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Office Xmas Party: 1925
... F Street Washington DC (From the 1925 Washington City Directory) This department installed Central Office equipment ... one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -

        It's two Fridays before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 98 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.
December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Leer Kings"That Guy" looks like he could be the son of the older leering man directly to the right of him. I shall call them Denis Leery Jr. and Denis Leery Sr. The two men with them are obviously Christopher Walken as The Continental, and a young Franz Mesmer.
Just a little creepy....Some of the looks on their faces, wouldn't you love to know what they were thinking!
Debauchery 2.0Four years after behaving scandalously at the Krazy Kat, our bohemian friends find themselves slogging away at desk jobs in the boring adult world.  Just WAIT until the Christmas party, though!
The oil canOf course the bear and the cabin weren't mentioned -- everyone knows the best part of the party is getting well-oiled!
Thank you. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your server.
H.P. Lovecraft?Could it be? Standing in front of the "Go Go" guy, half hidden? Maybe Franz Kafka, instead? This would be the guy who takes an extra-long time in the lav in order to scratch unseemly things onto the stall partitions. Every office has one of these guys and in this office, its either him or else its the nearly invisible guy standing across from him on the other side of the tree. Also, the girl on the far left, standing in front of the door, is unforgivably cute. I'll bet she's told a lot of these guys "NO" and that's why she's way over there.
The Power Bloc ...Have you happened to notice how Big Boss Man - the guy holding that little stubby cigar - is surrounded by thugly-type guys? This is the power bloc for this office. The guys up on the top left are all from a different Department and are wary of Big Boss Man's thugs. There is a little bit of cross-pollenation, however. The first guy standing on the table at the right is shooting a bemused glance in the direction of his bud in that other Department. He's the shorter, unjacketed guy with the full frontal grin and the eyebrows in serious need of plucking. To them, this is all a goof. They hang out together and keep each other informed as to who says what about whom, which of the girls are doable and what the scuttlebutt is coming down from the top. There's more here but I don't want to get censored.
A Story in every faceThis photo can inspire everyone to write a novel because there is indeed a colorful character with his own personal bio in every set of eyes.  The bald guy with the candle on his head particularly stands out as one who has a complex persona but so does everybody else in the picture.   Some appear depressed, some look beat up, some seem desperate.  Make up your own scenarios.  Personally, I used to look forward to the office parties when the most unexpected facets of co-workers' personalities would be revealed, giving us the rest of the year to talk about that until the next one.  Stuffy old lady accountants and spinsters turned out to shock us the most when relaxed by a "touch of the grape". Lots of fun, too bad they have mostly been eliminated. Thank you for this blast from the past.
[That's a "GO-GO" traffic signal on Mr. Complex Persona's noggin. - Dave]

WiredCould it be that they tapped the power for the Christmas tree lights from the ceiling fixture?
What a mod hairdo!The brunette peeking from behind the desk (right above the black purse) has such a 1960's hairstyle!
Fat ChanceThe corpulent boss, stogie in hand, actually thinks that removing his glasses improves his appearance. He also seems to be playing footsie with the marcel-waved cutie who inexplicably has an oil can in front of her.
A KnockoutThe woman with the pearl necklace sitting at the very corner of the desk is a knockout! She looks like a present-day actress whose name escapes me. The guy standing up and glaring into the lens at the extreme top right of the photo may very well be the Antichrist. His stare gives me chills. The guy behind him looks like an "evil character" straight out of Central Casting. This is a great photo.
Thought BubblesIt would take me all day to write out thought bubbles for what I imagine is going through all those heads, but the lady at dead center seems to be thinking, "What was IN that punch? Did they repeal Prohibition and nobody told me?"
The "dark lady" downstage right is thinking, "I hope they snap that picture before I freeze to death down here on the bare floorboards. You would think the electric company would have better heaters in its own offices, but old man Pennyfarthing won't even spring for a rug to keep the draft out."
Western Electric (Shock Therapy)Great pic.  And I'm sure there are as many stories as people in this one.  But let's admit that the lady sitting on the floor on the left has to have the most interesting one. There is a haunted, post-experimental-therapy look to her that immediately reminded me of the psych-ward scenes in "Changeling."
Where's the copier?Ahhh, the days before every office had a copier, and every office had some joker trying to get the temp to sit on it!
Re: Fat ChanceWait -- so the oil can is worth noting, but not the bear statuette or the small house?
Western ElectricWestern Electric was the manufacturing and distribution arm of American Telephone and Telegraph. I suppose that this office in Washington was one of their distribution points. At any rate one interesting thing about the photo is the decided separation of men and women as though they might have come from different sections of the business. I also note that the ladies are sitting on a pretty rough floor, which is something I would have thought they would have avoided in those clothes. As to the glasses, I suspect that the photographer cautioned them that the flash might reflect from the lenses, assuming that I can assert that there was flash. Who knows, maybe there's a window somewhere.
That Office GirlI find her the most intriguing face in the picture. She looks almost out of place in this setting... her face is striking. Her expression says that she's part of a back story going on around the office that no one knows about.
Wow. I'm falling in love with a woman who's long long dead. How sad is that?
GiftedJudging by the peculiar items in the shot I'm thinking they exchanged white elephant gifts at the party. I got a big stuffed fish at our last party. I would have preferred the oil can.
This is so great!A bevy of attractive females here but I'm partial to the blond girl standing at the far left of the photo.  
Wowzer!  
Also, standing next to Boss Stogie on his left: ladies and gentlemen ... Mr. Joaquin Phoenix.
 The Black WidowQuick somebody, get the story on the raven-haired woman sitting in front of the desk.
She looks like she ate her young; perhaps she has a few "missing" husbands buried in her dirt-floor basement.
I get the very distinct impression that if you crossed her, you ended up joining the silent majority long before your time.
Dark LadyWell.....the woman at bottom left certainly catches the eye. Something of a femme fatale, I think. Not generally popular with the more strait-laced ladies, like the woman two to her right who's giving her a very frosty look. The younger woman though, above and slightly to the left, is more sympathetic.
Since it's not uncommon here on Shorpy for unflattering comments to be directed at the olden-days womenfolk, let me be the first to say what a grim bunch the men are. I'll make an exception for the guy under the tree.
Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas PartyThe oil can on the foreground floor is absolutely precious.  There can be no rational explanation for it.  Then again, one tends to get oiled at the office party.
The hot babe is standing, far left, if not the girl sitting left, in pearls by the purse on the desk corner.
The fat guy with the cigar has his conjoined twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other?  Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling us why that guy is holding the little horsey?
"Hey, Griselda.  Spin my copter.  If it says 'STOP - STOP', you are not mine.  If it says 'Go - GO', oh you kid!"
Most riveting photo ever.I've been a lurker on Shorpy for months, but this photo has prompted me to register and comment. I've been coming back to this picture every day since it was posted, showing it to everyone I know. 
What strikes me is that though there are several vintage-type characters here, there are also quite a few very contemporary looking people as well. This photograph represents such a vibrant living moment in the lives of these people. Some of them look like they could speak to you right from the picture. And, oh what a story they could tell!
This photo takes first place from my previous Shorpy favourite, They Shall Remain Nameless.
(But it's so close... check it out if you missed it.)
Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there ...
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen......hair!  I think that's my favorite part of this picture.  There's such a great group of hairstyles among the women.  A few of those girls were pretty darn good with the curling iron, or whatever they used.  I wonder if they're more glammed up than usual for the big party.  For some reason, the hairstyles are more striking to me than in other pictures.  Anyway, fascinating as always.
P.S.  I think the guy that bdgbill thinks looks like the antichrist is actually kind of a hottie.  I'm going to go on the assumption that he didn't look that intense all the time.  If he did...well, I could see bdgbill's point then.
Now I KnowMy father worked for Western Electric. The money wasn't very good, so I never figured out why he stayed there. Guess this answers the question.
IN and OUTI noticed the IN basket on the desk to the far right, but where's the OUT basket?  I sometimes wonder why I have an OUT basket on my desk at work - it's always less full than the IN one.
The woman sitting on the floor to the far left bears a striking resemblance to the Italian actress Ana Magnani (The Rose Tattoo).
Dramatis PersonaeMona, the woman on floor, far left (one of the few without the Marcel wave), is probably a Suffragist or at least politically active. Maybe she's trying to organize these party animals into a union and all they want to do is balance traffic signals on their heads and be wildly social.
Don't mess with these guys!The boss from Hades has what looks like a goose egg on his forehead and the coatless guy on his right has a black eye and cuts on the nose and eyebrow: maybe the partying started the night before. Looks like a smoking hot curling iron was de rigueur for any  well-coifed lady.
That guyOf the four guys standing in the upper right, the guy who is on the left side, closest to the tree -- which girl is he leering at? 
Western ElectricIf you flip the picture around, you can sort of read the door sign.  I can make out:
504
[Western Elec]tric Com[pany].
[INCORP]ORATED
[?]ION DEPARTMENT
I wonder what the missing part is.  Administration?
Office TensionThis must have been just after Phyllis spilled the beans about Dwight and Angela. Poor Andy!
The Power Bloc, continuedThe balding gent just over Boss Stogie's left shoulder-- the real power in the office, he certainly looks confident that his recent appointment to regional director will lead to greater things. Boss Stogie's son, Junior (with the candy cane), was on the fast track to becoming a junior partner until he was befriended by Harold from the mailroom (his hand on Junior's shoulder), which displeased Boss to no end.
UndercoverIsn't anyone going to ask why the woman in the middle is wearing a hat with a Police badge? Is this a costume xmas party? Could she possibly be a real cop??
My GirlSay what you want about the woman on the floor or the blonde with the pearl necklace, but my heart belongs to the woman standing fourth from the left, middle row. She reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
The henchman second from the right at the top has a menacing Snidely Whiplash quality about him. You just know he slipped a mickey into someone's drink.
Re: Western ElectricYou know you're a Shorpy addict when you "get" Anonymous Tipster's reference to the photographer's use of flash (or WAS there a window somewhere?!). Nice shot, A.T.!
Twins or Sisters?Study the features of the young woman directly in front of the door - then look at the one just to the right of (and looking directly at) "blondie with the pearls". Eyes, hair, smile, shape of face, body build: if they are not twins then they must at least be sisters. It is uncanny!
Christmas BackstoryYes, the young lady at the lower left leaning against the desk has the most interesting backstory in the room.  Thanks to the passage of time we'll never know what was behind her haunted expression beyond that the woman giving her the evil eye must have had something to do with it.
Dave continues to put these evocative photos up knowing our emotions will never be satisfied!!
Meanwhile, notice the vintage Chia Pet resting on the scales in the "shipping department" (the desk along the left side).  The girl in the fake police hat is looking longingly at it.  Chia bunny?  Chia elf?
The guy in front of the Christmas tree holding the toy, "I got a PONY!"
Keep them in their place.I, too, wonder why all the women are sitting on the floor in their silk satin dresses with fur collars.  Surely there were some men who would have been glad to give up their places for them (and to sit amongst the women!)
How did they get Xmas light strings in 1925?I thought people used small candles until the '60s. How did they happen to have these string lights? Great pic of us back then.
[The 1960s being, I guess, when covered wagons brought in the first supplies of wired Christmas lights. - Dave]

I spy...Second woman in the third row...Frida Kahlo, at her day job. 
SpellbindingI cannot stop looking at this picture. So much to see. The Al Capone looking guy is mesmerizing. The guy at top, second from right gives me the creeps.
1920'sI'm kind of young so maybe I'm missing something, but did pretty women not have to hold jobs in the 1920's? This office is worse than the one I work in, I didn't think that was possible.
Re: 1920sI'm kind of young too, but I disagree with you.  I think this office has quite a collection of lovely women (and some not-as-lovely ones too, just like today).  Sometimes, it's hard to look past the hairstyles and the clothes.  If you are young (20-something? younger?), you've really only seen one ideal of beauty--you've missed a lot of the different fashions and hairdos of the rest of the 20th century.  You also underestimate what modern makeup does for women.  There are so many more varieties of it today than there were then, and it's generally of higher quality and easier to use than in the past.  If you took one of the women in this picture, say, the girl with pearls sitting next to the desk and plunked her down in 2008 to get a makeover, her hair would be longer, probably highlighted and dyed, and aided by daily washing and a host of conditioners.  Then, add some good moisturizer, foundation, and concealer, as well as a lash curler, mascara, and a healthy helping of eye liner, and I'm guessing you'd think her quite the fox.  
Conversely, take the most attractive woman you know now, and put her in short hair and marcel waves, take away her hair dye and most of her makeup, and I'm guessing she'd look quite similar to the ladies in this photo.  Even something as simple as the shape of plucked eyebrows really change the look of someone, and with the change in aesthetics, it's sometimes hard to get past the fashion to see beauty.
It works with the men too--you'd probably look a lot different with a side part and a pompadour!  
That's right . . .. . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy
Las Vegas 
That's my desk!I have a desk that's identical to the one on the left.  I had guessed it was 1940's vintage.  It's nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker?Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still climbing. That's a lot of forensic partyologists! I wonder if even Dave knew what he had pulled out of the hat with this one?
[I am shocked. Shocked! - Dave]
re: Xmas light strings LOL! Dave, a lot of your comments (like this one) crack me up! Are you a comedian in real life? Merry Christmas!
[Please folks, no applause. Just throw money. - Dave]
Hotness quantificationI count 20 women in that picture; most of them you can see no more than their face and hair, and two you can't even see all of that.
Out of the 18 you have a good facial shot of, I'd put 3 of them at 8.5-9.5 on the scale... three of them are SMOKING hot. I'd put another 4 at the 7-8.5 mark, meaning serious cuties, and at least three of the others are a 6 -7.
Where I work we have 100 women in my office; I'd put exactly three in the 8.5-9.5 scale, and another 10 in th 7-8.5 scale; of the rest, probably only a smattering are really in the 5+ range.
So, I have to know ... where do you work that the women are so attractive? Playboy Enterprises?
Taking into account the differences in style, these women were, mostly, very attractive, and even a couple of the less attractive weren't awful.
The Men of Western ElectricIn the interest of gender equality, I got to wondering about the relative charms of the office boys. I found three who tickled my fancy.
1. The tall smiling fellow whose head is sticking up behind and to the right of Police Woman. His face is open and honest, he's smiling with his twinkly dark eyes as well as his mouth, and although his ears are a bit prominent there's a lovely overall symmetry to his face. I'll call him Dimples.
2. The one man who has the sense to sit down with the ladies. He's a bit older, but I love his soft wavy hair. There's a certain aristocratic but slightly sad angle to his tired half-smile that puts me in mind of a young Prince Philip. I'll call him Phil.
3. OK, here's the hotness - the brash, cocky young sheik peeking out confidently between the heads of Boss Stogie Pennyfarthing and his wan shirtsleeved assistant. He's got the eyes of Frank Sinatra and the hair of Jack Kennedy. I don't know what he looks like from the neck down, but from the Arrow collar up he's all, "How YOU doin'?" I'll call him Frankie.
In summary: Were I one of the office flappers, I would ride in Frankie's Studebaker, nurse a secret unrequited crush on Phil, and take Dimples home to meet Mother.
Rogues' GalleryI can't stop staring at the chilly filly down by the leftern desk. She looks like three out of every five women I've ever fallen for. It's the eyes. As to the resemblance to Ana Magnani, she might be of Italian descent.
I am also like the older gentleman in the upper right. Mr. Leery Senior, was it? Right between Charlie Sheen (or Leery Jr.), Snidely Whiplash, and Mr. Deer-in-the-headlights. What a jovial sort. And a snappy dresser, as well. Conversely, the startled fellow's vest is well off-center and makes him look like he couldn't decide which part of him was the front. Or maybe he was taking a nap under a desk just before the photo op and somebody had to drag him out.
Funny how a photograph will turn Bob & Lisa from the office into Dick Tracy characters once you let your imagination do the walking. Thanks to all you for sharing your insights.
You were linkedA local blogger from Beaumont's newspaper linked your site today. I will be forever gratful! Nevermind I got absolutely nothing done today and instead pored over your site at length. This is truly an awesome site!
This Won't DoOne chubby gal. One chubby guy. 
As an official with the State of California, I say that this does not pass muster.  There was hiring discrimination here.  Walk into any State office and you'll see what I mean.  Not to mention the plethora of Caucasians.
The chubby gal is next to sheet music.  Wonder what this melba toast group was singing?
They're all dead nowJust think ... they all had their youth, their lives, their personalities, and now they are all turned into worm food.  Just a happy thought for Christmas.
No, wait a minute. . . okay, I've changed my mind. Now I like Miss Lookingaway, sitting in the lower left.  Definitely.  She's the one.
Foy
Las Vegas
Oil Can GalThe siren sitting with the oil can is undressing me with her eyes. I'll ignore the fact she is 112 years of age, and let her.
[Guess that explains the oil can. - Dave]
Houdini?The guy on the left side, just above and to the right of the P.D. hat girl....did Houdini make a special appearance?  In any event, he's got a mean set of eyebrows.
And you are correct, Stinky, the girl on the far left by the door is surely a looker!
Lost in the crowdNobody seems to have spotted Hugh Grant peeking out between Stogie Boss and Bald Guy.
Famous facesTo keep Hugh Grant company, fellow British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is peeking out from behind Shirtsleeves.
He is not a crookOh, my gosh. There's Richard Nixon on the upper right (with face partially hidden) just below old boss and crooked-vest guys.
Roxie & Co.I love this picture, and all the comments! Here's my .02:
*Girl with the oil can doesn't want to undress you, she's too in love with herself. You can see it in her eyes; she's a Roxie Hart if I ever saw one. "Eat your heart out, Sophie Tucker."
*I swear I graduated with the girl who has her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She's the one who organizes all our class reunions.
*If I were one of those girls, I'd probably want to date the guy sitting on the desk, right hand side. However, I have a feeling he'd want to "just be friends." So,
*I'd have to go for the one behind Ol' Pennyfarthing. No, not that one, the bald one. Handsome features and sense enough to not put some ridiculous piece of fur on his head.
*Girl leering at our castoff looks like one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Drucilla, I believe.
Office HottieI think the guy looking over the RIGHT shoulder of chubby-stogie dude is hot.  There's something about the eyes that grab me.  And the hint of a smile.
British InvasionNot only Hugh and Rowan - isn't that the actress/singer Patsy Kensit on the left, standing in front of the office door?
Can't Get Over This PhotoI can't get over this picture.  It's my favorite one on Shorpy, which is saying a LOT.  And, it has nothing to do with my collection of high-end Western Electric phones from 1905-1939.
The woman in front, referred to as the "Black Widow," I can't look at her enough.  She surely would get a large kick out of the ruckus she would caused in 2008, unless it bored her as also being commonplace in her own time.  The woman over her left shoulder has movie star looks.
They are on the fifth floor, and I wish I could see the name on the glass door.  Then again, the woman obscuring it may be the one to take home to meet the family, so she can stay.
The finish on the floor is badly worn, as contrasted by the part under the desk.  These fellas were habitually hustling to and fro, and with the feminine charms represented here, it's no wonder.  Office romances must have been all there rage therein.
I have been hoping the Farkers would be all over this one, except they love to specialize in the one-person quirk shots.  I could place the Black Widow in countless situations...
Is this the only picture you have on this stunning group?
[Afraid so. - Dave]
If onlyTterrance had taken this photo! We would know all about it, mystery solved.
I thinkthe mysterious suicidal communist was probably a cleaning lady whom the photographer sort of forced to be in the picture and she's embarrassed to be photographed in shabby clothes and feels naturally out place amongst the staff with whom she's always been subservient. 
She reminds me of Camille Claudel on her way to the madhouse. 
50 Little IndiansThis photo looks like a cast of characters who would end up in an Agatha Christie mystery....and I'm pretty sure I know who did it!
The Officethis picture reminds me of the TV show The Office. Jim is sitting on the desk in the right corner. Pam is all the way to the left in the back row. Michael is the guy with his hand on Jim's shoulder although he should be the bossman with the cigar. Stanley is the guy between the man holding the horse and the man with the cigar. Creed is Mr Leery. Kevin is holding the horse. Dwight is the only guy in glasses. Kelly is the bobbed woman behind the desk with the permanent smile on her face. Meredith is the creepy woman off alone... she's just waiting for her next drink of alcohol. Andy Bernard is the guy to the right in the back with the striped tie. I couldn't decide who Angela was. Ryan is the deer in headlights next to Andy. Phyllis is in the satiny dress to the right. Oscar is right by the right hand edge.
Man I love this picture.
AngelaAngela's sitting on the floor with that big lace collar, giving the stink-eye to Meredith.
Naughty NaughtySome young lady has just done something naughty off screen left. The Leery Boys approve, the Black Widow and Stink Eye don't, and the young lady behind Stink Eye is too drunk to comprehend.
Also, is the bald man by the Christmas tree wearing a traffic signal on his head, set to "Go?"
Somewhere in this crowd must be Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet and Prof. Plum. 
My favorite pictureI and my co-worker check this site at least three times a day. He has never been on the Internet and when he passes by he will invariably ask "Anything new?" Which I know to mean "Anything new on Shorpy?" This Christmas Office Party is our favorite. We both live in Maryland and have seen many of the areas displayed in these pictures. When we scan the Office picture and see the "mob boss" guy with the stogie and the gun in his pants, he does a great Al Capone voice. I hope my posting this comment will bring new fans to
this amazing photo.
Merry Christmas everyone!have a great holiday and prosperous New Year.
Oh Christmas Twig! Oh Christmas Twig!Considering it is 1925 and an urban area they probably had a hard time locating a showpiece Christmas tree. Probably the best they could do was this poor little immortalized twig.
Timeless peopleEver notice how nearly every photo of a large group, from about 1900 on, contains at least one person who looks like he/she could have been photographed in just about any decade, or just the other day?  The lady by the desk behind the pretty  girl with the pearls looks like a teacher at my kids' school! There is nothing about her teeth, hairstyle, makeup, etc., that gives away the fact that she was photographed in 1925 except, of course, for most of the other people in it.
The Timeless DeskI'm still using the exact same desk as the one in the photo; my wife purchased it from McGill university when they replaced the professors' desks in the mid 1960s. 
Oh what funAdolf (second from right at very top) has quite the leer going on. Peter Sellers could imitate him well. Mystery Lady could have been even more beautiful. I imagine her long hair flowing and her prominent features brought out even more with an expert's touch. 
What is Stogie Man carrying, besides his eyeglasses? I also wonder who took this photo. It obviously took some  arranging, with the piling up of people. 
Excellent, almost spellbinding picture! I come here about six times a day just to visit it. I wonder who lived the longest, and what year they all died and how? Yes, I'm a morbid one.
Office A-Go-GoThe gent at the back is, indeed wearing the miniature street signal (it has 4 arms to the signal so not a railway signal) on his head. Firstly, the only thing behind him is a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, certainly nothing that the signal could be perched on. And, secondly, if it was sitting on something, it would not be sitting at the angle it is.
Then and Now  I'm wondering -- in today's world there is usually at least one person at an office party of that size who gets a little too inebriated and winds up making photocopies of their nether parts for distribution to all. Was there a way to do the same thing using a mimeograph machine or whatever other copying technology existed in 1925? Would the tipsy individual first have to draw their naughty bits on some special copy medium? Our grandparents sure had a lot of hardships to deal with. 
At First Glanceand in the zoomed out view, I thought the gent at the far right might be the office troublemaker and that the folks wrapped him up in Christmas lights for his just deserts.  Alas and alack, when you go in for a closer look, it's simply the ravages of time taking their toll on the negative.
[This batch of plates has water damage along one side. - Dave]
The Lady of the Deskjust wandered in from the Sergei Eisenstein film that was shooting on the set next door. She's on a break between takes of the Odessa Steps sequence. 
RE: Oh GreatIf CBS could give us Rudolph, Shorpy can give us Western Electric.
2010 InterpretationsThis year, I think the Black Widow has pretty much just had it with that place.
Stink-Eye isn't looking at the Black Widow. She's disapproving of something messy on the front of the desk.
I can't find Don Draper Nor Joan Holloway, but this sure conjures up thoughts of Mad Men, 45 years earlier. I burst out laughing when my eyes scanned to the guy in the back with the stop and go-go item on his head! Maybe THAT is the flavor of the evening?  More GO than STOP? This is the roaring 20s after all and these are certainly modern women..
Yes, this picture and your readers' comments may be my very favorites to date!
Some Like It Hot The mademoiselle  standing in front of the woman wearing the Policeman's hat could have been Billy Wilder's inspiration for his casting Jack Lemmon in drag.
Another WorldThese people are denizens of another universe that, no matter how many photographs we study or books we read, we will never fully understand because we didn't live in it and never will. 
These are people who knew how to navigate themselves in the distant world of 1925. All of these people were born at the beginning of the last century and were brought up by people from the 19th century. 
If a modern young person were to be suddenly transported here without preparation he would find it completely disorienting and possibly quite frightening, because of so many technological and cultural and social differences between now and then.
Deja vuI loved this picture. 
But the lass in front of the desk, looking stage right, is memorable. I think I've seen this picture before.
Then I noticed the dates of the previous comments. 2208? Surely two years cannot have gone by so quickly.
[To say nothing of the 198 after that! - Dave]
SteamyThere are some SERIOUS sexual crosscurrents and hot vibes in this picture! Amazing!
Slow on the uptakeI'm pretty sure Mr. Semaphore head isn't actually wearing that thing on his head; it's behind him. What is alarming is the second head growing out of his chest. The heads seem to be in agreement to lurk. 
Oh great!Shorpy is doing reruns for the holidays.
Kidding.
Merry Christmas.
Uh-Oh TannenbaumThat's the most bedraggled Christmas tree I've ever seen. It has more tinsel than needles.
An unflattering portraitMy god, this is by far the ugliest group photo I've ever seen! Both girls and guys look like winners from the Walmart Ugly Photo Contest.
Kimono-wearing parrot?With a bouffant, no less? Over there, on the scale!!
The gal with the candy cane, to our left of the much-ballyhooed oil can chick, seems to be presaging late '60s hairstyles.
And yes, the balding dude in the rear with the traffic semaphore on his head wins the covert group-photo clown award in spades.
Sad to SaySo many hotties, so many dorks.
Season's GreetingsHope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, from Walter and all his friends in this, my favorite Shorpy picture.
General Electric Crime FamilyOk, a lot of the men look like mafiosi with the big-lips guy in front being the capo.  The two guys at the right, top, are hit men.
Western Electrical FireI can't believe, in 90+ comments on this remarkable photo, that not one person pointed out the extension cord running from the ceiling light fixture to the tree.  I think the answer to the comment about how and when these folks died is:  a few minutes after this photo was taken, in a horrible electrical fire.
It would be a chore, but could someone pleasecolorize this!
BeautyI love the woman sitting on the floor next to the desk looking away.  At first glance you think; boy she looks tired, and then you look again and you see how beautiful she really is.  She is just stunning.  I also find it interesting with the commentary just how similar our comments in the office were to the ones posted on this site.  We too made up stories about these folks.  I love this photo.  Thanks for sharing it.
I never tire of looking at this one.Always noticing something new, frinstance, 
The object on the scale, seems to have some heft to it based on how far the scale dial has moved, maybe a cast iron toy?
The young fellow on the far right, Candy Cane in his right hand but whats on his left hand? Looks like it's slipped inside of something, a toy holster maybe?
Completion All this tableau requires (perhaps) to make it complete, is a large paper bag on the floor stuffed with goodies, including the obligatory pair of turkey-feet protruding upward in a festive fashion.
Best of the Season to All in the Shorpyverse Continuum!
Secrets never revealedThere is no question that many secret alliances and not-always discreet hook-ups probably took place during and after this festive celebration 86 years ago.  Luckily for those involved, there were no surveillance cameras, cell phone cameras, tape recorders, security guards, texting devices or other pesky snooping devices that could cause the merrymakers a permanent record (and deep lifetime regret) of their missteps.  They were the roaring 20's when people gathered their rosebuds where they may and parties were for having the best time you could have.  I'm betting many of these revelers took their sweet and sordid memories of that night to their graves. 
Another Shorpy Party!I love this photo and we're going to test the limits of the reply counter.  Merry Christmas everyone and have a grand new year!
Lord Almighty!!!It's the butler in the pantry!!!
I have never, ever seen so many guilty people in one photograph.
Unbelievable that it was not staged. But it obviously wasn't.
Wow!!!
My hat!How did she get it?
"Pure horse, Danno. Book 'em."Having just spotted the drug paraphernalia on the left - the scale, the packaging materials, the kimono-wearing parrot - our undercover coppette in mid-pack has whipped out her official police hat and ignoring the cries of "that baggy's not mine!" is about ready to haul the whole gang downtown. A bust like this baby was sure to bump her upstairs and away from all these dreary office parties.
Up to no good?The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can  has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?
Cost of that treeCould not have been more then a dollar in 2011 money
Must have been last minute!!!
The ion DepartmentA quick flip of the door confirms we are in room 504 of the ion Department.
FestivusIts good to see this one again. I just keep looking at the people and see more than a few that would have been great company. I hope everyone, viewers, commenters, Dave and webmaster Ken has a great Holiday Season in the company of friends and loved ones.
She apparently had a good time with my grandpa.As she is my grandma!
"The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?"
3rd rowfrom the top 3rd from the left. I'm in love.
Oh wait.
Party HeartyOoooo -- Roaring twenties office party, bathtub gin. Oooooo -- I think I just threw up in my throat a little bit.
Shorpy Christmas cardIf Dave would produce an annual Shorpy Christmas card I would buy a few boxes, and I'm sure others would as well. Cards with this photo would be seen in every business cubicle in the country and quite a few places around the globe. It says Merry Xmas for me.
So much to read into This picture is as familiar to longtime readers of this blog as our own family photos and as evergreen as that Christmas Tree was before it was cut down. One can imagine so much here, for example that as soon as the photographer finishes with his duties, the Volstead Act will be violated by most of the people in this room (there are a few who look as if they might disapprove), and the usual office party shenanigans will occur, some of which might have consequences in the months to follow even if they all swear that what happens at the Office Party stays at the Office Party.
Al JolsonIs that Al Jolson in front of the "Traffic signal" bald guy?  He's peering out just a bit from behind the guy with the vest and holding his glasses. 1925, the timeline is right. :)
Iconic StatusThis photo has taken on a level of immortality that few others can hope to achieve.  A Photograph for the ages that will always be appreciated and admired.  A Tradition is born! Thanks to Dave and all that visit here; hopefully someday your office pictures will be shown here and we can all marvel at how far we've come in so short a time.
Tiny Tim said it best so I shan't repeat it but that is my wish for one and all. 
Thank you, DaveI hope this re-posting will bring new fans. Merry Xmas,everyone!
Why the oil canThose three objects in front - Maybe just spur-of-the-moment party silliness?
Another year olderI just love this photo. There's so much to analyze. Saw it last year for the first time. Here we all are, another year older. That would include those in the picture, in a macabre sort of way.
Best Christmas Party EverFirst, Dave, you have cured my holiday depression. I found this during a post-Xmas hangover and there are no words. I was instantly addicted to your site. Thank you.
Second, if there is anyone out there with connections to the BAU I would like you to seriously consider imposing yourself on that relationship and get them on it. I'm dying for a more complete story. You must be too if you're reading this. You know who you are. Pick up that phone and give him/her a call.
Not Al JolsonWade in NW Florida: if he looks like anybody of that period, it would most likely be Eddie Cantor, not Al Jolson.
The other 13I have just spent an extremely enjoyable hour reading all the comments reaching back to 2008.  Of the 47 people in the photo, 34 have been commented on.  So what about the other 13?  Six guys in the upper left have been ignored, plus seven gals in the pack.  The most prominent of the abandoned baker's dozen are, to my mind, the two women standing side by side, closest to the tree.  Both have bead necklaces: one tucked in, one on the outside.  They seem neither hot nor cold, neither suicidal nor drunk.  The two of them actually look (dare I say?) like really nice people.
NOW it's the holiday season.....when Shorpy breaks out this holiday classic! I wonder what pop-culture figures of the past year will be likened to our hard-partying crew?
The face that could sink a thousand shipsThe guy holding the cigar, oh man I want to punch his face!
Every yearEvery year when I look at this, I think the same thing: do all those dames hate Desk Woman for the same reason, or different ones?
Lots of single women in that officeNo wedding rings on almost all of them. Perhaps a woman worked until she got married, or at least until she had children - and then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for these ladies to go from office life, with its daily human contact and pleasures (such as this office party) to a few rooms, kitchen and nursery figuring predominantly. My grandmother still reminisced proudly about her work as a lawyer's assistant in the 1920s, way back before she got married, had three children, and spent most of her time in the top floor of a Boston triple-decker for the next 20 years.
Colorized Version Hidden in Plain SightCheck out https://www.shorpy.com/node/11937 for colorized version in Colorized Photos by members. Dave, do I get a prize for finding it? 
Talk About Your Lonely HeartsThis could be the Sgt. Pepper album just before The Beatles stepped into the shot
Par-TAY!I totally wanna party with this crew. I've always loved the Roaring-Twenties era, and the show Boardwalk Empire is doing a great job with the fashions and the music. I think Nucky Thompson needs to sprinkle a little Xmas cheer on this group. Volstead Act be damned!
Young bald guyEvery time I see this, my eyes go to the young, very handsome man who is looking over the shoulder of the rather portly guy on the right side of the photo. Balding men didn't have many options, then, like they do now, but I rather doubt that the premature balding kept all the young ladies away from him! 
I wonder which of these men were veterans of WWI?
At the Ion Department Christmas Party . . .That exotic woman sitting in front of the desk in the lower left STILL seems distracted by something just out of camera, and the woman in front of her is still watching her carefully.
It's a wonderful photo worth our annual holiday attention!
--Jim
Naughty or Nice?This oft-repeated photo is starting to remind me of the traditional holiday tune by Eric Cartman (of South Park fame) singing about the Swiss Colony Beef Log; irreverent but fun.  
What's printed on that document?Dave, can you zoom in on the piece of paper being held by the guy kneeling in the center, right in front of the tree? It's almost as if he's trying to show it to the camera. Thanks!

-------------------------------------
Just a something something
TO WISH
You and Yours
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Division Four Office
1925


Worth a second or third look There are some half dozen ladies in this photo. Like the one right behind the corner of the desk, with the chevron shapes on her dress and the one directly in front of the door on the left that are definitely worth seeing again. 
Merry Christmas Shorpyites!   
Is there anybody out there?Surely one of these people in the photo has a living relative (great grandkids, grandkids, etc) that might be able to shed some light on this photo.
2%Of the 47 people in the photo, only one is wearing glasses.  Did the Ion Department require perfect vision of its workers?
My cueI don't even start listening to Christmas music until I see this picture reheated. It's a classic. 
The Girl with the Curl -- and the candy cane. There once was a girl
with a pretty little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good
She was very, very good
and when she was bad
she was even better! 
Re 2%The cigar smoker on the right in the three-button suit and the gent on his right both are holding eyeglasses, all the more to ratchet up their smashing good looks. Well, maybe just looks. 
What's Left To Say?Besides their clothes and hair dos, two things that I’m glad have changed: The way Christmas trees look and protective coating for hardwood floors. And I’m guessing they had a White Elephant gift exchange, thus the whimsical gifts.
Raise your glassesI'm sure one of our more knowledgeable posters might know better, but I wonder if glasses were removed to prevent unwanted flash effects? 
Could it be?I've looked at this photo for three Decembers now, and I just noticed that the girl sitting behind the girl with the striped blouse, and how much she looks like she could be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother.
Party TimeThe office parties and associated grab bags were created to give us all a chance to regift.
Allow me now to wish all of our Shorpy viewers, creators and commenters a very happy Holiday season. Let us all be well, prosper and keep returning to this wonderful site.
Love this photo....Like so many of you, I love it when this photo is trotted out!  We are so drawn to it and love imagining what this party must have been like, the silly little gifts, the party girls, and those who just wanted it to all be over with so they could get back to work.  
Each year I am struck by the lady behind the one in the striped blouse.  She looks like she could have been in my high school annual from 1970.  Yes, I dated myself there!  Her hair style looks like it could have been from the 1970's, unlike her co-workers with their many finger waves.  Keep posting this one, Dave....truly a classic!
An Evocative PhotographThe romance of old photographs is especially powerful in a picture like this. Studying the faces of what we assume are long departed strangers, we can't help speculating about the nature of their inner lives and how things turned out for them. Who ended up married to someone who made them happy or miserable? Which one(s) got ahead and who descended into poverty? Who died young - and so on? 
With hindsight we know that only a few years after that Christmas party in 1925, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Then World War II winnowed out a great many - how did this group of individuals make out through all those difficult times? There are many such questions which occur to the curious.
This is an extraordinarily evocative photograph. The transience of everything is plain to see in this picture if you notice such things.  
This photois what prompted me to make an account on Shorpy. The first thing that jumped out at me was, is that a man in drag standing with his hand on the young lady's shoulder? The lady in question looks a bit like Drew Barrymore.  
I noticed the indentations between the eyes of many of the men, and realized that they did take their glasses off for the photo, to minimize glare.  No featherweight lenses in those days!
Tales from the Jazz AgeI'd like to take a crack at imagining who some of these people could be --
Oil Can Girl (seated at bottom, center) - Never turns down a chance to cut a rug at a speke.  Very generous with the contents of her hip flask, which in a pinch can supply fuel for her sometime-boyfriend’s Hupmobile.
Desk Girl (seated at bottom, left) - Staring intently at a winged, two-horned leopard and wondering if she should jump up and scream at everybody to run for their lives.
Lace Collar Girl (two left from Oil Can Girl) - Wondering why Desk Girl is staring so intently at the office kitty-cat.
Time Warp Girl - (immediately above Desk Girl) - Up until a few weeks ago was a liberal arts major at an Ivy League university in the year 1969, then stumbled through a time portal into 1925.  Decided to stay and get a job because, well, things are a lot less crazy here.
Starlet Girl - (above and to the right of Time Warp Girl) - Avid reader of Photoplay, Picture-Play, Screenland, Movie Weekly, Movie Mirror, and lots more.  Passionately believes that her good looks could bring her fame in Hollywood, if only she could manage to stop tossing money away on magazines and save up for the train fare.
Hat Girl (immediately above Starlet Girl) - Took a few slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, now having trouble remembering her name.
Trashed Girl (immediately to the right of Hat Girl) - Took even more slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, but still conscious enough to realize that if she stops leaning on the girl below her, she’ll tumble to the floor.
Handsome Guy (standing in the back, left side, farthest left) - All the office girls have swooned over him at one time or another.  Been engaged six times, but it always breaks off when he tells his bride-to-be that his mother will be living with them.
New Pretty Girl - (third from left, standing) - Just started work this past month.  Soon to be Handsome Guy’s next ex-fiancee.
Wow, this is way too long already.  Anyway, you get the idea.  This is fun!
White Elephant Gift ExchangeI going with a White Elephant Gift Exchange for an Office Christmas Party.  It explains the goofy gifts and the attire.  Some of the exchanged presents still have tags on them.
No one seems to have noticedbut the shy guy in front of GO GO is none other than Irving Berlin, on a guided tour of the Western Electric facility and already evidencing the reclusiveness of his later years. At uppermost left, we have the mustachioed miscreant looking disdainfully at those beneath him, which is everyone. And finally, we have Grishkin at lowermost right left, a handsome woman whose lean and hungry look hath a troubled aspect not customarily associated with holiday gatherings (apart from those with family members present). She seems to have wandered in from one of those Russian plays that Ira Gershwin makes reference to.
All of which can only mean one thing - it's Christmas time here at Shorpy's. Greetings and salutations to all!
Times they don't changeThe women definitely place this picture in time by their clothes and hair. The men, especially the back row, center in photo, remind me of my father's photos of the late 1950's. It's all quite timeless.
Hey, long time listener, first time caller!I wonder if camp Pierce Brosnan (top row, far left) found the Ion Deptartment accepting of his flamboyant wonderfulness.
Festive DressThe bald gentleman in the back has the best holiday hat I have ever seen, the festive Go Go hat atop his bald head. 
We need those names!The spectacular Massafornian colorized image should have some labels for the people in it.
So, here we go.
(Gimp and Python/PIL scripts did the job)
Thanks for the MemoriesThank you for publishing this picture again this year. It just doesn't seem right to not have these wonderful people wishing all of us a Merry Christmas. I wish all of the Shorpy readers and the Admins a Merry Christmas also.
Merry Christmas!I'm a faithful reader of Shorpy, have been for over 10 years now, since I joined up. Every year, I always look forward to the Shorpy Office Xmas Party picture. I don't know what it is; maybe it's the continuity of it. We know every year we'll see it, and every year we'll get to talk about new fictions we've created for the people therein. It's such great fun.
Re Office StoriesNice commentary!  You really bring life to this party.
Glad for TradIt's truly a fun Shorpy-looker tradition to view this pic large and spend an hour time traveling and reading the comments. Hope everybody had a Groovy Solstice yesterday. Happy Holidays!
Hair dressersWho did the hair styles back then, terrible......
Sic transit ursusI love the Shorpy Christmas party! This guy still startled me when I spied him on the floor, despite the fact that I commented on him FIVE YEARS AGO. 
Dean NorrisAh, it wouldn't be Christmas without this delight from Shorpy!
The guy behind the big boss's left shoulder looks like a sightly younger version of actor Dean Norris. According to IMDB, Dean Norris was born in 1962 or 1963, but if this post on Shorpy is any guide, he's at least 100 years old.  Is he pretending to be younger than he really is?  And what's the secret of looking so young?
Cheers!Thanks for posting again, this is one of my favourite pictures on Shorpy. Some odd Barnets going on with some of the women though...I'd love to know if there was a gramophone at this party and if so, what the playlist was.
Tradition I can almost hear Tevya, singing the song in "Fiddler On The Roof", but not quite. It is of course the Holiday Season, office parties and good will to men and of course women. It is time for us Shorpy Junkies to wish each other the best of the season. Good health, prosperity and peace to all. Thanks to our Hosts Dave and  Ken and to our  interlocutor terrace for their grand efforts.
G-manI had to do ctrl-f for all three pages, and I'm amazed that no one to date has identified J. Edgar Hoover standing in the front row, cigar butt in hand, between vest-and-watch chain guy and three-piece suit guy. I can't believe I didn't notice him when I first commented three years ago.
Time for a Shorpy Xmas party!I think we are overdue to have one where we all meet and discuss THIS picture (because with 150 comments, we clearly have a lot on our minds about this W.E. holiday soiree).
Merry Christmas ShorpyitesMerry Christmas to one and all, fans of the photos posted in Shorpy. Thanks to Dave and everyone who helps out with the site.
I hope the new year is good to all and everyone will be back next Christmas to view Xmas Party.
I've been a member for 3 years, 2 days and anonymous for several before that I think.
What's with the oil can?I understand the Teddy Bear and little house in the front of the photo.  But what is the significance of the Christmas Oil Can?
[Yet another beloved Christmas legend inspired by this photo. -tterrace]
Do they know?The standing gal, 3rd from the left, and the kneeling gal (center and one row back) both have the same necklace on (7 little cascading chains ending in a pearl).  I think that the boss-man, J. Edgar Hoover (on the right with the cigar), is having an affair with both of these gals and he gave them both the same necklace. He thinks it's really funny and smiles when he sees them together; his own little private joke!  I wonder if the gals know and are just playing him for whatever they can get? We will never know for sure.
Modern Woman+89
One must wonder if oiling the bear will make the Yuletide bright?
Thanks again!This is now my official notification that the Xmas season has begun. The Office Party re-post.
Threadbare BoughsNow I know where Charlie Brown got his tree. Merry Christmas everyone!
Hours and hoursI, like so many others here, have spent hours with this image. I'm always drawn back to the woman in the lower left. She's always struck me as the office outcast trying to get out of the picture. The woman to the right of her, with the lace collar, looks like her boss giving her the stink eye for not participating.
Roaring Twenties!Thanks for this flash-back, Shorpy!
Love the very mysterious Lady on the left...
and still dislike that pompous guy with the cigar. 
Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets, moose... and a hippo gnu year!
I have to askDoes "Office Xmas Party" have the largest amount of comments?
[That record might be held by Our Lady of Lourdes School. Another much-commented post was The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
FinallyShorpy's annual "Office Xmas Party" has arrived! There's my guy standing in the back row, far left still waiting for me. Swoon.
Happy Holidays, Shorpyites! 
And thank you, Dave, for all that you do.
Re 2%, and Raise your glassesI think glasses were considered unattractive. I remember lots of members of this generation (my grandparents') or the next who would whip off their glasses whenever someone raised a camera. 
Tough Day At The Office?The best part about these office parties are the grab bags. It's always the best way to regift. Other than that, I hope Dave, Ken, tterace and all our outstanding commentators and readers have a wonderful holiday and a healthy prosperous New Year.
Must have been a heck of a partyAll the way in the back is a tall bald man with a traffic signal on his head! That's better than a lampshade. The body language between the woman on the far left and the woman to her right who is glaring at her is really very sad. You wonder what sort of ugliness was going on behind the scenes. The lady looks like she's been crying a bit. Who knows. It's fascinating to see such a candid photo none the less. 
An oilcan!Now I know the perfect gift to get for all my co-workers. Merry Christmas Shorpy nation. 
I look forward to these people each yearThey've become familiar yet remain interesting.  As I said years ago, we're testing the counter on this one.
Merry Christmas fellow Shorpyites and wish a grand New Year!
It was ninety years ago today ...... and the photo never ceases to give.
The fun is overOkay, we had our Christmas celebration, now everyone back to your desks and let's finish out the day at 5:00.
The lucky onesDue to the magic of photography, this happy group has been celebrating now for ninety years.  If you enlarge the picture and study their faces and demeanors, you may get some insight into their characters and personalities in 1925.  After seeing this photo for many Christmases on Shorpy, I almost feel that I know some of them as well I know my own friends.  Merry Christmas to all, especially the Shorpy staff.
What are we missing?Great photo, been seeing it for years now, but I always wonder what else was going on? People are looking left, right, straight, up, down. What was going on out of frame? That lady in lower left looks ready to bolt, especially with the other lady looking on concernedly. If this was a Halloween photo, the massacre would be about to begin.
I've been ill, and maybe delirious...
Spooky Lady of Christmas PastI remain endlessly curious regarding the woman with her back to the desk.  
Spooky and haunting, amid all the fascinating characters in this classic shot, she is The One.
Department Name for Room 504Western Electric Company
Installation Department
5th Floor
1319 F Street
Washington DC
(From the 1925 Washington City Directory)
This department installed Central Office equipment (testboards, operator switchboards, signaling equipment, etc) supporting both local and long distance telephone service. 
Google street view has an office building that looks old enough to be our Christmas Office party location. Perhaps another Shorpyite can add the street view for us.
[It was built in 1913. Interestingly enough, it's just one building away from Harris & Ewing, another source of many Shorpy photos. -tterrace]

Merry Christmas, George BabbittThe guy on the right, in front, with the grand forehead, holding the stogie, reminds me of Sinclair Lewis's protagonist in "Babbitt" (1922):
"He was the modern business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His head suddenly appeared not babyish but weighty, and you noted his heavy, blunt nose, his straight mouth and thick, long upper lip, his chin overfleshy but strong; with respect you beheld him put on the rest of his uniform as a Solid Citizen."  
Room 504Flip the photo horizontally, and you will see that we are on the 5th floor.  Who can guess the "department" we are in?
Now it is Christmastime for sureI couldn't truly celebrate Christmas without seeing this picture again. It must be after Thanksgiving or Shorpy would not have posted it. Any comments I could make about this picture would only be a pale response to all the previous comments. It just makes me try to think what an office Christmas party like this must have been compared to a modern day party. I look forward to this picture every year for some crazy reason.
294408That's how many people have called up this photo.  Over a quarter million!  And this isn't YouTube.  What an amazing picture.  What an amazing site.  Merry Christmas to all my Shorpy comrades and a huge thank-you to Dave and tterrace for all they do to bring this amazingness to us every day.
YuletideI heard Springsteen singing about Santa on my way to work, and now I see this. It is truly Christmastime now.
Oh, Beautiful Lady in the Lower Left......let me unwrap that bear for you, before your nearby friend gets more worried that you're not having any fun.
DoppelgangerThe young woman framed in the door on the left looks remarkably like today's woman who was a business partner of mine.
Nothing but the best at Shorpy!!Thanks for this expected post!
Never noticed this beforeThe men's jackets have creases running the length of the arms. I wonder if this was a customary thing for "the office" or typical treatment "of the times" for pressing? Perhaps this treatment was typical only of a worsted fabric?
P. D. Police Dept.I keep being intrigued by the one and only joker in the crowd, our lady with the "P.D. Police ...." hat. There must be another word after "Police," I suppose it is just "Dept."
Marching In PlaceSeeing this picture so many times tells me that I'm growing older but these celebrants  have become ageless. Along with that piece of wisdom allow me to add my Seasonal Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah Past and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all. Of course we are all in the debt of Dave,Ken and tterrace (who may or may not be on the Payroll) for their addictive posts, explanations and comment rebuttals. 
From NYC, where the Christmas Eve Fahrenheit is forecasted at 72º.
Mel
[tterrace is salaried, deals in a service and is bigger than a bread box. -John Charles Daly]
Life of the partyMy best guess for "life of the party" status goes to the lady in front with elf buckles on her shoes. I love this image- there so much detail and depth of relational perspective. 
Afterlife Office PartyThis photograph has become a holiday tradition for me, as anticipated as my Christmas eve tradition of baking cookies, wrapping gifts and gently placing a dish towel under Uncle Trouble's chin so he doesn't drool on his good shirt after passing out on the couch. 
Scanning the full-screen photo, I wonder if a small corner of the afterlife might be populated by tenants doomed to spend eternity at a perpetual office Christmas party for some workplace sin like stealing lunches from the office fridge, pilfering office supplies, or failing to replace paper or toner in the printer. I can picture Dickensian clarks with ink-stained fingers forever mingling over paper-cupped eggnog with 60's swinging secretaries, Old Kingdom robed Egyptian scribes trimming the tree with bored mid-level Qing Dynasty bureaucrats, and that impenetrable knot of young IT guys and gals speaking in that techno-babble, side-eyeing the boss, forever giggling.
I imagine the mirthless rounds of the eternal white elephant gift exchange: the Take Me to the River-singing fish going round and round and round the conference table ad infinitum. I can see the everlasting greasy pile of stale taquitos, timeless sips from the bottle of booze hidden in the file cabinet, Starbucks Christmas Jazz CD playing in an endless loop -- the horror.
Goober Pea
UpdatedUsing John J's sleuthing on the location of this office, I recently ventured there to see if any resemblance to the photo remains.  I got as far as the only door in the hall on that floor. Nothing appeared to remain.
Seek and ye shall find .  . . GO!TimeAndAgainPhoto, that's a great job of investigating one of our Shorpy.com favorites, but I'm convinced that if you'll just badge your way into that office, you'll find a fellow in there with a traffic signal on his head.
I hope so, anyway.
Re: Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!Jim Page - I had to badge my way past security and up the elevator before I was stopped by the secured door.
Those were the daysI really do miss the office Christmas parties from my working years which gave us an opportunity to meet, greet and schmooze with people we hadn't seen in 20 minutes.  Merry Christmas to all, rejoice and be glad.
Every Year and I am Still Captivated But I Don't Know WhyThanks Dave, I'm still enjoying this for some reason I don't understand, and I'm still curious about the front and center oil can.
SNL Time Traveler?That person standing directly to the left of the tree is either a time-traveling, cross-dressing Pete Davidson from SNL or his Great Grandmother worked at Western Electric Group in 1925!
Shorpy - I look forward to this picture every year and am a regular viewer of your site.  Even have a couple of large prints on my walls at home, with another coming soon!
Thanks for this site - it's one of the pleasures of my day!
Yuletide.I love seeing this picture every year. As do my co-workers. Thank you.
I have seen this picture for six (I believe) years nowBut today, today there is a new face, one I instantly recognize, that I would swear was not there in any previous year.
I once found my wife's doppleganger (Trackless Trolley) in one of these pictures.  Today, I find my youngest daughter, Cecilia (16); she's poking her face out between the 2nd and 3rd fully visible women on the left side of the photo (their right) from the tree.
Ok, it's spooky Dave.... but I'm starting to believe someone has a time travel machine, and everyone but me in my family is using it.
P.D. clocheWonder what she's hiding under that hat?
It's timeThis picture (and the myriad comments) are so entertaining, I sometimes search for it when I'm feeling low, even in July!  I especially love Oil Can Sally's come hither look.
I amost know these peopleMy Great-Great Grand uncle was Dan Richardson, a senior accountant for Western Electric in the New England/Northeast US area. He certainly visited Washington D. C. during his time with Western Electric, and would have met and worked with one or more of the people in this photo.
Odd to think I could, via relatives, have been introduced to these people.
This is my first ChristmasI see 26 men, 21 women and hundreds of possibilities.
Oh My GoodnessI had no idea it was so close to Christmas. We really need to finish the baking...
Old Friends From The OfficeAre like warm Gluehwein to heat the cold heart at Christmas.
Merry Christmas my Shorpyite friends and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially Dave who keeps all of us in memories. [updated]
Phyllis Diller"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
QuorumThis picture puts the "mass" back in Christmas.
Sturdy DesksI guess the nine guys head and shoulders above everyone else are standing on two or three of these desks. Curious as anyone about the office relationships and the lady sitting in front of the desk. My eighth year of wondering and guessing about this picture.
The scraggly looking treein the picture most probably was bought with donations from some of the people in this picture.
Older Shorpyites will no doubt remember the single set of lights on the tree.  The lighting "outfit" was an inexpensive 8 light series set, with C-6 miniature based bulbs.  When a bulb burned out, it was time to hunt for it with a good one...unscrewing every bulb in the set until it was found.
I remember helping my grandmother do just that.  For some reason, the C-6 series set was always at the top of the tree.  Grandma would get up on a stool, with me holding the good bulb, and switching it one by one until the set lit.
Wonderful times.  Timeless memories.
What Are They ThinkingI've enjoyed this picture year after year, and like many who had suffered through office parties, I often thought what goes through their minds.
Click to enlarge.

Lady in the foregroundI've also wondered (several years in a row) about the lady with her back to the desk. The thing that really stands out to me, is her hair. As far as I can tell, she has her hair swept back in a bun, which is clearly very old-fashioned compared to all the bobbed and shingled ladies in the office.
I know this is a bit far-fetched but her clothes and hair suggest to me that she wasn't an office worker, as they give the impression of having less money to spend on herself. I wondered if maybe she was the office cleaner/ tea lady who was called in to be part of the photo?
It could explain why she seems a bit distant from all the others in the group.
It's here!  It's here!The Shorpy Christmas Cheer office party picture is here!  Smack dab in the middle of Prohibition, the gang at Western Electric make merry with two or three hundred stories or thoughts about what the heck was going on in their heads!  
My favorite is the seductress "oil can" Sally with her bathtub-gin induced come-hither gaze!
Merry Christmas!
#UsTooI bet if those girls had a voice today there would be some explaining to do.
Night Before ChristmasWhen what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a company Christmas calendar, the same as last year.
Season's GreetingsThis is simply the greatest captured moment in the history of office photography!
Nothing puts me in the spirit like --this pic, a glass of egg nog and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on a loop! Merry Christmas all!!
The distant gazeAs fun as it is, I think we're way overthinking the motives of the 5 or so "looking away" women.  Yes, even the comment-generating pair of the sultry one in the lower left corner and the one sitting to her left who appears to be staring her down.  It was evidently fashionable for many decades for women to "look into the distance" for a portrait photograph, and I think that's all they're doing here.  My theory is that this practice started as a way to prevent the "zombie eyes" effect of the exposure capturing the blink after the flash.  My mother always did it, even when I implored her to look at my camera with everyone else.
That GirlIn the middle front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
[Nursery rhyme by Longfellow. - Dave]
Every yearI feel sorrier than the year before for the one sitting on the floor with her back to the desk.  She looks like she is just waiting for the party to be over so she can throw herself out the window.   
Reminds me of "The Office"I can find the whole cast from Dunder-Mifflin -- Michael, Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute, Stanley, Kevin, Angela, and Phyllis. 
Let's danceHey, did anyone remember to bring their Lasses White albums?
ClaireThis pretty gal looks exactly like my wife.  I just printed out the image and am going to show her tonight.  
Work or PleasureIs the machine on the desk at the right (above the In Box) a record player brought in? A radio? Or is it merely some office device like maybe a phone-related routing/switchboard machine?
Also, wingtips apparently were in style.
Sure SignOf the Season: this picture on Shorpy (Thanks, Dave) and "A Christmas Carol" on TCM.  All the best to all wherever ye might be!
Ghosts of Christmas pastIt really is curious that we can scrutinize a picture like this every year and each time we notice something different that we did not notice before.  This year, while observing enlarged close-ups of these people's faces, I see resemblances to many of my own acquaintances, friends and public figures and one can almost even determine the personality and attitude of each person. I think the young lady standing on the extreme left, second row, closest to the door, looks like a younger Martha Stewart. I also know that these happy holiday office parties are quickly disappearing due to the current lawsuits involving harassment, etc. so the people of my generation (old fossils) can move into the history books with them and just remember how it "used to be" and know it will never be again.
This festive group gets a prime spot in that chapter and exemplifies what it was like, for better or for worse.  Party on kids, 'til the end of time.   
The BossThe one sure thing about this photo is who the boss is, probably flanked by his second in command to his right.
Ion Dept. XmasI have followed this wonderful Xmas photo for years but have never commented, till now.  I always wondered what I might say, since so much has been said.  But what really made me start this year -- the thing I’d never really noticed before – the new thing! – is that guy (head) craning behind the Xmas tree.  Compared with all the other people, he’s really only half there, penciled in, lacking in the vibrancy and heft of every other person. So I guess my comment is:  Merry Xmas, Ion Tree guy!  (And Merry Xmas to all my Shorpy sisters and brothers, and of course to our all-puissant but beneficent overlords, Dave and tterrace, who make this daily joy available to us all.)
[Or maybe Ion Guy is just tinseled in. - Dave]
Was the Electric Company a Communist Front?Psychodramas?  How about it looks like Alger Hiss and Whitiker Chambers’ cousins were exchanging Christmas gifts in Washington in 1925.  Alger’s stands to the left and Whitiker’s to the right—significant?  Whitiker’s cousin looks like someone socked him on the forehead and Alger’s has a smile on his face.

[Ahem. Whittaker, not "Whitiker." - Dave]
That Temptress!All these folks saying they see something new each year -- nuts. I first laid eyes on the beauty behind the oil can, what -- a decade ago now? And she has had me in her spell ever since. It is now officially Christmas season for me.
I'm busy here!You Shorpyites who fantasize about folks from over 90 years ago -- How strange you are.
And all your blather is distracting me from my mission of saving the saintly Love of My Life whose shoulder had been latched onto by the Evil Witch with no opposable thumb ...
I must complete this pesky time machine before Christmas.
Holiday RomanceI see that its time to renew my holiday romance. Every year I fall in love with the young lady the farthest to the left. Brings warmth to my heart, of course, I don't dare tell my wife.
Season's Greetings!I look forward to this picture every year. I like that it's been a running thing here for so long, because I see it as a way to bind all us Shorpyites together. No matter where we live, how old we are, what we're doing in our lives, we can all stop here and comment on this picture, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. Thank you, Dave, for providing that for us. 
I wish all of you that read this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2019 be the year you've been waiting for.
Hip FlasksEven the Bear won't tell, but, I am sure the oil can will.
1925! Prohibition! Almost every woman had one and, I am sure, that there may be a few here. 
Maybe, that's why Gladys sitting with the Bear and oil can, is smiling knowingly?
Even the person who introduced Prohibition had a still in his basement.
"It was 93 years ago today" Happy Christmas, John! Happy Christmas, Yoko!...Esther, Mary, Eugenia, Mabel, Nellie, Ida, Clara, Edith, Winifred, Maude, Violet, Gladys, Daisy,Doris, Agatha, Gertrude, Elspeth, Velma, Thelma, Myrna, Hortence...
The LevelingTo paraphrase William Makepeace Thackeray "It was in the reign of President Calvin Coolidge, that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."
Most popular galMy favorite - Oil Can Sally - has three gag gifts displayed.  That probably makes her the most popular woman in the office. In addition, her provocative smile suggests a hangover was in her future!
Still GOGO after all these yearsI love the bald guy just visible in the back row with the traffic signal "ballanced" perfectly on the top of his head. Very steady!
It sounds crazy... but I swear the bear moved a bit since last year.
That old gang is back!The Christmas Party Picture is back!  I'd actually forgotten about it, so a quick check of Shorpy was the most welcome way to end my Friday.  The week to come will reveal new snarks about these buddies of ours, and I look forward to that.  Thank you, Shorpy!
Those EyesThe beauty sitting against the desk gets me every year. She looks exhausted.
My Favorite TraditionI don't post a lot of comments, but I check the site every day to see what's new and to read what *other* people have said. This is probably one of my favorite posts on this site because it's great to go back through the years of comments and read people's observations about the image, maybe see if someone has come up with something new. I hope we keep seeing this picture on the Friday before Christmas until the heat death of the universe. It would be a lovely constant.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Shorpy. I hope it's filled with love, contentment, and joy.
If you like this photo ...You loved the Shorpy.com postcard you just received!!!
When mine came in the mail, my wife said, "Do you know those people?"
OF COURSE I DO!!!
Find the BossI just love the way he stands there holding his cigar.  You can almost hear him barking out orders in a very Edward G. Robinson-ish voice.
This reminds me of --That photo in "The Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel.  These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy traditionEvery year when I see the office party pic, my eyes always wind up gazing into the sideways glance of that beauty in front of the desk.
I cant help imagining what the conversations of the day were, who brought a flask full of illegal libations, was jazz coming from a tube type radio, did everyone get a little Christmas bonus (it was the roaring 20's mind you), and who has a crush on who?
Dave, thanks for all you do. Shorpy is a constant in my day.
Be well everyone!  
I guessed the right number of buttons in the jarMerry Christmas!
The Shorpy Ion Dept.A crazy thought occurred to me this year with respect to this beloved standard photograph: what if it were not the Ion Dept. from 1925 but the Shorpy regular contributors from 2019?  Which one is Dave?  Where is tterrace?  And what about so many of the devoted Shorpsters (in no special order) – Jim Page, fanhead, TheGeezer, PhotoFan, Baxado, BethF, TimeAndAgainPhoto, Vintagetvs, OTY, Solo, Jeb70, switzarch, DaveA, JennyPennifer, rhhardin, pennsylvaniaproud, JohnHoward, kines, loujudson, lindab, Jano, StefanJ, jimmylee42, Hayslip, rivlax, Mattie, joemanning, Born40YearsTooLate, GarandFan, mountainrev, perpster, Dbell, Doubleclutchin, Root 66, KathyRo, archfan, GlenJay, alexinv, karenfryxell, Gooberpea, Angus J, 510Russ, Michael R, Brett, BillyB, bobzyerunkl, Alex, jsmakbkr, Marchbanks, Commishbob, Jimmy Longshanks, DoninVa, mgolden, Alonzo, Dag, Juan de la cruz, bobstothfang, Ice gang, Rute Boye, Vonderbees, Ad Orientem, MacKenzie Kavanaugh, JazzDad, Maniak Productions, EvenSteven, Doghouse Riley, John.Debold, Sewickley, Paul A, and jd taylor.  And let’s not forget some of the people we haven’t seen for a while: stanton_square, aenthal, Mr Mel.  (My apologies to those I have not listed.)  Best of the season to you all, my fellow Shorpsters!
Who's WhoDavid K - Dave runs the joint, so he's the three piece with the cigar.  TTerrace is his major player on this site, so he is the guy looking over Dave's left shoulder.  Now we just need someone to post a picture with numbers, and we label them.
Maligayang Pasko all.
Re:Shorpy Ion Dept@davidk, I'm the one peeking from behind the Christmas tree.
I hope everyone in the Shorpy pantheon enjoys all the holidays!
Postcards From The EdgeWhen I got mine, I literally jumped for joy seeing the people that I love and cherish so much. Now I can look at them anytime throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
And, thank you to DAVIDK for the mention.
[@davidk, I would be the guy with the object upon his head]
Our own office partyI love seeing this photo every year and thanks to davidk for the guest book entries of our office.  Top of the season everyone!
Still HereEvery time I see this picture I think that these people could have been my mom or dad.The time and ages represented are almost perfect. It reminds me of aunts and uncles and family friends who are long gone although I will never forget them. I just turned 80 years old this past July and can remember a lot of people who would have been right at home in this picture. Thank you davidk for including me in your list of people who have liked this picture in the past and a big Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace for maintaining the site. 
This one never gets oldHow is it that an old picture never gets old?  Every year, I always notice something new that I hadn't noticed before.  This year it's the guy with the beard, hiding behind the tree.
Also, the woman just above and just to the left of the woman in the striped blouse (her left, that is) - could that be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother?  I see a definite resemblance.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love itI love this photo.   The expressions, the faces.  Some of the women are quite attractive. The man with his hand draped across the shoulder of another man is interesting.
Office desk sultry beautyI wonder why the dark hair beauty is staring off to the side?  Was she jilted?  Was she sick of the many advances by the suited men, or despondent that the one she wanted got away.   Why does the women in the RBG collar stare at her?  Does she know what happened?
I love the captions from another commenter. 
Michael ScottIf Michael Scott were the manager of this office, I wonder if he would have said (as he did 85 years later on the TV show), "Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for these people and they freak-out. Well happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame."
Merry Christmas, Shorpy! And for the record, I don't consider this a lame birthday party, and I doubt Jesus would, either.
Bal MasqueNinety-five years later, if there even would be a party! With an added suspense -- what does Hermione look like, under that mask?
Socially DistantWould they have believed it had someone told them that in 95 years their photograph would be the highlight of 2020 for a group of remote observers?
Merry and BrightThis photo has become the official kickoff of the holidays for me.
Best wishes to all the Shorpy regulars and particularly those who keep this place running. 
Neither here nor thereEach year my attention is drawn immediately to the three beauties at the bottom left of the photo: sultry beauty far left floor level, looking off to her right at someone/something off camera; the lady to that lady's left who seems to be watching her with deliberate intent; exquisite beauty just behind the desk corner, beheld with what appears to be fond regard by the lady just behind her to her left; and wholesome beauty smiling behind exquisite beauty, being kept tabs on by the lady in the Police Department helmet. 
I do eventually get past these women, to study the remainder of visages and postures and wonder about the other long-dead revelers of both genders, but it is these six who take up most of my time each year as I wonder what might have been the complexities of the various relationships. And as always, I hope each one in the photo had a Merry Christmas that year and many years after. I know that the likelihood is slim to none that all lived long and were carefree throughout, but that's still what I wish for in this suspended moment that so many have celebrated for so long, thanks to Shorpy.
So a Merry Christmas to beloved Shorpy and its erudite, esteemed company of gazers no less fascinating than any who attended Office Xmas Party: 1925.
Thanks Again Dave and Merry ChristmasThanks again Dave, I've been waiting for it.  Obviously, we all love this yearly Christmas "surprise".  I enjoy everyone's take on this party I missed awhile back.
Questions, questionsEvery year I wonder.
What is that thing on the postal scale?  A misplaced elf? A misshapen magus?
Why is that woman with the oil can looking at me?  Am I safe?
And why is the Christmas tree so scrawny?
Merry Christmas Dave!And to all the crew at Shorpy!  Thanks for the memories and keeping some of us sane in 2020!
What I want for ChristmasI don't care what it is, I want one.
[Update, thanks to all the gizmo identifiers. I love tape dispensers! Now I really want it!]
Nothing stops this partyOh, thank goodness the Shorpy party is still on!  It's the only event the pandemic cannot cancel!
Judging youDon't know what got into her holiday spirit. Not too pleased with someone.
Re: tterrace What I want for ChristmasIt's a gummed tape dispenser, similar to this one:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-ornate-cast-iron-...
She of the averted gazeI know that we enjoy interpreting what is in - or not in - this photograph each year.   However, eight people, including "she of the averted gaze" are looking in that direction, suggesting something was going on while the picture was taken, sufficient to distract.   A further basis for interpretation and speculation, perhaps?    Merry Christmas.   
Only one bow tieAmong all those Windsor knots on the gents, third on upper right.  In group after group they are always in the minority, even until today.
Going to a Go-GoNothing says Christmas like a  Go-Go party hat.
That machineMay be a gummed tape applicator.
National Package Sealer model #206
Do they know?Do you think the two women wearing the exact same necklace (dripping pearls) suspect that it might have come from the same man? Are the pearls from the handsome young gentleman with the pen sticking out of his pocket? Is this an early version of "The Bachelor" that we are witnessing? Which one will he choose?
Austerity Christmas?From the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to the lack of any visible food or drinks (except for a few candy canes) to the blank, unimpressed looks on some faces, it looks like an Austerity Christmas in Anytown this year.
Well, Merry Christmas TermiteYou can probably still find one somewhere.  It's an automatic wetter and cutter for wide, brown packing tape. You just mash down on the handle and it shoots out a measured length of wet sticky tape and cuts it when you release. There is a messy water reservoir up front. I used one in a shipping department in 1974.
Buddha Bear!Puts in his once a year appearance.
Merry Christmas to Dave & Ken & tterrace and all the naughty boys & girls at Shorpy!
Nice $-value todayThat horse that guy in front of Christmas tree is holding. All with bit of wear and patina collected in 95 years.
Another yearWe all get another year older and they stay the same.
Five groupsPart of the endless fun with this photo is deciding which part of it to center as the embiggened image on my screen.  I fluctuate between the five main Ion Dept. groups: on the left, the ladies on the floor, the ladies standing, and the men standing above them, and on the right, the lower men and the upper men. (If I had to distinguish a special sub-group, it would be solo guy behind the tree and the fellow on the very far right who hovers between the upper and lower groups.)  Once I have the group du jour embiggened, I focus on the individual characters.  As we who have been doing this for years well know, that’s when the fun begins.
Might I take this opportunity to offer the best of the season to Dave and Ken and tterrace and all my fellow Shorpsters.  In this extraordinary year of greater screen time than ever before, I find that my Shorpy screen time is even more intense and valuable, if such a thing is actually possible.  Bless Shorpy, and bless you all.
Elbow to elbowEvery year I have a different response to this photograph, depending on general mood and the state of the world.  This year, I truly envy those people.  They get to stand together in a bunch, breathing one another’s air, touching each other casually, sharing food and drink, simply going in to work at an office.  They all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Happy holidays to all the people who create and enjoy this wonderful website that gives me joy and perspective on a daily basis.
Re: Elbow to elbowI must concur. Having spent nine months wearing a mask, practically bathing in hand sanitizer every time I touch anything, and staying as far removed from people I don't live with as humanly possible, I'm jealous of these long-dead coworkers for being able to crowd together, enjoying one another's company in person, rather than over Zoom or FaceTime.
It's been a bad, bad year, there's no denying that, but Shorpy has been a bright spot in my day since January, much as I'm sure it's been for the rest of you. Happy Holidays to all the Shorpyites out there — may you find some contentment and peace in the face of all this tragedy and come out the other side hale and hearty.
That Time of Year AgainThrough the miracle of photography and our friends at Shorpy, we are able to visit this party again.  
A Vintage CrumpleAfter all these annual viewings I finally noticed what looks like a lone crumpled piece of paper at lower right. We'll never know what was on it. Maybe a dig at one of these people? Or love note? Ah, the mysteries!
Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at once!Every year I wonder about the dark-haired smiling young woman third from the front, beside the desk. With her modern-looking bob, she looks like a Time Traveler, so that's what I've named her. (Not far away are The Maniac, Da Boss, and The Very Secret Lovers.) This photo, along with its subjects, never gets old, and I hope the Holiday Spirit that originally inspired it never does either. Happiest of Holidays to everybody who produces and sees Shorpy, and a New Year of peace, love, courage, and good health to all.
12 Years of ChristmasMerry Christmas Shorpy.  Thanks for the memories.
[This is Shorpy's 14th Christmas! - Dave]
PerspectiveThey all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Thanks, jdtaylor--I'm sure I'm not the only one who needed that perspective today.
Happy holidays to Dave and all the Shorpyites. This site has been a great distraction lately!
Time to Move OnI vote that next year you post the 1926 photo. Some of the lingering issues must have been resolved by then.
The X-mas Party Presents!And here you may have a look on how Christmas looked 100 years ago in the U.K. (including a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater).
Mysterious machineNow that the gummed tape dispenser has been identified, I hope someone will be able to reveal the secret of the machine on the desk behind the in-box. A perforator or a mimeograph machine perhaps?
[It's called a typewriter. - Dave]
Dead ringer, etc.At the very back and far left - the attractive woman 3 in - I have a friend who looks exactly like her but with a more modern hair style, but identical facial features. How eerie!
Something tells me that Oil Can Mary's wicked smile indicates that she is already planning what flapper attire she will wear at the local speakeasy that night. Her future toast might be: "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!" Published in 1920. Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I often wonder what became of all these people. It is my hope that they all lived long, happy, prosperous lives but alas, as we know, life can be more complicated than that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you ghosts of Christmas past!
The only Christmas party I'll go to.Merry Christmas to Dave and the Shorpy Crew, as well as my fellow Shorpy followers. It appears that I've been around for 12.5 of the 14 years of Shorpy.com, though it seems like yesterday and DoninVa no longer lives in Va. There's always something to be found in a Shorpy photo: the young woman framed in the glass of the door is the doppelganger for someone I once worked with. Cheers!
Newcomer To The PartyAfter viewing Shorpy for some years now, I finally decided to join this party; I'm in awe of the many observations, and for now, am unable to come up with any new angles on this fascinating photo.  I do want to say that the comments of jd taylor and BethF most definitely struck a chord with me; I, too, envy those in the photo, survivors of even greater trouble, coming as it did following The Great War.  Hope to see you all back at the party next year, and a few other places along the way.  May you all find peace and hopefully some joy this Christmas.
A Merry Christmas to You All!It's been a rough few years for me (family deaths, health issues), and my Internet usage dropped off considerably. I may have stopped commenting, but I never stopped reading, and I've looked forward to this photo every year for a long, long time. I'm glad that for all the things in flux in this world, the Shorpy Office Xmas Party remains the same.
I wish you and yours the very merriest and happiest of holiday seasons. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.  :-D
EerieWhy the rush?
[??? - Dave]
MassafornianWhat a great comment, thank you.  I’ve never colorized, and I use Photoshop for barely 10% of what it can do, but I truly appreciated your insight into the process.  More amazing is that you’ve named them all.  Gosh, I’d love to know who the others are, in addition to Mary, Bobbie, Lulu, and Lila.  And how honest to share with us your faves, Mary and Bobbie, made legit by your wife asking.  I agree about Lila: trouble.  Also the lady with the marcel wave in the purple dress and blue coat with fur fringe behind the bear and oilcan and house: you might think of her in off moments but you could never make it work.  (What’s her name?)  Thanks for explaining about Remini because I wondered how their teeth and various other features were so brilliant and precise.  And don’t worry about the rouging: it raised the temperature on the whole event (and not just on the ladies – it’s perfect for that guy third from the left in the upper right, the older fellow with the red tie, who’s had too much to drink or is about to have a stroke or both).  One more thing: I’d never really noticed that unsightly blotch on the forehead of the boss with the cigar – you did it full, gross justice.  Again, great job, and thanks, man!
I'd like to be the first this yearSurely, it's not too soon for this Yuletide Jewel ...
The Oilcan Need an explanation for the purpose of the oil can at the party.
[It's not a party unless everyone is well-lubricated. - Dave]
Now the season is complete!I look forward to revisiting this every year. Thank you!
- Ken
Colorized versionI've been working off and on to colorize this wonderful image throughout the year. Here's the result. You can also find it here in high resolution:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.jpg
Merry Christmas!
[Bravo! - Dave]
Amazing colorization!@ Massafornian -- thanks so much for that epic job. It adds so much to an already incredible image. (Judging by your username, I suspect we are compatriots -- I was born in Massachusetts and live in California.)
Merry and BrightWith retirement, our lives have been simpler here so the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier. But it isn't *really* the season until the annual Shorpy office party. Happy Holidays to Dave and the regular contributors that make this place special. 
BTW...it's kind of odd that I get older but none of the partygoers ever seem to. Must be something in the eggnog.
As We Seek Normalcy, This Pic Provides it!The last two pandemic driven years, makes most of us seek glimpses of normalcy. Having this Christmas tradition each year, having a peek into the office Christmas party, gives a moment of that peace. Knowing these, and their children, and their grandchildren...made it through the Great Depression, WWll, the Cold War, etc., etc., still, a moment frozen in time, gives a certain reassurance, that everything is going to be ok! 
Merry Christmas, office party, as well as all the Shorpy members that crash the party each year!
Bravo, indeedWell done on the colorization, Massafornian.  It adds a level of vibrancy to an already-lively photo of an intriguing bunch of people.  I’m also surprised at some of the effects, for example the oft-commented-upon woman in the lower left, sitting against the desk, craning her neck for a beady glare offstage – the rouge on her cheeks and the lipstick blunt the ultra-crazy impression and make her look, dare I say, somewhat fetching.  Thank you for your addition to this seasonal favourite.  And best of the season to my fellow Shorpsters and to the toilers in the digital mines who bring us this much-loved website.
Everybody's back in the officeNobody's working from home and the party is ON!  Happy holidays!
WFHAs we head into Covid Christmas #2, it again strikes me that these folks would have no idea what working from home would even mean.  (Taking in sewing?)  Here they are, in joyous proximity one to the other, while we are still asked to distance, mask up, etc.  Their mingled exhalations, their casual touches, the humid density of their gathering – how I envy them.  Well, we come here to dream and fantasize, don’t we?  Happy holidays to my fellow dreamers and observers and to the hard-working trio who bring us the stuff that dreams are made of.
Up to good or no goodI am incredulous that I have never really noticed the girl at the far left of the photo, just in front of the door -- the last of the women. She is concealing something. Knowledge or intent, benevolent or nefarious ... no matter. Keep a weather eye on that one.
Egad! New versions!Shorpy Patreon members have been treated to a short, elegant--well, creepy--music video in Ken-Burns-goes-Edward Gorey style. And now a colorized photo with costumes straight out of Technicolor heaven. And in 2021 they all sneaked in to party on Saturday!
Old FriendsI've seen this picture so many times over the years at Christmas time on Shorpy that the faces have become like familiar old friends. I'm of the opinion that Christmas will never be the same for me unless I get to see this photo at least once during the Christmas season.
Girl At The Far LeftNo one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”
Time For A Rhyme...or TwoIt's Christmas Party time again, so back to yesteryear,
To faces from so long ago, we now hold somewhat dear
They lived through their pandemic, and now we've had our own
For some, it was an ordeal; of much more time alone,
Yet, gazing at these faces here shows us things will improve,
And then to next year's gala even more will gladly move!
A Merry Christmas to you all, here at this special time
I thank you all so very much for bearing with my rhymes,
May next year's party be the one our current trial's behind us
But our friends from 1925 will be there to remind us ...
A very special thanks to Massafornian for the superb colorization!
A bit more on the colorizationThe colorization was done by hand, for about an hour most every morning, when I had the spare time while listening to podcasts. I started in early January and completed it around April. I am sure that most Shorpians know that colorization is tedious, mostly due to the need to mask objects and details as much as possible, to distinguish them from other objects. (The Christmas tree with its fir needles and tinsel was a bit of a job). Automated colorization just doesn’t compare in quality to doing it by hand.
Each person is a smart layer in Photoshop that in turn contains many layers of isolated bits to colorize. The fun part was choosing the colors of people’s attire. Hopefully what I chose is close enough to what this cast of characters might’ve actually worn in 1925, but I won’t claim any historical research was performed for color accuracy.
I could easily spend the same amount of time on this image again, by further masking textures and smaller objects, and separating their colors. If anyone wants the original layered PSD to do more magic, you can have it here:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.2021.psd.zi...
You have exactly one year to post the next refinement!
You might notice in the high resolution version that the faces are oddly higher resolution than the surrounding parts of the image. This is a bit of AI deployed on the faces, called Remini. Google it to learn more, but in a nutshell, Remini analyzes a face that is low resolution or blurry and magically reconstructs it in high resolution by drawing from a huge library of face components. Remini reassembles face components onto a map based on the original image. The process is hit-or-miss as far as how it can interpret low-quality image data. It was fun to apply it to this image one face at a time and integrate the rendered AI faces back into the master image.
I feel that I know all these characters in the photo intimately, having spent a lot of time on each one of them. I’ve given them all first names to distinguish the Photoshop layer names. My wife asks me which lady I might’ve fancied back in the day, and I think it’s a tie between ‘Mary’ (the blonde in front of the ‘504’ door wearing purple) and ‘Bobbie’ (third-to-the-right of ‘Lulu’, (the pixie by the desk), with brown hair, a green coat and blue dress, looking directly into the camera). Those two have nice, approachable personalities. I’m intrigued by ‘Lila’ (the mysterious lady on the floor in front of the desk), but she’s perhaps too brooding for 1925 Me to take on; and ‘Lulu’ is far too racy and trendy for my sensibilities.
I was born in 1963, so I imagined a lot of these people from 1925 as being my many older relatives who were a huge part of my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. My grandmother was born in 1890 and her gaggle of five sisters had birth years that ranged between 1885 and 1902. Though elderly, they were all alive and vibrant for most of my childhood, and greatly influenced me.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this time of year when Dave publishes this wonderful photo, to submit my contribution. I think this version turned out pretty nice.
@ Born Too Late - my geographical fate is the opposite of yours: I started out in the Alameda, California and moved to Massachusetts some 20 years ago. Massachusetts is really a great place to live—weather be damned!
@ DavidK - Yes, ‘Lila’ did indeed turn out to be beautified by the AI software, Remini. In retrospect I think I got carried away with rouging people’s cheeks, but without it, the skin tones just seemed too flat.
Cheers,
—Massafornian
HUAAgreed, davidk ... most likely she's a downright dollbaby but there is a definite glint in her eye and you must admit she has a secret or two or ten. Maybe she's even got something on some of the other girls.
Not nefariousI’ve had my eye on that woman on the far left in front of the ION window for years, JennyPennifer.  She has a touch of high color, and I really like that ringlet that has broken loose by her right eye.  She seems mild yet ready for fun.  Not naughty.
At this rateI'm thinking that by the 2025 centenary we should be ready for an animatronic enlivening of this ongoing party.
Cast of charactersAbsolutely outstanding job of colorization, Massafornian!
It really brings out details that were easy to overlook.
I see the Serbian Anarchist, peering out just to the right of the Big Boss with the cigar, and wonder what he's planning. And the guy hiding just below the life of the party, with the STOP/GO headgear - he looks like he's hiding something, for sure.
But is the Big Boss truly the Man? My money is on the distinguished looking silver haired gent at the top right, overlooking the affair with a cautious gaze ...
And, who really *is* the mustachioed guy to his left, glaring at the photographer?
Is he worried about this photo getting out? Does he appear on a Wanted poster??
Merry Thank YouBecause it's never Christmas until the Office Party and new Office Party Comments.
Office Stories@ DavidK - If you have Photoshop, try downloading the PSD and you’ll see their names in the layers palette. The oilcan lady I named ‘Janelle’ because she looks like my cousin who has that name. I believe ‘Janelle’ to be the well-regarded office trickster.
The aging lush in the top-right standing group of men is named ‘Redd’. Me thinks he’s barely evading his mortality this fine evening, and perhaps is about to fall off of whatever he’s perched upon, to be carried out to a waiting cab, muttering something about his childhood pet dog, Wilberforce. After his early departure his hip flask was found on the floor, where he fell. No one knows what happened to it, or its contents.
The leader of the pack is named ‘Boss’, for obvious reasons. My wife thinks that perhaps he has a familial connection to ‘Bertha’, the large lady in the red dress. Boss’s blotch is an expanding skin growth. By 1945, it will have grown over his face, poor fellow. Unfortunately, the portly Boss died of a heart attack in 1946 while un-crating his new supply of Consuegra cigars and munching on a donut.
I note in this photo that there is no evidence of food or drink, save the candy canes. So while we have conjectured on this post about the state of inebriation these people might be in, strong drink seems unlikely at this event, particularly in the age of prohibition these people find themselves in. (Redd is the exception, having brought his own supply of spirits.) The food might be in another part of the room, but the lack of it has me thinking that this event was a relatively brief gathering after work.
‘Lulu’, the office pixie, is only 19 years old. She is Boss’s niece. This makes her somewhat problematic for all concerned in the office, and something of a political figure. She’s not exactly incompetent at her job, but the office matriarch, ‘Ursula’ (sitting on the floor in the green dress) was grudgingly forced to hire her. Lulu got married to a Studebaker salesman in 1928, moved to Pasadena in 1930, and had 4 children. She died in 1988 in a car accident.
The thing about the brooding ‘Lila’ that no one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million dollars in property and bonds. She moved to the Upper East Side in 1936, but never married. She lived to the age of 103, dying in 1998.
Here's a closeup of Lila:
Go-GoIs that something hanging from the wall or sitting on the man's head as a prank?  Has it ever been commented on before?  Though not shown, there has to be a portable Victrola and stack of jazz records somewhere for when the party gets hot!  This was the height of the Charleston era and there are plenty of flappers present!
A White Elephant In The RoomMay explain the oil can, the Honey Bear, and all the other strange gifts.
I don't know how long the White Elephant Gift party has been around, but my wife and I just had one at our house.
That is one thing that I have been looking at all these years on Shorpy (the crazy gifts), and now realize the crazy gifts could be from the White Elephant in the room.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my Shorpyite brothers and sisters.
(Thanks archfan. Good to know that it is still around after all these years)
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist! 
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist! 
Re: Go-GoVictrolaJazz asks if the mini traffic signal on the head of the man at the back, to the right of the tree, has been commented on before.  Yes!  Many times over the years, in fact.  This would provide a fine opportunity to review the long and enjoyable string of comments where you will find the following:  Going to a Go-Go (12/12/2020), Still GOGO after all these years (12/20/2019), Festive Dress (12/19/2015), Must have been a heck of a party (12/23/2014), No one seems to have noticed (12/14/2012), Office A-Go-Go (12/25/2010), Slow on the uptake (12/24/2010), Kimono-wearing parrot? (12/23/2010), I can’t find Don Draper (12/23/2010), Naughty Naughty (04/21/2009), Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas Party (12/15/2008), Dramatis Personae (12/15/2008), and, finally, A Story in every face (12/15/2008) which includes a Dave link to a Shorpy post with a real GO-GO traffic signal in it.
Time travel?Either Johnny Depp  was the original Doctor Who time travelling as a woman or his mother was working Working for Western Electric that Christmas
A white elephant party?I hadn't thought of that and now I'm disappointed.  For years I have been daydreaming about the oil can lady, the one with the unnervingly lascivious direct look.
Then I remember she'd be old enough to be my grandmother.  Jeepers.
Grateful Holiday pome These people, alas, are all now dust.
 But we on Shorpy surely must
 visit them once more.
 Cheer to all on Shorpy!
Sad or Stimulating, or a bit of both?Having been recently retired, with no more company Christmas parties to attend, I am faced with a conundrum. 
Is it sad that the 1925 Christmas Party on Shorpy is now the Office Party I look forward to the most, or is it tantalizing that the faces and actions of these folks, now long gone, give all of us smiles nearly a century later?
Let this serve as a reminder to treat every moment as if that moment is also "frozen in time"!
Merry Christmas, Dave, and the entire Shorpy family!
MomObviously, this is another photo in the Shorpy Hall of Fame inaugural class, but the best thing about it for me is that it was likely taken when my mom was just a newborn, having come into this world on December 17, 1925.  Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Heavenly 97th Birthday to my mom!
My how time fliesSeems like it was just a month or two ago when last Christmas flew by with this pic.
NobodyHas changed much from last year.  Remarkable.
Gag Gifts?I look forward to this party every year, and I notice something new each December. It's occurred to me that everyone in the photo is holding some kind of small gift, and all of them look like "white elephants": a toy horse, an oil can, a little bear, a toy policeman's hat—perhaps it was a "Secret Santa" kind of gag gift swap, and each gift was appropriately unique to the receiver. The photograph makes every one of these people forever young, and I always wonder what happened to each one of them: all those life stories that we'll never know. (I hope they all got a Christmas bonus!) Happiest of Holidays—and a Happy, Healthy New Year—to every Shorpyite.
The finer detailsI’ve chosen to focus on some of the smaller, obscure points this year in my investigation of this beloved photo.  The woman in the bobby hat towards the left?  Go south to the hand of the woman in front of her, the hand on the shoulder of the woman in the light-colored dress: that hand looks disembodied and is therefore creepy.  Person who looks most Photoshopped in?  The woman to the immediate left of that hand, staring right into your soul.  Stuff like that.  The picture is positively filthy with wacky, kooky, scary little things.
Sober thoughtFourteen years of beautiful fascination. Wonder if some folks who commented earlier, by now "are with the people on the photo" too?
Go-Go indeedI just wanted to second the man at the back, being bald myself. Go Go, folks.
Christmas TreesIf nothing else, we have made great advances in Christmas tree technology. 
Every year they look a bit youngerMeanwhile, every year I look less like my father and more like my grandfather.
Love the ones you're withThanks for the labor of love and commerce Shorpy is. Years ago this photo evoked for me speculations about what may have divided these office mates. Now what comes out of this photo is the love that is possible if only ... with enough time and enough patience and enough "having lived through" being absent from one another we arrive at a finality of cherishing "in spite of" or even "because of" the uniqueness we bring.
The big read 1925I wonder how many of them were concealing new books in their purses, briefcases, or desk drawers. It was an era of readers, and 1925 was a banner year. Here are some of the newly-printed titles waiting for them in bookstores:
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, In Our Time
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Dreiser, An American Tragedy
Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Cather, The Professor’s House
Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Milne, a Winnie the Pooh story at Christmas
Kafka, The Trial (if you read German)
Proust, Albertine Disparue (if you read French—though some of them may still be working through the 1922 translation of Swann’s Way).
By December, early subscribers could have accumulated ten months of the new “New Yorker.”
But let’s hope that they still had a few years to be blissfully unaware of Mein Kampf, published in Germany in July.
There's one in every office. Frank is holding up an equipment assignment sheet while calling (vainly) for the frivolity to end and a return to work. He will not succeed. 
Group AnalysisObviously far too long a comment, but Shorpy is so inspirational. Still had fun thinking and writing, as well as viewing picture again.
I was wondering about the woman at the far left. She is showing a sideways glance, and nobody else in the picture has a sideways glance. A sideways glance can be a powerful indication of attention to a subject, like romantic attention or professional attention or just surprise, but in any case something out of the ordinary. Like here, it seems different, just that one woman.
Trying to analyze a sideways glance, there is the face angle (determined by the nose angle) and the eyes angle. For a sideways glance like this, the eyes are directly pointed at the subject, but the face is pointed elsewhere. Using a reasonably limited choice of angles (0, 15, 30, 45) and expressing angles as "eyes angle / face angle" (eyes come first, most expressive), then this mystery woman with the sideways glance could be a 0/30.
Directly below her on the floor is a 45/0 woman, and her eyes angle is the extreme opposite. Seems absolute difference between the two angles can show degree of interest or attention, not the amount of either angle. With any 45/0 difference then attention seems to be very much elsewhere. The 30/45 woman to her right apparently has her attention directed to the same subject, but not to the same degree, more a casual interest, just a difference of 15 between her angles.
And the next woman above is a 30/30, also looking in that direction, but no difference between her angles, no indication of interest or attention, just looking.
Also just looking, but now at the camera, are all the 0/0 men and women, no differences, the largest group. They seem to be posing conventionally for the picture, and there is no apparent sign of interest or attention (other than to the camera). The exact pose varies by individual, some are smiling more than others, but they are all 0/0's. Some 0/0's may be simple conformists, and others may be nonconformists bored stiff (they can still smile, for the camera), but you can't probably tell which is which from the picture.
The big boss on the right is a 0/0, and the men in line with him are mostly 0/0's too, diligently following his traditional example. Above him are three 45/45's, you may not be able to tell about attention or interest from a 45/45, no difference there, in that way like a 0/0. However they are definitely not posing for the camera in any conventional way, not following the big boss example, and probably not in line to succeed him. His successor would probably be a 0/0 closest to him.
We could also consider tilt angle of the head as a variable, but that's more difficult to determine, because it varies with perspective, further away or closer to the camera. Also could consider extent of smiles, but that also difficult to determine. Eyes angle and face angle (nose angle) should be easier.
These angle measurements are probably useful only in a posed office photo, like this one. In a family photo 0/0's can be visibly full of emotion. And in real life anyone can look at you straight on, a 0/0, with amazement or fury or love or anything else. So angles won't help much in real life, although a sideways glance can still show interest and then create reciprocal interest, even mutual interest.
Mistletoe and High Voltage for all the women!I love how the ladies' hair has that "Bride of Frankenstein" look ... creepy yet sexy.  It reminds me to get the yule log out.
ZoomThat was a quick year. 
Another Year Gone ByBeen seeing this annually for a long time now, am I the first to comment ?? Anyways all these souls, their troubles and happy days are behind them and now are just dust in the wind … enjoy yourselves as we will be dust too! Merry Christmas 
My Newest Favorite Christmas Tradition!I have gotten to the point of looking so forward to this party each year, it has indeed become one of my favorite Christmas traditions! LOL
For most of those attending the party, they are indeed, "living life!" That is so valuable, the ability to live life. On a personal note, I am learning that this year, having lost my precious wife in March, to Dementia. As iamjanicemarie well noted, all of these, are now just "dust in the wind."
Which makes me wonder, in what order did they pass? Did some in the picture in 1925 not survive till the party in 1926? Who was the last to go, and in what year? In the hundreds of comments, some pointing out actual things, others just speculating ... we can learn one lesson.
Live Life Fully Every Day. Who knows, a hundred years from now, you may still be having an effect on someone who you never even met!
Merry Christmas, Shorpy family!
What's up with the gals?Are they wearing kryptonite jewelry?
Old friendsI never get tired of this party and these coworkers.  The job, yeah, I'm sick of it, but the people make it all worthwhile.  I feel like I've known them forever.
Welcome Back, Dear 1925 Office Party Friends. . . and all Shorpy friends, too! 
I look forward to seeing this wonderful photo every year. These folks never age, unlike the rest of us. I find this reassuring: life goes on, as it did for the office partiers whose lives continued through the Depression, WWII, and possibly even on to the 1990s. I always wonder who they were and what happened to them. 
Here's to a Happy Holiday season and a peaceful 2024.
Seems Like Old TimesNice to see familiar faces, even though I never met them.  However much they aged after this photograph, we'll never know, so just once each year, it's 1925 again.
StableThis firm has a very stable workforce.  Every year, it's the same folks in the Christmas photo.
Macabre variationAlthough certainly macabre, I do like the door that iamjanicemarie tentatively opened and that HarahanTim swung fully open.  In what order did these people pass?  The annual response to this photo has definitely taken a curious turn, but I’m glad to chime in.
First to go, I believe, was Boss Man with the cigar, the very next morning, in the wee hours.  He’s clearly in bad physical shape, a massive coronary waiting to happen.  And it wasn’t the fault of one of those young ladies sitting on the floor that it happened in her bed.  It was a different time when office and sexual politics were vile, and everyone was drunk.
Last to go was Heather on the far left in back, framed by the glass of the door.  She’s only 23 in the photo, and she lived right into the next century, dying at 102 in 2004.  She had moved back to Ohio, and on her last day was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even one of her great-great-grandchildren.  They all loved her very much.
It's finally Christmas ...... when this bunch show up. I checked; they're all there. Proceed to celebrate. Merry Christmas, everyone xoxo
In the officeIt's hard to imagine this bunch "working from home". The dynamic would be lost with a "Zoom" holiday party.
Fire ExtinguisherJust behind the gentleman with the "GO" signal on his head it looks like there is a classic soda/acid fire extinguisher that I noticed for the first time today. Conveniently located next to what appears to be a rather combustible tree. Season's Greetings to Dave, tterrace and the whole Shorpy gang. 
Well, having had time to ponderabout these folk for a good decade since discovering Shorpy, I have come to a tentative yet preliminary assessment.
The only woman with no apparent makeup and yet the most beautiful features is the lady sitting on the floor at bottom left. Really in a class of her own in this crowd with those almond eyes and high cheekbones, yet with hair and dressed a bit out of date, but still sporting brand new shoes judging by their soles. How they got her to sit on the dirty floor for the pic is beyond me.
In any case, the photographer has just given her a huge suggestive wink, and she's snapped her head to the right in response, looking faintly amused / bemused, no doubt used to the unwanted male gaze. The woman second to her left is staring at her, annoyed that Gloria (for that is her name) has caught the roving eye of the photographer instead of her -- the body language is obvious. The flapper two to the left of Ms Envious is giving the photographer a bit of a come-on with her lopsided grin -- she has sussed out his game.
Mr Fatlips the boss is terminally near-sighted but for photos and thus posterity takes his glasses off when posing, as one can see. What he looks like with them on is a subject for a horror movie.
The rest of the crowd barring a few are to a greater or lesser degree tipsy on smuggled-in booze, it being Temperance Time, er, prohibited drinkees time in America
I'll have an update in future when other things become more clear to me from my favorite Shorpy image. 
Merry Xmas to all!
Finger WavesThe blond and brunette whose backs are against the door and doorjamb, respectively, look modern.  The other modern looking girl is two rows in front of them, also a brunette.  These three look timeless.  The other women either still have long hair wrapped up some way or they have those awful finger waves that look like ridges in their hair.  None of the girls that have finger waves have benefitted from that style.  It does not flatter any face shape, it just looks weird and kind of Bride of Frankensteinish.
The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk.  I will always wonder why.
Holiday Party Fun (2023)Dear Shorpy folks and friends of the site.
This year I used this very photo to make a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game at our work Christmas party.
Each of the participants had 20 minutes to spot all 19 differences. I used Photoshop and AI to make the changes to the photo and we all had so much fun with it.
If you would like me to post that image here, you may have fun too! Let me know Dave!
Also, we have some new friends that might be joining us on this site as they were fascinated by all the expressions of this 1925 party. I did inform them of the site and URL.
Merry Christmas everyone
What is on the hand of the number 2 guy next to the boss?There is something on his pointer finger and thumb.  Could these be some type of grippers for leaving through papers?  Could it be he was working until they forced him to come get his picture taken?  He is clearly annoyed to be there. Maybe he is plotting to have the boss removed so he can be in charge?
Half a MillionI expect that the number of reads for Office Xmas Party will pass 500,000 shortly. Is this a record number of reads for a Shorpy photo?
[Office Xmas Party holds the No. 2 spot. Shorpy's most popular post is ... Lady in the Water, with over 640,000 reads. And at No. 3 is The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Merry Christmas to all Shorpians!May your holidays be merry and bright.  A special Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace who keep this very special website going.  And to all pictured from that office party held nearly 100 years ago, a Merry Heavenly Christmas to all!
ONE MORE TIMEAfter passing this photo around for everyone to look and laugh at, it was probably hung on the wall for a time, then taken to someone's home and put away in a chest and forgotten ... perhaps copies were made.
But how would these people feel if they knew that almost a half million people have studied it?
Also those desks have been in their current positions for a very long time, the floor below them new and pristine.
[This was not a casual snapshot -- the National Photo Company was primarily a news service. Its photographs appeared in newspapers, advertisements and publicity material. This particular image might have been used for Western Electric's in-house newsletter or a company Christmas card. - Dave]
Thank ya Dave for clearing that up.
Meet some of the boys ...Introducing ...
Charles S. Barker, District Superintendent: "With the right personnel and a good organization, you can do anything in telephony"
E.N. Searles, Division Superintendent
J.E. Grant, R.D. Dick, and...
Walter W. Lodding, Division Accountant
... with an invitation to Christmas at the Loddings':
This image was featured in the December 1926 issue of the Western Electric News with the title: "YOUTH AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" and caption: "Santa Claus did right by this little lad the son of W.W. Lodding of the Installation Division 11 Headquarters"
Looking daggers?Susanhumeston wondered, "The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why."
I have always been intrigued by that interaction. Pretty much come to the conclusion that three of the ladies were diverted by something off set to the left. One (Charlotte) clearly annoyed, one (Lila) merely taking it in, and one (Gwen) mildly amused.
NamesMarkJo - nice job finding the real names!  
I'm fascinated by the different names and nicknames in all the posts.  Then I scroll to 12/23/21; alex_shorpy did a great job labeling everyone. Or go further back to 12/22/19 and see davidk's comment.  
I also don't look at these folks as having turned into dust.  Every year they come alive in the imaginations of many readers.  
Maligayang Pasko to all.
Well, what else?Say, we don't view the full size for a micro-study. What we see is the "pyramid" of working stiffs that retracted into one side of the office against the forceful advance of upper management group. Sharp diagonal dividing line was disturbed somewhat at the bottom, by the lady and gent behind her.
There he is!Every year I look forward to seeing dear old Mr. Hilter at the top of the picture looking so skeptical!
"Mildred, what did you do with my flask"?This party was during the TEETH of prohibition too! The REAL fun will come later.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, Natl Photo, The Office)

Iowa City: 1940
February 1940: The main street in Iowa City, Iowa. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Iowa City I'm not sure, but this may be East Washington Street again, facing the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/19/2007 - 1:07am -

February 1940: The main street in Iowa City, Iowa. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.
Iowa CityI'm not sure, but this may be East Washington Street again, facing the opposite direction from the earlier photo that included the Englert Theater. The buildings in the background behind the trees are part of the U. Of Iowa campus at South Clinton Street.
(There will be a quiz on Iowa City geography and landmarks tomorrow.)
300 block of Washington St.occnumber10:
You could be right. My mental map of Iowa City has faded with time, and for the life of me I can't remember what's across Washington from Gabe's other than the old Press-Citizen Building that's just out of view to the right.
If this is Washington at Gilbert, what are the big buildings behind the trees?
Iowa CityI'm curious where this is as there is currently no Main Street in Iowa City.  Perchance it is what is now College Street?
[Could be. Maybe he was using the term generically. Actually he didn't capitalize the "street." I've changed the caption to reflect that. - Dave]
WeatherRather narsty weather that day!
300 block of Washington StreetSome research suggests that this is the 300 block of East Washington Street--facing east with South Gilbert Street as the visible cross street.  
http://downtowniowacity.com/files/historic_downtown.pdf
Boerner's seems to be where Gabe's/The Picador now sits.
3) Ridge Road?As a former/current part time cab driver, I'll start with number three.  Ridge Road would make the most sense, as you can access it via the relative high ground of Whiting Avenue.
Iowa City100 block of East Washington Street, facing west. I scoped this out downtown today, and scribe's first call seems to be right.  The university building in the background would be Schaeffer Hall.  Basically this shot is 180 degrees from the one posted earlier.
I'm looking forward to the quiz on IC landmarks!
Ridge RoadYep, Ridge and Whiting, plus a lot of zigging and zagging on streets I've forgotten. It felt like one had to go five miles to travel those four blocks, or half way to West Branch.
Iowa, Illinois and Missouri got pummeled by Mother Nature that summer. It was quite impressive, to say the least. I remember seeing a contemporary satellite image showing ground saturation, and the entire state of Iowa was indistinguishable from a lake or ocean.
Iowa City quizOw! I just got hurt patting myself on the back.  ;)
Just kidding on the landmarks and geography quiz, but what the heck:
1) Besides "Field of Dreams," Iowa City author W.P. Kinsella wrote a fantasy novel called " The Iowa Baseball Conspiracy." What famous landmark played outfield exceptionally well?
2) In 1927 and 1929 an Iowa graduate was the only black player in the NFL? A U of I building is named after him. Who was he?
3) It's 1993 and much of the town is under water because the Iowa River flooded for several months. N. Dubuque St. from Park Rd. to Mayflower Residence Hall was closed. How would one drive the four blocks from Park to the apartments at 1122 N. Dubuque (adjacent to Mayflower). Warning: this is nearly a "you can't get there from here" question.
Have fun.
Iowa City locationThis is Washington Street, camera facing west at the intersection with Clinton Street. The building behind the elm trees is Shaeffer Hall -- the SW  corner of the University of Iowa's Pentacrest.  Behind Shaeffer is McLean Hall.
I've lived in Iowa City for 49 years, and I work at the University.
Cheers
[Thanks! You what would be great? A current photo taken from the same spot. - Dave]
Current pic upcomingI'll do that Dave, Thursday morning! - Jeff
[Thanks Jeff! - Dave]
67 years laterHere's a pic of the same location taken 12/20/07.
[Wow. Amazing. Thanks so much! - Dave]

+83Below is the same view from May of 2023.
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Cars, Trucks, Buses)

City of Los Angeles: 1942
... C&NW railyards in December 1942, and streamliners City of Denver and City of Los Angeles . View full size. The one that's not yellow ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/28/2007 - 7:58pm -

Detail from Jack Delano's shot of the C&NW railyards in December 1942, and streamliners City of Denver and City of Los Angeles. View full size.
The one that's not yellowWhat is that red and white one?  (Or red-white-and-???)
City of Los Angeles?Ok, please explain the title, it simply cannot be correct.
[The name of the right-hand train, written on the side, is City of Los Angeles. - Dave]
LocomotivesCan't tell you about the red and white one - it looks like a 'B' unit. It could be a leased locomotive ('B' units were unmanned diesel locomotives controlled from the cab of the 'A' unit) but that in itself was puzzling because before the war at least the Union Pacific's "City" trains all ran with matched sets of locomotives, with the name of the train (City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Denver, etc) painted on each unit of the train. At that time you'd never see a 'B' unit from the City of San Francisco on the City of Los Angeles - let alone a mismatched 'B' unit. War is hell.
The middle locomotive (the one without a train attached) is a Chicago & North Western E unit, most likely an E6 like the locomotive on the City of Los Angeles. There's no indication of what train its part of so it could be either the C&NW's own "400" or one of the trains the C&NW and UP operated jointly, like The Challenger.
The outermost locomotive is probably the most interesting stylistically. It's one of the CD series (CD-05, 06, or 07) - the CD standing for the City of Denver. That's written on the side of the locomotive but you really have to blow it up to see that detail. The cab was elevated above the main body of the engine. The distinctive grille is primarily decorative, a holdover from the first streamliners on the UP, M-1000 through M-1002. Indeed the CD locomotives were originally numbered M-1003 through M-1006. Sadly none of the CD locomotives were preserved.
Red  White BlueWar is hell, indeed...I "think" the red/white unit is actually red white and blue special paint promoting war bond purchases, I recall reading something about this one long ago but can't begin to be able to prove this now. Blue band is hiding in the shadow. Rare catch it is.
Red White & BlueThere is a  RR boxcar "State of Maine" that is red white and blue. A photo of it can be seen at www.davestrains.com. Their catalogue #3494-295
City of Los AngelesBelow, a black-and-white photo of the red, white and blue City of Los Angeles, from the October 19, 1942, Pennsylvania Evening Standard. (The word "stamps" is just visible in the color photo above.) The caption reads:
STREAMLINED SELLING: A streamlined supersalesman of war bonds is the streamliner City of Los Angeles. Train was decked with banner urging purchase of war bonds and stamps. Inspecting it are Howard D. Mills of Treasury Department (left) and W.H. Guild, executive assistant, Union Pacific Railroad. Banner's colors are red, white and blue.
Credit: NewspaperArchive.com

Red White & BlueThat is amazing detective work. How did you find that? I had been trying to figure the mystery out.
[I searched NewspaperArchive.com for "City of Los Angeles" and "streamliner" and "red" in the year 1942. - Dave]
CoLAThe most useful text on the subject of the UP "City" trains is William Kratville's "Union Pacific Streamliners" (1974). The windows on the unit make me want to say it's an EMD model E-6 unit, quite possibly LA-4 (the lead unit of a 3 locomotive set which was permanently assigned to the 1941 edition of the City of Los Angeles streamliner).
Yellows, Grays, Greens & BrandsThe photo displays equipment of two distinct "brands" at Chicago. The "Armour Yellow" and Gray, signature Union Pacific RR (UPRR) colors for its widely promoted "City" fleet of Streamliners. It was the work of Chicago & Northwestern (C&NW) to handle the moves between Chicago and Omaha, UPRR gateway for the West.
The Green and Yellow motive power units, in the signature colors of the C&NW "400" Streamliner, service lanes between its on line points. Premier service lane between Chicago and Twin Cities. For the Operations folks, I'll conjecture a hard and fast rule did not permit intermixing of equipment. IMHO, the scene is at the area "wash" line...  
...........Vern..............
(The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)

City Hall: 1906
San Francisco, April 1906. "Tower of City Hall after earthquake and fire." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, ... View full size. Doubly Domed You can see the old city dome under the structure of the new dome that was built to give city hall ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 4:37pm -

San Francisco, April 1906. "Tower of City Hall after earthquake and fire." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Doubly DomedYou can see the old city dome under the structure of the new dome that was built to give city hall more height ...  and it looks amazingly intact.
What a MessIf this isn't an object lesson in bigger isn't necessarily better,
I don't know what is.
Nevertheless . . .San Francisco 11, Texas 7.
Before and AfterThe San Francisco City Hall before the earthquake, and after being rebuilt.
Down they cameGreat photo. I understand this and many other photos like it mostly displayed the result of shoddy construction and substandard materials done in that city under public works contracts.
New City HallThe new City Hall is an entirely new building constructed on a different site nearby; what was left of the old one was completely demolished.
This IsOne of those pictures.  No words required!
Go Giants!Is Shorpy a disgruntled Phillies fan?
I wonderif the statue on the top of the dome was saved.
You CAN fight City HallLooks like City Hall lost.
SuperdomeAmazing to me that the dome is still intact given all the damage underneath.
I don't think this damage is a result of "shoddy construction." You have to consider the technology of the era.
[I'd say that most of this damage could be attributed  to big earthquake + big fire. - Dave]
+101All that remains anyway: the head of the Goddess of Progress statue on the dome of the old City Hall, saved when the ruin itself was finally pulled down in 1909. It's now on display in the new City Hall, just off the rotunda. In fact, here I am with it in April 2007.
Note To SelfWhen rebuilding San Francisco after a bigass earthquake, do NOT make buildings from bricks.  Or on top of sand.  Or on top of "land" made from the rubble of previous earthquakes.
Not shoddyUnreinforced masonry doesn't stand a chance in an earthquake. This photo reveals in a unique way (at least I've never seen it before) what has been learned in the century since. The steel structure appears to be undamaged. For all I know there is some damage that is not readily apparent. Yet the surviving cross-section of the brick wall is quite thick, and has few structural ties to the steel. There are two separate structures here.
A modern building might have a single thickness of brick, with multiple ties to the steel. An old building in that era would have little or no steel to begin with, and even thicker brick. I would also say that this building seems to have escaped the fire. No steel members are sagging due to heat damage, and I don't see smoke stains.
(The Gallery, DPC, Fires, Floods etc., San Francisco)

City Hall: 1910
Philadelphia circa 1910. "City Hall." Philadelphia's soot-stained City Hall, still the largest municipal building in the United States, was for a ... nine years after the building had been turned over to the city. So glacial was the pace of construction, according to one history, that a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/16/2023 - 3:34pm -

Philadelphia circa 1910. "City Hall." Philadelphia's soot-stained City Hall, still the largest municipal building in the United States, was for a time the tallest building in the world, at 548 feet. Its epic scope includes the time it took to complete, with construction beginning in 1871 and dragging on well into the 20th century -- the project's main architect died in 1890; his successor's successor expired in 1910, still on the job nine years after the building had been turned over to the city. So glacial was the pace of construction, according to one history, that a major round of revisions had to be undertaken to account for "the invention of electricity and elevators." 6½x8½ inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
Soot RemovalThe soot was removed some time ago. Philadelphia is now a very clean city and soot-stained buildings are a thing of the past!
Curse of Billy Penn's hatSaid to be the reason why Philly sports teams lose, as nothing in the city was supposed to be taller than Mr. Penn's hat, and today, the City Hall is no longer the tallest structure in city. Here is an interesting close-up of the head and hat prior to being installed atop the City Hall tower.
Curse of Billy Penn's hat  no more Not since the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. First world championship since the "gentleman's agreement" on building height restriction was broken by One Liberty Center.
"Brotherly love"So they say, but my first real job in this country was as a disc jockey on Philly's WHAT-FM. It was a 24/7 jazz station with all white DJs. Our AM (a studio window away) was all R&B and gospel, and the DJs were all black. The owner wanted that racial split strictly observed. She had two dogs, a black one named "AM" and a white one named "FM."
City Hall had a very bad pigeon problem and they had tried everything to get rid of the birds, from audio signals to steel nets--there were "Don't feed" signs everywhere. Well, one day as I walked through the City Hall courtyard, I saw a very old lady dragging behind her a large burlap sack from which she pulled a fistful of seeds every ten steps, or so. Casting the seeds in the air, she instructed the pigeons to "Go s_it on the Jews." 
I had to wonder if Philadelphia's well-known tag had been a counter measure. 
All cleaned up.I guess there was a time when the building was as dirty as the politicians inside it.  Thanks for the lore.
Philly Transformed Into ParisJust a couple of years ago Philadelphia City Hall was used as a stand-in for the military school in Paris when they were filming Transformers 2.  Astute film buffs can also cite other movies where it was featured.
By the way, the William Penn statue is the work of Alexander Milne Calder, whose son and grandson also won fame as artists.
Critical appraisalWhen it was being built, City Hall was viewed as a textbook example of municipal graft, corruption and inefficiency, as well as being something of an aesthetic white elephant.
The Philadelphia essayist Agnes Repplier in 1898:
Its only claim to distinction should be the marvelous manner in which it combines bulk with sterling insignificance, squalid paltriness and decorations mediocre and painfully grotesque.
Now of course it's regarded as fashionably and fascinatingly ugly-funky-weird. And gets a lot of love just because it's way old.
Rude Billy PennThat's actually a scroll he's holding, but easily mistaken.
William Penn forgottenThere was a longstanding tradition in Philadelphia that no building would exceed the height of the statute of William Penn atop city hall. This was broken in the 1980's along with many other traditional values we once believed in. Too bad to my mind.
[Building height is a "traditional value"? - Dave]
Tallest BuildingsBy tallest building do you mean tallest occupied structure?  Because the Washington Monument is 555 ft tall at was completed in 1884, and the Eiffel Tower is 896 ft and was completed in 1889.
[The Eiffel Tower and Washington Monument aren't buildings. - Dave]
Styles mixedThis has got to get the prize for the most architectural styles on one building that I have EVER seen!
The picture is a great shot for a game of "I Spy With My Little Eye"!
Ahhh, the smells of City HallOr, at least, the exterior public corridors. Always used to smell like pee back in the early 90s. It seems to be less pungent now. Such a fabulously ugly building.
Took the tour!I was one of two who showed up for the three-hour City Hall tour last October. We crawled all over and inside the building with a former city planner. What a treat. The inside is eye-popping. Carved, gilded mahogany and marble for as far as the eye can see. In places they used aluminum, only because it was valued more than gold at the time. The City Council chambers are unbelievable! 
The formal entry room originally was designed to have 90-foot ceilings, but the weight of the main tower started to crack the marble walls so it was divided into two spectacular rooms with paltry 45-foot ceilings.  
At 37 feet high and weighing 36 tons, the statue of William Penn at the top is the largest statue ever placed on top of a building. It is so big it sat on the ground for more than a year because no one could figure out how to get it up there. Eventually they cut it up into 14 pieces and reassembled it at the top.
This photo looks as if it was taken from the Masonic Hall across the street. That building is another eye-popping marvel with construction starting in 1868 and taking more  than 40 years to complete. Take that tour as well. Words can not describe what you will see.
A common misconceptionIt's a common misconception that the City Hall tower was covered in soot due to the train station formerly located across the street. In fact, the old photos merely exhibit the different building materials used for the building and the tower. The tower is made of cast iron and appears black. Everything below the clock tower is marble and granite so it appears to be light grey. When City Hall was restored in 1990 the iron was coated so it wouldn't oxidize and today it appears to be light grey.
(The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Streetcars)

Falls City: 1900
... circa 1900. "The levee." And the sternwheeler Falls City . Dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. ... plain as day! Thanks. Look! There's Howard Keel! Falls City, my home town Although there are towns with this name in Nebraska and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/20/2012 - 7:14pm -

Vicksburg, Mississippi, circa 1900. "The levee." And the sternwheeler Falls City. Dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Point & shootCameras back then were bulky and required time to set up. Nowadays this shot could be taken while walking past the scene. While the photographer didn't try to make this shot "casual", it has that look about it.
Because of this, we see a more accurate glimpse of what life was like then. The detritus in the water, the men (only men in this scene) waiting for business and/or passengers, the six or seven ships in the background all show a thriving economy.
PerfectA stage set for "Showboat"! I can hear "Old Man River" just as plain as day! Thanks. Look! There's Howard Keel!
Falls City, my home townAlthough there are towns with this name in Nebraska and Oregon, the Falls City name likely refers to Louisville, which owes its existence to the Falls of the Ohio River. The late lamented Falls City Beer was brewed in Louisville starting in 1905.
From the signage it appears that in 1900 this sternwheeler was working the Mississippi between Vicksburg and Greenville. It had come down in the world, literally.
Falls City factsAccording to Way's Packet Directory, there were five boats named Falls City. This appears to be the last, built in 1898 at Cincinnati. 132 feet long, owned by the Louisville & Kentucky River Packet Co. The book notes that the boat was not taken to Vicksburg until 1908, but it was common practice for boats to "tramp" when work was slow in their home trade.
Photo capabilities in 1900?What intrigues me most about this shot is how well motion has been stopped.  The horses’ movement and even the water flow from boat to river. Most photos from this era seem to blur anything with the slightest motion.  What were the capabilities for shutter speed given the emulsions of the time? Just lucky to have an extremely bright day?
[By 1900, exposure times for outdoor photography on a sunny day would be measured in fractions of a second. - Dave]
Vanished OccupationsTwo jobs I would have loved to have, but are forever unavailable:  (a) Paddlewheel Riverboat Pilot; (b) bandsman on the nicer passenger boats.  Lot of the groundwork for early jazz got laid down on those boats.
Cost of a steamboat tripI imagine that the cost of taking the Falls City from Vicksburg to Greenville was incredibly cheap as by 1900 the Illinois Central ran multiple trains a day on their Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad between Memphis, Leland, Vicksburg, Natchez and Baton Rouge. At Leland, the Southern Railway of Mississippi could take a passenger 15 miles west to Greenville. Does anyone know riverboat fares from 109 years ago?
Per some of my Gulf & Ship Island Railway documents from 1902, it cost $1.25 to travel from Jackson to Hattiesburg, a distance of 95 miles, and I imagine that in those highly regulated days the fare for the journey between two cities of similar distance would be similar. I should have been a historian.
Re: Vanished OccupationsThose occupations haven't vanished, Anon. As a Cincinnati-based musician, I've worked enough riverboat gigs that the romance has faded, and my first thought is always what a PITA it is to haul equipment down to the docks. Most American river cities have at least a few excursion boats working the river, and all those boats have pilots (although, sadly, you're more likely to hear recorded music these days). I've had a few conversations with riverboat pilots, and they're a really interesting bunch.
Steam has been mostly replaced by diesel, and the paddlewheel is more than likely decorative, but those jobs are still out there. And those riverboats where the sounds of jazz were first heard? They were primarily excursion boats, just like today.
At first glancethis scene could as easily be 1850 instead of 1900. Until I looked at the gent sitting on the barrel center front, his clothes give him away as "not 1850." 
Tickets please.Could not find pricing for Vicksburg to Greenville, but comparable short trips in Mississippi and Louisiana were about $8 for a cabin, and $1 to $2 for deck passage.
SteamboatsChautauqua Lake in western New York State had, like most comparable bodies of water in that era, an extensive fleet of large steamboats. The Lake steamers were all (except one) screw driven, with deeper drafts.  But otherwise they were very similar to this.
The last Chautauqua steamer was the City of Jamestown,  about 110 feet long with two decks. It ran frequent excursions though the 1950s.
I vividly remember it pulling into the pier in 1951 or 52, belching steam. I never ran so hard in my life as when I ran down to the water to see that magnificent vessel.  My own personal little Mark Twain memory.
Make that 3 decks.  http://cchsnys.org/mp/mp_chautauqua_lake_steamboats_4_08/acoj.html
Sharp lookerWhat a gloriously rich image.  The detail cries out to be examined further. Thanks for posting it!
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Vicksburg)

Flour City: 1904
... bother just to move in and live there. "Flour City", or "Wire City"? Now *that* is a lot of overhead wiring! Watch your step ! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 12:55pm -

Rochester, New York, circa 1904. "Driving Park Avenue bridge and falls on Genesee River." And one of the flour mills that gave Rochester its nickname. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
But, I just gotsa know.What is that steep incline for?
Whats on it? Where does it go?
Stairs to the right of me, stairs to the left of me!Imagine the climbing somebody who worked on a lower floor of the complex at left would have to do at the end of an exhausting workday. It might be less bother just to move in and live there.
"Flour City", or "Wire City"?Now *that* is a lot of overhead wiring!
Watch your step !Right center of the photo. What are those people doing wading in the river just before the drop off?
[Extreme Wading, an early example of that particular sports genre. - tterrace]
Bridge workersNote the guys working on the bridge, top slightly-right-of-center.  Assembling a new bridge, or painting it after it's in place?  This bridge doesn't look very old.
ColorizedColorized, for the postcard. 
Grinding electrons, not wheatI'm pretty sure that the building on the left is a utility power plant and not a mill. BTW modern shots of the same spot show buildings in the same locations, but probably successors to those shown here, and the structures on the right bank are now just ruins.
The bridge was dynamitedThe bridge was dynamited into the gorge in 1986, and replaced with a similar arch bridge.
http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=f52f966e-c3ea-4fbb...
In ^^^this^^^ view, you're looking down the river toward Lake Ontario (5-6 miles...squint really hard...). The large building on the right (east) bank is Eastman Kodak's Hawkeye Plant, at the corner of Driving Park Ave and St. Paul Blvd. Kodak had optical system manufacturing, along with camera manufacturing there.  Supposedly did some bombsight optical work there in the 40's & 50's.
My CityIt's so fun to see what my City looked like 108 years ago. My school bus used to pass through this bridge on the way to home in Henrietta from the deaf school, which is not far off. I always liked to stretch my neck to see the bottom of this valley.
Driving Park Avenue BridgeThe bridge was designed by noted bridge architect Leffert L. Buck (chiefly remembered for his Williamsburg Bridge spanning the East River).  It was completed in 1890 and lasted until 1985.  It was unceremoniously dynamited to make way for its successor, which opened two years later.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Factories, Rochester)

City of Cleveland: 1905
... 1905. "Cuyahoga River from the Viaduct." The sidewheeler City of Cleveland. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size. A city on the move Twas a bright time in Cleveland's history; it was then ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 11:13pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1905. "Cuyahoga River from the Viaduct." The sidewheeler City of Cleveland. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size.
A city on the moveTwas a bright time in Cleveland's history; it was then America's seventh-largest city (it would peak at fifth place in the 1920s) in the midst of a whole civic-building boom downtown. I have a soft spot for my hometown, and am always glad to hear the good news about its renaissance.
From DetroitIf you look on the back of the boat you can see that "The City of Cleveland" is from Detroit. I wonder what Cleveland residents thought of that.
Pollution TestI never knew rivers could burn. The old joke around here is that someone once dipped an exposed film plate in the East River and it developed.
FlammableThe Cuyahoga is notable for having been so polluted that it has caught on fire. According to Wikipedia there have been at least 13 river fires, with the earliest being in 1852. A fire in 1969 was an impetus for the environmental movement.
SafetyFour lifeboats for a vessel of that size?  Is it owned by White Star Line?
Interesting photoI helped refinish the walls and floors of the warehouse building on the right (the one with the word "Ship") in 1978.  It was at that time being used as a furniture showroom and warehouse.  It is nice to see the old place standing more than 70 years before that!
LifeboatsUntil the wreck of the Titanic rules regarding lifeboats were significantly out of date. The British regulations were based on the ship's tonnage. The Titanic actually carried a more lifeboats than the regulations required her to have; vessels over 10,000 tons were required to have boats for 1060 passengers and the Titanic had boats for 1178. The fact that she had a tonnage of 46,000 tons and a maximum capacity of 3,000 people wasn't covered by the regulations. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the City of Cleveland met and exceeded American regulations at the time - seven years before the Titanic.
We've Got Gas!The two round brick building to the right are gas holders for coal gas manufactured at a gasworks.
Coal gas was used for lighting and for cooking, and, sometimes, to power coal gas internal combustion engines similar to liquid gasoline engines.
The circular framework next to the two brick gas holders is a rising and falling gas holder where steel tank sections telescope together and rise and fall with the volume and pressure of gas within.
The framework holds the sections true where they slide up and down in guides on rails on framework similar to guides on elevators.
Only the top rising section has a 'lid', against which the gas presses from below, raising the other round segments which are similar to a tin can with the top and bottom removed.
The sections interlock so the top rising sections pick up the next going up, releases it going down in sequence.
Coal gas and their gas works were replaced in the Fifties and Sixties by natural gas.
Thank You.
Round buildingsDoes anyone know what the two large round buildings in the back right were used for?
Nightly AdventureDeparting Cleveland for Buffalo every night on the C&B Line while Lake Erie was ice free at 7:45 with a 7:30 a.m. arrival in Buffalo.  If you were off to Detroit from "The Forest City" you left at 10 p.m. (after arrival of all trains of the Erie and of the Bee Line) with a 5:30 a.m. arrival in the not yet "Motor City."
Name confusionThis is the 3rd of 4 D+C boats named "City Of Cleveland", plus another early one named simply "Cleveland". This one was built in 1886.  Like most of the early D+C boats, she had twin stacks athwartships, and a walking beam engine.  When the 4th one was built in 1907, this boat became City Of St. Ignace, and later Keystone.
The Great Lakes are a researcher's nightmare (or dream), with most boats having had multiple names during their lives, and many names recycled repeatedly to new boats.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cleveland, DPC)

Illinois Central: 1942
... keep on pushin' Mama, you know they're running late! City of New Orleans "City of New Orleans" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2024 - 4:09pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Doobie BrothersWell, The Illinois Central ... and the Southern Central Freight. Gotta keep on pushin' Mama, you know they're running late!
City of New Orleans"City of New Orleans" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's "City of New Orleans" in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. (Wikipedia)
and made famous by Arlo Guthrie
Still RunsAmtrak still runs "City of New Orleans".  It still goes thru Kankakee and Memphis.
https://www.amtrak.com/city-of-new-orleans-train
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Central City: 1942
May 1942. "Central City, an old mining town. Mountainous region of Central Colorado, west of ... the Farm Security Administration. View full size. City Hall? Apparently what appears to be a modest two-family building has now been turned into the city hall, with a suitably large appendage on the right. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/13/2022 - 10:47am -

May 1942. "Central City, an old mining town. Mountainous region of Central Colorado, west of Denver." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
City Hall?Apparently what appears to be a modest two-family building has now been turned into the city hall, with a suitably large appendage on the right.  

WanderlustGoogle imagery has strongly inspired me to visit Central City someday.
A bit of all rightDespite what was in all likelihood a hardscrabble life, involving grueling work in an all-but-overtly hostile environment, those are some nice houses -- especially the one with the matching witch-hat turrets. But I covet the unfinished abode on high ground, looking down on everyone else. And is that a church over there on the right, with the lovely gothic windows? Let us pray.
[That structure up on the hill looks finished in more ways than one. - Dave]
Dave so you think it's old rather than new? I briefly wondered about that but allowed myself to believe they were waiting for me to choose windows and doors and a granite package, plus hardwoods for the floors.
Central City/Black HawkNow twin towns that are the proud environs of more than a few casinos, large and small. Been there many times in the last 20 years. The area is gorgeous.

Lightning Rods Salesman WantedMy first thought about the hollowed out house sitting so high above the others was that it was likely the victim of a lightning strike and fire. When I was a kid, we lived in the highest old Victorian in our neighborhood. Lightning struck with a sound that made us think an atomic bomb might have hit. We didn't have a fire, but sparks rained down all sides of the house. Wherever electrical wires passed behind plaster under windows, curtains were singed & the bottoms fell as if cut by scissors.
My grandfather's sons thought he was nuts for installing lightning rods on his house in 1950.
Here's a house a couple of miles from me that got struck in 2016, for obvious reasons.
[Indeed. - Dave]
The house on the hill.More a memorial these days, to Ida Kruse McFarlane. Many of the buildings in the image are still around, today, you can see the roofline and cupola of the building next door:

More about Ida, here: Ida Kruse McFarlane - Wikipedia
How did you find it?The comment with photo showing the house in the foreground today ... how did you find it without an address?  Amazing.   
Up on the hillThe building at the top of the hill was the "remains" of the Saint Aloysius Academy.  You can see the outline of the foundation on the current satellite view.  It is now the site of the Ida Kruse McFarlane Memorial.  https://centralcity.colorado.gov/outdoors
Class DismissedNo lurking mystery on the remains of the once vibrant St. Aloysius Academy atop Gunnell Hill in Central City. When it was built, the Sisters had the biggest school in town with room for nearly 200 students but those days had passed when the photo was taken. The foundation of the academy remains with a memorial cross in the same spot atop the hill, which was once reached with a lung aching climb up ten steep staircases from the city streets below.
St. Aloysius.How interesting.  My sister and I graduated from St. Aloysius Academy in Rome, N.Y. Like this one, it was closed years ago.  In our case, the name was meant to honor a local 19th century priest, the Rev. Aloysius Murphy, pastor of St. Peter's church.
When lightning rods fell from fashionI don't know how true this is, but I've heard that with the advent of indoor plumbing, the conventional wisdom said that you no longer needed a lightning rod, because you had a cast iron plumbing vent stack protruding from the roof, making a good conductor to ground. Then, decades later, when PVC or ABS replaced cast iron, people forgot they had ever used that reasoning.
Google SleuthingSeaelf asked how I was able to find the location, and it's really just because Central City is crazy tiny.  The old part of town only has a couple of streets, and this view is urban enough that it's not likely to be on the outskirts.  Plus there's an obvious church on the right which helps focus in on possible locations.  
House huntingIn answer to seaelf's question, when you drive into Central City, the best parking lot is right where John Vachon was standing. You can't miss seeing that building. The street in the present view leads to Idaho Springs uphill to the left. Central City is indeed a fascinating place; as a photographer I've spent many happy hours there.
(The Gallery, Frontier Life, John Vachon, Mining)

Forest Brook: 1956
... first grade about 20 miles west of Hauppauge. The New York City Board of Education had a much less relaxed dress code. Boys from first ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2013 - 7:14am -

November 8, 1956. "Forest Brook Elementary School, Hauppauge, Long Island. Classroom and teacher." For those of a certain demographic, this may strike a chord. Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
We never did that.I grew up in the suburbs around Akron, Ohio, and we never had a bomb drill or duck-and-cover drill ever. All of my peers that grew up in other places had those drills, which has led me to a couple of possible theories. One, that we had some sort of pacifists in our local administration that refused to take part in the Cold War(unlikely). Or two, that we were so close to potential industrial targets that there was simply no point in hoping for survival... Better to go out in the first flash.
[Never had them in my grade school years 1952-1960 in Larkspur, California, either, nor was I aware at the time that they were going on anywhere. -tterrace] 
Lighting fixturesWe had very similar fixtures in my Elementary School about ten years after this, ours had a large bulb with the bottom painted silver sticking through the center though. 
They were probably ancient even in 1966.
X marks the spotI'm not sure if it looked that way in 1956, but Forest Brook today has a strange shape, what you might get if Picasso or Dali had been asked to draw the letter X.  
Hauppague today is a densely populated community, home to most of Suffolk County's government (though Riverhead is the actual county seat) and a huge industrial park, but back in 1956 it was on the frontier of suburbanization.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the students in this picture were the children of farmers.
You will not leave this  house dressed like thatIt would be three years before I entered first grade about 20 miles west of Hauppauge. The New York City Board of Education had a much less relaxed dress code. Boys from first grade on had to wear ties. Jeans and sneakers were not permitted. On school assembly day everyone was required to wear a white shirt or blouse and the boys had to wear  red ties. Of course by the time we were graduating from high school there were still strict dress standards, but they only applied to the teachers.
Smelementary SchoolThose wooden desks were washed and cleaned before classes three months ago, and the floors are waxed weekly.
All the girls are in skirts or dresses, and the boys are well groomed and always polite. After all, no one wants to get called down to the school office! 
Plus, there's a great lineup of cars out the window, in case a little daydreaming is in order, but only for a few seconds at a time. By the way, you can smell today's newfangled hot lunch almost ready to serve, down the hall.
Let there be photonsMy elementary school (Horace Mann in Burbank, Calif.) had the same light fixtures, although we had four to a room. Each contained one ≈500 watt bulb; the bottom of the bulb was obscured by a silver coating. When a bulb was nearing the end of its service life, it would usually emit a high-pitched squeal. The teacher would then cycle the light switch off and on several times, killing the bulb and throttling the distracting squeal.
Reading MaterialMost of the children have notebooks, many children seem to have the Spell and Write workbook, and the young man in the lower left (just behind the girl in the foreground) has the Air Raid Instruction booklet on his desk.
My First Year of School1956 was my first year of school in Houston. Would have loved to have been able to wear blue jeans and shirt tails out but HISD rules at the time (and almost all the way through my HS years) said no blue jeans, no t-shirts, no shirt tails out for boys and skirts/dresses only for girls.
Hard to believe especially since the schools weren't air conditioned in HISD except for offices and a few other classrooms (science for one)until after I graduated in 1968.
No duck and cover drills for us until the Cuban missile crisis when we were told Houston would be a first strike target due the refineries throughout the Houston area. We had an air raid siren right next to the window in my 5th grade class that went off each Friday at noon. I also thought to myself that if the Russians were smart they would attack at noon on Friday!
Star pupils or problem children?Teacher has all that space in front of the classroom for her desk but it's right up close to those pupils at the far end of the classroom. Even with the photographer present, the kids appear to be gazing out the window. Maybe she needed to be that close to keep their attention for any length of time. I wonder if modern medicine is overused in favor of such simple solutions.
Maybe I'll send the first grade picture (1960) from my Catholic school in New Jersey. It's a bright, clean classroom like the one shown here but it's packed tight with baby boomers, all in navy blue and white uniforms, with Sister in her black and white habit up front.
1956 RebelAlright, who's the non-conformist on staff who just had to park facing the wrong way?
Sturdy Desks and the "Good Old Days"Those sturdy desks are perfect for the inevitable "Flash Drills" of the era, in which the principal would come into the room unannounced and write "FLASH" on the blackboard, causing all of us students to "duck and cover" to avoid instant nuclear incineration. I'm not sure how much good it would have done in a real attack, but it was the only tool in the drawer.
Also, I'm surprised the windows don't have the standard heavy blackout curtains, which were handy not only for viewing nmovies but to keep enemy bombers from spotting stray lights at night. 
And a decade laterI started public school a decade later, in a building constructed in 1961. And it was exactly like this, light fixtures, desks, and all. Most of the teachers were young then (and exactly one man, who I got in fifth grade) but I started out with Mrs. Lord, the white-haired wife of the principal, who could have stepped out of any 1910 school administrator picture with naught more than a change of collar. However in my day the fellow with the open shirt front there would have been made to neaten himself up.
Beautiful Schools but the Russians are coming!I began my second semester of kindergarden in January of 1953 in newly built grade school on the west side of Detroit.  We immediately began having fire and air raid drills. For air raids we descended into the basement of the school which was actually the main tunnel of the air circulation system. Some times when we went down the stairs during a drill, the big fan would still be rotating after being shut down.  We had to sit along the walls and cover our heads. To condition us further the lights would be turned off for a short period of time. I switched to a newly built parochial grade school for the fourth grade on. No basement, so we sat in the main hallway between the class rooms and covered our heads. Both schools had class rooms identical to Forest Brook. To add to the tension, the nearby Rouge Park had a Nike missile battery. The missiles were normally hidden behind a high earth berm, but they were visible when frequently pointed skyward for testing. The AM radio frequencies of 640 and 1240 were permanently etched into our memory.     
DrillsI'm exactly the right age for these memories, but except for a few very early instances that were termed "air raid," all our drills were of the fire kind. No duck, no cover - and this just north of San Francisco, with its own battery of Nike missiles by the Golden Gate - in plain view if you took a spin along the Marin Headlands. We all just marched outside. The only time we had to put our practice to use was for a 1957 earthquake centered just south of SF but sharp enough in Larkspur to get us squealing in our fifth grade classroom before the alarm sounded and we made our orderly exit.
"Silver Tooth"I was in the ninth grade in fall of 56. All of the new schools I attended in the late 40's and 50's had those windows and the 9 inch floor tiles. I believe the teacher's desk was in that position only for this pic. One memory came to me in a flash when I saw the tiles. In the 4th grade on the last day of school as I was swinging between desks I did a face plant on the green floor tiles. The impact broke off two of my front teeth below the nerves and the family dentist fixed them with silver caps that stayed that way until I turned 21. 
Blue Jeans?I was in 5th grade at the time, in a far western suburb of Chicago. What I remember was the enormous spending on shiny new schools back then. My mom was a teacher, back when teaching was a respected profession, teachers were proud of what they did for a living and grateful for the $6,000 a year they were paid.
That and the rule against blue jeans. Strictly verboten in my school system. They looked "hoo-dy", pronounced with "hoo" as the first syllable, and were a a well known precursor for the dreaded juvenile delinquency during adolescence and a life of crime and depravity later on. Without that rule, thank goodness and a vigilant school board, I probably would have a criminal record by now.
Good Ol' '56I was in third grade in Hempstead, Long Island then. Ike was president and the world 'champeen' Brooklyn Dodgers would win another pennant only to lose once more to the Yanks. Anybody who wore dungarees (as jeans were called then) in my school district would have been sent home to change to proper attire and an open shirt would catch you a stiff reprimand. Nobody knew what a school bus was and schools were not in the restaurant business for anybody. There was a lot to like about those days. 
Fond MemoriesI was in 1st grade at that time and our classroom in suburban Chicago looked very much like this one.  Someone mentioned getting called down to the office.  There was nothing worse than hearing your name on the PA system to report to the principal.  Every kid in school knew you were probably in deep doo doo.  As for the non-conformist staff member who backed into his spot, these types have always been around and still are today.  They'd rather waste extra time and endure the hassle of backing into a parking spot just so they can pull out with ease at the end of the day.  Never understood that logic.   
The Joys of childhoodI would have been 9 years old when this photo was taken. I was attending "Summer Avenue School" at that time. It was an old three story brick building. We had the kind of desks that bolted to the floor so they couldn't be moved even if you wanted to do so. The seat was actually part of the desk behind you and folded up automatically when you stood up. The top of the desk was hinged at the front so that you could lift it up and put you books and such inside. Oh Yes, they had the obligatory inkwell hole in them as well, but never any ink.
Summer Avenue School still stands but is now known as Roberto Clemente Elementary School. 
The desksStarting I guess in the late 40s that blonde style of wood came very much into vogue for furniture.  Notice, they're the first generation of school desk withOUT a hole for an inkwell.  We had ball point pens by then, no more dipping a nub into india ink.  And no more opportunities for dunking the pigtail of the little girl in front of you into the ink!
The furthest cornersAh, those desks.  In the later grades of elementary school we ate our lunches in the classroom, and the kid in front of me used to stuff the parts of his lunch he didn’t want into the deepest recesses, behind books and other trash.  It got very ripe, and one day the teacher followed her nose to Robert G.’s desk and made him excavate the smelly mess.  I will leave the rest to everyone’s imaginations.
4th grade for meDecatur Street elementary.  I think the building was probably built at the turn of the last century.  And probably the teachers. We had the well worn student desks that you find in the antique shops now for a pretty penny.  The one with the ink well and indentation for a pencil with the seat back and foldup seat on the front of your desk.  We had 12' ceilings, oiled wood floors that the janitor put sawdust down on daily to use his pushbroom on, kept the dust down.
Old School, New SchoolI started the first grade in 1954 in rural Kansas. We were in a building that had been built in 1911 and only housed six grades. The 7th and 8th grades were in the high school. The bathrooms, the lunchroom, and the art room were all in the basement, and we had music in a one-teacher school building that had been moved into town and put behind the school. The 1911 building was probably a horrible firetrap, although there was a metal fire escape on the back from the second floor down. The district built a new school in 1956, and we moved in in February 1957, when I was in the third grade. It looked much like the one in the photo, except that we had metal desks. No dress code--nearly all the boys wore jeans. That 1956 building is still in use, along with the 1923 high school. Of ocurse, they house far fewer kids than they did then.
Several years laterI was attending a Catholic school in a much older building further west on Long Island -- still vividly remember our "duck & cover" drills as I was the smart-alack who asked how a wooden desk would keep us from burning to a cinder.
As for the cafeteria, no hot lunch then; if you forgot your brown bag (no lunch money; you were not permitted to leave the premises) you might have been lucky enough to be escorted across the street to the convent for a PB&J sandwich.
The uniforms were ghastly -- white shirt, dark maroon tie with the school shield on it, and dark grey slacks with black piping down the outside seam. Girls wore a white blouse with a snap tie, grey plaid skirt (that was always rolled up at the waist after leaving the house, and a matching bolero. Once out of sixth grade boys wore a blue plaid tie & girls could wear a -- *gasp* -- blouse of color.
Reminds me of another picture here of young girls wearing skirts in the dead of winter; evil little Catholic boys that we were, we'd spend the lunch hour in the schoolyard assaulting the bare-legged victims by snapping rubber-bands on their frozen legs.
Not non-conformism. Safety!I've worked at a school for years and even though I'm not much of a rebel, I've always backed into the parking space. The logic is simple: you have to back up when you arrive or when you leave, and it's safer to back *in* to a space when there are few or no children around (an hour or two before school starts) than to back *out* of a space when children are running all around at the end of the school day (of course, one should triple-check either time). I often back into shopping center parking spaces using the same reasoning: if there's no one around when I arrive, it's safer to back up then than later when there might be a lot of people about. I knew a man many years ago who fatally backed over his 4-year-old daughter in their driveway and that tragedy changed my thinking on this permanently.
Reminds me of...Sutton Elementary School, southwest Houston, 1971 to 1973. The building was built in the late 50s and had those same big windows, but by that time we had the one piece metal desks with the big opening beneath for your books.
Few years laterI was in the first grade in a Catholic school in NYC. We had fire drills but no under the desk kiss your butt goodbye stuff. Nuns ruled the roost in those days. Midget Gestapo agents all in black with a yardstick bigger than them which was used to get you back in line if you misbehaved. I remember the first day of 2nd grade while us kids were waiting for school to open and my mom approached me to wipe my nose and the nun smacked her hand saying "he belongs to us now!" Ah memories...
Patty Duke, Ben Gazzara, Gene Hackman were some of the actors who lived in the area, Kips Bay, and might have even attended my school at one time.
"Snaggletooth"I can sympathize with jimmylee42. I broke a front tooth in much the same way at my school in the fourth grade. It was the winter of '63-'64.
When the weather was exceptionally cold, they would open the gym for the early kids to come inside before classes started. Although the details are vague now, someone said I was tripped by a bully while I was running around. In a family of four siblings my folks couldn't afford to get my missing tooth capped for years. So one of my nicknames throughout grade school was "Snaggletooth"... not one of my fonder memories. I finally got a white tooth cap just before I started senior high after we moved to Florida.
I wonder how my Alabama classmates would remember me now?
Yes, the Memories!I would have been right in this age range, near as I can tell from looking at the kids. That would have made it my first year out of parochial school, escaped from 4th grade under the rule(r)Sister Rita Jean, she who was Evil Incarnate.
Best memory was teacher telling me, "David! Stop moving your desk around. It makes me think we're having an earthqu... Everyone - outside!!"
DaveB
WonderfulGrade school in Alexandria, Louisiana.  Very familiar classrooms, with the good Nun up front to keep [or try to keep] us on the right path. 
Bayou View SchoolThis reminds me of Mrs Powell's 2nd grade class at Bayou View School in Gulfport, Ms, c.1955.
Fast ForwardTwenty years later I attended a school built in the early 1940s.  This reminds me of those old classrooms in some respects with the desks all lined up in rows, large windows and undoubtedly a large slate chalkboard just out of view.  I notice that the teacher's chair is a sturdy wooden straight back chair - no comfortable office chairs here!  Also, only a two drawer filing cabinet?  I don't think I've ever seen one that small in a classroom.  I teach school now and while this brings back memories (even the light fixtures), it's amazingly different today.  
Green ThumbThe teacher has quite a spartan setup, but I love the line of flowers along the windowsill! What a lovely touch that would be in a classroom.
This was a fun photo and I enjoyed the comments. My parents were born in 1954 and I really like seeing and reading about what that might have been like.
I grew up in that town!I didn't go to this school, but grew up in Smithtown--where this school actually was; not Hauppauge. I was in elementary from 1990-1995, when times were much different. As a teacher I love seeing how it was then.
Love this photo but makes me sadIf I could push a button and go back in time and be someone someplace in the past, I'd be on my way to being one of the kids in that classroom. This is public school education when it was about education.
(The Gallery, Education, Schools, Gottscho-Schleisner, Kids)

Class Portrait: 1940
... was so spectacular that it threatened other parts of the city, and response was called in from six other cities. The Churchill photo ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2010 - 11:47am -

"Montgomery High School students." An amusing (or maybe unsettling) class portrait from Montgomery County, Maryland. The Library of Congress says circa 1936; we've found a number of clues that narrow it down to 1939-40. See the comments for details. National Photo Company safety negative. View full size.
A ClueAssuming that's a photo of Churchill, he wasn't PM in 1936.
[Close, but not the smoking gun. - Dave]
DatesI believe the picture of Churchill dates from WW2. What movie is the Erroll Flynn picture from? I think it's "The Sea Hawk" from 1940.
[I was thinking that might be a cropped version of Karsh's famous portrait of Winnie but it's not. - Dave]
Why it's later than '36For one thing, the publicity still of Errol Flynn is from "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," and that was made in 1939.
[Bingo! Although I'll bet there are other clues as well. - Dave]
One more thing...Bobby Sox.
John Garfielddidn't make his first film until 1938.
W.C.Perhaps that wasn't what you were looking for, but why would a classroom have a photo of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is what he was in 1936.
Class ProjectSo who'll be the first to dig up a yearbook for this school and ID these kids? It would be fascinating to find out what became of them. Especially Angry Boy in the middle. And that girl on the left -- what a beauty.
Angry BoyI was thinking the kid at the back with the glasses looking towards the camera is Angry Boy.  He looks like he's about to go postal.  Guy in the middle looks like Bursting for a Pee Boy.
Montgomery High MemoriesThis is a classroom in the old Montgomery High in Rockville. The school was torn down after being gutted by fire in 1940.
How Do I Look?Caught the 'Elizabeth and Essex' photo, but being a girl, I checked out the fashions. Shorter skirts, saddle shoes and moccasins worn with bobby sox, and the long hair on half the young ladies point to the very late '30's-early '40's.
Does the kid at the bulletin board have a mustache? Was that allowed?
Held BackI believe the young man in the 2nd row is the most explosive, because he's probably been held back a few times. He looks about 4 years older than the rest (including the guy with the mustache) and appears to be much bigger than the rest. All joking that aside, If this was around 1940, those boys were going to be in a shooting war very shortly. That makes the photo more serious.
Casual or FormalIs there any clue that these students knew ahead of time that their picture was going to be taken this particular day? Although people dressed better in school back then, I'm curious if this is really a candid shot, or if they might have dressed a little differently for this occasion (specifically Bursting For a Pee Boy).
And why is the kid on the far left reading his book sideways?
I do believethat that is a portrait of Hedy Lamarr next to ol' Errol.
Cross ReaderNotice the boy far left, front row. Everyone else is reading the book normally. He's reading it crosswise or maybe not at all. Maybe he's thinking about the pretty one sitting to his left!
Look BusyAs a teacher, I can make much of what's going on here. Obviously the students were told to look busy. You see the ones who complied: the ones in the front (the good kids) and the girls. The ones sitting in the back (trouble), and most of the boys (with one lone girl peeking) are stealing glances at the camera. Some things don't change.
The ClassThey look so young, but at the same time they look so old!
Other Classroom StarsBetween the two standing girls, Tyrone Power; second to the right of Errol Flynn, Paul Muni and Luise Rainer, stars of 1937's The Good Earth; two more to the right, possibly Miriam Hopkins, but I won't swear; likewise below her looks like Joel McCrea.
School's out for summerThe date of the fire that gutted RM High School was Thursday, March 7, 1940, early in the morning. The blaze was so spectacular that it threatened other parts of the city, and response was called in from six other cities.
The Churchill photoThe Churchill photo would have NO REASON AT ALL of being on a wall in a US classroom unless it was after he became PM in WWII.
[Well, yes it would. In fact it appeared in the January 9, 1939, issue of Life magazine, which had a photoessay on Churchill. A photo from the same session was the cover of the September 4, 1939, issue of Time. Churchill was something of a celebrity in the U.S. well before he became prime minister -- his mother was American. At the start of World War 2 in 1939, when Britain declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, it was generally recognized that Neville Chamberlain was through and that Churchill would be England's war leader. - Dave]

Parenthetically - That girl behind Angry Boy - the one in glasses - is genuinely lovely, and she'd be a knockout if she ditched that “Comrade Librarian” look.
Hottie SpotterThat chick in the front row, far right side is total hottie! 
A bit of Hedy in your cellphone!She's downright beautiful, and smart: co-inventor of "Secret Communication System" technology submitted for US patent in June, 1941 and patent was granted in August, 1942.
Back then, this frequency hopping method was well ahead of technology that could support it, but the spread-spectrum principle is used in today in cellphone and WiFi communication gear.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr for details.
Never Gonna Give You UpCould that be a time-traveling Rick Astley, second from the right?
[And right behind him: John-Boy Walton. - Dave]
Yo, tterraceWould have been here sooner, but I had a hurricane to contend with. I think Miriam Hopkins might actually be Claire Trevor. Not sure about Joel Mcrea, but I don't have any alternative candidates to propose.
That's just about the sissiest picture of John Garfield I have ever seen in my short life!
EsotericaNow where else on the web are you gonna get an old classroom photo with two disparate song references to the likes of Rick Astley and Mambo #5? 
Mystery Star, neither Miriam nor ClaireThat pic is of Gladys George.

Gladys GeorgeGood catch, Highney. I should have recognized her, since she has memorable character parts in three movies in my collection: opposite Cagney in The Roaring Twenties (1938), as Miles Archer's duplicitous widow Iva opposite Bogart in The Maltese Falcon (1941), and with Kirk Douglas in Detective Story (1951). Rather tragic personal life, unfortunately; check her bio in the Internet Movie Database.
Panama SmithOy, I am chagrined. GG had the best line in the movie (Roaring Twenties) and one of the all time classic tag lines... 
"He used to be a big shot."
One possibilityThe fellow with the 'sideways' book could actually be looking at a picture; they were sometimes printed that way when they were much wider than tall, so wouldn't fit otherwise.
That BoyMy family is from Rockville - my grandmother graduated from Montgomery High School in 1933, my mom graduated from Richard Montgomery (the newer name) in 1960, and I have a lot of other relatives who attended that school. I showed this picture to my mom to see if she recognized anyone and she immediately said she knew the "about to burst" boy. His name was Frank (she couldn't remember his last name) and he had cerebral palsy. She remembers that when she was a child, he sold Fuller brushes in their neighborhood.
1940 Richard Montgomery HS YearbookPage 28 of the Richard Montgomery Yearbook -- The Rocket (via Ancestry.com) shows this classroom and a description of "Junior English". The pictures on the wall on the left are the same as those in the photo here, though the back wall has different pictures, and none of the students match up. Page 6 of the yearbook shows a crowd of people watching the school burn and page 8 describes the fire - no one was injured and all the school records were saved.
(The Gallery, Education, Schools, Natl Photo)

Iowa City in the Snow: 1940
February 1940. The main street in Iowa City during a snowstorm. View full size. Businesses in this view include ... like the same block of E. Washington as the last Iowa City picture. Not my picture, and not quite the same angle, but it looks like ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:35pm -

February 1940. The main street in Iowa City during a snowstorm. View full size. Businesses in this view include Bremer's, the Capitol Cafe and Princess No. 2. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.
CoolnessI love the "Air Conditioned" sign on the front of the Capitol Cafe, I bet that drew customers in on a cold winter day in Iowa. Also, what's that hanging from the bike's handlebars? Some kind of tail ornament? Cool!
Same block as the last one?This looks like the same block of E. Washington as the last Iowa City picture.  Not my picture, and not quite the same angle, but it looks like the Capitol Cafe building is in the middle of this shot.
Bicycles, white shirts and tiesCome to Utah, we have *plenty* of those.  They'll come to your door and talk about Jesus! That said, I really liked this picture.  Snow makes me happy!
More IC winterThat photo is wonderful! The UI Libraries are featuring a digital collection of similar early 20th century winter scenes: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/winter 
IC WinterThank you for posting these photos. I love looking at the past through photos. I'm not from Iowa, Newfoundland Canada actually. Also a car buff, and this picture has it all. When was the last time you saw a boy riding a bicycle in a snowstorm with a white shirt and necktie?
Capitol Cafe, Iowa CityHere is a 1938 photo of the inside of the Capitol Cafe.
Princess Sweet Shop?I'm guessing the Princess 2 is a sister shop to the Princess Cafe and Sweet Shop in Iowa Falls.  It's an incredible piece of interior design on the main street in Iowa Falls.  Didn't find any good pics of the current interior, but here is a short page about the Iowa Falls location.  
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/hardin/pri.htm
Capitol CafeHere is the corrected photo of the inside of the Capitol Cafe -->
Click on the thumbnail for big image version.

"This picture has it all"Yes, not to mention the clock that tells us what time it is, and a nice reflection of the bicycle on the side of that shiny sedan.
Shorpy is a time travel machine.
+83Below is the same view from May of 2023.
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Bicycles, Cars, Trucks, Buses)

Ebby's Diner: 1942
... size. Trolley 236 still running Lancaster had a city streetcar system and an extensive electric interurban railway service in ... way to regulate the steam heat! The downside of free city-wide steam. Closed? The diner shows no signs of life that I can ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/25/2024 - 3:47pm -

February 1942. "Lancaster, Pennsylvania." Ebby's Diner and the Corine Hotel at Queen and Chestnut streets. Photo by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Trolley 236 still runningLancaster had a city streetcar system and an extensive electric interurban railway service in the area. It lasted until 1947 when buses replaced the trolleys. Birney car 236 still runs in nearby Manheim, and you can learn all about it in this video. John Vachon's street views from above really capture that moment in time.
Delicious geometriesCertain photos on this website work their magic immediately and then leave me to try to figure out where the power comes from.  First to spring out at me are the pleasing geometric planes, forming a big Z in the middle, with the streetcar tracks acting as the central diagonal.  Then there’s Ebby’s Diner, which appears like a larger version of those two streetcars.  And the allure of those cozy establishments -– how I wish I could go to eat at that diner or The Village restaurant or even Sprenger’s, whatever kind of place that is.  And winter!  Bravo, John Vachon.
Here and GoneThe diner is gone. It would have been to the far right facing Chestnut. The hotel is gone too. It would have been where the parking lot is now. The three-story brick building remains with some modifications. The commercial ground-floor space was removed.

Great photo!What a great photo!
WowEchoing @davidK, this photograph is a masterpiece.
Whazzat?Is that a lumberyard in the upper right? It’s an unusual open-sided structure
The Old PRR Main LineThe original Pennsylvania Railroad main line passed through Lancaster right through the downtown area. The depot was located at Queen and Chestnut Streets. You can see a boxcar under the roof where the original depot once stood. Apparently by this time the track had been terminated here and that boxcar is now sitting in what would probably be a covered team track. A study of satellite views will reveal parts of the old right-of-way and some buildings cropped at odd angles or others that were once parallel to the tracks.
[update]
Upon finding maps of Lancaster circa 1900 I have concluded that the actual PRR trackage passed right across the lower portion of the photograph frame and, indeed, Ebby's Diner is perched directly on the former right-of-way. The box car further down E. Queen St. is actually on a stub-end siding that once served a business there or could have been a freight house.
Ebby's Was The Old Pennsy RR StationI could be turned around, but I think the view faces northwest, in which case the train station was on the lot where Ebby's stands in this photo.  The tracks came into Lancaster from the N.W. and crossed the empty lot next to (left of) the Hotel Corine, then across Queen Street to the passenger station.  The beginning of these tracks are visible from Dillerville Road (or on Google Maps) near the western end of the Norfolk Southern Lancaster yard.  The tracks crossed Harrisburg Avenue west of the new stadium and ran into the center of town.  The boxcar under the shed was one of many stub tracks that branched into small sidings.  Bits of the right of way were turned into parkland or create strange property lines that are still visible, as G of V noted.   The tracks then continued east and north to rejoin the main line. 
Also goneis the building from where John Vachon took this photograph.  If you swing around in the Street View supplied by kozel, there's a Holiday Inn there now.  No doubt it was a cold February day in Lancaster, yet two windows at the corner hotel (I can't read the name) are open.  On the top floor one is open a little.  The window directly below it is wide open.  Brrrrrr.
This Photo Smells So GoodMy mouth is watering, what with the cooking smell coming from the diner and the cold frigid air that carries the smells of the bacon and eggs, or steak and potatoes to your olfactory senses. 
The hotel might have a place to eat as well, if so, that would overload the senses with its waft of whatever is non the grill.
Another odor would be the scent of freshly laundered sheets and/or towels from the Laundry at the top left of the picture. 
A-lone survivorBuilt like a brick shi... er, well, solid as a rock. Probably good for another coupla hundred years. 

About those open windowsDoug (see below) pointed out that on an obviously chilly day, a couple of the windows in the hotel are open. Back in the day it was a routine practice for housekeeping to throw open windows in recently vacated rooms to air them out. This would have been especially desirable in an era when smoking was so common, even in hotel rooms. Also, most hotels did not have individual thermostats in rooms to control the heat. The heat was typically from radiators or from ventilation grates in the floor connected to an often coal fired furnace. In either case, the heat was usually controlled by the hotel staff. Sometimes rooms could get a bit stuffy or just plain hot, to the point where even on a nippy day, cracking a window for a few minutes might be the only way to get some fresh air and cool off. 
Lancaster's Pennsy StationI found this early view of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station courtesy of the Lancaster County Historical Society.
Sometimes It May Not Have Smelled So GoodThe Lancaster Stockyards, the largest stockyard east of Chicago, was located about a mile north of here along the PRR mainline between Philadelphia and points west. It handled 10,000 cattle a day, along with pigs, sheep and other animals arriving by rail from the west. After a layover, the doomed animals boarded connecting trains and were distributed to other cities to meet their fates.  If the wind was just right the scent of bacon and steak on the hoof may have tainted the wonderful odors emanating from Ebby’s and The Village.
142 units, 12 stories, $7,556 per mo.The site of the former Corine Hotel, shown as a parking lot on Google Street View, is currently a construction site for a market-rate rental development, scheduled to be finished by late spring 2024.
[$7556 is the rental rate for the first-floor retail/restaurant space. - Dave]
More Open WindowsI can definitely related to Ad Orientem's comments on heated hotel rooms.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the hottest Summer I ever spent was a Winter's night in Moscow!
We spent several nights in Moscow's Hotel Ukraina back in January, 1998. Imagine sleeping in underwear, on top of the bed, with the floor-to-ceiling (unscreened!) windows open to try to catch a breath of breeze. Under 10F outside, and over 80F inside, with no way to regulate the steam heat!
The downside of free city-wide steam.
Closed?The diner shows no signs of life that I can see.  Can anyone read the sign on the door?
[All those footprints would seem to indicate otherwise. - Dave]
Man in BlackExceptionally composed photograph. To my eye the man in black along the roadway is the focal point. The angles lead to him. I am always amazed by snow scenes, the intensity of reflected light, which even on a cloudy day usually requires a small aperture with attendant great depth of field and sharpness.
(The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Streetcars)

Let Us Continue: 1964
August 24, 1964. Atlantic City, New Jersey. "View of delegates and stage with large pictures of John F. ... on its website in 2016. (The Gallery, Atlantic City, Politics, Public Figures, TV) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/14/2024 - 12:55pm -

August 24, 1964. Atlantic City, New Jersey. "View of delegates and stage with large pictures of John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson with the slogan 'Let Us Continue,' at the 1964 Democratic National Convention." 35mm acetate negative by Warren K. Leffler for U.S. News & World Report. View full size.
Convention Hall organI love viewing and reading history about that convention hall, which houses the world's largest pipe organ. I wonder if it was played much at that convention. FWIW, there's a great Facebook page which is documenting the continuing progress on the restoration of that instrument, and a lot of details and aspects of the hall are discussed, too.
Reminds me of MomMy mother was a delegate at that convention. She is on the right of this photo taken at the convention. She and the other woman served President and Mrs. Johnson tea. I never did ask her why, but I'm thinking LBJ probably wanted something a little stronger.
Always The Network With the Best Graphics52 years later and CBS News is still using virtually the same logo seen at this convention on its website in 2016.
(The Gallery, Atlantic City, Politics, Public Figures, TV)

The Hereafter: 1906
... management of Messrs. Clinedinst and Ballard, of this city. The show is a very weird one but it has never failed to attract ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/24/2024 - 5:39pm -

Norfolk, Virginia, circa 1906. "Pine Beach -- amusements and boardwalk." 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Grewsome ObjectsTHE DAILY PRESS, Newport News, Va., June 21, 1906
"HEREAFTER" AT PINE BEACH
Local Amusement Company Offers
Weird St. Louis Attraction
"Hereafter," a spectacular show which created a sensation on the Pike at the St. Louis exposition, has been put in at Pine Beach by the Newport News Amusement Corporation at a cost of $10,000 and will be ready for public exhibition tomorrow afternoon and night.
The contract for constructing this expensive amusement enterprise was awarded to Austin, Bradwell and McClennan of New York, the firm which put in the St. Louis show. Mr. McClennan was manager of Luna Park at Coney Island for two seasons, and has created such shows as "The Johnstown Flood" and "Over and Under the Sea."
"Hereafter" is under the general management of Messrs. Clinedinst and Ballard, of this city.
The show is a very weird one but it has never failed to attract immense crowds wherever exhibited. Entering the first chamber of the great building erected for this show, the spectators are ushered into the chamber of horrors, the walls of which are lined with coffins and decorated with grinning skulls and other grewsome objects. This is an exact reproduction of the famous Cabaret de la Mort, or the Cabinet [sic] of Death, in Paris. The lecturer invites some person in the crowd to enter one of the upright coffins and he is immediately transformed into a skeleton. His spirit invites the spectators to accompany him to the under world and together they descend a bottomless pit, finally crossing the river Styx and finishing in Hades. The electrical effects used are most vivid and greatly add to the impressiveness of the scene.
Entertainment through the decadesIt's nice to see Oliver Hardy and Mary Martin making use of someone's time machine. But as for the Hereafter, it is easy for us to snicker at such a kitschy exhibit for the rubes, but our contemporary comic book movies and "reality" tv are just as stylized and phony. In fifty years this will be really obvious.
Less amusing now.Pine Beach was located at Sewell’s Point in Norfolk.


Pine Beach Hotel - The Hampton Roads Naval Museum Blog
A Hellish Experience?I have to wonder if that expensive $10,000 investment was profitable as time went on.
I'LL GET IT Apparently, the merry-go-round swing thing in the center of photo is stuck because someone is scaling up the side to locate the problem with a 1906 version of WD-40 aka lubricating oil. 
WhirligigThe merry-go-round swing thing in the center of photo.
I'd be hereafter... a ride on the little train just the other side of the messy log patch. Looks like a nice steamer, willing to tote a dozen or so happy kids around the park. And the name "Hereafter" reminds me of the old plug about what guys say to their date right after parking in the woods.
Somebody help meWhat is that thing which the woman in white is looking/laughing at? I refer to what appears to be an elephant trunk -- not attached to an elephant -- suspended between the two benches. BTW I am stone cold sober.
[Is it a trunk? More likely a limb! It looks to me like part of a tree. - Dave]

(The Gallery, DPC, Norfolk)

Islesworth Gardens: 1906
Continuing our trip to Atlantic City circa 1906. "Islesworth Gardens Hotel, Virginia Avenue." 8x10 glass ... All Gone I'm about an hour's drive from Atlantic City, though not being a gambler, I don't go there often. With the advent of ... here using parasols are Asians. Remembering Atlantic City in the 1950s Our family vacationed in Atlantic City for many summers in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 12:32pm -

Continuing our trip to Atlantic City circa 1906. "Islesworth Gardens Hotel, Virginia Avenue." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
Just for a momentI thought the woman in the streetcar was texting a friend.  Then I woke up!
Great shot!I think the Trump Taj Mahal casino is there now. 
All GoneI'm about an hour's drive from Atlantic City, though not being a gambler, I don't go there often. With the advent of the casinos, locales such as this, evidently at the Boardwalk, are completely gone. I'll have to make a trip there with a camera and some of these old pictures to see the differences. Thanks for all the great pictures.
The Streetcar!At first I was confused with the streetcar having its pole up in the wrong direction for a double track line but then I noticed that there is a crossover (a pair of switches in the street) allowing the car to "turn back" or "short turn" without having to go to the end of the route.  The pole has been turned but the seats are still facing the wrong direction.  The faded lettering on the sign on the roof also suggests that this car might not be going to the end of the line.
InterestingThe only people I see around here using parasols are Asians.
Remembering Atlantic City in the 1950sOur family vacationed in Atlantic City for many summers in the 1950s.  We would load up our old Buick, include the dog, and take off from Cincinnati for that glorious week on the Jersey Shore.  We stayed in an old converted mansion on North Carolina Avenue called the Manlor Guest House. Every morning was an open air breakfast on the Boardwalk, then to the beach and back to the Manlor to squirt off the sand in the backyard and go to dinner at Betty's Restaurant.
The Manlor is long gone along with all the other old converted homes but those places had a charm that no Holiday Inn could replace.
Look through the windowYoung lady in the window under the letter "N" of the streetcar looks like she just realized she has purchased the wrong ticket. 
TrumpedIf this is where the Trump Taj is now, I think it looked much better then!
Her TownThe sidewalks are full of Mary Poppinses.
The End of the Line or Back at 'Go'?The streetcar in the photo is interesting, having just arrived at this location on the track closest to the curb and the horse cabs.
The car seatbacks are in position indicating the right end of the car was the front on arrival, the seat backs could be flipped over depending on car's direction.
The outer arm rests are on the window ledges.
The seats at the front and rear two side windows would have their backs to the window, the patrons facing the aisle.
On cars with sanders the sand boxes would often be located under these lengthways seats which hinged up when filling with sand.
However, the trolley pole has been moved around so the car will now travel right to left when it starts on it's next journey, the left end now the front.
The car is short enough, altho' it has two 4-wheel trucks beneath, that the Motorman or Conductor could walk the trolley pole around with the trolley pole rope still able to hang over the end at either end with the trolley pole stand centered lengthways on the car roof.
Without the trolley pole rope overhanging it would be difficult to centre the trolley pulley on the wire.
A longer two-truck car would have to have a separate trolley pole at each end.
There were also parameters governing the placement of the trolley pole stand on the car roof so that the pulley would track on the wire properly when the car beneath turned at a track switch at an intersection or went straight thru.
Now, there are TWO tracks in the street, and this car will cross over to the far track to 'Run on the right' as it moves ahead on it's new journey.
The 'crossover' in the street is visible by the man's head above the nearest horse cab and thru the cab behind.
Thank You.
Phones in RoomsThe Islesworth Gardens Hotel was popular with conventioneers (pharmacists, railroad ticket agents, elevator operators ...)

1908 Advertisement 


Impossible waistsThe women wearing corsets have those impossibly small wasp waists.  I wonder about the young woman walking toward the camera. She appears to have a normal waist.  The corset must have exacerbated the heat problem.  Give me my smelling salts. And Gracious Sakes, I see a few women without their hats in public!
City of the FutureIt looks like a futuristic city of dollhouses. They had some kind of super "green" vehicle that ran on hay and produced fertilizer instead of carbon monoxide... and even mass transit that ran on electricity! Wow, imagine if we could harness that kind of technology.
No sunscreen requiredI but none of these people is thinking about sunscreen!  Also, its a shame that we don't use parasols anymore.  I count about 15 in this picture (if you count both sides of the street).
Dress CodeNo shorts or tank-tops allowed!
Good MannersNotice that the men use proper etiquette when walking with a female companion. The man walks on the street side, ladies to the inside.  By the way, what is the covering on the roofs of the horse cabs? Is it some kind of treated cloth?
In praise of ShorpyShorpy is my all time favorite web site ! It's like having a portal to the past. Shorpy lets us see in incredible detail what life was like decades ago. I tell everyone I know about this fantastic site.  My problem with this site is that I could spend all day looking at the photos. Thank you for all of the work you do in making these Library of Congress photos look as good as they do.
Fastest Way to Ocean CityThat interurban trolley on the right is from the Shore Fast Line connecting Atlantic City to Ocean City, New Jersey.  It operated into the 1940s and was immortalized as the Short Line on the Monopoly game board. 
Car 6812West Jersey and Seashore Type Q semi-convertible, built by the J. G. Brill Co., Phila, 1904-05.  Originally single ended, rebuilt as double ended car in 1908. Sold off in 1913-14 when new "Nearside" cars were delivered.
The cars, incidentally, are numbered in the Pennsylvania Railroad fleet as the WJ&S was a PRR subsidiary.
This is the kind of picturethat deserves the "even bigger" option, or the colorized version. Lovely, absolutely lovely in every detail. Exquisite photo.
Speaking of Monopoly RR'sDid we ever find out why Darrow used the B&O railroad for his game? The Baltimore and Ohio never served Atlantic City; only the Shore Fast, Reading, Pennsylvania (later these would merge into the PRSL) and the Central RR of NJ (with it's its infamous Blue Comet) did.
From Atlantic City to Ocean CityThe trolley advertises 2 ways to get to Ocean City:
"SHORE FAST LINE ELECTRIC FLYERS
VIA GREAT EGG HARBOR BAY"
"ATLANTIC AVE. TROLLEY
AND BOAT VIA LONGPORT"
No. 6818 is a local Atlantic City car, maybe even a shuttle out to Atlantic Avenue.  It does not have 3rd rail shoes, which Shore Fast Line cars needed, as they used a part of the West Jersey & Seashore RR to get across the meadows between West Atlantic City and Pleasantville, where the electrified railroad didn't use overhead wire.
Shore Fast Line ran between Virginia Avenue and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City to 8th Street and the Boardwalk, Ocean City, both on barrier islands, via the Mainland.
(The Gallery, Atlantic City, DPC, Streetcars, Travel & Vacation)

Radio City: 1932
April 7, 1932. "New York city views. Radio City from the Goelet Building." The beginnings of the RCA Building ("30 Rock"), ... Manhattan construction project, known early on as Radio City, that would become Rockefeller Center. 5x7 inch acetate negative by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/02/2023 - 11:39am -

April 7, 1932. "New York city views. Radio City from the Goelet Building." The beginnings of the RCA Building ("30 Rock"), with the almost-completed RKO Building as  backdrop, amid the Midtown Manhattan construction project, known early on as Radio City, that would become Rockefeller Center. 5x7 inch acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
Worthyin its own right, the c.1930 Goelet Building was built adjacent to, and concurrently with the Center (and by some accounts intended to complement it architecturally).

How well it succeeded in fulfilling that intention is, I guess, open to interpretation, but I believe most would find it a handsome building.
Park Central HotelRadio City Music Hall fronts 6th Avenue, between W 50th and W 51st Streets.  To the right of Radio City in the 1932 photo is the five-year-old, 25-story Park Central Hotel. It was and is located at 870 7th Ave, between W 55th and W 56th Streets. It's had its share of history.  The Park Central has housed such figures as Jackie Gleason, Mae West, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who kept a suite there from 1950 to 1953.  In 1928, Jewish gangster and well-dressed prototype of the modern don, Arnold Rothstein, was shot and fatally wounded in one of the suites.  Mobster Albert Anastasia was assassinated in the hotel's barber shop on October 25, 1957. In 1933 silent-film actor Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle died of a heart attack in his sleep in his suite here.  The hotel was also the venue for the National Football League Draft from 1980 to 1985.
No chance of seeing the Park Central from the Goelet Building today.   
(The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)

Vladeck Houses: 1941
... Houses, view from Madison and Scammel Streets, New York City. W.F.R. Ballard; Sylvan Bien; Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, architects." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/22/2024 - 2:05pm -

July 14, 1941. "Vladeck Houses, view from Madison and Scammel Streets, New York City. W.F.R. Ballard; Sylvan Bien; Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, architects." Recently completed apartment buildings of the Baruch Charney Vladeck Houses on the Lower East Side, with the Williamsburg Bridge in the distance. Acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
Scammel Street has been repurposed... And the bridge view is now blocked.

Goodbye: Casement WindowsHello: Window air conditioners
Yes, they're relatedU.S. Supreme Court scholar and law professor Stephen I. Vladeck (author of "The Shadow Docket," among other works) is a great-grandson of labor leader Baruch Charney Vladeck, the namesake of the Vladeck Houses. 
The good news... is that the public housing authority didn't waste much money on architects, apparently. The scary thing is that when one looks at the other public housing buildings nearby, the Vladeck Homes look positively beautiful in comparison.  
(The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC, Stores & Markets)

Our Lady of Lourdes: 1914
... School This is Our Lady of Lourdes School in New York City on 143rd Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Convent Avenue. The school ... entered by one door and the higher grades used the other. City College frat houses faced the school. Recess was on the street out front. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/13/2022 - 12:33pm -

        A newly restored version of a Shorpy favorite that has collected three pages of comments since it was first posted in 2007 --
The caption for this one just says "Post Office." Thanks to our commenters we now know that the building with the statue is the Our Lady of Lourdes School at 468 W. 143rd Street in New York circa 1914. 8x10 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size | The school in 2007.
Post office?Looks like a Catholic school, actually. This is just a wild-a**ed guess, but St. Jean Baptiste on East 75th? This would coincide with the warehouse cart on the left (sort of).
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic SchoolThis is Our Lady of Lourdes School in New York City on 143rd Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Convent Avenue.  The school was built in 1913 in Washington Heights, an exclusively white, upper middle-class neighborhood.  It was built and equipped at a total cost of one hundred and forty thousand dollars.  
Besides classrooms for five hundred pupils, the building contained an auditorium with a stage lavishly equipped for theatrical productions, a gymnasium, a roof-top playground, an assembly room for parish organizations, rooms for classes in cooking and sewing, and offices for the school officials.
The associated church (Our Lady of Lourdes) is located directly behind the school on the next block, 142nd Street.
Yes...Which is the Post Office?  The large building in the center must be a Catholic School, what with a saint on the roof and all.
As for the location, I have no clue.  
Post OfficeWhich building is the Post Office?
post officeBuilding with street level entrance and flags would be my likely guess.
Today...Google Street View. It's always interesting to see NYC in the early years, and how it's changed.
Our Lady of LourdesI attended this school for eight years in the 1950s. The lower grades entered by one door and the higher grades used the other. City College frat houses faced the school. Recess was on the street out front. We didn't have any cooking or sewing classes, no classrooms equipped for that. There wasn't any  gym. We weren't allowed to go up on the roof and there wasn't an assembly room. We did have a annual spring play using the stage and we had a Christmas concert. There was a way into the church from the back of the school. The nuns that taught there were called Society of the Holy Child. Father Kline was one of the priests and Mother Mary Edward taught there. A good school, good memories.
Johnny PumpThat fire hydrant probably was installed in the late 1880s. Was born and bred in NYC and traversed all five boroughs  many many times, but NEVER laid eyes on a johnny pump like that. Every boy who ever grew up in "The City" is instinctively  drawn to hop over as many hydrants as possible. However that one is a KILLER.  
Our Lady of LourdesI attended OLL from 1933 to 1941. The lower grades kindergarten to fourth were taught by the Ursuline Order of Sisters. The upper grades fifth to eighth were taught by the Sisters of the Holy Child. The school was funded and guided by the priests of the adjoining OLL Church.
We were there to learn,to pray: no play, no library, no lunch room, no outside activities. It was not an easy life for children of poor families during this Great Depression Era. I often cried and asked God to help me through the day, the year. I know I received a very good education but not a happy one. There were nuns I would have died for, however there were many that should not have been allowed to teach children.
The Church and school were founded by Monsignor Thomas McMann. There is  a bust of the good priest near the entrance to the upper church.
In the 1930s we were allowed on the roof for various activities.
The term  "very stern " comes to mind.
The statue is Our Lady of Lourdes, similar to the statue in the grotto in the lower church on 142nd Street. It was removed a few years ago as it decayed and was ready to fall off the roof.
Convent AvenueThis photo faces east, and the townhouses in the background are along the east side of Convent Avenue. All of them still stand, most are in superb condition. This is the finest real estate in Harlem; a house across the street sold for $3.89 million about 18 months ago. Here is a listing for a house a few doors down from the ones seen here: http://tinyurl.com/2396kb
Note the terraces on two of the buildings -- those are stunning and almost never seen in New York.
Does anyone remember anDoes anyone remember an Irish nun by the name of Sister Gerard?  She was one of the Ursula ? nuns at the Our Lady of Lourdes in Manhatten.  She emigrated about 1910, so am not sure anyone would remember her...
Is there a cemetery associated with Our Lady of Lourdes?
Upper and Lower ChurchCan you tell me if the Upper and Grotto Church still exists and do they have mass on Saturdays and Sundays?  I lived 2 streets away a long time ago and would like to see the old neighborshood.  I have never forgotten the Grotto.  It's so unique.  Would like to share it with my spouse.
Or maybe I can speak with someone in the convent.  Are the nuns still there?
Thank you.
Diana Gosciniak
Our Lady of LourdesI also went there in the 1950's. The nuns were very dedicated to teaching. Our religion was the major reason they and all of us were there. The grotto was under the main stairs and confession was held downstairs at 4 pm on Saturday. The children's Mass was at 9 am on Sunday, a High Mass in Latin. The doors of the main church came from old St. Patrick's downtown in Little Italy.
The sisters made sure that the majority of 8th grade students got into Catholic high school. A lot of the girls went to Cathedral H.S. and the boys went to Cardinal Hayes.
The church was around the corner with a connection to the back of the school. The convent was right next door to the church and the rectory was across the street.
Once in a while we were invited to go to the convent on a Saturday to see the nuns. The neighborhood was pretty good, all kind of stores that tolerated all of us kids.
It was nice going there for eight years. Fond memories.
O.L.L. Upper and lower churchYes, the upper church is still active with most Masses in Spanish. The lower church {the Grotto) is not used.  However the statue of the Blessed Mother is still on view. The sisters left about 10 years ago. I visited the school and was told the Church no longer had any say in its operation. When did you attend? I was there from 1933 to 1940.
J Woods
Theatrical productions?Oh, how I wish I had your recall. However, I did attend O.L.L. from 1933 through 1940. Yes, the stage was used - but with limited equipment. I never saw or played on a rooftop playground. There was no gymnasium. The seats in the auditorium were moved to the side for military drilling by boys from grades 5 to 8 once a week. The girls exercised in a nearby room. The children in the lower grades had no physical training. I don't remember an assembly room for any parish organizations. Family members were not encouraged to come to the school except on Graduation Day or if the student had a serious problem that required a meeting with the principal and/or a parish priest. I must say we all received a very good education and were farther ahead in our studies than the Public School  kids.
Yours truly and in friendship,
Jackie Woods
OLL NeighborhoodI lived on Amsterdam Ave for 16 years. Where did you live? When did you attend OLL School? The few friends I had from the old days have passed on. I answered your other message; The Nuns left about 15 years ago. You need to have someone open the lower church to visit there. The Blessed Mother's Statue is still located in the Grotto but masses are no longer read there.
Regards and in friendship.
Jackie Woods
Our Lady of Lourdes, 2008I had a chance to stop by West 143rd street and take a snapshot today. The cornerstone is dated 1912. As you can see, every building shown in the "1914" photograph is extant and all are in excellent condition. There is even a fire hydrant in the same location as the fire hydrant shown in the photo. As for changes — there are trees on the block now, and the cornice has been removed from Our Lady of Lourdes, as has the statue of the saint. And, of course, as with all modern photos taken in New York, it is full of automobiles.

(Click to enlarge)
The reddish sign on the left side of the street, behind the motorcycle, identifies this block as part of the Hamilton Heights Historical District (Hamilton Grange is only a few blocks away). Today was garbage day, so a distracting pile of trash sits in the foreground, sorry about that.
Our Lady of LourdesCentral Harlem, did you attend Our Lady of Lourdes? If so what years?
Thanks for the picture
Jackie Woods
Our Lady of LourdesI attended an Episcopalian school. I contributed that photo because of my joy in Harlem history, not any tie to this school in particular.
Last weekend, I found a photograph of this block dating to 1908! All the buildings looked the same except for OLL, which was then an empty lot. Perhaps Team Shorpy can enlighten me -- would it be compliant with copyright law for me to scan and post it?
[Is there a copyright notice on it? If it was copyrighted before 1923, the copyright has expired. - Dave]
Our Lady of LourdesThank you for your latest information, Central Harlem. Where was your school located? Did you live nearby? I'm 80 years old going on 81 and all I have are my memories (mostly fond). And my memory is outstanding. I was hoping to hear from anyone who attended OLL with me.
By the way, the folks on Amsterdam Avenue always envied the folks on Convent Avenue, always a beautiful clean street. (Today we would say "upscale.") Three of my children were born in The Lutheran Hospital of Manhattan on 144th off Convent. I had moved to upper Washington Heights by then but my doctor was still working out of there.
Thank you and in friendship,
Jackie Woods
Our Lady of Lourdes, 1909I had a chance to scan the old photo I found of this block. It dates to 1909, not 1908 as I had first said. Every building seen in this photo remains, though some of the lots on the right-hand side of 143rd street were empty in 1909, including the lot that would house Our Lady of Lourdes three years later.

Anticipating the interest of Shorpy's crew of automotive experts, I provide a closeup of that car on Amsterdam Avenue, below.

Also, a note to Jackie Woods: we're of different generations. It is good to exchange notes here, but I'm sure we've never met.
Our Lady of Lourdes SchoolWhat wonderful memories of days past. I attended OLL from 1943 and graduated in 1951. One of five brothers to do so.  You may have known my older brothers, Larry, Dick or Bill.  We lived in that apartment building at the end of the street on the OLL side. That was the location of Alexander Hamilton's house, Hamilton Grange.  When it was built, it forced the move to its present location behind the church. It will be moved again to the SE corner of Convent and 141st Street.  You also mentioned Lutheran Hospital. It wasn't so great for our family.  My brother Dick was taken there after being hit by a car. While recovering, he contracted rheumatic fever in the hospital and later died at New York Hospital. We also lived at 310 Convent Avenue because my mother's family, the Healys, lived on 141st Street. If you have any other questions, ask away. I'm still in contact with several classmates and between us, we should be able to answer.
"Thanks for the Memories"
Bob Phillips 
OLL graduatesHi, Yes, I do remember a Phillips family. The boys or boy were in a higher grade with one of my brothers. As you can see, I had already left OLL when you started there. I am pleased you have good memories of your early years. Unfortunately, mine are mixed. An incident: a bunch of us, about 12 years old at the time, were fooling around and one of the boys fell out of a tree and broke his arm. We carried him to Lutheran Hospital They wouldn't let us in the front door. Told us to take him to Knickerbocker Hospital near 131st Street, and so we did. Today, I ask why no first aid was administered or an ambulance called. However, I have nothing but good words about the hospital in later years. I was sorry to hear about brother RIP
Regards and in friendship,
Jackie Woods
PS My oldest sister, Ellen, class of 1936 Won scholorship to Holy Child Academy
My older brother William (Billy), Class of 1937, won a scholarship to Regis High.
MemoriesI graduated from OLL in 1973 and it is so wonderful to see a website with the School and the information that it offers.  I too wondered about the Masses in the lower church.  The grotto was always so beautiful and special. I have lived in Florida since 1986 and hope to make a trip to NYC just to visit the old school.  Thanks again for bringing a smile to my face today. God bless.
OLL MemoriesHi. I attended OLL from grades K to 5. I have the most beautiful memories of my childhood there. I loved the nuns. I can't believe how time has gone so fast. If anyone remembers me or remembers Sister Mary Owen or Ms. Valentine or the gym instructor George Izquierdo. I am talking about late 1960's, early 70's. Please contact me. Are the sisters still there? I went to visit Sister Mary Owen a couple of years ago. She wasn't wearing her habit any more. Those were good old days. I was so mischievous, always getting into trouble. Oh my God. I had the best early education there, never will I forget. I love history and I love these pictures that were posted up above, everything looks the same. Thanks! My family still lives up in Washington Heights.
Our Lady of Lourdes School and ChurchAnd a HI to you,
The good sisters left about ten years ago.
You can reach the school online, it has a Web site.
The school is no longer under the supervision of the Church.
If you look over the rest of this page you will see that I have answered a number of postings that may be of interest to you.
"Memories are made of this."
In friendship,
Jackie Woods
OLL AlumniHello OLL'ers
Head over to the OLL website www.ourladyoflourdesschool.net
There's an alumni page where you can send your information and be put on the mailing list.  
OLLCould not connect with your e-mail: kbarkley@ourladyoflourdesschool.net
Would you please check it.
When did you attend OLL?
I gave my information previously on bottom of page.
Look forward to hearing from you.
In friendship,
Jackie woods
To Jackie WoodsI knew Dennis before the war, and graduated OLL in 1937. My sister Marie graduated in 1936 and received a scholarship to Holy Name. Finding your web site after all these years is a small miracle. I'm sorry to say Marie, such a special person, passed away in 1977. Andrew, a 1943 or 44 graduate, died in 2000. I did not marry till 1985, had a daughter in 86. My wife Alice and I celebrated our daughter Colleen's wedding Nov. 24, 2007. I hope this proves I was not as bad as the sisters believed. They wanted so to see me go that they created the first coed class and skipped me from 6th to 8th grade. Yes we marched on the roof, auditorium, basement and in far away competition. I believe we had a West Point officer, but not certain. I just hope that life was as rewarding to all OLL graduates as I. God bless.
John Orlando
Wideawake80@verizon.net
OLL, late 1950s and early 60sDon't know how I found this website, but so glad that I did. I graduated OLL in June 1961. The nuns are my most vivid memories of the school. The spring and Christmas plays that were held each year. Recess outside during lunchtime. Walking to school each day and spending the few pennies we had to buy candy at the store on Amsterdam Avenue, and the bicycle store there where we rented bikes on Saturday afternoons. Going to confession every Saturday down in the grotto. Checking the Legion of Decency list for movie listings. Learning to sing the Mass in Latin for every Sunday High Mass and, most important, the foundation the nuns gave us for our religion that is still strong to this day. A few years ago, we drove from Jersey up to the old place and convent still looked pretty good. Can someone please explain about not being under the archdiocese any longer. Thanks again.
Lutheran HospitalI found this link when looking for the Lutheran Hospital. Very interesting information.
I am researching my family history and found out this hospital is where my great grandfather passed away. Thinking that there may be additional information on the records,  I searched for the hospital but have not been able to find any recent reference to it. Has the Hospital been closed?  Can anybody give me some background information?  I will certainly appreciate it,
Anne
[You might try the Archives search box on the New York Times Web site. Lutheran Hospital of Manhattan, at 343 Convent Avenue, merged with Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Hospital in 1956 to form Our Saviour's Lutheran Hospital at the Norwegian Hospital facility on 46th Street and Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. It's now called Lutheran Medical Center. - Dave]
Lutheran HospitalHello Anne,
Yes, I know Lutheran Hospital. My three oldest boys were born there: 1951: 1952: 1954. My brother-in-law's father died there c. 1937. When I last passed by the neighborhood, three years ago, I saw that the hospital had been converted to an assisted living facility.
The neighborhood is looking great - real upscale. The brownstones that one could buy in the 1930s for a song are now selling for well over a million dollars. In the 1930s they were empty, thanks to the banks that foreclosed during the Depression. As kids we ran through them and at one time had a clubhouse inside one.
In friendship,
Jackie Woods
Lutheran HospitalThanks you both, Dave and Jackie, for your responses.
I will follow the advice and hope to be able to pass soon by the neighborhood.
Anne
OLL MemoriesHi Henry,
I too remember Sister Mary Owen, my brother David Mora had her and she was really strict.  We keep in touch with George Izquierdo and he is doing great.  Sister Rosemarie passed away.  I try to stay in touch with O.L.L.  It was really a happy time in my childhood and the happy memories will always be a part of my life.
Maxine Mora
Lutheran Hospital of ManhattanLooking for pictures of the Hospital.  I was born in 1940 in the facility and would like to see what it looked like in that era--anyone have a picture?
Dad Was an AlumnusHello Jackie,
I am curious to see if you know my father, Frank Corrigan, who was born in 1926, which would make him 82 this August. I think he was in the Class of 1941.
I am also curious to see if you have any contact or info on Alfred Pereira or his sister Clara Pereira Mercado. Any help would be appreciated.
Stephen Corrigan
Please email me when you get a chance, stephenjcorrigan@aol.com.
Frank CorriganYes, I knew Frank Corrigan, Class of 1940, not 1941, he was closer to my brother Dennis than me, I was a year younger. Didn't Frank have a  younger very pretty sister? I last saw Frank c. 1968 in the upper Washington Heights area where many of the families from OLL had moved to from the 140th streets.
I knew Pancho Pereira (the name Alfred does not ring a bell) and Clara, his younger sister. His little brother  JoJo was killed in Korea. Pancho had a birthmark: strands of very white hair in the front of his head of very black hair. They were wonderful good people.
Pancho was good friends with Jackie Koster, whose sister Barbara married Burl Ives in Hollywood and lived happily everafter.
In friendship,
Ed and Jackie Woods
eandjwoods50@yahoo.com
Vacant Houses in Hamilton HeightsI thought we were the only ones that got into those empty houses. Afternoons we'd go in through a back window to study and do our homework. We didn't break anything, and at our age we always wondered why the houses were vacant. The Depression angle we didn't figure out until later. Tom Calumet and Frank Howe went with me. I understand Frank has died and Tom Calumet left NYC around 1945 to go out west with his parents.
I graduated from OLL in 1941, and now live in Hopkins, MN
OLL MemoriesI graduated in 1960.  There were about 10 of us cousins who graduated between 1955 and 1960.  I remember Father Cline, Fr. Malloy, Monsignor Hart, Mother Bonaventure, Mother Dominica and others. Does anyone remember the day the frat boys across the street pushed the dummy out the window during our recess? I can almost taste the corn muffins and egg creams at the soda fountain around the corner on Amsterdam Avenue while "Barbara Ann" played on the jukebox. 
OLL PhotoI have a great a picture of my Confirmation Day. I'm in full OLL uniform dated c. May 1935. How can I send it to the OLL  Shorpy site?
Yours truly,
Ed Woods
[Click the links under "Become a member, contribute photos." - Dave]
Frat boys 0, Mother Mary Edward 10I sure do remember that day. Mother Mary Edward
marched over and blasted them. Also the candy store around the corner used to sell two-cent pumpkin seeds out of a little red box.
Does anyone remember the rumor going around that the
Grotto Chapel was haunted? I remember walking home with "Little Star" playing on the transistor radio.
The OLL GrottoI remember serving at what was called the Workmen's Mass in the Grotto in the 1930s - 6 o'clock in the morning! I know the Grotto is not used any more (I visited there in December 2007). As to the candy store on the corner of 143rd and Amsterdam, it was a very busy place: candy, pen nibs (no fountain pens), book covers etc. One day the owner came to school and told Sister Casmere, the principal, that we were disorderly and she must tell the students to behave when shopping in his store. Her solution was to tell the entire student body that they were not allowed to shop there. In a day or so, the man was back begging forgiveness and asked to plaese allow the children to return to his store. The kids were his main business.
HelloHi Maxine
How are you? Thank you for responding to me. It was very nice to hear from you. Sorry to hear about Sister Rosemary, but I don't remember her was she the pricipal of the school. I do remember Mr. Izquierdo he was the gym instructor with another man don't recall his name I believe he became principal of the school later on. Oh! now I remember his name was Mr. White I believe. God trying to recall, it is getting a little difficult now a days but I like it. It brings me back in time. How time have changed it was so innocent back than not like now. Looking back in time, makes me feel like I grew up to fast. How is Mr. Izquierdo doing? How can I contact him? Please let me know. My e-mail address is Je_Ocejo@yahoo.com. I remember he got married back than to a girl name Rocio, I don't know if they are still together but that lady was my father's friend daughter. Who else do you remember. Please get back to me with pictures. I have pictures too. Let me know how can I e-mail them to you. Would you believe that we are talking about almost atleast 35 years ago but I don't forget. God Bless you. Henry
OLLBob,
Any recollections of my father, Frank  Corrigan, Class of 1940? Maybe not yourself but some of your older brothers.
Steve Corrigan
More OLL MemoriesI graduated in 1937 and was probably a fellow graduate of a brother. I had skipped 7th grade and so did not get to know classmates well. It is possible that the Waters family lived across the alley on the second floor of the building on 142nd Street. We lived on the top floor of the next building on Hamilton Place. In the same building lived Buddy Sweeney and Sal Guizzardi, also a tall blond kid who graduated with me. I believe your mother and my mom,  Agnes Orlando, were friends. I believe your mother visited mine in 1952-3 in our new home in Bergenfield, N.J. I remember a sister who must have graduated with me or my sister Marie Orlando in 1936. My brother Andrew graduated 1947. My mother, brother and sister have passed away. I remember Poncho, the Kosta family, the Madigans, Woodses, Rendeans, Glyforces, McCarvils, Walshes, Philipses, Flynns, Duggans, Hooks, Rodriquezes, Craigs, Hugheses, Conways etc. I am sure we had many things in common being OLL graduates at a very special interval of time. I wish you well in your very beautiful state which I have passed through on three occasions. Best wishes and fond memories.
John and Alice Orlando
OLLLot older than you. Attended OLL from late 1930s to early 40s. Baptized, first Holy Communion and Confirmation (Cardinal Spellman). Lived at 145 and the Drive. Remember principal when I was there, Mother Mary Margaret. First grade teacher was Mother Mary Andrews. Remember playing on roof and being shocked by Mother Mary Andrews jumping rope.  Believe there was a Father Dolan around that that time. Only went to through the 3rd grade there and then moved to 75th St and the Blessed Sacrament -- a whole different world, and not as kind or caring.
Memories of OldHi Henry. You may not remember me but I also taught gym with George and sometimes Ms. Ortiz. George is with the Department of Education on the East Side. I work for the Bloomberg Administration. Sister Mary Owen has moved to Rye and of course all the nuns are now gone. I left in 1996 but I still miss all of the good times shared during my years there.
Memories Are GoodHello, You taught me gym and we also had alot of good times with the High School Club on Friday nights. I have most painful memories of O.L.L the day Msgr. Cahill passed away. I never knew how much a heart could have so much pain and yet go on.  My dad died on 4-29-96, Max Mora and I felt the same pain all over again. Do you know where Mother John Fisher has gone ... her name had changed to Sister Maryanne.  I would love to hear from you.
Maxine Mora
Hi HenryMy email address is mmorafredericks@aol.com. I have yours and I am so happy to be in contact with you I graduated in 1973. I went to Cathedral High School.  Later moved to Florida.  My brothers and sisters are still in NY and I miss so much of it.  I look forward to catching up with you.  I will write soon.  God Bless.
Maxine
Fellow ClassmateHi Tony,
It has been more than 48 years since I last saw you - at our graduation from OLL in 1960.  Let me know what you have been up to in the past half century.  My e-mail address is kmckenna@clarku.edu.
Kevin
LTNSMr. White! Not sure if you still come to this site, but on the off chance that you still visit i thought i would write. It's been so long since I've seen or heard from you, not since "Len Fong" closed. For all others that may still come by this site, I graduated in 1983 (possibly 82). Would love to hear from a blast from the past. Please email me at kellyw88@gmail.com
John McKennaHi Kevin,
Any chance you are related to the McKenna family? John McKenna, Class of 1941
Your name sure rings a bell, however there must be 20 years difference between us.
Have a healthy and happy 2009
In friendship,
Ed Woods
John McKennaHi Ed,
I'm afraid that I'm not related to John McKenna.  My brothers, Donald and Desmond, graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes in the fifties.  I wasn't aware of another McKenna family in the parish when I was at OLL.
Happy and healthy 2009 to you as well, Ed.
Cheers,
Kevin
McKenna FamilyThe John McKenna family I knew lived on the northeast corner of Hamilton Place and 141st street. I had other friends and schoolmates in that building. Thinking back, you probably had to be an Irish Catholic to live there. Whatever, I think you had to be an Irish Catholic to attend OLL. I never knew any others at that time, the 1930s. Most fathers worked for the subway and trolley systems or at the milk delivery companies along 125th Street near the river.
Those were the days, my friend. Innocence prevailed!
In friendship,
Ed and Jackie Woods
The Mc KennasJim McKenna and his younger brother Tommy lived in that house above Grizzardi's grocery. Tom hung around with Marty the Hanger Phipher and the Warriors. Billy Vahey and his brother Eddie who retired as a Lieutenant in the NYPD lived there also. Their mother was still there in the early 80s.
You probably knew the Schadack family, who I believe owned Schrafft's or Donald York. I think the building was 644 West 145 St. It was the first apartment house in the city to have a self-service elevator.
When we lived there the neighborhood was known as Washington Heights. For some reason it's now referred to as Hamilton Heights. A couple of great web sites -- Forgotten NY and Bridge and Tunnel Club. You can spend hours & hours on Rockaway Beach alone. Lots of good memories!
How about the movie theaters -- the Delmar, the RKO Hamilton, the Dorset, the Loews Rio, the Loews 175 (now the Rev. Ikes Church) and all the theaters along 180th Street?
Hamilton HeightsNorm,
Many thanks for your fine memories of our old neighborhood but there are a few minor corrections I have to make.  The first is the name Shadack family.  I believe the correct spelling is Shattuck and his address was 676 Riverside Drive on the corner of 145th Street.  We lived there and my brother Bill was classmates with Gene Shattuck.  No relation to the Schrafft's empire. 
Secondly, Hamilton Heights was always known as such.  Outsiders didn't know where that was so we usually said Washington Heights for simplicity.  Washington Heights doesn't really start until 157th Street and is separated from Hamilton Heights by the Audubon plot.
The Old NeighborhoodAlex Hamilton lived nearby. There was a very pleasant young man (OLL Class of 1941) named Eugene Shattuck who lived near 145th Street and Riverside Drive. His father was a professor at Manhattan College and his family owned the Schrafft's Restaurants.
I fondly recall Eugene having the wonderful hourglass-shaped bottles of hard Schrafft's candy brought to school and distributing one bottle to each of his classmates at Christmas time.
Needless to say, the poor Amsterdam Avenue kids were in awe of one who could afford to do such a good deed. You mention the Warriors, I knew the (Gang) but not any of the names mentioned here on Shorpy.
In friendship,
Ed and Jackie Woods
P.S. My in-laws the Boyd family lived at 676 Riverside Drive. Les Sr. had a  radio repair shop on 145th and Broadway.
676 Riverside DriveI lived at 676 as well.  The family's name was Shattuck. In my day, many, many years ago, the elevator had an operator. A sweet man in full uniform.  There was a doorman as well. Saw the building years later and was appalled at the change. Then went up to OLL and hardly recognized it.  It was the best school I ever went to. Thank you for reminding me of the fun. And yes, of the education I got there. By the way, 676 on the Drive was called the Deerfield.
OLL StudentsI am researching my family history and I came upon this great site.  In 1930 my grandparents Michael and Marie Murphy were living at 1744 Amsterdam Avenue and later in the 1930s at 115 Hamilton Place. All of the Murphy children attended Our Lady of Lourdes School. They were:
Maurice (born 1916)
Rita (born 1917/  my Mother)
John (born 1918)
Theresa (born 1920)
Vincent (born 1922)
Veronica (born 1925)
My mom had such fond memories of her time spent there.
Rita Harmon Bianchetto
Hi Neighbor!!Hi Rita,
I'm a former resident of 676 Riverside.  My family lived there from 1940 to 1960 in apartment 4A.  Bobby Foy lived next door to us.  I think you may have left just after we arrived since I remember the elevator operator.  The change to automatic was somtime during or just after WWII.
I remember they put up this 10 foot wall with a door to limit access to the building.  Fat lot of good that did us as my mother was robbed in broad daylight in the service chamber of our apartment in 1960.  That's when my Dad had us pack up and leave for a secure location in the Bronx.
Anyway, the apartment was great.  We had a balcony looking over 145th Street and the river.  My brothers were Larry Jr., Bill and Nick.  Bill was a good friend to Gene Shattuck and went to Xavier with him.  Nick and I also went there.  Larry had a scholarship to All Hallows.
Judy, can you tell me your last name and if you knew me.
Hope to hear from you.
Bob Phillips  at   bobbyphilly@msn.com 
Your DadSorry Steve, I graduated in 1947 and my three brothers have died.  But the name Corrigan does ring a bell.  Probably from my brother Larry who knew just about everyone in OLL.
Sorry I couldn't help out but it was great hearing from you.
Bob Phillips
Andrew.Yes, I remember your brother Andrew.  We were in the same class and we used to kid him about his name - Andrew Orlando and how tall he was.  What's he doing these days?
Bob Phillips
Those were the days, my friendsHello Rita,
I remember the name Murphy but not the faces. We lived a block south of you at 1704 Amsterdam. My sister Ellen, Class of  1936, and brother Bill, Class of 1937, would have known your family.
We had many friends  on Hamilton Place, the Koster family for one: Anita, Class of 1936, her younger sister Barbara married Burl Ives, and her other sister Mary Lou married Eddie Byrne (1710 Amsterdam). Ed's sister married Chump Greeny -- killed at Anzio Beach. He must have lived near your family.
My brother in law Les Boyd lived in the Deerfield and had an electric appliance store on the corner of 145th and B'way and a sporting goods store on the next block next to the Chinese restaurant.
In friendship,
Ed and Jackie Woods
Hello RitaHello Rita,
I attended St. Catherine's Academy on 151st between B'way and Amsterdam (It cost my dear old dad $10 a month for what was considered a private school.) I graduated in 1943 in a class of only four girls. I then went to  the Sacred Heart of Mary Academy in Inwood (I had to climb the long steps up from B'way every day for four years -- Class of 1947.
Most of my relatives went to OLL as did my husband of 59 years, Ed Woods. We are still alive, kicking and fighting and making up every day.
In my Class of 1943, one of the girls was Ann Murphy -- any relation? Also a Virginia O'Malley and my best friend, June McAvoy, who keeps in touch with me. June's grandfather was Judge McAvoy, who had died by that time.
I loved when my folks took me to McGuire's Bar and Restaurant on B'way and 155th. Oh that Roast Lamb (Irish style) on a Sunday or a holiday. The girls used to go to Nuestra Senora de Esperanza (Our Lady of Hope) next to the museum complex. We were told not to go there for confession, but the Spanish priests were limited in English.
Thinking back we had but little to confess at that time.
Eddie and I had an apartment on 150th near the Drive for a few years until 1956, then it was off to Long Island to raise our six children.
In friendship and love hearing from you,
Ed and Jackie Woods
The MurphysHi Ed and Jackie,
Thanks so very much for your reply.  I wish my mom was still with us but she died in 1998, the last of the Murphy kids.
My grandfather Mike Murphy worked for the Post Office (a mail carrier working out of the General P.O. at 33rd and 8th).  My grandmother Marie Murphy died in 1939 while living at Hamilton Place. Uncle Maurice went to Regis H.S. for several years before leaving to attend All Hallows; John and Vincent then attended All Hallows; my mom, Rita, attended Cathedral; Veronica, I believe, attended St. Vincent, and Theresa died at age 25 in 1944 (not sure of her high school). Mom worked at Woolworth's on 145th Street and Broadway, and after high school at New York Telephone, retiring about 1980. She got married in 1943 and moved to 152nd Street, and we attended St. Catherine of Genoa on W. 153rd.  I graduated in 1958. So I know the neighborhood.
Peace, Rita
Hi Ed and JackieSo Jackie you are a St. Kate's gal like me! My tuition was a dollar a month, so your education was really a private school. You have listed the Academy at 151st Street but I think that it was on 152nd between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. I took my high school entrance exam at SHM so I am sort of familiar with the school -- fireworks were going off during our exam. The end result was I did fine and attended Blessed Sacrament on West 70th, Class of 1962.
I last saw the "girls" at a reunion in 2002. My Spanish teacher just celebrated her 70th anniversary as a nun with the Sisters of Charity.
I am not familiar with any of the girls names that you mentioned,including Ann Murphy. I do know McQuire's, where I had my first Shirley Temple, Mass at Our Lady of Esperanza, Trinity Cemetery & loved visiting the museums.
Do either of you recall Eugenio Pacelli, before he became Pope Pius XII visiting at OLL ?
Please tell me about your days on 150th Street near the Drive since I may have been the little skinny blond kid you both passed on the street.
Peace,
Rita in Northern New Jersy
West 150th NYCHello Rita,
Yes, we lived at 615 W. 150th from 1950 to 1956. Four of my children were born there (three at Lutheran Hospital and one at Jewish Memorial). We had many friends from school and the neighborhood living nearby.
However, by 1956 it was time to move on; many changes in the neighborhood. One of my nearby friends was Juanita Poitier; Sidney was just getting started with his acting career. A real nice couple.
Was Father Tracy (Pastor) still there when you attended school? How about Father Brady? He was always telling stories during Mass about his sea time with the Navy. Eddie remembers going to the Woolworths lunch counter (145th and B'way) in the early 1940s just to have an excuse to talk with the girls. He knew many of them from school and the neighborhood.
In friendship,
Jackie
West 152ndHi Jackie and Ed,
I lived at 620 West 152nd Street, just a stone's throw from you folks. My sister was born at Jewish Memorial Hospital in March 1952 -- Dr. Sandler from Broadway 150/151st St. delivered.  Those were the days of Dave's deli on the corner of 151st & Broadway famous for pastrami on rye and a cold beer for the dads, Rafferty's Bar and Grill on the other side of B'way, Harry's or Pierre's homemade candy and ice cream parlor, Cora's beauty salon where my Nana would get a cold wave and blue tint. And not to be forgotten, Snow & Youman's drug store on B'Way and 151st. I recall the name Fr. Brady but it was Pastor Kane and Fr. Tracy (and his Irish Setter, Rusty) that I recall. I just sent a photo of Fr. Tracy to my classmates.
Rita
Japanese BazaarWho remembers the Japanese-American bazaar in the brownstones across from the OLL lower grades school during the war? They had the blue star & the gold star pennants hanging in the windows. They also had a store on Amsterdam Avenue near 144th Street and when they sold coffee the lines would go all around the block.
How about the punchball games out side the school, or stoop ball? Anyone remember playing basketball and using the bottom rung on the fire escape ladder as a basket? The nearest basketball court was at 148th Street by the river. If you wanted to "take out" a ball from the park, you would leave a shirt as a deposit. I remember shoveling snow off the court in order to play.
Unfortunately those days were the last time the country was almost 100% together. Twenty years from now, these will be the "good old days."
Your brother AndrewI palled around with Andy & another kid named Eddie McGlynn. As a matter of fact I have a picture of Andy, Buddy Ayres & me at Rye Beach. Buddy went to Bishop Dubois with us. He was from Vinegar Hill. You didn't mention the Wittlingers. They lived on the first floor in your building. Brendan lives in Virginia. I'm still in touch with him, Matty Waters and Les Scantleberry. Pancho Pereria made a career of the Navy. He died several years ago. JoeJoe, one of my closest friends, was killed in Korea.
Dave's DeliI haven't had a good hot corned beef sandwich since I last had  one at Dave's. His son Milton was running the store in the 1950s after Dave retired to Florida. Dave's used to have a window in the summer that sold potato knishes (5 cents, with mustard) and of course kosher hot dogs.
I heard a Clement Moore fan club still meets every Christmas Eve next to Trinity Church Cemetery and recites "The Night Before Christmas."
I was born in 1928 at 853 Riverside Drive. When 90 Riverside was built in 1941 and blocked the view of the Hudson, we moved there.
Warm regards,
Jackie and Ed
The old neighborhoodThe Wittlingers (the twins were the same age as my two younger brothers, also twins), Matty Waters, Les Scantleberry, JoJo: All those names I remember, especially Pancho and his family. For the life of me, I cannot understand why your name doesn't ring a bell. You mentioned the Warriors. Did you know Tommy or Willie Taylor, the Conroys, Drago, Jackie Hughes, etc. What years did you attend OLL?
I looked up some old friends on the Internet over the past few years -- said hello and then goodbye when their families called to give me the news: Vinny McCarville, Bruce Boyd, Phil Marshall, Eddie O'Brien -- all gone to their maker. They were spread out all over the country. It was satisfying, however, just to say hello. I met Vinny in New Orleans and we had a beer for the first time in many years. We had gone to sea together during WWII and had a lot of memories.
You must forgive my spelling etc. My eyesight is on its way out (along with everything else). I will be 82 in a few months but active and still traveling. I have been to six of the seven continents and my wish is to have breakfast at the South Pole.
In friendship,
Ed and Jackie Woods
ToppersWas Dave's on B'Way near 140th Street? I sold the Sunday News there for 25 cents during the news strike. It was normally a nickel. We had to go down to the News Building to buy them. Overhead!
Who remembers the Sugar Bowl on the corner of 143rd and Broadway? A great hangout for different age groups. How about Toppers Ice Cream parlor on B'Way between 139 & 140th?
In the 1940s and early '50s you could go to the Audubon Theater at 168th and B'Way on Sunday for 77 Cents and see three features, 23 cartoons, newsreels and an eight-act stage show with such luminaries as Billy Halop of the Dead End Kids or Lash LaRue or Ferdinand the Bull. Top shelf. They must get at lest a buck fifty for admission today!
Tea and Nut StoreHi Norm,
My mom (Rita Murphy) mentioned there was an Asian family owned Tea and Nut shop in OLL Parish when she was a child (born 1917).  She said her brothers, Maurice and John Murphy, would sometimes play with the owners' son. I am wondering if this could be the same shop.
Rita
ToppersDave's was on the southwest corner of Broadway and 151st Street, a short trip from my home on 152nd near Riverside Drive. I do recall the Sugar Bowl and maybe was in it once or twice but never hung out there. Topper's is a name I never heard before, as far as ice cream parlors go. Thanks so much for mentioning the name and location. Perhaps before my time (1945 baby) or too far from my home. Many people have mentioned the Audubon Theater to me (165-166th Street) but I have no memory of it at all.  I do recall the San Juan Theater that took over the space of the old Audubon.
I love hearing about Mom's (Rita Murphy's) old neighborhood.
Thanks for sharing.
Rita
Your Name?No, Dave's Deli was on 151st and Broadway. Yes, Toppers & the Sugar Bowl were popular hangouts, however the Piedmont, the Staghorn and the Chesterfield were more popular later on. I have pictures of the great snowfall of December 27, 1947 taken in front of the above mentioned restaurants with a bunch of the guys posing in the cold. 
The Audubon Theater became better known when Malcom X was murdered in its ballroom. I saw Milton Berle there in the early 1940s. Actually, the Bluebird and the Washington were also popular as they only cost 10 cents (no heat or air conditioning). Memories, memories, dreams of long ago.
Ed and Jackie Woods
The OLL ChoirI sang in the OLL choir for about 5 or 6 years and hated it.T he only advantage was that we skipped the last class for practice. The downside was that after attending 9 o'clock Mass we had to sing at the 11 o'clock High Mass, which interfered with our Sunday football game. I played with the Junior Cadets. We had a very good team coached by Joe Romo, who went on to be the trainer for the Oakland A's for many years. I saw him at Yankee Stadium whenever the team played the Yankees at home. Joe died several years ago.
Mr. Skyler, the choirmaster, wore a wig that could easily be mistaken for road kill. I used to wonder if he was committing a sin by wearing something on his head in church. After all it was no different then wearing a hat during Mass.
Mrs. Daly was a very lovely lady who played the organ and gave piano lessons. She lived down the street from us on 142nd between Broadway and Hamilton Place and had something like 10 kids. My sister Maureen was friends with Theresa and Billie. John was I believe the youngest son. Maureen graduated from Notre Dame de Lourdes on Convent Avenue.
My sister Frances was close friends with Helen and Rita Nerney, who lived across the street. Fran died in 2002.
ToppersI lived at 635 Riverside Drive. I  recall Toppers being near the corner of 141st, next to a Jewish deli. In the summer my dad took my brother Tom and me for ice cream there every evening. Happy memories!
Bishop DuboisI graduated 1953 from Bishop Dubois. I believe your brother Ernie was in my class at OLL. I hope he is doing well. Give him my regards.
Bill Healy
Names from the Old NeighborhoodBrendan & Bernie turned 76 on February 2. Don't ask how I remember things like this. I forgot what I had for breakfast this morning. I'll be 76 August 11, weather permitting.
Everyone seems to forget Pinky (Michael) Pereria. You are closer to my late brother Jim's age. Jim hung out with Jimmy and John Bartlett, Donald LaGuardia, Tommy & Willie Taylor (born on the same day a year apart -- Irish twins). Again I don't know why I remember these things.
Eddie O'Brien used to go by the name Drawde Neirbo, his name spelled backwards. He was a close friend of Big Jack Hughes. I recall a group of you guys joining the Merchant Marine during the war. The Dragos lived on 141st Street between Hamilton Place and Amsterdam Avenue. The youngest (Joseph?) was in my class.
A couple of years ago I went down to the old neighborhood with my sons. Surprisingly, it looks great. Lots of renovations going on.
My beautiful wife June is a BIC (Bronx Irish Catholic) from the South Bronx. It's not as great a neighborhood as it used to be, but lots of great people came out of there. I took her away from there, married her 50 plus years ago and got her a decent dental plan and raised five kids in New Jersey.
I graduated in 1948. It should have been 1947 but Mother Mary Inez red-shirted me in the 6th grade.
Will stay in touch.
Norm Brown
Norm Brown??Norm, I graduated in 1947 from OLL. I knew a kid (Norman Brown) who lived on 141st between Hamilton and Broadway. I think he had a younger brother. He went to OLL with me, but he did not graduate from OLL. Eddie McGlynn was in my class, and the Wittlingers. I lived at 510 W 140th. Are you that Norman?
Bill H.
The Summer of '66Hi Jackie and Ed,
I never had one of Dave or Milton's corned beef sandwiches but I can say that the pastrami on rye was a thing that dreams are made of. I recall the knishes out the window in the summer and the hot dogs. Thanks so much for taking me back in time. Milton would take the pastrami out of that silver steamer box sharpening his knife, and the rest was heaven on rye. Milton was still behind the counter in the summer of 1966 but after that I can't say. 
I am sure that "The Night Before Christmas" is still recited next to Clement Moore's grave, in Trinity Cemetery.  In my day the Girl Scout Troop that met at the Church of the Intercession would participate in the recitation of the Moore piece.
I know that 853 Riverside Drive is on the Upper Drive, since I sat on "The Wall" on summer evenings as a teenager.  You said you moved in 1941 to 90 RSD -- did you mean 90 or 890?  I am not familiar with the numbering of the "lower" drive where the red house sits (so it was called).
I am off in search of a good sandwich.
Peace,
Rita
Stagershorn  & ChesterfieldMalcom X was shot in the Audubon Ballroom at the back of the theater, which later became the Teatro San Juan. I saw Abbott and Costello there en Espanol. At 7 years old I was run over by a truck at 142 Street and Broadway, right outside the Staghorn, I managed to live!
I would hang from the window outside the Chesterfield, watching football games on TV with Bobby Heller and Herby Gil and Buddy McCarthy.
That was a hell of a snowstorm in '47. Remember digging tunnels through the snowbanks? You forgot to mention Larry's, just next to the Sugar Bowl. I would watch "Victory at Sea" there.
A couple of years ago I took a walk through the OLL neighborhood and realized that when you are a kid everything you see is at eye level and taken for granted, but as you look up and around from a mature aspect it becomes a whole different world. It is really a beautiful area.
90 Riverside Drive WestHi Rita. I'm positive 853 was on the Lower Drive. When the new building went up next to it around 1941, the address was 90 Riverside Drive West. However, it caused so much confusion with 90 Riverside Drive (downtown) that the address was changed to 159-32 Riverside. The plot originally hosted a small golf course.
I also went to the Church of the Intercession with the Girl Scouts. Small world. And the wall -- on a hot summer night, standing room only.
Jackie
West 140th NYCThe kids I hung around with were in the OLL classes of 1940 and 1941. I had a weekend job in 1941 with Ike's Bike Rental on 141st. He needed someone to identify the kids who rented there (bikes rented for 20 cents an hour -- and that's the truth). We started a Junior Air Raid Wardens group and had a store next to Ike's. Collected paper etc, for the war effort.
And you are correct, within three years, when we turned 16, McCarvill, O'Brien, Drago and I joined the merchant marine.
Did you know the Kieley family -- lived at 1628 Amsterdam before moving to the lower Bronx: Pauline, Rita, Josephine, Peggy and the two boys Nicky and Jimmy. I loved going to their upstairs apartment for tea, especially when Mrs Kiely made Irish Soda Bread. My wife (then girlfriend) Jackie sponsored Jim Kieley when he became a citizen around 1948. He was from County Waterford, the same as her family. We celebrated our 59th anniversary last week.
Regards,
Eddie Woods
My Brother JimYou probably knew my brother Jim Brown. He too was born in 1928. He died three years ago today. He graduated from Cardinal Hayes, spent a couple of years in the Army and graduated from Fordham University. Jim lived in Wycoff, N.J. He was very successful in business.
Amsterdam AvenueThe Denning family (10 kids) lived on Amsterdam Avenue between 141st and 142nd. Hughie had polio and wrote away to FDR for an autograph during the war. As it turned out he was the last person to get one. He was in an iron lung at the time. It was a big deal. Lots of press. One of the boys, Peter Schaefer Denning, was born on the back of a beer truck on the way to the hospital. Hence the name.
The Connolly brothers, Eamon and Timmy, lived in the same building. Everyone in the family had red hair. Not unlike Bobby Foy's family. If I recall properly, the father looked like Arthur Godfrey, his mom like Lucille Ball, Bobby like Red Skelton, and they had a red cat plus an Irish setter.
It took a lot of guts for a group of 16-year-old kids to join the merchant marine. A belated thanks for your service.
My wife makes great Irish soda bread. Is there any other kind? You can give ten women the same ingredients for soda bread and you'll get ten different tasting breads. All great! Especially with a cup of Lynches Irish tea. The season is almost upon us once again.
The only Kiely (different spelling) I knew was my NYPD partner Timmy, who was from the South Bronx, Hunts Point. Tim grew up with Colin Powell. Having worked in the South Bronx for 25 years and marrying June Margaret O'Brien, one of six girls from there, I pretty much connect with the people of SOBRO, as the area is now known. Sooner or later everything gets yuppified.
How about this web site? Something else!
Take care,
Norm
Mea CulpaHi Jackie,
Of course you know 853 RSD is on the Lower Drive but Google Maps does not.  "Looks like 800 Block of Upper Drive is even numbers and 800 Block on Lower Drive is odd numbers."  I did not locate 159-32 but I did find a 159-34 and 159-00, seems to be the last structure (red brick) on the Lower Drive area that we are speaking of, now a co-op but the year of construction is not listed.
I have very fond memories of the folks I spent time with on "our" wall.  
Peace,
Rita
Yes, it's Kiely I was in error. For whatever resaon, The Dublin House on 79th off the NE corner of Broadway became a meeting place for many of the kids from the OLL area up until the early 1970s: Eamon Connolly,  Tommy Taylor etc. I worked with Tom for a short time before be went on the force and then as a T Man. I have not heard from him  in too many years. One of great fellows from the old neighborhood. 
In friendship,
Ed Woods
My e-mail: eandjwoods50@Yahoo.com
P.S. The Kiely family moved to Crimmons Ave in the Bronx
 West 159th Street NYCDear Rita,
I do enjoy rehashing the old neighborhood and the wonderful memories we can recall. Yes, it is the last buillding on the street and I lived there until 1950, when I married Ed. My uncle George lived there until c. 1981 in a rent controlled apartment, and yes, it did become a co-op.
When first opened, the building had four entrances. Later, in the 1980s, it was down to one main entrance on the via-dock for safety reasons. I loved our apartment there, which had a beautiful view of the Hudson and the George Washington Bridge.
My friend June, nee McAvoy, lived at 3750 B'way. We were together in school for 12 years at St. Catherine's and Sacred Heart. June lives in Maryland.
By the way,  my e-mail is eandjwoods50@yahoo.com
Jackie Woods
The Red HouseDear Jackie & Ed,
How lucky you were to have lived in the Red House, especially with the views of the bridge and the river. Growing up I never knew anyone who lived there, so never saw the interior, I'm sure it was lovely. I heard that David Dinkins lived there at some point before he became mayor. Many of my classmates lived in 790 Riverside Drive and I was always so impressed that their apartments had two doors. Our apartment was on the fourth floor of a walkup and across the street from a garage. Funny how I was not really impressed by a doorman but by the two doors.
I seem to remember a gas station near your friend June's  house...other side of Broadway from the museum, now college. One of my St. Catherine's classmates, last I heard, he was teaching at the college.
Was Rexall Drug on the corner of 157th, with the newsstand outside the door, when you lived in the Red House? In my home we seemed to have all of the city newspapers -- morning, afternoon and evening, some selling for 4 cents. To this day I read two papers every day and still long to go out Saturday night to pick up the Sunday paper.
Thanks for the email.
Peace,
Rita
Class of 1959I attended O.L.L. from 5th to 8th grade. My 5th grade teacher was Mother Mary Edward, what a wonderful woman, 6th was Mother Mary St. Hugh, 7th Mother Mary Edward and 8th Mother Mary Bernadette.  Graduated in 1959. Classes were mxed -- black, white and Latino. Memories are mostly good ones -- Father Kline, Father Malloy, Father Hart. The religious experience most memorable, especially during Lent, novenas on Wednesday afternoon and Stations on Friday after school.
Liggets / RexallHello Rita,
I loved the lunch/soda  counter at Liggetts/Rexalls. for whatever reason, my family used the pharmacy across the street, on the east side of B'way, to have prescriptions filled.
The family that owned and operated the newsstand helped us lease our first apartment at 600 W. 157th. Apartments were in short supply in 1950. We lived in the unit formerly rented by the Singer Midgets next to Peaches Browning of Daddy Browning fame. Of course they were long gone when we lived there. My father was very active in the Tioga Democratic Club with the Simonetti family. 
Do you remember Warner's Cafeteria between 157 & 158th? We visited St. Catherine's Church Christmas week 2007 with our niece who wanted to see where she was baptized in 1953. She is on Mayor Bloomberg's staff.
Warm regards,
Jackie Woods
eandjwoods50@yahoo.com
Oh, as the poet said, "To return to yesteryear and our salad days." 
My brother ErnieBilly, Ernie and I went to Bishop Dubois. Ernie for two years and I for three. We both were bounced in 1951 and transferred to Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. We went there on a Schrafft's scholarship. Our mom waited on tables at Schrafft's in order to send us there. In those days it was pretty much a blue collar school. It wasn't that far removed from being a reform school. VERY STRICT. Today it's much more hoity toity. I'm still in close touch with my old classmates, most of whom have been successful in life.
Ernie was a great basketball player, the first to score over 50 points in a game in Bergen County (three times), breaking Sherman White's record. White was an All American but messed up his career in the 1950-51 college season. Ernie went to Fordham on an athletic scholarship.
Ernie died in 2002. He was a very special guy, extremely generous and giving. We miss him a lot. He lived a couple of blocks away from me as did most of my siblings. Sad to say, the circle grows smaller.
1959 OLL gradsAre you out there, does any one remember or know of any of the following graduates of O.L.L. -- Starr Martin, Carol Long or her sisters, Carlotta and Tony, Josephine Velez, Melvina (Kinky) Boyd, Chicky Aponte. I went of to Cathedral and the others to various Catholic high schools and lost touch. After finding this site, many memories have come back. Would like to know how old friends are doing. 
600 W. 157thHi Jackie,
You lived around the corner from the post office. I remember going there once to get a money order and losing Mom's gray umbrella. Your building was by the Grinnell, where a friend's father was the superintendent during the 60s.
Liggett/Rexall -- we went to Snow & Youman's for drugs but to Rexall for film, flashbulbs and of course the soda fountain. The last time I was there was April 1965, just before my son was born. I do not recall a Warner's Cafeteria but do remember the famous, and oh so good, Imperial Deli, Lambos Flower Shop, Commander Bar & Grill, Full Moon & McGuire's.
I visited St. Catherine's about 1994 and it was like being in a time warp, except for the piano near the altar. The church was just as I remembered when I got married in 1964, only smaller. The school is now public. I am in touch with some of my friends from the Class of 1958. It was nice that your niece was able to visit the church where she was baptized.
I never heard of the Tioga Democratic Club or the Simonetti family (the only Simonettis I know are the family whose niece and son are engaged).
Jackie, was the pharmacy on the east side of B'way United or perhaps that was a sign for United Cigar?
So nice this walk down memory lane.
Best to your Eddie.
Peace,
Rita
Memories: dreams of long agoHi Rita,
My close friend June's, nee McAvoy, family lived in the Grinnell for many years. Her grandfather was Judge McAvoy. Eddie claims to have an exceptionally good memory but he says he needs to yield to you. You do have a most wonderful recall. However, he is more familiar with the OLL school and church neighborhood.
My brother-in-law (much older than Eddie and me) was in the vending machine business: Ace Distributing -- jukeboxes, cigarette machines etc. Eddie worked for him for  a few years when we first married and the company had locations in almost every store in the neighborhood (including the Commander). That is a dead business today. How about Pigeon Park? You couldn't sit there.
Warm regards, Jackie Woods
GrinnellHi Jackie,
Do you recall a Doctor James Farley living in the Grinnell?  Doctor Farley must have taken care of half of Washington Heights over a period of many years (had an office on 178 St. between Broadway and Ft. Washington Ave.).
Ah, Pigeon Park...I remember it well and always tried to circumvent it!
All the best.
Rita
I remember it wellHi Rita,
Our family physician was Dr. VanWorth, as an adult I visited Dr. Liebling, who had an office c. 156th. He later moved down to 72nd Street. A wonderful caring man (who made house calls). My son Ed Jr. was 58 years old this week, I have a picture of him when he was 1 sitting  on a pony taken on the corner of 155th and B'way. John Orlando's brother married a St Catherine's girl. I don't know her age.
Ain't we got fun?
Jackie Woods
Current resident of the neighborhood (Grinnell)I'd like to invite you to visit www.audubonparkny.com, which is a virtual walking tour of the neighorhood you're discussing.  You can "take the walking tour" online or go to the Sitemap/ Index of Images to read about specific buildings and see pictures from many eras.
I'm happy to post any pictures (and credit the owners) of the neighborhood that you'd like to share - focusing on the Audubon Park area (155th to 158th, Broadway to the river).
www.audubonparkny.com
Walking TourThanks so very much for posting the site for the Audubon Park area...I had a delightful walking tour.
Down Memory Lane at OLLWhat happened, did we all run out of memories?
Who remembers the stickball field comprised of Hamilton Place from 140 to 141st Street. A ball hit over the small roof on 141st was a double and over the roof at 95 Hamilton Place was a homer. After the war the street was so crowded with cars that the games were moved to Convent Avenue in front of CCNY. There was some heavy money bet on these games.
Walking TourThanks, Rita, I'm glad you enjoyed the walk!  Please come back and visit the site again.  I post a Newsletter on the homepage (www.AudubonParkNY.com ) each month highlighting new pages, information, and research, as well as updates on the Historic District project.
Matthew
The Prairie StateDoes anyone have memories of the Prairie State? It was a WWI battleship moored in the Hudson River at about 135 Street and I believe used for Naval Reserve training. As kids we snuck on board and played basketball on it. The deck (court) had a bow on it which is partially responsible for the replacement parts in my ankle today.
How about the "Dust Bowl" at 148 Street next to the river where we played football and baseball? Today it's state of the art, at least compared to what we played on. Now there is grass on the field. Progress!
Under the Via DockFar from being a battleship, the Prairie State (also called the Illinois) was an old transport. However, as youngsters we would have been impressed by its size.
Pancho and another neighborhood boy whose name I can't recall trained there before being sent to England as frogmen in preparation for the D-Day landing. It was decided that those boys with big chests (big lungs) could do the job best. I can recall Pancho telling me after the war that he had only a few days of Boot Camp.
Sports -- we used the oval near City College. Stick ball -- 144th between Amsterdam and B'way. A ball hit to any roof was an out, never a homer. Spaldines was Spaldings were costly in the 1930s. One had to learn to hit as far up the street as possible, over the sewers. That is why  the good hitters (one strike only) were called three-sewer hitters.
The Prairie State was docked under the Via Dock c. 130th St. Like you, we visited it often. Nearby were the meatpacking/butcher plants. During the 1930s there were two "Hoovervilles" (hobo camps) under the dock. The overhead gave the men some some protection from the elements. I had an uncle who took me fishing off the piers. I felt sorry for the "lost souls." Then one day they were all gone. Hosed away! I used to wonder where  they went.
In friendship
Ed Woods
eandjwoods50@yahoo.com
PanchoAs you recall, Pancho was short, about 5'8" and maybe 200 lbs. and a very good athlete -- basketball, baseball and could hold his own on a basketball court. I remember speaking to him about the UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams,the precursor to the Navy Seals) and asking him if they were relegated to swimming all the time. He told me they spent most of the time running, running, running to build endurance.
As I remember, the Oval was near Convent Avenue. We never used the term two sewers in stickball. That was a Bronx expression. We bought our pink "Spaldeens" at Rutenbergs candy store on Amsterdam Avenue between 140 and 141 Streets for a nickel. He also sold kids twofers, two for a penny loosies, and Bugle Tobacco so you could roll your own or purchase a corncob pipe to puff away. Loosies were two cigarettes for a penny. I understand due to the cost of smokes they are doing that again.
We played "swift pitching" in the park at Hamilton Place between 140 and 141 streets. It was comprised of drawing a box (a strike zone) on the  the handball court wall and throwing balls and strikes as hard as you could. I'm a little younger then you but I remember the Swift Meat Plant down by the river and the time John Garfield filmed a scene from a movie, Force of Evil, running down the steps  toward the river. Somehow he ended up at the red lighthouse under the GW Bridge and discovered his brother's body, played by Thomas Gomez, in the river.  As kids during the war we would fish and crag off the docks  right near the old Two Six Precinct. I'll never forget the time my younger brother came home with a catfish and an eel and damn near burned the house down trying to cook them.
Boy, life was a lot simpler then. Even with a world war raging.
Amsterdam AveRutenbergs, address 1628 Amsterdam, I lived in the upstairs bldg for five years. The Rutenbergs lived in an apt in the back of their store. Tommy Smith worked their paper route for many years. Tommy lived in 1626 next to McCarvill. The Conroys (Johnny the Bull) lived in 1630. Eddie O'Brien lived in 1634 over the Rothschild Deli where we could buy Old Dutch beer for 14 cents  a quart plus a 5 cent deposit. "It's for my father." The playground around the corner was busy at night after it closed  for the day.
My recall of  loosies is six for five cents in a small paper bag with six wooden matches. 
You refer to the station house as the "Two Six Precinct."
Something tells me you were "on the job." A good family friend, Frank Lynch, became the Captain at 152nd and Amsterdam (The Three Two)?
Your e-mail?
In friendship,
Ed Woods
Three Oh PrecinctYes I worked in the South Bronx for 25 years which included 10 years at the Yankee Stadium,ten of the best years of my life. A ring side seat at the world. We played many games there-- Shae, West Point, etc. -- and traveled to Venezuela with the New York Press team. I worked out with players on the DL. Thurman Munson was a good friend as was Catfish Hunter. Lou Pinella and Graig Nettles. 
We guarded Pope Paul and Pope John Paul II. John Paul II gave off an aura that was indescribable. I was very close to him on three occasions and he made you weak in the knees and start to shake. Believe me it wasn't his celebrity status. Some of the people I knew were Cary Grant who used to look for me when he came to many games. Someday I'll tell you how he saved my marriage. A funny story! Jimmy Cagney came to a few games. Boy was that sad to see Rocky Sullivan, every Irish American kid's hero, all crippled up with arthritis.
I finished up in the Bronx Detective Task Force and never looked back. It was a great career if you rolled with the punches.
The six for five must have been filter tips.I forgot about the wooden matches. Do you remember the Hooten Bars they sold? One by two inch chocolate candy stuck on wax paper. Nobody seems to remember them. Rutenberg had the greatest malteds. They kept the milk frozen. God! Were they good!
The Three Oh Precinct was at 152 Street & Amsterdam Avenue across from St. Catherines Grammar School where I went to kindergarten for a day. Later it became Bishop Dubois H.S., which I attended for three years before getting bounced along with my younger brother.
There was a kid by the name of Neally Riorden who may have lived in your building and a kid by the name of Brian Neeson Hannon who died around 1945. I remember going to his wake on Vinegar Hill. Next we should take a trip down Vinegar Hill.
My e mail is fuzz408@optonline.net
God bless & HAPPY EASTER
Rutenberg'sRutenberg's had the greatest milkshakes mainly because they kept the milk semi frozen. They also had Hooten bars, sheets of one by two inch chocolate that sold for a penny each. I've never met anyone from a different neighborhood who heard of them.
Yes, I was on the job for 25 years in the South Bronx. Check your personal e mail. The Three Oh was at 152 Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It's now a landmark. The new precinct is on 151st Street of Amsterdam.
How about Wings Cigarettes with the photos of WW II planes? 
The Shamrock Bar was on the corner of 140th Street and Amsterdam. On weekends guys would pick up containers of beer and carry them over to Convent Avenue for refreshments during the stickball games.
Take care,
Norm
PanchoLooking for any info on Pancho Periera. He is my godfather and was best friends with my dad, Frank Corrigan. 
OLLumnaI went graduated from OLL in 1950. I came across this great site and I am wondering if anyone graduated the same year. I have been trying to get in contact with my fellow classmates and this looked like a great opportunity!
The Old ShamrockI visted the 140th Street area a few years ago and took a few pictures. The Shamrock is gone with the wind -- history.
I showed a picture of the building (1626 Amsterdam) to Vinnie McCarvill, who had lived there, when I met him for  a beer in New Orleans a few years ago, and he almost wept. Some great memories of our Salad Days came to mind. 
"Oh the nights at the playground on Hamilton Place." It's the place  where we came of age.
In friendship,
Eddie and Jackie
ParishesOne thing folks from New Orleans and New York City have in common is that you identified your neighborhood by the parish in which you lived.
Agnes GerrityMy mother, Agnes Gerrity, born 1916, and her brothers Thomas and Richard (born c. 1914 and 1920) attended Our Lady of Lourdes until high school. All three have passed away but I'd love to hear if anyone happens to remember them.  Like your mother, my mom loved that school and spoke of it often. 
Anne Collins
OLL Confirmation Day 1935I thought  former students would enjoy seeing the uniform we wore in Our Lady of Lourdes School Primary Dept (1st to 4th Grade) during the 1930s.

KnickersIt was humiliating having to wear knickers. Remember pulling them down to your ankles and thinking "maybe people will think they are pegged pants"? Boy did we ever fool the public! And how about the high starched collars -- I don't think they could have even gotten Freddie Barthomew to wear them. Didn't we replace them with waterboarding?
However Ed, they look great on you. Do you still wear them?
Old OLL picsDoes any one have some old OLL class photos or just some neighborhood pictures to post here in the comments? I'm sure a lot of Shorpy addicts would appreciate them.
OLLi go to school at lourdes now im in the 8th grade and i think its really cool to see people talk about the memories they had about my school before i was even born and i would love to see some kind of picture of the inside of the school like a class picture so i can see what it used to look like
[Just wait'll you get to Capitalization and Punctuation. - Dave]
Class of 1964I too went to OLL from '57-'64. My parents and I moved to 3495 Broadway at 143rd St. in 1956. I started in the 4th grade with Mother Mary William. The school in those days was no longer a military academy. We wore navy blue uniforms, white shirts and the school tie and the girls wore navy blue jumpers with a white blouse and blue tie. It was very interesting reading about all the students who came before me and where they lived. I always was so curious to find out how this old neighborhood looked like years before we moved in. As you all know, the area changed at some point racially, although when I was at OLL the school was still predominantly white with a handful of Black children. I will always have wonderful memories of my time at OLL. My parents moved out of the area in 1969 and I since been back once to recapture some old memories of my childhood.
NostalgiaThe picture that follows is the 1937 graduation class with the girls omitted. Monsignor McMahon built church and school(1901-1913); after 15 years as Curator at St Patrick's Cathedral, constructed 7 years earlier. See church of Our Lady of Lourdes for construction details. At the time of graduation, Fr's Mahoney, Dillon and Brennan resided across from the Church. The Poor Clares home was to right of the church, and secondary had Society of the Holy Name Jesus sisters. School and Church gave us faith and hope and discipline. Our world was the depression years followed by the wars. Our class of 1937 was just in time. The handsome lad below the sergeant stripes is the brother of contributor Ed Woods.Ed,and brothers Bill and Dennis served with distinction. Andy Saraga bottom right was a highly decorated Marines  The others served as well. I hope Our Lady of Lourdes provides the inspiration our families sought for us. 
Nostalgia 1937The 1937 graduation photo is great. It's with both sadness and pride to think that most of these wonderful kids would be defending our country in a very short time in different uniforms.Believe it or not this military training was useful. How about more pictures like this and some candid neighborhood shots.
OLL in the NYThttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/nyregion/16priest.htm
So interesting: A more recent residentJust want to say that I've read every entry on this post. It is so interesting to read the memories shared by those that lived way before you in the same neighborhood. My mother and I live on 135th Street near Riverside between 66th and 77th, then moved to 138th between Hamilton and Amsterdam. I went to PS 161 and graduated from CCNY. I also have fond memories of my childhood. I used to play basketball in an after school center at Our Lady of Lourdes as a young kid, visited the area a couple of years ago and brought back great pics.
Cheers to all
Mauricio
The Grinnell: Celebrating Its Centennial Those of you who remember The Grinnell (800 Riverside Drive) may be interested to know that the residents have just begun celebrating the building's centennial.  We're having a year of events,so this is a great year to visit!  
Check the website: http://www.thegrinnellat100.com/ for photos, historical news articles, and residents' memories (and contribute your own).
Click the calendar tab for a listing of the events between now and July 2011.
Matthew
Why Grinnel!The hundredth anniversary of a building? Forgotten is the fact that it's also the anniversary of the site building, and all the memories fast fading. I think Ed Woods of all the graduates, always hit the mark. Several others struggled to add something. If someone remembers the names of the sisters and preferably anecdotes please don't deny this information from this site. I personally remember sister Rose from 4th grade 1934. I believe Mother Michael provided my brother Andy's Confirmation name. Others with better memories speak up. Also it wasn't only our generation that owes  recognition for all given freely. 
Christmas at Our Lady of LourdesAt Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, the statues in the creche would be replaced by live students. The scene would be repeated the following day at the 9 o'clock Children's Mass and the 11 o'clock High Mass.
A live baby would be borrowed to lie in the manger. The girl who posed as the Blessed Mother and the boy who posed as Joseph were the envy of the entire student body.
"Oh to return to yesteryear."
Happy New YearThank you SHORPY for bringing back to us so many wonderful memories. It has been said pictures are worth a thousand words. Shorpy's pictures, however, are worth so much more -- just can't put a number on them. Thank you and a Happy New Year to the Shorpy Staff.
Ed and Jackie Woods
[And thank you, Ed and Jackie, for inspiring the hundreds of interesting comments in this thread. - Dave]
The OLL neighborhoodIt's nice reading and re-reading your stories about OLL, Hamiliton Place,and seeing the names listed.
Many years ago, in my past, I visited the old neighborhood only to find it somewhat depressing, old and in poor shape. One time in particular I had parked my new "rental car" near West 144th street, and was showing my young children some of the places I lived on Amsterdam Ave, Hamilton Place ( 95 and 115 buildings) when two older African Americans came up to us, and said you'd be better not park here." It wasn't said as a threat, but more it's unsafe here, now that the area has changed. I had told them that I used to live here many years ago.
I am glad to hear from Norm, that the area has rebounded, and in looking at the prices of the real estate I wish we had stayed here.
Keep up the good work.
Matt Waters mattminn@aol.com
Hi Anon Tipster 1959.  I used to date Carlotta Long & visited her lovely home many times.  147 off Convent as I recall. I often wonder in my old age (69) whatever happened to her & how her life turned out. I did graduate from Dubois in 1960, so I'm very familiar w/the sights & places referenced here. So glad I found this site. 
Tis That Time of YearThank you SHORPY for another year of nostalgic pictures and comments. Brought to us in Black and White and Living Color.
Such fond memories of long ago, especially the itchy bathing suits. In the 1920s and up to the early 1940s, when on or near the beach and boardwalk, boys had to wear the coarse wooolen suits with the tops on at all times.
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New York to Dave and staff.
Ed and Jackie Woods
Our Yearly PlaysI graduated in 1960 after 8 memorable years. I remember our yearly plays in the auditorium and all the hard work and practice we put into it. Father Hart was our pastor and I remember our farewell speech to him. My best friend was Lydia Marin and I remember Maria Santory, Joyce Brown, Maria Matos, Alma Mora, Maureen Quirk.  If any of you from this class are around, give a shout.
Jackie Erick
Class of 1964Class of 1964 where are you guys? Write something here you remember. Do you remember me?
OLL Class of 1957Here's the names of the boys' teachers from 1949 to 1957. I think I have then all correct.
Grade 1, 1949-1950:	Mother Mary Theodosia
Grade 2, 1950-1951:	Sister Mary Macrina
Grade 3, 1951-1952:	Mother Mary Eulalia
Grade 4, 1952-1953:	Mother Mary Declan
Grade 5, 1953-1954:	Mother Mary Edwards
Grade 6, 1954-1955:	Mother Maria Del Amor
Grade 7, 1955-1956:	Mother Mary Euphrates
Grade 8, 1956-1957:	Mother Mary Rosario
Eighteen nuns lived in the convent adjacent to the church on 142nd Street: eight boys' teachers, eight girls' teachers, the school principal, known as the Reverend Mother, and the housekeeper.
Six priests and the pastor lived in the rectory on the south side of 142nd Street.
OLL was also known as Old Ladies' Laundry.
I've written down the names of almost all the boys who, at one point or another, were part of the class of 1957. Only 27 graduated in 1957. Many were expelled in 1956 as part of a crackdown on gang membership. Mother Mary Rosario was brought in to preside over a difficult situation, but after the expulsions her job turned out to be not that complicated.
I'll post the list of names another time.
Our Lady of Lourdes Alumni ReunionHello out there.
I am a current parent at Our Lady of Lourdes.  As we enter a new decade, OLL would would like to start planning a few reunions.  I am looking for some potential organizers to help us reach out and plan events in the new year.  Please reach out if you are interested in planning or connect dots.
There are many new happenings at the school.  We will be launching a new website by the end of the month with an alumni portion.  
Thank you!
Vanessa
vdecarbo@ollnyc.org
Class of 1971Hi! I graduated in 1971 and our teacher was Sister Patricia. I remember Marlene Taylor, Karen, Miriam, Dina, Elsie, Maria and Robin, Carla, Margaret and Giselle. Our class was an all girl class. I also remember Sister Rebecca, Sister Theresa, Sister Rosemarie (our history teacher). I continued to Cathedral High School but I miss all my dear classmates. Is there anyone out there who enters this site? My email is n.krelios@yahoo.com  I would love to hear from someone. Marlene Taylor became a doctor (wonderful!!!).
Shorpy Hall of FameIf there were a Shorpy Hall of Fame, this photo would definitely have to be in the inaugural class.  I've enjoyed going through the many comments for this photo going back to 2007 even though I have absolutely no connection to the school other than being Catholic.  What is equally as awesome is that a look at the location today via Google Maps indicates that, other than a few trees, fire hydrants, automobiles and removal of the statue, everything is basically the same today. 
Double DutchKllroy is correct about not much having changed, but it looks like even the foreground fire hydrant is in the same place (but a newer model).
It looks like the circa 1914 photographer was set-up on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 143rd Street. The Google Maps photo was taken travelling northbound on Amsterdam Avenue. So basically both photos are shot from almost the same location; it is interesting how the vintage image makes 143rd Street appear much shorter than in the Google image. I guess it's the result of different formats and lenses.
By the way, the buildings at the far end of the T-intersection, on Convent Avenue (mostly blocked by the trees in the Google image), reflect NYC's Dutch heritage [ETA:] as does "Amsterdam" Avenue.

(The Gallery, Education, Schools, G.G. Bain, Kids, NYC)

City of Detroit: 1912
Circa 1912. "Steamer City of Detroit III , pilot house and bridge." 8x10 inch dry plate glass ... rig off the starboard stern. The brand spanking new City of Detroit III This was a larger sister ship to the City of Cleveland, pictured here a couple of days ago. The City of Detroit III ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 4:24pm -

Circa 1912. "Steamer City of Detroit III, pilot house and bridge." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The Beholder's EyeI find the way they stow the fire-hose interesting.
But I am really interested in the sailing rig off the starboard stern.
The brand spanking new City of Detroit IIIThis was a larger sister ship to the City of Cleveland, pictured here a couple of days ago. The City of Detroit III was also a side-wheeler and sailed passenger trips and excursions on the Great Lakes for nearly 50 years. 
This picture of the ship was taken when it was brand new.  In fact, the Detroit Shipbuilding Company that built it can be glimpsed on the right.  
Although the ship itself was scrapped in the 1950s, the beautiful wood paneled and stained glass windowed Gothic Room from this ship can still be seen at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle in Detroit.
My grandparents may have sailed on this ship (or the City of Cleveland) on their honeymoon cruise from Detroit to Cleveland in 1922.
Shipshape and Bristol styleVery nice vessel. It took a lot of work to keep that much white painted woodwork clean and scuff-less. I'll bet the brasswork gleamed too.
I believe the sailing ship in the background is a gaff-rigged topsail schooner. 
Also on shoreI have seen similar fire hose stowing on shore on Navy sites. Tradition is big in the Navy, aided by a philosophy of enough coats of paint will keep anything from collapsing.
The ignored sense As to the fire hose, the pin hanger accordion hose box had yet to be invented, they laid hose just like sailors faked rope, so it wouldn't tangle whilst unspooling. The greatest disappointment I have is in being unable to convey the aroma of these vessels. Modern steel and polymers have nothing on the early use of wood, canvas and grease paint. Even the cushions were filled with horse-hair, redolent with the aroma of it's source. My great-uncle owned and operated a tug in NY harbor, Ole was a taciturn Swede, but his ship was a wonder of sights and smells to an eight year old landlubber.   
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)

Free Ice: 1900
... compared to their friends' apartment. I lived on City Island, in the Bronx, for two years and with no air-conditioning, and the ... people per square mile is less than 1/10th of New York City's (26,100). Crowding ten times as many people into every square mile ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2018 - 10:09am -

Circa 1900. "Heat wave. Free ice in New York." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Byron for the Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Great TimingMy friends back East say it brutally hot just now, Hudson Valley included.
More than just comfortI would bet that most of these people are not going to use this ice for chilling their drinks. They're probably going to use it to keep their food from spoiling.
One thing about the present day is we continually go from hot to air conditioned environments during a heat wave.  In New York, no matter how cold it gets outside, the subway cars are usually cooled to the point of refrigeration.  This keeps our bodies from becoming acclimated to the temps.  These folks have been in the heat and have become somewhat adjusted.  The clothes they wear are probably all cotton or linen, both of which have the ability to wick the sweat away and help cool the body. I'm sure they're pretty miserable, but coping. 
You'd get a line for free ice right nowWith temperatures hitting 101 degrees, in the middle of a l-o-o-ng week of 95+, you'll get plenty of people willing to stand in line for bags of free ice.
Ice cubes in a bowl + fan = poor man's air conditioning.
Thanks, Dave, for reminding us that some things never change, like NYC heat waves in the summertime. The children who grew up standing in those lines supported the construction of municipal swimming pools during the New Deal. They remembered!
Nostalgic and VintageI absolutely love old photographs, the older the better. You get to experience people, places and things frozen in time.
Sure this isn't Japan?The policeman looks like he's wearing white gloves. That would suck on a hot day like it appears to be in the picture.
Hot CommodityLater on, someone realized they could spritz it with food coloring and some flavored syrup and charge for it.
The Iceman (and Milkman) ComethBack in the 1940's in Newburgh NY in the midst of a summer heat wave, neighborhood kids would raid the back of the open ice delivery truck while the iceman would be tonging a block of ice to home ice boxes. Another source for kids, of small chunks of ice, was in milk delivery trucks while the milkman was delivering his wares. 
Weather's nice here in Monterey.It might have gotten to 65 here today.  
Staten Island FerryWhen my parents married in New York, in 1953, they stayed with a friend in Harlem. It was so hot and a neighbour was having a rent party so my parents took the Staten Island ferry back and forth all night long. Cool and quiet, compared to their friends' apartment.
I lived on City Island, in the Bronx, for two years and with no air-conditioning, and the ceiling fans not being up to the job, it was like trying to sleep in pea soup.
Trying To Imagine...what NYC must have smelled like with all of those sweating people and piles of horse manure in the streets makes me not want to go back in time to experience what is going on in the photo. This is a first in all my time as a Shorpy fan.
Melting PotTemperatures in Manhattan will probably go over 100 degrees today. It has been in the high 90s for the last few days and will be in or around the 100 degree mark for the rest of the week. There will be no free ice and the local utility, Con Ed, has started cutting back on the power so the air conditioners are not performing to spec. I think I'll go to a movie today, their sign says they're 20 degrees cooler inside. Incidentally, movie theatre air conditioning goes back to 1925 when Dr. Willis Carrier cooled the new Rivoli Theatre on Broadway.
Fishy, indeed!We are experiencing a real heat wave in New York today. I don't for a minute believe that the photo was taken in a temperature that comes close to our 100+
Look at the barefoot boys on that sidewalk -- there's your proof.
I got news for yahFree Ice? That's nothing special. Every February there is tons if it in New York. You just need to plan ahead a little.
Hats Year RoundUp until the 1950's or so, you will notice that headgear was always part of the dress code.  My dad wore a hat most of the year.  It had to be hot and uncomfortable.  
Something's FishyI can't believe all their icemakers went out at once.They need to call the super and complain.
Take it offThey sure are wearing a lot of clothes for a heat wave. I'd lose the jackets and long sleeves.
Barefoot tykesThat sidewalk had to be hot!
HatsA few years ago I bought a straw hat and It seems to actually make you feel cooler on a hot day.
Cool LidOnly a straw hat would make sense, or maybe one of these.
Poor timingHow about some lovely pictures of deep snow, ice-covered lakes, or something to make us feel cooler in today's hot weather?
The Long Hot SummerLooks like the cop has had a long day. As hot has his uniform is, my hubby now has to wear pretty much all that, except in polyester and with an extra 35 pounds of equipment, plus a bullet proof vest. It's been hovering around or at 100 lately here in Maryland, and his vest doesn't have time to dry out from sweat one day before he puts it on the next. So next time you see a cop sitting in his car with the AC on on a hot day, think of that guy up there! He could use a little break! (I hope he got hold of some ice chunks.)
Waaaaah!I love reading about the New York heat waves with temperature in the 90s or even 101 (!).  If it was in the 90s in Austin, we'd all be wearing parkas.  
Most of these people want Gordon Park!As in the last picture.
Even in these Victorian times you can see signs of the heat, the cop wiping his brow, most men in the derbies have them way back on their head to let the heat out, and the straw hat man doesn't because they let heat out, just as the Mexican and South East Asian farmers learned from history.
 I loved the snow cone comment, probably very right, why give the melting ice away if you can sell it!
Hot mamaSo I can see why they had the long pants, skirts and hats, but couldn't she have left the shawl off?
Hey, Austin tipster We NY/NJ SMSAers feel the same way about you guys when your highways are shut down after 4 or 5 inches of snow. We laugh at your puny "frozen precipitation levels" that seem to cause such chaos! 
Have you ever been on the Lower East Side, and seen these turn-of-the-19th-century former tenement neighborhoods? They are still standing: five- and six-floor walk-ups, built with no help from Mr Otis, crowded together on narrow streets. 
Even today, Austin's population density of 2600 people per square mile is less than 1/10th of New York City's (26,100). Crowding ten times as many people into every square mile raises the ambient temperature of NYC exponentially. When the weather report says "90" in a town of crowded, narrow streets with ten times as many people, it is a medical emergency.
Be grateful that, in your hometown, such temperatures make you reach for a sweater. It's not a sign of how much tougher Texans are in comparison to New Yorkers. It means that you are fortunate to live where the historical development patterns have provided you an environment where weather extremes aren't so dangerous to human health.
547Was looking for clues about the location of this picture and noticed the clothing store has "547" on the awning (alas no street name).  Looking closer you can see that "547" is also written on the inside of the awning and reflected in the store window.  But the reflection isn't backwards ... so perhaps it was written backwards so that people facing the window could see the non-backwards number in the reflection?  Very curious.
[The "547" on the outside of the awning would be backwards on the inside of the awning because it's the same "547" showing through the canvas.  - Dave]
(The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Stores & Markets)

Savannah Electric: 1905
... some of the stores to go bankrupt. In October of 1961, the city agreed to desegregate parks, swimming pools, busses, restaurants and other ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 5:03pm -

Savannah, Georgia, circa 1905. "Broughton Street, looking east." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
It's ALIVE!This is one of the most evocative photos I've seen on Shorpy.  As I gaze at the enlarged version, I imagine I hear the clip-clop of horses, their occasional neighs and mild snorts, the sound of the streetcar bell and its wheels rolling on the track, the rumble of people talking and sometimes shouting.  I can almost feel the pavement under my feet (and know to watch out for the many piles of horse manure) and imagine what it was like to look into the store windows.
After many months of perusing Shorpy, I'm starting to feel more at home in my imagination of another age.
Pick me!Just a few daisies on that hat.
Stand backAnybody care to hazard a guess as to what's going on with this guy's legs?
Hat in handA closeup of the panhandler and his crutches.
Dental MysteryWhat on earth was a "NEW YORK DENTAL PARLOR"?  Sounds a bit ominous.  
Wow, the panhandler...Sitting there in a suit.  Looks like he has a set of club feet.  What a photo inside the photo.  
Re: Stand BackPossibly Rickets.  Symptoms include short stature and bone deformity, particularly leg bone.  It is caused by vitamin D deficiency, often due to lack of sunshine exposure or lack of calcium.
Dept. of SanitationThis is the first time I noticed such a well dressed "pooper scooper" in Shorpy's pictures!
Hat selection
I'm seeing at least 3 hat stores, 2 at left, 1 at right.  The hatless man at left has something in his hand that might be a hat.
I find approx. 37 men in hats in this shot.
DaisyI'm thinking that the young lady is carrying a dozen donuts on a plate balanced atop her hairdo.
Savannah ElectricThe Savannah Electric/Edison Light store was probably owned by the local gas and electric utility. This was not unusual, the lighting company not only provided the power but sold the appliances as well. They had an edge, the ability to add the payments for the refrigerator or stove to the customer's monthly utility bill.
The time machine was set to run backwardsToday Savannah looks much less urban and more nineteenth-century.
More Broughton StreetAnother view of that busy street a few years later, after automobiles started sharing the pavement with horses.
Proud BeggarHe may be poor and begging, but he is not without pride.  Despite his handicap (club foot?) his hair is cut, combed and parted; he's wearing a suit; and appears to be clean shaven.  One has to wonder how he came to this, and what his ultimate fate was.
SavannahFifty-five years after this photo was taken, on this very street, civil rights history was made. On March 16, 1960, black students staged a sit-in at eight downtown lunch counters, and three were arrested. The NAACP demanded desegregation of public accomodations, and the hiring of black clerks and managers, and they called for a boycott of white-owned downtown stores. The boycott was successful, causing some of the stores to go bankrupt. In October of 1961, the city agreed to desegregate parks, swimming pools, busses, restaurants and other public accomodations.  
Some of the buildings still there today!This photograph was taken close to the corner of West Broughton and Barnard.
Savannah Electric is Michael Kors today.
+119Below is the same view from February of 2024.
(The Gallery, DPC, Savannah, Streetcars)

The Newsroom: 1942
... of the New York Times newspaper. Right foreground, city editor. Two assistants, left foreground. City copy desk in middle ground, with foreign desk, to right; telegraph desk to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/17/2023 - 11:09am -

September 3, 1942. "New York, New York. Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Right foreground, city editor. Two assistants, left foreground. City copy desk in middle ground, with foreign desk, to right; telegraph desk to left. Makeup desk in center back with spiral staircase leading to composing room. Copy readers go up there to check proofs." Medium format acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
The Front Page's Back RoomNot very glamourous, is it?? Even by the standards of the day,  I would have expected something more impressive for the  Paper of Record.  But perhaps our expectations are tainted by modern conditions: whereas today the 'Times' may be NYC's only broadsheet, in 1942 there were a multitude - Journal-American, World-Telegram, the Sun -- some of which eclipsed the Times in circulation; but the real competitor for the quality reader was the Herald-Tribune.  I've heard it posited that WWII is what earned the Times the final victory lap: it used its war-ration reduced pages to emphasize news, whereas the HT gave the edge to advertising.  I don't know how true this is, but it's a great story.
Safe pre-OSHA WorkplaceLooks like way back then they didn't need an agency of the Federal Government to codify or remind them of the dangers of falling light globes (I didn't even know that was a thing.) Their safety conciousness even extended to the film used to record their workplace for posterity. Which begs the question, what happened to the guy at front left.
Paper cut? Malingerer? Bar fight?
Phones?I only see three telephones in that whole office!  How can they get any work done?
I'm sure that everyone they would've needed to speak with was within shouting distance.  Amazing how efficient things were back then!
No cubicle walls either.
Makeup desk???What, are they planning early for TV?
What a classic case of industrial chic, even with wire cages on the lamps!
Front Page Headlines September 4, 1942 New York TimesUS FIGHTS NEW LANDINGS IN SOLOMONS; SINKS CRUISER, 4 OTHER SHIPS IN PACIFIC; NAZIS ADVANCE NORTH OF STALINGRAD
Marines Meet Foe
Franco Shakes Up Cabinet, Ousts Suner and 2 Others
Allied Blows Force Rommel to Withdraw at Some Points
President Warns Youth to Choose Death or Freedom
Submarines Sink 5 Japanese Ships
Astor Real Estate Policy Shifted to Meet New Order
British Bombers Sear Karlsruhe; Sinclair Urges Sabotage in Reich
OPA to License All Meat Packers and Wholesalers in Control Move
The Copy Boywould take a writer's finished typing when the writer held it aloft saying a bit more than audibly, "BOY!" In later times this was changed to "KID!"
Got that from a WSJ veteran.
Why the cages around the lights?What do they need protection from?
SPIKE THAT STORY! NOT my hand!Copyboy! Get me OSHA! And having worked in such dangerous places in the 1960s ...
Light cagesWhy are there cages around the ceiling lights?  All I could think of was that the composing room upstairs creates enough vibrations to occasionally knock a light fixture off its ceiling mount, and the cages protect those below.  
Typewriters?Interesting. When I worked in a newsroom in the 70s it wasn't much different from this except everyone had a typewriter. I wonder why there's not a single one visible in this photo.
[You don’t need a typewriter to edit. Just a grease pencil. - Dave]
Not many visorsThis most be towards the end of the era for visors. Green eyeshades or dealer's visors are a type of visor that were worn most often from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century by accountants, telegraphers, copy editors, and others engaged in vision-intensive, detail-oriented occupations to lessen eye strain due to early incandescent lights and candles, which tended to be harsh (the classic banker's lamp had a green shade for similar reasons).
Wire mesh around the lights??What is that for. Oh, and that caricature, so not politically correct today. 
Memo SpikeThat Assistant put his hand through the CE’s memo spike again.  
Or maybe the editor is a very, very stern taskmaster.
Back in the day..Bill spikes, stick telephones, eye shades, rubber stamps, oak office chairs, pipe smokers.. all of an era.
Can anybody identify the round white things with the little handle sticking up?
[Gluepots. - Dave]
And the cages on the light fixtures — did things get rough in that room from time to time???
Times of ...Natural human data processing power.
Light Globe Cages?Not sure what the well thought out and professionally made wire cloth covers on the lights are all about. I guess it has something to do with being at war???
Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old daysKind of depressing once you take it all in, a newsroom entirely staffed by men, plus the pipe smoking, the anti-Japanese propaganda poster, etc. It really is true that "The past is a different country. They do things differently there." 
So many wonderful things to see from the old timesThe guy smoking a pipe, The candlestick telephones too. The wire cages on the light fixtures are also strange. Overkill, I would say. But it's a delightful photo of the past.
Shorpy logoIn an early comment below (“Safe pre-OSHA Workplace”), M2 writes, “Their safety consciousness even extended to the film used to record their workplace for posterity.”  So I scrutinized the right edge of the photo, my head tilted down and to the right, to read:  “EASTMAN—SAFETY—KODAK 101 SHORPY.”  Very clever!
SaunaThese men don't need to go to a steam bath - it looks like their work place is already very hot and humid. Each of those caged ceiling lights is probably putting out 200 watts of heat, plus all the body heat of the men. Their shirts look very moist. The large metal ducts on the ceiling might only be for exhausting smoke and heat from the room rather than forced air conditioning. I would love the see a photo of the cord switchboard with operators connecting the candlestick telephones. 
Not a coffee cup in sightCoffee rationing in effect already? 
SwelteringThe high temperature in New York that day was 93 degrees -- no wonder they all look so sweaty. 
Depressing? Why so Karen?Perhaps a history book is not in your future, or you'll be very very depressed.  In other words. Lighten up.
Sweet Smell of the City DeskInhale deeply and let’s go back in time and take an olfactory tour of the newsroom. The first thing that hits you as you enter the room would be the tobacco smoke. I count at least three pipes and a cigarette, but no ashtrays. In a closed room the smoke and ash odor would be the first thing you notice. Weather archives report that the temperature reached 93 degrees F. in New York City on September 3, 1942 – near record heat. The next thing you’d notice would be man-sweat and hair tonic. Vitalis and Brylcreem and Murray’s Pomade each had a distinctive aroma and the miasma rising from those guys must have been remarkable. 
Add to the vaporous atmosphere the smell of printer’s ink, gluepots, rubber-gum erasers, pencil shavings, leather satchels, and freshly developed photographs. Even though the clock says 9:20 AM perhaps you'd catch a whiff of flask-borne whiskey and, judging be the unshaven assistant city editor in the foreground, maybe the scent of monkey blood from his wound dressing. I’ll bet the gent in the eyeshade has a Limburger cheese and onion sandwich in a paper bag. 
You can exhale now.
Goober Pea
Where's Hildy?This makes me want to watch "His Girl Friday".
Right off The Front PageThe movies from the 1930s led me to expect many more typewriters and whiskey bottles. Also, a sassy gal Friday.
Walk in their shoes"Nothing is more unfair than to judge the men of the past by the ideas of the present. Whatever may be said of morality, political wisdom is certainly ambulatory".
- Denys Arthur Winstanley
I'm with Al Bear I always love these photos of how things used to be in newsrooms, offices, labs, etc. and I'm especially intrigued by wartime home front photos.  It's really easy for some to hold the past up to today's politically correct standards, but perhaps one of two of these newsmen lost a son or maybe even a daughter at Pearl Harbor or Midway.  Maybe they have a son who recently landed at Guadalcanal.  And perhaps there are women who are working in this environment but just happen to be out of the photo at the time.  You don't know for sure, so don't judge.
And Now, The WeatherNOAA weather for Manhattan shows a high of 93 on 9/3/42.  Might explain the matted hair, glistening foreheads and less than crisp work shirts.
The Hot SeatNew York in September, no A/C, everybody packed in like sardines ... no wonder everybody looks sweaty!
I too pictured a lot more typewriters. 
9:20 am ... or pm?The previous shot of the wire service machines shows that it's pretty clearly dark outside (the left-hand window is open without whatever-it-is that's in the right hand window opening).
It seems to me that this is more likely the evening of September 3rd, 1942 rather than the morning.
[The Times is a morning paper, so yes, it's night. - Dave]
Norman Rockwell PhotographIf Rockwell was a photographer he'd have taken this image.
So full of action and detail. Those head visors, the not-paperless-office, the spiral staircase and all enveloped in that amazing masonry and concrete room.
Those paper spikes were dangerous, so sharp that a careless hand could easily get a nasty wound (another reader has picked up a suspicious wound). Never mind that the spike might just go through and destroy a very important word. 
(The Gallery, Marjory Collins, NYC)

City Market: 1906
Circa 1906. "City Market, Kansas City, Missouri." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... being rather fragile and shipped over long distances? City Market at Fifth & Walnut has been there since 1857. It looks kinda ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 4:53pm -

Circa 1906. "City Market, Kansas City, Missouri." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Can I help you, Miss?I'll take a bushel of red apples, a peck of potatoes, and a hug around the neck.
Paper or plastic?Willow, please, with a nice big handle.
The Burglar's DaughterCan't make out the small text of the flyer on the pole to the right but the melodrama, "The Burglar's Daughter" opened on Broadway September 17, 1906. Already advertised in KC when this was taken.
[Plus two other interesting handbills -- "U.S. NAVY CURES RHEUMATIC FEVER" and "U.S. NAVY CURES SCROFULA." Where do I enlist? - Dave]
Could it be the West Bottoms?What a great photo! Having lived in KC now for about 20 years, I am of course trying to place this scene in the context of what buildings currently remain in the River Market from this time. Many things have changed -- obviously -- but this scene looks more like the West Bottoms area of KC to me. Could it be?
Bananas for SaleI can't help but notice the large pile of bananas for sale. Were they quite expensive at this time, being rather fragile and shipped over long distances? 
City Market at Fifth & Walnuthas been there since 1857. It looks kinda the same as it did in 1906 but is larger and I guess somewhat nicer. In the 1970s it was part of an entertainment area then known as the River Quay. Restaurants, Bars, Music, Fun. As it turned out it was heavily owned by the Mafia who had turf battles with explosives.
The River Quay is no more, but the area is now thriving with the City Market as an important anchor. Among interesting attractions is the Arabia Museum which has the largest collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the world.
Some Useful Links Are:
Crime Magazine
City Market Website
Arabia Steamboat Museum
Everything has always been up to date in Kansas city.
Locavores bewareAs a produce grower just west of KC I had figured the photo for sometime in October, so the Burglar's Daughter comment was nice corroboration. What interests me, however, is how little local food there really was ... at a time when produce is abundant. Only the bananas appear to have been shipped in from away.
Starting from the left there are a few sweet potatoes (just to the right of the barrel), loads of leeks or possibly green onions (both of which grow very well in autumn around here), and what I think might be radishes just to the left of the door. There's one small basket of Irish potatoes, and a braid of garlic (which would have been harvested in early July).
Moving to the fruit stand there are some excellent pears, loads of apples, and (most interestingly) a few bunches of grapes. Eastern Kansas and western Missouri used to be prime orchard country and in the early 20th Century apples would have sold for about 25 cents for an eight-quart basket (=quarter bushel, or around ten pounds). This vendor also has a few sweet potatoes.
Most of the other stands are about the same, though there might be a few bunches of carrots at one. The main potato vendor is to be seen between the two women -- he's counting his money -- and his crop has probably been in underground storage since July. Many farmers grew potatoes along the Kansas River valley and after harvest would store them in spring-cooled buildings cut slightly into the bedrock on the south side of the valley (thereby facing north).
A farmer just south of us had his own siding on the A.T.& S.F. for shipping barrels of potatoes into this market, and the ruins of his potato buildings are still there.
Yes we have no bananasBananas had actually been available for a few decades by 1906. When they were first being imported in the 1870's, they were indeed very expensive: 10 cents each, which is what a poor man might earn working all day. They were consumed as a delicacy.
By the end of the century though, they were sufficiently cheap to have worked themselves into popular culture and consciences. The age old gag of slipping on a banana peel is much more than 100 years old.
Bananas by the bunchThe "Gros Michel" (Big Mike) variety of bananas which were sold during this period were less fragile and traveled better than the Cavendish variety commonly imported now.  (Supposedly, they were also bigger, sweeter and, well, more banana-y.)  The Gros Michel was harvested and shipped by the several-foot bunch, and held in climate-controlled ships and railroad cars until arrival at the local wholesaler, where they were trimmed off the trunk into the smaller "hands" displayed at the grocer's.  Winter shipping would have been relatively inexpensive, due to less need for icing the refrigerator cars and the lack of domestic produce haulage.  
The Gros Michel variety was wiped out by Panama Disease by the 1960s, and cultivation was switched to the Cavendish.  Possibly apocryphally, the disease caused a temporary shortage in the 1920s and led to the song "Yes! We Have No Bananas."
The Burglar's Daughter, or a True Heart Wins FriendsThis 1899 children's book by Margaret Penrose was made into a musical, and there is a film short from 1908. The sign likely is for the musical.
You Are HereThis picture appears to have been taken from 5th and Walnut Street looking north. In this Sanborn Fire Map, note the Market House and City Hall. The best clue is the road that is on the right side of the picture.  Based on the map, it can only be Walnut Street.  
We have a framed print of this pic in our home.  We live at 2nd and Walnut (Old Townley Lofts) in the River Market area of KC.  The current City Market is bounded by 3rd & 5th Street and Grand & Main.
We love Shorpy.com and our print.  It is like a little time machine that takes us 105 years into the past.
JP Carter
K.C., MO
(The Gallery, DPC, Kansas City MO, Stores & Markets)

The Old Stone House: 1865
... the fact that the kids are now living in an occupied city. Notice how the kids are also wearing what appear to be cut-down Union ... soldiers. One or two may have actually been in one of the city's home guard companies. +159 Below is the same view from January of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2013 - 6:44pm -

      The Ege family dwelling, which had tangential connections to General Lafayette, George Washington and Edgar Allan Poe.
April 1865. Richmond, Virginia. "The Old Stone House -- so-called 'Washington's headquarters,' 1916 East Main Street." Wet plate glass negative. View full size.
And 148 years later,the building still stands as The Poe Museum.
View Larger Map
Seven Boys, One WomanI think the boy in the tree is having the most fun. He's got spunk. Otherwise this does seem like a rather dour group.
Not having fun? Neither would you......given the fact that the kids are now living in an occupied city. Notice how the kids are also wearing what appear to be cut-down Union Army sack coats, and two of them are wearing Confederate grey kepis.
Kind of reminds me of similar photos taken 80 years later of occupied cities in Germany, where a lot of the kids were clad in cast-off military garb.
Dour GroupWell, their side just lost the War and there's a very high probability that they each lost at least one brother and maybe a dad in the process. Note the military cut of their jackets. They look like miniature versions of paroled soldiers. One or two may have actually been in one of the city's home guard companies.
+159Below is the same view from January of 2024.
(The Gallery, Civil War, Kids, Richmond)

Electri City 1906
... panels over the main windows. Bright Lights, Big City I never realized Houghton was that large of a town at the turn of the ... industry till about 1905, when he moved to the really big city -- Detroit. Hey, I live there! Here's an updated view from 2008. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 11:05am -

Houghton, Michigan, circa 1906. "Shelden Street." Houghton was nothing if not well wired. 8x10 dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
Butterick patternsThese are still sold today.  I looked them up and they are selling their closeout styles for 3 bucks each.  They retailed for 50 cents new in the early 60's when I sold them.
A memoryMore going on then than today.
It could almost be todayI immediately recognized it. I wish I still lived there-- I'd shoot you a picture. Of the four buildings in the foreground, three are still there. The one front left is gone. The back right one still has the tiny windowed panels over the main windows.
Bright Lights, Big CityI never realized Houghton was that large of a town at the turn of the century. My great grandparents emigrated from Canada to Houghton in the late 1870s. My grandfather worked as a sawyer in the lumber industry till about 1905, when he moved to the really big city -- Detroit.
Hey, I live there!Here's an updated view from 2008. Since then, they've replaced the streetlights, removed that skywalk, and the street is now brick.

Houghton memoriesI attended Michigan Technological University in Houghton in the '60s and immediately recognized this scene. The magnificent Douglas House hotel is still there and looks amazingly unchanged, as are many of the other downtown building on Shelden Avenue. The wires are gone, though.
Digital City 2010The location of the photographer crouched under the hot black cloth is  exactly where "Welcome to Houghton" walkway currently is.
[Or was. The skywalk is gone now (see below). - Dave]
View Larger Map
Organic movement of 104 years agoAw, it WAS something beyond well wired.
The streets were well fertilized.
(The Gallery, DPC, Horses)

Wintry Mix: 1940
... February 1940. Newsboy during a winter storm in Iowa City, Iowa. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security ... to the right, where "Balalaika" is playing. Iowa City hardware store This is Joe Manning. Note the hardware store by the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/17/2007 - 3:21am -

February 1940. Newsboy during a winter storm in Iowa City, Iowa. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Our readers point out the Englert Theater to the right, where "Balalaika" is playing.
Iowa City hardware storeThis is Joe Manning. Note the hardware store by the theater. The name looks like Lenoch & (something). I found two current listings in Iowa City for Lenoch & Cilek Ace Hardware. Eat your heart out Home Depot.
Movie at the EnglertThey're showing "Balalaika" with Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. Release date December 29, 1939 from MGM. In those days of course movies didn't debut everywhere at the same time. They didn't strike nearly the number of prints that they do today so it would probably take quite a while for a film like this to "trickle down" to a place like Iowa City.
Englert TheaterIn the background to the right of the man is the Englert Theater (with vertical sign above the marquee). A major fundraising effort in the past decade saved the Englert from destruction, and today the theater is part of a thriving arts community near the University of Iowa campus.
More information, including a history of the Englert, is available at http://www.englert.org.
Oh, Leo Kottke's gonna be there in February. I may need to pay a visit.
[Interesting. Say hi for Shorpy! - Dave]
Iowa City hardware storeIt's been a few years since I've lived in Iowa City, but Menard's was the main home improvement store. (Checks Google -- yep, closest Home Depot is a half-hour away in Cedar Rapids)
When I lived there, the downtown Lenoch & Cilek was a block or two south of the Englert in the Ped Mall (pedestrians only). It appears that store has moved a few blocks north of this picture.
One thing of note is that most of these commercial buildings are 2 or 3 storey mixed-use structures, with the top 1 or 2 floors devoted to apartments. Many University of Iowa students live there as downtown is adjacent to campus. Well, the campus sprawls all over the place, but its core is an easy walk from this location.
+83Below is the same view from May of 2023.
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Cars, Trucks, Buses)

City of Cleveland: 1910
... Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "Sidewheel steamer City of Cleveland . Off for the upper lakes." Detroit Publishing Company glass ... W. C. McMillan, General Manager. ... Steamer City of Cleveland Captain, Archibald McLachlan Engineer, John Hall. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 4:26pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "Sidewheel steamer City of Cleveland. Off for the upper lakes." Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size.
Post-pyroThis must be the rebuilt version, after the fire.
Looking good after the fireGoogled history and read that the steamer was launched in Jan '07 and almost completely destroyed by fire in May '07.  Original build/superstructure must have been something grand.
All Aboard!I can imagine the guy that broke the news to the people on the dock to form a single line.
ColorlessI am always amazed at these pictures of an active crowded America at the beginning of the last century, there always seems to be a dearth of people of color present at public events. Were we "encouraged" to avoid large gatherings or were we just not tolerated by what was then mainstream America? What was our role in our country's many and varied activities?
Crunched "Cleveland"After colliding with the Norwegian freighter Ravnefjell:

Connecting The DotsRemember the Gothic mansion of W.C. McMillan that was shown here lately, well, from "Marine Vessels Navigating the Great Lakes in 1905" we find:
Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co.,Detroit, Mich.,
	W. C. McMillan, General Manager.
	...
	Steamer City of Cleveland
		Captain, Archibald McLachlan
		Engineer, John Hall. 
W.C. would have been proudIn 1910 the City of Cleveland (v. 3) was the pride of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., the company run by W.C. McMillan (the owner of the Addams Family-type home posted three days ago). She was built twice - because, in 1907, when her construction was nearly finished, she burned to her steel framework. The History of Detroit (1912) describes her elegance this way: "five hundred staterooms, twenty private parlors with bath, hot and cold running water in each room; telephone in every stateroom, passenger elevator, fire place, convention hall. Venetian garden, luxurious dining room and costly furnishings."  
An inauspicious beginning and tragic endmarked the career of the City of Cleveland. Launched 5 January 1907 at the yard of the Detroit Ship Building Company at Wyandotte, she caught fire there while being fitted out for service on 13 May 1907 (see photo).  She was, of course, built for the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, of which William McMillan, discussed here recently, was President, but who died a month after the vessel's launching.  Rebuilt, she entered service in May 1908.  Renamed City of Cleveland III in 1912, she remained in service until she collided with the Norwegian freighter Ravnefjell in dense fog on Lake Huron off Harbor Beach, Michigan, on 25 June 1950.  The freighter's bow pierced her cabins, killing five aboard the passenger vessel.  The official Coast Guard report.  
Following the collision, the City of Cleveland III was laid up at Detroit for four years until she again caught fire on 20 October 1954.  Most of her was scrapped at Sandwich, Ontario, 1954-1955, but her hull was towed to Buffalo to be converted to a crane barge, a metamorphosis that never occurred, and the hull was broken up there in 1956.
Eminent American naval architect Frank Kirby designed the City of Cleveland.  
Name changeMore about the City of Cleveland here.
Incendiarism Is SuspectedMansfield (Ohio) News, May 13, 1907.


SPLENDID NEW VESSEL
City of Cleveland, Under Construction in Detroit, Swept by Fire Early Today
INTENDED FOR COMMISSION OF JUNE 30
It was to Have Been the Finest Side Wheel Steamer on Fresh Water. The Boat Will Be Rebuilt, but it Will Be Impossible to Get Her Ready for Service Before Next Season -- Incendiarism Is Suspected.
Detroit, Mich., May 13. -- The magnificent new passenger steamer City of Cleveland, under construction at the plant of the Detroit Ship Building company, for the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation company, and designed to run between Detroit and Cleveland, was swept by fire early today and is a total loss except for her hull and machinery. How much they have been damaged cannot be determined until the hull is pumped out and a careful examination made. The loss, which falls on the Detroit Ship Building company, a branch of the American Ship Building company is about $700,000 and is fairly well covered by insurance.
The fire broke out just before daylight in some mysterious manner. There are rumors afloat that an inceniary is suspected. The officials of the ship yard are at a loss to explain the fire, as there were two watchemn on the ship and another at the gate of the ship yard.
The City of Cleveland was launched at Wyandotte January 5 and was to have been turned over to the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation company about June 30. She is 444 feet long and is designed to carry 4,500 passengers, with sleeping accomodations for 1,500. The interior wood work and fittings were practically completed and the machinery and boilers were installed. The flames had secured a good start before they were discovered and despite the efforts of two fire boats and all the shore apparatus which could work on the burning ship, swept away everything inflammable from the craft. Tons of water were poured into the hull which now lies at the Orleans dock partly submerged. The two watchmen on the steamer got ashore safely and no one was injured during the fire.
The City of Cleveland was intended to be the finest side wheel steamer on fresh water and her interior wood work all of which is destroyed, was unusually beautiful and lavish. Here whole cost was intended to $1,250,000.
The ship building company will rebuild the boat as rapidly as possible, it is announced, but it will be impossible to get her ready for service before next season.
The Detroit and Cleveland Navigation company will continue the same service arrangements on the Cleveland route which prevailed last season.
Well how about that?It sure is a sidewheel steamer! (Pictures with no comments seem lonely to me and since this picture had not a single one, I had to acknowledge its presence).  Go "City of Cleveland"!  Keep on sailin'!
Ghost ShipOne of the ships managed by one of the Halloween house owners.
Largest Side-Wheeler in the WorldPopular Mechanics, March 1907:
The largest side-wheel steamer in the world, the "City of Cleveland", was launched at Detroit on January 5th. Her dimensions are: Lenght: 444 ft.; beam, 96 ft. 6 in.; and depth, 22 ft. There are seven decks with a passenger capacity of 5,000 and sleeping accomodations for 1,500. In addition, freight cargo equivalent to 110 carloads can be carried. Electric passenger elevators connect the upper and lower decks. There is a telephone in every stateroom which will have connection with the city service when in ports. A complete wireless system will afford land communication when sailing. A speed of 25 miles is expected from the 8,000-hp. engines.
A unique feature is the bow rudder which can be seen in the illustration taken just before launching. The steamer will cost $1,250,000 and run between Detroit and Cleveland the coming summer.
Board of Commerce excursion, June 10In a 1910 issue of the Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record you can read all about the upcoming cruise sponsored by the Detroit Board of Commerce, the This was seventh annual trip for the organization. It was also the first trade group to go on a trip by airplane.
ColorlessOne explanation, in this case: Detroit's population in 1910 was about 465,000 - with only 5,741 Black people.  Buffalo (my city) had only 1,773 out of 423,715. Migration to the factory jobs of the North began shortly after this time. 
AmazingGrowing up as I have in a largely post-industrial suburban America, images like this fascinate me.  I suppose people do travel from Detroit to Cleveland today, but I don't know why.
You could probably make the drive in the time it takes to roll through the traffic in Detroit to the airport, park the car, get a ticket, go thru TSA, get on the plane, land, get your luggage, rent a car, and drive to their destination from the airport thru Cleveland traffic.
 Given the choice of the two, neither seems as fun or as novel as taking to the lake on the City of Cleveland.  Seeing pictures of my home country thru the eyes of this website is almost like reading science fiction.  The names of the locales are the same, but the details of these people's existence seem almost otherworldly.  Going back a mere second in time seems a infinitely less traversable distance than that to the farthest conceivable galaxy.  It is a true Lost World.  My continuing thanks for posting the photography.
 Mea Culpa Bauhaus For a people convinced they were on the cusp of modernity, they had an ineffable sense of style. Nothing of value was produced without elegant embellishment that is so lacking today.With apologies to Gropius and Frank, I think there is an ephemeral value to frills. 
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)

Sunray: 1942
... the image and you will see the black patch west of the city. I thought all wild animals were coal black until I was twelve. My Dad ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2024 - 2:43pm -

November 1942. "Worker at carbon black plant. Sunray, Texas." 4x5 inch Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size. 
You might want to considerA mild cleanser. Exfoliant scrub. Moisturizer. And maybe lose the ciggies? I'm just sayin' is all.
Overloading the lungsPossibly had some lung-related health issues later in life?
CigsI bet he didn't wear a seat belt either. Yikes.
Beautiful!What an astonishing photo; it's got such depth and a kind of coldness. Great find!
Make this one a print!Make this one a print! Please!
I adore the work of this photographer.
Print now available!Here he is. Just the thing to brighten up the den.
Carbon Black PlantI grew up in Aransas Pass, Texas in the 1940's and the "Carbon Black Plant" out in the scrub Oak brush just off the coast of Redfish Bay, East of the town, belched dense black smoke constantly . . my neighbors, the Gentry boys, came home from work every day looking just like this fellow . . . a damp rag was required to wipe off our clothesline to remove the black soot before the wash could be hung out. Seemed completely normal at the time!
Sunray Carbon BlackI grew up in Fritch, Texas, which is between Amarillo and Borger and not too far from Sunray.  My dad worked at the carbon black plant in Borger in the 1950s & '60s. Sometimes we'd pick him up after work. The men would take a shower at the end of the day at the plant, but he could never ever wash ALL of the black off.  The "whiteface" cattle in the area always had gray faces.  We rarely had a problem with the carbon black getting all the way to Fritch - about 15 miles - but we had relatives in Buenavista, a "suburb" of Borger who had a lot of problems with laundry hanging out, etc.  Seemed completely normal at the time to us too but sure seems funny now.  Not ha-ha funny but kind of sad funny, I think. 
SunraySurprisingly, carbon black exposure is NOT associated with increased risk of lung disease. I was raised in Borger,TX. home of a huge plant. In the fifties and sixties,before regulations,the black covered everything. Even now google the image and you will see the black patch west of the city. I thought all wild animals  were coal black until I was twelve. My Dad worked there for many years, is ninety now and no lung disease. As a native and a physician, I investigated the risk from the carbon and confirmed the really is not a risk to health in spite of the look. One speculates that the pure charcoal/carbon may have at worst been neutral and possibly had some protective effect from carcinogens. Unfortunately, most of the men working there also smoked cigarettes and did suffer the consequences to health.
Look at this guy.Look at this guy. Look into his eyes. Try to understand the fatigue he was feeling. Do you really think he's worried about lung cancer!?
I mean seriously, try to take yourself out of the "I know what's best for you" 2000s, and remember that, long ago, people used to live their lives and work hard every day.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Kodachromes, Factories, John Vachon)
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