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High Life: 1963
... embracing couple look like Henry and Alice Mitchell. Michigan Avenue - from the Back The three tall buildings on the left are all located on North Michigan Avenue (Arthur Rubloff's "Magnificent Mile"). From left to right: The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/07/2016 - 1:15pm -

October 1963. "John and Sandy Dienhart of Chicago at their Marina City high-rise apartment -- the couple entertaining on their 60th-floor balcony." From photos for the Look magazine assignment "Living on the Top." View full size. Thought you had a mirror image for a moment.That photo is confusing for a Chicagoan. It looks like they are looking over the river, but Marina City units overlooking the river are on the other (south) side of the building. It took a moment to realize the river bends behind them The MenacesThe embracing couple look like Henry and Alice Mitchell. Michigan Avenue - from the BackThe three tall buildings on the left are all located on North Michigan Avenue (Arthur Rubloff's "Magnificent Mile"). From left to right: The Medinah Athletic Club (Walter W. Ahlschlager, architect, 1927-1929, now the InterContinental Chicago Hotel); the Tribune Tower (John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, architects, 1923-1925); and the two-part Wrigley Building (Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, architects, 1919-1922 and 1922-1924). The low building in the center of the lower border of the picture is the old Chicago Sun-Times (and Daily News) Building, demolished in 2004 to make way for the Chicago Trump Tower. Worked hereI was an apprentice painter working on these apartments after the carpenters finished their work. Had lunch on a balcony every day. (Chicago, LOOK)
The Detroit: 1905
... Volume 19, 1905. Car-ferry steamer "Detroit": Michigan Central Railway A four-screw car-ferry steamer of exceptional ... ice, has been built for the Detroit River service of the Michigan Central Railway (between Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.). The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 3:27pm -

The Detroit River circa 1905. "Transfer steamer Detroit." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Exceptional Ice Breaker Bulletin of the International Railway Congress Volume 19, 1905. Car-ferry steamer "Detroit": Michigan Central Railway A four-screw car-ferry steamer of exceptional size and power, designed to serve as an ice-breaker and maintain communication through the heaviest ice, has been built for the Detroit River service of the Michigan Central Railway (between Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.). The railway company has four car-ferry steamers, and all but the new one are propelled by side wheels. The distance across the river is half a mile, and the time allowed for crossing is ten to twelve minutes, including landing. The new steamer has been in service through the latter part of the winter, and in January performed successful work in contending with very heavy ice and ice jams. The Detroit is 308 feet long, 64 feet beam of hull, and 76 feet beam over the guards, with a molded depth of 19 ft. 6 in. and a displacement of 3,850 tons. Its average speed is 18 miles an hour. The draft is 10 feet light and 14 feet loaded. The engines and boilers are placed below the deck, from which rise four smokestacks. On each side is a deck house about 90 feet long, with accommodation for the officers and crew (34 in summer and 55 in winter), and for the American and Canadian customs officers, as well as special quarters for the superintendent and superintending engineer of the railway company's marine department. The top of each deck house forms a promenade deck. There are three tracks, the two outer tracks being spread so as to clear the smokestacks, and the vessel can carry 24 freight cars or 12 Pullman cars. The cars are secured to the tracks with clamps and chains. The vessel had rudders and screws at both ends, for use in manoeuvring, but it is not double-ended; one end is normally the bow and has a high steel bridge spanning the tracks and carrying the pilot house. At each side of the river the boat is run with its bow against a pier or slip having three tracks. There are four compound engines of the marine type, with cylinders 24 X 33 and 48 X 33 inches. The crank shafts arc 10 3/4 inches diameter, of the built-up type and with counterbalanced cranks. There are two twin vertical compound air pumps, and duplicate compound boiler-feed pumps. As the vessel may stay in the slip for several hours, and the hot-well supply is then cut off by the stoppage of the air pumps, a special feed system is used. Two of the air pumps discharge into the bottom of a large feed tank, from which the water is pumped into an open Cochrane heater connected to the suction pipes of the feed pumps. The tank pump and feed pumps are fitted with pressure governors, and the feed-water supply is controlled entirely by the feed valves at the boilers. When the feed pumps are stopped, the water rises in the heater and by means of a float closes a valve in the delivery pipe of the tank pump, which pump is then shut down by its governor. The exhaust steam from the engines of the pumps, dynamos, fans and steering gear is passed through a separator and thence to the feed-water heater. Two direct connected dynamos supply current for the lighting system, including a large searchlight. Steam is supplied by four Scotch boilers; they are built for 150 lb. pressure, but except when the vessel is working in the ice the working pressure is 100 lb. Forced draft on the closed ash pit system is provided in case of necessity. There are four oblong smokestacks rising 35 feet above the deck and surrounded to a height of 14 feet by casings which serve as ventilating trunks for the fire rooms. The bunkers carry 300 tons of coal and are supplied by hopper bottom cars standing on the outer tracks over deck openings 40 feet long. The steel hull is very heavily built, but the keel is straight from end to end instead of being curved upward as in most ice-breaking steamers. The vessel is therefore designed to cut and drive a way through the ice instead of riding upon it and breaking it by the weight of the vessel. In 1910, the Michigan Central Railway completed a tunnel under the Detroit River and no longer needed use of transfer ferries. The Detroit was sold to the Wabash Railroad in 1912 (along with two other ferries: Transfer and Transport). She served the Wabash line until the 1960s. The above photo appeared in a 1905 news article in the Bulletin of the International Railway Congress. It was one of two included figures. The other figure is shown below. Detroit dispositionThe most recent info I could find on the Detroit. It was converted to a barge around 1970. Prolific GLEWCarferry Detroit was built by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, in 1904. Converted from 3 tracks (24 cars) to 4 tracks (32 cars) in 1927. Reduced to car float at Detroit, summer 1969. -- Bowling Green State U. A Brief Trip to the SouthwestThis book has an account of a man traveling by train which was transported across the Detroit River From Canada to the US by the Transfer Ship Detroit in the late 1800s. Our trip in Canada terminates at Windsor Here we are confronted by the Detroit river about a mile in width which flows between Canada and the State of Michigan. To continue on our way we must pass this barrier This is successfully accomplished by means of an immense ferry boat Our lengthy train made up mostly of sleepers is broken into three sections placed on board of the boat and firmly secured Thus we are ferried over to the American shore The trip across this river is most interesting Steam and sailing craft plying in either direction are numerous while the shores on sides representing as they do the two foremost nations the world as well as the rippling sparkling water of the river charm and hold the eye with constant delight. From the ferry we are landed at Detroit Michigan. Pinch Points Old and NewWon't see any pinch point warning signs on the bow of this ferry. Nice pair of capstans to snug the ferry to the dock. Hope for the crew's sake they are steam powered and the holes for the capstan-bars at the top are for emergency backup purposes only. Tunnels under the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers now handle the rail traffic while the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan and the the Ambassador Bridge near downtown Detroit, Michigan handle the truck traffic. The steady increase in traffic flow at these border pinch points over the years, together with the wear and tear of decades of use has Michigan and Ontario governments scrambling to fund the billions it will cost to replace them. Real Example of ForeshorteningAt least I think that is the correct term, the head on shot makes it look much shorter than the side shot! The Detroit may still exist!After seeing this photo I remembered that I had seen something similar in a Bing aerial view -- sure enough, there it was. Its very reasonable to assume that the Detroit, with its very sturdy icebreaker hull, would have been converted from a steamer to a barge at some point in its life (probably right after WWII), and had additional track laid to carry more cars once the funnels were gone. The outline, size, and general arrangement, particularly the long deckhouses on each side, convinces me that this is the old Detroit. Bing aerials are usually 2 to 3 years behind, so I'm sure its gone by now. The location is in Ecorse, on the Detroit River, south of the city itself. Recent ViewHere is a recent view just off the Detroit River in Ecorse. It is still there, but not floating. Train ferry Detroit and its rare 2 pairs of propellersMost people comment about the large size of this ferry, its fortress, its resistance to the ice, its operative life for nearly 60 years, but nobody use to comment that this train ferry was one of the few (or maybe the only one) to have a double pair of propellers to navigate. It is rare and their function would surely be to facilitate the "go and return" with the trains, avoiding the need to make the turn to direct the bow to the destination pier and then to turn the ferry again to put the bow back toward the first dock. All with the trains over the deck. Of course, it is a rare mechanism, that of having two quiet propellers in the bow which would mean to have a small brake and resistance to the free slip of the ferry over the water. And in addition, also to have a double rudder system, one at each end. What a problem should have been driving this ship, my God!! I can´t upload a picture because it was not taken by me, (and this is not allowed in this site) but I may send pictures to the person who is interested on this point. OLIVERIO // oliverio.1@g.m.a.i.l.com (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads)
Woodward at Witherell: 1907
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1907. "Woodward Avenue at Witherell Street, looking south." ... house address numbers on a strip of leather). In 1910, Michigan finally began issuing plates. Pianos One thing's for sure. If ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/28/2023 - 10:31am -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1907. "Woodward Avenue at Witherell Street, looking south." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Pony Car/Wagon cruisin' Woodward Avenue per Bob SegerOl Nelly doesn't look she'll smoke anybody this afternoon. F. J. Schwankovsky -- Knabe PianosNot much remains that you can see in the 1907 photo. But I believe the building with the rounded corner and the Knabe Pianos sign atop it is the building below in Street View. If you swing to the left, you'll see the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Witherell Street (at the elevated rail overpass). And if you pan down a little, you'll see Woodward Avenue still has streetcar rails. Knabe pianos are still made and are still high quality. But the F. J. Schwankovsky company is history. License platesFrom 1905 to 1909, you had to register your car with the State. They gave you a number and you had to make your own license plate (usually with house address numbers on a strip of leather). In 1910, Michigan finally began issuing plates. PianosOne thing's for sure. If you're looking for a good piano, turn of the century Detroit is the place to go! Ivories towerThe Schwankovsky Temple of Music gets high marks for architecture and naming creativity, but marketing-wise it seems to have backward thinking: the sign is only -- or at least most -- legible to outbound traffic. So rather than advertise to those entering the downtown, with the day ahead of them, it caters to those already in a hurry to get home. Hey Moe, I Can't SeeYou can buy solid gold eyeglasses and spectacles for a dollar, but you need to walk outside to see if they work because their banner covers up all the windows on the building. Streetcar rails are new(ish).As a native Detroiter I always look forward to learning something new about the old city(?). The "streetcar rails" that Doug notices are not from long ago but are from the current era of downtown Detroit. They belong to our most recent effort at mass transit called the Q-line, which runs up and down Woodward (Detroit's main drag) for a couple of miles. Like the elevated People Mover, it's another half-hearted attempt to have mass transit in a city built on the automobile. Just us gals window shoppingI notice two ladies in a window about the word "Boys." It's always bittersweet to remember that at one point somebody knew "That's me and my friend Mary. We happened to look at the window at just the right time." (The Gallery, DPC, Streetcars)
Sierra Motel: 1960
... CT equivalent of the Soccer Mom Van in 1960. Up in Michigan? The sign is obviously different, but the pitch of the roof and the ... 
 
Posted by rsyung - 08/18/2015 - 11:01am -

From an Ektachrome slide given to me many years ago by friends of my parents. Does anyone know where this is? The date imprint says "Dec60." View full size. Looks like New JerseySpecifically Wildwood, NJ. In Arizona?In the Google news archives, several stories mention a Sierra Motel in Prescott, Arizona. I'll be staying herethey have 24 hour room phone service, that's really something. Let's stop here, Dad!They have free children in the family rooms plus that nifty eye-catching, multicolor, two-way neon sign, free TV, in-room telephones and a pool. What else could we possibly want? Those people checking in at the front office right now could have been us, except that our extra long station wagon always had to have a big Sears luggage carrier clamped to the roof to carry all our worldly possessions as we never packed light. Surely brings back great memories. It's AmazingHow the same two words in different order mean entirely different things: "Children Free" and "Free Children" My guess is somewhere in Connecticut due to the station wagon with wood on the side. That was the CT equivalent of the Soccer Mom Van in 1960. Up in Michigan?The sign is obviously different, but the pitch of the roof and the posts and railings on the upper floor look similar - could it be: http://www.sierramoteltc.com/ I would have posted this earlier but went down the rabbit hole at Lileks.com for an hour or so looking at his vintage motel postcard collection. I highly recommend Lileks as a great complementary site to Shorpy. Fort LauderdaleThe logo matches: Fort Lauderdale1155 North Federal Highway. 1155 North Federal highway, Fort LauderdaleRoom key. Many Mountains (Even in Florida)There were, obviously, quite a few Sierra Motels. Absent a postcard on eBay, I'd say the most convincing evidence that it's the one in Fort Lauderdale is the matching font on the hotel soap shown to us below by Malted Falcon. UPDATE: Kozel finds the postcard! Brand NewThat's a brand-spanking-new '61 Ford Country Squire parked in front. Huge improvement over the '60. Amazing!If ever I have to find something from a photo, I am posting it here. Great job Shorpyites!!!!! We had the Exact Same CarAlso in Wimbledon White with fake wood trim until Dad traded it in to upgrade to the '67 Falcon wagon. We would play with the power rear window until the battery went dead, Dad wasn't happy! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Scenic Petoskey: 1908
Circa 1908. "R.R. station at Petoskey, Michigan." Not just a city, Petoskey is also the official state stone. 8x10 ... meets. Passenger Pigeons This is also the city in Michigan where, when this was taken, it had been 30 years since the last large ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 6:12pm -

Circa 1908. "R.R. station at Petoskey, Michigan." Not just a city, Petoskey is also the official state stone. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size. The Tank Engineon the nearest train has an interesting collection of bits and pieces on the tank top - fire irons, brake hoses and what look like grate sections - and some really ordinary-looking coal in the bunker. It hasn't yet been fitted with gauge glasses, so the poor old crew have to get by with try-cocks to see how much water they have in the boiler. Glad I don't have to fire the thing. I also like the oil or acetylene headlight, with its roller blind to cover it during meets. Passenger PigeonsThis is also the city in Michigan where, when this was taken, it had been 30 years since the last large stand of roosting passenger pigeons had been decimated (with only smaller flocks to survive until the end of the century). There is a plaque to commemorate the event. Petoskey StoneAn unusual material. It is a fossil stone used in jewelry. Why did it take so long?I wondered as I looked over the baggage cart and noticed of course, there were no wheels on luggage back then. Why did it take so long to invent them? One source says a guy named Ali came up with removable wheels between 1914 and 1920 but there is no proof and no patent listed. Best bet is Bernard Sadow in 1970 with a patent in 1972. Manufacturers still do not pay him any licensing fees. Great triple train photo - thanks Dave. Park it in PetoskeyIt looks like Pennsylvania Station, now at one end of Pennsylvania Park; the tracks still run through but the train doesn't. View Larger Map Still around.The train station still exists and is still involved in travel. It's at the corner of Bay and Lewis and, unfortunately, has been converted to office space and is currently the home of Andrew Kan Travel. The covered concourse has been enclosed but the station looks largely intact. Michigan State StonePetoskey stone is actually fossilized coral from the time when Michigan was inundated with a saltwater sea. When it is polished it makes for a lovely semiprecious stone. Petoskey and MeMany years ago at an industry convention I met an appliance dealer from Petoskey. I don't remember the fellow's name but the store, I believe, was called Puff or Puffs. We had an advertising session and I remember all his ads had their logo, a train with smoke rising from the engine forming the letters P-U-F-F in each cloud of smoke. We hit it off and talked for quite a while. He said they didn't sell a lot of room air conditioners because it really never got that hot on the Upper Peninsula (I wonder if that has changed?). However they put the advertising emphasis on food freezers because of the predominance of their hunting population and that helped them get through the summer. That I still remember this after 40 or so years shows that the guy impressed me. Old switcherFrom the looks of the larger engine (Likely a 4-6-0) on the main with the standing train, I'd have to say that the nearer locomotive is probably an aging 4-4-0, or 2-6-0 that is living out its life having been sidelined to switcher use. Contrary to what Mark said though, there are sight glasses visible at the very top edge of the firebox, suggesting that there has been a rebuild at some point to bring her up to more "modern" standards. By the look of that ungraded coalI wouldn't want to be shoveling those larger chunks into the firebox. Hand firing a steam locomotive was a horribly hot filthy job at the best of times, but in the heat of summer: no thank-you! However, I can't recall any hoggers who didn't have to serve as fireman before 'moving to the right side of the cab'. Not the Upper PeninsulaPetoskey is not in the Upper Peninsula. Those of us who are in the UP are noticing some pretty darn warmer winters and hotter summers than we care for. Lake Superior seldom freezes over anymore, which it did on a fairly regular basis from 1965 until the 90's; at least that's the way I remember it. (The Gallery, DPC, Petoskey, Railroads)
Traveling De Lux: 1924
... OH. Cairo Its pronounced Kai Ro. . Say Yes to Michigan! Looks like he had a trip through lower Michigan, Benton Harbor, South Haven, K-zoo and Camp Custer, which would be ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/02/2013 - 3:11pm -

Washington, D.C. "Jeff Davis, 8/30/24." The entrepreneur and self-styled "Hobo King," last seen here, ensconced in his limousine, a circa 1917 REO touring car. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Square pants?Is that a real sponge (the actual animal, not a synthetic one) resting on the shovel head? If so, I can't imagine what he uses it for -- the car looks as if it hasn't been washed in years. He made it to Cairodo they pronounce it KARO? Mohawk Cord balloon tiresThis Mohawk ad from 1924 shows a tire with a tread like the spare on the rear of the REO, likely the same as the Mohawks mounted on the wheels. They were made by the Mohawk Rubber Company of Akron, OH. CairoIts pronounced Kai Ro. . Say Yes to Michigan!Looks like he had a trip through lower Michigan, Benton Harbor, South Haven, K-zoo and Camp Custer, which would be Fort Custer, Battle Creek, where my father was inducted into the Army in 1943. CairoSome do pronounce it KARO (as in the syrup) , but southern Illinois locals generally say KAY-ro. King JeffKing Jeff was a skilled lobbyist with an eye for public relations. His League of Hoboes of America incorporated in 1908 and campaigned for good roads, rural irrigation and flood control, among other issues. Jeff always took pains to explain that a hobo was a working man - not a tramp, a mooch, or a bum. "He is the greatest optimist in the world and believes the world owes him an opportunity." Other hoboes-who-would-be-king included Dr. Ben Reitman, the bawdy-house physician, labor organizer, and lover of Emma Goldman, whose biography The Damndest Radical tells of Davis and the relationship between the two men. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo, On the Road)
Academy of Music: 1907
Saginaw, Michigan, circa 1907. "Academy of Music, Washington Avenue." Coming Sept. 23: ... Shorpy sends you down some fun rabbit holes sometimes! Michigan Dreaming Probably took more than four days in 1907 to hitchhike ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/17/2021 - 4:59pm -

Saginaw, Michigan, circa 1907. "Academy of Music, Washington Avenue." Coming Sept. 23: the "great success" Under Southern Skies. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. 'Success' is relativeAccording to the Internet Broadway Database Under Southern Skies opened on Broadway at 42nd Street's Theater Republic (which itself has an interesting history) in November of 1901 and closed there on New Years Day '02 after 71 performances. Good ol' Wikipedia notes that it was one of writer/actor Lottie Blair Parker's three notable sucesses. It's a melodrama not to be confused with the Australian historical documentary of the same name from about the same time. An American silent film of 1915, now lost, was based on the play. Shorpy sends you down some fun rabbit holes sometimes! Michigan DreamingProbably took more than four days in 1907 to hitchhike from Saginaw to Pittsburgh. My home town.The building burned down April 17, 1917. A link to more information. https://www.castlemuseum.org/post/the-academy-of-music A detail from a panorama in 1916(the Academy on the far right)by the Goodrich Brothers whose parents were born into slavery. Pumpkin danceFrom a review of a Colorado performance in January 1907: “’Under Southern Skies’ has proved the greatest in point of popularity and large houses, of all the recent plays of southern life. It has had five seasons of high prosperity and indications point to still greater success for this, its sixth year upon the road.” (The Gallery, DPC, Music, Performing Arts)
Early Freddy: 1902
Circa 1902. "Entrance, Sanitarium Park, Alma, Michigan." Baseball boys, a nursemaid, Mr. F. Krueger, an electric (?) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2023 - 10:30am -

Circa 1902. "Entrance, Sanitarium Park, Alma, Michigan." Baseball boys, a nursemaid, Mr. F. Krueger, an electric (?) runabout! 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Photographic Co. View full size. Freddy Krueger?!?"Mr. F Krueger" LOLOLOLOL!!!! Cut Freddy some slackI've handled a number of those infernal machines in my youth, and I never looked as happy as he does here. A new paradigm at Sanitarium ParkMr. F. Kreuger is thinking, "What if someone put mower blades under that runabout? I could mow this park in no time." This Reminds MeThis brings to mind a machine along the lines of a comment here by Doug Floor Plan, guessing Mr. Kreuger's thoughts. How about steam, not electric, for a mower? I present to you the Coldwell Steam Lawn Mower & Roller (with patent dates in 1901 and 1902): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql4a_KZ8n_8 By the way, I still mow with an old reel mower, but no great ideas from me just yet. Car ID suggestion1902 White Steamer Model B Nightmare in AlmaMaybe Mr. F. Kreuger is thinking, "What if I put these mower blades on a glove?" One LookIf I had to mow all that grass with a manual hand mower, I'd take one look and say, Nope! (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Kids, Sports)
Treble Trouble: 1942
August 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic ... cool and rainy evening in the upper Lower Peninsula of Michigan, even in August. The student musician accomodations can be quite a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2023 - 5:42pm -

August 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Three young girls." 4x5 acetate negative by Arthur S. Siegel for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size. These symphony sirens knowIf you want to be in like Flynn at Interlochen ... you had better be wearing corduroys. Eight years before this photo was taken, one of my uncles was at a summer music camp (he was eventually a music and math teacher for many years). They were given a weekend off, so a friend invited my uncle to spend the weekend with the friend and his family in Mineral Wells, Texas. So, my uncle went to Mineral Wells, where he met his friend's sister. They were married the next day. Chilly EveningIt can get a bit chilly on a damp, cool and rainy evening in the upper Lower Peninsula of Michigan, even in August. The student musician accomodations can be quite a walk from the practice and performing buildings. All bundled upJust checked the weather for Interlochen: high of 70 today, over 80 on Wednesday. So it’s not some frigid micro-climate place. Why then do all three young ladies wear corduroys plus a heavy layer on top? And I’ll bet it wasn’t a coincidence – some discussion between these three must have gone into it. Aren't we British?L-R Windowpane hacking jacket, fair isle sweater, 1/2 twinset Eight to the Bar!You just know these lovely ladies are going to launch into Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B! Our Changing LanguageToday, no one over 17 would be called a girl, and I get no one over 6 would be called a young girl. But it's a lovely photo, and I only wish we had audio to accompany it. Treble, we've got trebleOnce again Shorpy sent me to the dictionary. Besides an alternate term for the soprano voice and the treble cleft clef to notate pitches above middle C, the term has designated: -- shrill, whistling, or squeaky sounds -- a fishing implement with three hooks -- three races won by the same horse -- three parts, three times as much, three units of anything, or three times as large -- a football betting pool awarding points for draws, home or away wins -- a sum of money more than 100 pounds but less than 1000 It's also a character from the Japanese game Maga Man. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Music, Pretty Girls)
Our New Facility: 1905
... "New engineering building, big testing tank, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor." Towing tank at U-Mich. Looks like the towing tank at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Located right near the West Hall Engine Arch on Central ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 4:51pm -

So here's this new facility -- state of the art. Except it's over a hundred years old. And we've misplaced the caption. Who can tell us what this is? View full size. UPDATE: Nobody identified this as the world's first indoor skateboard park. But it turns out that Nobody is wrong. The original caption from circa 1905: "New engineering building, big testing tank, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor." Towing tank at U-Mich.Looks like the towing tank at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Located right near the West Hall Engine Arch on Central Campus. Seafood processing facilityMy first thought was a German gas chamber. My second thought is a animal processing plant and since you just had shots of oysters, I will guess a sea food processing facility where the food is cut up and the waste is dropped into a water chute to be disposed of. Of course the waste is where fish sticks come from. I don't know and look forward to the answer. Thanks. A Water TankTo test model ship hulls? A submarine pen?Or a sewer? Ahoy, Matey?Looks nautical to me -- perhaps for the early stages of a hull. The slot is for the keel, the cutout close to the camera is for the bow. Just a thought. State of the ArtI know the answer will come from a fellow Shorpian as to what this is. My guess would be that it might be a facility for finishing boats. Ship Model Basin?Would that be the Ship Model Basin at the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories at the University of Michigan? Tow TankMarine Hydrodynamics Lab, West Engineering Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Modern SlaughterhouseThe problem is that it's not finished. Clearly they're going to put floorboards, or something, across the deep part. But it's hard to tell. So my money's on abattoir, as borne out by this Monty Python sketch. Whale eraThe world's longest abatroph? ["Abatroph"? - Dave] FascinatingWhatever it is, it looks unfinished. there are scraps of lumber lying about the place and there are planks laid across the supports for what will become proper walkways in the near future. I see a couple of shovels and a wheelbarrow down in the narrow trench. The walkways along both sides of the room are interesting, as are the exposed bolts sticking up from the concrete walls in the foreground and along both sides of the large trench. It almost looks like it could be used for building boats of some kind, but they would not fit out through the narrow opening at the lower end. I hope that YOU know what it is, 'cause I sure don't! Is it a drydock for small submarines? The HoneymoonersThis could well be the training facility for new sewer workers. I can picture Ed Norton taking his first class and going home to tell Ralph Kramden how enlightening it was. Still towing after all these yearsGoogle "university of michigan marine tow tank" to find videos and other information about the tank. Ship models are attached to a frame which moves the hull the length of the tank. The engineers can "ride along" next to the model as it makes it journey. Now sophisticated sensors and computers record the data. Fermentation room?Just a guess, but with all those heaters along the wall and the steel doors and platform, something was cookin' in there. They may have yet to tile or seal over the concrete form. It looks like product was dumped through the doors to the platform and shoveled into the tank for processing. There may have been an auger or screw running along the deeper trough to mix and eventually aid in moving the product through the "U" shaped portal. Possibly the inentical concrete forms on either side in the foreground allowed screen filtered liquid to be separated from the solids for further processing or bottling. It could have produced beer, wine, or maybe Sauerkraut. [We know the answer now -- it's in the caption. - Dave] Wade in NW FloridaWade in NW Florida [Not even warm. - Dave] THE HYDRAULIC LABORATORYFrom "Calendar of the University of Michigan - 1904-1905": This laboratory occupies a space 40 by 60 feet on the first and second floors of the north wing, adjoining the steam laboratories. A canal four feet wide, fourteen feet six inches deep, and forty feet long extends across the middle of the laboratory. Water enters this canal from the naval tank and is returned to the tank by a centrifugal pump in a well at the far end of the canal. This canal is provided with bulkheads, screens, and weirs, and is arranged for testing the flow of water over weirs and through no22les up to a capacity of ten cubic feet per second. The bulkhead between the naval tank and the canal is arranged for weirs and no22les so that tests may be made for flow from a still water basin as well as in a running stream. The naval tank itself is arranged for bulkheads dividing it into three basins, each one hundred feet long. By means of a sluice in the bottom of the tank these basins can be connected to the hydraulic canal and the centrifugal pump, so that water can be pumped from one of the basins and delivered into either of the others. The lab oratory" will also have two weighing tanks for calibrating purposes, each holding six hundred cubic feet. A 36-inch pressure tank, designed for 25o pounds pressure, extends through two stories. This affords means for no22le and motor experiments under high heads. An open tank eight feet wide, sixteen feet long, and five feet deep rests on a platform near the ceiling of the second floor. The centrifugal pump supplies this tank, which serves as a forebay for water wheel tests under heads up to about twenty-five feet. Michigan Hull Test TankI used to look in awe at this. I'd take a walk by the long indoor window alongside this tank, while I attended freshman classes at the University of Michigan. It is (was?) in the West Engineering Building on Central Campus, at NW corner of South University and East University Avenues. I'd see lots of hull designs being tested, mostly for large Navy ships and submarines. Great photo. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Mike Hunter: 1942
... Dauntless, I think. They recently raised one from Lake Michigan. Steely eyed missile man I have the feeling that he had no ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:24pm -

October 1942. "Lieutenant 'Mike' Hunter, Army test pilot assigned to Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size. A-24ishThe airscoop is wrong for a Dauntless, plus this plane is in Army Air Force paint. Perhaps the AAF variant, A-24 I believe, had a different engine cowling His story.Whatever became of him? Did he make it through the war? PrototypeAnother dead ringer for Steve Canyon! SBDA Douglas SBD Dauntless, I think. They recently raised one from Lake Michigan. Steely eyed missile manI have the feeling that he had no problem gettin' the ladies. More MikePosted earlier here. Yeah, A-24 now that you mentionAhhh, I did not notice the olive paint. I think the scoop is OK, though, I found pictures of SBDs with and without. Here's one with. Aircraft IDMost likely the aircraft is A-20B Havoc 41- 3440 produced by Douglas at its Long Beach facility between December 1941 and January 1943. The give-away, beside the partial serial number in the added photo, is the little window just above the pilot's shoulder. This odd shape was typical of the A-20. It is definitely not an A-24/SBD—a single-engine tail dragger. Both photos indicate this acft is sitting on tricycle gear. It's a Douglas A-20 It was a twin engined light bomber with a tricycle (i.e. nosewheel) undercarriage, pretty advanced for the time. A really smooth aeroplane that did its job. It was also a major success for Douglas. The A-20 was used right through to VJ Day by the USAAF. The RAF had them too and the USSR received a lot. A-20Was the A-20B the only Havoc with the scoop right on the leading edge of the cowling? I can't find any other A-20 pictures where the cowling has a scoop. They all seems to have scoops on the top of the wing, behind the cowling. [The engine with the scoop on top is a Wright Cyclone. - Dave] A-20, I stand correctedIt took awhile, but I found a photo matching that air intake. Very few A-20 pix I found showed an intake like that. And here's one showing the little window and red "Fire Extingusher" label. Modern HistoryOf course it helps that it's in color, but pics like this from the '40s always strike me as though, other than technical anachronisms, they could have been made today -- "modern" in the sense of the subject of the pic could step right out of the frame and fit right in. Compare him to the guys in Company "D" below. Some of 'em look as foreign as headhunters in Guinea!! I suppose it could also be a function of familiarity with the medium. By '42 most Americans would know what the heck to do when somebody pointed a camera at you -- but look at Company D!! Some of them seem pretty natural, but most of them look like their granny just walked in on them taking a bath. And, time seems like it's flown, but there are plenty of people around (and commenting here) who were around in '42. Maybe we're just distracted by the minutia (cell phones, the internet, etc.) and the essentially "modern" attitude was put on long ago, before our parents were born, or before. F.W. HunterYes, the aircraft is an A-20B. I can't believe no one has pointed out the obvious kinship between Lieutenant Hunter and Stephen Colbert. They even pose the same. Other Palmer photos of this fellow identify him as "F.W. Hunter". The leather nametag on his flight suit also says "F.W. Hunter". By taking the name "Mike" instead, what awful name his mother gave him was he running from? Fillmore? Francis? About that scoopThe extended carb intake was intended to hold dust filters for use in the desert. The A-20B was an early USAAF model and the filters don't seem to have been fitted much after that though I believe the late versions (A-20G and J) had the filters fitted further aft. The RAF had a large number of A-20 variations and I have seen pictures of Boston III aircraft fitted with the long scoop. What a guy"I have the feeling that he had no problem gettin' the ladies." Haha. But there's something about the glasses and the headphones and his generally weedy physique that makes him look a bit geeky. I second the man above - whatever happened to him? How did he feel about being a test pilot and not in front line combat? By the numbersIf it is 41-3440 (and it sure looks to be), that was one of the Douglas A-20B Havocs in the 41-2671 through 41-3669 build group. Note this portside prop was installed 10/14/42. The absolutely pristine condition of the cowling, prop and engine indicate this baby hasn't even been flown yet. I have one of those T-30 throat mics and it is incredibly well made. In WW II movies when the frantic pilot put his hand to his throat and yelled "I'm going in!", this is what he wore. Of course, some were Steve Canyon-cool when they were crashing. Not Mike Hunter-cool, perhaps, but cool enough. Bomber PilotThe aircraft is a B-25B. Mike was a post production test pilot meaning he tested the aircraft prior to acceptance and ferry to an operational command. In 1942 in Long Beach he had a job far removed from the USAAF 8th Air Force. [The plane he's shown with below is an A-20 light bomber. - Dave] (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)
Trade You for an iPod: 1979
... 3,000 LPs later, and if you've had a garage sale in SW Michigan, you've probably seen my happy face at some point! :-) Love ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 06/30/2010 - 12:43am -

It's a sobering thought that this accumulation of consumer audio gear, though approaching high-end levels but not all that esoteric for the period, may look as archaic to present-day eyes as those examples of enormous, steampunk-like telephone and radio contraptions we've see here on Shorpy. Maybe if it was all black enamel rather than brushed aluminum it wouldn't look so old-hat, er, I mean retro. Of all this stuff all I have left is the turntable; a visiting friend recently took out his cell phone and snapped a photo of it in action, then emailed it to his daughter. He said she'd never seen a record playing. Lest anyone think that some form of perverse, fetishistic self-absorbtion inspired this as well as Beam Me Up, I took these photos as a status update for a fellow audio and video enthusiast friend who had moved out of state sometime previously. A Kodachrome slide which, in keeping with the theme of nostalgic technological obsolescence, was processed by Fotomat. View full size. Ripping a CD --- 1,411 kbps>> my kids laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality Top Geezer, if you're ripping a CD, for best audio quality you should simply copy the native .WAV files off the disc, which is 1411 kbps. There's a setting in iTunes to let you do this. I can't let go eitherI still have most of my LPs, though I did sell all I could part with when I moved from California. Still Have my Linn Axis Turntable, My Wharfedale Diamond speakers from 1983 are barely broken in, but my NAD receiver bit the dust just last week. All this is up in the library along with my Nikon FE and my Rolleicord Twin-lens reflex. I think I'll go cry now. Jewel case #1When did you get your first CD player, and what was the first CD you ever bought? What did you think. tterrace: An Audio OdysseySome curiosity has been expressed, so here goes: I got into reel tapes because of what I hated about LPs, primarily tracking-induced distortion, particularly inner-groove toward the disc center, the grab-bag aspect of pressing quality, and of course the ticks, pops and inexorable deterioration. I got out of reel tapes because of what I hated about them: hiss and inconvenience. Hiss* was mostly taken care of by Dolby encoding, but that came during the format's final death throes and then new releases totally dried up with the advent of the CD. My first was in 1985, and I have to say I haven't missed in the slightest all the things I hated about tapes and vinyl. Tapes all went when I moved into a place too small to house them. LPs lingered because I missed the window of disposal opportunity when they still had some value, plus I was lazy. What I've kept have either nostalgia value - what was around the house when I was a kid, and some of my own first purchases c.1962 - or things not yet on CD, plus the aforementioned quads. I have to admit that I retain a certain fondness for the ritualistic aspects of playing physical media, but were it not for inertia - physical as well as mental, both undoubtedly age-related - I'd probably jump whole hog into hard disc storage, computer-controlled access and data-stream acquisition. And I'm not totally ruling out the possibility of getting there yet. *Desire to suppress tape his was the main reason I chose the Phase Linear 4000 preamp with its auto-correlator noise reduction circuitry. It kind of worked, but not transparently; I could hear the hiss pumping in and out. But it also had an SQ quad decoder that I eventually took advantage of when it was discovered that the audio tracks of some recent films on laserdisc and videocassette carried, unbilled, Dolby Stereo matrix surround encoding. By adding another small amp and two more speakers in back I amazed friends with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark in surround sound well before it became a home theater mainstay. BTW: my advice is to use the Apple Lossless Encoder when importing to iTunes if you want maximum quality. Like FLAC, it's a non-lossy compression scheme, so there's no quality difference vs. the CD original, and you use less hard disc space. The past is the future which is nowHa! I still have my Pioneer PL-400 turntable, the same one I've been spinning on for the past 30+ years. Would love to have a tube amp, but honestly I can't beat the convenience of my early 90s Sony digital receiver. Eight functions/inputs, of which I use seven. To wit: phono [for the PL-400]; AM-FM tuner [built-in]; CD [Kenwood CD player - I don't even use it anymore]; DAT [Tascam TC-222 - has in/out so I can burn directly from vinyl to CD - and what I use to play CDs]; cassette tape [again, Tascam TC-222], video 1 [Sony DVD/SACD player - US region only]; video 2 [cheapo all-region DVD player]; and video three [MacBook or iPod]. My dad was an engineer for Motorola, and a ham radio and audio geek so I come by it honestly [thanks, Dad!] What I would give to have the reel-to-reel deck from our old living room! My kids are mp3 only, they think me a dinosaur, and laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality. "It doesn't matter!" they say. I've worked in the independent record biz for 25+ years, and yes, it DOES matter. And only a house full of vinyl to show for it. The weirdest thing to me is the cassette revival these days. And some are doing it right, producing beautiful sounding reel-to-reel cassettes - metal reels, chrome tape, screwed plastic shells. Anyhow....not bragging or anything, just wanted to share. What a great photo and post! Thank you! Re: RippageThanx, Anonymous Tipster. I've looked in the preferences on my MacBook and found the import settings for WAV files, but I'm stalled there. What next? Also, the whole system comes out through Bose 2.2 monitors set into the corners of my plaster-walled living room. Turns the whole thing into one giant speakerbox. My friends are always amazed at how the vinyl sounds, esp live recordings. Once again, thanx to Dad. He gave me the monitors for my 25th birthday many, many years ago. How I miss him. [Anonymous Tipster notes that this is a setting in iTunes. So open iTunes. Preferences > General > Import Settings. Choose "Import using WAV Encoder." - Dave] My roommate had the "good stuff"We still listen to my Pioneer SX-780 receiver and my wife's Yamaha CR-420 receiver (both mid-70s) every day... mostly to NPR radio. The Pioneer also has my HDTV audio running through it in the living room. (I'm too broke for surround-sound, yet.) And with the help of an Apple Airport next to the computer in the other room and an Airport Extreme next to the Pioneer, we can stream our iTunes library all over the house. I can't argue with the true audiophiles here... the highest fidelity is lost on me these days (I'm wearing hearing aids, now). But ya can't beat the convenience factor of iTunes and a classic iPod for the sheer volume of songs you can have at your immediate access, not to mention building playlists or randomizing them--and it's all portable! But back to the past... As for turntable cartridges, my old roommate and I were always partial to the Stanton 681-EEE. We used those at the album-rock radio station where I DJ'ed (1975-78); they were practically industry-standard. They would set you back a couple of bucks, and maybe they were better than the turntable we had them in at home. But they made everything sound really great. It was my roommate, though, who had the Good Stuff. Top-of-the-line Pioneer gear, separate amp and tuner and a Teac 3340S R2R that used 10-inch reels. My tape deck was one of those unusual, slant-faced Sony TC-377 decks. Between the radio station and my roommate and all my friends "in the biz", I always had access to really great gear. Sadly, it usually wasn't mine. But I still have a ton of vinyl. Gimme that Old (High) School AudioYou know what I really, really, really miss about old-school electronic gear? Functions that had dedicated control switches or knobs, rather than being buried down several layers within one of an array of menus. Also, instantaneous response to switching or adjustments rather than digitalus interruptus, now made worse by HDMI wait-for-a-handshake. Dave: you are my hero. Very nice!I come from a long line of audiophiles, so even though I was only born in 1974, that all looks very familiar. Our setup was very similar, but we also had an 8-track. My current stereo setup has a fine-quality Dual record player I inherited from my grandfather. Just this morning, my 6-year-old daughter did a convincing boogie to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. She will totally grow up knowing the sound you hear when the needle first hits the vinyl, what we call the "crisp." And I have to agree with an earlier poster -- that totally looks like a modern photograph. How strange! StyliShure V15 Type V replacement stylus (Swiss) on eBay. [A few years ago I went to the local Circuit City (remember those?) and said I needed a new needle for my record player. The kid gave me a look like I'd asked where they kept the Victrola cranks. Finally the manager found one "in back." - Dave] MagnavoxWe were Magnavox Dealers for many years. They had one great feature, they were price-fixed. It was one of the few lines we carried that allowed us a full markup. Magnavox didn't have to police the sales pricing, we dealers ratted each other out if they were discounting. Now Magnavox is just another has-been brand (like Bell & Howell, Westinghouse or Sylvania) that can be licensed to put on any product. It shows up every once in a while on a promotional brand LCD TV or compact stereo system. Incidentally, tterrace, too bad you didn't live in Manhattan, you would have been one hell of a good customer. Love this stuffI started collecting vinyl in the mid to late 90s. It never really went away but now it's really picked up. There is hardly a major label release that isn't offered on vinyl. They are also reissuing classics as fast as the presses can make them. I bought my neighbor a turntable last year. He's now a more avid collector than I am. The real trick is keeping the vinyl clean at all times. I made a vacuum cleaning machine out of an old turntable. It does a fantastic job reviving dirty records. After they are cleaned, I slide them into a new anti-static inner sleeve. I use an anti-static brush to remove dust before each play. That removes a huge amount of surface noise. Cleaning the stylus is also important. To me, it's hard to beat the magic of a vacuum tube amplifier. I built my stereo amp from a kit about 9 years ago. You can build almost anything yourself with the kits being offered today. I build copies of classic vacuum tube guitar amps as well. I basically supply friends in local bands with free amps since I don't play guitar. It's a great hobby and soldering is a useful skill. There is just something about vinyl and do-it-yourself audio that gets you involved with the music. It makes it so much more personal. Those were the daysI used to have some stuff like that, and JBL L-100 speakers. Nowadays all that sound is still around, just smaller and in the car instead of the living room. Age vs. DolbyI don't have to worry about Dolby hiss anymore because my tinnitus is bad enough to where I hear the hiss in a silent room. I never went through a proper audiophile period mostly because I didn't have the money, but also because I never had a place where I could really put it to use until it was a bit too late. I still have my turntable but, like everyone else's, it needs a new cartridge; and the place where the stereo sits now has way too springy a floor (you can skip a CD by treading too heavily, much less an LP). These days the stereo spends most of its time being the sound system for the DVD player. My father went through his audiophile period in the fifties, and for a long time his system consisted of a tube amp whose provenance I do not recall, a massive transcription turntable and tone arm, and a home-built Altec cabinet with a 36 in. speaker (it was the '50s-- what's a crossover?). The speaker magnet weighed something like twenty pounds; the whole thing was the size of an end table. His hearing has gotten much worse than mine so he has been spared further temptation. Weird but trueAddendum - my PL-400 has two speeds - 45 and 33. What do you get when you add them together? 78. If I hold the speed button halfway down between 45 and 33, it spins at 78 rpm! I use a C-clamp to hold the button between the two and spin my 78s and have burned many of them to CD to rip into my MacBook. My 78s are now portable on my iPod. How cool is that? Phase Linear and Infinity Mon IIasBack in the mid seventies I was a service teck at a HI FI shop, We were dealers for PL and Infinity. PL was the first high-power company out there. I fixed lots of 400s (200s 200b 700s and Series 2, too). The larger Infinity speakers needed lots of power to drive. The 400 was up to it, but the crossovers in the Infinitys were very hard on the amps. The PL "turn-on thump" wasn't very compatible with the speakers. The auto-correlator in the preamp took away lots of hiss and noise, but also took away the soundstage. Plenty of tricks out there to "sweeten" up the sound of the 400, but not too many lived long enough. ELO ("Lucky Man") and Supertramp ("Crime of the Century") helped us sell lots of PL and Infinitys! I still own a pair of Mon IIas, have a few friends that still have theirs. Mon Jrs too! On another note, it was common to find audio nuts who were also camera crazy! Never seen a record playing??Tterrace, I hope your friend's daughter catches up with the times. Vinyl is in style again. Just today I went shopping with some friends and we bought a total of 35 LPs. It's smelling mighty technical in hereWAV? On a Mac? Phf. (AIFF is the native uncompressed format on Mac.) If you don't have space concerns, use Apple Lossless format, which is about half the size of AIFF or WAV. But really, 320 mp3 or AAC should be more than good enough for kids listening on an iPod. Considering how all the pop stuff these days (if that's what they're into) is so compressed (aurally, not bitwise) and saturated, it already sounds bad on the CD, so why waste the space ripping it at a high bit rate? [Lots of us (yours truly among them) are moving their CD collections onto hard drives or dedicated music servers. The .wav format has several advantages. - Dave] The most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation (LPCM) format. The standard audio file format for CDs is LPCM-encoded, containing two channels of 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits per sample. Since LPCM uses an uncompressed storage method which keeps all the samples of an audio track, professional users or audio experts may use the WAV format for maximum audio quality. WAV audio can also be edited and manipulated with relative ease using software. AIFF is also PCM in its uncompressed forms. And since "top geezer" specifically mentioned he's using a Mac, it only makes sense to use a format that was made for and will work better on a Mac. That'd be AIFF or Apple Lossless if he wants something without the [possible] audible colorings of mp3, AAC, or compressed WAV. Zero historyI recently finished reading the galley of the new William Gibson book, "Zero History." As with several of his earlier books (and about half of Pixar's films), it concerns itself with the relationship between humans and the things we create. We make clothes and stereos and computers, but then we define ourselves by these things as well, so which is really central -- us, or our things? Zero History raised an interesting point about patina, in that some things become more valuable if they show signs of use and others are more valuable if they are mint in box. A stereo system, I think, would fall into the latter category. Anyway, that's an eye-catching setup. Thanks as always for sharing. Questions, questionsRetro-audiophile lust! 1. Brands and model numbers please. 2. Where's your Elcaset deck? Ray GunI also have a nifty little anti-static-electron-spewing sparky gun, pictured to the right side of your "record player". http://www.tweakshop.com/Zerostat.html I BetBet your turntable plays 78s and 16s as well as 45s and 33s. I have a cheap Garrard changer of about the same vintage that does all four... which came in rather handy when I started picking up 78s at the local Symphony's book and music sale a few years ago. Oh, OKNever had an Elcaset deck, nor 8-track. I do still have a MiniDisc deck, though. Shelf-by-shelf going down: Technics SL-1300 direct-drive turntable w/Shure V15 Type V cartridge; ZeroStat and Discwasher. Phase Linear 4000 preamp; 10-band graphic equalizer whose details escape me for the nonce. Concord outboard Dolby unit atop Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck. Kenwood KX-1030 cassette deck. Phase Linear 400 power amp. Not shown: Infinity Monitors with the easy-to-blow-out Walsh tweeters. Somebody tell me how to get a replacement stylus for the V15 Type V. FashionsInteresting though that you -- the clothes and hair -- would fit in just fine today. Men's clothes haven't changed much in 30 years. Sure there's newer styles, such as the stupid "falling down pants" with underwear hanging out and such, but the newer styles haven't replaced the old standbys. We tend to think of fashions of the past lasting for a long time, but if you look at any 30 year time period in the pictures on Shorpy you'll see that the fashions change drastically. All in all, the picture looks like it could have been a picture of vintage equipment taken yesterday. Living it old schoolThe system here in my studio: Pioneer RT-909 open reel (10") Pioneer RT-707 open reel (7") Pioneer PL-530 turntable Pioneer CT-F1000 cassette deck Pioneer SX-727 receiver Elac/Miracord 10-H (turntable for 78s) Tascam 106 mixer Tascam 112 cassette deck Sharp MD-R3 cd/minidisc Kenwood KR-A4040 reciever TEAC X-3 Mk II open reel (7") TEAC X-10R open reel (10") Otari MX-5050 (open reel (10") KLH Model Six speakers Infinity RS-2000 speakers iPod 60gig (first generation) Let me do some mind reading.The Fotomat you took your film to was in the parking lot of Co-op shopping center in Corte Madera. Your stereo equipment was bought at Pacific Stereo in San Rafael. Or was it that high end place down at the Strawberry Shopping Center? All very cool looking stuff. I have just broken into my old gear I bought back around 1975 at P.S. I'm currently listening to some old LPs that were my grandmother's. It's fun, and they do sound better than CDs. As far as the stylus goes, check around online. There is quite a bit of interest and information about this hobby. Reel to reelI remember when "logic" was advertised as a technological breakthrough. I'm old. Call me old schoolAll I need is a vintage Voice of Music turntable to fit in my restored 1950 Magnavox cabinet model 477P radio/record player. It never had the TV option installed so I put in an inexpensive small TV from Wally World, the cable box and wireless gear. www.tvhistory.tv/1950-Magnavox-Brochure3.JPG I have the Contemporary in mahogany. Mice had been living on the original turntable. Construction of the cabinet is first rate. Sorry for drooling into your gearI always liked those Pioneer reel-to-reel decks, but still lust for a Teac. Nice Phase Linear stuff there. That's maybe an MXR EQ? Tiny, stiff sliders with rubber "knobs"? And a slide-out shelf for the turntable? But I think the real star here is the cabinet on the right with the neato doors. Jogging the tterrace memory banksThank you sjmills, that was indeed an MXR equalizer, and exactly as you described it. I eventually connected it with mega-long cables so I could fiddle with it endlessly while sitting in my acoustic sweet spot. What's under the turntable is actually an Acousti-mount, a spring-footed platform designed to minimize low-frequency feedback from the speakers. I still use it. The outfit that made it, Netronics Research & Development, is still in business I see. The smaller cabinet at right was actually my first audio equipment cabinet; my folks got it for me c.1964. It was originally designed as a piece of bedroom furniture, and was solid wood, unlike the later composition-board larger one. And rgraham, that's where the Fotomat was, and some gear did come from Pacific Stereo in SR, but the Phase Linears were beyond them; they came from some higher-end Marin place I've forgotten about. The turntable plays only plays at 33 & 45. My online searches for replacement Shure V-15 styli usually only turn up outrageously expensive new old stock or alleged compatibles whose descriptions give me the willies. Just within the past couple months my LP collection has shrunk from around 18 down to 4 linear feet. Tape squealWow, I was born the year this was taken, and when I was growing up we had one of those cassette players on the second-from-the-bottom shelf. At least, it looks very similar to what I remember. I hated it, though, in its later years while playing tapes it would randomly emit an extremely high-pitched, screeching, squealing noise. My parents couldn't hear it so one night when my dad put in a tape and it started squealing, he didn't believe that there was any and just thought I was covering my ears and begging for it to be turned off because I hated the music, until my brother came downstairs and asked what that screeching noise was. Gonna have to show this to the husbandHe will genuflect, then get a certain far-away look in his eyes. Shelli Is that a static gun?Just bellow his right hand in the background.... a static gun for zapping away the snap-crackle-pop static before placing the vinyl record on the turntable. That WAS state of the art! High School Hi-FiI will confess to still having my high-school stereo. Akai tape deck, Pioneer amp and tuner from 1977-78. The last of which I have duplicated (triplicated? Thanks, eBay) for Shorpy headquarters. Also some Sony ES series DAT decks and CD players. Acoustic Research speakers. Squirreled away in a closet, my dad's 1961 Fisher amp and tuner (vacuum tubes). Sold on eBay: Dad's early 1960s Empire Troubadour turntable. (Regrets, I've had a few.) AnalogueryNo way would I trade old analog gear for an iPod. Any good audiophile will take vinyl or a good analog source over the compressed, squashed and mastered with no dynamics file formats that iPods handle. I'm convinced that audio (recording techniques and gear) peaked in the '70s and '80s. While we have some pretty impressive gear available in this day and age, I've got some vintage gear that sounds pretty good yet and is arguably better than some more clinical sounding stuff made today. Vinyl is back as well. Local record stores are now stocking more and more vinyl. Consumer electronic shows are full of brand new turntables and phono preamps. I would love to have that Phase Linear stuff in my audio racks! Great shot. We've come a long way.But wasn't all that stuff cool? I happen to love the before MTV days when listening to tunes was a great way to relax and reflect. I think music was better too, but then I'm showing my age! I've got that same turntable.When I dug it out of the closet a few years back and needed a tune-up, I discovered I lived just a few blocks from what may be the last store of its kind. He'll have your stylus. No website and he deals in cash only -- pretty much the same set-up for the last 60 years. J and S Phonograph Needles 1028 NE 65th St Seattle WA 98115 (206) 524-2933 His LordshipI cannot read the text, or clearly recognize the person, on whatever is located to the right of the reel to reel unit but, the person looks a little bit like Lord Buckley. Heavy Metal n Hot WaxI still have about 500 pounds of old Ampex and Marantz gear, and over a thousand vintage and new vinyl sides. Sold that stuff in the 70s and worked for a recording studio in the 80s. Always a trip to give the old tunes a spin on the old gear. With DBX decoding some of those old discs can give CDs a run for the money as far as dynamic range goes. But to say any of that sounds better than current gear is wishful thinking (remember the dreaded inside track on a vinyl LP?). Most any reasonably good, digitally sourced 5.1 setup with modern speakers will blow it away. Those were the daysThis brings back memories of dorm rooms in 1978. First thing unpacked at the beginning of the year was the stereo equipment. Last thing packed at the end of the year was the stereo equipment. Love the brushed denim jeans. I only had them in blue. Back in the DayNothing could beat the sound that jumped off the turntable the first time a brand new LP was played. Electrifying! No tuner?Ah, the days of audio purity. Am I missing the tuner, or were you a holdout for the best-quality sound, no FM need apply? Great to see that stack of equipment. I'm still using my Sony STC-7000 tuner-preamp from 1975; it doesn't have all the controls of your Phase Linear, but just handling it takes me back to the good old days. Tx for the pic! R2RI grew up in a household like this, and the reel-to-reel was my father's pride and joy. But can anyone name the recording propped up next to it? It looks like Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra, except for the unbuttoned collar. Vinyl's FinalI've never been without a turntable. Currently, I have a Rega Planar 3 with a Pickering XV15-1200E cartridge. Bought my first LP in 1956 and I'm still buying new ones. My receiver/amp is a Fisher 500B, a vacuum tube gem. My speakers are highly efficient Klipsch 5.5s, which are great sounding "monkey coffins." I've a Panasonic CD player and Pioneer Cassette deck for playback of those obsolete formats. Further audio responseNext to the reel deck is the box for a London/Ampex pre-recorded tape, conductor Antal Dorati on the cover; can't remember other details. No tuner, as FM audio had too many compromises for my taste. I had a receiver in the video setup for FM simulcasts (remember them?), plus I ran the regular TV audio through it to a pair of small AR bookshelf speakers. In defense of the iPod (which I use for portable listening - Sennheiser PX-100 headphones, wonderful - and did you know Dr. Sennheiser died just last month?), it can handle uncompressed audio files just fine, plus Apple's lossless compressed format, so you're not restricted to mp3s or AAC. For what I use it for, AAC is perfectly OK, and to be honest, my ears aren't what they used to be anyway. Still, for serious listening I plop down in the living room and put on a CD or SACD, or some of my remaining vinyl. Among other LPs I saved all the matrixed Quad (SQ and QS format) which Dolby ProLogic II does a reasonable job of decoding. Finally, thanks to everybody for the hints about the Shure stylus replacements, I'll check those out. Snobs!You guys and your fancy stereos. Here's mine from back in the 70s. Tuner and speakers were Pioneer I think. No idea about the turntable. Don't ya love the rabbit ears and the cord leading to the swag lamp? And of course the whole thing sat on a "cabinet" made of bricks and boards. Is that you, Arturo?Perhaps the 7-track box cover is showing Arturo Toscanini conducting a Casual Friday concert? Never saw it comingSo the future is here already? This story is both sad and frightening. Now I can't sleep without the lights on. Two-and-a-half questions: Didn't your PL 400 get a little toasty under that shelf, pushed up against the side? Did you have LPs up on the top shelf like that in October of '89? And, if so, did they stay there? That is (was) some nice gear. I'm tearing up just a little. DoratiThe tape is a 1975 recording of Antal Dorati conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in three works by Tchaikovsky. I knew I had it on LP at one time, but I had to resort to ebay to identify it. Vinyl livesWe still have a couple hundred LPs stored carefully in the garage (don't worry, they're safe from damage!). A few years ago, we had a yard sale and had the garage open but roped off. I had one guy nearly foaming at the mouth when he saw our collection. I nearly had to physically restrain him from going in and grabbing everything! We also have an turntable that's about two years old. No, it's not top of the line, but my teenage sons LOVE the silly thing and DS#2 just bought a NEW Metallica LP! He plays the *&$%## thing when he's doing the dishes. I sound like my mom: "Turn that racket down!" The PlattersThere were around 2½ million vinyl albums sold last year in the United States, which would account for 1.3 percent of music track sales. So basically it's a novelty format, like dial telephones. IncredibleMy father had everything you have in this picture, and it brings back some incredible memories I had as a child of the 70's. 1970's Man Cave!This guy had it going on. Reel too realSold off the last of my old stereo gear (nothing too impressive) at this year's neighborhood garage sale, but I've got that same Pioneer deck sitting next to me right now. Recent craigslist purchase, necessary to digitize some of my "historic" airchecks I've been lugging around for the last 40 years. Funny, I wasn't nearly as good as I remember but it is nice to have a piece of gear I always wanted! Hi-Fi FarkAs night follows day, so Farkification follows tterrace. Not to mention j-walkblog. Love the systemReally nice system. We have seven Telefunken consoles of different sizes and styles that we really enjoy. Nothing sounds as nice as vinyl played through those 11 tubes, and the quality of a stereo that cost the price of a new VW back in 1958 is as good as you'd expect. Enjoy these "artifacts," since they (in my opinion) outperform even a new high-end Bose, Kenwood or other system. Vinyl, Shellac, and Garage Sales Rock!I got back into vinyl (and shellac) about 5 years ago. There was a tiny hole-in-the-wall used high-end audio shop in my area where I got a gently used Technics 1200 series TT for $250. Got a 30+year-old Sure V15III cart and new stylus for a lot of money, about $175! I haven't looked back 3,000 LPs later, and if you've had a garage sale in SW Michigan, you've probably seen my happy face at some point! :-) Love having the artifacts in my basement, and love making MP3s out of them even more for portability. Living in the present does indeed rock sometimes. I can't remember the last time I purchased a CD... (Sadly, Bill's Sound Center closed when they demolished the whole place for a snazzy Main St. Pub.) Nostalgia never goes awayI'm not a technophile, but I know what I like...I'm going to go into the living room right now and fire up some Louis Prima on my old Benjamin Miracord turntable! Recovering Open Reel FanaticBack in the late '70s through sometime in the early '80s you could still get current-issue prerecorded open-reel tapes. Probably very few folks were paying attention, but YES for a SINGLE PENNY you could get a dozen of them when starting your brand-new membership with ... (shudder) Columbia House. It wasn't long before they stopped offering open-reel for all their titles, but the ones in the advertisements were available in any format, and I still have the ones I got early on, and some of the automatic monthly selections. (Damn they are heavy, too. Like a box of iron filings.) Somewhere around here I have Steely Dan and ELO albums on open-reel tape. It became hard finding things I wanted to listen to, though, so I had to finish out my membership agreement by getting some LPs, and that's about the time I started to realize the things from the club looked OK but were made of inferior materials and did not always sound quite right. But of course I was about fifteen years old and it was an educational experience. It took me a few more years to get over my fascination with open reel decks, but I still have two corroding in the garage. Anyone remembertape deck specs for "wow and flutter"? Vinyl - jazz and bluesI still have the bulk of my jazz and blues vinyl collection, though I did unload some of it. Had to buy a new amp last month to play them after my old one gave up after at least 25 year service. Got a Cambridge Topaz AM1, not very pricey but does the job. Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk rule! Am I actually this old?This was stuff I longed for in the '70s, but never managed to afford. To me it still feels semi-contemporary and definitely impressive. BTW, is the very concept of high fidelity now as out of date as this old hi-fi equipment? Judging from the execrable audio I've heard coming out of a series of cell phones I've owned over the last decade, I'm beginning to think that the basic ability to notice audio distortion may have been lost as interest in hi-fi was lost. Reel-to-reel had an advantageOne could copy whole albums, and the length was for hours. In the late 80's, I knew some serious audiophiles who had Carver CD players, Nakamichi cassette players, and reel-to-reel players, on which they'd store hours of jazz music. Turntable MemoryMy buddy and I have been mobile DJ's for close to 30 years. Back in the days of lugging three large boxes of LP's and 4 heavy boxes of 45's, sometimes up flights of stairs, and index cards for looking up song location, we had two QRK turntables we got from the radio station where my friend worked. One evening we were on the upper level of a hall with a very spungy floor. We didn't realize how much the floor would move until we started a polka and the dance floor filled with people. A few moments later the record skipped and we realized that we were bouncing, a lot. We grabbed a few quarters out of our pockets and put them on the tone arm, and then both of us pressed down with all our might to keep our stand from moving. We were very, very afraid to play anything uptempo. I still have a turntable, a bunch of vinyl, and a Teac open reel deck. I'm converting some shows I did many years ago to digital. (ShorpyBlog, Technology, Member Gallery, Farked, tterrapix)
Whitefish Bay: 1904
... and the song by Gordon Lightfoot refer to Whitefish Bay, Michigan, not Ontario. That said, its still a great song! Ribs Look at ... the feeling of a Winslow Homer painting. Whitefish Bay Michigan/Ontario From my knowledge Whitefish Bay is found at the east end of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/03/2020 - 2:31pm -

1904. "Off for a fishing trip. Whitefish Bay, Ontario." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Masculine felicityEverything in this photo screams manliness from the hats, to the pipes, to the fishing gear, to those field boots that I want really badly. Timeless ClassicThe fishing vessel seen here appears to be an example of -- or at least a close approximation of -- the ubiquitous 19th-century Whitehall pulling boats once commonly seen in taxi or delivery service in every North American or English harbor. Still offered today by numerous specialty builders in various lengths, Whitehalls have never been surpassed in terms of combining seaworthiness, speed, dryness, and fine manners in all conditions. They are simply a joy to row. Who owns this boat? I think the man pushing the boat is the owner of this boat. He is also a married man according to the ring on his left hand. His partner must be single {no ring) and is too relaxed for this to be his boat. He does not seem too concerned about this boat being launched from these rough rocks. LL BeanAt first, I thought this was a painting. It looks for all the world like the cover to an LL Bean catalog. Whitefish Bay The Edmund Fitzgerald almost made it there back in '75. "The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay If they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er" Wrong Whitefish BayIn response to WM Dyer, the Edmund Fitzgerald and the song by Gordon Lightfoot refer to Whitefish Bay, Michigan, not Ontario. That said, its still a great song! RibsLook at the rib count. Built like an LL Bean canoe before Fiberglas. That backgroundis exactly what the famous Canadian artist Tom Thompson would paint. And he may have. Is that you, Homer?Has all the feeling of a Winslow Homer painting. Whitefish Bay Michigan/OntarioFrom my knowledge Whitefish Bay is found at the east end of Lake Superior, and borders both Ontario and Michigan. LJD56, are you saying this in a different location in Ontario? I did find a small hamlet on Google Maps near Lake of the Woods, on a Reserve by that name. Here is a link to what I have always known as Whitefish Bay. https://goo.gl/maps/C66DXrgsLq8Nhoau9 MissinaibiI think this might be Whitefish Bay on Missinaibi Lake in Ontario ... [Detroit Photographic's other 1904 views of Whitefish Bay were taken from Mount Arabella and include McGregor Bay. So this particular Whitefish Bay is in the northern reaches of Lake Huron. - Dave] (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Headquarters: 1942
August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Children." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the U.S. Foreign ... full size. Collector extraordinaire The owner of Michigan Stamp and Coin Company was William Frederick Fratcher. He also ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/12/2023 - 2:52pm -

August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Children." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size. Collector extraordinaireThe owner of Michigan Stamp and Coin Company was William Frederick Fratcher. He also contributed to the founding of The Numismatist magazine by trading a printing press to the actual founder. Here is an exhaustive (or exhausting) history of Mr. Fratcher. Time travelersAt first glance I saw that kid in the middle and thought it was a mid-60s pic. A striped shirt does that every time. The haircuts on the boys kinda give that vibe too. The three on the leftlook like siblings. Interesting there was a big enough business in war medals that Mr. Fratcher included it in his wall ad. I'm guessing that market was a result of the Great Depression. Soon, there would be a lot more war medals out there. Associated with the business behind?I assume that three if not four on that group photo were never allowed access behind the transaction counter. Children, stamps and coins, and a mom?Or is that big sister? (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, John Vachon, Kids)
Young Guns: 1942
August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Boys in the Polish district." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/16/2023 - 2:02pm -

August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Boys in the Polish district." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size. Shoe 'nuffThe overalls I find somewhat surprising, as I associate them mostly with rural areas, like the one a few pics back (feel free to chastise me for not realizing that in 1942 Detroit was still surrounded by farmland). Whether footwear was as optional in the big city as in Bucoda, we'll not find out ... from this shot, anyway. The young gun/broomstick on the leftHas bagged many a kielbasa in those Polish hills of Detroit. Did mom add those pockets?look like a wardrobe "save". High pocketsIt looks like the fellow on the right has a pair of cut down jeans that Mom probably fashioned from an old pair of Dad's dungarees. She sewed new pockets on, too. Fighting SquadronThe cool tin helmet worn by the fellow on the right was made by Marx toys and came in several different colors (usually silver but also red, green & tan) and at least two different decals; a diving eagle and a roaring lion. This neighborhood soldier appears to have the lion model. The scroll across the bottom of both models states "Fighting Squadron." Great candid photo. How Timely --Boys with guns. Pocket PistoleroBuilt-in holsters for his six-gun. (The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids)
Comic-Con: 1942
August 9, 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/24/2023 - 8:44pm -

August 9, 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Reading the funny papers on Sunday morning." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur S. Siegel. View full size. How big those pages are --The good old days when you could read a comic strip without a magnifying glass. And when was the last time you heard anyone refer to "the funny papers" or the "funny pages"? Comic ReliefThey're reading the Detroit News, which maybe shouldn't be a surprise - the fact that Interlochen is clear across the state notwithstanding - as metro papers had wide circulation areas in those days; competition was fierce: the rival Free Press and Detroit Times both offered 16 page sections. And last, but by no means least, we can't blame them for wanting to avoid the main news section: a front page headline that day was "Six Nazi Spies Die in Chair" (the infamous "enemy combatant" case). It's punnyAn artistic style that could be called ha-relief. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Camping, Kids, Music)
Dance Jamboree: 1942
August 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National Music Camp, where some 300 young musicians study symphonic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2023 - 1:40pm -

August 1942. "Interlochen, Michigan. National Music Camp, where some 300 young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Dance jamboree on a Monday night." Acetate negative by Arthur S. Siegel for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size. Can i tell you something?Gee Mary-Lou I think you are swell! (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Kids, Music)
Hello, Goodbye: 1942
August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Waiting room at Greyhound bus depot." Medium format acetate negative ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2023 - 3:33pm -

August 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Waiting room at Greyhound bus depot." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size.
Pabst Over Chicago: 1943
... & Carbon (or is it Carbon & Carbide?) building on Michigan Ave. I seem to remember something about it being the "first" ... is the original Stone Container Building at Wacker & Michigan Avenues. Off in the furthest distance in the center of the photo you ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/07/2017 - 2:11pm -

May 1, 1943. "South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. DirectionalityI believe this photo is facing north. Quite a few of the skyscrapers are still there. All the way to the left, the black & gold building is the Carbide & Carbon (or is it Carbon & Carbide?) building on Michigan Ave. I seem to remember something about it being the "first" skyscraper. Just to the right, with the little cupola on top, is the original Stone Container Building at Wacker & Michigan Avenues. Off in the furthest distance in the center of the photo you can see what was originally called the Pamolive building (it became Playboy Towers, and is now a condo building). I think the building behind the Pabst sign at the right edge of the sign is the Chicago Tribune building, and across from it (underneath the main part of the sign) you can see the white building that is the Wrigley building. They flank Michigan Ave. just north of the Chicago river. Fellow (ex-)ChicagoanDefinitely facing North, definitely the Carbon & Carbide building - my dad used to have an office there. Not sure about the Playboy Towers.... might that be the Drake Hotel? 33 to 1?Blended 33 to 1? That sounds like a strange formula to me...but of course I'm not informed on the whole beer and beer history thing. 33 to 1Here's a 1940 Pabst ad that explains it. NorthThere is no question about it, this photo is facing north. Good Railroad ShotThe blue flags placed on the cars would be a violation of federal regulations today as they now have to be located at the switch providing access to the track. Also, note that several of the cars are on "yard air" in order to test the brakes on each car prior to movement. Finally you can see that this photo provides good images of several different types of car ends all together in one place. As I am from Milwaukee, I have no clue as to which buildings are which! I do know that the photo is definitely facing north as I now work for the South Shore commuter railroad and am familiar with the lakefront. I also know that the original Santa Fe railroad corporate headquarters was almost directly to the west of this photo and is still there today with the Santa Fe sign on top. It is now an historic landmark. Bootcamp BeerI went to Navy bootcamp in Great Lakes Il. in 1983 and after spending 10 wks. without beer our first chance to have a brew came. Unfortunatly for me the ONLY beer avaliable to us at the time was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Now, not being a Pabst fan I was very unhappy about that but after 10 tough weeks I said "what the heck" and ordered a couple of beers. I'll tell you what, that was the best beer I've ever had. I got so drunk the rest of the day was blur. I'd like to say "Thanks you Pabst" for the best beer ever and day I don't remember. Water Street DepotIt appears we are looking north from either Monroe or Randolph. I want to say we're looking from Monroe and that bridge spanning the width of the pic under the sign is Randolph. The row of low-rise buildings on the left side of the pic that are ~6 stories tall and have the water towers on top of them would then be on the east side of Michigan Ave and sitting directly on the north side of Randolph. I believe these trains are in the area east of Michigan Ave and north of Monroe, but south of Randolph as it used to be a railyard (now Millennium Park, north of the Art Institute). Furthermore there were never any buildings previously on this spot, as it would have either been a rail yard or part of Grant Park (where no buildings were allowed to be built, except for the Art Institute). This leads me to believe that we are looking north from Monroe towards Randolph and beyond. The vast empty space behind the Pabst sign spanning the whole width of the image would now be occupied by Illinois Center, the Prudential Building and of course the tall white AON Building (3rd largest in Chciago at the moment), or whatever they call it these days. Pabst SignCan anybody tell me if this sign was was animated and are there any night time shots of it? [The nighttime shot of this neon sign is here. - Dave] AnimationThanks Dave, do you know if the sign was animated in any way? [The hands on the clock moved! If you mean did various parts of the sign blink on and off, I don't know. - Dave] ChicagoI see the tallest building to the far left when I'm going to and from school. It's surrounded by a bunch of other buildings now. Chevrolet SignThis is a film clip of another Chicago sign. It shows how animated signs were operated. I can't find any date, but the technology looks like 1940 or so. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/410104.html Chevrolet SignAfter viewing this clip of the Chevy sign, I'm fairly convinced that it and the 'Pabst' sign are one and the same. Shown in the clip of the Chevy sign is the same tall building that is located to the left of the Pabst sign in the photo. There are other similarities as well, like the circular design of the sign, the clock at the lower right, etc. It's my guess that Pabst took over the sign after Chevy and made the slight changes to suit their logo. South Water Street TodayThis photo is facing North on South Water Street and intersecting roughly what is now Columbus Drive. The ground level of this photograph is now covered by an elevated roadway in this area. If you went to this spot today, the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park designed by Frank Gehry would be just behind you. The Playboy Building is visible in the background, now once again called the Palmolive Building and converted to condominiums. It sits between the Drake Hotel and John Hancock Tower at the end of the Magnificent Mile. The Drake is not tall enough to be in view here. The Allerton Hotel and Northwest University Law School in Streeterville are also visible here, which they wouldn't be today from the site, although they are still standing. Several of the mid-rise buildings in this photograph are no longer standing, in particular the large red-brick warehouse at the center mid-ground, to the right of the Playboy/Palmolive. This is where the NBC Tower now stands, just north of the river. Driving and DrinkingThis was indeed the Chevy sign. Pabst took it over. You can still make out the Chevy logo in the superstructure of the sign. The lower left hand corner of the "B" in Blue and the upper right hand corner of the N in "Ribbon" served as the edges of the classic Chevy "bowtie" logo. Going to ChicagoIt's interesting to think that Muddy Waters would have just arrived in Chicago when this photo was taken. Pabst signThe Pabst sign was next to Randolph Street Bridge; refer to the 1922 Zoning map that is available at the University of Chicago library site - the Illinois Central may very well have called the yard the 'Water Street Yard,' but Water Street moved to the South Side when Wacker Drive was created after 1924; the Pabst sign was located nearest the Randolph Street bridge and is the current location of the Prudential Building, not the Pritzker Pavillion. Warehouse full of booksI believe the red brick warehouse-like building on the right (east) of the photo survived into at least the 1980s, serving as the temporary home of the Chicago Public Library's main branch after it moved from what is now the Cultural Center (location of many shots in DePalma's "The Untouchables" and just out of camera range to the left) and before the opening of the Harold Washington Library Center. I used their manual typewriters and xerox machines to peck out and photocopy my resume. Why Boxcars are blue-flaggedThese boxcars are blue-flagged because they have both their doors open and gangplanks spanning the openings between cars on adjacent tracks. This is also why they are all 40-foot cars and are all lined up with each other. Less-than-Carload (LCL) freight is being handled here! This something that US railroads have discontinued; for decades, they haven't accepted any shipment less than one car load. As effective highway trucks were developed, they took this trade away from the RR's for obvious reasons. But, back in the 1940's, RR's would handle a single crate! This required sorting en route, which is what is being done here. There's a large shift of workers shuffling LCL from one car to another by way of the side platforms and the above-mentioned gangplanks. The LCL required local freight crews to handle this stuff into and out of the freight stations, and required station agents to get the cargo to and from customers, collect charges, etc. Very labor-intensive, yet somehow the trucking companies do it at a profit. From Pabst To Rolling Rock Beer "33"This photograph has also added another “answer” to the question: “What does the “33” on the label of a bottle of Rolling Rock Beer mean?” http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/rolling.asp One person seeing this photograph concluded on a Rolling Rock Beer forum that the Rolling Rock "33" may have referenced the smoothness of blending “33 to 1.” http://toms.homeunix.net/toms/locFSA-OWIkodachromes/slides/blended33to1.... Makes you feel like a heroEven now, when I get a color transparency (2 1/4x2 1/4 or 4x5) and look at if for the first time, it is stunning. I can't imagine what it must have looked like to someone seeing it color for the first time ever! Sign BackgroundIf you look closely at the superstructure of the sign you can see the slogan "Blended 33 to 1" in the framework, which is seen far better in the nighttime shot Dave linked to. As to whether this would be considered animation I don't know, but a typical setup would be to light the Pabst Blue Ribbon sign, then switch to the "Blended" slogan, then light both. Don't know if that was done here. Those catwalksThe "down-the-throat" shot of those catwalks atop of the freight cars gives the viewer a good idea of what the brakeman had to deal with while setting the brakes. The uneveness of those platforms, even at a standstill, is enough to make the average person think twice about climbing up and traversing these planks. Before airbrakes became the norm, this had to be one of the most harrowing jobs a railroad worker had to face. And this would be on a nice calm day. With rain, wind or snow, even the most seasoned brakeman must've had second thoughts. Blue Flags?Mr. Leaman pointed out the blue flags were being displayed incorrectly by todays rules. But not being a train enthusiast, what did they indicate in the first place? Blue-FlaggedAny rolling stock or engine that is "blue-flagged" cannot be moved unless the person who placed the flag removes it. It's a safety rule, and for the protection of the workers, many of whom are between or under the cars. The iconic "Santa Fe" sign referred to in earlier posts is now on display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL - not too far from Chicago and well worth the trip! http://www.irm.org The early brakeman's plightJKoehler, I read somewhere that a conductor remarked about brakemen in the days when cars used link-and-pin couplers, "If they still have their thumbs after three months, they must be really lazy!" Phantom Memory of a huge Chicago Phillips 66 Sign?For decades I’ve had a childhood memory of seeing a huge Phillips 66 sign atop the Chicago skyline, while driving with my family in the “wayback” of the family station wagon on the way to visit our grandparents in Iowa. We were coming from Michigan, and driving on Chicago streets because the still-under-construction Interstate Highway System still had gaps. (We were probably driving on/towards westbound US-30.) I remember being in awe of a big neon Phillips 66 sign receding in the distance as my dad drove west. It was a wide straight street, very busy. The sign had lots of neon motion, even in the daylight. This memory (if real), would have been somewhere between about 1963 - 1968. But am I mistaken? Did the Phillips 66 sign never exist, and could this Papst sign be the one I saw? (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Rural Mother: 1936
... oldest brother started to build a home near Mount Clemens, Michigan. A family pitched a tent in a field across the street from him and ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 07/05/2009 - 2:29am -

March 1936. "Mother and baby of family of nine living in field on U.S. Route 70 near the Tennessee River." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. SonsRose, And notice that the boy you mention (the one on our right) is the only one wearing shoes. It looks like he's standing on maybe his father's feet--there's somebody else standing off the camera edge. But imagine: The clothes that they're wearing might've been their only clothes! Just to reiterate: there was no choice of what they could wear from day to day. What they have on now was all they (might've) had for possibly months at a time. "How do I get to the Susquehanna Hat Company?" What happened to them?While it's certainly disheartening to see that kind of abject poverty, the family probably fared better over the next decade. The TVA started bringing electricity to that area around the time of this photo and Tennessee had a pretty robust wartime economy. The draft board generally didn't take men with nine children so the father would have been around to find steady work. So however bad it may have been you can at least be confident it got better. And yet the boy is smilingAnd yet the boy is smiling :) Mother of povertyThis photo made cry. What more clear image of poverty in America could there be? A flour sack for a skirt and a safety pin holding a tattered sweater. I ache for her children and wonder what happened to this family. One bright spot is the boy smiling to his sister while holding her toe. Tatters...They may be poor material wise with their tatters and rags on their back, but they are rich in their love for each other. Mother of povertyThis is the worst case of poverty I have ever seen that wasn't from the third world, but look at them they are together, even able to smile, by far this picture is the best example of "the great depression". fakeThe picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. ["That era," the mid-1930s, when photography was 100 years old, saw some of the best photographs ever made - the work of Ansel Adams, for example. And of course a few minutes of Googling will show this to be a well-known Depression-era image in the Library of Congress archives. Comments like these are a good opportunity to point out that the farther back you go, the better and sharper the pictures get, because the recording media were bigger. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. - Dave] Re: No exaggeration"And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch." YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT ! No exaggerationIn addition to reading "Let us Now Praise Famous Men," check out the photos of Jacob Riis and read "How the Other Half Lives." Yes, muckrakers, but they were not making up the poverty they found and photographed. When people who were doing *well* had only 2 or 3 sets of clothing, there just wasn't as much "extra" around to give to the poor. Using flour sacks and sugar sacks was incredibly common - so common that it is a trope in literature of the time. Even solidly middle-class families "turned" collars and facings on their clothing when it wore to holes, to use the other side, and every family had a rag bag in which they saved *every* scrap of old clothing for other purposes. I guess in this day of cheap clothes made by slave laborers in poison-filled factories in China, its hard to believe anyone treated clothes as so precious that they were saved and worn until they were in this state, huh? And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch. Rural mother 1936Oh how I wish I could take the doubting thomases back with me to the North East of Scotland during the time that this stunning photograph was taken. I am glad that it has been brought up to watchable standard by digital magic or whatever. I can still remember my grandfather filling his boots with straw to keep the cold/wet out before going out to the field to plough or cut corn with a scythe. He also used the very same material to wipe his bottom. Granny had a grain sack for a skirt and wore clogs. My favourite time of day was when she put the 'hen's pot' out to cool. I invariably ate the potatoes and haven't tasted better since. Money-wise it was a very poor time but life had a richness difficult to achieve these days. Re: Fake>> The picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. We get a lot of comments like this, I guess from younger people, or people who have never been to a museum. They don't realize that the farther back you go, the better and sharper professionally taken photographs get, because the recording media were much, much larger. An 8-by-10 glass plate negative is 80 times as large as a 35mm film frame, or the image sensor in a digital camera. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. Also a lot of comments from people who seem to think color photography started around 1960. Poverty exaggerationOk, this photo is an example of early photo-journalism. The family could very well have been homeless and living in a lean-to or a wooden box on top of a truck chassis- during the summer, anyway. But the depiction of poverty is exaggerated- think about it- if someone steered the photographer toward the family, then others in the community knew they were there. There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes. These rags were put on to evoke sympathy for the plights of many during the depression. Don't get me wrong - shock value was probably needed to raise support for many valuable social programs that came about because of the depression. But how long could a family dress like that and not receive donations from others, no matter how bad off the community was. [Most of these migrants, refugees from the Dust Bowl farms of the Great Plains, were not especially welcome in the communities where they dropped anchor, and people often did whatever they could to get them to leave. You might want to read up a little more on the Great Depression. A good start would be "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee with photos by Walker Evans. Or "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. - Dave] Not an exaggeration"There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes." My mother was a teenager during those years and remembered how so many people were driven to desperation. Her comment was "there was always someone trying to cheat you." Two or three years into the Depression the do-gooders began to run out of sympathy and "used clothes." And after five more years of no improvement they began to fear things would never turn around and that they would end up in the same circumstances. There were just too many newly poor people and not enough people with excess resources to balance things out. BenIf anyone was ever interested in trying to achieve that kind of detail today, I'd highly suggest buying an old used medium format camera and using some 120 roll film. I have a couple of Yashica TLR's which were considered substandard in the 50's and 60's, but their quality still makes a 35 SLR look like a cheap point and shoot. It's not the camera that makes the pictures better, but the larger negative available in 120 film. Not only do you get more detail, but the color depth is far more realistic. ClothesMy Gramma has saved some clothes that her mother made from flour sacks. She also has some made from linen and wool they spun and wove themselves, when they were more prosperous. She lived in a house with a dirt floor and didn't wear shoes in the summer. The Face of the Great DepressionThank you Mr. Caruso. I echo the response from Dave....We read in history books about the Great Depression and over the years, in our mind it is simply a swirl of facts and figures, of almost dispassionate removal that was the reality. While it has been said that hindsight is 20/20, I think it can also be argued that hindsight, especially from such a distance can be sterile becoming almost become an illusion, an event without a substance. Hopefully this will once again place it into a reality ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y Dale Oh My GoshI'm 15 years of age and I had no idea that the Great Depression was that bad. This picture really oppened my eyes to the extreme conditions at that time. Thank you for this reality. Reality CheckI have a picture on my desk showing my mother during the depression. You can see her bones because at 5'7" she weighed 85 pounds...just from the simple lack of food. Each girl in the family had two dresses and each boy had two pairs of overalls - one to wear and one to wash. By "wash", I mean using a metal tub over an open fire. Mostly they went barefoot (in the Arizona desert) because if they had shoes, they were too valuable to wear everyday. In the picture my mother is looking directly at the camera and her expression is almost exactly the same as the look on the face of a shell shocked combat veteran. As I said, I keep this small black and white photo on my desk so that if I ever, ever have even a moment of thinking that I'm having a hard day I can look at my mother's face and get a reality check. Barefoot KidsMy parents grew up in the depression. When I was a kid (in the 60s) going outside barefoot was STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, reason being that in their minds if you weren't wearing shoes it was because you didn't have any, and therefore were poor, which they viewed as something to be ashamed of. Making doThe habits of the depression generation persisted into the better days of the '40s. I remember my mother repairing worn sheets by splitting them down the middle and sewing the good edges together to prolong their life. My dad brought home flour sacks from the restaurant where he worked. My mother made dish cloths and pillow cases from them. Some of the sacks were made from patterned material for dresses. The branding on the others washed out easily. To this day I an reluctant to discard clothing. ClothesMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. Mother of NineThank you so much for sharing this. I was born in 1977, but just hearing these stories helps me to realize that we are so spoiled and really puts things into perspective. Amen! Thanks, dalecaruso!I'm going to show this to my 7th grade students who LOVED the Newbery Medal-winning book "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse! Amazing...moving...thank you. The habits remained - for good or badMy parents grew up in the Depression. Members of their generation, roughly those born 1920-1935, often find it difficult to throw out anything "good". In my parents' case, I was left with stacks of thousands upon thousands of moldering magazines and newspapers, piles of old shingles, 2x4s, chunks of vinyl siding, and old cardboard; hundreds upon hundreds of doilies, knick-knacks, and figurines; and tons of worthless, useless plywood and cheap wood furniture. The cry was, "I might need it someday!" and "It'll be worth GOOD MONEY one day!" and "You're so wicked and wasteful and lazy to want to throw it out!". They were wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions. The figurines now go for five to ten cents each on eBay (and don't sell at that price); the shingles melted together into a big unusable pile; the 2x4s and cardboard rotted to dust; the doilies were attacked with mold; the magazines were destroyed by water and age; the furniture was rickety and undesirable in its shoddy construction and unattractive, unmarketable poor style. It all went away to the dump as useless, worthless, unrecyclable (because of the mold) garbage - and it cost over a thousand dollars to have it hauled away. And I'm not the only one. There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on. But we, the children, are not the ones hurt the most by this sickness. The older generation itself is harmed most of all. The mold and dust gathered by the things they've hoarded endangers their health. The sheer bulk of the hoard can endanger them in case of fire. And since they can't find what they've hoarded, they end up buying the same things over and over again, which reduces their ability to provide for themselves. No North American generation before this one has suffered from this level of hoarding, and I doubt any one after it will. Earlier generations didn't overbuy but also weren't afraid to discard; later generations might overbuy but likewise aren't afraid to recycle or discard. Re: Hoarders I would have to seriously question the sweeping and wide swath of the brush you painted this generation with. My parents lived through the depression and the dust bowl, as did my dads' 12 brothers and sisters. and the 5 siblings of my mothers' family. And not a hoarder among them. I am sure they used things longer and valued what they had more than we do, but I hardly consider this a "disorder". Now I am sure some did, but your statement to me really portrays this generation as unhealthy mentally, and I am just a little offended by it. Oh that we today were as mentally stable as they. And if "There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on", well then I would say, perhaps it is this weak-kneed generation, who need support groups because, "Oh No, Mamma kept things a Long Long time", are the ones who are unhealthy. You do this unbelievable generation a great disservice. Future Hoarders of America Unite!You know, I don't look at the faces of these little ones and concern myself with the idea that their biggest issue in their senior years is going to be that they held on to too much stuff instead of throwing it out. When your clothes are being held together with twine and your mother is wearing a cotton feed bag as a skirt, it's kind of easy to see how, in the future, when you're an old woman, you're probably going to hang on to every scrap and see its potential usefulness someday. It's amazing how differently our consumerist culture sees items today. How often I've longed to be able to hold onto a toaster that could work just fine if I had someone who could fix it for me. But instead, appliances today aren't meant to last for more than a few years and then off to dump with them. Our landfills are overcrowded with plasticized items that will never, ever decompose - plastic bags, water bottles, take out containers...the list is endless. I hate to politicize a picture but I can honestly see how having nothing more than the holey shirt on your back would make you take stock when one day you had tremendous bounty. We could learn a lot from these people and their troubles and how to see potential treasure in trash. Alive and wellPoverty can be because of chance or personal choices. Back in the times of the Depression it was heaped on people by powers out of their control. I see it today right here in Arkansas where I live and in my own neighborhood. I live in a small town of about 5600 and even in what is supposedly the world's most rich and powerful country people are lining up at the free food banks and food giveaways, receving government commodities and waiting in ine at the free medical clinic that is run by area churches and staffed with Doctors and Nurses who volunteer their time for free. Just walk into Walmart on the 1st of the month, they way some families are dressed would break your heart. But then you have the victims of bad personal choices. There is a single other in my neighborhood that recently lost her job because she failed a drug test. She has 3 children. Everyone in the neighborhood knows she sells her food stamps for alcohol. She would buy just enough (barely) food for them to get by and sell the rest If it were not for the kindness of neighbors her children would not have any decent clothes. She was just kicked out of what is very decent public housing where she was paying $16.00 a month rent because she had her alcoholic boyfriend living there with her. Her poor choices affected not only her children but many people in the neighborhood (who at their own expense would buy extra food so they could feed her children or spend money to buy clothes for them) who have tried to help her for years. In her children I see the NEXT generation of American poverty waiting to happen and it is so sad. HoardersMy parents are children of the Depression, too. And my father most definitely instilled in me the sense that one doesn't waste or discard anything useful. He has 2 barns and a shed filled with stuff, much of which I'll have to deal with after he's gone. But you know what? Virtually everything he has is valuable! His shed is filled with dishes and small appliances and the like, which has supplied many of his grandchildren when they went away to college or got their first apartment. He has one of nearly every tool known to man, and freely loans or gives them away. He paid cash for a brand new truck recently, using the proceeds from sale of scrap copper and iron he's been saving in the plum thicket. (He's never owed money on a car in my lifetime). He loves to give to others (it's nearly impossible to leave a visit empty-handed), and a lifetime of saving and storing means he has no shortage of things to give away. Because of my upbringing, it's very hard for me to discard anything that still has value, just because I don't need it any more. But I've learned from my dad - somebody needs that, so give it away! I understand that some hoarders are truly mentally ill. But to say that all Depression children who refuse to discard things that might be useful are "wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions" is absolute hogwash. The DepressionAnyone who says these photos are exaggerated or fake has never talked to someone who lived during that time. My mother lived on a farm during that period, and though she didn't have much that came from a store, they were able to eat and eat well. My father's family were poor tennant farmers on unproductive land and frequently had meals like "grease smeared on bread"....try to imagine that one. With several children, all but one had to quit school at 13 to earn a living. My husband's family has pictures of the children looking just like these - torn overalls and bare feet. Do some real research in your own family's past. Family HistoryMy father's family had a farm in southwest Nebraska during the Depression, so they were able to grow their own food and eat fairly well. My mother's paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister there, which was very rough since he was dependent on what the local community could pay, which wasn't much and people had an odd idea about what made a suitable gift. So instead of eggs and chickens, which Great-Grandpa would have taken in a heartbeat (he had 5 teenage sons!), people gave him things like fancy hankies, which he had no use for, and I found 50 years later still in the gift boxes. I know the Depression had a profound impact on my grandfather; he hated to throw anything away. When my mother cleaned out Grandpa's house in the late 80's she had to throw out dumpsters of metal pie plates, shopping bags, twine, bottles, newspapers, magazines and God knows what else. AgreedMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. I would have said this if you didn't. We had sneakers for gym class and gym class only. The picture, the video, the hoarding.Two things struck me about that picture: the caked on dirt on the mother's feet and the smile on the boy's face. Sure, I had heard the phrase "dressed in flour sacks." But, there's something about an image - seeing it. It hits home. The video, The Face of the Great Depression, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y from a previous comment. At first, honestly, I thought, "Can't the pictures move faster?" Then I looked, and listened, and let time stand still for a brief moment. By the end, I was crying. The license plate in the last photo was 1939. My mother would have been 13. NOW IT GET IT. Well, I'm beginning to. A second generation child on the South Side of Chicago, she always told stories of a her gang of kids distracting the cart owner so other kids could run by - stealing whatever vegetables they could grab. They would start little fires at the curb and roast them on a stick or boil them in a pot of water. She said that's why, as an adult, she hated boiled onions or potatoes. But, the stories she told, of washing out her underclothes each night, sleeping 4 to a bed, lard and bread sandwiches...I somehow cleaned up the images and made them all pretty. I left out what it smells like if you haven't had a bath. Or, what it must have felt like to really, really be hungry. Mom hoarded. Born in 1926 she left me the legacy of wall to wall, floor to ceiling piles of National Geographic magazines and "collectors" tins." "These will be worth something someday," she chided...and promised. They weren't. Well, some of it was valuable - more from memories of her than replacement cost. More than anything, I wish she could have culled her stuff so she had more room to live. Sure, it was a burden to empty. But it was easier for me to let go of her junk than it was for her to unload the fear of being "without." I can live with that. Everyday I understand and accept her more. One little photo... Can teach so much. The Great DepressionI've read the comments about this picture and echo the feelings of distress that people have had to exist under these conditions. We only have to look at some of the present day third world countries to see the same thing. Thank God that that level of poverty has never touched me. I was born in 1927 and raised, with my sister, in a single parent home. My Mother took in washing and ironing to make a living for us, and though we didn't have an abundance, we never went to bed hungry. She bought used adult clothes and cut them down to fit us (our sunday school and church clothes). No one told me that times were hard so I didn't know it until I was grown. The hobos (Hoover Tourists) used to get off the trains near our house and come to the door begging food. My Mother always made them a peanut butter sandwich. I spent my days in school or outside playing with my friends, I had a glorious childhood. It pains me to see today's children confined to the house, afraid to go outside alone, with only a TV or computer for a companion. So many children and young adults are overweight and under exercised. The Depression was hard on a lot of people but, as a child, I skated through it and wouldn't trade my childhood memories for being a child today. Where in SW Nebraska?Hello- A friend of mine introduced me to this website. I, too, am from southwest Nebraska. Where in SW Nebraska was your family originally from? MJ The DepressionI really liked reading all the comments. I intend to get the book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by Agee. I was born in 1921, the seventh child in a family of 10. My father died of TB in October 1929. Our church had a dinner after the service yesterday. I noticed some people not eating all the food they had put on their plates. I told them my clean plate was a reflection of living through the Depression, when at mealtime I would hand my plate to my mother with the words "All I can have. please." Every child in the family, when they were old enough, gave most of the money they earned to our mother. In the early 1930s our school clothes and shoes would be ordered by mail from Sears and sometime they would arrive days after school started. We lived in northwest Detroit and most of the kids had fathers with good jobs. In 1936 my oldest brother started to build a home near Mount Clemens, Michigan. A family pitched a tent in a field across the street from him and lived much like the family in this picture. My brother did not want me to visit them. I served in WW2, which I enjoyed because I had been working since I was 14 and it was nice to be free of responsibility. And seeing Europe was wonderful. I am a tourist at heart. Yes! Not getting killed and living into the Internet age is wonderful. Nebraska! With family now on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington we have been driving across this country about once a year. We like Nebraska and have been driving across that state on old U.S. 30, and find it much more enjoyable than I-80. Please try this some time. For those who don't believeRead "The Worst Hard Time" by Tim Egan. Never had heard of "dust pneumonia" until reading this. Also, a section of diary entries is just heartbreaking. Poverty and desolation on a scale unimaginable today. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Rural America)
The Heart of Detroit: 1907
... play "The Man of the Hour."" D.M. Ferry and U of Michigan sports Dexter M. Ferry, the man behind the seed company in this ... and field venue, is named Ferry Field. Before today's Michigan Stadium, Ferry Field was the home of the football Wolverines, and the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/29/2012 - 10:13am -

Detroit circa 1907. "The Campus Martius." Landmarks include the Detroit Opera House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square, Wayne County Building, Hotel Pontchartrain. Panorama of three 8x10 glass negatives. View full size. A calamity?Something big must be going on behind the Pontchartrain! A fire engine speeding left to right and dozens of men appear to be running toward the same destination. Or is it happy hour at the establishment proclaiming Kentucky Whiskey available here? Even the group of folks standing at the corner of the Hotel have their attention turned in that direction! So much going on here! High speed photographyNo Shorpy spirits, except the sprinters already mentioned. Concerning those lights, how much illumination did they actually cast? Is a radio towerin the center of the picture? It appears to be a large tower. [It's a street light. -Dave] Horse SenseThe Motor City with more horses than motors! In back, the classic sign of economic progress -- smokin' chimneys. Rajah CoffeeCan Starbucks be far behind? SeedyJust sayin' Moonlight TowerI believe that the structure in the center foreground of the photo is a moonlight tower. It was an early form of street lighting where there would be one tall tower with bright, probably carbon-arc, lights instead of multiple smaller lights closer to the ground. Austin, Texas is the only city that still has these in operation, although they have been updated to use a modern light source. [A Shorpy favorite, seen in many of our Detroit photos, for example, here, here and here.] re: SeedyThe Ferry Seed Warehouse seen in the background is at the western end of what is now Greektown. It's now an office building. Women downtownI have noticed over and over on Shorpy that almost every city street scene in the northern states features women bustling about, presumably doing their shopping, having lunch with their friends, walking with their daughters, etc. In the photos of southern cities, you almost never see women on the streets. Nearly every southern city street scene comprises pretty much entirely men. Why is this? Heat? No place for "a lady" to be seen? Has anyone else noticed this? "Man of the Hour," againAlso playing on Shorpy at https://www.shorpy.com/node/11486 The NYT called it a "Virile Melodrama," and said: "A youthful Mayor who cannot be bribed or intimidated, a financier who wants to get control of a street railway franchise in perpetuity, and a pair of political bosses, who are at odds with each other and who are fighting to gain supremacy in their organization -- these are the chief characters in George Broadhurst's play "The Man of the Hour."" D.M. Ferry and U of Michigan sportsDexter M. Ferry, the man behind the seed company in this picture, donated the land in south Ann Arbor on which today's U of M athletic venues stand. One of which, the outdoor track and field venue, is named Ferry Field. Before today's Michigan Stadium, Ferry Field was the home of the football Wolverines, and the iron gate with the "FERRY FIELD" name remains in place on south State Street. True CrimeAnother fantastic pic of the Campus Martius area, giving the rare view up Monroe Street where Gies's European Hotel operated (the attached building to the left of the Hotel Fowler, center of pic). In 1894, the infamous H. H. Holmes lodged Mrs. Pitezel there for a few days, the poor woman never knowing her daughters Alice and Nellie were but five blocks away. (Panoramas, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Ice House: 1943
... all of this ice shown in the pic was sawn out of Lake Michigan. Strong guy Wonder what one of those slabs weighs -- 300 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2023 - 11:35am -

January 1943. Blue Island, Illinois. "Inside the ice storehouse of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad near Chicago. It has a storage capacity of almost 15,000 tons." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Always wondered, now I know -- thanks ShorpyI've always wondered what it was like inside those giant cold storage ice warehouses you see in so many old warehouse districts in the USA. I assume all of this ice shown in the pic was sawn out of Lake Michigan. Strong guyWonder what one of those slabs weighs -- 300 pounds? Or more? Passengers, too!Some of the 'heavyweight' passenger cars of the era were cooled by recirculating the chilled ice water through coils in the air conditioning system. PRR photo. The way it used to beFor sure, the railroads used ice for their own purposes. Creameries also usually had their own ice house attached for icing down the milk in season. In the days before mechanical refrigeration, private homes needed natural ice for their "ice boxes", and that ice came from natural sources. In some sections of the country, the railroads ran solid trains of ice from the collection points to city ice houses. They used reefers and even boxcars for the service. If an ice house burned to the ground (not such a rare event), the resulting mound of remaining ice that survived might take a full year to melt. Big chillThe reason that a railroad needed "icing" facilities was that refrigerator cars - "reefers" (before those became something you smoked) used ice for cooling. That particular railroad connected to the Chicago stockyards and so probably shipped a lot of refrigerated loads. Ice makersIt surprised me to see ice harvests this late, so i found an article here: 1. Until the invention of mechanical ice makers, ice was the second-largest export from the US (after cotton). 2. Ice harvesting continued on into the 1950s. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Second City Riviera: 1942
July 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Lake Michigan beach." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/10/2023 - 12:36pm -

July 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Lake Michigan beach." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size. I believe that is correct. The black at the neck would be his neckerchief and I think back then the rating or "rank" insignia was on the right sleeve, not the left, which is not visible in the photo. +75Below is a very similar perspective from June of 2017 (it's the matched perspective from one of the several other shots Rothstein took of the beach that day). What's Upwith the guy in white? Is that an early version of a hazmat suit? [Beachside beekeeper. - Dave] Sailor in the WindLooks like the guy in all white is a sailor in his crackerjacks and the wind has blown his tar flap over his head. Mr. Hazmat suit.He looks like a sailor. Summer whites. The back flap is blowing up in the wind. You can see the back of his neckerchief behind his neck. On The Home FrontWith the United States' entry into WWII just seven months prior, it's hard not to notice most of these beachgoers are women and children. More room for the beach towelThe population of Chicago in 1940 was 3,396,808, the second largest city in the US. Today, its around 2,608,425. Down about 23% in 80 years. Re: What's Up?Regarding RG62's question about the guy in white, I believe he is a sailor in a US Navy white service undress uniform with the collar/tar flap on the back of his jumper blown up on his head. As one who wore that uniformAnother vote for the Navy White enlisted uniform with the flap "Flapping in the Breeze" and the black neckerchief showing. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Chicago, Swimming)
Cat, Cadillac: 1959
... the fire that destroyed the brand new plant in Livonia, Michigan, and used Buick's Dynaflow for the rest of the year. Don't ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2023 - 1:56am -

May 1959. New York. "Cat on sidewalk." 35mm negative by Angelo Rizzuto. View full size. NYCats in 2023https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/nyregion/feral-cats-nyc.html 1954 Oldsmobile... parked behind it! Both have modern high-powered V-8's with Hydra-Matic transmission standard equipment on 98's and all 1953 Cadillacs, unless the Caddy had the misfortune to have been built in August after the fire that destroyed the brand new plant in Livonia, Michigan, and used Buick's Dynaflow for the rest of the year. Don't Mess With Me!"or I will scratch that camera right out of your hands" Said Garfield menacingly. Just ChucklingI'm chuckling to myself that, here I am commenting on what is essentially a picture of a cat (and thinking how cat memes of a more recent vintage have commanded such large swaths of public attention), and yet the recent Shorpy photos featuring the African American soldiers are getting less attention from commenters. Silly me. Still AroundI've seen that cat - he still hangs around that same area! Go Ahead, Make My Day.Eleven pounds of pure fury. Tough little animals. No cat allergies hereAngelo Rizzuto was a cat person, as evidenced by the above photo of a tabby and this photo from October 1958, a year earlier of a tuxedo cat. The 1958 photo location was identified as around Eighth Avenue and 34th Street. I looked around there for buildings with arched windows, as in the background here, but did not find them. Skirt chaser?Looks like an early '50s Cadillac to me. [1953. - Dave] CatmanMr. Rizzuto did like his cats! Here's an interesting book review with some good background. BrokerMr. Kitty has just come out from under his 1953 Cadillac DeVille to attend to his brokerage account at Merill Lynch. [DeVilles were hardtops. Kitty's Caddy is a Series 62 convertible. - Dave] Marked CatillacMy domain, trespassing felines be warned! DingbatWhen I see these pics of stray cats from sixty years ago, all I want to do is rescue them. Completely irrational on my part, of course. I have plenty of modern-day rescues lying here and there around the house. It's just that I know it likely didn't end well for these poor, long-departed cats. EssoClearly, that car uses Esso gasoline (Exxon these days) -- it's got a Tiger in the Tank! CatitudeNew York cats are a little tougher and have more attitude. This one here is Exhibit A. (The Gallery, Angelo Rizzuto, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cats, NYC)
Dorothea Lange: 1936
... on this "woody" came from Henry Ford's mill at Alberta, Michigan just south of L'Anse in the Upper Peninsula, this mill still exists in ... was located also in the Upper Peninsula at Kingsford, Michigan ---- the last vestage of the plant were the towering twin smoke stacks ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:41pm -

Dorothea Lange, Resettlement Administration photographer, in California atop car with her giant camera. February 1936. View full size. Dorothea Lange's giant camerais a Graflex Super D, a 4x5 SLR. See http://graflex.org/articles/series-d/ [Thank you, DHM! - Dave] Dorothea's CameraWho can ID it? sneakerswho can identify her sneakers? I didn't know they had them back then what a camera ! it is a beautiful camera, which brought all the grandeur of those golden days. what is wrong with it ? What a car!The wood on this "woody" came from Henry Ford's mill at Alberta, Michigan just south of L'Anse in the Upper Peninsula, this mill still exists in its entirety but as a museum ---- The plant for Ford's "woodies" was located also in the Upper Peninsula at Kingsford, Michigan ---- the last vestage of the plant were the towering twin smoke stacks which stood alone until about two years ago when they were considered a hazard and torn down. SneakersThe Converse All Star type shoe was started in the late 1910's, looks like Converse type sneakers.... Graflexhttp://graflex.org/articles/series-d/ It's a Graflex SLR alrightYep, definitely a Graflex. They generally used large-format sheet film. This looks like a 4x5 model given the size of the thing, maybe even a 5x7. The folding hood at the top provided shade for the large ground-glass viewfinder. The flap at the front acts folds down to shield the lens and bellows when not in use. These were rather bulky but very robust cameras, just what you'd need on a long dusty roadtrip in 1936. I love the car.I love the car. 5x7 GraflexLooks like a 5x7 Graflex to me. http://graflex.org/articles/series-d/ Lange's GraflexI own a 5x7" Press Graflex, and looking at the size of her hand compared to the size of the camera, I think this camera is a 4x5" Graflex, not a 5x7". The arrangement of the metal parts on the side that is visible would identify it as a Series D or Super D, which is a later camera than my Press Graflex. Dorothea Lange took theDorothea Lange took the famous (if not somewhat controversial) picture called Migrant Mother. GraflexIt's a Graflex, looks like it might be a 5 x7, but must be at least 4 x 5. I would guess it's older than this one, as I doubt it is a Series D http://graflex.org/articles/series-d/ Now that's a Camera!!!!Hi There, Looks more like a 4x5 Series D, than a 4x5 Super D. The super has the chrome-plated struts on the hood / top lid. Also by the looks of it, she has a Bag Mag mounted on the back (horizontal position) which doesn't work on a 4x5 Super D with the Graflock back. I have a 3x4 RB Graflex series D, a 4x5 RB Graflex series D, and have owned a 4x5 super D. Unless she was a very tall woman, my money would be on the 4x5 size. A 5x7 Graflex SLR is a monster of a camera. I don't think it is a series B as the front door that covers the lens has the flaps on the sides that act as a lens hood. As far as I know they were only on the series D, Super D, and big 5x7 models. Does anyone know how tall she was....that would help. Cheers Rob DL's cameraIt sure looks to me like a Series D, not a Super D, which weren't produced until 1948 (in the 4x5 size). It looks like a 4x5 to me, I have one and the proportions look right. DL wasn't a very big woman so I think a 4x5 would look just like that in her hands. I love my Graflex(es). If you get one you tend to get more. Great photo. I would also love to know what those sneakers are! Dorothea Lange's CameraIt is a Graflex Super D 4X5 SLR Don't think it is 1936See the plate: California 1938 [The plate says 1936. - Dave] So...If this is Lange and her camera, who's taking the picture... and with what? [Somebody else. With a camera. Next! - Dave] Photo by Rondale PartridgeThe photo is by Rondale Partridge, son of Imogen Cunningham. Dorothea is holding a Graflex 4x5 single lens reflex camera, which took sheet film. The flap in the front covers the lens, popping open to reveal the view. There is a big mirror at a 45 degree angle which transfers the image up onto the ground glass, essentially sitting on top of the camera box. The top pops up and the viewing hood folds up. The photographer looks down at the glass through the little rectangular opening at the very top, viewing the image that is flipped upside-down and backward, like all view cameras or similar SLR cameras such as a Hasselblad -- it works the same way. The camera could be hand-held, and the big negative made for great quality. You can see her left thumb on the shutter release. When the photographer trips the lever, the lens stops down, the mirror goes up against the ground glass, the light heads straight back through the camera flipping upside down and backward as the image always does through a lens, and at the end of all that mechanical clunking around, the fabric shutter at the very back of the camera, right in front of the film, slides up and allows the light to expose the film. The photographer then changes the film to the next sheet and resets the camera for the next image. They are beautiful cameras and some photographers find restored cameras just like this one and still use them. I would love to have one, but they are quite rare and expensive. Edward Weston also used this camera to photograph people and his models when doing nudes. Dorothea 's shoesThe shoes of Dorothea looks like Converse. [They're Goodrich Posture Foundation sneakers ("P.F. Flyers"). - Dave] Dorothea's cameraHer camera is 100% guaranteed 4x5 Graflex RB Series D. They were never made in the 5x7 size. The Camera, The Sneakers, The Car ... Oh MyYou are all focused on really Fantastic aspects of this image, But, for me, with No doubt, the Star, the pioneer here is Dorothea. I have not seen her before this photo, but I'm instantly intrigued by her, and nothing else in this photo. I would have loved to have spent a day with her on location. Anywhere. I'm betting she was cool AF to hang out with and certainly left us a lot of Amazing images to enjoy. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Portraits)
Primitive Ferry: 1907
... than a steam engine. But that's just my assumption. Michigan Several years ago, I was in Charlevoix, Michigan. They had (may still have) a ferry there that could carry one or two ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 7:50pm -

Circa 1907. "Primitive ferry, High Bridge, Kentucky River." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Shaker Ferry, not Valley ViewResponding to a previous comment, this is the former Shaker Ferry, not the Valley View Ferry. Both are (were) in the Lexington area, but Valley View is several miles upriver and is still in operation. Horse whispererI wonder how they talked him into taking the ride. Sternwheeler I don't see any smokestack for what I assume is a steam engine and if there is an engine, it must be above deck as the hull looks too shallow for anything else. Could the engine be behind the superstructure? Hard to see. On the ropesUnderwater ropes are the only way that makes sense (to me anyway) but they must be fairly deep to keep other boats from snagging them. Shaker FerryThis is apparently the Shaker Ferry, as seen in this photo from the Cincinnati Public Library collection. Valley View FerryMight this be what we are looking at? If so, it's still in existence! Although, this particular iteration of it doesn't seem to be connected to the shore via ropes or cables that are suspended above the water. Alternate Title"Dobbin's Ferry." Please, no applause -- just throw money. I must be going blindWhat is propelling the ferry across the river? -- And thanks, Dave, for all the High Bridge plates! Propulsion?I am guessing that there is a rope system under the ferry that is pulling it towards the near shore, but it must be totally under water. The handle that the man is grasping doesn't seem to be connected to anything that would propel the boat. Educational value of ShorpyShorpy never ceases to amaze me. I was one of the early posters to this thread questioning how the ferry was propelled. Stevendm supplied the answer I was looking for. Armed with the info from Steven I did some research on the web and found out that this type of ferry is called a reaction ferry. The rope either below or above the water provides the opposing force for the rudder to do its job. A ferry still operating in 1952This 1952 Topographic Map courtesy of the USGS shows an operating ferry. Work DetailBoat Makeover. Row, Row Your BoatNotice that the railing where the guy is standing is greatly reinforced. I believe the wooden piece he controls is made to grab the rope or cable and let him walk along the side to propel the raft. If the current is in the right direction, he would be able to control the speed merely by letting the rope slide through. New member here, have been lurking through the entire Shorpy files. Thanks, Dave for bringing us these fine photos. Charlie Underwater RopeI have heard of ferries like this. There is an underwater rope that the boat is guided by. The man standing at the right in the boat is holding a tiller that turns a rudder underneath the ferry. This tiller is in line with the flow of the river, not with the axis of the ferry. The movement of the water across the tiller pushes the ferry from one bank to another, turn the tiller one way and you move to one bank, turn it the other way and you go to the other bank. Simple but effective. The rope should not foul the other boats if they are like the ones shown. They have a very shallow draft and would float right over the rope. Remember, the rope is probably not very taut and will drop down in the water when not close by land or the ferry. Stern Wheeler. Looks to me like it's powered by stationary hit and miss engine rather than a steam engine. But that's just my assumption. MichiganSeveral years ago, I was in Charlevoix, Michigan. They had (may still have) a ferry there that could carry one or two cars across a narrow part of Lake Charlevoix. It used an underwater cable that pulled the ferry back and forth. I would imagine this ferry had a similar system. It Carried Cars, Too.The book "First Highways of America" contains a picture of this same ferry carrying two cars. In theory one of those could have been driven by my great-grandparents as they crossed on the ferry in 1920 during a trip to Florida. Fare was apparently set by vehicle size. They paid 50 cents for their Model T and their friends in an Overland paid 75 cents. Granny reported that High Bridge was their "first bit of sight seeing worth while" and that the men made it all the way "down a stairs of nearly 300 steps" but the women stopped short of the bottom. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Horses)
Down to the River: 1910
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "Approach to the Detroit River tunnel." 8x10 inch dry ... isn't much left except for the tunnels. The Enormous Michigan Central Station rests in decay roughly 180 degrees from this position ... and make it snappy, I've got a train to catch! The Michigan Central tunnel is still in existence (and was previewed in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 3:54pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "Approach to the Detroit River tunnel." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Oh, thanks Dave.I’m glad you cleared that up: I thought there had been a terrible gondola accident. After 101 YearsThere isn't much left except for the tunnels. The Enormous Michigan Central Station rests in decay roughly 180 degrees from this position on the map. View Larger Map DebrisWhy is there so much debris on the lower tracks? [The tunnel is still under construction. - Dave] Spillage"Clean up in aisle, errr, track 1". And the final result isa postcard with the same viewpoint, that photo likely shot around the same time. The junk on the right-of-way was taken out by retouching, rather obviously, I think. That's typical. But there are other things changed so you can play "Spot the difference" -- click to enlarge. Refreshing!I'll have a Coal n' Coke and make it snappy, I've got a train to catch! The Michigan Central tunnel is still in existence (and was previewed in yesterday's "Infrastructure: 1910" post featuring the nearby Michigan Central Station), but its future is in question. IHCInteresting to see the International Harvester building on the right. IH was headquartered out of Illinois, so this must have been a branch. In the BeginningI think what always impresses and at times saddens me greatly when looking at some of these photos is the immediacy of the moment that is captured and the newness of the public works some of which continue to exist albeit 100 years of grime, rust, spalled concrete, etc.I have always wondered at times looking at the remnants of civilizations past what the original monuments looked like,in the Shorpy photos we can go back at least 100 years to actually see the moment of birth of some of these often ignored public works. 100 years of wearHere's a winter view, looks even worse but it's a littler closer. http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=1393 (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads)
Lake Drive: 1912
... Detroit suburbs circa 1912. "Lake Drive -- Grosse Pointe, Michigan." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. ... until they cross Alter Road. Porcelain Plates 1912 Michigan license tags had black letters on an orange background, and the plate ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/17/2023 - 2:13pm -

The Detroit suburbs circa 1912. "Lake Drive -- Grosse Pointe, Michigan." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. That Hat This is the PointesHorses are expected to hold it until they cross Alter Road. Porcelain Plates1912 Michigan license tags had black letters on an orange background, and the plate was porcelain. Those early ones bring a hefty price today on eBay. Lake's the sameThis looks like the only curve on Lake Shore Drive in any of the Grosse Pointe cities (GP, GP Farms, GP Shores, GP Park, GP Woods) where there's enough room for a house between the road and the lake. In 1912, the GPs were just becoming attractive to auto barons looking for an estate out of the city, so there has been a lot of change since this photo was taken. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, DPC)
The Drugstore: 1913
... sponges Bath sponges Automobile sponges Manistee, Michigan I have no idea where this was taken, but if you are ever in Manistee, Michigan, there is a historical society museum on Water Street that looks very ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:14pm -

1913. No location given. "G.W. Armstrong drugstore." Seidlitz Powders only 25 cents. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. You get all wrapped up in the cigarsand completely neglect the righthand side, where Peter's, Red Rapt and Romance brands of chocolate, among others, are being offered along with Beech-Nut peppermints. And back on the left: can one imagine anyone going to the trouble now of re-sharpening safety razor blades? Can one even imagine it then? Those were the daysMy late uncle would have known what toilet cream was. He once told me he used toilet water but he stopped after the seat came down and hit him on the back of the head. Salida, Colorado?I was curious to find out where this was located. On another site, I found this picture was labeled as a gift from the Colorado Historical Society. There was a G. W. Armstrong who owned a large drugstore in Salida, CO - though it looks like he sold it in 1910. [Every one of the 25,000+ Detroit Publishing glass negatives in the Library of Congress archive is a gift from the Colorado Historical Society. This drugstore was most likely in Detroit or New York (or maybe Boston). - Dave] Toilet CreamWhat is toilet cream? Preparation H? Commode to JoyWow, so much to look at in this shot. This is going to waste several hours of my time this afternoon. I see at the upper left that Gibson's Toilet Cream is only a quarter (although it may be an exorbitant 75 cents). I'll bet it smelled unique in thereThis reminds me of a drug store I used to go in as a kid. They also sold photography equipment and some cosmetics. Really had a neat aroma about it. Hard to explain, but if there's any other old farts out there, they will remember what an old time drug store smelled like. Chocolates!Scrolling around on my little laptop screen, I came to the stacks of wrapped packages, first, and wondered what was in them. When I scrolled a bit farther, I saw the answer. What I wouldn't give for a chance to taste those chocolates! I wonder if the cup holders on the left were for sale, or were for holding coffee and tea in some kind of disposable cup. I love pictures like this! [The holders are for soda fountain customers. - Dave] Continental In Europe, once you get out of the big cities, you can still find drugstores that don't look unlike this one (you have to ask for things behind the counter and/or try to figure out what the HECK THAT IS behind the counter!) In the USA however, this kind of lovely, quaint drugstore is pretty much gone, sad but true. What a treasure!My head almost exploded when I saw this! Fantastic snapshot full of history -- and 75 cent toilet cream! Toilet creamGibson's Toilet Cream sounds interesting. What the heck is that for? [For the complexion, a la toilet soap. - Dave] Vinol, a Nutritive Tonic.Now we know what it is. Two things I would hate to do:Take inventory of the place or be the sap who had to build those coffee displays on top. I can see the poor guy with a handlebar mustache, garters on his sleeves, a green visor, and button down shoes trying to accomplish those tasks. Noble TobaccoPrince Albert had his can; Peter the Great his box. Mahogany & MarbleI'm always impressed by the incredible craftsmanship and the intent of permanence in the construction of these old stores. That paneling is fit for Rockefeller's study and the mosaic floor is a work of art. If a modern drug store was built with the same level of skill and materials today, we couldn't afford to shop there due to the overhead! Gibsons Toilet CreamFor dry, chapped Porcelain. I took one apartAs a young kid, my neighbor was a pharmacist. He bought out an old time drugstore in South Baltimore after the elderly gent passed away. His old store looked much like this one, although it hadn't been open in a year or more. My neighbor gave several of us young fellows a little spending money one summer to help him take this old store apart. My druggist neighbor purchased any drug stocks and equipment, including soda fountain items. We spent the better part of the day hauling things out to the truck. Some of the more valuable items had already been taken. That old store on Cross Street must have looked like this in its heyday. Pardon meBut do you have Peter the Great in a Box? well you better let him out! Sometimes a cigar is just a cigarRuby Star Cigars Look Like 15 cents - Smoke Like 10 cents Our Price 7 cents - 4 for 25 cents The last bit comes out to 6.25 cents each, but it still looks like 15 cents and smokes like 10 cents! And that was a lot of money, back then. It was expensive to be a cigar smoking waif, back in the day. Western Union ClockThe clock over the doorway is a Western Union Self Winding pendulum clock. It used one of the old telephone batteries to re-wind itself after it had run down a certain amount. Western Union sent out a time pulse from the central office every hour which had been synchronized with U.S. Naval Observatory time at noontime every day. If the clock in a customers office was more than ten seconds off it would not reset automatically on the hour and a tech would have to go fix it. Every main W.U. office in metropolitan areas had a Master clock which was synched with Naval time. These master clocks set sub-master clocks in smaller towns and the sub-masters sent the time pulse to the customers premises. Perhaps BostonA case could be made that the store may have been here. No G.W. Armstrong appears in various directories of druggists around the time of the shot, but the G.W. Armstrong Dining Room and News Company was a strong presence in the New England railroad scene. The company ran the restaurant and the newsstand at the Boston station at the time, and a druggist trade journal describes how the company opened, and later expanded, a drug store in the same complex. From a 1908 ABC Pathfinder Railway Guide: A note from the "Boston Briefs" section of the trade publication Journal of the N.A.R.D (National Association of Retail Druggists): VertigoIf you have never experienced vertigo, now is your chance. Focus on the bottom of that floor. Now use your browser button to push that image quickly up to the ceiling. Whew! Now down. Now UP. Whew. Now down. Now UP. Whew. Now down. Now UP. Whew. Did Last In Last Out (LILO) rule in this store, or who got stuck with the old stock. I'm thinking a parent sent in a kid to get a can of Prince Albert and the clerk went up the ladder and pulled out the FILO can for him. I'm thinking this because when I was 8 my aunt sent me to the grocery for a loaf a bread. The clerk gave me a day-old with a torn wrapper. My aunt and I were back in the store before the clerk could say "got rid o' that one, boss". I want to be the bookkeeper for this place. I direct and you stock. Great photo, Shorpy. Thanks. Re: VertigoI did that trick and felt the sensation you described. I didn't get vertigo bad enough to keep me from finding a dime or quarter on the tile floor left of center about seven tiles up from the bottom. Love all drug store pictures, especially earlier than the 50's. SpongesI like the three grades of sponges available in the lower cabinet right in the middle of the picture: Velvet sponges Bath sponges Automobile sponges Manistee, MichiganI have no idea where this was taken, but if you are ever in Manistee, Michigan, there is a historical society museum on Water Street that looks very much like this...but with side rooms and an amazing upstairs. The drugstore closed suddenly and the whole thing...including contents...was given to the museum. It is preserved much as it was. Bonus: The most interesting thing is a preserved (through taxidermy) double calf head, yes real, from a two-headed calf born nearby. http://www.manisteemuseum.org/about_us (The Gallery, DPC, Stores & Markets)
Liver & Lights: 1942
February 1942. Detroit, Michigan. "Sign in a grocery window in the Negro district: 'chitlins and hog ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8480795.stm Michigan Avenue at Roosevelt This was easily found and almost certainly the same location. Michigan Avenue is my favorite road - Detroit to Chicago. (The Gallery, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/24/2013 - 4:25pm -

February 1942. Detroit, Michigan. "Sign in a grocery window in the Negro district: 'chitlins and hog maws'." Not to mention Taystee Bread. Medium-format nitrate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size. HasletsMy dad, who was reared on a farm and sold gasoline and diesel fuel to farmers for 40 years, really raked it in when "hog killin'" time came around. We all loved country ham and tenderloin, but he really enjoyed chittlin's and haslets (liver and lungs) he'd get from the farmers. He wasn't the of the race that would refer to "soul food", but I know this stuff meant the same thing to him. Re: Lights"Lights" (i.e. lungs or other organs) cannot be sold raw, nor can they be used to manufacture food items in the United States; however they can be part of a shipped food that has already been cooked and imported to the U.S., such as Scottish Haggis. Say, do you have Prince William in a can?Let him out, he can't breathe! I also searched on "liver and lights", and now I regret having done so as it is very near dinner time. 1936 FordNosing its way in. My, My, MY, My, My!Making a virtue of necessity, traditional soul food -- like all cuisines particular to the poor -- took parts rejected by the privileged and prepared them in a delicious but deadly way. Here we see advertised the elements of many fatally alluring dishes, including that key ingredient, lard. The smoking tobacco seems almost superfluous. Of course, soul food had many rivals in that regard. I fondly, though with a shudder, recall my Pennsylvaina German grandmother frying pork chops in lard and, in memory at any rate, mighty tasty they were! "Lights"Another name for lungs, usually calf. If I'm not mistaken they are no longer considered edible in the United States and cannot be offered for sale. Pretty far Northfor a selection of Southern vittles. [Followed the workforce. - tterrace] I would starve there.Not one thing I would care to eat. Offal or Awesome?My Mom was born Italian, in northern California, in 1909. When she was a youngster, an aunt, uncle, and cousin immigrated to join the family. Grandma sent the cousin into town (a mile or two), to pick up a grocery and meat order. Dino came back with the order, but also dragging a gunnysack as big as he was, shouting, "Mama, look what they were throwing away!!" Full of the finest treasures - kidneys, hearts, tripe, and probably yes, lungs. It's all in one's perspective. Just don'tIf liver and lights made you uncomfortable, don't google Hog Fries. In a canIt's Prince ALBERT! Beyond Prince AlbertDoes the person who answers the phone also have pig's feet? I mean, are his hooves cloven? Winter FrontThat '36 Ford has a partial winter front on the grill to help with engine warm-up, a common accessory at the time. Taystee BreadWas baked in Flushing, Queens, NY - not far from where I was born. Prepared there until 1992, when it was bought over by Stroehmann Bakeries and moved to Pennsylvania. This NY Times article details its demise: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/11/nyregion/taystee-bakery-closes-bittern... Good Bread, too! ToastI agree with Vintagetvs, not one thing I would care to eat that's advertised on the windows, except for the Taystee bread. Let's make toast! Hog Fries & MawsHog fries were the parts that were cut from the young male pigs. They were soaked in water over night, then sliced, breaded or battered, and fried. Some people made sandwiches of them. Hog maws referred to the lining of the pig's stomach. One popular way to prepare that was stuffed with sausage and potatoes and sometimes cabbage. It was baked, whole, and sliced. I have a recipe for pig's liver and lights, from The Black Family Reunion cookbook. It calls for slicing the liver and lungs and layering the slices with potatoes, bacon, onions, fresh parsley and sage. Other recipes include stewed kidneys, several for pig's feet, and chicken feet stew. I'd be game to try everything, with the possible exception of the last one. African American women took the parts that others didn't want, and skillfully turned them into tasty and nutritious meals for their families. I, for one, am in awe of them! Some of It is Pretty GoodI would agree that much of this food was not meant for human consumption. However, if you cut calves kidneys in half lengthwise, season and grill in the oven, they are delicious. Chitlins can also be pretty good as long as they aren't overly salted, which is often the case. In either case, enjoy these delicacies with a side of greens cooked with a little fatback. Yum! Had by my DadA '36 Ford, which he sold before I managed to wreck it, unlike his next two cars (please see my profile). His Ford's winter grille cover was a rubberized canvas with several zippered panels that provided various levels of protection depending on the temp. The one shown here is a bit different but does have two panels open. No one's mentioned tripe yet but in the same vein (sorry), long before I was ruining my father's cars he and I used to listen to boxing matches on the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports on the kitchen radio while we munched on pickled pigs' feet. Gnaw might be the better word. Today when I walk pass the jars of that, um, delicacy in stores I look at their jellied, pink mass and realize that once upon a time I was brave, very brave. Correctly Apostrophized.Chit'lin's is a shortened spelling of Chitterlings. The Bell System Couldn't help noticing the Bell Telephone sign hanging off the side of the building. I would say there was a coin operated telephone in the store that allowed many of their customers to make as well as receive calls. A telephone in 1942 in any working class or poor neighborhood was a luxury that then became scarce during the war years. My family did not get a phone until the early 1950s. I once asked my mother about it and she said we really didn't need the phone because very few of our extended family or friends had one anyway. There was a phone in the candy store on the ground floor of the tenement and in an emergency the owner would send someone to tell us to come down. Those calls rarely brought good news. No HaggisAlas, the importation of Haggis from Scotland is still banned due to the lung/lights content. There are imitations made, without the lungs, but they taste like imitations. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8480795.stm Michigan Avenue at RooseveltThis was easily found and almost certainly the same location. Michigan Avenue is my favorite road - Detroit to Chicago. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Detroit Photos, Stores & Markets)
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