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Gotham: 1915
New York circa 1915. "Brooklyn Bridge, East River and skyline." The Woolworth Building stars in this ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:39pm -

New York circa 1915. "Brooklyn Bridge, East River and skyline." The Woolworth Building stars in this Lower Manhattan view, with the Singer, Bankers Trust, Hudson Terminal, Municipal and Park Row buildings as understudies. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. How it looked in 1927When Harold Lloyd filmed Speedy in 1927 from this vantage point he captured the Standard Oil Building (near Battery Park to the left), and the Transportation Building (to the left of the Woolworth Building), two buildings that do not appear in this image. Intermodal xportationSo many kinds of transportation here, in between eras. The bridge has more streetcars than horse buggies, and no autos that I can make out. So were these electrified streetcars with overhead power? In the foreground is what is now Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. There are horse-drawn wagons loading or unloading the boxcars in the foreground. Is that sand in the barge? On the river I see no sail-powered boats. So even though we're still very much in the age of animal power, wind power is pretty much a thing of the past. Great photo for mixing smaller and larger scales. Lightning Rods?I notice several structures have rod-like structures. It seems 1915 would be a bit early for anything other than Morse-based radio, so I'm wondering if those are lightning rods. Nice angle on the bridge and city. Anyone know the likely photographer vantage point? [By 1915, New York's skyscrapers had dozens of Marconi masts, for both marine and terrestrial telegraphy as well as wireless telephone, and hundreds of flagpoles. - Dave] So neat and clean The little bit of rail road at bottom center looks so neat and clean it could almost be part of someones "N" scale layout. The only activity in that area is the loading/unloading of the two cars on the most distant track. Team tracksThe rail cars being loaded/unloaded are on what the railroad industry called a team track, in reference to the teams of horses required to handle the boxcar lading. The tracks served businesses that had no direct rail service to their doors, and were owned by a railroad in most cases. Team tracks are very scarce today. Pulling loads and empties scattered throughout a yard is a very time consuming and expensive proposition, and railroads have generally opted out of business of this nature. Had the opportunity to work the old Milwaukee Road Railroad Reed Street team track yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many years ago. We handled mostly fresh produce from California, destined to brokers who sold the stuff to local supermarkets. One of the brokers might have an iced URTX reefer consigned to them show up, and would send a couple of fellows with a truck to unload it. They did it just like the guys in the picture: one bag or carton at a time. The only thing missingis the bat signal in the sky. 1923 - 1925New York Stock Exchange Addition from 1922 is there. Enlarged 195 Broadway from 1923 is there. Transportation Building from 1927 is not there. More like 1922195 Broadway (AT&T or whatever they called it-- the white bldg just right of midspan of the bridge) has been expanded north to Fulton St, so can't be much before 1922; the Cotton Exchange at 60 Beaver St isn't there, so not later than 1923. (The Cotton Exchange is the building with the columned top and blank east wall near the left edge of the 1960 aerial.) Must have been taken from the tower of the building that's still there on the east side of Main St, at 40.7036N 73.99045W. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Luncheonette: 1950
... size. I remember hundreds of these I grew up in Brooklyn. I remember hundreds of stores like this. We had one on Kingston ... 
 
Posted by sledworks - 11/13/2011 - 6:16pm -

Early 1950s lunch counter somewhere in northern New Jersey that sold candy, cigars, small gifts and toys. View full size. I remember hundreds of theseI grew up in Brooklyn. I remember hundreds of stores like this. We had one on Kingston Avenue, in Crown Heights. My grandmother would take me for "a malted." One could, of course, get an Egg Cream, as well, which contains neither eggs nor cream. Note also the two wooden phone booths in the back and the older mechanical cash register behind the soda counter, in counterpoint to the electric cash register at the front counter. Some of the stuff for sale is interesting. Wind-up alarm clocks (top-right). Camera equipment -- Ansco something. Brownie camera, Kodalite Flashholder. A tricycle and a kids tractor up above the phone booths. Betcha they don't offer wi-fi. LuncheonetteAlternate title: A Kid's Dream Come True. Toys, candy plus burgers and shakes all at your fingertips. These are great vintage store and pharmacy shots, obviously done by commercial photographers. How did you come by them? So many thank you's shorpy, this one is awesome!The candy store -- growing up, as a little kid in the fifties, let me be very clear, I was six years old, left my house to walk three blocks to the most incredible place on earth; the candy store! No parental supervision, just a total array of colors, sodas, newspapers, comic books and most of all, candy. We were poor so the only way to buy a piece of candy was to sweep some neighbor's yard or collect deposit bottles. This brings it all back. I wouldn't trade being poor vs. rich for anything. I appreciated that five cent chocolate bar immensely. Thanks Shorpy, you rock! El ProductosGood to see that the store has a good supply of El Producto Cigars. You never can tell when George Burns might wander in looking for his favourite brand. Burns smoke 10 El Producto Queens a day for most of his long life. He'd order them in batches of 300 from the manufacturer and if his shipment was late he'd call the factory and send his butler out to get as many as he could find. How I got my imagesOwning an antique mall has been one source for finding some of my images. Some of my vendors know what I look for and show me before they put them out for sale. Ebay has been a source obviously. I've been buying since 1997. My third resource, and most prized, was from a former coin-op book author who passed away over 10 years ago. I bought several original images that he used in some of his books. I plan to upload some of those here. Dessert under glassLove this with the Coke clock and soda machine. Twelve stool counter equals a busy soda jerk. The phone booths probably each have a fan that is automatic. Brings back some memories from childhood. I want a hamburger and a real Coke with cane sugarAfter I'm done I'll wander over and get a 10 cent Hershey Bar that's twice as big as the one you get today. Counter servicejimmylee42, you're on the beam, but instead of a soda jerk I see a large middle-aged gal with bright red fingernails who calls you "Hon." A trip downtownThis scene so reminds me of the shopping trips made to the SS Kresge, FW Woolworth , or the Metropolitan store in downtown Windsor Ontario. The SS Kresge store had wood floors, I can still hear them creak. Now, where's the toy department? Let's see the new Dinkys. Vintage EatsSomething tells me this was either a Woolworth's Or McCrory's. Being from North Jersey I'd go with the latter. Let There Be LightWhen you closed the door in the phone booth, the ceiling light would come on. A nickel had been the price for a local call for decades, but by the mid-1950s it had doubled to 10 cents in most places. It was a surprise to find that it was still 5 cents on a visit to New Orleans in 1976. Delightful memoriesNot only do I want to buy those two riding toys for my granddaughters, but I want to have a leisurely lunch at the counter and scan the items for sale!!! Misspent youth, of courseTakes me back to cherry cokes at the Peoples Drugstore at Fesseden and Wisconsin Ave., Friendship Heights, D.C. Boy, were they delicious! Sigh! The good old daysWhen you could pick out and buy one thing instead of a plastic-encased "multipack" with three or four of whatever you just needed just one of. RepurposingI'm a big fan of antique shops, and can't recall how many shops I've been in (mainly in small towns) that were originally drug stores or something similar, with many of the original fixtures still intact (lunch counter, back mirror, wall displays, etc.). And a lot of the items in this photo can still be found in those shops -- Coca-Cola clock, Ronson lighters, pedal cars, countertop display cases, alarm clocks, etc., albeit at much higher prices than in 1950. Deja VuThough I never visted this lunch counter, when I saw this photo I felt I had been there before. Growing up in the fifties, I ate at many a lunch counter that looked just like the one here. AgogLook at the firetruck with the raised ladder, in the second overhead cubbyhole (visible in the mirror)! I always wanted one of these but we could never afford one. To the kids this must have been a fantasyland! "Hon"tterrace, As a former resident of northern New Jersey, I can almost guarantee you the "large middle-aged gal with bright red fingernails" would NEVER call you "Hon." 30 years ago I moved to Maryland, where the "Hon" is quite prevalent, and I remember being quite shocked when a total stranger addressed me that way. My OrderI'll have a cup of coffee and a piece of that banana cream pie. How much will that be? Fifty cents? I don't want to buy the whole place, I just want a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. Next thing you know they're going to charge a quarter just for a cup of coffee. 1950 InventoryMissing in stores today: Kodak and Ansco Film Ronson Cigarette Lighters Irvin S Cobb Corn Cob Pipes Westclox & Big Ben Alarm Clocks Waterman Pens Scripto Mechanical Pencils Dills Pipe Tobacco Blackstone, Robert Burns & El Producto Cigars 3 in 1 Oil Still There: Tums Kleenex Topps Gum Coca Cola I was surprised to find outThat you could still buy one of those Moist-N-Aire machines. I'd like to have a cherry Coke, club sandwich and an order of fries, please. Complete blast from my past!My father owned a Luncheonette in Passaic until 1977. I have some fond and some not-so-fond memories of it. But everything in this photo rings the nostalgia bell in me. His store wider than this, but the stools and counter and various wares are all familiar friends. My job at the age of 4 was to stock cigarettes and make Heinz soup in the electric soup maker. I still have two of his three malt mixers and they still work! Thanks for the memories. Are those bunnies?As I time-traveled back to 1950 to stroll around this wonderful establishment, I think it was near Easter because on the top of the display counter on the extreme left there appears to be a display of cellophane-wrapped chocolate rabbits near a collection of chocolate eggs in egg cartons. Also, on the far back wall, left side of photo, it looks like Easter candy novelties. Of course it could just be wishful thinking since there was something unique and especially delicious about chocolate rabbits in those days that just do not taste the same anymore. RonsonsI see my dad's old lighter on display. All that's missing is the pack of Parliaments. Having grown up in NYC this brings back such fond memories. A couple of things that haven't changed.Note the napkin the sugar dispensers. Go into any Waffle House in the South and you will find those exact dispensers. I always hated the napkins, they were too small and light. Couldn't clean your hands if you got syrup on them. But I love the photo, brings memories of the great "real" milkshakes you could get at a drugstore counter. Made in a metal tumbler and poured into a real glass. The chocolate was great not the imitation you get nowadays. And of course the paper straws. Thanks for sharing. Give or take a year or twoMost Europeans were just getting rid of ration cards. So a store like this would have been a major cultural shock for them, even for those who had actually been off rationing for some time. West of the Iron Curtain, that is. East of that? I can't even imagine. I'd be sitting at that counter!Wow, does this photo bring back memories. It looks just like the place my friends and I would "hang out" at at lunch time and after school, right down to the way it's set up with the phone booths in back. We'd buy cigarettes from a machine (put in 30 cents and get 2 cents change back on the side of the pack). Luckily, I didn't smoke too long. Cokes were either 5 or 10 cents and an order of fries was 15 cents. The guy who owned the place and his wife were like grandparents to us. They really cared about the kids. Pens and phonesYou can still buy Waterman fountain pens, Mr Mel ... but not in a drugstore. But when I looked at this photo, I tried to imagine getting to the phone booths past a couple of kids spinning like dervishes on those stools. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Board Track: 1925
... miles and miles of highways were paved with wood. Even in Brooklyn, Coney Island Avenue was originally called Coney Island Plank Road. ... 
 
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)
Over the River: 1903
New York circa 1903. "East River from Brooklyn tower of Williamsburg Bridge." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, ... invariably overshadowed by the stardom of its neighbor the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet it's one of the most beautiful in my opinion; strongly ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:42pm -

New York circa 1903. "East River from Brooklyn tower of Williamsburg Bridge." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Cascarets and Uneeda BiscuitsWhere can I get me some of them Cascarets? Mebbe at Dannat & Pell? The Forgotten BridgeThe Williamsburg Bridge is one of the more obscure New York bridges; invariably overshadowed by the stardom of its neighbor the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet it's one of the most beautiful in my opinion; strongly designed, functional and sleek for its time. Its blunt towers stand there, year after year, like trusty sentinels, doing their workhorse job of shuttling car, truck and subway traffic back and forth between Brooklyn and the grimy east end of Delancey Street, and not complaining that it's almost never included in tourist guidebooks to New York. I love the Williamsburg Bridge. The I-Wish-We-Could-Forget-It BridgeThose of us here in the 1980s and '90s remember it as so dilapidated that it was entirely closed for years. It's the local poster boy for legendary infrastructure disrepair. *cough* *cough*All those belching chimneys and that smog in the background makes be cough just looking at it. I'm sure nobody misses coal furnaces. The view from the Willy Bhas changed a little. To and froThe "New & Improved" version of the Willie B is the result of the city finally spending the money required to repair this elegant bridge. The bridge was built in 1903. You show me any structure that old that has not been maintained by its owners and it too would be the poster child for neglect. I grew up on Delancy Street and looked out my bedroom window onto the bridge and watched the subway cross over in either direction, to and fro. Nameless faces travelling between Brooklyn and "The City" (as non-Manhattanites refer to venturing into Manhattan). I take exception to the posting that refers to the east end of Delancey Street as "grimy." I have fond memories of a wonderful childhood in a diverse neighborhood of working class people. Judging by the number of car ferries,this bridge was badly needed! Cascarets vs. Castor Oil      A history lesson from the Candy Professor in which he weaves candy and constipation into a lively slice of early 20th century medical history. My First Bridge to Climb!This was the first of many bridges two of my buddies and I explored and climbed in NYC in the mid 80's. It happened quite by accident one night as we walked across the bridge and discovered an unlocked stairway that went all the way up to the cradle room and then a ladder to the curved roof. The room where the suspension cables were anchored to the masonry buttresses was really scary as there was so much corrosion! I also used to ride my motor bike on the pedestrian walkway down the middle of the bridge. There was a ramp on the Brooklyn side but I had to deal with the stairs on the Manhattan side. I worked high-rise construction at the time to pay for college and I had access to many of the construction drawings to most of the NYC bridges through my school. Over the course of the next three years we climbed the towers (never the cables) of the Manhattan, Queensborough, Verizano and George Washington Bridges. We couldn't climb the Brooklyn Bridge as there was so much hoopla around the '87 Centennial but we did manage to cross the length of the bridge on the underside maintenance catwalk. Good times! Thanks for the pics! Gaping holesThe Williamsburg Bridge was closed to both automobile and subway traffic for seven weeks in the spring of 1988 after an inspection discovered gaping holes in critical support beams due to neglect and rust. In some places it had to be shored up with wood! Since then it has been virtually rebuilt. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
After the Earthquake: 1906
... [UPDATE] 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake In Virginia Rattles Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens The FDNY and the US Geological Survey has ... earthquake in central Virginia. Residents of Manhattan and Brooklyn have reported feeling the earthquake Oh, well found Puts ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 4:40pm -

"Market Street toward ferry." San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Thanks...Just experienced my first Earthquake just over an hour ago. Once again, Dave you leave me speechless. Walter in Bethesda, MD Good TimingDave, you've done it again! There was a 5.9 tremor in Va. today and we felt it on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay. So, earthquakes will be the topic of discussion for a while. Quick WorkWow, you practically beat Reuters to the punch. 100-year photo blog indeed!Just arrived home after my building was closed following today's earthquake. Turned on my internet, and what do I see? AmazingEven in the aftermath of this great tragedy, everyone is as fully and fashionably dressed as they must have been before April 18th. I would expect that at least some of the people in the photograph were made homeless by the earthquake and fire, but you would never know it to look at them. Ironic timing is ironicWas this photo already chosen for today? Fortunately, DC doesn't look this way nowI don't know if this photo is a coincidence coming so soon after the Magnitude 5.9 earthquake that rattled Virginia, DC, Maryland and all the way up to New York City. Fortunately, we didn't get this kind of damage!! This just in...Very timely. The earth movedfor me! Unfortunately, I was home alone. I'm 35 miles S.E.of Washington, so a bit closer to the epicenter than D.C. My behind started moving as my chair followed the floor movement, them my whole body followed as the movements became stronger. The desk then started shaking, moving my PC case and monitor. My first thought was that there was some some structural collapse in my home, then I realized it was a quake. Lasted about 40 seconds, then slowly subsided. A quick survey showed no damage, power, phone, and DSL service all normal. That's a pretty short skyline.I can only imagine what was going through the minds of those folks as they survey the damage. The Ole Man PurseWhen will the ole man purse be back in style, I wonder. This Just In As WellFrom The Gothamist, a little while ago. [UPDATE] 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake In Virginia Rattles Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens The FDNY and the US Geological Survey has confirmed a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in central Virginia. Residents of Manhattan and Brooklyn have reported feeling the earthquake Oh, well foundPuts things in perspective a bit. It Would SeemIt appears that no matter what the occasion, the San Franciscans of 1906 got gussied up before going out. Get a load of those ladies' hats. Just Sayin'After their homes and business's have been devastated, the men still wear hats, collars, ties and suits. The ladies never go out in public unless well groomed. Definitely saying something about the quality of the general mass but not the underbelly that also existed then. First EarthquakeHow ironic that on the day you publish this photo, we in the mountains of Pa. experienced the first earthquake any of us can remember. Trolley wiresSince there are now trolley wires over the cable car tracks, the date is later than just the day after the earthquake. Fashion PlateWhere did that cool looking dude get his fresh boutonniere and clean pocket hanky? San Francisco where is Clark Gable? Previously on ShorpyMany are familiar with the famous 13-minute film of Market Street shot from the front of a trolley car as it rolled toward the Ferry Building on a busy afternoon in San Francisco. Although the footage has long been dated by LOC curators to circa September 1905, extensive new research by David Kiehn, historian for the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA, has established that this footage was probably shot by the Miles Brothers film company on or near April 12, 1906, scarcely a week before the earthquake and fire. The footage was only shipped by rail to New York for processing and distribution on April 17, and the Miles Brothers studio was destroyed a few hours later. The San Francisco Chronicle has details of Kiehn's discoveries. The San Francisco Museum & Historical Society is sponsoring a lecture by Mr. Kiehn about his findings on Sept. 21. The Underbelly SpeaksAs part of the Underbelly, or the Great Unwashed, as we are sometimes called, I'd just like to go on record as saying that, in case of earthquake, hurricane, rapture or other major disruption of life, I have prepared an outfit consisting of tattered Chuck Taylors, raggedy cut offs and a tie dyed T-shirt. I'm gonna hit the streets in style. There's no there thereThe gent with the fresh boutonniere and clean pocket hanky likely got them in Oakland. The folks on the left hand side of the photo are walking up Market Street from the Ferry Building in the background, indicating they're returning to San Francisco, not fleeing from the now extinguished fires. Likely they had evacuated to Oakland or elsewhere and are now returning to see what's left of their homes and businesses. Ferries shuttling between San Francisco and Oakland and Marin served as the city's lifeline for days after the quake and fire. I'll bet most of the returnees in this view ended up camping in Golden Gate Park. A Trip Down Market StreetLook at this movie of a cable car going the same direction on Market Street just days before the Earthquake. (The Gallery, DPC, Fires, Floods etc., San Francisco)
Veribest Canned Meats: 1900
... and we have O.J. Gude to thank: It's 1878 in Brooklyn, and my great-great-grandfather O.J. Gude starts an outdoor ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:16pm -

New York circa 1900. "John C. Graul's art store, 217 Fifth Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I better run!To the train depot. That lady is looking at the very photograph I want on my wall! Thanks Dave, that's funny! They say the neon lights are bright... on Broadway, and we have O.J. Gude to thank: It's 1878 in Brooklyn, and my great-great-grandfather O.J. Gude starts an outdoor advertising company with $100 in capital and goes on to pioneer the first use of the electric bulb in a billboard sign in May, 1892. Soon The Great White Way will be born. Shopping in New York with my fatherThese stores look pretty classy from that genteel age of gracious living. My father was somewhat of a bargain hunter and low-price shopper and I remember in the 1950's going with him into New York every three months or so where he would purchase $1 neckties at a store called Tie City or he'd go to Orchard Street on the Lower East Side to haggle over the price of socks and underwear and even suits and shirts. Once a year or so, he would buy new eyeglasses at Pildes Opticians, which had the newest styles and the lowest prices. We'd buy a wonderfully delicious lunch at Katz's Deli or some cheap Italian pasta emporium whose name I've forgotten. I have inherited the skinflint miserly pennypincher mentality but every once in a while I splurge exorbitantly although I now live far away from N.Y. My father used to tell me that in New York you can get anything from anywhere in the world. I was very impressed and still am. Photo shopperA closeup. Shadows and lightThis picture is deliciously creepy. The lone woman window shopping in a near-defunct district ... those hauntingly dark windows above her. Thanks for this one, Dave. I love these thrilling peeks into time gone by. Literally they make my day. I'm a bona fide Shorpyholic! VeriworstAccording to a New York Times expose six years later (July 12, 1906), Veribest canned chicken loaf was "a small amount of muscle fibre and a large amount of cornmeal." Mystery SolvedNow we can see where Nestle might have gotten the inspiration for their familiar slogan. Who can resist?It looked familiar. Upton's Opinion DifferedUpton Sinclair's infamous book "The Jungle" didn't opine that Armour's meats were the Veribest™. The Brunswick, againThere are interesting differences between this view of the doomed Brunswick Hotel building, and this one, posted in July. Building Coming Down SaleThe vacant windows would certainly uphold that sign. Cool and creepy all at the same time. Look again. She's Kuklanated.Somebody's going to be late for the big Gude meeting. Paintings...I would love to be able to get my hands on those paintings being sold in that store. The frames alone are absolutely beautiful. Location, Location, LocationAll the $5 Hat Shop had to do at their new location was hold out for another 30 something years and they would have had it made. 359 5th Avenue would put it directly across the street from the Empire State Building which is at 350 5th Avenue. A woman of means This window-shopper's ensemble is very finely hand-tailored, and her coat appears to have a velvet collar. Everything fits her perfectly, suggesting that she has access to a private dressmaker. Her hat is equally stylish. Wonder what type of feathers make up that jaunty plume? Notice how carefully coiffed her hair is, and how shiny clean. Knowing from Shorpy how grubby life could be for many people at the time, this lady had it good. DyslexiaI thought it said Verbiest. I don't want my meats chatting at me. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC)
The Billboard Jungle: 1907
The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Manhattan Terminal in 1907 -- a view glimpsed ... in this picture is gone now (except of course for the Brooklyn Bridge). One exception is that hexagonal dome in the middle distance. ... website has an older movie of this, search for "New Brooklyn to New York." One of the trolleys on the right from the Myrtle ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/18/2012 - 6:58pm -

The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Manhattan Terminal in 1907 -- a view glimpsed earlier on Shorpy, with the addition of a train. Here we have a better view of the signs. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Tweed CourthouseI believe just about everything in this picture is gone now (except of course for the Brooklyn Bridge). One exception is that hexagonal dome in the middle distance. That belongs to the infamous New York County Courthouse. In the 1870s William Macy "Boss" Tweed managed to charge the taxpayers of New York a total of about $12 million for building that actually wound up costing $476,000. Now that's BIG TIME graft. The courthouse stood for a century, an embarrassing reminder of New York's Gilded Age heyday of corruption. It finally got a beautiful restoration over that last few years, and has had a new lease on life. Quite a grand structure, after all. Cerotypesce·ro·type (sîr-tp, sr-) n. The process of preparing a printing surface for electrotyping by first engraving on a wax-coated metal plate. [Greek kros, wax + type.] I wasn't familiar with this term. Francis Wilson (1854–1935)The Philadelphia‐born comedian began performing while still a youngster and spent time in minstrelsy before acting in plays. Most notable among his later successes were his Sir Guy De Vere in "When Knights Were Bold" (1907) and Thomas Beach in his own play, "The Bachelor's Baby" (1909). Marie LloydInteresting to see the name of Marie Lloyd above the Francis Wilson sign. She was the most famous and highest paid entertainer on the British "music hall" at the time as well. In 1907 she was in a major confrontation between performers and theatre owners in the UK. Not exactly highbrowIn addition to Francis Wilson, we have Marie Lloyd, known for her suggestive lyrics. Sign!"Sign, Sign everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery breaking my mind, do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign? Fletcher's CastoriaGod forbid you were a constipated child when your mom kept a bottle of this in the house. YECH! Annnd - they still make it. "Root Beer Flavor" my aunt Fanny! Phew!I lost you after you said "Orpheumorpheum" ! I'm intrigued by the dates? on the right foreground such as "Feb 26 05" and the others on the lidded box "19-8-15 and 18-16-25". Any Shorpologists that can appease my curiosity? Either that's a negative scratchor Rapunzel is living in the tall building! Sign paintingI would have loved being a sign painter back then. People put so much effort into their lettering. Even the most mundane signs used fancy lettering, drop shadows, gold leafing, etc. CartersI think the Carters sign refers to "Carter's Little Liver Pills", a nostrum even available in my youth. They were major radio program sponsors in the the 1930s and 40s. In later years the dropped the "Little" from their name and the medicine was known as "Carters Liver Pills". Milton Berle told of an Uncle that had taken those pills most of his life. He died at age 90, and two weeks later they had to beat his liver to death with a stick. Close ClearanceBoy! A Teamster really had to trust his horse or team of horses! Look at that wagon or carriage near the center of the picture! That carriage is right against the curb, and with that train passing by, it would seem that if the horse or team were to drift slightly toward the track, another 10 o'clock "news item" would occur! (Or whatever form of "news item" there would have been in those days!) NumbersIs this neat graffiti or does it have an official purpose? Is it a date, maybe Feb 26 (19)05? There are some other neatly painted numbers a little further to the right: 19-8-15 and 18-16-25. CerotypesThis is where (Rank) Xerox came from, it's the same origin. A day in the life of . . . . . . so many people! People in the photos always fascinate me. Who were they, what were they doing and talking about and coming from or going to. A folded newspaper, a man appearing to look at a wrist watch, a man carrying a child, the streetcar and interurban operators -- and a borken and missing stanchion on a railing. Best of all, what appears to be graffiti "Feb 26 '05" -- of importance to someone who put it there, but the significance of which escapes me. So, so much in every photo -- like signage that has long faded even in 1907. This photo is particularly nice! No fattiesLook, people walking! And not a single one of them is overweight! Another survivoris 31 Chambers, the old Hall of Records now known as the Surrogates Courthouse. It is nestled between the German Herold and the Technical Press buildings. ProxemicsI have noticed in several of these photos that some people's personal interaction space seems much more intimate than we would be comfortable with today. Have Americans' intimate zones changed over time? If so, is it somehow related to having spent more generations away from Europe, where they have similarly close comfort zones? Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Neuralgine Meyer Brothers Druggist, Vol. 26, 1905. Neuralgine Mfg. Co., 24 and 26 Vandewater St., New York. Special offer to the trade: Save 10% now by ordering 3 doz. or more Neuralgine from your jobber. With every order for 3 doz. of either the 25¢ or 50¢ size, we will instruct your jobber to deliver to you 10% extra in Neuralgine. Neuralgine is an old-time remedy, has been on the market over 25 years. It is a reliable remedy for neuralgia, headache, sore throat, rheumatism, sprains, bruises, etc. It comes in two sizes, 25¢ and 50¢ a bottle. Order from your jobber at once 3 doz. as a trial lot, and take advantage of the above generous offer. The Newer Remedies, The Apothecary Publishing Co., 1908. Neuralgine. (a) a mixture of antipyrin, caffein and citric acid (migranin). (b) a mixture of acetanilid, sodium salicylate and caffein. The Elevated trainsWhile both of the El trains are purely electric and also have trolley poles on the roofs for use on ground level tracks at the ends of the lines in Coney Island, Canarsie Shore, and Fresh Pond, there are still cables between the rails. For one more year, the rush hour shuttle El trains that just ran across the Bridge were cable powered, although by now they also had electric motors so a steam engine was no longer needed in the terminals or for emergencies! The cables and the rails are in duplicate. There is no switch where the two tracks from the Park Row Terminal come "together"; the rails are just next to each other, interlaced. The Library of Congress website has an older movie of this, search for "New Brooklyn to New York." One of the trolleys on the right from the Myrtle Avenue line survives, search the collection at BERA.org for "1792." (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Sick Bay: 1898
Aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn circa 1898. "Sick bay." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 12:53pm -

Aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn circa 1898. "Sick bay." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Paint LockerBased on the identification plate it would appear that this was at one point the ship's paint locker. This compartment was most likely used as overflow capacity for the normal sickbay. Morning Aftera rough night at the Enlisted Men's Club. The MO prepares a carefully calibrated dose of the Hair of the Dog. Can't kid a kidderSome of these guys fake it so they can have a turn in the great hammock. Kinda darkAside from the powerful light the photographer used, I don't see any lighting fixtures in there. Portable lanterns? It appears that this is in the bow of the ship, so those guys would have had a bouncy ride. Good thing they are armored in those fancy and sturdy sick bay bunks. On the right the patient is being offered something in a filthy cup, but he already has a filthy cup. And a filthy blanket to go with it. Where did they do the amputations? In that chair? Ah, the romance of the sea. Canvas coffinsYipes -- I don't like the looks of those sickbay beds. Looks like it would be way too easy to carry them up on the deck for a quick burial at sea! Ouch!I wonder what happened to the hand on the poor man holding the cup. It seems to work but boy oh boy is it 10 times bigger than normal. Poor seated guy on the left!That guy looks like he's been rode hard and put away wet. But mostly, I'm fascinated by all the mustaches. Isn't facial hair no-go in today's Navy? But these guys are elegant! LocationBeing an astute marine aficianado, I surmise the location of the sick bay is in the pointy-end of the ship. Forward CompartmentBased on the curvature of the bulkhead, the sick bay was located very near the bow of the ship. A safe distance from the engines and ammo lockers, but hardly the most comfortable ride when the ship is underway. On the mustachesLooking at all these naval photos, I have come to surmise that the only ones to have facial hair are the NCOs otherwise known as POs or petty officers. Mustaches seem to be a badge of the petty officers, and they seem to wear them proudly, and I have seen few POs without a stache. Join the Navy!But best not to get sick, really. It's not easy being greenI am feeling queasy just imagining those hammocks swaying every time they hit a swell. Back and forth ... back and forth ... back and forth. If I wasn't feeling sick before going to sick bay, I would after five minutes in there. PerplexedWhy in the world would you put sick people in a hanging swing on a weaving boat?? HammocksHammocks were the standard sleeping arrangement for enlisted personnel in most navies until well after World War II. The British and Canadian Navies didn't give it up until the 1950s. The US Navy seems to hav largely given them up by the start of World War II if not earlier. Supposedly a naval hammock is better than a bunk because it sort of enveloped you like a cocoon. The most obvious advantage was that in a swell the ship may be rocking but the sleepers were stable. Some even claim that they're safer than bunks on the grounds that if a ship rolls far enough or hard enough someone in a bunk could get tossed out or otherwise injured. The HammocksIt does seem odd to put sick bay in the bow where you're going to get the roughest ride, but the suspended hammocks would soften things. Rough seas would produce swinging, not jolting, and you'd never be thrown out of a bunk. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Medicine)
Gunboat Diplomacy: 1905
... the two three stackers. The one to the right is the USS Brooklyn. The one centered is the USS New York. These are both armored ... Raleigh was in the Battle of Manila Bay, and the Texas and Brooklyn were in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. Historians I am often ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 8:18pm -

Venezuela circa 1900-1905. "American fleet at La Guaira." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Ship IdentificationWell, I spent a little time shifting through a few websites to try to ID the various US warships in the harbor. The ones I feel are positive about are the two three stackers. The one to the right is the USS Brooklyn. The one centered is the USS New York. These are both armored cruisers. I would love to figure out what the two same class two stackers are to the left. There is another two stacker and a one stacker above the New York and are different classes. Any guesses anyone?? The Quiet AmericanIsn't Teddy Roosevelt the guy that said "Walk softly, but carry a big stick"? [T.R. was a firm believer in crepe soles! - Dave] He sent the Fleet into Venezuela because the Brits and the Germans had set up a blockade of the country for, among other things, unpaid debts. He made sure that the Europeans left the region. Would that we had Teddy Roosevelt today. President Teddy Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet.”This appears to be a photo of America’s Great White Fleet during its around-the-world tour of 1907-1909. A voyage initiated by President Roosevelt to defuse the tensions of a near-war atmosphere between Japan and the US. White Fleetit's easy to see where the term Great White Fleet would come from a couple of years later, when T.R. sent the navy around the world to show off America's newly established sea presence. I wonder, how impressed were the Venezuelans to see these ships off the coast? Steel NavyIt looks almost like Admiral George Dewey's Pacific Squadron from 1898, except a couple of the three-stackers appear to be battleships, or what passed for battleships back then. This photo was taken in Teddy Roosevelt's administration, and he certainly was not one to do things quietly. BattleshipThe two 2-stackers on the left are the USS Raleigh and Cincinnati (built 1894, 11x5 inch guns), the 2-stacker farthest away from the camera is the USS Newark (1891, 12x6 guns), and the single-stacker is the USS Texas (1895, 2x12 cannons). The Raleigh was in the Battle of Manila Bay, and the Texas and Brooklyn were in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. HistoriansI am often impressed by the knowledge and resourcefulness of Shorpy commenters. To be able to start with a little information and expand it to the point of identification of the vessels and the reason they were there is beyond cool. Imagine what could be accomplished if there was a way to electronically link the resources of the world through autonomous data access devices! It might beThat the Navy has to go back to Venezuela again with that nitwit Chavez running things there. Service ElsewhereThe USS Brooklyn was sent to Vladivostok prior to and during the Russian Revolution as part of an eight nation coalition to keep law and order. My grandfather served on the Brooklyn circa 1917-1918. Another I did not know that.I did not know the Brooklyn made a trip to South America. My grandfather served on the USS Brooklyn in the Pacific circa 1917-18.They made port in the Philippines, China, Japan and Russia. I have several photographs and postcards he brought back. Great White FleetThey went out with fuel for one way! TR told Congress that if they didn't cough up the money for fuel they wouldn't be home for Christmas! TR started the US Navy League after this cruise and we are still here! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
More Manhanset: 1904
... Item of Interest to the Shelter Island Colony Brooklyn Life (Brooklyn, New York) 30 Oct 1915, Sat • Page 25 Smoke What do you ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/24/2019 - 1:29pm -

Shelter Island, New York, circa 1904. "Landing at Manhanset Manor." The sidewheeler Nantasket coming abeam. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Re: Steam or SmokeJudging from the position of all the flags, as well as the idle sail of the boat, the wind was moving from left to right. So, the smoke or steam likely came from the far (left) side of the dock. The machine at the left edge of the photo could be some sort of pile driver, though I could find nothing resembling it on the web. The poles and lumber lying on the pier may have been part of a maintenance effort. If this machine was steam-driven, then it's possible it was the source of the smoke. [That's a ferry landing; the "pile drivers" are counterweights for ramp. - Dave] Steam? Or sea spray?What is the steam or sea spray at the bottom left third? The water looks fairly calm, so I'm presuming it's steam, but from where? Airing OutNot very often these days do we see a vessel (in this case a gaff-rigged catboat) left in its slip with its sails still hoisted. But, until the advent of modern synthetic fabrics, leaving sails aloft for awhile was commonly practiced in order to dry the heavy cotton canvas from which they were made. Moisture-induced mildew, rot, and rust were a constant plague in the days of wooden ships and iron men. Item of Interest to the Shelter Island Colony Brooklyn Life (Brooklyn, New York) 30 Oct 1915, Sat • Page 25 SmokeWhat do you think is causing the big cloud of smoke at the shore end of the pier? It looks like it is coming from underneath the water. When did this pier (as everything else of the era) burn down? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Small Towns)
Welcome to Big D: 1963
... Rappaport's World History class in Abraham Lincoln HS in Brooklyn. Someone came into the class that afternoon, approached her, whispered ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/22/2013 - 7:44am -

        President Kennedy on that dark yet sunny day in Dallas 50 years ago, minutes before he was assassinated. November 22, 1963. "Overview of crowds of people waving as President John F. Kennedy and his wife sit in back of limousine during procession through downtown Dallas, Texas; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife ride in the limousine's jump seats." New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. View full size. There are no words...Life changed for many of us, 50 years ago, tomorrow. The memories of those days forever burned into our hearts. I remember being in Miss Barbara Rappaport's World History class in Abraham Lincoln HS in Brooklyn. Someone came into the class that afternoon, approached her, whispered something in her ear. I still see her, sort of falling into her chair (she NEVER sat in class), with her head in her folded arms, sobbing.... President Kennedy has been shot. We sat there, stunned not knowing what to do, or say. The next days were crazy, with new names popping onto the news minute by minute, it seemed. Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Jackie, LBJ, Lady Bird, Governor Connolly, the Texas Book Repository..... on and on, Zapruder film, grassy knoll, Warren Commission. Blood on Jackie's pink dress, running FBI agents, that presidential Lincoln... Madness, it seemed! Our calm quiet, idyllic world, was suddenly insane. Caroline and John-John at the grave. And finally, the eternal image of the skittish horse, following the caisson, with the reversed boots in the stirrups. We grew up really quick on that day 50 years ago. Those days live on in our hearts, don't they? A Very Long And Tragic DayInteresting to read all the comments from the Shorpy community. Those of us aware of what was happening that day can never forget it, and those who weren't around will never understand our feelings. John Kennedy was so alive, with so much to do with his life, that the idea of his life being cut short was all the more unbelievable. I was living in Houma, Louisiana, and had a paper route, for which I collected my dimes and quarters every Friday. The thirty or so customers I had were usually ready for me when I came around after school, and I'd complete my collecting no later than 5pm. That day, it was well after 9pm when I got home. The phrase I heard over and over-- and everyone wanted to talk, if only to an 11-year-old paper boy-- was "I just can't believe it!" --Jim What I remembered that dayThe often asked question, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot"....I was in 6th grade at about lunchtime. The PA had clicked on (always a noticable indication that someone was going to the office) and the principal read a short message about the President being shot but no other information as of yet. I remember my teacher looking down at the floor with his hands folded. We were released for lunch and in the hall kids were crying. I went home, the TV was on, (I remember looking at Walter Cronkite on the TV) and my Mother had tears in her eyes while she was making sandwiches. "The President's dead" she murmured and threw the towel to the floor. Mom was so proud that Kennedy was our president. She voted for him...partly because of his good looks, same age and he was Catholic. It seemed, to me, that she was just about as devastated over his death as she was of her Father's passing just a year earlier. My Father, who worked in Manhattan, came home later in the day (it was a bit early for him to be home at 4 PM) saying that the trip home on the train was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Every rider had a stunned look about them. Even the conductor was speaking in hushed tones. This is what I remember. The AnnouncementI was on the basketball court at recess in the eighth grade when we were told over the school loud speakers. I'll never forget it. A sunny but sad dayMy mother worked in downtown Dallas, in the Davis Building at 1309 Main Street. She rode the elevator down from the eighth floor, and watched the motorcade go by. Just a few minutes later, the president was gone. I can't exactly place where this picture was taken, except that it's on Main. Downtown has changed a lot, and some streets have been removed over the years as new buildings have gone up. "Your president has been shot"A man came into the break room where I worked and made that odd announcement. We were all in shock and it wasn't until later that I wondered about the word "Your" being used to tell the people there this horrible news. The ShotsMy step brother's brother was walking from his Law Office to lunch when he heard the shots and had no idea what that was about... until later. On top of the busI'm trying to figure if that's an old-school air conditioning system or some other modification, to fight the hot Texas heat? Breaking NewsI was in my TV/Appliance store in Jamaica, NY as I was walking toward a bank of playing TV sets, all of which were on ABC Channel 7. A news bulletin lit of all the receivers. An announcer was on screen reporting that shots were fired during the President's slowly moving motorcade in downtown Dallas. As I kept watching further news breaks, it became clear that President Kennedy had been shot. Later in the day, as the news spread the store was filling up with people looking at all the TV sets. Later that afternoon I decided to close the shop and went home. SurgeA crowd would never be allowed to move that way today with a president so close. Just look at the excited people coming forward behind the bus. The few people at the window seats on the bus have really lucked out. Jackie is looking right at one of them, and JFK himself could be waving at the same person. A gaggle of women on the right could reach out and touch the motorcycle cop. They're all waving and screaming for the President's attention, but he's looking at that friendly face on the bus. I was in Grade 1 in Winnipeg and I remember the grief of the funeral like it was yesterday. We Canadians felt as though this American event was ours too, as though we ourselves had also lost this amazing person. Main and ErvayThe view is toward the southwest corner of Main Street and Ervay Street. The Neiman Marcus building is in the upper portion of the frame. Our Latin TeacherMrs. Closser was my grade 10 Latin teacher at Herman Collegiate Institute in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. She was an American in her 50s who lived in Detroit and commuted every day to teach in Canada. Before the end of the period she would leave the classroom to join the other teachers for a quick cigarette in the teachers' lounge. She never came back before the bell rang. Until that November day in 1963 when she burst into the classroom, tears streaming down her face, and stood in front of the class and announced, "Our President is dead!" She collapsed into her chair as several girls went up to comfort her. She didn't come back for a week. I took the bus to a dental appointment, and recall that even the hit parade radio stations were playing sombre music. I'll never forgetI remember that day. It was a Friday. Thanksgiving was near at hand.. I was 10 years old. I was in the fifth grade at South Avondale Elementary School in Cincinnati. It was warm that day for November..I checked and the high was 68. After lunch at school we all lined up to go back inside and it seemed the teachers were anxious to get us back in class. I remember our math teacher Mr Jackson told us that Pres Kennedy had been shot and turned on our Tv in the classroom. We heard Walter Cronkite voice but did not see him until he announced JFK was dead at the hand of an assassin. In the classroom next to ours a teacher, Mrs Keller, screamed and fainted. She was taken to the hospital. She never returned to school. School did not resume until after the Thanksgiving Holiday. After the death announcement school was dismissed..I walked home. On the corner of Reading Road and Rockdale AV a news person was hawking the Cincinnati Post-Times Star.. he was shouting; "Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur!!..President assassinated in Texas..Extrrey! Extrey! Read all about it President is dead..Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur' Over and over again. I the Irony is he was standing in front of a Statue of Pres. Lincoln. I solemnly walked home..things were in a daze. When I reached my home my step-mom was going out to visit my sister in Childrens hospital. She had had her transistor radio with her so she could get the latest news.. She asked did I hear about Pres Kennedy. I told her yes... The next three days all that was on Tv was news about the assassination of JFK. His funeral on Monday was a site to behold. I will never forget that black caisson with his coffin riding atop it. The sadness and grief of everyone. Never ever...That was a long time ago in a World so different than today's.. ThenI had just joined a Mechanical Engineering firm that week located on 15th Street in D.C. We had radios in the drafting studio and time stood still that Friday. Surreal; we just stood around, what was there to say? Fourth grade teacher's wordsWe had just returned from recess at P.S. 81 in the Bronx. Our teacher, Mrs. Stanton, told us to put all of our books and things away. This seemed really strange to us, as it was time for our flutophone lesson. I remember her words, "President Kennedy is dead. He was in a parade today, and he was shot." I remember the feeling in my stomach--as though it had dropped somehow. We were sent home. My parents had copy of the comedy album, "The First Family," which poked fun at President and Mrs. Kennedy. When Dad arrived home from work that night, he had a copy of the NY Post with its terrible headline. He took out the LP, wrapped the newspaper around it, and sealed up the album with heavy tape. My family had lived in D.C. for about about two years in 1960-62. Once Christmas we attended the White House tree-lighting ceremony which the President presided over. When Dulles airport opened, Dad took me to the ceremonies. I was perched on Dad's shoulders. We stood not far from the stage where Kennedy gave his speech. I remember thinking how handsome the President was. WNTC RadioI was in the student union at Clarkson College (now University) in Potsdam, NY. Saw the news come across the teletype we had in the newsroom window there. I immediately crossed the street and fired up the college radio station, WNTC, so the guys in the newsroom could broadcast developments. As Angus said the radio stations were playing sombre music - I distinctly remember being very hard pressed to find something to fill the time between news bulletins since we were a rock and roll station and there was not much appropriate music to be had. Canadians tooI was also in 6th. grade, and I was living on an Airforce Base in Canada's capital, Ottawa. It hit us hard too, although at the time I couldn't understand exactly why. I was only 11 years old, but I remember I cried, somehow knowing he was a man who would have done a lot of great things. He wasn't our President, but somehow it was as though he was the world's President. To this day in my 60's I remain fascinated and interested in JFK, his family, his life. NewsmanMy dad on the evening of 11-22-63, after a long day of covering the assassination from the Oakland (California) Tribune. Dad was a reporter and remembered when the AP wire first came in from Dallas. Soon the whole newsroom was frantic with the shock and the task of putting it all together for the afternoon edition. They got the special edition done in time, almost an entire rewrite, and this photo shows my dad waiting in the Tribune foyer for my mother to come get him and drive him home. The Tribune photographer had been taking photos all day of the activity in the newsroom and caught my dad here as he waited for mom. "The president has been shot"I was in third grade in Northern Kentucky. Someone's mother had driven to the school to inform us of the news she had just heard. An unseen adult came to our classroom door and spoke with our teacher, Miss Reagan. I recall that she took a moment to compose herself, then stated that we were to put away our books. She said that the president had been shot. We were to pack our things to leave for the day, as school would be dismissed early. Soon, each classroom would be called to the cafeteria to pray. There was a hush. A knot in the pit of my stomach. Not much talking, brief nervous laughter that soon ceased. Then the entire student body, 865 children, assembled in that basement cafeteria. I remember standing room only -- we ate in three shifts -- and all those children were led in praying the rosary until the buses came to take us home. No one talked. Some of us quietly cried. We prayed desperately for the president's survival. Everyone was riveted by the unfolding events. Even the bus ride home was subdued that day. I remember being glued to the TV coverage as events unfolded. Later in the day at home Walter Cronkite announced that the president had died of his wounds. The news coverage was nonstop and I recall that the funeral, especially the sight of the Kennedy children, was overwhelmingly sad. Jackie seemed courageous beyond belief -- how could she retain such composure in this tragedy that had me bawling for days? The pomp & circumstance of the funeral proceedings, all the symbolism involved, marked the stature of this event and also somehow, gave solace. When I heard the newsOne of the things forever remembered by us as individuals is not only where we were, but who it was that broke the news. For many, this accidental fact influenced the way we reacted that day in November. I was 21 and working as a draftsman at a small business computer firm. There were five of us in our windowed room from which we could see the production floor. I had just begun to notice that the assembly workers had left their stations and were standing about in small groups. Moments later one of the electrical engineers, who often used our room as a shortcut, came breezing through and asked if we'd heard that someone had shot President Kennedy. The guy was a jokester (often shamelessly irreverent), so we looked up from our desks, smiled, and waited for the punch line. When he continued out the other door without another word we realized in sudden shock that there would be none. It was true, and thus began a season of feeling that ice water in your veins disbelief I would suffer again many years later when I watched the Twin Towers come down on live TV and realized that we were at war. No matter how hardened and cynical we are made by this world, we are never quite prepared to receive startling and painful news of great magnitude, even though we know it can come at any time, and in any form. Change of subjectI was in fifth grade on the day he died. There are many good comments on that day. Still the bus picture has a reminder of my youth. I grew up in Florida but the soft drink Dr. Pepper was not sold in Florida. In those pre-Interstate years, we went to North Carolina to visit the grandparents. The first thing we did when we stopped at "South of the Border" was to buy Dr. Peppers. It had a real bite and a strong aroma. Now Dr. Pepper is still tasty but without the bite and strong aroma. I would love to be able to buy the original Dr. Pepper. UnbelievableI was 11 years old and, like everyone else my age, I was in school. The door to our classroom was at the back of the room. We had just come in from recess and the teacher was beginning our next lesson when the Principal quickly stuck his head in the door, made an announcement, and quickly moved on. Because of his distance from our teacher and the quickness of his words, she didn't understand him. She asked us what he said and a child that sat at the back of the room by the door said "He said the President's been shot!" Well that was a concept too ridiculous to believe, so our teacher just said "No he didn't, I'll go find out what's going on," and she went out the room to the class next door. The next thing I remember was everyone standing in the hall, lined up to be excused for the day. The teacher from the class next door was crying inconsolably. I was like our teacher, and was having a hard time believing that all of it was happening. It wasn't until I got home and found my family in front of the TV watching the news that I finally realized that my perfect little world was no more. How I remember itI was in the seventh grade at Centralia High School in southern Ohio. We were taking a math test in Mr. Potter's class. There was a wall behind us with large windows that looked into the journalism class. We were distracted by noise from that room, and as I turned to look, I saw the whole room emptying. We returned to work but soon the class behind us returned and some of the girls were crying and dabbing their eyes with tissues. They had gone to hear the news on the TV in the study hall on the same floor. We heard over the intercom that Kennedy had been shot, but we didn't know whether he was hurt fatally. I was so stunned. I still cannot believe that Mr. Potter made us finish the math test! My next class was study hall, and when I could, I rushed up there and positioned myself in the middle of the room to get a good view of the TV, which soon showed Walter Cronkite make the announcement. We were all silent. Next and final class of the day was Ohio History, where our young teacher, Mr. Lungo, through tears, said that we should pray for the Kennedy family, and then just sat throughout the whole period crying uncontrollably. When my little brother and I got home, we found my parents outside. My mom was sweeping the walk and my dad was sharpening a hoe. I asked if they knew Kennedy was dead and she asked how I knew that, like was it something some kid of the bus had said? I said no, it was on TV in school. She looked at my dad and wondered if it could be true. Of course, we all went right in the house and turned on the TV. Naturally, they were stunned and just watched in disbelief. You Can Hear Radio Recordings of That DayGo to RadioTapes.com to hear several hours of recordings of that day, as broadcast over Minneapolis radio station WCCO. Eventually the coverage shifts mostly to the CBS network, including Cronkite's announcement of Kennedy's death. There are also recordings from NBC and Voice of America. I was in second grade, Mrs. Gooler's class at Hale Elementary School in Minneapolis, and we had just returned from lunch. The principal came over the PA system to announce the shooting; we were asked to put our heads down on our desks and pray silently for the president. Not fifteen minutes later she came on again to announce that President Kennedy had died and that we would be dismissed early. (In those days, virtually no mothers worked, and we all rode the bus home for lunch and back for the afternoon class.) I remember arriving home and being shocked--SHOCKED!--that my mother was actually WATCHING TV DURING THE DAY! My parents had a love/hate relationship with the TV and had only bought one the previous Christmas because I was given "viewing assignments" at school. They typically watched it only an hour a day for the NBC Evening News and the local news. And as if that weren't bizarre enough, my father came home from work early, which he never did. All normal broadcasting--including advertising--was suspended until the funeral the following Monday. We didn't completely resume our normal activities until after Thanksgiving weekend. No one who was alive then will ever forget where they were when they got the news; a so-called "significant emotional event" like this generation's 9-11. I was asleepI'm probably one of the few who *doesn't* remember where I was. I was 8. We were living in Melbourne, Australia, where my dad was in the Foreign Service. I remember the next day, my mom had to sew a black armband for him to wear to work at the Consulate. I thought it was a bad thing that someone would shoot the President, but it was nowhere near the same impact it would have been if I'd been in the US. School went on normally, as I recall, and there was not much fuss that I noticed. (Cars, Trucks, Buses, Motorcycles, Public Figures)
Thompson Dairy: 1927
... who used a horse cart to travel through the streets of Brooklyn shouting "watermelons, 5 cents a pound" and whatever else he had that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:56pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1927. "Thompson Dairy wagons." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Horsepower vs horse powerA nice display of horse-power on both sides of the street. I am actually surprised that a whole company was still using horse-drawn wagons as late as 1927. I would expect it of a lone farmer or single vegetable merchant, but not a commercial concern that could use the investment in new trucks as a tax deduction. My mother (born in late 1929) tells of a produce salesman who used a horse cart to travel through the streets of Brooklyn shouting "watermelons, 5 cents a pound" and whatever else he had that day. He was still around when I was a child (1960s), still shouting the same songlike advertising chant, but in a very old truck (1946 or 47 vintage) by then. Wonder when Thompson Dairy went to motorized vehicles, or if they did have some by 1927, and only took the photo of the remaining horses, knowing these were the last horses the company would have. Got Milk?Sorry, I couldn't help it. Where milk came fromWhen I was little, living in a freshly-minted development west of Laurel, we got milk delivered from Thompson's; you can still see "THOMPSONS DAIRY" painted on the roof of the old King Farm barn on Rockville Pike. By the time my parents and I moved in, the future was already running, right around the corner: the mammoth Md. & Va. Milk Producers plant on Leishear Road. Lost WashingtonLost Washington: Thompson's Dairy. The wall today.Größere Kartenansicht Urban Legend Is it true the horses would remember the routes? The supply chainCow milk being delivered by horses for consumption by humans. I'm not sure what to think. Health in Every BottleAnyone know the location? Is that The Cairo in the background? Washington Post, Feb 18, 1924 "Health in Every Bottle" The most careful handling of our milk from the cow to the consumer guarantees a very wholesome and healthy product. Our Health Department rating has been above 93 for several months. Guaranteed Quality and Service Thompson's Dairy Established 1881 2008-2026 Eleventh Street N.W Phone North 5996 or 5997 A Thompson's Dairy Wagon Passes Your Home Every Morning Before Breakfast Great Wall of FloridaThis was taken from Florida Avenue, where that wall still exists. You can still see the same building on the corner in the distance today. Cardozo (Central) HS in the background. Re: LocationI'm a bit stumped on the location as well stanton-square. The wall looks a bit like the wall in the Lower Senate Park, but I don't think it is. Lasted a long timeIn my home city in the Midwest, we still had a horse-drawn milk wagon up until almost 1970. The driver would bail off the wagon with milk for several houses and the horse would keep going until the next stop where he would wait for the driver to catch up to him. Yes - the horses did know their routes. Skip Clever HansThe horse learns the route and the stops, is one of the advantages. The driver becomes a passenger most of the time. Hans, of the "Clever Hans Fallacy," was a milk truck horse. Where?I think it's Meridian Hill Park at W St. CardozoIt looks like that is the 1200 block of Florida Avenue NW, looking northwest toward the Cardozo High School football field. You can see the top of the school building in the distance behind the balustrade. LocationI'm stumped as well, but the building in the background looks like a school, if that helps. Mr T must have been old fashioned. By 1927 most businesses were using motorized transportation. Mr Thompson, or his son, must have liked the way things were done in 1881, and saw little reason to keep up with the times. I am curious about how much longer they were in business. [The dairy used both horses and motor trucks. Below, a Thompson delivery van circa 1925. - Dave] The chocolate milk was the best!It was the best tasting milk ever! And the freshest. They have been gone for a long time now and I still remember the glass bottles. Horses were quietI remember reading years ago, I forget where, that dairies and ice houses persisted in using horse-drawn vehicles long after most businesses had moved entirely to motorized vehicles, because they made their deliveries early in the morning, and they were afraid of waking someone up with an ill-timed exhaust backfire. They are said to have been early adopters of rubber tires for the same reason, but these wagons appear to have steel tires. There were horse-drawn dairy and ice wagons until World War II, according to some sources. Bat DayThompson Dairy sponsored "Bat Day" for kids at D.C. and then renamed RFK Stadium in the 1960's for The Washington Senators Baseball Team. Each baseball season, children 12 years of age and under entering the ballpark on a specified date would receive a wooden baseball bat engraved with The Washington Senators and Thompson Dairy names on the spot where a players name would be engraved on the bat today. I still have one of my bats from those days. Nav systemIt's true. My grandpa was a milkman in Connecticut during the 20s and 30s -- and used a horse to pull the wagon. At each house he'd take the products off the wagon and deliver to the porch. By that time the horse had already walked up to the next customer's house and they'd repeat. He really missed that part of the system when he bought a truck. Gone?If you had asked me, I would have sworn we were still buying Thompson's milk at the store today! City Park DairyIn the 1940s, the City Park Dairy in Denver CO delivered milk by horse drawn wagon. I can remember looking out the window of my bedroom and seeing the milkman coming in the back yard from the alley. Horses - semi-autonomus vehicles of the dayYes - horses do lean the route, and a good one could be trusted to walk and wait as appropriate while the milkman zipped up to the address. They were also quieter during pre-dawn rounds compared to the no muffler trucks of the time. The narrow wagons also were better for use in tight mews-style alleyways, and over the unpaved rights of way behind row houses. Horse Trumps Horsepower From "City Milk Supply" 1917; Use of Motor Vehicles in Collecting and Delivering Milk "They (motor vehicles) have been tried for regular house-to-house retail delivery but have usually failed in this field because of the continual starting and stopping, because two men are required for reasonable speedy delivery, and because they cannot move unattended from door to door as the ordinary intelligent horse does, while the driver is delivering bottles." Milk HorseSaskatoon is considerably smaller than Washington but the largest dairy here was using horses on some routes as late as 1962 or 1963. Their old horse barns were still standing into the early 1970s. The horses knew their accustomed routes and they worked them on a daily basis. We didn't take milk from that particular company but as a young child I would see a milk horse in the neighborhood on a daily basis. Thompson Dairy is deliciousThe wall is at the base of Cardozo High School. Thompson's was on route to the pool for us, If a milk man was outside we would beg for milk, sometimes it worked, most of the time not. This was so long ago I hope im remembering right. After all we begged everybody, watermelon man, fruit man, milk man etc. You can no longer put milk in a box outside and expect it to be there when you get back. High Dairy stores also delivered quits a blow to the home milk industry. (The Gallery, D.C., Horses, Natl Photo)
Weller's Pharmacy: 1915
... was sweet revenge for me, those Braves having beaten my Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League pennant in a tight race back in 1948. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:13pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Weller's drug store, Eighth & I streets S.E." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Hmmmm chocolate!I love the Lowney's chocolate display advert in the back. It reminds me about 30 years ago of the Lowneys factory that was about half a mile from my house. They made the "Oh Henry" candybar and when the wind blew just right the air smelled of peanuts. Are those postcards to the right of the Lowney's display? It's a Wonderful StoreThe only things missing are a distracted Mr. Gower (behind the counter), Violet Bick (at the candy counter), young George Bailey helping out, and the future Mrs. Bailey ordering a chocolate sundae with no coconut. Label LustThe drugstore photos are among my favorites. They show what everyday life was like through the products people were using. That makes this photo one of the best and one of the most frustrating. There is so much just out of sight. I could spend a day in this store just reading labels. And thanks, Dave, for the sponge closeup. My point exactly. Two convenient locationsEventually Frank Weller had two pharmacies, at 755 Eighth Street SE and 3534 M Street NW. Click to embiggen. The folding seatsI would offer a suggestion that these unique seats, considering their height and location, may have been part of an actual fountain alluded to below in the comments, especially if one imagines that when the seats were originally installed there was no glass cabinetry on the underlying countertops. Rather, this may have been a true counter for enjoying the assorted delights one would find in a drugstore of the time. Without the glass display cases and the built up corner edging, these seats would have been at a more convenient height for patrons indulging in chocolate sundaes, egg creams and banana splits. This is one of those Shorpy photos when one wishes for turbo zoom feature on one's mouse. So much detail just beyond visual reach. Mystery MerchandiseCan anyone identify the things for sale in the curved glass case above the spittoon? The carved display cases are a thing of beauty. [Sponges. "Best bath, sponge bath." - Dave] 4:05 PM, I need a Carbello.I think if one was to ask me to describe what a classic drug store looked like, I wouldn't imagine being far off from this image. The tin ceilings, elaborate casework, patterned tile floor, paper-wrapped goods behind glass cases, it's all here. Of course, I probably wouldn't have imagined an ornate spittoon. [That's an apothecary jar. The spittoon is on the floor in the corner. And it's 12:54. - Dave] 12:54? Am I not clearly seeing minute hand on the 5, hour hand on the 4? [You are not. - Dave] FlooredAll quite beautiful, except for the dizzying floor. Any product put in such display cases instantly looks better. Washington EliteSomething tells me this is where the rich and fabulous Washington Elite shopped for their sundries, notions, lotions and potions. It is kind of near K Street. OutstandingMagnificent casework and displays! I can't guess what they would cost to replace in today's market, but it would really be a pretty penny! I love the folding stools for clients along the left side. All the detailsLove the retractable stools on the left. Very clever! Your Parents' Drug StoreWhat a great contrast to drug stores of today. Sometimes its hard to tell if you're in a drug store or a convienience store. Seems our town has a Walgreen's or CVS on every major block, not to mention the pharmacies in Wal-Mart, K-Mart and all the grocery stores. Waterman PensAh yes, Waterman's Fountain Pens, the fountain pen of my youth! Once, in Delaware in 1951, mine managed to spit out a blob of Schaeffer's Skrip blue-black ink onto the sports jacket cuff of Boston Braves' Manager Billy Southworth while he was signing my autograph book. That was sweet revenge for me, those Braves having beaten my Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League pennant in a tight race back in 1948. What goes around, comes around. The dirty look Billy gave me was priceless. Frank P. WellerThe 1900 and 1910 census records show Frank P. Weller and family living above his store at 753 8th st S.E. In the 1920s Weller teamed with druggist Thomas A. Moskey and the business began to be advertised as "Weller & Moskey Pharmacy." F.P. Weller is buried several blocks east of his pharmacy at the Congressional Cemetery (link to PDF of Congressional Cemetery record). I don't know what kind of store $350 could have built in 1890. The Capitol Hill Restoration Society database of building permits lists an August 31, 1892 permit for a $16,000 brick dwelling at 753 8th st SE. Washington Post, Sep 3, 1890 Building Permits The following building permits were issued yesterday: F.P. Weller, one brick store, at No. 753 Eighth street southeast, to cost $350. Washington Post, Mar 28, 1933 Franklin P. Weller Services Are Today Retired Pharmacist, Native of Maryland, Was Once in U.S. Navy Funeral services for Franklin Pierce Weller, pioneer Washington druggist, who died Sunday night at the residence of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Hynson, 3435 Thirty-fourth place, will be held today at 2:30 p.m. at the Hynson home. Interment will be in the Congressional Cemetery. ... Mr. Weller, 78, was born in Thurmont, Frederick County, Md., December 21, 1854, of Revolutionary ancestry. He came to Washington 70 years ago. During the early eighties he served as a pharmacist in the United States Navy on board the U.S.S. Galena. Upon his retirement from the Navy he engaged in private practice and opened a drug store in Washington at Eighth and I streets southeast which has been a landmark for a generation. he retired from business last October. He served in the hospital corps of the District National Guard for 27 years. He was a member of the Metropolitan Presbyterian Church, of the De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, and St. John's Lodge, F.A.A.M. ... 755 Eighth Street SEIf this is the right corner, the building is still in fairly authentic condition: View Larger Map And if this is the same building, it is also where 200 WWI veterans stayed during the Bonus March in 1932. Gas lamps, no electricityEdison didn't get his hands in this store's cash till yet! Look at the details in the ceiling lamp in front. No electrical anything in this store. The Great Time DebateI have to say that it looks like 4:05 to me. With the inset small face showing seconds, the only hands on the main face should be the minute and hour, and the hand pointing at the digit one seems clearly longer than the one pointing at the four. [As we can see below, this is an approximately 60-second time exposure taken from 12:53 to 12:54. - Dave] Thanks Dave, I can see it in your detailed image, couldn't see it in my blowup from the on line image. Granddad's PharmacyWhere's the soda fountain? My granddad had a pharmacy like this from about 1914 to 1964. He worked there another 6 years or so after he sold it. It was located on the square of Piggott, Arkansas and it was the most popular place right after school let out each day. The soda fountain was the main draw for the kids. The display cabinets in this potograph look more ornate than the ones at my granddad's store. The clock does say 4:05 and those items in the curved case might be bath sponges of some kind. I also noticed a clock through the far left window of the pharmacy area. What happens at Weller's, stays at Weller'sAn amazing place. I'm sure I see the words "Sub Rosa" on a box in the central case, behind the jar that looks like a giant Faberge egg, indicating secrecy to "all ye who look in here"? Folding stools on the display case/counter at the left. Did ladies get cosmetic makeovers there? Did people wait for their prescriptions on a fold-out stool? And is that a rotary greeting card holder in the center right rear? Precursor of Hallmark? Postcards to the right? Those cases are more ornate than any drugstore I've ever even seen photos of. A place where money is no object, and the things in the center case are secret!? And I'll bet someone MIGHT have spit secretly in that Faberge egg jar. Apothecary globesSome examples from the Drugstore Museum and the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. CountersThe "carved" sections look more like painted cast iron or plaster, not wood. Woodcarvings and moreThe woodcarvings are a delight, I wouldn't have imagined such beauty into a store. Those days the things were thought to last and therefore they wanted good stuff I guess. Make such a thing today would require a little fortune. And I'm not sure if you can easily find the skilled woodcarvers to do it properly. Amd the stained glass on the door! I may have four of those stoolsThis is exciting! I have four similarly spring-loaded stools, which were described to me as being trolley seats at the time I purchased them. The era of the casting looks about right. (The wooden seats on mine appear to have been replaced.) Anyone got a guess, or (gasp) knowledge? Are these something like jump seats for a trolley, or more likely to be for sitting at the counter having a soda? Even if I learn nothing else, I've now got an image that confirms how/where to install these things! re: I may have four of those stoolsHere are the patents for Linda's folding stools. They are a little different than the ones in the photo, which have a single, s-curved support pedestal and what looks like a different spring-loaded locking mechanism. Yours are described in the patent specifications as being "particularly designed for use in connection with store counters", not trolley cars. http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=_uE_AAAAEBAJ&dq=644,789 http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=gZpFAAAAEBAJ&dq=596,931 (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)
Third Avenue El: 1910
... correctional facility and Police Plaza. Also ramps off the Brooklyn bridge. While it doesn't show the Cowperthwaite building exactly, ... about Cowperthwaite and the elevated line to the Brooklyn Bridge, it's much appreciated. Living in New York, I often wish I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 6:16pm -

New York circa 1910. "Looking toward City Hall. Third Avenue 'L.' " 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. OtherworldlyThe large view is quite rewarding. Quite otherworldly. Interesting sign claims a business is in its 106th year at same location. LongevityCowperthwait & Sons in business since 1804. Wow. Third AvenueI used to work near here. The municipal building visible in the upper right still exists. I have been inside only once, when my wife and I were getting our marriage license. The domed building to the left, also extant, sits behind City Hall. I am pretty sure that the eastern wing of City Hall is the rectangular building visible between the cigar company and Cowperthwaite, to the left. The tallest building in haze in the back is, of course, the Singer Building. That's one of the most famous architectural silhouettes of all time, even though the building was torn down in the 1960s. Easy PaymentsCowperthwait & Sons pioneered installment credit at their Third Avenue store at about the time this picture was taken. They sold Singer sewing machines to their most reliable customers for scheduled payments. This was the forerunner of credit cards. Previously if a store allowed charge accounts, the entire balance had to be paid in 30 days. Chatham SquareThis was the Chatham Square stop. In 1910 that was quite a seedy part of Manhattan. Third Avenue ElIf you're interested in the Third Avenue El, check out this vid: Third Avenue El VideoThis was very well done. Occasionally I would take the Third Avenue El from the 169th Street Station, in the Bronx, to City College on 23rd Street. I remember the RR tracks overhanging the sidewalk in some places only 2 or 3 feet from the buildings on Third avenue. You could get a glimpse of the old tenements that housed working families, and the noise from the trains was deafening. The El in Manhattan came down in the early 1950s and Third Avenue became a business center with highrise office and residential buildings. Many of the original tenement structures, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, still survive, and the apartments that are no longer rent-controlled command outrageous prices but have no problem attracting tenants. Chatham Square, 3rd Avenue El1950s views from the El at Chatham Square. In 1878, a ride on the El. Cowperthwait & Sons, since 1807Cowperthwait & Sons was founded in 1807 and grew along with New York City "to supply household requisites to all classes of homes as they multiplied over and over." It was one of the earliest stores to actively cater to and serve the black population in NY from its Harlem store on 125th St. In 1907 they published the Cowperthwait Centennial March, with words and music by Abe Holzmann for their 100th anniversary 1807 to 1907. So this might be in 1913. Cowperthwait TodayThe row of buildings including Cowperthwait and the cigar company may be on Park Row. In which case, I would guess about half of them still remain, mostly housing various branches of the J&R electronics empire (JandR.com). The Cowperthwait building in Harlem has been demolished and is currently an empty lot awaiting the official rezoning of 125th street before it can be developed. The planned building would be 630,000 square feet, and Major League Baseball would be the anchor tenant. Domed buildingThe dome with the flag was the New York World Building, yet another one of those structures that were once the tallest in the world. It was torn down in the mid-1950s and Pace University now occupies part of the site. I will have to walk through the area - now largely occupied by government buildings - to see whether any of the foreground buildings remain standing. "L" trainthis has got to be one of my all-time favorite photos. So beautiful! The damage to the negative actually adds to its impressionistic quality. Cowperthwait & Sons I just found a six inch ruler that was used by Cowperthwait & Sons as a means of advertisement. It lists the addresses of all three stores on front and lists what they sell on the back with a line about installment payments. I am interested to learn more about this store and when they ceased operating. Cowperthwaite UpdateI know this is really late to the game, but if you look at this map, and zoom into the top right end of Park Row, you'll see Cowperthwaite and Sons owned a few buildings. All of these building on both sides have been demolished, to make room for Federal court, Manhattan correctional facility and Police Plaza. Also ramps off the Brooklyn bridge. While it doesn't show the Cowperthwaite building exactly, my grandfather took a pretty nice picture of Park Row on a location that would have been just about in front of the store, give or take a block or two. Tarrying in Mulberry Shade... beneath the disused City Hall spur shared by the 2nd and 3rd Avenue elevated lines. By the time of Frank Larson's shot, the branch was out of commission and being dismantled. He took this shot directly in front of what had been Cowperthwait's, where Mulberry joined Park Row. In the window of the first building, the fractured reflection of Cass Gilbert's 40 Centre Street is cleverly captured. The four-story second building was also part of the store, sitting at the widely advertised 193-205 Park Row location. The fire escape hangs upon a taller third building, 191 Park Row. Although it sported the big sign, it was not part of the store. What follows is slanted to rail heads, but helps to confirm Larson's position. The Bain shot shows a section of Chatham Square station serving exclusively the City Hall spur. The four-track, two-platform section was part of an extensive set of elevated-line service improvements that went into effect in early 1916. Untangling an awkward junction, enabling 2nd Avenue el trains for the first time to serve City Hall station, and eliminating the infamous bridge that had been used by transferring passengers -- the Chatham Square work was a major reconfiguration. On the left platform in the photo were the 2nd Avenue trains - uptown on the outside, downtown on the inside - serving the remodeled City Hall station on its upper level. Third avenue trains ran on the lower level using the platform on the right; uptown on the inside, downtown on the outside. Bain's photo captured but a portion of the station, and although it may look like it dates from the Pierce administration, showed things as they would not have looked before late 1915. Note track workers on the outside 2nd Avenue tracks, occupied near a signal. The signal is the precursor of a more elaborate one whose platform's skeletal remains protrude from the partially dismantled el in Larson's shot. Back TrackThanks to TJ Connick for all that information about Cowperthwaite and the elevated line to the Brooklyn Bridge, it's much appreciated. Living in New York, I often wish I could jump back in time, where one of the things I would surely want to do is ride some of the Manhattan elevated lines. As you know I'm sure, we still have them in Queens and Brooklyn, a few, but as far as I know, none in Manhattan (perhaps way uptown, I'm not sure about that). 3rd Ave. El Chatham Sq StationMy father worked as a station agent and station master at this Chatham Square station, among many others on the four Manhattan El Lines. The fare control area at that station was in a large mezzanine under the platforms and tracks. There were two Chatham Square stations. I rode 3rd Ave El trains to and thru both of them many times in the 1950s. The photo shows the 4 track, 2 island platform City Hall branch line Chatham Square station. The left (south) portion 2 tracks and one platform were for 2nd Ave El trains, that El which closed and trains stopped running in June 1942, and that side remained abandoned but still intact thru late 1953 as it was structurally attached to the 3rd Ave. operated side. The right (north) portion 2 tracks and one platform were used by 3rd Ave El Trains up until the City Hall branch was closed in late 1953. The entire huge station complex was torn down thru to the City Hall Terminal station a few blocks S.W. along Park Row. The other adjacent Chatham Square station was a double-decked structure over St. James St. The lower level was for 2nd Ave El trains to South Ferry and the lower level station and track ways were abandoned in mid-June 1942 with the closing of the 2nd Ave El. The upper level was for 3rd Ave El trains to South Ferry and was used as a thru station until the South Ferry branch line closed in November 1950, and structure removed in 1951 just below that double-decked Chatham Square Station. The upper level 2 tracks and single island platform became a secondary, and a terminal, station at Chatham Square in addition to the adjacent Chatham Square station for the City Hall branch. After the City Hall branch closed in late 1953, the former South Ferry line Chatham Square upper level station, 4 stories above the street, became the new and only remaining southern terminal for all 3rd Avenue El trains, until that El closed for good after 7PM, Thursday, May 12, 1955. All 3rd Ave El structures in Manhattan were removed by February 1956. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Railroads)
Armada Americana: 1898
Circa 1898. "Armored cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn , stern view." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic ... View full size. What port is that? Very busy. The Brooklyn was built at the Cramp yards in Philadelphia, but this looks to me ... it looks like BB1 USS Indiana is forward of Brooklyn on the far right and BB3 USS Oregon forward of Indiana. Tumblehome ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/16/2018 - 8:03pm -

Circa 1898. "Armored cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn, stern view." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. What port is that?Very busy. The Brooklyn was built at the Cramp yards in Philadelphia, but this looks to me like maybe Havana or San Juan. Big Fleet - No SneakAll that smoke eliminates the chance of sneaking up on the enemy. Looks like two BBsFrom the turret configurations, it looks like BB1 USS Indiana is forward of Brooklyn on the far right and BB3 USS Oregon forward of Indiana. TumblehomeThe exaggerated bulge at the waterline of the Brooklyn is referred to in nautical terms as "tumblehome", and was popular for a while in the 1880's and 90's, particularly in the French and Russian navies. The idea was that a pronounced tumblehome gave the sponson-mounted guns on the sides a better arc of fire, particularly to the front and rear. It also tended to make the ship unstable in heavy seas. The whole idea was rendered obsolete in the early 1900's with the development of deck-mounted rotating turrets, which could fire to both sides and to the front or rear without the need for an inherently unstable hull. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Magic Kingdom: 1931
... tower on the far left is at Remsen and Court streets in Brooklyn (I think). The other three spires in the center are (l to r) the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 6:34pm -

December 15, 1931. New York. "River House, 52nd Street and East River. View of power house." 5x7 safety negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. What do we see here?OK, perusing this vista I spy the Williamsburg Bridge, through the mist at the left, and further down the Manhattan Bridge. The tower on the far left is at Remsen and Court streets in Brooklyn (I think). The other three spires in the center are (l to r) the American International Building (a gorgeous Art Deco giant), then what's now called 40 Wall St, originally the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building, and then the magnificent Woolworth Building. Don't know what the square topped one is, but the one that seems little by comparison, just to the left of the Woolworth, is the Singer Building. I believe that the Singer was (before the destruction of the World Trade Center) the tallest building ever demolished. The big plant in the foreground is Big Alice, the Con Ed power plant, isn't it? Can't see a single living thing, not a human or a seagull, but the barges by the water with railroad cars are interesting. Once more on Beekman Place.Here we are again, the buildings in the foreground are 1 Beekman Place on the left and 2 Beekman Place on the right. The smokestacks are at the Consolidated Edison site that ran from 35th to 41st Street between First Avenue and the East River. The structures as well as the smokestacks were leveled a few years ago. The area was supposed to be turned into luxury condos and office towers but the project faced delays from neighborhood opposition and the downturn in the economy. Beekman PlaceAll I can think of is "Auntie Mame"! She lived at this trendy address. Auntie Mame was a lucky lady! SmogI wonder how much worse or better is the smog today in this area? [The air back then was full of coal soot. New York today, like most big cities, is a much less smoky place than it was 80 years ago. - Dave] Bank of New YorkThe flat-topped building is the 50-story Bank of New York, built by the Irving Trust Co. in 1929-31. Its address, 1 Wall Street at Broadway, was reputed to be the most expensive real estate in the city. StacksThe power plant is Con Ed Waterside; the smokier stack beyond is a New York Steam plant. Big Allis is/was on the east side of the river, in Queens. The pic only spans 32 degrees edge to edge, so if this is full frame he used a 12-inch lens. He used a more normal lens for the other pic from River House. (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)
Rear Windows: 1940
... become the entrance/exit to the Battery Park Tunnel to Brooklyn (and a parking garage). An exceptional resource for exploring NYC ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/27/2022 - 2:13pm -

March 22, 1940. New York. "Rear of #68 and #70 Greenwich Street showing dormers and stable ell back of #73 Washington Street at left. Houses built circa 1825." 5x7 inch acetate negative by Stanley P. Mixon for the Historic American Buildings Survey. View full size. ProblematicBurglar bars and a fire escape. What could possibly go wrong? Rear Window.Hitchcock, of course, made a classic flick of that scene in "Rear Window". Probably one of the greatest films ever made. And Grace Kelly -- sigh. Some fingers holding a scaleThis person -- presumably a surveyor for HABS -- is much braver than I would have been in standing next to these buildings. They're in pretty bad shape. Greenwich Street, of course, would face another falling wall hazard many years later. Fictive and real, far and nearThe courtyard in Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' was entirely a Hollywood set. (They had to dig out the studio floor, so most of it was below ground level.) However, Hitchcock's designers used an actual location as a reference, the back of 125 Christopher Street. (To complicate matters, the film gives a fictitious address, 125 West Ninth Street, which is not completely fictitious because Christopher Street is what Ninth Street is called west of Sixth Avenue.) That is two miles from Moxon's location; both are 1300 miles from the old Paramount lot. Put the photos below into black and white, and though more upscale they don't look that different from Moxon's. The Christopher Street courtyard is still intact. The house across the street survived67 Greenwich Street, across the street from 68 and 70, is still there. I had to get close; if you back up to get a better view, the address disappears. Not a lot of pulleysThose laundry lines must have required a lot of effort just to get them to move. Several of them don't seem to be running on pulleys, like the one across the middle of the fram, attaching as a loop in a rope around the top of the chimney. Another, going up to that top window, seems to loop on a hook. I know that this is a "slum" scene, but even for the middle-class, so much work went into something we pretty much take for granted now: laundering clothes. It's why nearly every person in nearly every old Shorpy photo are wearing soiled, tired, rumpled clothing -- even people of moderate wealth. People looked so different back then, and not just that they were skinny. Their clothes and shoes were not shiny-clean, or fresh and new; their socks were drooping. This, despite the fact that people of the early 20th century generally "dressed-up" in ways that we find astonishing. So when I see crisp costumes in period-piece movies and television, Shorpy has ruined it for me! I can't make the imaginative leap, because I know that people practically lived in their clothes back then. Looks like fire trap rowNineteenth-century buildings such as these often shared a common wall between them. The main downtown business street in my community was lined with buildings similar to these, although not so deteriorated back then. Some were wood-frame, others brick. Typically, the buildings had businesses on the first and sometimes second floor, apartments on floors above. In August, 1899, a fire started in one of the downtown buildings. Within hours, the entire core business area was reduced to smoldering ruins. Common-wall construction facilitated the totality of destruction. Tremendous heat in one building, often on the top or an upper floor, would cause bricks in the common wall to explode, opening the way for fire and smoke to spread into the next building. The brave but overwhelmed firefighters of the time couldn't begin to stop the spread. In the aftermath, the common-wall vulnerability became apparent. City fathers soon passed an ordinance prohibiting that kind of construction, along with other safety requirements. I'm sure New York City officials knew of the common-wall danger long before 1940. I wonder if these ancient buildings and so many like them were grandfathered in as they were or required to install some sort of add-in firewall. Not for longActually kinda startling to believe that such tenements still existed in that part of town as late as 1940. But, only 10 years later this entire 2-block stretch would become the entrance/exit to the Battery Park Tunnel to Brooklyn (and a parking garage). An exceptional resource for exploring NYC during this era: https://1940s.nyc/ In this view of the map the backyards of the two buildings, and the back structure that our man is surveying, can be clearly seen. This photo would have been shot from the back window of 71 Washington St. Visible at top center is the Adams Express Building (1914), and to the right of that, the Continental Bank Building (1932). NY Times on 67 GreenwichLengthy and researched NY Times article on 67 Greenwich, a survivor from 1810. Interior completely redone, four floors now three floors, but it is finding new uses today: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/realestate/streetscapes-dickey-house-... PerspectiveThese buildings as shown are old and dilapidated to the point of scary moviedom. While never to be confused with The Ritz, these were built to solve a housing problem and offered a tremendous step upward for the original residents. That changes over time, of course. (The Gallery, HABS, NYC)
Turnaround Time: 1906
Brooklyn, New York, circa 1906. "Williamsburg Bridge Plaza." The second half of ... timer's memories. The overhead wires are for the Brooklyn trolley system, which ran four or five routes over the bridge to an ... dad talked about taking the Madison Avenue streetcar from Brooklyn over the bridge eventually to Grand Central Station. Some ride for a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 2:37pm -

Brooklyn, New York, circa 1906. "Williamsburg Bridge Plaza." The second half of this view. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. PanoramaA quickie photomerge of the two shots. Not perfect, but gives a good sense of the Plaza's scale. [Excellent job! Interesting to note the difference in shadows. - Dave] Yeah, the extreme angles of the two shots make for some bad perspective, particularly in the foreground where it totally breaks down. So the shadows appear to be going everywhere. :) -Steve [I'd guess it's mostly because the sun moved between shots. - Dave] I TrustThe Williamsburg Trust Main Building, a veritable temple to financial security, is still there. Nice subtle sign. Its or It'sI believe the Williamsburgh Trust Company should erect "its" Main Building, etc. Maybe a spot on the picture? [Even back in 1906, the wily apostrophe was making trouble! - Dave] In God They TrustThe Williamsburgh Trust Co. Main Building is indeed still standing at 185 S. Fifth Street, but it is now the home of the Holy Trinity Church of the Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in Exile. Yes, a veritable templeIt's now a church. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/WBG/wbg022.htm A playgroundand a lot of highway. Many buildings still there. Lionel-likeAt first glance the perfectly-spaced tracks, light poles, and recurring pattern of plates between the rails almost make you think you're looking at a giant Lionel train layout. The simple building at lower right (was it a ticket office?) only adds to the illusion of a toy train. Makes me want to drag out the old electric train set this Christmas and try to duplicate the scene. Hats and coatsVisit the scene today, and you'll still find men in hats and long black coats. SwitchesThose don't look (to my untrained eye) like the switches on regular train tracks. How did the motorman turn onto a different set of tracks? Just a little old shanty nowhere near ShantytownThe small building was an office for the crews to get schedule changes, working supplies and most importantly for 'ahem' personal relief. Fares were paid after boarding the car. Incredible ViewThose apartments on the right side of the photo had a front row seat on (I bet at times) a very busy part of the city. An old timer's memories.The overhead wires are for the Brooklyn trolley system, which ran four or five routes over the bridge to an underground terminal at Delancey Street. The terminal is still in place, unused. The conduit tracks were used by the Green Line cars of Manhattan lines that had some service over the bridge also. My dad talked about taking the Madison Avenue streetcar from Brooklyn over the bridge eventually to Grand Central Station. Some ride for a nickel. He also made a few cents each day after school by helping to lead horse wagons over the bridge if the horses were nervous about the tight roadway and the noisy river traffic. Sometimes he would get treated to a free lunch at a saloon while the horses got watered and the owners got loaded up on beer for the return trip! Those wuz the daze. You can also recognize the unfinished elevated train structure being built on the Bridge - still very active with two lines "J" and "Z". I don't think there is any more shuttle bus service over either the Williamsburg or Manhattan bridges. Also no transit over the Brooklyn Bridge, which now is used only for automobile and foot traffic. A Man's Home Is His CastleI'm intrigued by the building on the right with the large columns. It seems so out of place among the apartments, like it could be a bank or some such business, but there is no signage that I can see. Is it someone's home? [The House of God, judging by that cross on the roof. - Dave] Track switchesStreet car track switches could be changed by the motorman by using a long pole that he carried in the car. That way he did not have to dismount or get out into the rain. Track Switches and HatchesSwitches would also be thrown by an employee on the ground; the fellow sitting under the umbrella looks to be controlling two switches with the levers before him. These were probably the switches to the inner loop and the second loop. The third switch was probably always set for the loop as the outer track looks too clean to see regular service. The trailing point switches on the way back to the bridge were likely spring switches that would be thrown by the cars' wheels passing through them and then spring back to the default position. The nice neat hatches were necessary for access to the conduit vault which would fill up with snow, ice, and debris such as tire chains. Conduit systems were expensive to build and a real pain to maintain. ColumnsThe building on the right is the former First Presbyterian Church, now the home of the community organization El Puente. I took a closer-up photo up it, complete with a circa 1910 view, on my blog. Another image stitchingThis is an easy one - the photographer was careful to avoid introducing parallax error between the images. In the overlapping areas, note the relationship of nearer objects to ones behind - they are the same in both images. This makes it easier for the stitching application (PTGui 9.1.2) to apply the transformations. The perspective breakdown in the foreground may be an issue of of choosing a cylindrical projection instead of rectilinear. The 'bananarama' effect isn't terribly disturbing IMHO. I left this one uncropped so you can see the degree of warping necessary to get the foreground elements to align. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads, Streetcars)
Seeing New York: 1904
... types.” The Vehicle Equipment Company was started in Brooklyn in 1901 by Robert Lloyd and Lucius T. Gibbs. By 1903 they had ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 9:51pm -

Circa 1904. "Seeing New York." Electric omnibuses at the Flatiron Building. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. In living colorColorized version of a very overloaded one used by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company: PricelessThis is one of my favorite Shorpy pics ever. The expressions on all the faces speak volumes. Great. I believe it's called a charabancThere's a picture of another electric charabanc at https://www.shorpy.com/node/7251 . The name is a good description: charabanc = char-à-banc = bench carriage. According to Wikipedia, mostly used for sightseeing and daytrips, safety record not great. How very usefulA Telephone Connection is mentioned on the omnibuses - but not the number. OMGWhat about the ghost lady in the back? The choice of the futureIt was a time when there was not yet a clear choice on which energy would propel the cars and trucks. You had electric engines, gasoline engines and even steam engines in almost equal numbers on the streets. Hard work.It must have been a real handful to navigate that beast through the streets of Manhattan. TouristsI can't get over how well dressed this visiting group is. If you wander over to Times Square, or even the Flatiron these days you see a lot of people in shorts and T-shirts, many overweight and continuously munching. The more formally dressed 1904 crowd may have been a bit much, but somewhere in between there is an answer. The Case of the Toppled TouristsWow, no sidewalls, safety belts or anything. I don't imagine those bus boats were in service for very long. Electric?From what's visible of the undercarriage, it looks like these are driven by electric motors. [Hmmm. Maybe that's why they are described in the caption as "electric omnibuses"! - Dave] Guess I really ought ro read 'em once in a while, eh? A warning for the ladiesDon't visit the Heel Building! QuackThese sightseeing contraptions are as ugly and ungainly as the "duck" amphibious sightseeing vehicles which are seen in many cities, these days. Ottawa has a number of these monstrosities blocking traffic during tourist season. Nothing beats making tourists stick out like sore thumbs. Fred MacMurray You can't hide behind that mustache. Smart to have your hat attached by that wind trolley too. People were just so civilized back then. Being clean and proper was the order of the day. Lady in Row 5 seems to be making sure her companion is up to snuff. OK, so I want to know:Who killed the electric omnibus? Tourist DestinationAt what point did NYC become a tourist destination, where people come just to see the city itself, as these people are doing? I guess that sort of thing doesn't just happen at a "point in time," but gradually. Timely questionsI surmise that the doors on the sides of the cars open up to allow for artfully placed hidden steps for boarding? How else would a lady's delicate and well turned heel ascend and descend the bus? How far could an electric omnibus go before needing a recharge? Duck ToursThese remind me of the Duck Tour vehicles in Boston and other cities. Refurbished WWII amphibious vehicles. It's also neat to see the guy in the last row with his hat clip attached so he won't lose it in the wind. Vehicle Equipment CompanyThese “Automobile buses” were made by the Vehicle Equipment Company of Long Island City, New York. Their literature called them “A combination of the commercial and pleasure types.” The Vehicle Equipment Company was started in Brooklyn in 1901 by Robert Lloyd and Lucius T. Gibbs. By 1903 they had relocated to Long Island City. Up until mid-1906 they built a large number of commercial electric vehicles. From 1903 to 1905 they also built a 3-seat electric car called the VE Electric. Almost all of their vehicles were single motor shaft-drive. The company went into receivership in 1906, and the General Vehicle Company (owned by the General Electric Company) purchased the factory and reorganized to build both gasoline and electric vehicles, as well as replacement parts. Vehicles built from mid-1906 on were known as GV Electrics. By 1915 there were some 2,000 GV Electrics in New York City alone, representing more than 25% of all trucks of all types working daily in the city. The style of “Automobile bus” seen above was also very popular in Washington D.C. and other cities as well. General Vehicle Company ceased production around 1917. AdvertisementFrom the Daily News Tribune of June 26, 1904. This ad occurs only in June and July issues. Most likely, they did't work so long. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Flatiron Building, NYC)
101 Broadway Pharmacy: 1957
... Headquarters. Having grown up next to the factory in Brooklyn, I recognize the 3 column logo. My color version I've been ... 
 
Posted by Cazzorla - 06/29/2014 - 5:37pm -

I purchased this 8 x 10 print at the swap meet. On the back is printed: Mr. and Mrs. Cliff McCorkle, proprietors of the 101 Broadway Pharmacy, Richmond, Calif., getting an order ready for delivery. 5 November 1957. Photographer: Pfc. Barbara A. Warner, Sixth US Army Photo Lab, Presidio of San Francisco, Calif. Official US Army photograph. View full size. "Fling"?Somebody is going to have to convince me that it's really for feet. SquibbThey were an official ER Squibb Vitamin Headquarters. Having grown up next to the factory in Brooklyn, I recognize the 3 column logo. My color versionI've been getting into colorizing photos. If a product name was legible, I looked up references of old packaging on google to try to get the colors as accurate as possible. Some of the hair care products and lotions I had to fudge on it because I couldn't find them, but most of the other stuff is accurate. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think the color really adds to the photo. It was my intention to get it as accurate as possible. Check it out: https://www.shorpy.com/node/18065 ImpressedI am happy that this photo has been well received. I never thought that I'd get to see a color version, or a photo of the photographer! I have a few more pictures from this collection that I will share sometime. Divinity memoriesAs a kid growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s, divinity was home made candy. Sugar, eggs whites, corn syrup, vanilla, sugar and pecans combined to make a divine candy. I haven't visited Mississippi in 25 years, but today there is always the hope someone will bring divinity to a church supper. Maybe I should just make some tonight. Top GunkI can't see any in the photo, but I bet they carry Dapper Dan pomade. S&HAnd they give out Green Stamps. Sales no longer allowedNearly 50 years from the date on this picture, Richmond enacted an ordinance that prohibits the sale of tobacco products in establishments with pharmacies. You have to go to El Cerrito or Albany now for your nicotine fix. Why?A very odd subject for an official Army photograph. Since Letterman Army Hospital had a complete pharmacy and all military personnel stationed at the Presidio would have had access thereto, I'm left to wonder why this shot was taken. For Your HealthGet your Myadec vitamins here! Only $85.50 for the economy size! That amount equates to $723.86 in today's dollars! Gone but not forgotten, until now.Clove Life Savers I guess that flavor is not popular any longer, but I do remember purchasing them in the past but not really sure why? Coffee Time!Am I the last living human who remembers the taste of coffee-flavored candy? It was pretty good, actually. ...and is there ANYBODY who ever ate Clove Life-Savers? They musta sold okay, but yikes! Can't rememberthe last time I saw a package of"Clorets"! "Brusha, Brusha, BrushaWith the new Ipana." CloveI remember clove gum, but not the Life Savers. The thing that strikes me is the great variety of 1950s cigarettes in the back--Camels, Kents, Cavaliers, Pall Malls, Marlboros, L&Ms, and Herbert Tareytons. RepurposedAppears the address still exists, but the building is now a Planned Parenthood office. Divinity candyWhat was that? I don't remember them. If you eat it were you guaranteed to go to heaven or were they just sold to Priests? [Divinity. -tterrace] Clove Lifesavers and other flavorsI remember very well getting the Lifesavers Sweet Story Book every Christmas back in the 50s. It was a book-shaped box that opened and revealed 10 rolls of Lifesavers. They always included Clove, Wint-O-Green, Butter Rum and Butterscotch, 5-flavor, Orange, and others. Clove and Wint-O-Green were my favorites, and always saved until last. We were neighbors!I lived in Richmond in November 1957 (I was 4 at the time). I wonder if my folks ever shopped here? Shoot, maybe my mom was standing just off to the side when this picture was taken (she was always kinda shy). Tough TownAh, Richmond. I grew up just south of there, in Albany. Always a tough place: factories, warehouses, oil refinery. Best part of Richmond for me was that it was where we got on the Ferry to San Rafael on the way to Stinson Beach most Sundays. Looking for a certain productI was hoping to catch a glimpse of the cold and flu products near the vapor rubs, to find 4 way cold tablets. My mother swore by them for any signs of a cold coming on. Take the 4 way pill, get under a heavy blanket, and sweat the cold right out of you. And believe it not, they actually worked! Does anyone else remember them? Old Time products!Amazing how many of those items are still available and how many are gone. I was 11 years old when that picture was taken. If it didn't say where it was from it could have been from any Drugstore in America at that time. I know there was one across from the school I went to in Chicago at the time that had that same kind of goodie rack and one closer to my house same thing. Neighborhood pharmacy!I lived just a few blocks away from this pharmacy from birth to age 20! My folks undoubtedly knew the McCorkles! Very cool photo! Wint-O-Green memoriesAh! The counter candy stand of my youth. Separate comments here each touch on one part of the story, but marketing ad-speak nowadays has dropped the use of "breath-mints" as a catchall. Yes, all those packs of cigarettes often got sold with strong breath masking mints, candies and gum. Let me also make a nod toward the LifeSaver Sweet Story Book. At Christmas we each got one and could always identify it although wrapped. Opened last, its contents assisting in thoughtful appraisal of our acquired loot. We called Wint-O-Green "spark-in-the-dark." Chew some with your mouth open and lights out to understand why. Not in Kansas anymoreThe article below is from page 3 of the Sunday, December 30, 1956 issue of the The Salina Journal. By the time Barbara returned to Hays, Kansas in 1961 for her mother's funeral (her father had died in 1954), she was known as Mrs. Barbara Constantin of San Francisco. There was a particular smell and a particular coolnessthat hit you when you entered a drugstore of that era -- I can't describe it except that it was very clean smelling. Regardless of whether the store was a Rexall or a Walgreens or a local independent, the smell was the same -- very pleasant. I always associated it as a cross between the medicines that the druggists were compounding (always in white tunic like in the picture) and the soda fountain that was inevitably part of the store. There was also a coolness to drug stores when I was growing up (1950's). A lot of stores were still not air-conditioned at that time, especially if they were not a chain or franchise, but it seemed to me that drug stores always felt cool. When you sat at the fountain, the marble or the formica or tile of the counter was always cold to the touch. You go into a drugstore today and the smell and that coolness just isn't there. Have a cold?That Vicks Vapo Rub and Mentholatum were Moms favorites for a chest cold. First was the application to the chest just before going to bed so the vapors could work overnight. If that didn't work, the next step was to put a spoon or two of Vicks or Mentholatum in a large bowl, add hot water, and have me breath the vapors with a towel covering both my head and the bowl. It usually worked to clear out congestion. My High School Addiction --Wint-o-GreensAh LifeSavers. Through the early 60s. I went through roll after roll of that addictive goody. Cliff & Lola McCorkleOur pharmacist is Clifford W. McCorkle, born in Tygh Valley Precinct, Wasco County, Oregon on June 6, 1906 to farmer Rufus W. McCorkle and his wife Jessica L. McCorkle. He had two older brothers: Calvin, born in 1891, and Lester born in 1892. He was still living with his parents in 1920, but they are all shown as living in Wapinitia, Wasco County, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Pharmacy on June 3, 1929. The photo below is from his senior yearbook. The 1930 U.S. Census shows him living in Hillsboro City, Washington County, Oregon. He married at the age of 21, it shows him as a lodger in the home of John Kelley, but his wife is not listed with him. He is already working as a pharmacist in a drug store. In 1931 he is shown with his wife Lillian living at 297 E. 39th Street in Portland, Oregon. The 1940 U.S. Census shows that he was residing in San Francisco by 1935. In 1937 he was working at Birnbaum & Son Drugs at 757 Market Street, San Francisco, CA. He was living with his wife Lillian at 511 Leavenworth in San Francisco. In 1940 he was working as a pharmacist in a drug store in San Francisco, California, he was making $2,185 a year, and he was now divorced. His residence is at the Lyric Hotel. In 1955 he worked at Bellini's Bayside Pharmacy and his wife Lola is a clerk in the store. They resided in Oakland, California at the time. He died on January 10, 1972 still in Richmond, Contra Costa County, California. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
End of the Road: 1966
... it in an accident somewhere between Plainfield NY and Brooklyn. I still miss that car. Rambler/Hudson connection In 1954, Nash ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 01/28/2012 - 5:12pm -

If you think this is just a photo of a well-worn old car, you're wrong. It's actually a significant moment in our family's history. June 27, 1966 was the last day for our 1956 Hudson Rambler. Previously, we saw it all shiny and sparkly, mere days after we got it. During the following ten years, it: took my sister to the church for her wedding; took us to graduations, my grade and high school and my brother's college; took us on our first visit to Yosemite, and later our very first camping trips (see our decals?); took my folks to visit their first grandchild; and perhaps most important of all, took me to my first visit to Disneyland. I decided to record the event in a series of Ektachrome slides. Here, my father is clearing out all our personal items prior to the trip to the dealer to pick up our new car - a 1966 Rambler Classic station wagon. Oh; our trade-in allowance for this one: $50. View full size. I love the colors on that car!Colors in the 1950s were wonderful, today everything is a shade of brown or gray. My childhood car was a white 1965 Plymouth Belvedere four door. Purchased new by my dad, it was the most stripped down model available, three on the tree, AM radio, vinyl seats, Canadian built 318, and no AC. UglyMan, that is one ugly car. Of course, I can't talk: in the 60's my folks didn't even have a car - and we lived in a way outer outer suburban area. So outer suburban that we didn't even have a made road, our street was a collection of potholes loosely joined together with gravel. Our family's first car was an Austin A50 "ute" (pickup) with wooden floorboards in the back. Romney connectionWell, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors, and George Romney (Mitt's dad) became president of AMC in 1954. Not a bad looking car, in my opinion. I'm sure a lot of happy memories were associated with it. Reminds me of the great "Wonder Years" episode where the Arnold family are prepping their memory-laden station wagon for sale. StrangeThat fellow doesn't look like Chevy Chase. They don't make 'em like this anymoreWas it like that episode of The Wonder Years? Be still my heartOooh. My Edsel and Studebaker would love to share their driveway with that car. You just don't see many of those today, even at car shows. Hope it had power steering and an automatic transmission. Too much to ask for it to have air conditioning too. I'm pretty sure it did not. Where is that time machine when you need it? It probably sold for less than one day's wages in today's money. [How IS that Edsel of yours. Pic? - Dave] Product LoyaltyYour dad was like I have been, loyal to the make of car I drive. Like your dad, I made my way from a Detroit built Hudson "Step-Down" and on to American Motors products built at the old Nash factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. All were well built cars and doggedly reliable. Thanks tterrace for another glimpse into your fine family's interesting history. My family car in June 1966 was ...This 1960 Edsel. My father bought it new for my mother to drive me in the kindergarten carpool. Thankfully my father never traded in any car we had, ever, so I still have it. This pseudo vintage photo of it was taken August 30 2011, at Center Studios in Los Angeles. It, and the other cars on the street, were working on a TV program set in 1966 that night. In answer to your question Dave, the car is in turn key condition. It has about 300,000 miles on it and is never trailered. Don't you agree that the green Hudson wagon, with its white roof, would look real good in the driveway next to it? [My first (and only) 1960 Edsel encounter was circa 1977 in Lake City, Florida. It was parked tail-out in an alleyway, and as it loomed into view I remember thinking "What the hell IS that?" I considered myself to be a car guy but had never seen anything like this -- it looked like the mutant offspring of a 1960 Ford and Little Orphan Annie. The rear end is, to put it mildly, unique. - Dave] The way cars were meant to be builtThe bodies for these cars were built in Milwaukeen at the old Seaman Body Division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corp., on North Richards Street. They were trailered south to Kenosha for drive assemblies, interiors, etc. My car-freak friends and I witnessed hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of car bodies heading down 27th Street (Highway 41) on their way to Kenosha. The 1956 Rambler was pretty much the design work of Edmund Anderson, the first design chief Nash ever had. By 1956 George Romney was in charge at AMC, and bet the whole farm, with mixed results, on the small car niche. I believe one of the engines offered in this car was a 262 cubic inch inline 6, with 7 (yes, seven!) main bearings. With proper maintenance one could be driving a 56 Rambler yet. Design stops at the rear wheelsEverything to the front of the rear axle is sculpted; everything to the rear is extruded. Miss the colorsI agree with Vintagetvs. I miss the shiny chrome, bright vivid colors and bold distinctive designs of the '50s. Today's cars may be full of hi-tech electronics but they are drab and monotonous on the outside. Oooh! That's a grand carAnd so was the '66 Rambler Classic! I grew up with the 66 four door at the turn of the 70's and even slept with the whole family with the front seats reclined to join with the back on a rainy camping trip. What American design genius! The white roofInteresting factoid about the white roof on our Rambler wagon: that's not the way it came from the factory. Originally the car was solid green; the dealership talked my father into having them paint the roof, pointing out it would keep the car cooler inside. I remember it chipping slightly around the edges, and I was never able to get a good shine on it like the factory paint. Later that day, our new Rambler (Larry Brink Motors, Mill Valley, Calif.), ready to drive home: Car trade insI vividly remember accompanying my late father when we took our '55 Chevy from Madison, Wisconsin to a nearby town to trade it in on a brand new '59 Chevy wagon. He said nothing at the time, but for years afterward complained that his impulse at the time was to take the wagon back for the '55. Too bad, because the wagon proved to be pretty awful, requiring numerous, expensive repairs. That damaged his brand loyalty for a long time, though he never joined the mass of his friends by purchasing a Japanese car. Pretty much a buy-American guy except for one area. When I returned from overseas service in the Army, there was a brand new Sony TV in the house, a quantum leap ahead of the dreadful American sets we had endured before. I'm utterly amazed that I don't recall any wagons like that Hudson. I remember the older slope backed ones, Studebakers, Kaisers and the rolling refrigerator-like Nash Metro though. 1960 EdselI too apparently have somehow escaped seeing a 60 Edsel before now, or at least I didn't notice, I had to Google it to see the back end. The front is really quite attractive and "normal," but the back got an extra helping of weird! Our 1959 Cross Country RamblerA photo of me and my younger brother in Mamaroneck, NY 1961. He always wanted to ride in the rear, facing backwards. When I was 21, it was a very good yearThis was my ride in 1958, a '54 Studebaker Starliner hardtop coupe, shown in the one photo with my friend Roger Baxter's chopped '48 Mercury. The Starliner (by Robert Bourke, a Raymond Loewy associate) has consistently been ranked as one of the best-designed cars of that era. Mechanically it was not a winner but oh those lines. I dropped a small block Chevy engine in it with a Chevy overdrive transmission, lowered it by torching the springs, and transformed a poorly-handling slow car into a seriously poorly-handling fast car. The color photo shows it after I dechromed it, painted it Chinese red, and slapped on a set of Moon aluminum wheel covers, just like they used then at Bonneville. (I was a dreamer.) My next car was a 1960 Austin Healey 3000. Photos taken on the Jaffa Mosque (!!!) lot, Altoona, Pa. I'm confusedWe had a 1953 Nash Rambler in our family in the 60s. When did the Nash/Hudson change take place? Was there a period when they were both using the Rambler marque? I'm pretty sure ours was pre-AMC. Maybe one of you Shorpycar experts can set me straight. It was a 4 door sedan and the front fenders looked the same as this one, although the grillwork was different. The taillights were exactly the same. It also had the very neat full reclining seats. Speaking of color, ours was a most hideous shade of green similar to an Army olive drab, only uglier! It was, however, as sturdy as anything the Army had on hand. It had a quite strong in-line 6 and 3-on-the-tree. ... Oops, sorry tterrace and Dave. Had I jumped to your other link I would have found my answer in the comments there. That'll teach me! Back o' the RamblerLike JD's little brother, I loved riding back there too, rattling around like a loose screwdriver in an empty toolbox, getting that vertigo-inducing backwards view through the roll-down window and getting slightly high on carbon monoxide. Great photo op angle, too. Check out my '57 Ford FairlaneThis was the first new car I ever owned, bought with a loan cosigned with my Dad. It cost us $2300 and was worth every penny of that. It came without a radio, so I bought one. Its cable was very short, so I had to install it upside down for the fit into the dash. That confused a lot of my friends. I drove that car for about 18 months, but then sold it to a coworker when I accepted a job in Manhattan and moved into the City. Within two months, he 'totalled' it in an accident somewhere between Plainfield NY and Brooklyn. I still miss that car. Rambler/Hudson connectionIn 1954, Nash bought Hudson to form American Motors. The head of AMC, George Mason, died shortly after the merger and his second in command, George Romney, took over. The warmed over "step down" Hudsons were deleted and their new small car, the Hudson Jet, didn't sell in big numbers and was a potential threat to the 100 inch wheel base Nash Ramblers. From 1955 to 1957, Hudsons were rebadged Nashes with some extra doodads and Hudson dashboards. The Rambler was essentially the same, as I have the pie pan hubcaps from my '58 with the "R" in the middle instead of the "H". Romney decided to concentrate on the Rambler line for '58 with no more Hudson or Nash nameplates, and it proved to be a wise decision as they made lots of profit and even beat Chrysler out in auto production in the early '60s, before Romney left to be governor of Michigan. For many years, the Rambler Station Wagon was about 40 percent of their production. The little slope in the back roofline was due to welding the extra length of metal to the sedan roof, as they didn't have large enough stamping machines for a one-piece wagon roof. The addition of the chrome luggage carriers made the roofline more straight. The engine for most Ramblers was the 195.6 straight six which evolved from the earlier Nash "Flying Scot" engines. Romney was asked if it bothered him that most Ramblers were in the slow lane when it came to roads. He responded that it didn't bother him as long as there were a lot of them. BTW, AMC was the only company to bring back a car from the dead. In 1958, they had the dies from the old 100-inch-wheelbase Ramblers, and slightly remade the car and put it out as the Rambler American to sell with the 108 inch "larger" Rambler. On the Other SideWell gee Dave, now everybody is going to be wondering "what did Dave see on the rear of that car?" So here is what Dave is talking about, the rear of a 1960 Edsel. TransposedWhen I was a kid my grandmother owned a Rambler. On the front grille the word "Rambler" was supposed to be displayed, but it was placed as R A M B E L R. True. Those were the daysI agree, they knew how to design cars in the '50s and '60s. That's why I bought a Chevy 210 in Lake Tahoe some years ago and shipped it to the Netherlands. Great pictures by the way (as always). Keep 'emI'm not too sure I could take my old car in for a trade. I still have my first new car, a 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser. Just before it was due to change over to 400,000 miles, the odometer broke (third engine). Ah, Ramblerstterrace, your parents' '66 Classic wagon pictured below sits in front of a car that looked just ours - a Frost White '66 American 4-door sedan. Ours was the high-line 440 model, with the all the brightwork that was missing on the cheaper 220. It had the 232 2-bbl Commando Six, a "Shift Command" (Borg-Warner) three-speed automatic, factory air conditioning, and pushbutton AM radio. Ours came from Marty R's Roundup Rambler, in the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas. I can remember going with my dad to pick up the car. We had no trade-in, since the Ultramatic transmission in our '52 Packard Mayfair had gone out the year before. For several months, travel meant borrowing cars or bumming rides, while my parents saved up for the down payment. Fifty BucksAs an avid S.F. Bay Area car-kid born in 1962 I remember seeing old used cars such as your dad's '56 Hudson-Rambler, in places like Berkeley and San Francisco, being used by college-aged kids as their daily transportation. These old cars lined the streets around campus, beaten by years of hard use and on their final decline before the scrap yard. Your dad's '56 wagon could have gone on to become a college kid's cheap wheels before succumbing to the pressure of 'planned obsolescence.' I seem to remember Hunter S. Thompson bought a new Rambler back in the late '50s or early '60s, he had nothing but trouble with it, and one of his books contains letters to the manufacturer over his car's ailments. Seeing your dad's ten-year old '56 makes me think of all the well-worn old cars around when I was a kid in the late 1960s. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Fountain of Youth: 1920
... and the paper tape. Egg Creams As a resident of Brooklyn and not of the Sixth Borough - South Florida, with all due respect to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 6:20pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "People's Drug Store, 14th & U Streets, interior." Is flyaway hair holding you back? Keeping you home those evenings your friends are out having a gay night on the town? Those loose strands may be a symptom of deeper ills -- malnutrition the consequence of egg-based-beverage deficiency, perhaps aggravated by tooth-brushing with an inferior dentifrice. Ladies, am I talking to you? Then come see this man. He is the gatekeeper to hair-nets, toothpaste, Egg Drinks -- and so much more. (Rubber gloves, for one thing, but that's another story.) The day you pick up a Glemby Hair Net -- or two, or hell, why not a dozen -- is the first day of the rest of your life! View full size. Hard Uncomfortable SeatsApparently counter space is at a premium and the stools here were installed to ensure a rapid turnover. Speaking of seats, if a physician ever approached me wearing one of those rubber gloves there would be a fight. Oh boy!I'll have a Cherry Smash! Molecular physicsI was a soda jerk one summer in the '50s. One day the boss handed me a large bag of sugar and pointed to a full bottle of water, and said "Mix it in." I complained that there wasn't enough room for all that sugar. He just smiled and said "Try it." A half-hour later the sugar was all gone, the water level hadn't risen perceptibly, and I had a jug of simple syrup. The drug store was Easterling's in Jacksonville, in case there are any other natives out there. Bob was confident, so very, very confident.Bob knew he looked darn swell, with that tire knotted just right by his mom, and the way his soda jerk jacket fit, and he was confident that, one day, when SHE came through the door, brunette tresses flying and probably a lavender silk scarf or it might be powder blue trailing behind, the scent of her alluring perfume trying to keep up, that she would see him there, and she would stop, suddenly. Yes, she would do that, because it was a very small store and if she did not, she would bump into the counter, maybe trip over one of those stools, and hurt her knee or even a foot. But he was ready for her. He could handle that, for he knew exactly which shelf held the mercurachrome. What is itThe big cylindrical gizmo with a spigot -- coffee machine? Key PersonWho has the job of winding the clock? Glemby Hair NetThe Lorraine Hair Net, manufactured by Glemby and made with real human hair, seems to bear a striking resemblance to a merkin! Mr. Glemby: Rich Man, Poor ManAttached is an article from the January 22, 1932 edition of the NY Daily Star. Evidently there was good money to be made in hair nets. It is somehow oddly ironic that Mr. Glemby's first name was "Harry"! Coffee/tea urnHere's one that looks just like this one. The jerkWhy is he doing nothing when there's all that sugar on the floor? What's the deal.......with the covers (?) on some of the light fixtures ? And wouldn't the fan work better if someone attached some blades to it? Pre Cell PhoneIf I had a nickel, maybe I'd make a call on that phone in the back right corner. As with so many of these photos, I'm crazy for the tin ceiling. Barber shops and drug storesI remember that floor tile pattern in the 50's and 60's still in use even in public bathrooms Those bottles behind the young man might be flavors for the ice cream sodas and sundaes. Does anyone know for sure? Soda Jerks' ExposéLike Bull_Durham below, I was a soda jerk 50 years ago, too. I did my stent at a Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor in Coral Gables, Fl. There's a little secret amongst us jerks that I'll let you in on: there's NO egg in a "Egg Cream Soda". There isn't even any cream; it's just syrup shot with seltzer to make it foam up like meringue. Sorry, not a lot a food value, but a real money maker for Mr. Jahn! Fascinating.Wonder how many of the medicines actually worked, and how many of those that worked can still be found on shelves or in the pharmacy today. Only the finest ingredientsBehind our intrepid counterman are bottles of Clicquot Club, a popular brand of late 19th- and early 20th-century soda. For background, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicquot_Club_Company What is thatWhat is that gizmo on the right wall? Our soda man has a problem I see may times in shorpy, how to make bushy curly hair look glued down 20's style. Imagine all that hair oil on a hot day. Site of the Start of the 1968 DC riotsFor some reason the Washington D.C. 14th and U addy rang a bell in this old man's head and the ringing proved to be correct ... I am trying to imagine the scene 48ish years later when this store was the starting point of the 1968 DC riots. http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/people-were-out-of-control-... IHAP Speaking of hair netsHere I am in 1974 in the main plant of Hershey with hair-netted Shirley Temple Black who’s learning all about making chocolate from someone who didn’t know much more about it than she did. She had just been named U.S. ambassador to Ghana, a major cocoa bean source. I couldn’t tap dance, either. For high fashion fans, I am sporting a lovely light blue, white-stitched, denim suit with tastefully flared trousers and a dark denim belt. Note how my gorgeous paisley shirt picks up its pattern cues from Mrs. Black’s frock. Or the other way around. The hairnet? Employees and visitors both had to wear them. This was after public tours were ended and only VIPs were allowed (the massive production area was not designed for large numbers of outsiders who affected the factory heat and humidity levels, and there might have been safety concerns). Few people can say, as I can, that I saw the beautiful Dorothy Hamill wearing a Hershey’s hair net. Glemby or not, she still looked darn good. What that isIs the end of the cash register. What we're seeing is the printing mechanism and the paper tape. Egg CreamsAs a resident of Brooklyn and not of the Sixth Borough - South Florida, with all due respect to bryhams...while (s)he is correct about egg creams having neither egg nor cream, it does have milk. Without the milk, it's merely a chocolate soda. And, for it to be a TRUE egg cream, it has to be made with U-Bet chocolate syrup. Stool sampleSame stool bases as Boo Koo burgers down Texas way! https://www.shorpy.com/node/12857 (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)
Earl Smith: 192x
... Another shot from this series shows Pete Kilduff of Brooklyn there on what would seem to be the same sparsely attended day. - Dave] ... Kilduff retired after the 1921 season, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins in 20 and 21. Let's check 1920. Retrosheet shows ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 11:36am -

Earl Smith, New York National League (Giants). Date written on this glass-plate negative is June 9, 1923. Although another from this 5181 series of pictures taken at the Polo Grounds has "5/13/20" scratched into the emulsion. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. 1920? 1923?According to Retrosheet, on June 9, 1923 the Giants played at Pittsburgh. Images of Forbes Field do not match the upper deck facade as shown here. Retrosheet shows the Giants at Cincinnati on 5/13/20, and Crosley Field (called Redland Field in 1912-1933) appears similar (see http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=71652668 for an example from 1938), but not identical. However, the Polo Grounds does match (http://www.dugout-memories.com/goffpol7.html). So it appears the game was in New York, but on neither date given. I'm stumped without knowing who the opponent is. [It's definitely the Polo Grounds. Another shot from this series shows Pete Kilduff of Brooklyn there on what would seem to be the same sparsely attended day. - Dave] So it's 1920According to Baseball-Reference.com Pete Kilduff retired after the 1921 season, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins in 20 and 21. Let's check 1920. Retrosheet shows the Giants hosting Brooklyn on May 5-7 1920, just days before the May 13 date given. May would also fit with the low attendence, since school would still be in session. Oh, the Giants took 2 of 3 against Brookyn that week but finished 7 games behind the Robins, with Brooklyn losing the World Series 5-2 to Tris Speaker's Cleveland Indians. Thanks for the lead on Kilduff, Dave. Could this...possibly be a photo of pre-game batting practice? The catcher appears to be wearing the same style/color uniform as Earl, the "crowd" is a bit sparse and that filthy home plate would bring shame to any whiskbroom-toting umpire. (Note: in 1923, Smith only appeared in 24 games for the Giants, spending the remainder of the year [72 game appearances] with the Boston Braves although I've not been able to find the date he was traded). Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska Earl SmithSmith was traded to Boston along with Jesse Barnes on June 7, 1923. The Giants received, in return, Hank Gowdy and Mule Watson. (Baseball Encyclopedia) Baseball UniformsAccording to the "Dressed to the Nines" baseball uniform database, the uniforms of both players match New York (batter) and Brooklyn (catcher) for 1920 and 1921. New York's home and Brooklyn's road uni's are virtually identical those years, including the socks. Brooklyn had a B on the right sleeve. It would be hard to detect the gray of the catcher's uniform. Even their caps were the same, except for logos. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Sports)
Metropolis: 1910
... There's always another one The traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, and some previous pictures, showing streetcars less than a ... or from the bottom of the photo to the top we have The Brooklyn Bridge (opened 1883), The Manhattan Bridge (opened 1909) and The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/18/2012 - 3:39pm -

New York and the East River circa 1910. "Looking east from the Singer Tower." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. There's always another oneThe traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, and some previous pictures, showing streetcars less than a block apart, lends credence to the old saying "Never chase girlfriends or streetcars, there's always another one coming right along." Not so true with today's bus systems. Cosgrove's Detective AgencySomehow I hope that was red neon at night: Cosgrove's D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E Agency Cosgrove's DETECTIVE Agency BMWIn this beautifully busy picture we have the three Lower Manhattan bridges, From south to north or from the bottom of the photo to the top we have The Brooklyn Bridge (opened 1883), The Manhattan Bridge (opened 1909) and The Williamsburg Bridge (opened 1903). An NYC Tour Guide once told me that the easiest way to remember the order of the 3 Bridges is to think of the luxury automobile brand, BMW. Rogers & Pyatt ShellacUpper rt corner on the NY side ... out of business three years later. ["Shellac in Receiver's Hands" -- sounds messy. - Dave] RooftopsAnd not an air conditioning unit in sight. Fletcher's CastoriaThe number of advertisements for Fletcher's Castoria between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges is amazing. Talk about saturation marketing. Brand spanking new!Standing tall in the middle of Brooklyn is the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, in Fort Greene. I used to pass this obscure object all the time. Several years ago this extremely out of place memorial piqued my curiosity and I had to do a little research. Around the time of the Revolution people were detained in nearby ships for "crimes" such as not pledging allegiance to the king. It was built in 1908 and magnificently stands over one of the ugliest sections of Brooklyn. Considering that I doubt even one percent of the people who see it daily, are aware of it's its significance, I'm surprised it still stands! PearlA glimpse of the elevated rail line on Pearl Street. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Good Night: 1897
Circa 1897. "Aboard the U.S.S. Brooklyn -- good night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. ... from the Museum of London. If you look closely at the Brooklyn's pump, you can see one of the crank handles has been reversed and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 12:16am -

Circa 1897. "Aboard the U.S.S. Brooklyn -- good night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Posers"Now lie down and pretend you're asleep whilst I take this picture." Well, this is timely:"The first African American to graduate from the Naval Academy died this week, 63 years after being commissioned into the Navy. "Retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown died Tuesday evening. "He was 85." ... "At the time Brown was trying to enter the academy, Navy physicians looked for reasons to find the young African American man unfit to attend. "The only defect they could find was an overbite. After an African-American congressman complained, they gave Brown a second look and deemed him qualified." Author is one Tina Brown, treed@capgaznews.com so I guess she works for capgaznews (Capital Gazette News? Not at my newsstand.) There's a little more in the article, which you can probably get with a Google. According to the Register of Alumni, he stood 372nd in a class of 790 (Class of '49). Bet he had a miserable Plebe Year. Sleeping with hankDo you suppose the hank of rope everyone appears to have been issued (at least those lucky enough to be issued a hammock) is to lash one's self in when the seas are rough? Odd compartment!I'm trying to figure out where this would be on this ship.I'm thrown by the ornate wooden doors on the right, the steam heat radiator in the middle and what looks to be a ships wheel on the right! With the wheel there, I'd say aft steering but it can't be.But then again !! Footnote; My ship had an aft steering wheel almost identical the air pump wheel but padded around the rim.Not all ships wheels have handles. Re: Rope The ropes seen in this photo were most likely used for lashing up the hammocks when not in use. Note the one that is lying on the deck and is being uses as a pillow by the young lad who seems to feigning sleep. Sleeping in a hammock on a moving ship would not be difficult at all. as the ship rocked the hammock would remain stationary, acting somewhat like a pendulum. the sleepers weight would pull it downward whilst the ship rotated around it. Now, to be honest, rough seas that caused the ship to pitch (rise and fall) rapidly would be a different story. Interesting to see that this ship has a mixed crew and that the sleeping quarters are not segregated. IntegrationWe have a mixed race crew who seem to be comfortable in each others company. I thought that the military was segregated until Truman's Presidency. [Racial segregation in the US Navy began under Woodrow Wilson's administration. -tterrace] Nevermind the LongjohnsThey've likely set up their hammocks to escape stuffy or overly warm regular quarters. I think the sailors are on an exterior sheltered deck toward the stern, where the auxillary/docking steering would be found. Exterior doors of that louvered type were quite common on ships of that era and don't in and of themselves suggest any interior space (though I doubt you'd find them in an area not well sheltered by a deck above). Air Pump?For Oldmanmac: The wheel at left isn't the ship's wheel. Too small, and there aren't any handles on the ends of the spokes. I think it's actually part of a hand-operated air pump for supplying fresh air to hard-hat divers. Compare it to this slightly smaller example from the Museum of London. If you look closely at the Brooklyn's pump, you can see one of the crank handles has been reversed and stuck through the wheel spokes, probably to prevent "owies" in the cramped below decks area. So much for integrationAnyone notice that the two minority sailors seem to be hammockless? At least there are no empty/rolled hammocks in sight. Re the salt sleeping on the deck, I think the fact that he's not bothered to remove his shoes or deploy his bedding indicates he recently came onboard and is soon due to go on duty. Lines, not RopesThose spare bits of line are used to trice up the hammocks, as when the order 'All Hands Heave Out and Trice Up' is passed at reveille. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Queensboro Bridge: 1909
... doesn't get as much play like her more famous sisters the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, but she's a beauty just the same. She offers ... where this picture was taken. The cars which crossed the Brooklyn Bridge were cable powered from 1883 through 1908. There were other ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 7:10pm -

New York, 1909. The new Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge over the East River. 8x10 inch glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. It's Amazing!Given that it is 1909 it is amazing the large and heavy construction that was done. At this time I would assume it was mostly horsepower and manpower to dig the holes for the pilings, to lift the heavy beams and pour the concrete. [They used steam-powered dredges, shovels and cranes. - Dave] Feelin' GroovyShe doesn't get as much play like her more famous sisters the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, but she's a beauty just the same. She offers one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline, too. As IsThe row of tenements on the right side is intact today. It is 59th St between First and Second Avenues on the downtown (south) side of the street. It is just as seedy looking today as it was in 1909. If you travel one block in any direction you're in a high rent district. Still Smokin'A lot has changed, but the old smokestack is still standing sentinel. View Larger Map S-s-smokin'Okay, you urban savants, we have a sizable smokestack rising from the middle of a sidewalk, evidently still doing its thing. Now, what and where is the source of the smoke? Suburban minds want to know. [It's a smokestack for the Con Edison steam plant at York Avenue. - Dave] Kickin' down the cobblestonesI moved to NYC in the fall of 1986, and the first time I tried to drive over this bridge it was tied up with construction workers paving over the brickwork surface. I sat sulking in the traffic jam for a long time before I realized that those of us stuck on the bridge were seeing -- for the last time -- the cobblestones sung about by Simon and Garfunkel. And suddenly I was glad to be there. Junk ShopFilled with today's valuable antiques! CagyWhat do you think the round cagelike structure on the left is? [It's the framework for a gas tank. - Dave] Gas LightsAre those foot pegs on the post for lighting/servicing the light? This is the exact locationThis is the exact location of the original photo. I walk or drive past this street almost daily. It's one-way from 2nd Avenue halfway to 1st Avenue. Westbound traffic is allowed to enter only the outer roadway of the lower level of the bridge. I know, it's confusing to many in New York City too! View Larger Map Cable CarsApparently the street cars were powered by cable? I did not realize that form of propulsion was in places other than San Francisco (then again I never really thought about it). Am I incorrect? [These are electric streetcar tracks with an underground power supply. - Dave] The BridgeIt is fascinating that the south side of 59th Street overlooking the Manhattan-side bridge approach has remained the same for a century, while almonst the entire surrounding blocks have been upgraded to the nth degree. I lived only five blocks south of here in the 1960's. The very first T.G.I. Friday's saloon opened four blocks north at 63rd and First back in 1963 -- I was one of their first regular customers. Fill 'er upThose natural-gas tanks are still around. The tank will partially retract into the ground when its contents are low. As the amount of gas rises, so does the tank. The cage supports the adjustable design of the tank. StreetcarsAlthough the tracks in the picture might have had underground electric supply, there were cable cars in New York not far from where this picture was taken. The cars which crossed the Brooklyn Bridge were cable powered from 1883 through 1908. There were other cable car lines in New York City as well. See http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccnynj.html Low-RentI like "Rent Very Low" sign -- you don't see that much in NYC anymore. Still Seedy After All These Years60th Street on the other side of the bridge is home to Scores strip club. Gotta go one more block to get a little more upscale. The pedestrian path on the upper level is gone. Bike/ped access is now on the lower level, also on the opposite side of the bridge. The first three arches on the left house city maintenance garages, the fourth arch (blocked by the wagon with blanketed horses) is First Avenue. The next five or six arches house a supermarket with astonishing Guastavino tile ceilings and very weird acoustics, a supermarket that took 20 years to arrive because of resistance from the $utton Place community to the south and east that didn't want the neighborhood north of the bridge encroaching on its own. 59th StreetThe south side of 59th Street. Photographed from upper level of Queensboro Bridge during 100th Anniversary Celebration of the opening of the bridge. +101The current view east on 59th Street of the Queensboro Bridge isn't as tidy as it appeared in 1909. Below is the identical perspective taken in April of 2010. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Roebling Bridge: 1941
... build an even longer suspension connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/04/2022 - 2:41pm -

Spring 1941. "View under Roebling Suspension Bridge of Cincinnati from Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Waterfront showing numerous business houses: Colter Grocers, Cincinnati Grain & Hay, King Bag, Queen City Rag & Paper and others." 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size. Lucky findSomeone posted a photo on Google Maps from almost the same angle. The king and queen are gone. The only thing that appears to still be there is the building with the dunce hat roof on the left. Colourized (by machine)Here's a take on what the original might have looked like in colour, as interpreted by your friendly neighbourhood AI at palette.fm. The AI can get colour details wrong but this result worked out pretty well. [The u in colour and neighbourhood are there on purpose. I'm Canadian.] First DraftCompleted in 1867, Roebling's bridge in Cincinnati was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet. Later that year, he was selected to build an even longer suspension connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos)
Old New York: 1913
... designers of some new quick and nasty condo buildings in Brooklyn were not aware of that. Hello! Up on the Roof All those lovely ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 5:01pm -

Summer 1913. "Bird's eye view of N.Y.C. from roof of Consolidated Gas Building." 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. The East VillageI used to live in the area a couple of years ago on East 12th between Avenues A & B. Can't quite make that building out in this shot, but there are some noticeable landmarks there. First is Tompkins Square Park (just left of center toward the top, which occupies the area between Avenue A & B on the east and west, and 10th street & 7th streets to the north and south), looking toward the Manhattan Bridge. The two steeples peeking up over the park, I think, are St. Brigid's Church on Avenue B across from the park. The shorter, broader steeple on this side of the park probably is St. Nicholas of Myra Church (1883) on the corner of Avenue A and 10th Street. Moving farther right across the picture, below where the bridge begins to fade off, is the steeple of St. Stanislaus Church (1872) on 7th Street, between Avenue A and First Avenue. Moving a little more to the right, closer to the photographer, is the steeple of St. Marks in the Bowery (its stark contrast jumps out at you) on the corner of 10th Street & 2nd Avenue. "The Bowery" was Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant's farm, and his private chapel used to stand there, making this the oldest site of continuous worship in Manhattan. This church was erected 1795-99, with a Greek Revival steeple added 1828 and an Italianate portico completing the structure in 1854. The graveyard here has some of the oldest burials in Manhattan, including Stuyvesant himself. I see a handful of other steeples in there, but I need the time to identify those, these were the "easy" ones for me. Con EdHere we go again, another picture that is going to have my attention for many days. This one, taken from the Consolidated Gas Building, now the Con Ed (Consolidated Edison) Building is at 4 Irving place. I Guess the shot was taken looking southeast across 3rd Ave (the El is there). The Jefferson Theatre was a major vaudeville house at 214 East 14 St, which puts it between 2nd & 3rd Avenues and on the south side of the street. This places the photographer 1 block away from Union Square Park, the site of some previous, amazing Shorpy pictures. Today that block, houses among others, a high-rise NYU dorm and a very active Trader Joe's. It is an extremely busy street populated mainly by the college kids. TemperatureIs that temperature atop the Jefferson sign showing 25 degrees F? The pedestrians don't appear to be dressed very warmly. [The sign says 10-15-25 cents. - Dave] WaterThere's an amazing amount of cisterns on the roofs. Bad pressure or poor main lines? [Those aren't cisterns. (Cisterns, usually underground, hold rainwater. How would you fill a cistern on a roof?) Penthouse tanks tanks fed by the municipal water supply are common even today in big cities on buildings of more than a few stories. - Dave] Quaker Oats SignLots of interesting signage including Quaker Oats. Also to the right, a church steeple under construction. Painless Dentistry?In 1913, anything but, surely! [Local anesthesia (Novocain, procaine, etc.) was well established by 1913. - Dave] Water TanksToday, water pressure in NYC will only take the water supply up six stories, at best. To go higher, it needs a boost to pump it to individual units or to a tank where it can supply by gravity. In the past several years, the designers of some new quick and nasty condo buildings in Brooklyn were not aware of that. Hello! Up on the RoofAll those lovely roofs and no one up there tending a garden or reading or having a smoke. Water tanksAll buildings six stories and higher in New York City are required to have water tanks. The best, cheapest, way to keep water pressure up in tall buildings. Water TanksThe most amazing thing is that new water tanks are constructed virtually the same as the wooden tanks shown in this photo. The base is supported by parallel wooden joists sitting on a structural steel framework. A wooden floor is laid across the joists. Once in place, the floor is cut into to size of the tank's diameter. Then enough vertical staves are secured in place to permit some of the steel bands to be put in place. Once complete, the tank is pumped full of water. The staves and the wooden floor swell enough after a few days immersed in water that the tank no longer leaks. Most tanks have open tops - some have an additional weather enclosure around them. Wooden tanks like these last about 20 years. A replacement tank of this size can be made on site in less than a day's time. Con EdMy dad worked briefly for Con Ed in that building on the NE corner of 14th and Irving Place for a few months back in 1921-22. It's still there, just a few blocks south of Pete's Tavern on Irving Place, one of my old favorite pubs in that neighborhood. What Bridge?What bridge is in the foreground.....is it still standing? (I don't think so....but?) [That's the Williamsburg Bridge. Still very much there. - Dave] The "CLOTHES" sign, lower leftWhat is the sign that apparently displays 10:15 above the "CLOTHES" vertical sign toward the lower left of the photo? It couldn't be a digital clock, right? If it isn't a digital clock, I wonder what the 10:15 stood for. October 15th? [The sign says "10-15-25¢" And nothing about "clothes." - Dave] Thanks for replying! Sorry, I meant the sign on the photographer's side of the elevated train station that reads "CLOTHES," descending from the top. It looks a lot like the Jefferson Theatre's sign. Quaker Oats location?Can anyone tell me approximately where that Quaker Oats sign was located? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, G.G. Bain, NYC)
ER: 1900
New York circa 1900. "Stewards and nurses, Brooklyn Navy Yard hospital." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... the (now) customary "Smile!". But, then again, it is Brooklyn and it is (circa) 1900. A Steady Hand Given the amputation we ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:44pm -

New York circa 1900. "Stewards and nurses, Brooklyn Navy Yard hospital." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. TherapistsI'd be afraid not to get well. In the cusp of changeThis motley crew shows the rapidly changing looks and appearance of urban men during this period. Caps, hats, and bare-headed; turned-up collars, turned-down collars, no collars; vests with lapels, vests with no lapels, no vests; cravats, neckties, bow-ties, no ties; pant cuffs, no cuffs; mustaches & clean-shaven. Might even be a belt or two underneath those vests and suspenders. MissingWhere are the women nurses? MedicineIt was not then (nor is it now) for the squeamish or the weak of heart. Happy to seethose two doggies, especially the one on the right. The pups likely did more to comfort the sick than some of those grim customers around them - except for the kid holding the curly dog. TriageIf you can get past this crowd, the rest of your stay should be smooth sailing. SawbonesThat'll be the surgeon then, on the right in the overalls. What does the different headgear denote?I'm guessing the guys in the derby hats were the ones you didn't want attending to you. Be Afraid"I'm here for your sponge bath ... " Cool DogsI think the one on the right is a Portuguese Water dog. The dog on the leftIs pit, one of the most kid-loving dogs around. When this picture was taken, they were one of the most popular dogs in America. Fat guys! A Shorpy rarity. ClippedThe toe clip on the bike caught me by surprise as I thought it was a more recent invention, but after looking it up apparently they've been around almost since the first bicycles. Confidentiality out the windowApparently, they didn't need HIPAA to keep those medical records from falling out of the window. PugnacityThere sure is a lot of it on display here. Sheesh! Apparently, the photographer shouted "Scowl!" rather than the (now) customary "Smile!". But, then again, it is Brooklyn and it is (circa) 1900. A Steady HandGiven the amputation we recently viewed, and the nature of the instruments used in that procedure, it's clear that physical strength and skill with hand tools was of probably greater importance in surgery 110 years ago than it is now. The invention and implementation of power tools, both in surgery and in carpentry, has dramatically diminished the need for physical strength to succeed in both arenas. Therefore, if I needed an amputation 110 years ago, I'd appreciate seeing that my surgeon was a big, burly guy. Brute strength still neededJust a few weeks ago my grown son had to have a big, deeply-rooted back tooth extracted and he was surprised to see that the dentist STILL had to brace himself for leverage and use his own muscle power (with no easy way) to yank that tooth. As for this fascinating photo, the two men with dogs in the front row, center, have GOT to be related, just look at those faces. Old-school scowlsI love the confident body language, posture and facial expressions in old photos. People just don't stand around and scowl like this anymore. Dogs of yesteryearThe two dogs in this pic -- a pit/Staffie and Newfoundland or Newfie cross - were apparently the most popular dogs around back then, along with certain terriers. I come across dogs that look like these over and over again in all my searches of pics of the past. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Dogs, DPC, Medicine, NYC)
The Oregon: 1898
September 1898. "U.S.S. Oregon in dry dock, Brooklyn Navy Yard." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:16pm -

September 1898. "U.S.S. Oregon in dry dock, Brooklyn Navy Yard." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. "McKinley's Bulldog"An apt nickname for this battleship, gained through her making a determined trip from San Francisco to Florida in 1898 with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, via the Straits of Magellan where she endured a rather rough passage (which reinforced calls to build the Panama Canal.) "Oregon" helped finish off Admiral Cervera's fleet off Cuba in July, 1898, and then re-entered dry dock (shown above). She left there in October of that year, only to repeat the passage through the Straits of Magellan, to join Dewey's fleet in the Philippines. "Oregon" was decommissioned in 1919. Once we're done, Admiral,She'll have that new battleship smell. Muesum ship, for a timeAfter WWI, she was a museum ship until the outbreak of WWII, where the military needed the metal. Her hull became a barge at Guam during the war before being lost at sea (temporarily, and not euphemistically) during a storm for three day; when eventually refound, she finished as a floating storage barge. Most of the ship ended scrapped in the 1950s, but the masts and funnels (all visible here) have survived to this day, with the mast as the centerpiece of a park. Ramming Speed!Great picture. It appears the boys down below have got it set up for ramming speed. Where does the drummer sit? Awesome!This is without a doubt one of the most awesome pictures I have ever seen - thanks, Shorpy! Great pic!Amazing how much advancement in warships took place in only 35 years from the ironclads of the Civil War. The workers scaffolding around this boat and especially lower down the side of the boat looks risky. Balancing ActDuring my years in the Navy I was aboard two ships that went into dry dock and invariably, once the water was pumped out and the timbers were wedged in place, for the first couple of days we all walked carefully and s-l-o-w-l-y on deck so we wouldn't, uh, you know, tip anything over. Remembering the MaineWhen the Maine blew-up on Feb.15,1898, the Oregon's long and perilous voyage from San Francisco through the Strait of Magellan was a deciding factor in gaining the support to build the Panama Canal. S.S. IkeaToday this dry dock (technically a graving dock) is a parking lot for an Ikea superstore. From battleships to "some assembly required" is just 110 years. ObsoleteThe USS Oregon class battleships were already approaching obsolescence when conceived (1888). With their low freeboard, armored turrets, and few quick-firing guns, these ships were already out-classed by the British. The Royal Navy had built battleships comparable to the Oregons back in 1870. The US Navy should have built ships like these in the decade following the Civil War. We were on the right track with our double-turreted monitors, but the Navy’s budget was reduced to zero in 1866. All that was needed was to add an armored casemate holding some medium caliber weapons to the space between the turrets of our biggest monitors, and the US Navy would have been setting the standards for battleship design instead of the UK. Dirty Dealer in Canned EggsFrom the NYC health department weekly bulletin of May 7, 1913: "Nearly 24,000 specimens of milk, as offered for sale in the City, were examined by our inspectors, and of this number only 63 specimens were found to be above the maximum temperature permitted by the Department's regulations. In addition to this 579 samples of milk were taken and upon chemical analysis 99 of these were found to be below the standard. WHO IS THE PERSISTENT OFFENDER? On December 18, 1911, F. E. Rosebrock and Company, a corporation dealing in bakery supplies at 325 Greenwich Street, Borough of Manhattan, of which Fred E. Rosebrock was president and a director, was fined $500 for violation of Section 42 of the Sanitary Code, for offering for sale decomposed canned eggs. On November 18, 1912, the same firm was fined $250 for violation of Section 66a of the Sanitary Code, for using flavoring extracts containing methyl alcohol. About this time the old corporation of F. E. Rosebrock and Company discontinued business at 325 Greenwich Street, and a new corporation, incorporated under the laws of New Jersey, was formed under the name of the Fred. E. Rosebrock Company. Fred E. Rosebrock was president and a director of this company which conducted a business in bakers' supplies at 360 Washington Street. On November 17, 1913, this firm was fined $500 for violation of Section 42 for offering for sale putrid and decomposed eggs. In August of this year ...a new corporation, known as the Rosebrock Butter and Egg Company, Inc., was formed, incorporated under the laws of New York. Within the past few days criminal prosecution has been commenced by the Department of Health against this firm for an alleged violation of Section 48a. relating to the breaking-out of eggs and the keeping of canned eggs without a permit. Who is the persistent offender?" Now, what's a canned egg? As relayed by semaphore from the US Ethel Merman"Hello sailor, ever done time aboard a medium-speed twin screw?" SP250A feature of ships from this era--indeed, of ships up through at least WW II naval designs--are the inordinate number of stanchions on all the weather decks. These stanchions were used to rig canvas as sun blocks (in port, or dry dock) for sailors forced to work on deck and as an effort to keep below-deck spaces cool(er). An example of of this rigged canvas is seen in this photo, forward of the 13" turret and aft of the 8" turrets on both the port and starboard sides. It appears the starboard side canvas is shading the quarterdeck area; I think the Officer of the Watch/Deck (looks like a Lt.) is the one on the gangway talking to the youngster. These stanchions (along with the canvas) were struck and stowed when the ship got underway; obviously, the turrets needed full, unhindered arcs. Stanchions can even be seen aft of the 13" turret in this photo over the two hatches leading to ladders going below decks. Though necessary, these stanchions often gave these pre-WW II ships an ungainly, cluttered appearance, unlike surface ships of today with their clean lines built to reduce radar return signals. At first glanceI thought it was in for oar replacement. Off to the SideOf all the activity in this shot, I'd like to hear this conversation. "Permission to come aboard, Sir?""I'll even trade you this lucky rabbit's foot for a look inside!" "Yes, yes, that's a fine specimen indeed, but run along now, like a good lad." Railings are for WimpsThe scaffolding I used when I inspected ships in drydock in the 1980's always had a safety railing to prevent you from taking a sudden, almost certainly fatal dive to the concrete floor of the drydock. The scaffolding around Oregon's stern has nothing to hold onto -- terrifying! Men were much braver then. Some things don't change however -- the light colored objects arranged in neat vertical lines along the leading edge of the rudder and the hull alongside the propeller are almost certainly zincs. These were bolted to the hull, prominently stamped "Do Not Paint," and were used to absorb the galvanic currents created by the bronze of the propeller reacting against the steel of the hull like a giant battery. The idea was for the "sacrificial" zincs, not the hull, to corrode; they were replaced at every drydocking. I laid out the rows of zincs for the last US battleships during their renovation in 1984. For some reason the World War II plans for zincs couldn't be found in the archives. The scaffolding is a nightmare.Those guys are at least 30 feet in the air, and the boards look to be 16 to 24 inches wide. You had better pay attention to where you are, and not stand back to look at your handy work. You could only make one mistake on that baby, and it would be your last. Canned = PickledCanned eggs are pickled eggs, sterilized and sealed in mason jars, preserved for future consumption, just like canned fruits. Scaffolding InspectorAt the very least, you know those knots on the scaffolding ropes are good, probably some lost technology there. In strictly nautical terminologydoes this ship have two "pointy ends"? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
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