DADS NAME WRITTEN ACCROSS THE BUILDING:o) HENERY ADDISON BOWIE. the first Harley Store ever opened!!!! WOW....That is SOOOO COOL!!!! Now, Leslie said that Pop pop was the man all the way to the left, but she described it wrong. He is the man standing BETWEEN the two women in the furs who are my Great grandmother and Great Aunt. Also the man squatting all the way to the left with the hat who looks like a movie star is Uncle Rosco. He was a Boxer. It's amazing that this picture is circulating and relatives of the owner know it's out there. Thanks for whoever found this picture. And if you have an original I'd like to locate it. email me at wackodrumr@aol.com [The original (a glass negative) is at the Library of Congress. - Dave] DreamyTo the man on kneeling on the far left in the flannel with the cigarette -- I would invent time travel for you. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Motorcycles, Natl Photo)
Young Granddad: 1963
... the fence and he reached over while passing by on his bike to pull off a leaf. Zzzziiippp. Several hours and a spools worth of ... 
 
Posted by Tony W. - 09/17/2011 - 8:08pm -

This is my dad as a toddler with Grandpa washing the car, probably around 1963 in Los Angeles. Scanned from a Kodak safety negative. View full size. Hunky GrandpaSimply cannot ignore this perfect-looking gent. This appreciative female thanks you for remembering that ladies enjoy a gorgeous view, too. Hubba HubcapHey, Grandpa was good lookin'! A choice specimen indeedThe Volvo, I mean. PLCF CenterfoldThe Rambler, the Volvo, Junior's sandals -- this could be cover art for the Summer 1963 issue of Progressive Left Coast Family. What did your dad end up doing as a grownup? What was Granddad's line of work? A great photo, very evocative. A Rambler *and* a VolvoWow, a Rambler Classic, *and* a Volvo (looks like a 544) in the same driveway. And your dad is about my age (49). Great picture. Thanks for sharing this one, Tony. When I was a kid, my parents owned a Rambler, and my dad was always fascinated with Volvos, mainly the 122. Wow!Reminds me of Don Draper. Yum!! OH MYGrandpa looks mighty fine! They don't make 'em like that anymore!Chain link fences that is... Notice the top of the fence. Those barbs opened up the wrist of my friend when we were kids back in Newark NJ in about 1960. There were hedges behind the fence and he reached over while passing by on his bike to pull off a leaf. Zzzziiippp. Several hours and a spools worth of sutures and he was okay. Thankfully, fence tops are folded over now. Gangster WhitesI had just gotten my driver's license in 1963 and I remember cleaning whitewalls with a Brillo pad, just like Grampa is doing. ApexThe absolute apex of American civilization captured in this photo. That's it folks. It'll never happen again. And for dessert I'll haveAn order of beefcake, circa 1963! Hubba hubba!Grandpa can hang his hat at MY house ANY time! I cringedIt's odd to read all these lustful comments about my grandpa, but hey, whatever floats your boat! My grandpa was (and still is) a chief engineer on tuna boats. My father also became a chief engineer on American tuna boats, first starting in San Diego and then moving to American Samoa. Now he works in the ports and gives his wealth of knowledge about engines to other engineers. To put it bluntly, he's the guy who makes sure boat engines run well enough so you can have a tuna sandwich. Re: I cringedThe cougars do get restless around twilight -- if you don't turn your back on them you'll be fine. My favorite thing here is the bright yellow hose on the green lawn. Something tres Sixties there. You have a good eye for interesting pictures. Pago PagoGreat photo. I probably know your dad (and granddad) as I was here in Pago during the great purse-seiner days of the late 1980s and through the 90s. There are about 23 boats operating here now. Some New Zealand. With Samoa Packing closing down that number may diminish. From Pago Pago, John Wasko Yellow HoseSeeing the yellow water hose reminded me of how my father and uncle, back in the 50s and 60s, would never buy common "garden hose" (like we still have) because it wore out much too quickly. One kink and it's dead. Rather, they would buy low pressure air hose, like the kind used in gas stations. Ten minutes with a hammer and you had a sturdy hose, typically yellow or a dull red, which was probably 25 percent more expensive but would last for years. I still have one I made back in the 70s and use often. HVAC UpgradeNote the window A/C next door. These "breeder boxes" were built hurriedly (but solidly) throughout SoCal by the hundreds of thousands in the years following WW2. Built-in A/C was a practically unheard of option in these houses, but by 1963, even my grandparents had it (courtesy of Sears). My gramp got spiffy and cut a hole in the wall for their unit. Grandpa was such a beefcakeI bet the son and the grandson became great hunks too !! Perfect sandals!Love the sandals on the toddler! Those were the days when sensible people designed sensible summer footwear for children--not the slide-ons you see today. HotnessI sure am glad it was a hot day! There are plenty of things I could say right now...But I think a dreamy sigh will suffice. Stylin'I love how the baby looks so ...tidy. His hair was parted and combed over, just to go outside with Daddy and wash the car. For a candid snap, this is remarkably poised. One more thingI wanted to make one more comment. Someone mentioned above that this reminded them of the "apex of American society". Interesting in that if you look at how most Americans lives back in the 50's and 60's, the typical family had a house that was around 700 square feet, a single car, and a single TV set. My mother along with most everyone else in my family grew up in small houses like those shown in the picture. They also shared rooms with their siblings. Look around today and the typical family home is over 3,000 square feet, there are at least 3 cars in every driveway, at least 2-3 TV sets ( flatscreens) at least 2 computers, a cell phone for every family member, an abundance of shoes and clothing which are bought as cheap disposable items at big box stores, and other endless forms of entertainment. Yet when people speak of "the good times", somehow we always come back to this single era. I think that says an awful lot about the lack of appreciation people these days have for what they've got. My grandparents went through the depression and WW2. 15 years of pain and suffering. You had better believe they appreciated everything they had after it was all over. Even today with the worst recession in decades, I doubt most Americans come close to that level of appreciation. TouchingI LOVE this picture. it really put a smile on my face for so many reasons. The Good Ol' DaysGregg Easterbrook wrote a book, "The Progress Paradox," discussing how people in the U.S. and Europe today are living better than their parents ever did, yet aren't any more happier. Just because we have more things like cell phones, TV's and cars, doesn't make life truly any better. OTOH, if you asked the people of the period in this picture if they thought this was the Apex of American Civilization, you may get a surprising answer. They may have thought life was so much better back in the Twenties or something, where they didn't have to worry about Communist missiles, civil unrest, or atomic radiation causing giant ants to run amok. And yes, Grandpa is mighty fine. Mighty fine. Is he still alive? Is he aware of how much drool he's engendered? P544I had a P544 bought new in 1964 with the only options available, a $5 side mirror and a $35 AM radio, $2,050 complete. A VW at the time sold for around $1,295. Had to crack open a window to close a door, airtight. The 122 was nice as well, but the P444-544 was a true classic. Young father and grandfather!If the toddler is your father in 1963 he married VERY young to have you! And you are very young. [His dad could have been around 40 when he got married. If you click on Tony's profile you'll see that he is 18. - Dave] Color MagicI love Shorpy. Work today was very slow so, um, I sorta spent the last half-hour Shorpy-ing. The older, b&w photos are intriguing but it's these color images from the 1960s that have really caught my imagination today. Color just sorta has a "you are there" effect! So, anyway, thank you Tony and TTerence for sharing these! And, I know you think this is weird Tony, but I have to agree that Grandpa was/is mighty fiiiiiine! '61 Rambler, 60-something P544My parents also had this same combination of cars, a '61 Rambler and a 1960 Volvo P544. I think the Volvo cost about $1800. You are fortunateI love this picture, I was admiring all of the details and your grandfather was quite a handsome man. I was never fortunate to have met either of my grandfathers, so I am quite jealous. It also takes me back to my childhood. GrandpaOh why do we have to get old. SurprisedI just looked around this site, first I saw my mother (Baby Shower 1960). My kids laughed and said look at the rest, Dad! I am the kid with the yellow hose, cowboy tricycle etc., and this is my dad. Ladies, you are right! He was, and still is, a "super hunk" -- 72 now, and I am 49. Great job son, Love Dad Oi!Now that's a real life Charles Atlas! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Handsome Rakes, Tonypix)
Three Indians: 1915
... fantastic The one smart enough to put the light on his bike will win it for them. Gold mine The guys from "Pickers" must be ... fender, hand-grip clutch, an electric headlamp on the rear bike (as opposed to Prest-o-Lite [acetylene]), and "soft-tail" rear suspension. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:57am -

Washington, D.C., July 1915. "Motorcycle team, relay to Frisco." Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear (whose Indian store we saw here) and Josiah McL. Seabrook. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. California, screamin'They sure did take a circuitous route (NYC and then way up to Albany). The stretch from Reno down into Sacramento must have kept the lads awake with fear if that lap's bikes had no front brakes either. The first time I drove from Reno to Sacramento - and this was on a road they could not dream of, I-80 - one item that caught my eye was a sign, "Caution. Downgrades next 40 miles." Light fantasticThe one smart enough to put the light on his bike will win it for them. Gold mineThe guys from "Pickers" must be drooling. Maybe they could find out who these men are and see if their families have these bikes behind the barn. Safety first!At least for the fellow with the tossled hair. He has on his protective gloves! Rudimentary brakes.Emergency stops much have been pretty exciting on those old bikes- I don't think they even had front brakes. No stoppies for them! Nice!I've been sitting here soaking up this picture. Just fabulous! Great shot, great clothes, great bikes! Wish I could go for a ride with them. Thanks again Dave. Handsome BravesBeautiful bikes! These have many, many similarities to this amazingly restored model, snapped last spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. They may be a bit newer, with kick starter, no leg-power pedals, skirted fender, hand-grip clutch, an electric headlamp on the rear bike (as opposed to Prest-o-Lite [acetylene]), and "soft-tail" rear suspension. I guess any of this could have been optional equipment. DatingI believe that the date of this photo is probably 1916 and not 1926. The Indians pictured appear to be 1915 models. I believe that 1915 was the last year of the inlet over exhaust engine (which these bikes have)and the first year of the kick starter. [You are close -- the year is 1915. - Dave] World's Fastest IndianWhen you see these bikes it really is incredible that Burt Munro took a similar model, a 1920 Scout, modified it and drove it to several land speed records. In 1967, with his engine punched out to 58 cu.in. (950cc) he set a class record of 183.586 mph. To qualify he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian. The hogs of their dayLaugh at the funny horn if you like, but those bikes are Indian "standards" with 1,000-cc engines. Too bad they didn't add front brakes until 1928. Murder Inc.Maybe these fellas were part of the traveling team of hit-men for Murder Inc. They sure look like they want to kill something. a-OO-gah!Although the braking wouldn't be the greatest, at least they'd be able to clear a path with a mighty squeeze of the horn. Silent RIt was Shorpy that taught me that these are "Motocycles." 119 Hours to FriscoWashington Post, July 18, 1915. RELAY RACE TOMORROW Motorcyclists to Carry Message From Capital to Pacific. START FROM WHITE HOUSE Three Washington Men Will Cover the First Lap, From This City to Baltimore -- Expect to Make Cross-Continent Run in 119 Hours -- Secretary of War to Start Riders. With all arrangements for the transcontinental motorcycle relay race completed, the riders for the first lap of the long journey await the starter's word. The start will be made from the White House at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. They will carry a message from the President to the officials of the Panama-Pacific exposition at San Francisco. The Washington team, which will cover the first lap, will be composed of Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear, and J. McL. Seabrook, mounted on Indian motorcycles. These men will carry the message from here to Baltimore, where another team will take it up and carry it over the second lap which ends in Philadelphia. From there the route across county is via New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno and Sacramento to San Francisco. Fast Time Is Scheduled. On account of the absence of the President, the message will be handed to the riders by Secretary of War Garrison. It is due on the Pacific coast 119 hours after leaving Washington. The riders in the Eastern part of the country will have little difficulty in keeping up with the schedule on account of the good roads, but some of the Western relays are more than 200 miles in length. The longest lap will be between Elko and Fenley, Nev. This stretch is 274 miles long. One of the purposes of this relay is to demonstrate the utility of the motorcycle for military use. The relay is intended to show that the motorcycle is capable of delivering messages under all conditions of road and weather. There will not be one minute from the time the message leaves Washington until it is delivered to the officials of the exposition that it is not moving, day and night, rain or shine. The motorcyclists of this country have been as one volunteering their services as dispatch bearers, and it has been a task for John L. Donovan, chairman of the competition committee of the Federation of American Motorcyclists and manager of the relay, to select the riders. HornyThe furthestmost bike from us has an electric horn, but the others have the bulb variety; I'm guessing it was an optional extra or later add-on. Also interesting to note that heavy cardigans seemed to be the outer garment of choice for moto-cyclists at this time. I wonder when and why the black leather jacket took over. Front SuspensionIt's called a trailing link suspension as the arm pivots ahead of the axel axle. Not too common at all. I believe some early BMWs used this type for awhile as well. In All It's Its GloryHere is a picture of a restored bike that is exactly like the ones in the picture. Note the kick start is on the left side and there is no gear shift to the left of the tank. Apparently slightly later models had the space occupied by the kick start mechanism replaced with a transmission that included a gear shift from it to the left side of the gas tank. Front SuspensionThe Indian front suspension was designed so there was caster to the wheels. According to the old guys I knew 60 years ago, this caster made for very secure handling and less tendency to high speed wobble. You haven't lived until you have experienced a case of high speed wobble!!! UnpunctualThe messages were delivered 36 hours late according to the article below from The Salt Lake Tribune from July 26, 1915. Research indicates that the riders were trying to show that taking a dispatch on a motorcycle across the country would be faster than placing the same message on a train. As originally scheduled, the race would have gone through Sacramento during the national Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) convention in Sacramento, but this did not happen because of the belated arrival of the dispatch rider. The FAM was the organization behind the race. All riders were asked to conduct a rehearsal ride on July 11th. The purpose of riding in teams of three was to ensure that if something happened to the primary rider or his motorcycle another rider would be immediately available to continue the mission to San Francisco. Of the three riders pictured here, Seabrook punctured a tire before reaching Baltimore, and he dropped out; Long ran into a pile of rocks in Baltimore, and he was injured; so Leishear became the only man to make it to the first transfer point. By Bryan, Ohio, near the Indiana border, the racers were five and a half hours late because of rains and bad roads. By the time the riders reached Chicago they were 12 hours behind schedule. Some time was made up on the way to Moline, Illinois as the deficit was reduced to just eight and a half hours upon arriving there, and seven hours at Des Moines, Iowa. In Nebraska the lead rider had an accident, but the other riders were far behind him. Consequently, by Rock Springs, Wyoming the riders were 19 hours behind their scheduled arrival, and at Ogden, Utah 18 hours overdue. I did not find where the other 18 hours were lost, but many sources mention the 36 hour late arrival. The official route, dates, and times as originally scheduled were shown in the Ogden Standard (Ogden, Utah) on July 17, 1915. Note the earlier start time than what actually took place. July 19: 6:00 AM, Washington. D.C. to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester to: July 20: 12:45 AM, Buffalo, New York to Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Bryan, South Bend, Chicago, Sterling, Davenport to: July 21: 3:15 AM, Victor, Iowa to Walnut, Omaha, Columbus, Kearney, North Platte, Julesburg to: July 22: 3:15 AM, Cheyenne, Wyoming to Pine Ridge Station, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Evanston, Salt Lake City, Ogden to: July 23: 12:45 AM, Kelton, Utah to Cobre, Elko, Rye Patch Station, Battle Mountain, Tenley, Reno, Colfax, Sacramento, Tracy, to San Francisco. (The Gallery, D.C., Motorcycles, Natl Photo, Sports)
Board Track: 1925
... discovered he couldn't remove his foot from the peg of his bike and found that a large splinter had pierced the leather of his boot and wedged itself between parts of the bike. Fortunately it somehow missed his foot. It was all insanely dangerous ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 4:56pm -

July 11, 1925. "Auto races at Laurel, Maryland." The 1⅛-mile wooden oval at Laurel Speedway. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Sibling rivalryLooks like both Ralph and John DePalma were racing that day. Black BoxesFor a good while I kept wondering what were those neatly arranged squares in the outfield. I guess I'm slow on the uptake. Notice the Parking Lot?Every car in the lot is black. Finding your car after the race must have been hell! And sitting in the stands squinting into the glare from all those skimmers...... A Sea of Menall looking toward the track, and one lone woman with a parasol looking toward the camera. Interesting composition. Sharing a memory...There was a graphic design studio I worked in for a time and it (rather oddly) had a race car set in the middle of the office of the same type in the photos. I recall one office party where I (accompanied by my beer) finally worked up the gumption to climb into it. I remember sitting there, hands on the wheel, and just letting my mind wander back to a scene similar to the one in this photo. The car was much larger then I would have imagined. Amazing Uniformity of HatsWhat's with all the straw hats? It must have been the style in 1925 ... but still, did 98% of the men of the time wear the same kind of hat? It's really kind of freaky. [Check out this photo. - Dave] Hat DayMust have been Hat Day at the track. You know, they give away free hats. Also, the banking in turn 4 is not supported by dirt. It is actually up on supports , which you don't see anymore. To what degree?That has to be the most steeply-banked track I've ever seen! The corners appear to be way steeper than Daytona or Talladega. I wonder just what the degree of banking actually was. [48 degrees. - Dave] HiddenAnd not a Marx Brother in sight? Not even a Harp! Sea of HatsSkimmers or boaters were the hat of choice, much like ballcaps today. You can still get one, I love mine. Newspaper BrimsPlenty of folks have extended the coverage of their hats with sheets of newspaper. That's a lotta woodThe idea of a wooden racetrack for cars is incredible! It takes a hefty underlying support structure to keep the surface boards in place. Even with that the pounding of the racecars would loosen the nails and the resulting clickity-clack sound would have been very loud. I remember that effect from some wooden bridges we used to have around here. Unless all the wood was treated with creosote, the usual preservative back then, the whole track might rot away in a few years. Wonder how many years the track did last? Why wood?Why was it made of wood? [It was a relatively cheap way to build a banked racecourse. Board tracks were quite popular in the early part of the century. - Dave] Deadly SplintersBoard tracks were used for motorcycle racing at the time as well and taking a spill on the lumber was a nasty experience. LostHave you seen my dad? He was wearing a white shirt and a straw hat. Quite a lineupRalph was the only DePalma racing that day. The partially-obscured "DeP___a" was a misspelling of Pete DePaolo's name. Pete was Ralph's nephew, the winner of the 1925 Indy 500, and also the winner of this race. A list of the results can be found here. Interesting to see so many jackets on a day marked by "extreme heat." Board track racer Jim DavisA few years back I had the pleasure of meeting long retired board track racer Jim Davis, who raced motorcycles for the Indian Company beginning in 1916. He told stories of running over 100 mph on the boards and having splinters thrown up by other bikes with such force that they would pierce the protective leather gear. At the end of one race as he slowed to a stop he discovered he couldn't remove his foot from the peg of his bike and found that a large splinter had pierced the leather of his boot and wedged itself between parts of the bike. Fortunately it somehow missed his foot. It was all insanely dangerous but when you were 17 years old and could make $25 a week plus expenses and prize money, why not? Mr. Davis was a very polite man, friendly, and could tell racing stories 75 years after they happened like they happened last week. Finish LineThe results linked to in an earlier comment are interesting. All cars save one were a Duesie or a Miller and the average speed for the 250 miles was around 124 mph. Very impressive considering the venue! I wonder if it was AAA sanctioned. A board track legendNeedless to say, the elaborate framework of a board track allowed ample opportunity for boys to climb around under the track. A legend goes that during a race at Beverly Hills, a driver came into the pits pale and shaking. When asked what's wrong, he said "There has been a crash and I saw the guy's head bouncing down the track!" He was told there had been no crash. What he saw were local urchins getting the best view of a race imaginable; through holes in the boards. They would duck down as the cars passed and then pop back up as they cleared. Then and NowHere is the track today, overgrown but still recognizable: View Larger Map Woodpeckers not allowedThe official name of this track is The Baltimore-Washington Speedway and all races ran there were AAA sanctioned. It had 48 degree banked corners and was built by Jack Prince. However it was very short loved in that it was operational between the June 1925 and the September 1926. The first board track was built at the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordrome in 1910. The design was based on the velodromes still used for bicycle racing. Regarding the dress code of the day, considering that these were the days when men wore not only hats, but suits and ties to the movies, to ballgames, horse races and in this case, to auto races, it was expected to be a very hot day at the event thus the white dress code and straw hats. As a racer, the topic of board tracks has been one of my studies for several years all of which had some amazing historical value. That said, in my opinion, the board track in San Francisco was the most beautiful of all with a significant amount of historical value. It was built overlooking San Francisco to coincide with the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition (World's Fair), where the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup race was run. I have some beautiful photos of them and the cars. CamerasMakes you wonder what ever happened to the pictures they are taking down in the race lane, and if, some time in the future, Dave will find and post them. [A clever ploy. More here and here. - Dave] Google Maps imageI am fascinated by the Google Maps image posted below. I'd love to get into that property just to look around and walk the old layout and stand where such an amazing track was. Sadly, I'm in Arizona so it's not likely to happen. Hats and Plank roadsI can also attest to the terrific comfort of a straw boater. I got an antique boater recently (ca 1930s) and it's amazing how shady cool and comfortable they are. And yes, just about every man in America wore one. May 15 was the traditional "Straw Hat Day," when straws were "officially" sanctioned to be worn. Regarding the wooden track, this was also the era of plank roads. In an era when wood was tremendously abundant, miles and miles of highways were paved with wood. Even in Brooklyn, Coney Island Avenue was originally called Coney Island Plank Road. Laurel board trackWhen I was a kid, we used to ride our bikes in the woods there. Unfortunately, the current image above does't show any remains at all of the old track. 4 or 5 years ago they cleared the land. Now its just a grass field. About 10 years ago, when we found the track, we thought it was a road. We road our bikes on it and and discovered it was huge oval. Since the track was all sand, we thought it was once part of the horse track. Since the horse track is across the street(brock bridge rd), it only made sense to us. Wish it was still there since I now know what it is. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Natl Photo, Sports)
Green Detroit: 1942
... Avenue actually looks. Nowadays, if you try riding your bike on it you're certainly taking your life into your hands. Home Sweet ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:52am -

Detroit, July 1942. "Looking north on Woodward Avenue from the Maccabees Building with the Fisher Building at the distant left, and the Wardell Hotel at the right." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Arthur Siegel. View full size. Detroit Institute of ArtsIn the foreground, the building to the right (cut off) is now the home of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The building on the left is the Detroit Public Library. It's strange to see all the trees in the photo. Those are sadly not there anymore. My Old NeighborhoodI went to college and lived in this neighborhood about a block out of frame to the right. Most of the major buildings in the picture are still there today and look much the same. The Detroit Institute of Art has just finished up a Michael Graves redesign of the 1960s and 70s additions that wrap around the back of the original central building seen here. The DIA atrium contains Diego Rivera's famous Detroit industry murals. The main branch of the DPL on the left is by Cass Gilbert with a later rear addition by his son. The streetcars are gone of course, but there are groups working to bring them back to this part of Woodward Avenue. Charles Lang Freer's Mansion is hidden behind the three-winged Wardell (now Park Shelton) Hotel. The Freer Mansion, one of the most important Shingle Style residences in the country, once contained the famous Peacock Room designed by Whistler, later relocated to the Freer Gallery in Washington. The smokestacks next to Woodward just at the horizon were at the now demolished powerhouse of Ford's Highland Park factory. Old Detroit87 years ago today I was born in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit was a tree city. I remember going to the top of the downtown sky scrapers and was surprised at seeing so many trees in the city. [Happy birthday, Seattle Kid! - Dave] Parade routeDitto anonymous tipster, I worked at that library, attended Wayne State University which is (will be) off to the left, and this side of the photographer. Site of the Hudson's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Still a Jungle Out ThereSeattlekid, you still can see the treetops from many buildings. I went up in the abandoned Michigan Central Station and after looking at the pictures, you'd think Detroit was all trees. On another note, look at how nice Woodward Avenue actually looks. Nowadays, if you try riding your bike on it you're certainly taking your life into your hands. Home Sweet HomeJust across Woodward from the Wardell/Park Shelton, in that grove of trees, you can see a roof with several chimneys. 14 years after this picture was taken, I was born in that building, Called the Art Centre Hospital. It later became part of the Detroit Historical Museum, and is now, I believe, part of Wayne State University. DetroitI was one of the artsy folk over at the College for Creative Studies, but several of my cousins went to Wayne State. The Public Library is really something. My film-major roommate used the grand stairway and second-floor hall as sets for as a fairy tale style palace in a short film he was making. Clang Clang ClangI lived about a half mile south of there on Woodward a few years back - walked to the library all the time, but it's the trolleys that get me - how cool that must have been. The Pontiac SignMakes me think of all the GTO's that will help turn this avenue into a street racing legend 20 odd years later. Or was it Woodward Boulevard? Well, what does a hick from Georgia know about Michigan? Foy Las Vegas Woodward AvenueAerial view. Although MS Live Maps doesn't allow me to view at the same angle, it's still interesting to look at the layout of the area ~66 years later. Detroit trees and streetcarsSadly, most of Detroit has lost the beautiful American elm trees over the last few decades due to Dutch Elm Disease. I remember the early a.m. spraying helicopter flights over our northwest Detroit neighborhood in the early sixties as the city tried to control the blight. I wonder how many later sicknesses and chronic conditions were caused by all of us breathing the aerial sprays. In 1970 while working for the DSR (Detroit's bus company), many old time executives told me detailed stories about the streetcars' demise in the 50's. Most of the tales had to do with the auto executives refusing to allow room for tracks within the newly planned expressways (freeways) to the Willow Run auto plant during WWII. One was quoted as saying that he'd be damned if his employees would be taking a streetcar to work instead of buying and driving one of the cars that they made. I think they were sold to Mexico City where they still faithfully ply the rails. The City BeautifulA few months ago, I was on a road trip from Toronto to Ann Arbor. We went south instead of north (can't remember the road) and ended up driving into Detroit. I was thrilled. The architecture is amazing. I plan a trip soon to visit and photograph these incredible buildings. I'm putting the DIA, the DPL and the Freer Mansion on the top of the list. I'm rooting for those tracks to be brought back too. Streetcars and treesA lovely pic of Detroit; if you want to actually be in a city with hard-working streetcars and a blanket of trees go to Toronto, just a few hours east of this view. With a few glass skyscrapers now added one gets the impression of a prosperous, pre-1940 American city, with a dose of peace, order and good government -- sort of a motto there. Woodward Dreaming CruiseWe used to ride the streetcar down from the 8-Mile Palmer Park area by the State Fairgrounds to go shopping at the big J.L.Hudson department store in downtown, farther south from this photo. The last day of service of the streetcars they put on several extra cars for a "one last ride" experience. My father took me along and we rode that last trip into the sunset. I got to see Canada across the river and was tremendously impressed at being able to actually see a whole different country. Still don't know how we got home, if that was the last trip! About those GTOs on Woodward Avenue. That all happened way farther north from here off into the distance at the top of the photo, starting at 11 Mile Road in Royal Oak (where I lived later on) and racing from stoplight to stoplight (about every half mile) up to about 15 Mile Road in Birmingham. I learned to drive a half mile at a time -- but very quickly. Detroit, my hometownWayne State University was (and still is) located to the left of what this photograph shows. When this photograph was taken, however, the university was known as Wayne University and was actually operated by the Board of Education of the city's public school district. The word "State" was added to the university's name in the 1950s when it joined Michigan's other main state-supported schools--the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. In the upper left-hand corner of the photograph two of legendary architect Albert Kahn's edifices can be seen. The tall building is the Fisher Building, so named for the Fisher brothers (of Fisher Body fame) who commissioned it. Immediately in front of, and to the right of, the Fisher Building is what was then known as the General Motors Building. This edifice, which was the world's largest office building when built in the late 1920s, housed the carmaker's main offices until the late 1990s when the automaker moved to its present home in downtown Detroit. Today, the former GM Building is known as Cadillac Place and houses various State of Michigan government offices and courts. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Arthur Siegel, Detroit Photos, Streetcars)
Provincetown Summer: 1937
... this photo alot, and I keep thinking how the girl on the bike would fit right in with the students at Appalachian university here in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:35pm -

Summer 1937. "Street scene -- Provincetown, Massachusetts." And a reminder to "Don't write -- Telegraph!" 35mm negative by Edwin Rosskam. View full size. Quite stylishnothing like pedaling a bicycle while wearing two inch heels. Itchy nippleMy guess. [If you look closely, you'll see that both hands are at her sides. And if you don't look closely, this is what you come up with.] - Dave] Old Cape CodTwenty one years after this picture was snapped, I made my first of many road trips to Provincetown. 1958 was the year Patti Page recorded the title song and it was played constantly everywhere in Provincetown to add musical atmosphere for the tourists. Nothing stays the same and neither did Provincetown, but the fresh lobsters, crusty Portugese breads, artists and artisans of all kinds, lively ambient bars, balmy beaches and friendly people got me hooked on this beautiful town. My last trip there was in 1970 so maybe somebody can locate an updated picture of the current Main St. and post it. P.S. to Kilroy - Thanks for refreshing my memory. I do remember that their main street was called Commercial St. We used to stay at a B & B type lodging called the Gray Inn that most likely no longer exists, a family-run rooming house sort of arrangement, casual and inexpensive. Wonderful memories. P.P.S. to JesryPo - I appreciate the photo (the architecture does look original) and its nice to know it is still a quaint and charming town. Many thanks. StyleFrom her head to toe, the bicycle chick evokes style...boasting the latest in eye wear, jewelry, socks, heels. She may have been heading home from work. And, remember the rear wheel push-down stands? I love this image. Wish I knew what the attention grabber was. Judging by those socksTwo years later a house from Kansas will fall on her! At first glanceI thought she had her hand under her shirt, adjusting her bra. Burchis the maker of that beautiful Art Deco popcorn machine. In 1940 it became Manley Inc. to reflect the new owners name. More here. Bicycling experienceI remember as a boy, having to tie my pants leg tight so the material wouldn't get tangled in the chain mechanism. I never saw the need to tie BOTH legs, since there is nothing on the other side to get tangled up. And those heels must have made the pedaling difficult. I'd have put those shoes in the bag, and worn appropriate shoes for the trip, then switched to my heels once I reached my destination. What's this world coming to?A man outside and not wearing a hat!! There he is againIt seems like the older fellow on the right by the curb (hat, tie blown back) is omnipresent in photos from this era. He certainly did get around! The Start of the End of the USPSIn the window it says "Don't write, Telegraph." The sign of things to come. Armchair quarterbacking the photoI too thought her hand was in the shirt adjusting things...She seems very flexible too. Can someone describe the pants? They look like a pants-skirt??? [Culottes? - tterrace] Re: OTY - No Main St.There isn't any Main Street in Provincetown if you can believe it. The main thoroughfares through P-Town are Bradford St. (Rte 6A) and Commercial St. I'm guessing this photo was taken on Commercial, but not sure. Stylin'That girl is years ahead of her time style wise. I love it! That took guts back then. Free thinkerI'm guessing this woman was what was referred to at that time as a "free thinker." She's very stylish and uninhibited looking. 304 Commercial StreetI can assure you, OTY, much of Provincetown is as it was, at least architecturally. There is no Google Street View for Commercial Street, but I found this picture of 304 Commercial - now a jeweler. Girl on BicycleHer hand is going straight down her right side, not in her blouse. Love how she looks. Too bad there isn't even a reflection to help us know what the people are looking at. I keep coming backIve looked at this photo alot, and I keep thinking how the girl on the bike would fit right in with the students at Appalachian university here in Boone NC. hip, but with a agenda. Modern girlExcept for the passerbys she looks like she would fit right in, in downtown Monterey in the artsy section or underground Atlanta back in the late sixties. Especially with the glasses. The pic took me right back there. AkimboThe young lady's pose is a variant of "hands on hips" or "akimbo". The hands are placed so that the fingers are vertical and end up approximately at the waist, instead of on the hips. Thanks to various life experiences I associate it with the Northeastern U.S., with impatience or irritation, and with the sort of woman we describe today as "high maintenance". I Always telegraphThat's why I'm such a lousy poker player. "Don't write" would last about five more yearsNo one who lived on the home front during World War II ever wanted to receive a telegram again. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Edwin Rosskam)
Pretty in Pink: 1952
... Pretty in Pink Great comments on the car. The girl's bike has training wheels, which is cool. The detail on these photos is just ... on the similarity. Turns out, that is her on the bike. Her mother sewed the dress and she bought the bike from her brother's ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/22/2008 - 3:30pm -

Circa 1952, possibly in Indiana. Another image from Set 2 of found 35mm Kodachromes. Note the Cadillac-inspired tacked-on tailfins on the Ford, which we'll tentatively identify as a 1950 Crestliner. View full size. TailfinsThose are real, honest-to-goodness tailfins. There's nothing faux about them. [They're aftermarket accessories, tacked on. - Dave] Crestliner?Probably not. Looks like something from Henry J. Kaiser. Maybe someone can find it on Plan59. Give it a shot. [It's a Ford Crestliner. And I run Plan59. - Dave] It's a Ford.1949 or 1950 Ford. Also added vinyl (looks like cloth?) top and what appears to be Buick-style side trim. Travis [There was no Crestliner in 1949. The top is canvas on metal; both it and the side trim are stock. The Crestliner was Ford's stopgap answer to GM's "hardtop convertibles" of 1949. - Dave] Beautiful photo!Beautiful photo! 1950 Ford CrestlinerI love google. I'm a Chevrolet guy... Check this out. I wish I could post the picture straight up. http://www.oldride.com/classic_cars/330546.html Travis JCWhitneyThe fins are aftermarket additions. Probably got them from J C Whitney catalog. The car has been "customized" as was the craze in the 50's [The only customized parts are the tailfins. The rest is stock Crestliner. - Dave] I Got Nuthin'I got nuthin' here, but I gotta say, seeing Dave shoot down these grossly mistaken commenters is hilarious! A familiar neighborhoodDave, you set us up by asking about the car, when you're already the most knowledgeable guy in the room! The housing in the area looks almost exactly like the neighborhood I grew up in: several streets of almost identical houses built quickly after the soldiers returned from WWII. I'd bet almost any town of reasonable size had a neighborhood just like this in 1950. 1950 Ford CrestlinerI had one of these and in this color. It was a great car. I believe only about 1400 were made. [If memory serves, there was an article about them not too long ago in Collectible Automobile. When I was a kid, my dad had a 1950 or 51 Ford sedan. - Dave] AccessoriesI wish I could buy some aftermarket tailfins for my car today ... Pretty in PinkGreat comments on the car. The girl's bike has training wheels, which is cool. The detail on these photos is just astounding. Every blade of grass. This image is more than half a century old. Looks like it was taken on digital yesterday. Is the license plate a clue to the state? 1951This picture must have been taken in 1951 since the black-on-white plates were issued that year. For 1952, a yellow tab was issued to bolt on top of the 1951 plate. http://www.in.gov/bmv/4211.htm [There is a tab on this one, across the bottom of the plate. It looks blue, or maybe green. - Dave] The FordMy dad had a 1950 Ford 2-door sedan, and a few years ago he gave it to my brother. That car's been in my family for more than fifty years. Custom CrestlinerA gussied-up version of the regular Tudor sedan added late in the 1950 model year. Designed to fill in for a true "hardtop convertible" pending arrival of the Victoria for 1951. Styling by Gordon Buehrig featured a contrasting color sweep panel on the bodysides and a padded top. Priced $ 200 upstream of the Custom Tudor, which explains why sales were not impressive. A true collectible today. Nice car in its fifties decor, Dave. What are the chances...I saw this picture and thought, "that looks an awful lot like my grandmother's front yard." Sent it to my mother remarking on the similarity. Turns out, that is her on the bike. Her mother sewed the dress and she bought the bike from her brother's future wife. The house is in Noblesville, IN. [That is amazing. So that's your mother on the bike? And is this her brother below? - Dave] 1953 Indiana platesThe Indiana 1953 tab is indeed black on light green. (Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, Kodachromes 2)
Public Square, Cleveland: 1907
... the sprinklers, and am curious who would leave a brand new bike just sitting there unlocked. Things to come Note the harness ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:33pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1907. "Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Public Square." This Civil War monument was dedicated July 4, 1894. Panorama made from two 8x10 glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Memories I waited for the Number 20 bus daily 1972 through 1976 while a schoolboy across the street from this fine monument. The local men who served in the Civil War have their names displayed on the walls on the inside. [One commenter speculated that the monument housed public toilets. - Dave] ComplexThat is an impressive piece of work. Anyone know what was housed in the base of the monument? And, yes, that bicycle looks really lonely just standing there. Details, details.Love the sprinklers, and am curious who would leave a brand new bike just sitting there unlocked. Things to comeNote the harness company sign in the upper left, and, in the streets below, a few examples of the machines that would be the death of that industry. Public vs. individualAlways amazing, how much public transport one can see in these old photos, and how little private transport (shank's mare excluded). Obesity was not much of a problem then and even portly people got up and down stairs well, I suppose. Fascinating picture.Do you know if it was shot from one camera at different times or two cameras simultaneously? If it was a single camera I'm curious if some of the people, and particularly some of the trolleys and carriages appear in both photos? [The exposures were not made simultaneously. Below, the individual plates and their Photoshop marriage. Note the visitor at the base of the monument, present only in the lefthand image, and the difference in the height of the shadows on the wall. - Dave] Below, an initial and not very satisfactory attempt. Drugs/dentistPresumably, one pops upstairs for some of Marshall's cut rate drugs after one has been to the "painless" dentistry below? And after that, off to the church across the road to pray for the pain to go away. Same scene 50 years onHere's an interesting view my father took of the same area in the late 1950s. Floral emblemsI assume the artwork carved into the vegetation around the monument are some type of unit insignias? I notice one for the Corps of Engineers and another for the Signal Corps. ViewpointThe camera is on the southeast corner of Public Square. You can see the edge of the old May Co. building on the left edge of the picture. The location of the Terminal Tower complex would be where the Stein Cafe is in the photo. Signs of the timesThe old street scenes have several things in common. Signs for painless dentistry, cigars and cut rate drugs. Remembering going to the dentist starting about 1950 I have to question the painless statement. InsideThe monument houses a small museum. The photos were taken from the southeast. The Terminal Tower is to the southwest. A great tribute to Ohio's Civil War VetsThat is an amazing monument! When you compare the white objects (dresses/lamp globes) to the white stripes in the American Flag, the air pollution of the day is evident. Old Glory even looks weighted down. Fortunately, it still remains a great monument. I want to go see it. It has its own website: http://soldiersandsailors.com/ Re: Floral EmblemsIf you look closely, the same emblems are carved in the upper portion of the base of the monument. These are the symbols of the different elements of the Union Army 1861-1865. [You can see a close-up here. - Dave] You'll shoot your eye out!Ah yes, The Higbee Company (left) forerunner of the iconic Higbee's department store (in nearby Terminal Tower), perhaps best known for its appearance in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (1983), where young Ralphie drools over a Red Ryder carbine-action Range Model (etc., etc.) BB gun in the window. Statue of "Liberty"When I was a boy, an older friend of our family gave me a tour of this monument and told me that the statue on top was "Liberty" and was deliberately placed facing north with sword unsheathed because, in the years after the Civil War, there was some ill-will with Canada and even some fear that Canada would consider "invading" America and the Cleveland citizens put her up as a warning. Never sure if that was a true story (and have never been able to find a historical reference to it) but that's how I heard it more than 50 years ago. THANK YOU!!Thank you very much for sharing this photo. I have a collection of 4 photos from about the same time (very low quality), that were passed down through ancestors and I was having trouble identifying. Then I came across your photo that has the same Stein Cafe and King Harness signs. This helped me identify the angle and roughly date my photographs. I am enclosing a scaled down version here. Thanks again for sharing. (Panoramas, Civil War, Cleveland, DPC, Streetcars)
Rambler Biclorama: 1902
... built for two, or maybe three? interesting, the first bike has the more modern low set handlebars one associates with racing bikes. I ... if the first has some digestive problems. The second bike however has the step-through frame more commonly associated with ladies' ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:31pm -

Auckland, New Zealand, 1902. "Dexter & Crozier, cycle importers, Victoria Street East." Glass negative by James Hutchings Kinnear. View full size. Dexter & CrozierFrom The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: The business premises contain a large show-room, with offices at the front, and behind there is a large repairing shop, with lathes, a forge, and brazing and enamelling plant. Demolished?There appears to be nothing left of the buildings shown. I went to Victoria Street East yesterday and carefully looked for remnants, but saw none. I suspect the cycle shop and the buildings on each side were demolished long ago, the site now being occupied by the Lister Building. SignedThe signpainters: Bollard & Froude. [Also Tudehope & Robertson. - Dave] A touch of homeA sad looking houseplant on a windowsill of the Board & Residence hotel. Rambler rumbleBicycling dandies versus piano-playing toughs. Play it cool boy, real cool. Backseat driverTwo tandems and the one on the right seems to have an arrangement that allows it to be steered from the rear seat. Rambler bikes and cars These Rambler bikes came from the Gormully and Jeffery Mfg. Co. of Chicago. By the time the instant image was snapped, Thomas Jeffery was in his 5th year of producing automobiles. In 1901 he introduced the Model A Rambler, a name that would much later be tied to Nash products. The G and J (Gormully and Jeffery) Tire Co. sponsored two races at the Indianapolis Speedway prior to the first 500 in 1911. ... on a bicycle built for two, or maybe three?interesting, the first bike has the more modern low set handlebars one associates with racing bikes. I can't help but feel sorry for the person sitting in the second seat if the first has some digestive problems. The second bike however has the step-through frame more commonly associated with ladies' bikes in the first position, with the step-over bar for a gentleman in the second position. Both are equipped with the "sit up and beg" style handlebars. I'm trying to decide if there is a saddle or at least a seatpad on the crossbar in the second position - perhaps for a child? The Coffee RoomYeah right, like anyone will ever make money just selling cups of Coffee. The Tandem on the RightThe tandem on the right appears to be steerable from the stoker position, but I'm having trouble understanding the geometry. I've never seen such a configuration. Can anyone help a brother out with an explanation? Courting Tandem!The tandem to the right has a curious frame: a few more tubes than usual; step-through frame in front; parts going from the fork to the rear rider! An initial google search for 'tandem stoker steering' yielded the term 'courting tandem'. Search that for description, photos and antique bikes for sale. Is that a leather chainguard at the front chainwheel? Chainwheel of the left, uphill tandem is interesting: a very large tooth pitch. Chain looks pretty normal, though. One tooth per three links? A franchise?At about this time there was apparently another "Biclorama" located in San Francisco. It was billed as "Thos. H.B. Varney's Rambler Biclorama: The Largest and Most Complete Bicycle Establishment in the World." Specifics are scarce, but some material is available from Google in printed form only. Never locate a bicycle shop on a hill. The considerable extra energy required to pedal up hill can be too much of a reality check for a newbie cyclist. Blind BustThe head to the left of the piano sign is very interesting with the eyes covered with a wrapping, odd indeed. HillyBill T. said: "Never locate a bicycle shop on a hill." You don't know Auckland! It's hilly almost everywhere in the CBD, except for Fort Street, Customs Street, and Quay Street, which are all built on land reclaimed from the harbour. Opposite ends of the tandem spectrumThese bikes represent the two extremes of turn-of-the century tandems. The bike on the right would have been most at home pootling down a garden path, while the one on the left was built for the velodrome. fastRfastR is quite right that the bike on the right with the leather chainguard is a rear-steered courting tandem. This was probably the most common tandem configuration in the 1890s. While the bike on the right is built for leisure, the one on the left is a speed machine that concedes little to comfort, especially for the stoker. While tandems were raced on the track in their own right, they were more often used as pace bikes. In certain types of trials, tandems, triplets and even quads and quints "towed" bikes up to speed in their slipstream before the final laps. The "skip-link" chainring on the track bike was not uncommon on racing bikes into the 1940s. Alternating short and long links allows the use of stronger, higher profile teeth on the chainring than is possible with a standard chain, which in turns means fewer broken teeth for both bike and rider. Rambler logosIt's interesting to see how many ways the Rambler logo is interpreted in that single scene. Brand identities were much more flexible back then. I spotted yet another Rambler logo in a Stockholm bike shop a few years ago. (The Gallery, Bicycles, New Zealand)
Dallas Noir: 1942
... in Dallas in 1948. I was 10 and recall getting on my bike and riding downtown to the Majestic to see "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." I don't remember locking my bike and I know my parents never locked our doors. It was a different time in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/21/2018 - 4:41pm -

January 1942. "Elm Street -- Theater Row in Dallas." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Clean CarburetorsThat's Elm Street in Dallas = Deep Ellum as in Deep Ellum Blues as in "when you go down in Deep Ellum, keep your carburetor clean, 'cause the women in Deep Ellum sellin' dirty gasoline." The Majestic Theater opened in 1921 - history here: http://www.liveatthemajestic.com/history.shtm Goober Pea [Thanks, Goob. - Dave] Hotel ShorpyCute watermark on the wallpaper! Neat...I always wanted a high-res pic of world famous Shorpy building! Two signsThe Majestic is playing "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" which was the fifth Tarzan film that MGM did. Released in December 1941, it starred series regulars Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Johnny Sheffield as "Boy." It co-starred English character actor Reginald Owen, and Irish character actor Barry Fitzgerald just three years before his double Oscar nomination for "Going My Way." (Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the role of Father Fitzgibbon - he lost Best Supporting Actor and won Best Actor and spawned a new Academy Awards rule that you couldn't be nominated in two acting categories for playing the same role in the same movie.) The other sign is something I see at the very end of the street, just to the left of the Palace Theater sign [below]. I swear the letters are F A K E Weird huh? All GoneMost of these wonderful buildings are gone. Go to Google Maps and enter 2036 Elm Street and click "streetview" and look west. Mostly parking lots and garages. It looks like a street (Harwood St.) now runs perpendicular to Elm a couple of buildings east of the Majestic, about where Winn Furniture stands in the photo. This area got pretty seedy in the late 40's and 50's. Two blocks south of the photo location was The Carousel Club, owned by Jack Ruby - the guy who shot Oswald. "Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night? Well Dallas is a jewel, oh yeah, Dallas is a beautiful sight. And Dallas is a jungle but Dallas gives a beautiful light." - The Flatlanders Goober Pea Dallas NoirI love your addition to the "supersize" wallpaper! Great Photo!This photo is taken looking west down Elm Street from the corner of Olive. The good news is that not all those buildings are gone. On the right side, the Majestic Theater (1921) remains, as well as the Hart Furniture Store Building (1888) next door to it. Do you see the heart-shaped neon sign that reads "Hart's"? That building is still on the NW corner of Elm and Harwood Street. The Tower Building is also still standing just beyond the Majestic with the stair stepped roof. The entire block between Harwood and Olive on the right side of the photo however is now surface parking. On the left side of the photo the Titche-Goettinger department store building is still there and is condos and apartments (at Elm and St. Paul). The White Plaza Hotel is also still there but is now called the Aristocrat Hotel. The left side of the street across from the Majestic is now a 5 story parking garage. What a great photo! Thanks for posting! Re: FAKE__The street actually takes a pretty big dip where that sign is. I can vouch for that as I walked that sidewalk two days ago and drew a picture of the Titches building on the left from where that sign was. Fakes FurnitureHaving lived in Dallas all my life (born 1936), I can recall the scene looking exactly as pictured above. In response to Brent who spied the FAKE sign past the Palace Theater, allow me to clarify that it actually said F-A-K-E-S, as in Fakes Furniture & Carpet Co., located at 2509 Elm. For what it's worth, I still own a bedroom suite my parents bought at that Hart's store beside the Majestic. Abbott and Costello at the MajesticI was living on Eastside Avenue and Carroll Street in Dallas in 1948. I was 10 and recall getting on my bike and riding downtown to the Majestic to see "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." I don't remember locking my bike and I know my parents never locked our doors. It was a different time in America. The Majestic had a big living room up the stairs with a TV which most people didn't have as yet. After watching a movie I would sometimes watch TV with other patrons. Not Deep EllumJust a comment: this is not, nor was Deep Ellum. If you were to walk a few blocks east, you would find Deep Ellum. This part of Elm was considered Theatre Row. Haverty's Furniture...is still alive and well, with locations throughout north and central Texas. Interesting to see all the lights [only a month after Pearl Harbor]. By the summer of 1942 blackout rules would be in effect and "the lights wouldn't go on again" [to paraphrase a popular wartime song] for another 3 years. Dealey PlazaIf you keep walking in this direction on Elm, you'll find yourself at the front door of the Texas School Book Depository. Titche-GoettingerMy parents purchased a baby carriage for me at Titche-Goettinger on December 22, 1949. Price $39.95. TemptationI cannot explain what drew me to open the super size wallpaper image, but I am glad I did. You constantly outdo yourself, Dave. Judy Garland's Palace Song"A team of hoofers, Was the headline, At the Majestic, Down in Dallas. But they cancelled the day, Their agent called to say... You can open the bill at the Palace!" WatermarkPlease tell me where it is. I've been looking for quite some time. [Click the Wallpaper link in the caption. - Dave] Deep EllumIn the 1960s, when I lived there, native Dallasites talked about "Deep Elm" (pronounced ELLUM by some--as they enunciated each letter of ELM, with a full pronouncement of "M" such as "EL-M"). Anyway, I was never sure of the exact location of Deep Elm. Now that we have Google, I am directed to Wikipedia, among other places, for an answer. Wikipedia says, "Deep Ellum is a neighborhood composed largely of arts and entertainment venues near downtown in Old East Dallas, Texas." Fair Park, the location of the Texas State Fair, the Cotton Bowl, and Big Tex, is just east of Deep Elm. The Baylor University Medical Center adjoins the north side of the district. I don't think Deep Elm was an artsy neighborhood back in the sixties. It was a run-down area--as I surmised when I drove through there on the way to the Fair or some other more distant location. In fact, it is probably still run-down, but trendy. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Century Road Club: 1913
... brake anchor lever that clamps to the frame on the one bike. It was never much fun as a kid when that lever came loose and you hit ... you will note the toe clips. I did some 100 miles per day bike trips in my salad days and toe clips made it a lot easier by locking your ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:25pm -

May 3, 1913. "Fred J. Scherer and Walter Wiley at the start of New York to San Francisco bicycle race." Bain News Service glass negative. View full size. Fixies?It appears that the bikes they were planning to ride were fixed-gear bikes with no brakes. I shudder to think what these guys went through crossing the Continental Divide. Odometers?There appear to be little Veeder-Root type counters mounted on the front forks of each bicycle. Or is this some other accessory? The amazing thing about this image is.Bicycles haven't changed much in all these years. Those OdometersBetabox, I actually had one of those odometers a couple of bikes ago. There was a little peg that attached to one of the spokes, and it hit a star wheel on the little meter. I still remember the little ping it made every time the peg came around. Worked pretty well, as I recall. Now I use a $5.00 GPS app on my iPhone that gives me a Google map of my route, speed, distance, altitude, pace, and even calories burned, and it keeps track of every ride I took for over a year. Even lets me listen to iTunes music while I ride. Absolutely amazing for $5.00. We've come a long way, baby. But still, that little counter gizmo lasted 100 years, and I'll bet it's still being sold. Now that's pretty cool. Carbide bicycle lanternsThere are a ton of these available at various on-line antique auction sites. The ones shown here resemble the "Old Sol" model by Hawthorne of Bridgeport Connecticut. There are jeweled facets on either side of the lamp that serve as running lights, green on the right and red on the left (with Red Port Wine being the aide-memoire). Century Road Club AssociationI don't know whether these two made it to Frisco, but their organization was founded in 1898 and is still going strong. Wool Was the Old Spandex Bicycle enthusiasts, dressing like dorks for nearly 100 years! Long Ride!I hope you have a photo of them at the finish line! Very bold.Considering that the first cross country automobile trip, and the hardships they endured, took place in 1907 it was still a bold move, even in 1913, to make the attempt on a bicycle. Track BikesIn today's terms these are track bikes: fixed gear: NO freewheeling rear gear/hub assembly. Difficult to ride because the only way you can stop is to pedal slower and slower -- bit tough on the down hills in hilly terrain. Of note: I could find nothing on this "race" via the search engines. Given the nature of the bikes, I doubt they make it very far without major crashes. In memory of carbide lanternsBack in my pre-teen youth in Altoona, Pa., my Dad and I used to go raccoon hunting, which is done at night with dogs (technical term "coon hounds"). For light we used carbide lanterns that were designed to be mounted on coal miners' helmets, and an Internet search yields many sites explaining how they work. Hunting was fun and all that, but carbide offered an extra benefit to anyone wanting to blow a can apart (technical term "teen vandals"). We'd drop a handful of carbide in a can that had a metal lid, such as an empty paint can, punch a hole in the lid, introduce saliva to the carbide (technical term "spitting"), wait for calcium hydroxide gas to build up while covering the hole, then touch a match to the hole and BLAMMO. Coaster brakes?I don't know when the Coaster Brake was invented but I think I see the little brake anchor lever that clamps to the frame on the one bike. It was never much fun as a kid when that lever came loose and you hit the brakes. Not FixiesFrom what I can tell, these are single speed bikes with a coaster brake, not a fixed gear. If you look at the left chainstay, it looks as if there is a coaster brake bracket coming from the rear hub. Also the rear hub looks to be rather large which would indicate it housing all the elements of a cb. I could be wrong, kind of hard to be 100% sure from the photo. Those carbide lampsWhen I was a kid, we had a "carbide cannon" as a toy. It was a poorly cast piece that looked like a WWI cannon. You put carbide in it, and it had a sparker like an old zippo lighter to ignite the gas. It was about a 5 on a 10 point fun-o-meter. Fun for about half an hour. How about those toe clips.If you look closely at the pedals, you will note the toe clips. I did some 100 miles per day bike trips in my salad days and toe clips made it a lot easier by locking your bike shoes to the pedals. It was a relief not to have to concentrate on keeping your shoes centered on the pedals. In addition you could "pull up" on one pedal while "pushing down" on the other. The carbide bike lamp is a Model S Solar manufactured by the Badger Brass Mfg. Co. of Kenosha, WI. It was patented in the US in 1896. My lamp (see pic) is not as shiny. The water tank and filler hole with vent plug is located in the back. The carbide pellets went in the cup on the bottom. The "key" on the side adjusted the water dripping on the carbide. Water plus carbide generates acetylene gas which burns with a hot white flame. The front of the lamp has a glass cover which swings open to light the acetylene. The flat cap on the light is the "smokestack" for the burnt gas to escape. The Eternal BicycleToe clips, coaster brakes, drop handlebars, handlebar wrap, panniers (sort of).... You need to change very few things to arrive at a modern bicycle. "Brought to you by..."... Fisk Tire (if the flag on the boys' bikes was indeed a sponsor). Fisk made bicycle and automobile tires at the time, and their logo was the little yawning boy in pajamas with a bicycle tire slung over his right shoulder. "Trust the Truss"Based on the badge and the frame design of the bicycle on the left, it's an Iver Johnson Truss-bridge bicycle. Yes, this is the same Iver Johnson that made fire arms. They built this style frame from 1900 to 1939. The bicycle on the left does, in fact, have a coaster brake. The coaster brake was invented in the late 1890s and were quite common by 1910. The large chrome ball on the handlebars are bicycle bells. Also note the sprocket driven odometers on the front hubs of both bikes. I have a feeling this event, sponsored by Fisk Tires, was not so much a race as it was a reliability run. What better way to promote your tires. The fact that no information can be found about this event makes me believe it was a failure, and so was not reported. Vanishing PointOn April 27, 1913 Fred J. Scherer, Walter Wiley, George McAdams, and Ernest Higgins were among more than 300 cyclists who took part in the 16th Annual Spring Century Run from Columbus Circle in Manhattan to Hicksville, Long Island and back. The race, sponsored by the Century Road Club [bicycle] Association, was a warm up for the 48-day Transcontinental Handicap Team Race that was started a week later. Scherer and Wiley represented the Caribou Club, while McAdams and Higgins rode for the Century Road Club. Scherer and Wiley received a twenty-four hour head start, leaving from City Hall at Broadway & Murray Street on the 3rd of May 3 at 1:00 p.m. They pedaled up Broadway (mostly) accompanied seventy-five other cyclists and autos stuffed with officials who were shouting last minute details and instructions. The autos dropped out at Yonkers, while the other cyclists kept up the escort as far as Tarrytown. The first night's stop would be in Poughkeepsie, with other overnight stays in Schenectady, Utica, Auburn, Batavia, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Norwalk, and Toledo, Ohio—where they hoped to arrive on the 13th. The itinerary had them arriving in Chicago on the 16th and Omaha on the 22nd. They figured to arrive at their final destination—San Francisco—on June 20, whereupon they would present a message from Mayor Gaynor of New York to Mayor Rolph of San Francisco. They also carried messages from East Coast bicycle organizations to their West Coast counterparts. They estimated making an average of seventy miles a day and took no money, as "all expenses must be met by the sale of post cards and money actually earned in other ways while enroute." McAdams and Higgins left twenty-four hours later from the same place and followed the same route and timetable, although they bragged that they would overtake Scherer and Wiley in a few days, and reach San Francisco first. There was supposed to be another team from Denver that would be riding a tandem bike, but no one really believed that they would show up. They didn't. A couple of newspapers in Indiana got the news feed wrong, and printed that Scherer and Wiley were riding motorcycles from New York to San Francisco. One newspaper that apparently got it right was the Chicago Daily News, whose photographer took the picture below (Library of Congress collection): It seems that the first pair of cyclists made it to Chicago looking none the worse for wear, but the exact date is unknown at this time. The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette noted on May 10 that the cyclists were due through that town on May 18 and 19, and the local cyclists were "preparing to give them a rousing reception." I don't know if they ever got their rousing reception—at this point I can't find anything about them past Chicago. I'll keep looking, but if someone has any idea whether or not they made it to San Francisco, please share with the rest of us. Coaster brakes vs. coastingYes, as douglas fir mentioned, the diameter of the rear hub looks quite adequate for containing a coaster brake mechanism. Early fixed gear bikes would have a rear hub with a narrow barrel. But fixed gear bikes were of course the first style of bicycle and during the 1890s they were used for long (even round the world) tours. On leisurely rides and for more gentle descents, early fixed gear bikes were sometimes fitted with foot rests added to the sides of the front fork. This illustration gives a good idea how these front "pegs" were used; of course, you'd better be familiar with the road if allowing yourself a long coast - since you'd eventually need to regain control of the still rapidly rotating pedals, and pedals with toe clips would likely be out of the question. Sturmey Archer 3 speedThe bike on the left has a sturmey archer 3 speed rear hub. (The Gallery, Bicycles, G.G. Bain, NYC)
General Electric: 1949
... This is my favorite vehicle I think this is the ONE bike on the whole lot!! lol Born in Schenectady My father worked in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/06/2013 - 7:30am -

August 4, 1949. "General Electric turbine plant, Schenectady, New York." Calling all car-spotters! Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. Overhead ViewAn aerial movie of the Schenectady GE plant (along with WGY TV's broadcast towers) apparently shot in 1940 can be seen on YouTube. Not sure what the connection between the two was, who shot the movie or why it was made, but it provides a great view of the scale of the facility. In color and without sound. Honey, when are we going to get a new car?Couple of thoughts, Imagine what it was like to come out of work to your old 30's style car that all the paint had faded off, probably leaked oil all over the driveway, then drive home to the nagging wife, what a life! I was 3 at the time of this photo. When I was about 8, My family (3 boys 1 girl) drove from Illinois to Philmont Boy Scout ranch in New Mexico in a Chevy like the 49 in Gazzles comment, I can clearly remember laying on the back window shelf for much of the trip. Who needed seat belts. Didn't the Crosley get about 50 mpg? (Haven't come far have we) What are these?Can anyone tell me what these cute little things are? [The Crosleys mentioned in previous comments. -tterrace] Kaiser-Frazer DealershipMy grand-father, James Page, second from right, with a friend and some kids at his Kaiser-Frazer (with a "Z") dealership in Callahan, Florida in the late 1940s or early 1950s. He also owned the Pure Oil distributorship in Nassau County and was involved to some degree with the Tucker automobiles. I recall my dad telling me all the technical innovations of the Tucker, and I sensed that the enthusiasm some had for the cars lasted a long time! [Your attachment wasn't attached. -tterrace] Parking HabitsIn crowded lots with lots of foot traffic, pulling out is much safer then backing out into the travel lanes. Amazing the number of folks that just 'pop up' after you've made quite sure no one was there. Small wonderThe cars that look like they need wind-up keys are Crosleys. Amazing to see two of them in this parking lot, given how few were manufactured. All-American parking lotWe're still a couple of years away from the engineers buying those weird little foreign jobs to commute with. The shapes of things to comeI find it interesting that the '49 Studebaker, '49 Ford, and '48 or '49 Hudson Commodore are all parked close together in the same row. They really stand out, styling-wise, in comparison. Not-so-big ThreeBesides the two oddball Crosleys already mentioned, there is representation from other non-Big Three companies, including Hudson, Kaiser, and Studebaker. Close to half the cars are pre-war (and many of them are real beaters). With nearly four years of non-production during WWII, plus a booming economy with millions of veterans returning to the workforce, Detroit couldn't build enough cars to keep up with the postwar demand. End of an eraWe're just about at the end of the era of split windshields -- but most of these cars are still using tube radios with vibrators, which were responsible for running down a large number of their 6 volt electrical batteries. Classy looking carParked in the 2nd row from the top and about center the photo looks like a '39 Buick with side mounts, probably a Century. Next to it is a '49 Studebaker Starlight coupe. Something to think aboutAll my life I've wondered why some people always back into a parking space (much more skill needed) so they can get out easily (usually going the wrong way) when it is so much easier to drive in forward and back out when the time comes. Does anyone have an explanation for that human behavior? One year beforeThe unique Tucker '48 was made just one year before this picture was taken, but I don't see any in this lot, perhaps because only 51 of them were ever made. I'm wondering if they are currently all accounted for. Kaiser-FraserWell, I see a 1949 Fraser in the middle. Bet a lot of viewers never heard of the brand. Tried to crop and upload, but the "Upload an image" factor is not working today. [It's "not working" because you're not clicking "attach" after you locate your file. - Dave] Oooops! Player PianoSomewhere in that building, or another nearby, is a young aspiring novelist by the name of Kurt Vonnegut, toiling away at public relations work. Occasionally he ventures over to see the room-sized computer used to calculate optimum turbine blade shapes, which inspire one of his early sci-fi novels. Someday, Billy Pilgrim will be coming unstuck in Ilium, a fictionalized Schenectady. I wonder which car is his? Fourth rowsecond car in from the right has blinds in the rear window, like how cool is that. Car SpottingThere's just too many years, makes and models for me to even try. I did notice a new '49 Chevrolet and one that looks like it was rode hard and put away wet. Special DeluxePretty sure the black car that is two cars to the left of the solid white car on the front row is the 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe. That was the first family car for us and ours was equipped with rain guards above all four windows. We could run down the highway in the hot summer with windows cracked for more circulation even in a rainstorm. ConnectionI had a relative that worked at this plant for years. This is the first time I have seen a pic of it. Sadly he has passed on a few years ago. But his heirs have done well with their inheritance of his GE stock. Working Man's LotDitto the comment about two Crosleys, very unusual. Very few high buck cars, though I do spot a Lincoln Cosmopolitan and a Packard in the farthest row and a nice Buick convertible in the street at the end of the row. Not many prewar cars though, maybe a third. Looks like most of the folks have stepped up and bought new cars in the last three years. OK, I thought about itand I don't see any cars here that HAD to have backed into their parking spaces. Looks like a whole lot of pullthroughs to me, which is what I do whenever possible, quickest (and possibly safest) way in and out. Tuckers LocatedOTY, Tucker 1 and 13 are in the Swigart Museum in Huntingdon, Pa. It's worth the trip to see them. BTW, Herbie the Love Bug is there also. [And on the West Coast, #37 (or 1037 in the numbering scheme used by Tucker aficionados) can be seen at Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California, where I snapped this a couple weeks ago. It's one Coppola used in his 1988 film "Tucker: The Man and His Dream". -tterrace] Underground structure?If you look past the parking lot, but before the large building, you see a grass strip with vents and a skylight. Is this lot on top of a building? If I'm not mistaken, GE's corporate HQ is underground in Fairfield Conn. Does GE have a thing for being underground? I coulda been a contender. I noticed the Venetian Blinds too! And this photo was a good five years before On The Waterfront was released! Steam tunnels Underground steam pipes require continuous access for maintenance. The tunnels have ventilation hatches at varying intervals, some of which resemble little huts, as seen here. You can see the same thing above ground at the Johnson Space Center. I have a friend who used to work in the tunnels there. You can tell we're in the snow beltNot many ragtops. Red-baitingAssuming these are workers' cars, I'm guessing many of the owners were members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). The Schenectady local represented about 20,000 GE workers. The same year this photo was taken, the UE withdrew from the CIO as part of the CIO's purge of its left-leaning unions. Senator McCarthy was sent in four years after this photo was taken to "investigate" alleged Communist infiltration of the Schenectady GE facilities. Those two Crosleys must belong to the Soviet saboteurs. About the CrosleyA guy in Sibley, MO has 10 Crosley cars, and 2 Crosley trucks. They got 40 or 50 MPG back when nobody cared about MPG. OTY-At the time Coppola made the Tucker movie, 47 of them were still road worthy. tterrace-Nice shot of the Tucker. I didn't know Coppola still owned one. Back in 1991, I saw an ad in Hemmings Motor News where Coppola had a Tucker listed for sale. His asking price? $350,000. Well, time to stare at this picture some more! This is my favorite vehicleI think this is the ONE bike on the whole lot!! lol Born in SchenectadyMy father worked in Building 37 at GE (Schenectady) from '62 until '66. In August '66, when I was two years old, the family drove across the country in a Ford Taunus to Stanford where my father began grad school. I shared this picture with my father and he replied: "Your mother and I drove past Building 37 on first entering Schenectady in 1962 after my Navy days. I saw this old red brick building and announced that 'I would never work in a place like that.' 4 weeks later, or so, I was hired there. As I recall, my starting salary was $8000 per year." I wonderwho the rebel with the motorcycle was? Also interesting that these parking lots have nary a white line to guide the employees in their parking. I guess GM was full of rebels back in the day. Building 273I used to work at GE Schenectady as an mechanical engineering college co-op in the late 1980s. The building shown here is Building 273 where large steam turbines were (and still are) assembled. The angle of the picture minimizes the building's enormous size, roughly 20 acres! It was incredible being inside it... While the very front has some office space and multiple floors, most of the interior is wide open (excepting the huge machines) with high ceilings and big gantry cranes to move massive turbine components. Construction started in 1947, so must have been pretty new when this photo was taken. If you plug "Schenectady, NY" into Google Earth, you can easily find Building 273, which still stands--look for a big black roof. It's surrounded by a lot of green parklike areas. Those are where (almost) all the other GE buildings used to stand but have been demolished over the past 20 years. I'm guessing Building 273 remains and turbine operations continue there probably because the cost to build a new one somewhere else would be prohibitive. When I worked at GE 25 years ago, it looked just like this--only the cars in the parking lot were newer. In Google Earth today, it looks like they may have reworked the front facade since I was there. AACA MuseumIn Hersey, PA will be doing a Tucker exhibit in August, I believe. There will be three on display along with other related materials. Fascinating car. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Factories, Gottscho-Schleisner)
Straight Talk Express: 1915
... those bangs grow out a bit more he could pass as a hipster bike messenger in today's NYC. Back when it was still open to the public, I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 3:10pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Senate Subway R.R." Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Capitol. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Fashion StatementWhite hi-tops, black tights, knee-length shorts. If he let those bangs grow out a bit more he could pass as a hipster bike messenger in today's NYC. Back when it was still open to the public, I had the thrill of riding this subway back in the 70's during a family trip to D.C. which included a visit to one of our state representative's office Not TodayIf that's the Straight Talk Express I don't believe any member of congress could ride it today. 100th anniversaryhttp://thehill.com/capital-living/cover-stories/70059-exhibit-marks-100-... This year marks a century of underground subway travel through the Capitol complex, but while hitching a ride has long been a convenient way for lawmakers and staffers to stay safe and dry on the one-fifth-mile journey to the Capitol, the trip wasn’t always as comfortable as it is today. and http://world.nycsubway.org/us/washdc/capsubway.html Really cool!Does it still exist? I guessthe Edwards boy missed this train. Road to nowhereFinally we have visual proof! Cars have been preservedhttp://www.clouse.org/capitol1.html "Two subway lines serve three Senate Office Buildings and have a long history. Starting in 1909, the Senate Office Buildings were serviced by an electric bus. This was replaced in 1912 by a monorail vehicle which featured a wicker coach. This monorail, I have been told, can be seen in the movie "Advice and Consent." In 1960, this monorail was replaced by trolleys, one of which remains today and runs between the Senate side and the Russell Senate Office Building. At this time, the tunnels were apparently enlarged to accommodate the new trolleys. "The trolleys installed in 1960 still run on the shortest line that runs from the Senate side to the Russell Senate Office Building." A Fortuitous RideIn my senior year of high school, I was awarded a trip to DC with the Close Up Foundation (spring of 1982). I was in Congressman Jim Broyhill's office, who was my state representative at that time, and as he talked to me he was distracted by an unusual lighted clock on the wall. As a few of the lights changed to red, he explained that it indicated he only had a few minutes left to cast his vote on an important issue. I assumed the visit was over, but he told me to come with him. When the elevator we took opened I was shocked to see a subway system. I rode with him on the subway from the Rayburn building to the Capitol. Usually, if I tell that story to people, there is a look of disbelief, as most people usually respond they didn't know there was a subway system connecting the buildings. They think I'm fabricating some tale about this mythical transport, but as you see, it does exist. Thanks for the links that show the changes through the years. The page in the white shoesCould pass for Matt Damon. Been there, done that!When I was a kid in the 1960s we got to ride on the Senate Subway and ate at the Senate Cafeteria, dining on Senate Bean Soup. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/blogs/yeas-and-nays/Eat-like-... I had forgotten about that adventure until I saw this photo! The original version......of the Senate's Filli-Bus. PhooeyJust another example of what's good for us geese ain't good for you ganders. Still there...Those tunnels are still there and used as seen here. They have since been updated, though; when I visited as a young lad in the late '80s, I don't remember them being the same as the current version. Rode the 1970 versionRode the 1970 version with my 6th grade class as part of our Summer 1970 class trip to Washington D.C. CurvesThis is obviously not the Straight Talk Express. It is as crooked as the people who ride them. The kind of people who are "too good" to do their own walking for a short distance between two buildings. Walking must be "for the little people" Crooked subways are for the crooked ruling class. [It's not a "short distance." And the "kind of people" who use it are mostly pages and secretaries, who might travel a few miles every day on trips back and forth between the various buildings served by the system. - Dave] Which of those young men is Robert Byrd?(I know, I know, I know... he was born two years after this photo.) D.C. underground same as above.It all takes place out of sight in places not open to the constituents. Important transportsThe Senate subway and the House subway both serve the vital functions of quickly transporting Senators and Representatives (and the staffs and other personnel) from their respective office buildings to the Capitol building. Not only does it save time, but it is much safer than having to deal with crossing busy streets to get to the Capitol, and they are also protected from the elements and anyone who might want to interfere with them. Saving time in getting from the offices to the Senate and House chambers is no small consideration where voting is concerned, or quorum calls. I believe when voting or quorum calls are under way, the subway cars become reserved for members only, just as some of the elevators do. AmazingI rode the modern version back in 2007 when my government class competed in the National We the People Competiton and we were given a tour of the Senate. The current cars look like an airport shuttle mixed with a subway car. It blows my mind to think of how many people have ridden through those tunnels. Did Dr. Seuss design that?What a contraption! Hangs like a monorail, wheels on the floor like a bicycle/slot car ... yow! Remembering my '61 ChevyMost of us like to remember our old cars. We think of them as though they were our long lost buddies and we miss them. I bought my 1961 Chevy Bel-Air in 1964 while serving in the U. S. Air Force in Missouri. This was big time luxury for a young airman as that V8 engine ran as smoothly as any car I ever had. Was it a better car than those made today? No, today's cars are much better. But, I have a lot of great memories of that car and regardless of the quality of today's cars, memories from your youth spent in an old heap can't be replaced. [Great photo, but why is it posted here? - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Politics, Railroads)
Far Hills: 1900
... well enough at a distance of 30 years. I used to bike through Far Hills every weekend as part of my regular century route. I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:12pm -

Far Hills, New Jersey, circa 1900. "Old country road." Probably not in Google Street View. (Update: How wrong I was!) Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Time of the yearI would also like to estimate the season (as Dave said, it cannot be around midsummer): 1. There are freshly fallen leaves on the ground, also on the road. It is Autumn. 2. In the photo sun shines from South-West. The shadows are in 35-40 degrees. Now I must estimate the angle at noon: It would be about 45-50 degrees, which is a bit less than the angle at the time of equinoxes (50 deg). 1 and 2: The photo is taken slightly after autumnal equinox (23.9.), let's say, 30th of September. The well-dressed boyAdd me to those that think this is a fantastic photo. The multiple buggy tracks in the road drew me into it, but the child apart from the three girls caught my eye. Looks like a boy in a dress. I have a photo of my grandfather, born 1911, with long curls and wearing a dress. Couldn't believe that they dressed boys that way, but since have seen many photos of it. Strange custom. Anyway, great find! Sleuthing...I just love hunting down some of these places! I had just found it when I checked back and found I was right! There are a number of historical markers, one just shy of the location (for the Peapack Brook Rural Industrial Historic District). The longitude and latitude brought me within a short distance of the spot. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18574 "The confluence of Peapack Brook and the North Branch of the Raritan River became a rural industrial center during the 18th century when a saw mill, grist mill, tannery and bark mill were located nearby. The Peapack Brook Rural Industrial Historic District includes five houses, several outbuildings and mill structures that reflect the industrial and agricultural development of the area, ca. 1750 - 1900." Michael L found itI grew up in Far Hills -- this is Main Street, which runs between Far Hills and Peapack. Hot DayI guess is it's quite a hot day in June or July. There's haze out in the field and they have a warmish look on their faces. The side window is open to get some air. [Leaves on ground, bare branches, etc., do not say June or July. - Dave] Nothing looks plumb in this photo... but the trees. Yes I know, trees are plum. Girl powerLooks like young ladies rule that roost. I would hate to be the little boy that had to tell them otherwise. Railroad CrossingA couple of clues lead me to believe that the little stone bridge in the background goes over a railroad right of way. Any idea whose line it might have been? [You just might be on the right "track." Stay tuned. - Dave] Definitely a railoadI checked "10 Main Street, Far Hills NJ" on MapQuest and it clearly shows a railroad crossing the street a little southeast of the address. It really isn't very unusual for a rail line to be below the grade of another road (or house) in hilly country. And, as Dave from MN commented, you can definitely see the old truss bridge for the rail line, and possibly part of a signal post, just to the left of the bridge. [You are maybe a little late to the party. The next post shows the rail crossing. - Dave] Thanks Dave! LOL, I was a tad late and did see the photo of the trestle bridge after I had posted this. Day late and a dollar short as usual. HillsThe bridge doesn't look high enough for a RR, and anyway they'd just have a level grade crossing. There's no great traffic on the local line as it dead-ends a few miles north. A better cue is the hill, probably, but I don't remember the topography well enough at a distance of 30 years. I used to bike through Far Hills every weekend as part of my regular century route. I failedI spent a few minutes trying to find this place in Google. Far Hills, New Jersey is a small burg, with few streets, most of which are covered in Street View. The apparent stone bridge in the background should narrow it down to just a few possible locations. Sadly, no success for this tipster, but hopefully someone more resourceful can take on the challenge and win. Hey! There it is!The hint that it is a railroad, not a stream, helped mightily. This seems to be the place: [Kudos to Michael and the half-dozen others who managed to find this place. Color me impressed and amazed! - Dave] View Larger Map StuccoThe first thing I noticed was the stucco on the house. When the house was new, it must have looked really nice but it just seems kind of upscale for a country house which appears to be out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe Papa had something to do with the railroad? There's a muddy road ahead...The hooves of draft animals and the wheels of the buggies or wagons they pulled have cut into the dirt road when it was wet. Looks like it's drying up a little now. The house is only about a dozen feet off the road. I'll bet it caught a lot of road-dust when the weather was dry. Definitely a railroadThe raise in the road is tall for the time period. Also note the narrow, single track, truss bridge to the left. It is a rail line. Now for the New Jersey folks to ID it. EvocativeThis strikes me as one of the most evocative photographs I have seen on Shorpy. It would take me the proverbial thousand words to explain why. They are spinning around in my head: about all the unseen creatures and things whose existence is so evident, including the world beyond the bridge. Punto de vista.Google hace las fotos desde un punto de vista bastante más alto (desde el techo de una furgoneta) aproximadamente a la altura de los antepechos de la planta primera, que aparecen en una línea casi horizontal. En la imagen antigua el fotógrafo intencionadamente, para resaltar el barro del camino, quizás, puso la cámara mucho más baja, aproximadamente a la altura de los ojos de las niñas y, para captar las copas de los árboles, inclinó ligeramente la cámara hacia arriba. Magnífico, gracias a todos. Una cosa más, lo que se ve a la izquierda de las niñas ¿es una señal del ferrocarril? Did we make her a Saint yet?Beginning in 1908, Mrs. Ladd had provided a convalescent facility on the Natirar estate, originally at “Maple Cottage,” a large residence that once stood along Peapack Road where “deserving gentlewomen who are compelled to depend upon their own exertions for support shall be entertained, without charge, for periods of time while convalescing from illness, recuperating from impaired health, or otherwise in need of rest.” Natirar gatehouseI believe this is the gatehouse to the Natirar estate. [Natirar -- "Raritan" spelled backward! - Dave] The stone abutmentThe truss bridge for the rail line has been replaced, but one of the stone abutments for the overpass is still there and looks as good as new. Quite a tribute to some long-gone stonemason. Wow wow wow! ChangedFar Hills looks mighty hardscrabble in this photo, a far cry from the hoity-toity zip code it has developed into over the years. Home MakeoverIn the "Bird's Eye View" in Bing Maps, there is what appears to be a large dumpster behind the house. Perhaps some renovation work was ongoing at the time. Far HillsianThis is awesome! I live in Far Hills and take NJ transit into the city on that train line over that bridge. It is indeed the gatehouse to Natirar, soon to be Richard Branson's Virgin Spa, but through part of the leasing agreement, plain folks like us can walk around the grounds. The train trestle in the first picture is down behind the white house. It takes you over the Peapack brook which runs through Natirar. The tracks run under that dirt road and alongside the brook before terminating in Gladstone. Supposedly during the Revolutionary War a tunnel was dug under this road and it's still supposed to be there. If I can find more on that I will post. This is a really picturesque area and the train line (the old Erie Lackawanna) was used often in movies. Gladstone station doubles for Tuscumbia, Alabama, and Boston in the opening of the Patty Duke movie "Miracle Worker" (although they use a Black River train). Thank you for this! WOWI crossed that bridge many many times on the way to Bernards High. Used to live in Peapack. We all took the Erie Lackawanna train to school, ages ago. Wish to see a lot more pictures people. Bring them on. Thanks! Art (The Gallery, DPC, Kids, Rural America)
Syracuse Panorama: 1901
... the lower right hand corner, you can see what looks like a bike rack on the sidewalk. Of course the 1890s had been the golden age of ... emerge, but not yet, not in 1901. When it did, sidewalk bike racks probably wouldn't come back for, oh, about 100 years, until about ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 4:16pm -

Syracuse, New York, circa 1901, in a panoramic view of the Erie Canal combining three 8x10 inch glass plates. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Jerry Rescue BlockThe building dead center (left of the lift bridge) is the Jerry Rescue Block. Wrote my Masters Thesis on the Rescue, too much to share, but the wiki entry is a decent if incomplete thumbnail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rescue Onondaga Coarse Salt AssociationWikipedia has a wealth of interesting detail on the Syracuse salt industry in general, and mentions the OCSA headquartered at No. 1 Clinton Block - 'Manufacturers and Dealers in all kinds of Coarse or Solar Salt." (Mid-frame, on the immediate right of the canal). Today in SyracuseView Larger Map The post office at the center is where the "Clinton Block" on the right side of the picture once stood. The canal itself has been filled in long ago and is now Erie Boulevard, which runs along the left side of the post office. Gone but not forgotten All of these buildings are long gone. The one on the left with the tower and long shed is the old New York Central station. The pre-concrete Erie CanalFor those not familiar with this area, the waterway with the bridge over it is the Erie Canal as it passed through downtown Syracuse (before it was paved over). You're looking essentially West. The bottom of the photo not seen is now "Clinton Square" (named for Dewitt, not Bill) where several majestic old buildings still survive. See https://www.shorpy.com/node/5501 Bridge explanation?That bridge across the canal has me puzzled. Did it raise with some sort of mechanism to the position seen in the photo, for passage of boats? It looks like there's nothing to keep a person from falling off the ends of the nearest walkway (can't tell about the one on the other side). At least one building is still there. Center of the picture to left of canal. The first building is gone (with white walls) but the middle building still stands. View Larger Map Lift bridge sidewalksThe far side of the lift bridge has stairs that connect to the sidewalk on that side when the bridge is in the up position. The gents apparently decided to take a ride on the side that has no up connection, which although frowned on, is still considered fun by some. Several bridges of this type have survived to this day on the Erie Canal: http://bridgehunter.com/ny/orleans/knowlesville-road/ http://bridgehunter.com/ny/monroe/washington-street/ http://bridgehunter.com/ny/niagara/adam-street/ Canals are so coolI think they should dig up the Erie Canal and open it to traffic again. Traveling around England and Europe on the canals is a fantastic way to see the countryside. A world of bikes at the end of the golden age of bikingIn the lower right hand corner, you can see what looks like a bike rack on the sidewalk. Of course the 1890s had been the golden age of bikes, and the Model T was still 8 years away from sale to the public. The world of the car was about to emerge, but not yet, not in 1901. When it did, sidewalk bike racks probably wouldn't come back for, oh, about 100 years, until about yesterday afternoon. Throughout the image I count 7 bikes, 2 with riders, 5 parked, although there may be more than 2 under the awnings of the bike store. And of course there is a bike store in the middle, on a prominent commercial corner, because bikes were still a bigger deal than they were about to become as auto production began to double every few years of the early 20th century. Peeking LiftThere's another lift bridge peeking out one street west ("up picture"). It is just barely visible on the north (far) side of the canal, in the up position. Look somewhat below the "Greenways" sign for it. A bridge in actionHere is a video of the same type of bridge in action. This bridge is located in Brockport, NY. Summer TrolleyThere's a very unusual double deck entirely open summer trolley car on the dead end tracks on Clinton St. that don't connect with the main tracks on Genesee St., lower right of the photo. Is the "one on the left with the tower and long shed" actually the New York, West Shore & Buffalo depot? Back then, New York Central passenger trains ran in the street downtown. Technically, both lines were under common ownership. Wish grantedThis photograph almost fulfills my wish to have lived in that great era just to feel, smell, and see our great city. I've been trying to piece together how the railroads ran through the city and this answers so many questions. Absolutely beautiful! (Panoramas, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads, Syracuse)
Little Kittens: 1941
... attached to the bottom of the rear fender on the closest bike. It looks like there is one on the other bike, too. [It's a kickstand. - Dave] Well, of course it is. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/17/2021 - 1:32pm -

March 1941. "Girls at trailer camp for defense workers. Ocean View, Virginia, outskirts of Norfolk." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size. Trying, but failingTo understand the gizmo attached to the bottom of the rear fender on the closest bike. It looks like there is one on the other bike, too. [It's a kickstand. - Dave] Well, of course it is. Pretty obvious. Thanks, Dave. Sweet kidsThat girl in the back is beautiful. She could be a model. I wonder how their lives turned out. Charming childrenWhat beautiful faces and expressions. The joy of the one with the little book is almost palpable. Some are born to sweet delight. HappyOnce in a while you see a photo that just makes you happy. This is one of them ! Wonder womenThese three girls are so charming and elegant, each in her own way. The windswept hair of the young lady in back is terribly alluring, and the kerchief with braids and leather gloves in front is so grown-up. Even little kitten girl is styling with that hand-knotted cloth belt. All three are so pleasing. Collector's itemIf the young lady who was so proud of her copy of "More About the Four Little Kittens" had taken good care of it, and saved it to this day, she could do quite well selling it online. If my math is right, if she sold it today based on its market price, she could reinvest the proceeds in a Patreon subscription to Shorpy, avoiding ads and getting background versions of pics for three years and four months. Cool Car Cold WaterThe car looks to be a 1937 Chevrolet Sport Coupe (with a rumble seat!) and the cold water inlet appears to be a hose attached at the clothes line. The young girls are probably sisters. One of them is riding a boys bike but the boy (brother?) is probably okay with it. I hope no kittens were mistreated."More about the Four Little Kittens" (1938), one of those controversial books by Harry W. Frees that allegedly involved stressful posing of live pets. Delightful for kids, maybe not so much for the kitties. https://www.barnebys.com/auctions/lot/3_kaqz_69 HeavyThose bikes look like a lot of steel to be pedaling around. I wonder how much they weighed. Everything to MeFood, shelter, clothing, love and care are essentials but add a bike and books, and life gets pretty close to perfect, and certainly makes other hardships much easier to bear. Bloody boat anchorsfreddy223, the answer to your question is "between 40 and 50 pounds" (18 to 22 kg). My late mother owned a bike identical to the front one, and it was a trial and a misery to ride due to its weight. Five window coupeCurvaceous 1935 Ford, showing off it's its well-polished paint. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Cats, John Vachon, Kids, Norfolk, WW2)
Scooter Sk8rs: 1922
... more scraped knees, elbows and shins from falling off the bike which, if I stood on the ground, I could barely reach the handle bars. I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:16pm -

September 15, 1922. Washington, D.C. "Scooter skates." On the right: Clarence Sherrill. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Current?this has a timeless look to it. It's also darned cute! That looks crazy funCrudely made, no helmets or elbow pads. These would never pass safety laws today, and we as a society are poorer for it. I would bet these guys probably didn't show their mothers what they had built. Dad, on the other hand, probably would take one out for a spin after the boys' bedtime. I want to build one for myself, and I'm 32. Timeless The only thing that would make you think this was from that era is the fact they had a street free of cars. That could easily be me and my brothers from the late sixties/early seventies. Girls vs BoysHere's the difference: When girls injure themselves it's by accident. When boys injure themselves it's part of the plan. Occupational hazard if you will. Skate, boardThe idea went through a number of experiments before they realized turning the board 90 degrees meant they could stand up on the thing. Wipeout!Look Ma, no hands... Look Ma, no feet... Look Ma, no teeth! Look Out for Potholes!I see skinned knees and knuckles ahead. My money's on Clarence in this race. Kid on the left is in the lead but too close to the curb. Boy in the center looks a little uncertain about this. Good to see Mom dressed Clarence in a necktie before sending him out to play. These ladsLook like they could have fit right in with kids of the 50's. They probably don't know or care that this would be a great exercise for the core. Old SchoolOne of the oldest skateboard "tricks"...the Coffin. The "greatest generation"The "greatest generation" before they grew up, and before extreme sports, helicopter parents, law suits and knee and elbow pads. In the 1960s my brother and I "borrowed" my sister's roller skates and did the same thing. Those Were The DaysBefore we covered our kids with helmets and elbow pads, and knee pads, and wrist guards, and blinking lights. Ahh! Freedom! PrototypesThese were obviously the forerunners of the land luge. MultitaskingNot only are they horizontally skating, they've exercising their abs. A board attached to a roller skatemust have provided great abdominals workout, but I picture some skinned knuckles, too. Dennis the MenaceMiddle boy - complete with cowlick! Top that!We used to do this on our hill, but with a folded-over shoe skate. You couldn't see the skate and it looked like you were gliding in defiance of physics. Sk8 '68A link to my own little kiddies doing the same thing on skateboards in the late 1960s. Daughter in front, youngest son in back (with the glasses). Photo by their Uncle tterrace: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3852 Luckily no one backed out of the driveway while they were rolling along. Crack a smile at least?These boys all look so grim it looks like they are being tortured by an exercise sadist. "You WILL hold your legs up for one more lap!" Such Fun!I remember attaching skates to pieces of plywood and riding down Mockingbird Lane in Fort Smith, Arkansas. If any of you know the area, that was quite some hill for 10 year olds! Both girls and boys took turns without the benefit of safety gear or much to hold onto. All had fun and I do not remember injuries but I do remember parental participation. This would have been in 1963. Young ClarenceMade his first appearance on Shorpy three years ago! https://www.shorpy.com/node/2018 His father, Col. Sherrill, was superintendent of public buildings and grounds in Washington. Also a keeper of public morals: https://www.shorpy.com/node/1070 Bruised tailsWe used to do that same thing back in the 1950s. I remember after a day's worth of riding, we actually had some big-time bruises on the lower backside. No helmets, bikes you could "grow into"Not to mention being able to spend the whole morning or afternoon doing what you wanted, where you wanted without parents trying to stuff you into knee and elbow pads, a helmet, and make you call home every three minutes. I had more scraped knees, elbows and shins from falling off the bike which, if I stood on the ground, I could barely reach the handle bars. I got bare toes caught in the spokes, and fell on the bar in a manner that any child (boy or girl) remembers for the rest of their lives. Despite the odd concussion, I survived to tell about it and still fondly recall riding out into the country early in the morning to have a cookout breakfast over an open fire or spending the day racing up and down the unfinished highway. Those were the days -- and we'll never get them back! Middle boy's shoesI was intrigued by the middle boy's shoes. I was this age in the 1950's and remember this style of double t-strap being marketed as "barefoot sandals" by Sears, Wards, Penney's, etc. They were always offered as boys or girls, i.e. unisex, and typically came in white, red, and brown, with black and navy blue available on occasion. Most of the time they were offered up to a youth size 3. The white ones were a staple for little boys serving in weddings. Today a few manufacturers offer this style, although generally only to toddler size 12, which eliminates older children. The most common term today is "English sandals". For whatever reason most sellers list these as girls shoes, although retailers who offer these as boys shoes report that most are sold for little boys. I recall many of my peers (boys) wearing these in the 1950's, although my mom preferred black/white or brown/white saddle shoes for me, a style that I still wear very frequently. I do have double t-straps in black, brown, navy blue, and red in adult sizes, and wear these often with jeans in the winter and shorts in the summer. Payless occasionally has them in adult sizes, although offered as a womens shoe, and Muffy's has them in red and navy for both genders, with the latter being a more dressy shoe. This style is a timeless classic. New and improved, And now for 1972, a completely new thrill, 'Skate Boards'! I built my first in 57-58 from an old pair of steel wheel sidewalk skates. The ride was awful, bumpy and tooth loosening, but the rush from roaring down 'Dead Man's Hill' at, no doubt, the blistering speed of 15 mph, STANDING UP!, was addictive. (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo)
Undeliverable: 1925
... Background bin What's that in the bin behind him - bike tires? Was some doughboy trying to ship an Army motorcycle home piece by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 2:41pm -

July 28, 1925. Washington, D.C. "Undelivered mail of World War soldiers (crucifix in bottle)." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Egg on his faceHoly moly. I hope he had that thing on his head checked out. Um.Dude, what is that on your head? The Eggand Eye. Yes, yes, that bottle's fascinatingNow just turn your head a little more for the photo. Right angle for looking at the bottle and all. Thanks. Don't think of elephants.You'd think the guy, or even the photographer, would want to photograph his best side. Could it be that was it? I was so distracted, I never even thought to look at the crucifix-in-a-bottle. Doughboy Folk ArtHopelessly strange though it is, that crafty little Golgotha-in-a-whiskey-bottle would probably fetch a good price in a folk art gallery today. It reminds me of the comment that one of the old Christie's Asian porcelain experts came up with about thirty years ago, which he used when he had to say something nice-sounding to the proud owners of egregiously bad pieces that he'd rather not have seen at all: "You know, I really almost think that that is one of the most interesting of its type that I have ever seen!" It could beJust a nasty hematoma from a recent bump to the noggin. Wow.That's the second worst pimple I've ever seen. GuacamoleMole. Bloody mole. We aren't supposed to talk about the bloody mole, but there's a bloody mole winking me in the face. I want to c-u-u-t it off, ch-o-o-p it off, and make guacamole. Charter Member.......of the Aaron Neville "Wear Your Mole Proudly" club. I am what I am, moles and all. Surely NotTell me that is not a "happy face" on the crucified victim on the extreme left. GrowthCould be an evil undeveloped twin attached to his brain!! SmugglerWhile whiling away the day, I just now came up with this great new way of smuggling contraband across our borders. There wouldn't be a lot of contraband, just enough to fit into a smaller second head protruding out of my first. No one would think to look there if it was inconspicuous enough. Don't know what made me think of this brilliant scheme. Just came to me. I couldn't help myselfSmall children with sticks commonly mistook the purple growth for a small piñata. This often led to savage head beatings resulting in minor brain injury. This ultimately led to his safe career as the keeper of very undeliverable mail. Background binWhat's that in the bin behind him - bike tires? Was some doughboy trying to ship an Army motorcycle home piece by piece? Do it, DaveBlow up the bump. I know you want to. Hemangioma?I'm wondering if this is the type of growth this man had. It looks very much like the same one a friend's daughter had on her face. At the time (1980s), the doctors were not able to treat the poor child, whose nose was as a dark purple swelling. I believe things have changed since then, but I am wondering if this gentleman was told it could not be removed and he had to live with it and the reactions of those around him. At least he's not embarrassedMany people would have refused to have their photo taken if they had that kind of "injury." Oh, and he needs to sew that top coat button back on. It's about to fall off. The scene in the bottle reminded me of the Monty Python movie where Eric Idle sings "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." What you see is what you getI find it more interesting to view people as they were naturally, warts and all. No beauty poses, no facelifts, teeth that did not see braces or whitener. What it isis his lunch. Wait!!!Let me make sure you get my "good side" Wow83 years later, and he's still taking crap from people because of something on his face that can't be helped. It's... It's...It's an extra brain! His good side?Perhaps this IS his good side! (The Gallery, Bizarre, Curiosities, D.C., Natl Photo)
Teeth Without Plates: 1905
... store next door. Oh? This reminds me of my first bike which was too big for me. I finally grew a bit, as I'm sure he did. ... and/or everyone is looking further to the right. The bike isn't brakeless: it has a 'coaster brake' inside the rear hub. A slight ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:35pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1905. "Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad office, Woodward & Jefferson Aves." A number of familiar Shorpy standbys here: The newsie, the "painless dental parlor," ectoplasmic pedestrians and a cameo by Goebel's beer. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Which corner?Assuming the shot was taken in the afternoon, that would be the northeast corner of Woodward and Jefferson. The site is now occupied by the City-County building, subsequently renamed the Coleman A. Young building. The current structure was built in 1954. [Our view is of the odd-numbered addresses on both streets -- the northwest corner. - Dave] View Larger Map Can someone enlighten me? What on earth is/was Vitalized Air? Some sort of anaesthetic, I'm guessing since it's listing with "laughing gas". Chlorform perhaps? Also, I keep expecting the guy leaning against the post to whisper "Hey lady, wanna buy a watch?" and open his jacket to show them sewn into the lining... Goebel'sThis Reich will last a thousand beers! Little has changedBrakeless bikes, like the one in this great picture, are the 'modern' thing again now. They're called fixies these days. Teeth without plates?OMIGOD!! Does that mean some Dr. Painless was trying to do dental implants in 1905? I hope the bar downstairs had plenty of Canadian Club under their sign for those poor suckers. [I'd imagine that "teeth without plates" meant crowns and bridgework. - Dave] Modern DentistryAgain, Shorpy jumps the gun, Teeth Without Plates, America's first implants. A different edit of the shotMuch as I like the "King Leer" edit, I don't think it is a fair one. A different crop reveals something else entirely: All three people are looking at something down the street, although whatever it was, it was out of camera range (or ran into the store). McGough's Chop HouseHalf a spring chicken and a Goebel's cool lager would taste pretty good right now. Painless or notI don't find the picture of a naked molar comforting. King LeerNote the guy checking out the chick, although given her clothes coverage, he must have a discerning eye. Fountain pens at 20 pacesI'm curious about the oversize shotgun (punt gun?) seemingly suspended in midair near the Laughlin fountain pen sign. [It's advertising the Cassius M. Havens sporting goods store below. Or possibly the Painless Dentist. - Dave] Loooooooove this pictureTo me, this epitomizes every reason I visit Shorpy.... for the kind of minute details I see in these images. I loved everything in this one. I had grandparents born in the 1870s and can only wonder how they felt about the modern inventions just coming into their lives. A new assignmentI want to try to determine exactly when bikes started appearing with fenders attached. Goebel's -- the "Luxury Beer"Crazy wiresWhat's with the crazy wires that come out of the dentist office window- make a circuitous trip up to top floor then back down and into the sporting good store next door. Oh?This reminds me of my first bike which was too big for me. I finally grew a bit, as I'm sure he did. Love the expression on his face as he spots the photographer. All that's missing isUneeda Biscuit! Northwest CornerCirca 1920. (Wayne State University Virtual Library) Hello Operator, give me HeavenThat call box -- a direct line to the man upstairs? No Need for GasI'm laughing so hard reading all the signs that I might need some "Vitalized Air". The entire process is spelled out right in the windows: Teeth without plates are offered in the room just to the right where there are "Gold & Porcelain Crowns". Moving over to the gas sign we find "Extractions Without Pain" in one room and at the next stop is the grand finale: Of bikes and pensPer the amended "King Lear" I disagree that the kid is part of the scene and/or everyone is looking further to the right. The bike isn't brakeless: it has a 'coaster brake' inside the rear hub. A slight back peddle pedal activates it. And down here in Florida, anyway, those 'basic' bikes are called Coasters or Cruisers. The Laughlin Fountain Pens were manufactured in Detroit and seems to have had limited distribution around the country. For some reason, advertisements for them are being sold on eBay, but when I last check only two pens were for sale -- as quite expensive collector items. A brief biography of Mr Laughlin I found says: To Coast or NotIt's a little hard to tell but I think the kid's bike didn't have coaster brakes. For starters, they were only invented in 1898, and this fellow doesn't look like he's riding the latest thing. Second, I would think that the hub would be quite a bit fatter. But third, the one characteristic sign of a coaster brake is that that there is a little arm that comes out from the hub and is anchored to the arm of the frame, and I see no sign of this in the photo. All this......and a cigar store Indian! (The Gallery, Bicycles, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads)
The Simple Life: 1939
... hard work. I love this blog This is us! From the bike, cat, kids, bare feet on dirt and rustic looks - this could be my kids on ... great depression in my country 10 years ago, we sold our bike and ate the cat for dinner........am serious Save Up For just a few ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:31pm -

August 1939. Three of the four Arnold children outside their farmhouse at Michigan Hill. The oldest boy earned the money to buy his bicycle. Thurston County, western Washington. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Fourth kidLooks like the 4th kid is looking out the window! Thanks for all the hard work. I love this blog This is us!From the bike, cat, kids, bare feet on dirt and rustic looks - this could be my kids on our farm now, and since an even greater depression is looking likely . . . guess we'll already be ready! :-) No match!!during the great depression in my country 10 years ago, we sold our bike and ate the cat for dinner........am serious Save UpFor just a few dollars more, he coulda got the model with brakes. Spats?What are those chaps ( or spats) the big boy has on his shins? Bike guards? [Puttees. - Dave] (The Gallery, Bicycles, Cats, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)
My Home Town: 1957
... Also, I believe Larkspur is credited as where the mountain bike was invented by Gary Fisher who rode from Madrone Canyon up to the Mt Tam ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/16/2012 - 3:58pm -

I was 11 when my brother took this Anscochrome slide of Larkspur, California, where I grew up. Around then I might have gone to the twin-towered City Hall at left, either to the Library to satisfy my curiosity about freeways, dinosaurs, coins or, believe it or not, peruse collections of New Yorker cartoons, or to the city offices to bug the clerks for copies of city forms I could adapt for the make-believe city I incorporated our yard into. Alongside is the fire house, where I might take pictures of the trucks. Across the street is St. Patrick's church, where I'd fidget during Mass every Sunday. Our house was a block away, hidden by the trees. Farther along, the steep-gabled building is the old St. Patrick's, where once a week fellow Catholic kids and I on religious instruction release from our public grade school would attend Catechism classes where stern nuns would attempt to drill dogma into our little souls. Below the church, the Ford woody is in the parking lot behind the Rainbow Market (red roof at left), where earlier my father worked for a few years. Down center, the small roof with the flag pole is the then-new Larkspur Post Office building. And then, a 1956 Pontiac. View full size. Learning from New Yorker cartoonsI believe that you avidly read the New Yorker cartoons. I did likewise. Learned a lot about the world from stretching to understand them. I still seem to learn the most interesting things by reading cartoons and, believe it or not, these Shorpy pictures! Example: Watching the progression of motor vehicles taking over the streets from horse-drawn vehicles in the first 2 or 3 decades of the 20th century. Shorpy pictures are a window in to the when, where, and why of that progression. Or: Look at the roofs of buildings. Mostly out of normal sight, they tell you the limits of building engineering of the time. Or: Look at the wiring in city shots. Same limits, including business and social organization limits - are on display. Tiny LarkspurBeautiful scene. It seems that every time it's mentioned in the paper, "tiny" has to be alongside. Idyllic Small TownThanks Tterrace for this peek and please tell us that you can go back there and it hasn't changed. Larkspur todayWell, jiimylee42, today Larkspur looks pretty much the same as in 1957, except for vegetative growth, some different paint jobs and the streets being clogged with cars. If this same view were taken today - which it can't because of trees - the only thing missing would be old church, which was replaced with St. Patrick's school in the early 60s. Downtown is exactly the same, except trees have replaced power poles and the grocery, drug, hardware and other everyday stores have turned into boutiques, art galleries and gourmet dining experiences. Except for a few scattered McMansions, the old neighborhoods still have their eclectic mix of early-20th century home and bungalow styles. Culturally, though, as the previous suggests, it's a whole different world. Our old house, which my folks bought in 1941 for $3000 last sold a few years ago for $1.5 million, and that wasn't simply because of inflation. Marin County"Culturally, though, as the previous suggests, it's a whole different world. Our old house, which my folks bought in 1941 for $3000 last sold a few years ago for $1.5 million, and that wasn't simply because of inflation." As usual, unless we inherited our parent's home, we are unable to live where we grew up. Details Since I first started looking at Shorpy I have been impressed with your memory of small details. I do not have that talent. It is fun to look at an old photo and then have someone take us back in time explaining it. Memory probeI'm curious about the hip roofed building between old and new St. Patrick's. Is it a convent or rectory? Probably not a school or the nuns would have used the classrooms rather than the old church for religious ed. [Rectory. - tterrace] A lot of my exposure to the world beyond also came from The New Yorker cartoons and David Susskind's talk show that came to me on NET (now PBS). Twin Cities@tterrace - Love all your posts - keep them coming. Larkspur is an idyllic little town. I remember the fellow who worked in the post office was named Panda Bear; always got a kick out of that name. Another named oddity was the 'Twin Cities' as Larkspur and Corte Madera hardly qualified as cities by my definition. Back in the 70's you could possibly run into Ken Kesey, Huey Lewis, Bill Graham, Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, Steve Perry and Journey, etc etc as lots of musicians called Larkspur home at one point or another. Also, I believe Larkspur is credited as where the mountain bike was invented by Gary Fisher who rode from Madrone Canyon up to the Mt Tam watershed and Fairfax. Again, thanks for sharing your photos. Why tterrace?Why do you publish all of these tterrace submissions? These do not fit the theme of the Shorpy site and are not nearly as interesting as the 100+ year old photos. The rich kid's antics do not interest me. [We weren't rich. - tterrace] [Because they are wildly popular and much beloved. - Dave] Why Not tterrace?tterrace is a most valuable asset for Shorpy. His photos of the 1950s,60s &70s are a memorable history lesson to many of us. He shows me pictures of life a continent away in an era that I remember very well. American History doesn't end in 1912 or before, it is an ongoing process. Who is or isn't rich is in the eye of the beholder. My parents' houseUnlike Shorebreak, I could easily afford to buy the home I grew up in. Whether I could afford the medical bills from the periodic gunfire is another matter. 8900 block, south Morgan street, Chicago. I like ALL Shorpy photosI like ALL Shorpy photos, from the mid to late 19th Century through the 1970's. I especially like tterrace's photos, but then again, my brother and I and family moved to Marin County in 1957. Keep 'em coming! My brother, who still lives in Marin, and I look at Shorpy EVERY morning. I love 'em allYep, whether they're from the 1800's or the 1950's, these Shorpy pictures are ALL fascinating. Especially with interesting commentary. Keep it up, tterrace! Well done! Thanks as always for your photos and comments, tterrace.And of course thanks to Dave for providing us with an amazing array of photographs spanning a wide timeframe and variety of subjects -- completely free of charge! Although I usually find something of interest in the photos on Shorpy, there are occasional examples that don't do much for me. In those cases, I move on to the next one. "Rich" with All Things VernacularWere it not for tterrace's submissions, my vision of the 1950s would be pretty much confined to "I Love Lucy" reruns. Another thanks to tterraceI am about two years older than tterrace and I can certainly relate to his photos. I have been following them ever since I found the Shorpy site about four years ago. Recently when he became a moderator (or at least able to add his knowledge about a subject to the comments) on this site I sadly noticed that his weekly postings diminished in frequency a bit. I always looked forward to his family photos as they seemed to parallel my life in numerous ways and certainly resurrected a bunch of good memories for me. Lately he is posting more again. tterrace, KEEP EM COMING!!!! What Gets PublishedI'm always amazed at people who seem to think that they are owed some explanation of what gets posted to a site that they aren't paying to see. tterrace's photos, and his sometimes incredible remembrance of the subjects, circumstances and equipment used to make them are one the great joys of this site. Also, from the site description (right there at the bottom of every page, just below "The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog" line: "...vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago." Thanks for your dedication and hard work, Dave (and tterrace too). Regarding the "rich kids antics" from Marin.I have lived in Marin for nearly sixty years, and my parents grew up here as well. That's over eighty years ago. I can tell you, Marin county was not always considered rich or even liberal for that matter. Marin was just another place for normal, average, middle class people to raise their families. Yes, there have always been enclaves of those who were wealthy, but what place in this country doesn't? This photo was taken from that time. I will also add, that those children from the higher class families lived just like everyone else did back then. Pretension was hard to find. That has indeed changed over the last 30 or so years in a major way, and I have no doubt that the average income of those living here are in some of the highest brackets in the country. The shift in demographics did make it difficult for many, if not most, of those that grew up here to afford to live here later in life. Some left because of the change in lifestyle. T's photos bring back an era that has long since passed, just like all the other photos presented here. Look, listen and learn. Thanks, TTerrace!I greatly enjoy your photos and history, and they were a big motivator and influence when I decided to create my own lesser blog. And Dave's comments are always something to look forward to. Shorpy.com is one of the two or three blogs I visit multiple times a day. I've learned a great deal from it and derived hours of enjoyment from the wonderful photos and comments. There are some learned people who live in ShorpyWorld! The stuff they know never ceases to amaze me. The Way-back Machine This is a period of time that is especially dear to me. I am a big city boy, born and raised on the other side of the country from Tterrace; New Jersey to be precise. I grew up in the City of Newark, in the area called Forest hills. And while Tterrace lived in a private home, I lived in apartment building with 39 other families. Other than that I would imagine that our lives were rather similar. He had a back-yard where he could play, I had an entire city Park to explore at my leisure. (Branch Brook Park) My family was not rich, by any means, but I had a full and interesting childhood. There are times I wish that I could go back to that era but it's gone now. And all I can do is look at photos from that time and smile, sometimes with a tear in the corner of my eye... Dave, you and Tterrace do a wonderful job! Thanks... I, too, enjoy TTerrace's contributions.Look forward to seeing them. Lived in Monterey for a year in the mid-70s and certain pics bring back memories. I just would like some more pictures of the sister-in-law. Regarding RGraham's CommentVery astute about those who grew up in small towns that later became fashionable or wealthy or both. I grew up in Naples, Florida, in the late 1960s when it was just an out-of-the way spot on the map with a smattering of wealthy winter-time residents. Not so anymore. Luckily, thanks to the Net and Facebook, those of us who palled around in those days are still having laughs together almost daily, even though we're scattered all over. Only a few still live in Naples. And we cherish the old photos we can find. I want more.I hit this site daily hoping for tterrace photos. Comfy house, amazing garden, well-cooked-in kitchen, long lived and interesting grandparents, hard working dad, brainy mom doing NY Times crosswords in ink,curious and tech-head brothers, and beautiful sister. It wasn't my life, but it was the one I wanted. And never once did I think them rich except in each other. Oh yes,and those gorgeous drapes. It Happens Every YearIt seems like once a year or so someone complains about tterrace and his posts, although this is the first time I've seen him referred to as a "rich kid." Which in turn inevitably releases a flood of support for tterrace's posts. Which inevitably includes something from me. So here goes. This blog isn't, and shouldn't be, restricted to photos that are a hundred years old or older. That would eliminate so many great photos like pictures from the Roaring 20s, the Farm Security Administration photos from the 1930s, the OWI pictures from World War II (some of which were - shock - in colour). And we can't restrict the blog to the works of professionals, because some of the most interesting photos in this blog were the works of amateurs. The photos that tterrace has posted over the years have been a portrait of a time period as seen by a talented pair of amateurs - tterrace and his brother. Their work is at least as evocative in its own way as the works of professionals in earlier eras. And like a majority of people here, I like it. My VisitTo San Francisco last month featured lots of driving by my hosts. Imagine my surprise when we went past an exit marked "Larkspur". I insisted on a drive through this town that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. Lovely place, still a lot like the photos. Thanks, tterrace, for sharing so much with us. I, too, am from Newark, NJ. My 'hood was leveled after the riots of the 1960s. Everything disappeared like an A-bomb blast. Now it's all Section 8 housing. It's charming to see someone's childhood home that still abides. 1860 or 1960, I love 'em all.The only thing that changes is the way I relate to the picture. Pictures from 1860 have me thinking about how they fit into the history I've read. Pictures from 1960 have me comparing the view to my memories from childhood. Looks like a great place to grow upAs always, Mr. TT, your comments match the pictures. Sharp, sensitive and revealing. Thanks! My houseI lived in Larkpur in 1960, on Post St. behind the Lark Theater where my mom worked at the time. I later lived in the yellow house in the lower left hand corner, and my grandparents live in the house to the right of that. My grandmother worked at Rainbow Market from WWII to 1970. I went to H.C. Hall School, before it became a middle school. Practiced riding a skateboard on the corner where the Blue Rock was. I love these pictures! Miss this era and the little town that was Larkpur. The comments made about the rich and Larkpur (Marin) are accurate. My grandmother knew Nelle Dougherty (Dougherty Dr.) and Charlie Young who later went on to be the oldest living resident of Larkspur. William Frizzi owned the house I lived in, if I am not mistaken; did the electrical work for the old Rose Bowl. The 4th of July, Twin Cities Little League - all memories of mine. I left Larkspur when I accidently started a fire in that old house. Would love to exhange info, or receive more pics of this place. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Street Life: 1938
... town in the US in 1938. Notice that a kid has left his bike leaning against a wall, and he undoubtedly isn't afraid that anyone will ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 6:58pm -

August 1938. Urbana, Ohio. "Street scene." 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Everyone celebrate!It's a Festivus pole. What's the pole?I wonder what the pole is for — the one to the right of the lamp post, sticking up next to the curb. It doesn't seem to have a bracket on it that would suggest something else is supposed to attach to it. Ideas, folks? Re: Angle-parkingAngle-parking (especially down the centre of the road, either in two rows facing each other or a single) was always easier with horse and cart than parallel or right-angle parking. Towns where you still see angle parking are usually ones where the streets have never been narrowed to accommodate several lanes of traffic and/or where horse and cart transportation hung on longer. Smaller rural towns and cities in the mid-west are more likely to still have angle-parking than the bigger cities. I can name only a few towns that I have been in in the last few years where angle parking still exists. ==== COMPLETELY forgot Smiths Falls, south of Ottawa. How could I forget when I am there at least once a month? Angle parking down both sides of the main drag, but mix of parallel and right-angle everywhere else... DepressingWhat I find depressing about the comparison between then an now is how so many of those great trees have gone (Dutch Elm Disease) and simply not been replaced by anything except concrete. Pole mysteryPossibly used to hold a stop sign, replaced by a traffic signal that may be suspended by cable over the center of the intersection. Interesting to compare the faux-olde streetlights in the Google street view to the real things. Presumably the former supplanted the ubiquitous mercury-vapor standards that proliferated starting in the mid-fifties. Ah, UrbanaI grew up in Urbana in the sixties. If I am correct, that is the north side of the square looking north. AND, if my memory serves me, everything was in black and white back then. [We're looking east along Scioto Street. See the Street View below. - Dave] Another angle on angle parkingAngle parking in our small community main street was eliminated many years ago by the state much to the chagrin of locals. Despite the outcry, MDOT claimed that "because your main street also serves as state highway M69, the change from angle to parallel parking is because of safety factor." Love the vintage highway shields!But is this really Washington Court House? US 36 doesn't go anywhere near it. Could this be Urbana? Ohio 29 and US 36 both go through it, and Ohio 54 begins in that town. [I think you're right. The adjacent frames are labeled Urbana. - Dave] AmericainGreat photo! Makes you automatically look for Andy Hardy. Great way to begin year #4! Dr. Weaver's Nasal FilterNow that's something you don't see much of anymore. I'd like to see how that works. [It "air-conditions the nose" and guards against the scourge of "loose nose muscles." The Nasal Filter (1930s retail price $12.50) was the brainchild (nosechild?) of Ohio Wesleyan alum Harrison "Doc" Weaver, trainer and traveling team physician for the St. Louis Cardinals. There are hundreds of ads for this nasal nostrum (which held a pair of oil-soaked lambswool pads inside the nose) in the archives from 1936 to 1972. Below, ads from 1937, 1940 and 1967. Dr. W seemed to feel that his "gadget" would benefit distance runners if used without the filter pads: "After a runner travels about a mile, and starts losing strength, the muscles in his nose loosen and he is unable to breathe fully. The gadget would hold the nostrils slightly distended, allowing free breathing, and holding up the athlete's vitality." - Dave] Looking EAST? I don't think soThen the sun is casting an impossible shadow to the southeast along a street that itself angles towards the east-southeast. This seems to be looking west, very early on a summer day, with the sun low in the sky and at a high latitude. [Evidently not that impossible. East-facing Street View below. Buildings and church steeple match. - Dave] Angle parkingYou used to see more of this type of parking available in the downtown areas of small towns. It allowed easier in and out and you could get more cars parked on the street, but I guess it took up more road space. The view to-dayLooking east along Scioto Street. Same two-story building on the left. View Larger Map Things Go BetterAgain, Coca-Cola, the only real advertiser in this photo.. They are right there at The Oak, a pool hall, and we see them again at Wilson Drugs. Americana is almost defined by Coke, its presence is part of our 20th century history. A Lazy Summer DayAh, to step out onto this sidewalk on a lazy summer morn. Fresh from a $1.50 room, then grab a bite of breakfast next door, and stroll into Oak Billiards to greet the morning boys, and while away the day with friendly games of 8-ball. It is indeed UrbanaSpent my early years there. The two buildings to the left right of the monument in this picture are the same two buildings on the opposite side of the street in the Shorpy picture above. Anytown, USAThis could be almost any small town in the US in 1938. Notice that a kid has left his bike leaning against a wall, and he undoubtedly isn't afraid that anyone will take it. What a hot summer day!Trees in full leaf, a guy with rolled-up shirtsleeves and no hat, strongly delineated shadows -- that sidewalk must be glowing warmth. Thanks for the trip to the summer past of our parents and grandparents. See U.S. Highway 36!Interstate highways have replaced large sections of the best known US highways, such as U.S. 30 (Lincoln Highway), U.S. 40 (National Road -- Main Street USA), U.S. 80 (The Old Spanish Trail) and of course the immortal U.S. 66 (Steinbeck's Mother Road). The "in between" routes offer glimpses of a smaller-town America. U.S. 36 (like all even-numbered highways, an east-west route) reaches about 120 miles east of Urbana but seems to end in Uhrichsville, due south of Akron. Heading due west, the road passes through many small towns whose names reflect the pride or hopes of 19th century settlers. Cities of note include Indianapolis, Decatur, Springfield, St. Joseph and Denver, but the road misses larger cities served by U.S. 30 and 40. After passing through Boulder, U.S. 36 loops up into Rocky Mountain National Park, joining U.S. 34 to form the highest altitude through road in the nation (elevation 12,090 feet). U.S. 34 has its own charms, running back east about 80 miles above 36, but eventually slanting up to terminate in Chicago. I invite Shorpy readers to find either road on Google Maps, then zoom in till the small towns are visible and just start reading off the names as you "travel" the road. Give me the family-owned store any day!When we traveled by car visiting small towns, I loved to check out the family-owned drug stores. Some were like general stores. I also liked to check out each town's library and family-owned hardware stores. Feed and grain stores were also fascinating. They are throwbacks to this era. Its hard to find a non-chain anything any more. In the old days, we could chat with the owner. Today everything is owned by out-of-state corporate offices. Give me the family owned store any day! Drugstore AromaI wish I could walk into that corner drugstore and smell that wonderful, mysterious aroma that was an intrinsic part of the drugstore of my childhood. I don't know, but I've always thought it must have been the commingling of the smells of medicines, the soda fountain, tobacco, and the newspapers and magazines. It's been decades since I last experienced that wonderful aroma, but I'll always remember it. I think anybody of "a certain age" will know what I'm talking about. (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
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