MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME

Search Shorpy

SEARCH TIP: Click the tags above a photo to find more of same:
Mandatory field.

Search results -- 30 results per page


Office Xmas Party: 1925
... gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear. December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas ... Department 5th Floor 1319 F Street Washington DC (From the 1925 Washington City Directory) This department installed ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Evening Star: 1921
... are online in various archives. - Dave] Digitized DC papers For some more trips to Washington, DC of the past the Library of Congress has their Chronicling ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 12:57pm -

District of Columbia circa 1921. The Washington Evening Star building at 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
YMHAOne of the reasons I like this site so much is that, each day, it expands this small town boy's horizons. Had never encountered the Young Men's Hebrew Association. After a little Googling, I now know more than I did yesterday.
FlagsI wonder why the flag on the Raleigh Hotel is flying at half mast. There's a lot to look at in this pic.
D.C. StreetcarsI'm digging the street cars moving down Pennsylvania Avenue.  I didn't know there were any.
There is a Fogo de Chao restaurant in that building now.  It was Planet Hollywood before.  The Hotel Harrington is still there too.
Washington StarThis picture is stirring a few memories.
My father started working summers beginning in 1967 when he was pursuing a post-secondary education at American University. He liked the job enough that he stayed after graduating. It was at this time the Star had some colorful events. He also went on strike with a few other coworkers. He was hired by the Washington Post when Star declared bankruptcy. I went to his workplace a few times when I was a kid. I can still smell the ink...
Washington Post in your face billboardIt is interesting that the Washington Post placed a billboard advertisement opposite their competition. 
The visitors to this site frequently cite the Washington Post to clarify items in these photos; it is a shame that the Evening Star closed before its archives were digitized.  The Star, an afternoon paper, predated the Washington Post and would be a valuable source of information about early Washington.
[Being out of business is no obstacle to a newspaper's being digitized. Hundreds of defunct old broadsheets from the 19th and 20th centuries are online in various archives. - Dave]
Digitized DC papersFor some more trips to Washington, DC of the past the Library of Congress has their Chronicling America.  
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/index.html
Only covers 1890-1910 but there are some interesting DC area papers. You can see old real estate development ads and often there are pictures of the "new" developments like Petworth and "Saul Addition."
There are full-text database like "19th Century Newspapers" (Gale), which has US Telegraph, Washington Globe, Daily National Journal, and National Intelligencer. "Americas Historical Newspapers" which has 27 title for DC including the Washington Gazette, Globe, Washington Federalist, Daily National Intelligencer, Federal Republican, etc.
The Washington Star photo archiveWhen they closed, they gave their archive to the District. I forget which branch it is. But there are several file cabinets full of photos.
Remember the Star well!I read the Star years ago when I lived in D.C. (1960's) and it was the best. The other one I just loved was the Washington Daily News. Small paper but had lots of fun articles and games. Irony is my father worked for the Washington Post, he just loved it there, but the Post was always huge, and I could never really get into it.
I still live near DC, and miss the DC of the past so very much.
I used to also ride those streetcars mentioned here, and they were wonderful. They were cheap and fast. We lost the best of D.C. when they removed them.
I also remember when Washington was like any other small town, and believe it or not, it was actually a small town up until around the mid 60's. Neighbors hung over fences and talked about the Lincoln Roses they were planting, and yes, every yard had them. Entire streets were blocked off for ball games, hide and seek, and you played outside until very late in the summertime. Everyone sat on porches and watch the world go by. It was a fantastic City. (And still is)
Evening StarI worked for the Star as a newsie and a jumper, even tho I didnt know we were called newsies.  The best part was winning contest and going to KFC.  Didn't take much to please us.
Washington Star & streetcarsThe Martin Luther King Memorial Library, a public library in downtown DC (a Mies van der Rohe Building) houses the paper archives in their Washington Room.  Regarding streetcars, they might be coming back!!!
More on Evening StarThis is like old home week.  I worked at the Washington Star, and later at the Post. The MLK's Washingtoniana section does have the card index from the Star, though this is by categories, with chronological entries, and the categories change through the years. It is from 1906-the seventies, maybe.  Can't remember for sure. I think the plans to digitize the Star fell through for now, the last I heard. I believe that the Washington Post building may have been where that sign is.  I think I've seen it on the Avenue in early pictures. As a native Washingtonian, albeit displaced, I love these old National Photo pictures especially.
Evening Star FamilyI lived in Prince Georges County and we were not rich financially but my Father GOD Bless him provide for all the kids at Home. but we were rich in lovin life and havin fun when we were kids!
It was not hard to find a way to enjoy any and everything in my small world!
The Seasons in the Wasihington,D.C. area were always spectacular!
Goin to the drug store and getting ten cents worth of candy in a brown paper bag that would last you a whole entire day!
 I became a newspaper boy and then I was rich goin down to the "Drug Fair" and getting a half smoke,soda,and a bag of chips for sixty cents,no tax.
Would so love to hear from others who worked at Evening Star in mid 1960's and or newspaper boys who worked around the same time1
I was blessed to know good people who held positions in the newspaper world of The Evening Star
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)

The Spring House: 1944
... leaf pine didn't grow in Washington state or Washington DC then or now. Most are in North Carolina and it is an endangered species. ... we put under the photos! The Washington in question is Washington, Georgia . - Dave] View Larger Map No half ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 4:41pm -

Wilkes County, Georgia, circa 1944. "Spring house, Hill Plantation. Washington vicinity." 8x10 inch safety negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South. View full size.
Bubbling UpThere was a good article on springs in the NY Times about a month ago.
Not Washington.Sorry but that tree on the left is a long leaf pine tree and it's straw is on top of the spring House. Long leaf pine didn't grow in Washington state or Washington DC then or now. Most are in North Carolina and it is an endangered species.
[If only people would read the captions we put under the photos! The Washington in question is Washington, Georgia. - Dave]
View Larger Map
No half moonI'm just glad to see no half moon cut out of that door on the right!
Cool storage in lieu of refrigeration seems to be the consensus. 
Springhouse memoriesI grew up next to my grandmother's house in South Carolina.  In my time (and my father's) the house had indoor plumbing, but behind her house was a wellhouse featuring the classic round brick shaft sunk into the ground with a bucket and pulley mounted above on a crossbar.  Down a gentle slope about 30 yards and into the woods was the foundations of a springhouse.
My father remembered when it was standing, a smallish low-ceiling building with stone walls.  Inside was a pipe coming out of the ground that trickled water into a basin that in turn flowed out of the structure through another pipe, the water flowing down to a small pond.  There were built-in shelves inside and cross timbers with movable hooks to hang items.  He recalled it was still used for long-term storage of foods like cured hams, but had been mostly superseded by a refrigerator and icebox up at the house.
The well water was quite drinkable; by my day the well house had gone dry due to disuse and lack of maintenance, but Father remembered hauling up buckets of water for himself and his friends to drink when they didn't want to bother going inside.
The house I grew up in was supplied with water from a well my father had sunk when he built our house; all you had to do is treat it to remove excessive iron (it turned china and clothes yellow) and it was ready to drink, bathe with, etc.
Lively DialogueGirl on left: "Do you know Art?"
Girl on right: "Art who?"
Girl on left: "Art Tesian"
Girl on right: "Oh sure, I know Artesian well!" 
Washington memoriesWhile traveling a few years ago I hopped off a Greyhound bus in Washington, GA. Later that night I ate dinner with the Mayor! It was a pretty small place.
Young girlsBeautiful girls in a gorgeous picture.  Makes me wonder what that shack was used for.
[Something tells me it might be a spring house. - Dave]
The old springhouseThe title of this post and the caption are two definite clues that this might be a spring house! As you might infer from the name, a spring house houses a spring or well. The shed keeps animals and birds out. The bigger ones, at least.
Half the storyThe spring house only seems to take up the left side of the structure.  Could the right, screened-in side be a chicken coop or, perhaps, just a shed for yard equipment?
[You would probably not want chickens (and their byproducts) right next to your water supply, or food. - Dave]
A Rural Privilege Some comments make me realize how lucky I am to live in an area of the country where the occasional spring house still survives. For those not so lucky, I suppose the concept of clean, cold and potable water bubbling out of the ground is inconceivable.     
Chillin in the Spring HouseI've been more than a few spring houses, and never saw one used as a drinking water supply. The ones I've seen housed a pool of cold spring water that was used to keep food from spoiling.
I see bunniesThat adjacent room looks slightly more secure. So, I think maybe a place to keep produce that you wanted to keep cool. Love the cute little dress she's wearing with the velvet (?) bunnies on the pockets.
SlatsMy guess, and the only spring house I've seen were in south Texas where water is important (if not rare) and heat plentiful, is that the enclosed part houses the well (closed to keep animals out as Ginny said). The part with the slatted sides, where the girl's are sitting, was probably the wash house, and the slats were there to allow a breeze to keep those working cool.  
VentilationIs the half-open part on the left the spring enclosure and the open-at-the-top part on the right cool storage?
What an awesome use of natural resources.
Around my place we have to drill deep into the ground for water.
In W VaMy grandfather had an artesian well tapped into the side of the mountain that shot a good 20 feet horizontally before seeming to arc down. It fed a raspberry patch, a spring house, two large ponds and, finally, a creek with its overflow. My grandparents used the spring house to keep milk, eggs and butter cool before lugging them to the bottom of the hill to sell once a week. Part of the water was plumbed to the house (coldest showers I've EVER taken!) and then down the hill to the Ingole household in exchange for helping to tap the well to start with. The well was old when I was not even 10, and I'm nearly 60 now.
The Well and IWhen I was little, my mother bought a farmhouse -- Ontario fieldstone, about 100 years old, then. We never actually moved in due to family circumstances so my mother rented it out and we would visit. The first visit we made, the well still hadn't been capped and a pump installed. They were drawing with a bucket from a hole in the floor of the well-house.
I was just toddling, at that point and when my mother took her eye off me for a second, I made a beeline for the well-house. They little boy of the family caught me by the straps of my sundress just as I tipped over the edge of the well.
A drowned chicken!My first year of marriage, we lived on an oyster farm, near Quilcene, Washington, along with my in-laws.  Our water came from a spring, which originated up on a hill, and we had a spring house much like the one in this picture. One day, I went out to the spring house and was shocked to find that a chicken had fallen into the water and drowned, with its wings out and a horrifying look on its face.  I walked down to the house with my heart pounding, and into my in-laws' house, looking like I had seen a ghost.  My mother-in-law was very alarmed and asked me what was wrong.  When I told her that there was a drowned chicken in the spring house, she said, "Oh, is that all" and went and fished out the dead chicken.  They had it for dinner that night.  I had a piece of toast for dinner.    
My hometownGreat find! I grew up in Washington, Georgia, and am restoring an old house here now. I am pretty familiar with the many old homes and plantations we have there, but never heard of the Hill Plantation.
Lots of history here. Somewhat of a living time capsule, even today!
Good news!I am pleased to report that the structure in the photo is still standing, in much the same condition as in the picture.  It is in fact a spring house, located at our home in Wilkes County, Georgia.  The left side contains an artesian well, and this section empties into the right side.  The right side contains a long, narrow trough filled with water. The trough is deeper at one end than the other.  People would put jugs in the water, and items in the jugs (e.g., butter, milk) to keep them cool.  Live, fresh fish were someimes kept in it until they were ready to be eaten.  The right side empties into a stream in a forest. 
Local lore has it that the water has mystical properties. I can't say for sure, but I can attest to the fact that the water is cool, clear, delicious, and abundant. Our house is probably located where it is because of this natural spring.  
We think we might know the women in the photo, and we're checking with them.
I recognize the spring house!!The picture above is indeed a spring house on the Old Hill Place Plantation.  We own it now!!  Bought it from the original owners several years ago.  The right side of the spring house was for refrigeration and the left side houses the spring head.  It bubbles all the time! Right now I am researching the two little girls in the photo.  I think I may be able to find out who they are!  Thanks for finding this picture.  Dave, are there any more of Frances' photos around of the Old Hill Place or Wilkes County?
[Amazing! It sounds like a magical place. There are more photos here. - Dave]
(The Gallery, F.B. Johnston)

Wartime Washington: 1942
Washington, D.C., circa 1942. "U.S. Capitol, East Front. Sentry posted outside ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/07/2024 - 12:07pm -

Washington, D.C.,  circa 1942. "U.S. Capitol, East Front. Sentry posted outside of House chamber." Medium format acetate negative, Office of War Information. View full size.
Like nothing, compared to todayToday there are more guards around the steps, and you can't go up them in any case. Public entry is through the underground Visitor Center, with security screenings and close scrutiny. To paraphrase Vincent Scully on New York's Penn Station, once you entered like a god; now you scuttle in like an small animal.
Considering today's world, no sane person can object.
Long Gone ColumnsYou can still see these old sandstone ones, but not at the Capitol:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Capitol_Columns
I had just got my driver license when the East Portico extension project started and it became an early highlight in a lifetime avocation of sidewalk superintendency. 
All quieton the eastern front. 
(The Gallery, D.C., Politics, WW2)

Washington Monument: 1860
... used to work as a researcher in the 1980s on some of the "DC Underground," and most of my research books I used are long out of print. ... the New Jersey shipyard it arrived at. I used to think DC was dull and boring until I looked under the rug. The history behind ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 4:19am -

"Washington Monument as it stood for 25 years," 1860. Glass-plate (wet collodion) photograph by Mathew Brady. View full size.
Books?Are there books on the subject? I'd love to read more about it.
Some links on the Washington MonumentI used to work as a researcher in the 1980s on some of the "DC Underground," and most of my research books I used are long out of print.  But casually looking about the Internet, I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument
Wikipedia has a good solid reference, including some background with donation of the stones, which is riddled with weirdness.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/monument.asp
Snopes not only has some debunked myths, but also some interesting stuff buried there.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/wamo/history/chap3.htm
The theft of the "Pope's Stone" is one of particular interest, along with the following anti-Catholic coup.
I also recall there was a stone donated from Napoleon's tomb which was stolen in the New Jersey shipyard it arrived at.
I used to think DC was dull and boring until I looked under the rug.
The history behind this is pretty funnyThe history behind the building of the Washington Monument is pretty bizarre. 
First, George did NOT want any monument erected for him, which is why he chose to be buried on his home estate.  He considered monuments to be objects of conceit and arrogance.  But after he died, the years went by, and in 1833, which marked the 100th anniversary of Washington's birth, a large group of concerned citizens formed the Washington National Monument Society.  This started a process that would end with the monument we all know and love in 1888.
But the intrigue, scandal, and money problems that led to the 25-year gap in this picture, and the "color band" we see to this day because of it is a story well worth reading.
Recommend?I'd like to read the history-have any recommendations for books or what have you?
(The Gallery, D.C., Mathew Brady)

Washington: 1925
Union Station in Washington, D.C., circa 1925, with a baseball game next door. National Photo ... was moved to the National Capital Trolley Museum after the DC transit system was dismantled. It was moved to the new museum site late ... in the "The In-Laws"(1979). Ballgames Huge in DC - Grandfather built Union Station I remember my father taking me to many ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:19pm -

Union Station in Washington, D.C., circa 1925, with a baseball game next door. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Only in WashingtonThat's the first baseball field I've ever seen where the bleachers are facing away from the action. 
Railroad lighthouse pagodaThat little guardhouse or traffic tower or whatever is wild!

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

Washington Accessories: 1922
"Filling station, 17th & L." The Washington Accessories Co. service station under construction at 1703 L Street N.W. in early 1922 next to the Stoneleigh Garage. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Old/New ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 12:05pm -

"Filling station, 17th & L." The Washington Accessories Co. service station under construction at 1703 L Street N.W. in early 1922 next to the Stoneleigh Garage. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Old/NewIt's so interesting to see how new construction looked in the 20's.  I live in an area that's growing like crazy and there's new buildings all around.  I never thought about how exciting it must've been to live in a major city as it was being constructed.  We're 25 miles form the core of our city (Dallas).  
It's amazing how much quality that went into a simple gas station.
St. Matt'sThat dome in the background is St. Matthew's Catholic Church, now the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the cathedral for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Another Beresford ProjectWashington Post Oct 9, 1921 


Fine Gas and Oil Station for City
Washington Accessories Co. to Build at Corner of
17th and L Streets Northwest.
Will Be Largest in Capital

A splendidly equipped gasoline and oil station and motor accessories business will be opened in the immediate future by the Washington Accessories Company on the large vacant property at the northwest corner of Seventeenth and L streets northwest.  The company has been formed by W.T. Galliher, C.E. Galliher and Allan E. Walker, who also own a gasoline and accessory business  at Tenth and E streets northwest.
The new station will be the largest and most elaborate in the city, and will be well in keeping with the magnificent stations scattered throughout the middle West.
The new company will occupy a large section of the square bounded by Connecticut avenue, DeSales street, Seventeenth street and L street.  It is the aim of the company to make the side the most attractive gasoline station in the city.  Wide driveways will provide quick and easy access and six large gasoline pumps and five oil pumps will make for rapid service.
A two-story-and-cellar brick building will be erected to house the accessories department, after plans by Robert F. Beresford. The construction will be by the Allan E. Walker Investment Company.  This building will face on L street.
The building will have large plate glass show windows running two stories high and fronting both on L and Seventeenth street.  The finish of the building as well as the coping surrounding lot will be granite stucco. Trees on the property will be preserved in the development, lawns and shrubbery adding to the attractiveness of the place.
Edward E. Liphard, formerly manager of the Southern Auto Company, will be in charge.  He is well known in the accessory fields.
(The Gallery, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo)

Full Service: 1942
... I wish I could figure out where in southeastern Washington, where I live, that this picture was taken. Not that many towns of ... Maryland! Stop in Southeast Today! Like most cities DC has bad areas and good areas. In DC these are tiny and largely isolated to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/15/2013 - 12:26pm -

Spring 1942. "Girl having her tire changed in Southeast Washington." Photograph by Marjory Collins, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Her CarThat young girl is driving a car with no power steering, no power brakes and with an unsynchronized 3 speed manual transmission.
Many women today would have a hard time depressing the clutch on that car, never mind driving it.
She probably could have changed the tire herself.
Re: Southeast WashingtonI wish I could figure out where in southeastern Washington, where I live, that this picture was taken.  Not that many towns of any size in 1941, so it's probably Yakima or Pasco.
[It was taken in Washington, D.C., not Washington State. One of hundreds of photographs Marjory Collins took in 1941 in the District of Columbia. - Dave]
Re: Southeast WashingtonOther than Pasco I'd suspect it could also be Pullman (where Washington State University was/is), Walla Walla, or perhaps Clarkston. Yakima is more south-central Washington.
[As noted below, this is one of hundreds of photos taken in Washington, D.C., by Marjory Collins. The car has a District of Columbia license plate. "Southeast" means the city's southeast quadrant. - Dave]
Don't stop in Southeast today!If you stop in that area today you're going to lose your car. Keep driving! Even on four flats, keep driving. You can stop when you get to Northwest or back into Maryland!
Stop in Southeast Today!Like most cities DC has bad areas and good areas.  In DC these are tiny and largely isolated to small pockets. During the real estate boom and over past 20 years the city has seen huge changes.  Despite the previous comment I would strongly encourage people to visit neighborhoods in Southeast.  If you are a lover of history there is much to see.  Eastern Market and Barracks Row are in Southeast and have much to offer.  Even old Anacostia has seen a revival and is gaining a Heritage Trial walking tour.  As in most major metropolis's one must only exercise common sense when walking anywhere in the any city.  Visit Cultural Toursim DC for info on the walking tours.
1936 PlymouthThe car is a 1936 Plymouth.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Marjory Collins)

Washington Flour: 1926
Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Wilkins-Rogers Milling Co., exterior, 3261 Water ... farm was near the old Dogue Run Mill , built by George Washington, a coincidence that takes added note because Wilkins helped remodel ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 5:31pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Wilkins-Rogers Milling Co., exterior, 3261 Water Street." The Washington Flour mill on K Street, formerly Water Street, in Georgetown. The Washington Flour brand had a retail presence at least into the late 1960s. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
The buildingsIt's so great that the two buildings in the picture have survived, and it seems with very few exterior changes. As you travel in the Google videos it's plain to see the brick work and architecture is basically the same as when the picture was taken. I love those Google shots.
[Actually both buildings are only about three-quarters their original size; their river-facing sides were lopped off by the Whitehurst Freeway. They started out rectangular but ended up as trapezoids. - Dave]
View Larger Map
Wilkins-RogersI'm not sure when W-R stopped milling in D.C., but the company still has mills in Ellicott City, on a site that has had a mill since the Ellicott brothers went into business there in 1772. The only product that still bears the Washington brand name, though, is its self-rising flour. Washington also makes Indian Head corn meal, which is the best.
http://www.wrmills.com/index.html
Cadillac PickupSomebody give us the dope on that odd truck in the lower right is it a Caddy or what?
[It's a pickup truck that belongs to the Washington Cadillac Co. - Dave]
Check out the boxcars...The front two cars are from the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads.
I always went for the RR's in Monopoly, it's fun to see the real deal!
Bulb changingDoes anyone else wonder how they changed the bulbs in those sign lamps perched six stories up? In those days bulbs had to be changed often and they didn't have bucket trucks back then.
A Georgetown fixture for yearsIf I'm not mistaken, this mill building was a fixture of the Georgetown waterfront area until a few years ago. Our grade school class visited there once. Those sun-drenched bricks and railroad tracks were later shadowed by an elevated expressway, and that blank facade could be seen close to the roadway. The bricks can still be seen peeking out from underneath the asphalt in places.
[These buildings still stand next to the Whitehurst Freeway, where the expressway (built in 1949) crosses Potomac Street. They're part of an office complex at 1000 Potomac that sold for $50 million in 2007. - Dave]
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Objectionable OdorsI seem to recall that in the 70's there was a rendering plant on Water Street that made quite a stink, and that from the freeway, you could see a sign painted on that flour mill that said "The objectionable odors that you may notice in this area do not originate from this plant." 
A small correctionThe street that runs by the old flour mill and later beneath the Whitehurst freeway is K Street N.W. I used to police this area for some ten years while with the M.P.D.C. 1959-1969.
[The street than ran by the flour mill was Water Street, which became K Street after the Georgetown street renaming of 1895. People evidently continued to call that stretch Water Street for years afterward. - Dave]
Re: Bulb changingIt seems to me that the only reasonable way is for the reflectors to move to the roof somehow.  One can envision the 5 poles on the left being detached at their bases and pulled in while suspended by their guys.  The three poles on the right would maybe pivot upwards at their bases, pulled by their guys, to workers on the ledge.  Sounds awfully complicated.  There must be a more clever way.
A Grind in GeorgetownWashington Post, Feb 29, 1940 


Lone Flour Plant Grinds on Canal

Washington's flour industry is built partly in a modern city's demand for bread, partly in a century and half of tradition.
The city's only flour plant is the Wilkins Rogers Milling Co., at Potomac and K streets northwest. It is housed in two buildings, one more than 100 years old with brick walls 2 feet thick, used formerly as cotton plant, ice plant, flour mill, and now office and warehouse.  The other is a modern six-story concrete, brick and steel structure, building in 1922 and housing the present mill.
The plant is on a hill between the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Potomac River.  The canal, which used to bring loaded grain barges from the upland farms to feed the Georgetown mills, now supplies all the power used in the mill.
The last century, Georgetown boasted a dozen mills at one time, eight flour mills and four grist mills. Some of the flour went down the Potomac and away to European markets.
Now the grain comes in by truck and railroad to the K street side of the mill. In the American milling industry, the Wilkins Rogers firm counts itself at the "end of the line," since the flour centers have shifted to the Middle West.
Operators of the mill are Howard L. Wilkins and Samuel H. Rogers.  Without exaggeration they could be cast in the roles of traditional "jolly millers."  Or they could be typed as businessmen who picked up a dead business and built it to a $2,000,000 annual volume.
Wilkins is 73 and president of the firm.  He was born in New Jersey, but grew up on a farm near Mount Vernon.  His family farm was near the old Dogue Run Mill, built by George Washington, a coincidence that takes added note because Wilkins helped remodel the mill.  He was educated in Washington schools.
Rogers, 61-year-old vice president, is the son of a Loudoun County miller, who taught him the flour business.  He is the father of four boys, and would like to see at the least the oldest one go into the same business.  Outside the mill his main hobby is raising thoroughbred horses in his Loudoun County farm.
The two joined in 1915 to take over the old Arlington Mill, built in 1847, according to a stone plaque in the wall of the new mill.  It had been closed for three years.  Their friends advised them against the venture.  They went ahead, caught a slice of war-trade by selling flour to Italy, and later turned the mill over to producing flour for America's World War needs.
The old mill and its machinery were destroyed in a fire, July 4, 1922.  The modern mill was built at the same site.
At first glance the inside of the mill gives the impression that it was never finished.  The interior is like a building still under construction, a tangle of girders, of gigantic funnels, pipes running at all angles, with a network of power belts winding endlessly from floor to floor. Later you find that girders, funnels, pipes, belts are all parts of one huge machine, which transforms whole grain to flour, and corn to meal, with never a hand touching it.
Corn and wheat are mostly purchased directly from farms within a 75-mile radius.

Behind the Grain DoorIn order to keep the grain from leaking out of the the car during it's long transit from the wheat belt to the flour mill, the boxcars in the photo would have their
doorway openings fitted with wooden grain doors, effectively sealing the interior of the car. The car's sliding door would cover the grain door. As show on one of the cars, upon arrival at their destination, the upper boards would be removed and depending upon the facility's equipment, the grain would be shoveled out of the car or unloaded with a mechanical conveyor. By the mid-20th century, wooden grain doors were replaced by ones made of thick paper with light wooden frames. Some of these were reinforced with metal banding. Today, all grain product is shipped in covered hopper cars. Grain is loaded from the top and unloaded from the bottom of modern cars. It is interesting to note that the B&O double door car was designed to carry automobiles. 
Many cars tended to be seasonal in their use and thus tended to have multiple duties - all part of maintaining a steady revenue stream for the railroad who built and operated these cars. 
Under the FreewayBy the 1960's, this was about as "industrial" as Washington got. Under the Whitehurst Freeway you had Washington Flour, Maloney Concrete and the rendering plant, all adjacent to the Pepco power plant. The DMV also had its impound lot down there on the banks of the then horribly foul-smelling Potomac. On the north side of K Street were a number of clubs, jazz, blues & live performance, including the infamous Bayou.   In the '60s and '70s, while preppy Georgetown students and affluent trend-setters populated the clubs and restaurants above M Street (the 3rd Edition, Pall Mall, Charing Cross, etc.), it was a very different scene below M and down under the freeway!  By the late '80s it was essentially gone, gentrified away.
My GrandfatherMy grandfather Harrison Goolsby was caretaker of Mr. Wilkins's 365-acre farm, Grassy Meade, off Mount Vernon Boulevard in the 1940s. You could also get to it from Fort Hunt Road. I surely wish I could find a picture of the old place. Mr. Wilkins's daughter sold out to the contractor, Gosnell, who developed it into Waynewood Estates.
I would appreciate any help on this matter. Everybody's pretty much died after all these years. My mom and dad lived in the lower house.
Thanks ever so much,  Edgar
Note the old wooden boxcarwith the "outside" metal frame. I recall seeing boxcars of this construction well into the 1960s.
Pennsy box carThat old box car is known as a X-26 single sheathed car. It was built in March 1925. The last car of that series was retired about 1958. Been around the block a few times.
Odor in areaI remember the odor from the area. I was told it was the tannery next door to the mill. Makes sense as a tannery does smell. My best friend's father worked at the mill until his retirement.
I, too, remember that sign.Pirateer has it almost exactly right.  The sign was set at such a height as to be easily readable -- indeed, impossible to ignore -- from the Whitehurst Freeway.
It read:
THE OBJECTIONABLE ODORS YOU MAY NOTICE IN THIS AREA DO NOT ORIGINATE IN THIS PLANT
I know, because my sister and I used to read it aloud in unison at the top of our lungs whenever we passed by.  I'm sure our parents looked forward to those drives.
My mom, who is quite an accomplished oil painter, did a rendering (as it were) of the old plant that is at once realistic and beautiful.  I'll have to ask if she still has it.
Flour PowerThe firm's ads used the phrase "water-ground" to describe its flour. When the original water-powered belt transmission system was replaced with a water-powered electrical generator and motors, permission was granted by authorities (FTC?) to continue using the the phrase.
Rendering plant?Does anyone remember the name of the rendering plant that produced the horrible smell? My mother grew up in Georgetown and I remember her mentioning the business by name and telling me that it had been there since the late 19th century. The name sounded German, as I recall.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)

The Case of the Parked Packard: 1939
... near K Street NE "I'll take 'Parking Spaces near the DC Bureau of Traffic Adjudication' for 20." Virginia Ave SE I think this is on Virginia Ave SE in Washington, with the Capitol Power Plant in the background, prior to the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/13/2013 - 2:28pm -

An unlabeled photo of cars parked next to train tracks from the FSA archive taken around 1939. Who can pinpoint the location? View full size.
Northeast CorridorBased on the overhead catenary over the train line I would say this is along what is now called the Northeast Corridor line between Washington and Boston.  Today the line is electrified for the entire distance, but at this time the northern end of electrification was in New Haven. 
The stone-walled embankment reminds me a lot of Connecticut, along what was then the New Haven Railroad.
Addendum to my prior commentMy guess that this was Connecticut is now reinforced by the fact that the first car has a Connecticut license plate.
I will narrow this down further and say that the photo location is looking east along Railroad Avenue in Bridgeport.  The location is most likely in a city, given the dense parking and the large factory building in the background, and Bridgeport is the only city along the New Haven line where there's a roadway paralleling tracks with the tracks being on a stone-walled embankment.  
As the twin smokestacks in the far background look too high to be factory smokestacks, I would say that they are at the power station just south of the tracks on Bridgeport Harbor.  The power station is still there, although at some point (1950's?) the smokestacks with replaced with a single, very tall striped smokestack.  
Delaware Avenue near K Street NE"I'll take 'Parking Spaces near the DC Bureau of Traffic Adjudication' for 20."
Virginia Ave SEI think this is on Virginia Ave SE in Washington, with the Capitol Power Plant in the background, prior to the construction of I-695, as we would be looking north. 
CT, west of New HavenI know the above is obvious; I am just commenting as a bookmark to come back later and see if anyone can figure it out.
Virginia Ave SW, Washington, DCI think the Connecticut license plate is a red herring.  The insulators look more like 2300 V electrification, which would be Pennsylvania Railroad. This would be the extension from DC's Union Station across the Potomac to Potomac Yards on the Virginia side of the river.
[Seacue has nailed it -- clapclapclap! Virginia Avenue SW looking southeast, just east of 7th Street. Note the matching stones. - Dave]
View Larger Map
Washington, DCAssuming that the cars are pointed north, it could be First St. NE between H and K Streets in Washington, DC.
They all look the sameSeems likely that the Pennsy folks followed fairly uniform plans in building these abutments... in most cases, they were elevating on-grade trackage to try to prevent the kind of wholesale slaughter that was routinely happening in NE Corridor cities prior to the turn of the century, as steam engines plowed through the citizenry. Having said all that... looks identical, down to the fencing and catenaries, to the NE Corridor/Pennsylvania line as it passes through downtown Newark, NJ.
Standard RR of the WorldDefinitely Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way per the overhead catenary as well as the pipe-style railings. I'll say Newark, N.J. though I'm probably wrong. Hard to believe the PRR, once the largest corporate entity in the world, is gone now almost 40 years.
The Answer is: Washington, DCVirginia Avenue SW, as noted below by Seacue.
ID of locationThe electrical network above the tracks is far different from that of Bridgeport, CT. I think the matching of the stones is a brilliant clue!
PA SignalThe RR signals in the distance are standard signals of the Standard Railroad of the World (PRR, but I used PA in the title in honor of Father's Day this weekend). Those signals are functional simplicity at its best IMHO. Three yellow lights in vertical, horizontal or diagonal lit-pattern tell you what you need to know. Sadly, they are being replaced by color-dependent signals.
Location AsideThat Title would make a perfect title for a Sam Spade caper.   Nicely done.  Wonder what's hidden in the trunk?
Mysterymobile behind the Packard?It's a 1935 Hupmobile. Very euro-style for its day. Raymond Loewy was simply a genius, one of the greats. Shorpy should do a Loewy retrospective series -- if he hasn't already(!)
Good job, Shorpyites. Next question!How old is that stonework?
22 Cars in the PhotoApproximately. 21 facing toward the camera, and one driving away down the street. No, I will not even attempt to name them all. The aforementioned Packard looks like a 1934 model. Kudos to bohneyjames for identifying the 35 Hupmobile. The third car at the curb is a 35 Ford. The sixth car in line could be a 30 or 31 Model A Ford. If anybody can ID any of the others, it would be quite a feat!
MusclesI'm impressed by the paralell parking.  Not easy with no power steering, and the car is the size of a boat.
Definitely a 1933 PackardYou are close, but a 1934 had a lower front fender line.  This is a 1933 - no question about the year.  However, I do question the model, whether it is a Standard 8 or Super 8.  The Packard carries the V shaped headlamp and fender lamp glass of a Su8.  The Std8 had dome-shaped glass.  But, the front bumper is the size of a Std8 and not as large as the Su8 front bumper.  Wish I could read the lettering on the hubcap - it will say either Packard Eight or Packard Super Eight.
[PACKARD SUPER EIGHT. - Dave]
WWWEvery one of those cars, if displayed at a car show today, would have wide whitewalls on them, yet they were rarely used when the cars were new or near new.
As nice as the Packard is, I would choose the Raymond Loewy-designed Hupp Aerodynamic in a heartbeat. There is, maybe, one year that separates them, yet the Hupp is light-years ahead of the stodgy old Packard, stylewise. Too bad that Hupmobile was already standing next to its grave by this time. In their final days, they built a couple of beauties, this and the Skylark in 1941.
CarsI agree with the identification of the first three cars (Packard, Hupmobile, and Ford).  The fourth car looks like a 1934 Ford Fordor.  Car number five is a 1937 Dodge.  Car number six is not a Ford Model A which had the door handles on the belt line and different fenders and front bumper.  I believe this is a 1931 Chevrolet - either a 2 door coach or a 5 passenger coupe.
The Packard may have been parked there a while.  There is quite a bit of trash under the front right fender, and the birds seem to be enjoying its presence.  The bald front left tire, faded paint, and missing chrome on the front bumper also testify to a hard life. Finally, what is the marking on the driver's door window of the Packard from?  Sticker residue from a sign to tow the vehicle comes to mind, but I do not know if such signs were in use at the time.  City vehicle tax stickers existed at the time, so it might be possible larger signs could have been in use.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses)

Washington Lanes: 1925
Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Convention Hall bowling alleys, Fifth and K ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/03/2012 - 4:05pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Convention Hall bowling alleys, Fifth and K Sts." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
InspirationDid the architects of the Metro stations visit this place before making their designs? 
Pin boys look out!Man, there is no protection or space for the pin boys in this design. Lots of nice maple flooring - wish I had some of it.
Pre-AMFBefore automation put about a dozen pin setters out of work.
Pin boy protectionI think the pin boys would be behind the chain link fence.  There's probably a sliding door to give them access to the "pit" behind the pins.  After the bowler rolled the ball, he could set the pins and return the ball.  This would allow each pin boy to service several alleys.  
Can you imaginethe noise in that place when it was busy !!
Northern Liberty MarketWasn't the wax museum on this site in the 1960s? Convention Hall was built as the Northern Liberty Market in 1875. It burned in the mid-1940s. Seen here previously on Shorpy. Click to enlarge.

No sliding doors for pinboysThe pinboys in old time bowling alleys had a small ledge behind the pins that they sat on, then jumped into the pit to do their work.  No chain link fences.  I bowled in places like this as a kid. Those are above ground ball returns and it looks like some sort of blackboard and chalk being used to keep score.  Also, there are no arrows on the lane in front on the foul line to aim at.  I bowled at a place in Chicago that was like that(Petersen Tournament).  After we finished bowling we would tip the pinboys by throwing coins down the alley.  Thanks for a great photo, Dave.
Pin-Spiller Paradise

Washington Post, Aug 9, 1925


Huge Alleys Will Open in Fall
Convention Hall Converted Into Large Recreation Center.

At a cost of Approximately $200,000, the second floor of the old Convention hall building on Fifth, and L streets northwest, is being converted into the finest bowling center in the United States, Canada, or any other bowling country.
It is to be thrown open to the public on September 15, and will have 50 alleys, a grandstand that will seat more than 2,500 visitors, and will cover not less than 50,000 square feet of floor space.
The work of installing the alleys is being done by experts from the Brunswick-Balke factory of Muskegon, Michigan, and is under the personal supervision of John S. Blick, former bowling champion of the District of Columbia; and president and general manager of the Convention Hall Bowling Alleys.
A decided innovation in the construction of the alleys is the shower baths and rest rooms for the women bowlers; and the shower baths and smoking rooms for the men.  In the balcony, overlooking the alleys, will be committee rooms for the league members in which meetings may be held. This will also contain a lounge for viewing the play on the vast array of alleys.  Two thousand incandescent electric lights will furnish the illumination at night. ...


Washington Post, Aug 16, 1925 


B.Y.P.U. Signs For New Alleys

The Baptist Young Peoples Union is the first organization to sign up for the use of the new Convention hall bowling alleys, was the announcement yesterday of President John S. Blick, following a meeting of the board of directors.  This organization consists of 24 teams, twelve of men and twelve of women.  Approximately 180 teams have already signed up, and many more have made applications.
...
The new alleys are to open Monday September 14, and an excellent program is being arranged which is to include a band concert, exhibitions, and souvenirs for the ladies.


Washington Post, Jan 1, 1926 


Bowlers in Finals at Convention Hall

The finals of the elimination bowling tournament in progress at the Convention Hall drives will be rolled tonight, starting at 8 o'clock. Four pin-spillers remain in the event — Al Work, Max Rosenberg, Happy Burtner and John Pappas.
A semifinal of five games will be rolled by this quartet; with the low two dropping out and the two high scorers then engaging in a five-game final for first and second place.

ContrastI'm struck by the stark contrast between that exterior and that amazing interior!  It must have really been a shock to a first time visitor to enter that building and see nothing that suggests what that wonderful exterior shell was hiding!  Marvelous.  Since it was converted from the market to this sports venue, kudos also to the unknown Architect that pulled it off.
Pin boy protection.I can now see that there is a walkway behind the fence.  I had initially seen the floor behind the fence as being the height of the ledge. But boy going in and out of multiple lanes via sliding doors would have been slow as well as dangerous since you could not see that some idiot had not thrown another ball down the alley after you crouched. I think that little raised platform every other lane is where they stand. Each ball return serves two lanes.
I have little visual experience with pin boys but all I have seen sat/stood above the lanes on a bench so they were clear unless a pin flew high.
PinsettingHubby was a pin setter in the late '50s, early '60s.  He said the pin setter would have been sitting on the flat platform on the side of the pin area.  They stepped on a lever which raised pins and set the wooden bowling pins on them (therefore, PIN boys), the bowling pins had a hole drilled in the bottom.  After setting them up, they released the pin and it dropped and the next frame could be played.  Had to be very fast.  He said if they were good enough, one boy could have done several of these lanes himself.
Had to be fastTo set up more than two lanes and get out of the way of flying pins.  The pin boys I saw in the early 50's at least had a pin placer machine that they manually filled up with the pins after each roll. They would pull the pin setter down to reset them and then would crouch in a opening between lanes untill the pins quit flying.  In my memory the pin boys only worked two active lanes at a time. 
Big ThreeToday there are three bowling alleys in D.C. Lucky Strike in Chinatown, the Hippodrome on GWU's campus, and in the White House.
AcousticsAlthough this hall would be noisy when many bowling lanes were being used, I think the height and shape of the ceiling, plus the protruding joists, would make it less noisy than more modern halls designed with low, flat ceilings.
Setters beware!I remember bowling as a kid in Michigan. The place used pin setters and because I threw the ball so hard my dad used to have to pay the setters extra to work my lane. This was in the late 50's and by then they had a rack they loaded with pins. They sat on a raised platform between the lanes and flying pins were a hazard when I bowled.
It wasn't till later in life I learned that ball revolution and angle of attack were better for scoring than speed. By then the bowling center had converted to automatic pin setters thus depriving the manual setters my new found knowledge.
That location todayFor those who are always wondering as I what those locations look like today, see this.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)

Birdman of Washington: 1915
Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "P.K. Chaconas Co. Market." Pictured: Proprietor ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 11:52am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "P.K. Chaconas Co. Market." Pictured: Proprietor George Chaconas, whose grocery ("fancy fruits and vegetables") was at 924 Louisiana Avenue N.W. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.
Genuinely PleasantHow rare it is to see a sincere and guileless smile on a person's face.  Such direct and genuous happiness is impossible to fake.  This is a kind and happy man.
Oldest Greek MarketWashington Post Jul 2, 1922 


P.K. Chaconas & Co., Inc.

The oldest established Greek-American firm in the Capital and probably the most prominent and successful one is the P.K. Chaconas & Company (Inc.), at Ninth and Louisiana avenue northwest.
Its officers, P.K. Chaconas, president; P.C. Nicolopoulos, vice president; Chas. Chaconas, secretary and treasurer.  E.G. Nicolopoulos and P.G. Xedes, founded the business seventeen years ago, dealing in fruits, vegetables and groceries.  As the commission district grew, so did the company.  Their slogan reads: "Honesty in all business dealings," and it is safe to say that is quite correct.
The charter member of the firm, P.K. Chaconas, first started the business at 1440 P street northwest, near Riggs market, more than a quarter of a century back.  The latter is accredited for having originated in Washington the store on wheels, more familiarly known as the huckster wagon.
The aforementioned members of Chaconas & Company are active in all Greek-American affairs in business and society.
Additional Notes:

Moved to pictured location ("Pickford's Old Stand") circa November 1906.
 The location of Louisiana Ave has changed over time such that Ninth and Louisiana do not intersect on the contemporary map of Washington D.C.  The location of this photo would be in what is now eastern edge of Federal Triangle - just west of the current National Archives building.
 Top portion of Washington Monument visible in backgroud.
The Washington Post refers to "huckster wagons" as early as 1878
 Earliest mention of 'Chaconas' in Washington Post archives is Aug 14, 1894: George Chaconas was fined (along with a dozen other Greeks and Italians) for lingering too long and obstructing the street with a vending push cart.
 This block of Louisiana Avenue is just west of Center Market and seems to have accommodated an overflow of merchants and wholesalers.


1909 map from Baist's Estate Atlas
His wife, and fluffy bunnies, tooIs that his wife we see in the left-hand side of the frame?  Also note the fresh rabbits, atop the open crates.
PrideI see a man who is so very proud of what he has built up (I would bet from nothing) since he, or maybe his parents came to the United States.  The Land of Opportunity.
Yech.One would think he would stop smiling long enough to sweep that filthy sidewalk he is selling food on !!
The Source of GreatnessI fully concur with Lincoln's remarks and would like to take it a step further. Small businesses (like this one) were/are the foundation for a community's and a country's greatness. His genuine happiness was surely the result of more than commercial success. We can learn a great deal by understanding the personal stories of such gentlemen and ladies.
Local LandmarksNote the Washington Monument sticking up behind the roof.
Xmas 1915I love the Christmas greenery. (The notice by the window is promoting a Charity Ball for Monday, January 3, 1916.) When I was a small child in the mid-1950's, my grandma used to go to a butcher where you could pick out your live chicken and they would kill, clean and dress it for you. This brings back memories. He does look like a happy man, as does she.
What made America great!This is a beautiful picture of a man truly proud of what he does and where he does it.  
Trusting soulTwo cash registers, no waiting!  I bet they wouldn't last two minutes out in the open street today.
Haconas?The banner at the top center, under the overhang: we can see a partial K and a period, followed by HACONAS & CO. Where's the C?
[The left section overlaps the right. - Dave]
Central MarketIs this essentially part of the old Central Market?
Deja viewIsn't this the same butcher shop that was proudly displaying a row of greasy old possums a couple of weeks ago?
[That was in New York. This is Washington. - Dave]
My great grandfatherThis is a photo of my great grandfather in front of the business that he built up from nothing. Although our times did not cross, I grew up with the family stories, seeing this picture is like getting a piece of my history. Where did you find this and do you have any others?
[This photo is part of the Harris & Ewing collection of glass negatives at the Library of Congress. There's a photo of a Chaconas delivery truck here. - Dave]
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Stores & Markets)

Louisita Wood: 1913
Washington, D.C., 1913. "Louisto Wood," it says here. AKA Louisita Wood, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2024 - 11:45am -

Washington, D.C., 1913. "Louisto Wood," it says here. AKA Louisita Wood, daughter of Major General Leonard Wood, Army chief of staff. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.
Louisita WoodA bit of digging reveals this to be Louisita Wood, daughter of Major General Leonard Wood, Army chief of staff.
90 milesThe N.Y. Times reported that year that Miss Wood "recently took the ninety-mile riding test with her father." Not bad for a 13-year-old. 
The family of five is together in Arlington National Cemetery.  http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lwood.htm 
Louisto WoodMetrosexual?
You're not aloneDon't know if it's a boy, a girl or whatever?  The dog doesn't look very sure either.  
Winner!I think the horse won the Louisto Wood look-alike contest.  
I will now go hide from the lightning bolt and say my mantra: "nothing is sacred as long as it's funny ... nothing is sacred as long as it's funny..."
Pardon my asking...Is Louisto a boy or a girl?  Long hair, but very boy like features and dress.  I at first thought the hair was the mane, but it seems the mane on the horse is on the opposite side of the horse's neck.  
A clueThe coat buttons up on the woman's side.
Mercy DictatesThat Louisto is a boy.  Life for a young lady with such big hands and feet would have been pure hell. He looks like Mark McCain, Chuck Connors's son on the Rifleman TV series.
And the winner isMy vote: Girl.
This gal gets around!Here she is on eBay!
We were all thereGirl and an adolescent one.  We all had to go through that 13-14 year old range when parts of the face--especially the nose--grew before the rest.  She has a very girly stance and hands that aren't all big when you consider they're gripping something.    
Louise B. WoodHer dad we know.  Her mother was Louisa Adriana Smith Wood.  I imagine the diminutive "Louisita" distinguished her from Mom.
I guess we can also speculate that Louisita was born in Cuba in 1900, while her dad was military governor there.  Hence another reason for a Latin-sounding diminutive.  
Louisa had two older brothers, Leonard (b. 1892) and Osborn (b. 1897).  Louisa was born in 1900, as reported.
The odd thing is that there is no record of marriage, children or death for Louise or for either of her brothers. No Census records came up, either. I'd be interested to know if any of them had descendants.  Maybe another reader can tell us.  Any of little Louise's relatives out there?
[Louise died of a heart attack in November 1960. More here. - Dave]
Pretty HomelyEver notice that the beautiful people in school grew up to be less than beautiful adults and that the remarkably plain people turn out to be very attractive adults? Every time I see a pretty child I hear a voice say "oh that poor kid." 
I would like to see a picture of Louise at about thirty five years of age.
Ugly CommentaryI am glad she is no longer around to see all these ugly comments. The teenage years are not pleasant for most people and I have not met anyone yet, completely pleased with their looks.
As one has already commented that many homely children grow up to become attractive adults and she may have had golden character, too.  
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Horses, Portraits)

Team Players: 1906
Washington, D.C., or vicinity, 1906. "Boys school baseball '06." Harris & ... Wilson (not even a thought in 1906) or Western (one of 5 DC public high schools). (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Portraits, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 3:34am -

Washington, D.C., or vicinity, 1906. "Boys school baseball '06." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
School for BoysI wonder if this school became Wilson High School later.  That's close to Tenley Circle and that area of Wisconsin Avenue. Photos like this always lead on to new info about an area.
[There were several Washington-area schools that went by the name -- one was the Washington School for Boys on Wisconsin Avenue (the photo above), a boarding school whose property was sold off over the years and incorporated into both the Sidwell Friends School and National Cathedral School for Boys; in Alexandria, "Washington school for boys" (or just Washington School) was the unofficial name for the George Washington School, an all-male public school whose student body was combined in 1923 with the Lee School for Girls to form the Jefferson School. There was also a day-school program called Washington School for Boys (a.k.a. Vacation School for Boys) at the YMCA's G Street complex, begun in 1906 as a remedial summer school. - Dave]
Muggers beware!Is there any doubt that any one of these guys would be serious trouble for today's gangstas and muggers? Whatever happened to the America seen on Shorpy??
Pre-RalphitesAnother batch of those wonderful R. Lauren sweaters! Everything old is new again, indeed. Any idea from whence the W.S. comes from?
Washington School for BoysThis photo appeared on June 10, 1906, Washington Post; labeled "Baseball Team, Washington School for Boys."



Boys School Schedule

Encouraged by the success of its relay team during the indoor season, the Washington School for Boys is now developing its baseball team, which promises to be the strongest that has ever represented the Wisconsin avenue institution.
Several preliminary games have already been played, but the regular season on the diamond will start to-morrow, when the team meets the Episcopal High School, of Alexandria.  The other games on the schedule, which has just been completed by Director of Athletics Bryant, follow: April 24, Western High;  April 27, Friends Select; May 4, St. John's College, May 5, Country School of Baltimore; May 8, Georgetown Preps; May 11, Eastern High; May 12, Country School, at Baltimore; Ma 15, Episcopal High School, at Alexandria; May 18, St. John's College; May 22, University School of Baltimore. 

Washington Post, Apr 19, 1906



Baltimore Boys Defeated
Washington School Ball Team Grabs Victory in Last Inning.

The baseball team of Washington School for Boys jumped into the club representing the Country School of Baltimore in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings yesterday afternoon and grabbed victory from defeat.  The game was played on the Washington School grounds, Tennallytown road.  Score, 11 to 10.
In the first stages of the game it looked as if the boys from the Monumental city would have an easy time, and until the last inning it was all their way, but the local boys took a brace and landed on Goodwin's delivery, lacing the ball to all corners of the lot.
In the first part of the game the Washington boys lacked the enthusiasm, and until this was supplied by a large crowd of rooters, who gathered to the witness the game, it was played in a listless manner.
...

  Bard, c. rf
  White, lf, c
  Britton, ss
  Macartney, 2b
  Pilson, 1b
  Bliss, 3b
  Hemingway, cf
  Johnson, lf, rf
  Woodward, p.

Washington Post, May 13, 1906 


RE: Muggers Beware!I'm not so sure about the fellow with the cap standing there, but otherwise, point well taken.  That America expired, to be eventually replaced by this America.
WSBWSB, a private boarding school,  was located at Wisconsin Ave and Garfield St. had ZERO connection with Wilson (not even a thought in 1906) or Western (one of 5 DC public high schools).
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Portraits, Sports)

Washington Rustic: 1923
Washington, D.C., 1923. "City houses." One in a series of Harris & Ewing ... hot water heater. -tterrace] Meanwhle, in Washington DC... Party Time! Did Abe see it? Except for the later addition ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2013 - 12:22pm -

Washington, D.C., 1923. "City houses." One in a series of Harris & Ewing plates documenting the national capital's poorer quarters. View full size.
Behind the cartLooks like a cannon?
[I'd say a hot water heater. -tterrace]
Meanwhle, in Washington DC...Party Time!
Did Abe see it?Except for the later addition of a metal roof and replaced upstairs window panes, this house may have been standing when President Abraham Lincoln walked the streets of Washington City. Even the cart may be that old.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing)

A Dickey Christmas: 1923
... of Yuletude: "Dickey Christmas tree, 1923." The family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey, whose off-kilter portraits (and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/20/2023 - 3:34pm -

One Hundred Years of Yuletude: "Dickey Christmas tree, 1923." The family of Washington, D.C.,  lawyer Raymond Dickey, whose off-kilter portraits (and non-triangular trees) are a beloved yuletide tradition here at Shorpy. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Times and tastes changeAt first glance, it made me think of a huge spider web.  Strangely, most of the ornaments don't look much different from what we might have on our trees today.  I notice the lack of lights, though.
It's in the details...I find in very interesting that people who live in older homes today panic about even the smallest scratch in their hardwood floors when its very obvious that this middle-class Washington family clearly had no such worry.
Also, is anyone able to identify the toy train track in the background? It looks like wind-up track, perhaps O-scale?
ExpressionsEvery member of this family wears the exact same expression.  From my own middle class perspective it seems to be a pleasant tolerance of all things beneath them . . . which are many and include the photographer and all of us some 85 years later.
HaggardThe mother looks so different from the previous photo. Poor gal.
So much to take in.When viewed full size, there was just so much to take in...the crazy tree, the intricate sleeves on Sister's dress, the odd pose of poor Mother--practically stuck into the boughs (not to mention her too-tight shoes!), a hint of model railroad track, the wallpaper & border--just SO much!
But the number one thing I could not stop thinking...why are everyone's eyes so sad? Don't they know it's Christmas? (Maybe this the custom of the day, to look somber in a holiday photo? Whatever the reason, their melancholy expressions are in contrast to the joyful occasion.)  
Jingle BellsPoor Mom. It sure looks like the photog positioned her just a little too up close and snuggly with that tree. Her expression does not reflect a comfort zone with it. More like fending it off.
TracksJust noticed what appears to be a model train track on the floor to the right. Wonder if a wee little Christmas choo-choo was part of the decorations, or a gift done opened and set up. Remember a very simple Lionel train set my brother and I got for one Christmas. No idea where it ended up.
OrnamentsMy family owns ornaments exactly identical to about a third of the ones on the tree. My mother always said they were old, but I didn't think they could be that old!
Hmm...Has anyone noticed that the middle child (oldest son) is not the same kid in both pictures? Rather odd, I thought.
[The oldest boy is standing on the right in this photo. Still confused? - Dave]

The DickeysThe fellow with his arm around the young woman is obviously her husband.. Note wedding ring. Also she appears to be with child.
[Nope. He's her brother. - Dave]
1915, 1923If nothing else it shows those two boys are definitely brothers. The younger boy in 1923 looks just like his brother did in 1915!
That Tree!Why do I feel like I'm looking at the same one in all these pictures? 
ETA: I wrote this comment in 2014 and it's still true in 2021.
It's a Well Known FactSmiles were not invented until 1933. 
Charlie Browncarries on the Dickey Christmas tree tradition today.
Christmas traditionsHaving been born a Chanukah person, but linked to a Christmas person, I have celebrated Christmas for two thirds of my 60 years.  My wife's family is Central European, so they gather for the main event on Christmas Eve.  Over the years, their trees have run the gamut from huge misshapen Dickey trees to scraggly Charlie Brown Ion Dept. trees to the current style of "perfect" suburban mall-lot trees.  My idea of a gentle Christmas is good company and family, a glass of eggnog and rum, fading afternoon light, with Bing Crosby or Burl Ives playing softly in the background.  I wish the very best of the holiday season to my fellow Shorpsters, with special thanks to Dave and tterrace for creating and maintaining this marvellous photographic treasure house and community.
WallpaperDon't think I've ever seen a wallpapered ceiling before.
Christmas just isn't Christmas......without once again witnessing Rose Dickey's slow descent into madness.
Merry Christmas ???I don’t see much merriment here. This conclusion is encouraged by the “noir” lighting for the photography. Sad, very sad. 
It's complicatedI am struck -- make that dumbstruck -- once again by Mrs. Dickey's "hairstyle", by the size, shape, and ornamentation of that tree, and by the sleeves on that velvet dress. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Merry Christmas anyway. And if you'll forgive me the segue from Dickey to Dickens ... God bless us every one.
Alice Smiles!So I went back and looked at all the Dickey Christmas photos on Shorpy, and was reminded of grown-up Alice's job as publisher of Seventeen Magazine.  A quick Google search produced this:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1953-press-photo-alice-thompson-3...
Nice to see a smile after all those gloomy Christmas photos.
Names and AgesJust to put some names and ages to our annual Dickey Christmas family, they are:
Raymond B Dickey, 45
Rose M Dickey, 43
Granville E Dickey, 20
Alice E Dickey, 17
John M Dickey, 11
Raymond R Dickey, 5
The ages may or may not be precisely exact, but accurate within a few months.
DO NOT MOVE !DO NOT SMILE !
RE: TracksI'm a Lionel collector, and can say that those tracks are for a non-electric train set, probably wind-up.
It's All In the Composition   As a semi professional (meaning I've sold a handful) photographer,
who doesn't always get it right himself, I must say this is just about the
the most poorly composed family portrait I've ever seen ... and I love it!
   I do have some concern for Mrs. Dickey as well, but I'm 98 years too late.
Pursed lipshide many secrets: https://www.newspapers.com/image/79911246/
(And for those w/o access: it's the 19Mar13 front page coverage of the escapades of the eldest son [then ten year old] Granville, who had run away from home...to another state !)
The old girlThe old girl kinda reminds me of Grandmama of the Addams Family. 
Maybe --it'll be different next year.
Better than BeautyWe have noted that daughter Alice Dickey (later Alice Thompson, then Alice Beaton) became a power in the women's magazine world, as editor of Glamour and of Seventeen.
She also co-authored 'Better than Beauty: A Guide to Charm', which was reprinted as recently as 2007 and is available as an ebook today. Did Alice's conception of charm derive from her family?
The flip side of a Dickey ChristmasThirty years after this Dickey family Christmas photo was taken, my mother's family celebrated Christmas in New Mexico, where she was from, and her family still ranches.  I wouldn't be born for another two years.  Still, this photograph is a sweet reminder of the Christmas chaos of my childhood.  If only the Dickey children had been given a chance at it.
Redecorating!I just went through all of the pictures (Yuletide Tradition) and it looks as though the Dickeys redecorated with new wallpaper every 2 - 3 years. This confirms why house renovators often find layers upon layers of wallpaper!
My WishAs always, my hope is that every Shorpy-ite has a merrier Christmas than the Dickeys. Thanks to all who contribute to the community here. 
Dickey-ish treeThis is Christmas in Brooklyn circa 1954, a few years after I came along. Left to right are my Dad in his chunkier days, my Uncle Gerard (currently a spry and gregarious 97 years young), and my Grandfather Manuel. I don't have any specific memories of the Christmas trees my grandparents put up but from the few pics I've come across it appears they, like the Dickeys, favored the 'wide as it is tall' variety.
OuchPoor Mrs. Dickey has some swelling in her right foot/leg ... as evidenced by the flesh pushing doughily through the cutouts at the top of her shoes, which appear a tad bit too small to begin with. And then there's the fact that she had to hold that branch down with two fingers lest it thwack her in the face.
The Meaning of ChristmasSigh.. I love Christmas time.. when Shorpyites from all walks of life put aside their differences and unite to ...
critique the Dickeys.  LOL.
I myself relish hunting for clues to their social/economic means. On one hand you have the annual very very large Christmas bush which seems very lavishly decorated. Rose and Alice's dresses look like they might be silk and velvet. 
But previously, Shorpyite "Doug Floor Plan" revealed that the Dickeys took 4 boarders into their 5 bedroom home around this time (1920).  This would seem an economic drop from 8 years previous ( 1915 ) when there were 4 of them living in a 4 bedroom house with 2 servants.  
Maybe that would account for Rose's "slow descent into madness"??
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Shorpy! 
(The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, The Dickeys)

March on Washington: 1925
"KKK parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, August 8, 1925." From the Washington Post's report: "Phantom-like hosts of the Ku Klux Klan spread their white robe over the nation's most historic thoroughfare yesterday in one of the greatest demonstrations th ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 12:13pm -

"KKK parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, August 8, 1925." From the Washington Post's report: "Phantom-like hosts of the Ku Klux Klan spread their white robe over the nation's most historic thoroughfare yesterday in one of the greatest demonstrations this city has ever known. . . . Police estimated that there were 30,000-35,000 in the weird procession -- men, women and children of the Klan." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Well, why couldn't it happen today? As far as I know, the First Amendment is still in effect. Just because their views are reprehensible doesn't mean they can't express them. 
Granted, the public protest/confrontation would be intense. But that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. 
CreepyI guess I'm creeped out by the marchers (looks like they're holding hands & skipping) ... but what really astounds me is the CROWD!  This was a big, although peaceful, event. The fact that they don't have their faces covered is surprising too.
[The District of Columbia had an "anti-masking" law. - Dave]
ProgressWe have made decent progress in these 84 years; still a ways to go, but we are on the right track!
Things have changed a lot in 80 years.Imagine this now, especially given the recent inaugural parade.
Well, nothing's perfect.This is a reminder to those of us who feel we were born 100 years too late that the "good old days" sometimes had their darker side. A scene like this on Pennsylvania Avenue simply could not happen today, and thankfully so. Of course, back then this would have offended a good many people as well, both black and white.
KKKThe Klan had surprising power in the 20s for several reasons. Americans were increasingly xenophobic because of the "foreign entanglements" of WWI, resented new crops of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, and also resented advancements made during the "Great Migration" when African Americans moved North to work in war jobs. In addition, it was a pyramid scheme, as members would receive a kickback for signing up other Klansmen. They had their day until embezzlement and kidnap/rape charges afflicted some of their higher leadership. Good riddance.
[The biggest bee in the Klan's bonnet at the time seems to have been the teaching of evolution in public schools. - Dave]
FSFWell, now we have the Folsom Street Fair.
Forgotten but not goneThe robes and hoods may be gone, but many of their judgments about social issues remain intact and in play in the back-and-forth of state ballot measures across the country. That is both the bright and dark side of Democracy. The Klan itself may have more or less gone away, but, as late as the mid-1980s, when I parked my rusty old pickup in the commercial district of a certain rednecky suburb east of San Diego, I would invariably find a business card on my windshield when I returned, inviting me to the monthly public orientation meeting of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. Evidently my beat-up Chevy 3/4 ton suggested to one of their supporters that I was probably "in the demo." And to this day, San Diego County (in the godless, liberal state of California) has the only museum in the country devoted to teaching "the science of Creationism."
'Coupla things ....I've scanned this photo to the best of my ability but cannot make out any black faces. This both does and doesn't surprise me; it just looks odd to see only white faces in that crowd. 
Secondly, I have to chuckle at all those big, white, "God-fearin'" men holding hands in public! I guess they weren't, as yet, hip to the looming, insidious "lavender menace" that would soon be arriving on the social scene to hand the KKK another lame raison d'etre. 
Other than that, what really caught my eye were all those beautiful buildings! Do any of them still exist? I'm afraid to look for myself.
Constitutionally and legallyConstitutionally and legally it could happen, but the KKK is tiny and disorganized these days and they frankly couldn't get it done even if they managed to get a few hundred people to show up.  Even if they did get something together, they would be massively outnumbered by counter-demonstrators.
Kodak momentI see some of the spectators in the buildings have their Kodaks. We don't often see photography in Shorpy photos.
Ooo Wee OooOoo Wee OO
EE OOO Rum
Ooo Wee OO
EE OOO Rum
The best thing about this picture:They're all dead now.
HypocrisyHolding hands? Seems kinda Gay to me. I thought they was against that kinda thing.
Women TooJudging by the shoes on the participants on the right, I'd say the parade had both men and women in it.  It was a bit of a surprise as I had always assumed the KKK to be exclusively male.
[Like a lot of fraternal organizations, the Klan had a Ladies' Auxiliary. - Dave]
Weirded OutThis picture totally weirds me out.  I can NOT imagine that many KKK members in one place.  I read several studies on the KKK in the past and it still amazes me that they wielded sooo much power in local governments. In my home state of Oregon, they managed to swing the vote for governor away from the Catholic delegates. It is strange to think they had so much power and now are so fragmented (thank GOD).
Horror pictureThis is the scariest picture on the site. Forget Frankenstein. These are the real monsters. "Innocently" partying and parading by day, lynching the true innocents after dark. But as far as them all being dead -- not so.
There are plenty of people alive who were born before 1925.
The parents in this photo may be dead, but the children are still with us. You can see those children watching their parents (and others in the parade) from the sidelines. 
And you can almost hear the chants, which were surely going on as they marched, that put their version of Christianity together with their concept of "the white race." I'll bet the sounds surrounding this parade were even more scary than the sight.
So many white sheetsLooks like the laundries in Washington did a good business for a few days.
Special Attention to Ladies The Occidental Restaurant, established 1906, is still serving diners.
The following advertisement, circa 1923:



Masked MenOne is reminded of any number of current marches by the likes of, say, Hamas.  The Klan was a domestic terrorist organiztion with considerable political clout.  That we survived this era should say something about the prospects of some new democracies in other parts.  What, exactly, I'm not sure.
Oh, wow!A national Crack-the-Whip convention!  You can tell these guys are experienced players, as they are all wearing white, which, of course, can be bleached after a sullying, rousing match.
One has to wonder how the dunce caps would hold up during a rigorous game of Red Rover.
Occidental Restaurant"Famous for Food" -- As opposed to what? The tablecloths?
Something I NoticedNear the corner, standing a bit forward from the fence, is a kid wearing a beanie with what looks like with the Star of David on it. It seems a bit extraordinary that a Jewish family would go to a parade like that, and if it's just someone's hat, well, I would think about what I was putting on my child if that was were we were going (or if it was the 20's).
Other than that, there are just so many KKK people. They go back really far. It's shocking.
Wow, what an intolerant group...I'm not referring to the photo, but the extreme hatred in the comments accompanying it.  These venemous responses are far more frightening than an old photo of a legal, civil march, even if one disagrees with their philosophies.  
I'd be interested to see post-march photos as to how clean the area was left, as compared to the "tingly" feeling activity that occured this past January.  Now that truly scary brainwashed mob (who left the area looking like a war zone), are something to truly fear.  The overwhelming majority of those attending that truly frightening event epitomize the term "uncivil".
One can only hope that in the 80+ years that follow, all those in attendance will surely be deceased, as well as their anti-American socialist and communist ideologies, so future generations can overcome the true nightmare of the cesspool that we are currently call America.
[America is a "true nightmare of a cesspool"? Talk about extreme. Whutta nut. - Dave]
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)

West From Ninth: 1901
Washington, D.C., circa 1901. "View of G Street N.W., north side, looking west ... Martin Luther King Memorial Library, headquarters of the DC Public Library. This 1972 masterpiece is the only building in DC designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Basement for rent I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/13/2024 - 12:36pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1901. "View of G Street N.W., north side, looking west from Ninth Street." 5x7 inch glass negative, D.C. Street Survey Collection. View full size.
Home of the 5-cent cigarEvery brand of cigar that O. H. Hoover carries appears to be priced at 5 cents.  I calculate that to be about $18 today.  Five cents was probably the bait price.  Once inside, you'd be steered to a 10-cent cigar, rolled on the thighs of ... well, you know.
What's in the basement ??You can see the stairs going down at the left of the long railing.
That leaves a long distance after going down one flight of stairs.
I wonder what was in the shoppes down there?
The same site todayToday this site is occupied by the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, headquarters of the DC Public Library. This 1972 masterpiece is the only building in DC designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Basement for rentI suspect that the basement was the former home of the Keystone Laundry -- the sign for which is mounted on the railing at the entrance to the stairwell. I say former because there's a really tiny sign above the one for the 20th Century Cigar that reads "This Basement for Rent".
[If the laundry is gone, wouldn't the sign be too? - Dave]
Identity LostHey lady, if you move, people in 123 years won't be able to clearly see your face.
(The Gallery, D.C., D.C. Street Survey)

Big Gun: 1917
Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1917. "Military training. Loading big gun." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/26/2024 - 11:02pm -

Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1917. "Military training. Loading big gun." 4x5 inch glass negative, Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.
Disappearing Mount - Coast ArtilleryThat's a coast artillery gun (probably a 12-inch bore) on a disappearing mount. After loading, the gun was pivoted upward by an hydraulic cylinder over the concrete wall for firing. After firing, the recoil compressed the hydraulic cylinder and the gun returned to the loading position. Here's a full view of one in the "down" position:

Fashion StatementIn the 1950's, boys' trousers with that belt and buckle arrangement were the fashion.  Apparently, at some time, it was actually functional.
Cooties Keep OutTheir will be no bugs climbing up into the pant legs of these fellows, although there looks to be plenty of apartment space for them above the knees.
Ram It Home, Boys!This photo could have been the inspiration for this not-at-all-suggestive recruiting poster. 
Disappearing Mount (or Carriage)Is that picture from Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, in Washington State?  The fort (now a state park) has two such guns, brought over from Corregidor in the Philippines.  The guns show battle damage from WWII.  There could be more such guns at other coastal forts but the Fort Casey ones are the only ones I know about.
There is a similar fort (Ft. Stevens) near Astoria, Oregon, that had the same type of guns.  Fort Stevens was shelled by a Japanese submarine during the early days of WWII.  The soldiers manning the batteries were not allowed to return fire because the Japanese gun outranged the fort's guns and were more accurate to boot.  It was apparent that the Japanese fire was harassing fire only and they didn't appear to know about the fort.  Returning fire would only have alerted the Japanese to a real target and they could have caused real damage.  As it was, they blew up the baseball backstop in the fort.  Morale is said to have reached new lows after the attack.
GunsRailsplitter: If memory serves, those guns came from Fort Wint, on Subic Bay.  The guns at the various Manilla Bay forts were damaged a good deal more, but the overly hasty retreat to the Bataan peninsula left the Subic forts intact.
(The Gallery, Harris + Ewing, WWI)

Party Time: 1923
October 15, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Dorothy Mondell, Elizabeth Taylor Jones." National Photo ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/01/2011 - 10:35am -

October 15, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Dorothy Mondell, Elizabeth Taylor Jones." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Where's Lenny and Squiggy?Laverne and Shirley, the Early Years!
What are the odds?Only two guests and they show up wearing the same dress!
Pretty young ladies.
Dot and LizI am thinking that Dorothy was the daughter of Wyoming congressman Franklin Wheeler Mondell and Elizabeth (1901-1968) eventually married Admiral Harry Browning Slocum.
PGThey both get my vote for the rarefied Shorpy "Pretty Girls" category.
In MemoriamFrom Elizabeth's birth date it obvious she saw a lot of history from a lot of places.  Her husband won several combat awards during WW-II including a Navy Cross for his actions during the Battle of Surigao Straits -- a very famous USN victory.
CinderellaDorothy Mondell bears more than a passing resemblance to the Black Widow in Office Xmas Party.
The shoesAre beautiful too!
 Best-Dressed Washington GirlDorothy Mondell: "often spoken of as the best-dressed Washington girl."



Washington Post, Jul 26, 1927.

Mrs. Coolidge to be at Mondell Wedding


Mrs. Coolidge plans to go to Newcastle, Wyo., tomorrow to attend the wedding of Miss Dorothy Mondell, daughter of the former Majority Leader, Frank W. Mondell, to Alexander White Gregg, chief counsel of the Treasury Department. … President Coolidge wanted to attend but found that he could not get away. It will be a 60-mile auto trip for Mrs. Coolidge.




Washington Post, Oct 25, 1931.

…
Mrs. Alexander Gregg, who as Miss Dorothy Mondell, was often spoken of as the best-dressed Washington girl, has kept up her reputation for good dressing as a young matron. Recently, Mrs. Gregg wore a tweed mixture dress on  strictly tailored lines and over this she wore one of the ultra modish box jackets of leopard with sleeves coming just below the elbows and the coat ending just above the hips. With this Mrs. Gregg wore a hatter's plush tricorn.




Washington Post, Oct 21, 1941.

Mrs. Dorothy M. Gregg Wed to Maj. Davis in Georgetown


Stealing a march on many of their friends, Mrs. Dorothy Mondell Gregg and Maj. Sherlock Davis were married yesterday morning. A wedding breakfast followed at the bride's home in Georgetown, and they left afterward for Anniston, Ala., where Maj. Davis is on duty at Fort McClellan. Although the wedding was anticipated, it was expected to take place later in the week.
…
The bride wore a black velvet suit, with epaulettes of braid and a cluster of white orchids. Two clips, of scroll design in three shades of gold, completed the ensemble.




Washington Post, Jun 9, 1944.

Letter is Recountal of Capital 20 years Ago.


A backward look: Charm will out — even after 20 years. I have a letter to prove it. Signed by Maj. A.H. Hamilton-Gordon who was third secretary at the British Embassy here two decades ago, it came to my desk [Hope Riding Miller] from the War Office in London not long ago. It presents an interesting picture of the Washington-that-was, and also pays tribute to one of the most attractive women who ever belled it around this town.

Here's the letter in part:
… 
"Myself, I was very fortunate. I had the privilege of escorting to some of the better parties, such as those given by Joe Leiters and Mrs. Harriman of Chevy Chase and the Columbia Country Club, and so on — a lovely girl, Miss Dorothy Mondell. She was the daughter of Representative Modell, leader of the House of Representatives. I think she married soon after that. Would it be possible for you to tell me whom she married? She was one of the most charming young ladies I ever met … and I would like so much to know what ever became of her."

For the information of Maj. Hamilton-Gordon. The former Dorothy Mondell did marry, not so long after you left. Her first husband, from whom she was divorced several years ago, was Alexander Gray. She is now Mrs. Sherlock Davis, wife of Colonel Davis, our assistant military attache at Buenos Aires; happily married and having a wonderful time. 



Washington Post, May 12, 1975.

Deaths


On Saturday, May 10, 1975, Dorothy Mondell Frame, wife of C. Wesley Frame, Sister of Frank Mondell. … Interment Cedar Hill Cemetery. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to St. John's Child Development Center or Christ Episcopal Church Memorial Fund. 
Shades of grayOne dress might be a pale peach and the other a soft mint green or maybe a light blue or mauve. 
No matter the color both the young ladies wear them beautifully. 
Love the shoes!I like their dresses.  They are quite feminine, compared to many fashions from the time. I'd love to see this one in color.  I don't think the dresses were the same color. The shoes are great, too!
ContrastsI am struck by the contrast between these two lovely young ladies and the Young family in that previous offering.  Amazing.  I hope the Youngs did well in their future.
 Not Ordinary Party Girls What a power couple! Miss Jones, granddaughter of Senator James J. Jones of Arkansas. Miss Mondel, daughter of House Majority Leader Frank W. Mondell.  First Lady of the United States, Grace Goodhue Coolidge,  would attend both their weddings: Miss Jones to a Navy officer and Miss Mondell to a top lawyer in the Treasury Department. 



Washington Post, Mar 6, 1924.

Society
Engaged to Lieutenant.


Mrs. James Kimbrough Jones, jr., announces the engagement of her daughter, Miss Elizabeth Taylor Jones, to Lieut. Harry Browning Slocum, U.S.N., stationed on the Mayflower. Miss Jones is the granddaughter of the late Senator James J. Jones, of Arkansas. Lieut. Slocum is the son of Mrs. S.W. Slocum, of El Centro, Calif.




Washington Post, Jun 16, 1926.

Capital Society


Mrs. Coolidge attended the wedding yesterday afternoon of Miss Elizabeth Taylor Jones, Daughter of Mrs. James Kimbrough Jones, to Lieut. Harry Browning Slocum, which took place at 5 o'clock in the Washington Heights Presbyterian church.  …

(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)

Hoy's Hotel: 1901
Washington, D.C., circa 1901. "View of Eighth Street N.W., east side, looking ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/20/2024 - 1:38pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1901. "View of Eighth Street N.W., east side, looking north from D Street with Hoy's Hotel on the corner and the U.S. Patent Office building at the end of the street." 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, D.C. Street Survey Collection. View full size.
Every part a sentence.Signpainting instruction books up to about 1900 considered every thought in a sign to be a complete sentence, and thus required a capital to start and a period to finish. I have seen signs like "The Jones Co.." where the Co. is an abbreviation of Company and the second period is because the name is a complete sentence. I'm not sure if print shops or penmen followed the same logic. It's a quick rule of thumb for dating old signs.
I'd love to know that storyWho was the Foxy Grandpa?
Use when a thought or sentence is completeThe sign painter put a period after: Hoy's Hotel, Pool Room, and Hoy's Hotel Bar. Either he was a stickler for grammar, or he got paid by the character. 
I'm with Sgt McG -- what did they mean by Foxy in 1901, and why did it require one to go through a door at the back of the hotel?
["Foxy Grandpa" was a stage play. - Dave]
Thanks for the explanation, Dave.  I found two short reels of Foxy Grandpa, here and here, both dated 1902.  Grandpa could bust some moves.

Shenanigans at the HoyFrom the June 19, 1901, Washington Times, p2.

That is me!I am sooooooo going to get a Foxy Grandpa t-shirt!
+115Below is the same view from June of 2016.
I've heard of Foxy Grandpa!That banner really caught my eye.  My Grandpa Reilly, born in NJ in 1898, used to tell me stories in the 1960s, of his "historic" childhood.  According to him, "Foxy Grandpa" was a popular newspaper cartoon character, who also had a spin-off chocolate penny candy brand, which the Sisters at his Catholic elementary school used to give to the classroom winners of spelling bees, arithmetic tests, and such. 
"Foxy", at the turn of the last century, meant clever, tricky, and hard to fool. 
"Foxy Grandpa"A review of the play as it appeared in the Washington Post (the day after President McKinley's casket arrived by train from New York after his assassination there two days earlier). Click for full text.

(The Gallery, D.C., D.C. Street Survey)

Washington Prayer Siren: 1918
Washington, D.C., August 1918. "Angelus siren on roof of Evans building." Every ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/28/2019 - 2:51pm -

Washington, D.C., August 1918. "Angelus siren on roof of Evans building." Every day at noon, Get Behind the Government and Pray for Victory. View full size.
Angelus SirenAn Angelus is a Roman Catholic prayer said at a set times of the day. Traditionally, the times (6 a.m., noon, 6 p.m.) were announced by bells. It seems the concept of separation of Church and State was interpreted differently a hundred years ago.



Washington Post, Jun 16, 1918 


Angelus Begins in D.C. June 23
Complete Cooperation in All Departments and Schools Will be Arranged.

Arrangements for a complete observance of Washington's angelus, beginning June 23, in the various government offices have been made by the citizens' angelus committee and William F. Meyers, chief clerk of the Treasury Department, has been designated by Chairman John G. Capers to act as a chairman of a special committee to see that there is a perfect cooperation in all government offices.
In addition, special arrangements will be made in schools not only to see that all school bells will ring at noon, but that the pupils understand what the observance of the moment of prayer means.




Washington Post, Jul 23, 1918 


Siren to Call to Prayer.

John G. Capers, chairman of the citizens' angelus committee, announced yesterday that a large electric siren had been purchased and would be installed on the Evans building within a few days.  The siren will be sounded at noon each day to call all residents of Washington to a moment of prayer.



Washington Post, Aug 25, 1918 


Angelus Calls for Victory
Siren on Roof of Evans Building to Sound for Noon Prayer.

The Angelus siren on top of the Evans building yesterday for the first time called Washington to pray for victory. The siren will sound every day at noon.
Ceremonies incident to the installation of the big electric horn were witnessed by about 200 persons. Among those present were Secretary of Commerce Redfield, District Commissioner Brownlow, Postmaster Chance, H.B. F. Macfarland, W.T. Galliher and Bishop W.F. McDowell.

"Evidence of shock"Two newspaper clips.
Relaxed Flag CodeIn addition to the mingling of church and state, another issue that seems more relaxed back then is display of the flag.  
Just warremember this was supposed to be a "Just War"--the war to end all wars!! Wilson decided that we could save Europe from itself.  World War One was a ghastly horror, with modern weapons and old-fashioned tactics. It soon became less than a noble calling. We should pray that war ends. 
Pray TogetherEvery day at noon we all pray together that the dag-nabbed, confounded, gall-durned siren malfunctions. Seriously, why do people insist on inflicting noise on others? 
The War PrayerO Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it.
For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.  Amen.
- Mark Twain
I’ll take a minaretand the Muslim call to prayer over this racket any day!
Golden Bells, Silver Sirens or Brass Pipes?It is intriguing they didn't just make use of the ubiquitous church bells, which would seem to put one more in an attitude of prayer.  But, they may have been relying upon the shock value of the siren to stir the emotions and emphasize the urgency, rather than bells that often symbolize peace.
As for preferring the call of a minaret, I was subject to this all too often while in India at 5 a.m., and believe me, the siren would have been more soothing than the flexing of the pipes done by a muezzin.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, WWI)

Flying Wedge: 1937
August 28, 1937. Washington, D.C. "Washington Redskins start training. He-man exercise took the ... in 1919. Although Dietz did not move with the team to Washington, in 1988 the National Congress of American Indians sought to raise ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/11/2024 - 4:29pm -

August 28, 1937. Washington, D.C. "Washington Redskins start training. He-man exercise took the place of calisthenics today as the Redskins, Washington's entry in National Professional Football League, started training. The boys 'flying thru the air' are, left to right: Wayne Millner (former Notre Dame star), Pug Rentner (Northwestern) and Nelson Peterson (West Virginia Wesleyan)." 4x5 inch glass negative, Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.
Did they have any right to those feathered headdresses?In the ultimately-unsuccessful effort to retain the team name, former Redskins owner Dan Snyder reportedly claimed that four members of the inaugural (1933) Washington team were Native Americans. Members of Indian tribes had played in the NFL, notably future Hall of Famers Jim Thorpe and Joe Guyon, though neither for Washington.
There is another, also conflicted, connection. The team that moved to Washington in 1933 were the Boston Redskins, so named to associate them with the Boston Braves baseball team. The coach of the Boston team was William Henry 'Lone Star' Dietz, who identified as Native American. His heritage had been disputed, however, even resulting in two trials in 1919. Although Dietz did not move with the team to Washington, in 1988 the National Congress of American Indians sought to raise the Dietz issue with the Redskins, but the then-owner declined to meet with them.
Flying FormBased on watching my kids in competitive cheer, the guys on the right have the best form. Given the height, those guys released their flyer well, and they're all ready to execute a secure cradle catch. 
Shorpweeeee!Our airborne players have assumed different mid-air poses.  Left-to-right, they are: making an awkward dive into the swimming pool, flying through the air on his way to fight crime, and skydiver.  This he-man exercise looks like a 1937 version of what we now call a trust fall.  I wonder if the spectators were making bet on who couldn't be trusted?
IncomingI love this picture. It looks like the three men are falling out of the sky -- in Superman-in-flight poses, no less -- and the others just happen to be there at the right time, to catch them. Not exactly a brilliant observation on my part I realize, but there you have it. It made me chuckle audibly, and I looked up all three of the airborne ones, to learn more about their lives, so there's that.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Sports)

Beach Policeman: 1922
... My only question is... Where are the beaches in Washington, DC?!?! [Along the Potomac or Anacostia rivers. This is probably near the ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 08/31/2022 - 12:51am -

        Commemorating the Potomac Thighway Patrol's 100th anniversary, and one of Shorpy's most popular posts --
June 30, 1922. "Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrill, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee." 4x5 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
This poor guy would have a stroke......if he could see what our high schoolers are wearing to summer school this summer. I honestly don't know where to put my eyes.
And obesity does NOT stop them from wearing too little and revealing too much. I wish I could "un-see" some of this summer's ensembles! (Rolls of exposed fat, ripples, dimples, man breasts, and so much more...)
Side note: What you are hearing in the media about the increase of obesity among America's young people is true. As they entered the building today with their doughnuts and Gatorades and Rock Stars (breakfast they buy at convenience stores on the way to school!), I realized that the summer FACULTY is more trim and fit than the summer school STUDENT BODY. Of course, we *do* have a lot of coaches, male and female, working this summer, but still...
Oh my God, it's the REALOh my God, it's the REAL bikini inspector!
Bathing Suits RequirementsNo kidding!  My grandmother was arrested in the early 1900's for showing too much leg at a beach on Lake Michigan.  Great pictures....  Al . Sacramento, Ca.
Modesty, Please!Today he'd be looking for thongs.  I wonder what the next step is.
Looking upI'm sure he hated his job!! Yeah right!!
Today he couldlook for bulbous folks who have no business wearing Spandex
My only question is...Where are the beaches in Washington, DC?!?!
[Along the Potomac or Anacostia rivers. This is probably near the Tidal Basin. - Dave]
Beaches in DCIs that the Washington Monument in the distance? With the Smithsonian Castle over to the right? That might put this at the swimming beach where the Jefferson Memorial is now.
Its a tough jobbut somebody's got to do it!!!
heaven forbidmen see more flesh than is already present...they just wouldn't be able to control themselves...monsters that they are...
RE: This poor guy would have a stroke...Awww... but these are sure some nice pictures on this site, eh?
sadthis picture is so disheartening. not saying that measuring women's bathing suits isn't a bit humiliating and patronizingly obnoxious, but why are our teenagers pretending they're porn stars?!
["Pretending"? - Dave]
MemoriesI remember being a kid and having someone measure the distance between my knee and my shorts. Even though you knew what you wore was long enough, it never stopped the butterflies caused by wondering if the man doing the measuring was going to think they were too short! What an embarrassing time! 
Re: SadJust because some bratty little kids dress in very little at all doesn't mean they're pretending to be filming an adult movie. I'm sure there are people at the time of this picture who were offended by the girl's skimpy suits, but you don't really have to go off calling them porn stars.
Beach policemanNotice how they aren't measuring the men.
Well, look at the girls.Well, look at the girls. He's more like the "cover yourself up, fatty" inspector. Too bad we don't have those today...
Re: Well, look at the girls.You're an idiot. That's what real women used to look like before the media and anorexia started coming down on everyone. You think they had Twinkies and Ding Dongs back then to gorge on, while sitting in front of the TV? Those girls are not overweight. Your tiny mind has been warped by today's sick society.
D.C. "beach"The area where the Jefferson Memorial is today was once a segregated public beach.
Good Work If You Can Get ItSo, did she pass inspection?
I Knew It!I've suspected for some time that my job sucked. Now I have photographic proof!
The SwimmerI like that she's leaning forward.  I'm pretty sure that'll slide the fabric down at least a little.  Way to work the system, bathing suit girl!
 Double Standards???I don't see any men in the picture, but do notice the boys in the background are wearing essentially the same outfits, which modern boys would consider somewhat uncomfortable, I'd bet.
You can see from the marks……above her knees that she had taken off her stockings only a short time before the picture was taken.
For the sake of HumanityIt's obvious that what our parents taught us didn't matter to us, nor did they care for their parents as well. People had envy for their integrity and honor, and people cared for one another as if they were family, it's sad to see our world slope down to a level beyond wearing bikinis, to a level where we are happy how our children become more and more as adults to copy what we call "celebrities" and where short skirts and show skin. In my search I have found the answer and the solution to this problem, I have found a religion so great. Over time and as skin began to increase people see it as being normal, and that covering up is so abnormal, demeaning and a violation to one's rights, it's the beginning of humanity where Adam and Eve try to cover up, it's in our nature, in reality I found what integrity really means, to me and my family. Although I am double searched at airports because of my religion but in the end I am happy and can lift my head up high, and be proud of our honor, and what we have become in a hateful and evil world.
[So in this evil, bikini-wearing world, you're finally feeling good about yourself? Super. - Dave]
On Our KneesWhen one can determine what the appropriate amount is required to be modest, then the only fashion will be that one definition... A lot of people need to evolve.. 
Hmmm. 1922?Nice pic - but perhaps the foreground images are a little bright, sharp and contrasty for a 1922 image? And a right click of the mouse and a quick squizz at the image properties reveal the use of a $25,000 Sinar digital camera back - and Photoshop CS3. Surely digitizing with a normal film or flatbed scanner would have been more appropriate? I do hope I'm wrong and that they are the real thing but......  Hmmmm.
[These images were digitized using a Sinar 54 scan back and then adjusted for contrast and turned from tiffs into jpegs with Photoshop CS3. - Dave]
ScannerDon't get your point - I would expect you to use a scanner - either a film or flatbed type - to scan these rather than a digital camera. Just curious to know why all the pix on the site put through the Sinar look slightly unnatural for their time, that's all. Maybe we're all used to faded images from the period.
[You wouldn't use a film scanner because there is no film -- these images were recorded on glass plates the size of windowpanes. Flatbed scanners are more suited to reflective media (prints) than transmissive media (glass plates, film transparencies, negatives). Plus, flatbed scanners would be much too slow. The single-exposure scan back (in this instance, made by the Swiss firm Sinar) is standard equipment in a lot of archival facilities where hundreds or thousands of images have to be processed every day. The principle behind each scanning method is the same, though -- light shines through the transmissive media being digitized and hits a semiconductor array. - Dave]
NecklacesThey have to be mother and daughter, related somehow...Matching necklaces...can we get a zoom in of the Medallions... please.. Dave? (Love this site by the way)
[Those are claim tags for the changing-room lockers. - Dave]
Integrity IS hard to find!It's really sad to be a 21 year old girl these days. Everyone I know is getting on their knees to get male attention instead of being subtle or witty. I'm reading and drinking coffee with my nose in a book. I think I've got the right idea, and my joints are no worse for the wear.
Washington PolicemanThe policeman in question is a member of the United States Park Police.  At the time they were under the control of the Bureau of Public Buildings and Grounds.  They eventually were transferred to the National Park Service when the Bureau of Public Buildings and Grounds was reorganized to create the General Services Administration.(GSA got the buildings and the Park Service got the grounds).
Some Warning, PleaseDave!  Please!  I had to clean my morning tea off my monitor.  Too funny!
Fat Was Beautiful"Plump" was a compliment in those days.  Look at the first 10 Miss America winners (not to mention Playboy centerfolds).  The current idea that "Bony is Beautiful" is of fairly recent development and is a forced denigration of all that makes women biologically successful.
(For the "Yeah...sour grapes" crowd, I'm 5'2" and weigh 97 lbs.  I wish I had a little more padding.)
Pull over miss!Pull over miss while I wrap my fingers around your knee cap!  I bet his mother, his wife, his children, and his in-laws are so proud.  How does he explain to his children what he does for a living?  Yes, my dad measures women's bathing suits at the beach.  Sooo funny.  Nope, Madonna wouldn't put up with this.  Note the little boy carrying (I think) a brownie camera in the back.
See him in actionYou can see our man in action in this YouTube movie, round the 3:10 and 3:40 mark.

Presidential dippingI notice the location may be along the Potomac.  A trivia fact is that President John Quincy Adams loved to swim nude in the Potomac.
Reminders of mini-skirtsForty-six years after this, I was a freshman at Fort Knox High School.  While the fashion was for skirts to be several inches above the knee, at FKHS, if they thought someone's skirt was too short, they would make her kneel on the floor.  If her skirt didn't touch the ground, they could send her home to change. The very young VP was generally the one who did that.  Since I had grown four inches taller in the previous few months, but my dresses hadn't, I did my best to avoid him!
Taking no chancesThe young girl on the extreme left is definitely not going to drown as she is wearing TWO, not just one, inner tubes around her waist and keeps them on either in or out of the water.  Better safe than sorry.
Touch my leg??!!Is this the origin of the expression "cop a feel"?  Just wondering.
A perfect illustrationof bureaucratic inefficiency. What's with the tape measure? If the law says six inches, all he needs to measure with is something six inches long, that he can press against ladies thighs. Hmmm....
[That wouldn't have made as effective a photo. This was shot for newspaper distribution. - tterrace]
Oh, it would have made an effective photo alright! I doubt they could have printed it in the newspaper, though.
Not Park PoliceHe is wearing a Metropolitan Police badge.
Very PresidentialI always wondered what FDR did in the 20's before becoming president! 
The measure of a manMr. Sherrill had definite ideas about things --

"But this did not satisfy them""They wanted to play golf on the same days and at the same time as the white people."  Imagine!
[Really. The nerve of some people! - Dave]
Get Back in Your BurkaWhy the ladies don't kick sand in the face of this doofus is a good question. I'm guessing the boys standing just behind are wearing suits just as short.
1963This very thing happened to me in high school on Long Island!!
I think I know what job I want when I grow upThe boys may be thinking this is the job for them!
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Curiosities, D.C., Natl Photo, Swimming)

Gaslight: 1917
Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Washington Gas Light holders at 26th and G ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 2:16pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Washington Gas Light holders at  26th and G streets N.W." These relics of the gaslight era ("two of Washington's biggest stinkers") were scrapped around 1947. Just about every city of any size in the latter half of the 19th century had its "gashouse district" -- a rough neighborhood dominated by smelly holding tanks for the municipal gas plant, where coal was gasified to make "city gas" (generally either "coal gas" or "water gas," depending on the process) for illumination. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Washington postsNote the electric streetlamps in the process of being installed.  Any day now, those incandescents will be lit up and the gasometers will be supplying several fewer gaslamps.
Up and DownDo the tanks go up and down?
I have a picture of some tanks that were always at different heights--they are in the background of some of my dad's family pictures taken in Maryland around 1949.
He said they would rise and fall depending on how full they were.
Telescoping TanksYes, the once-common "gasometer" telescopes up and down as the quantity of gas varies. You can see the inner and outer sections in the picture, as well as the guide wheels that roll up and down the support pillars. The gap between was filled with water. Nowadays much smaller pressure tanks fill the need. As the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica delicately advised, "A gasworks should be located with care as it does not improve the neighborhood."
Boston BlackieThe old TV series "Boston Blackie" often had Blackie climbing one of these monsters.
GasometersYes, they do go up and down.
The Gas House Gang..... was the nickname given to the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, one of the great teams of all time.  
The East Coast press, who for decades before and since felt that the league and Series titles were their birthright, characterized the Cards as being made up of hicks (Pepper Martin), thugs (Joe Medwick) and loudmouths (Dizzy Dean).  
That characterization was not totally incorrect, but as Diz said "If ya can do it, it ain't braggin"... and they did it.
There is a great cartoon which some Shorpyite (not behind a net nanny filter at work like me) can probably find and post, showing a group of Neanderthal types in baseball uniforms, walking through a gas tank field with clubs over their shoulders.  The caption is simply "The Gas House Gang".
26th & G St. NW is now......the Watergate complex.
Gasworks built 1852Based on the Baist real estate map, the tank pictured closest in the photo was located just west of the intersection of Virginia and New Hampshire avenues (the Gasometer labeled 3 on the map).  The gas works was located in this part of town to allow for economical delivery of coal (the primary fuel source) to the wharf on the Potomac.

 (Click map to enlarge)




Big Gas Tanks Here Headed for Junkyard

Two of Washington's biggest stinkers - both landmarks of the gas light era - are headed for the junkyard, completely deodorized.
They are the Washington Gas Light Company's huge holders -- or tanks as the public regards them -- at 26th and G sts. nw., and New Hampshire and Virginia aves. nw.  The holders, one of which was five years old when the Civil War started, are falling a victim to the gas company's conversion to natural gas.
One of them held 591,000 cubic feet and the other 682,000 cubic feet and both held enough gas to last Washington 15 minutes in a rush period, officials said.  Never regarded as a storage unit, but rather as a part of the gas manufacturing equipment, the holders lost their usefulness when the company halted manufacture of gas at the Northwest plant.  Only gas made now is at the 12th and N st. ne. plant.
The huge holders, of thin steel, will be dismantled by a junk dealer and the 30-foot deep holes filled in with earth, the company said.
"People don't notice any changes around here," one official observed a little mournfully, "They just notice it smells bad."

Washington Post, Aug 1, 1947 



Foggy Bottom Jarred to Heels

Groundbreaking activities for a 8-story cooperative apartment unit of the Potomac Plaza Corporation's Foggy Bottom renewal project started out last week with ground shaking activity.
Morauer & Hartzell, Inc., the Washington excavation firm on the job, have seldom encountered ground packed so hard as the 12-inch concrete base of an old Washington Gas Light Co. tank. A portion of the company's old West Station, the tank became obsolete with the changeover to natural gas.  Its base has faithfully resisted deterioration since it was laid in 1852.
...

Washington Post, Apr 16, 1956 


Top of the World, Ma!In "White Heat," there's a gasworks scene with Jimmy Cagney delivering the famous line, "Top of the world, Ma!"
ForeshadowingIsn't 26th and G NW roughly where the Watergate is now?
Gashouse GablesIn the 1927 movie "It," Clara Bow's character lives in a neighborhood called Gashouse Gables. I wondered what the term referred to, now it can be told.
Bugs Bunny played 'em!In the 1946 Looney Tune "Baseball Bugs," Bugs Bunny plays single-handed against a rough-looking team called the Gashouse Gorillas.
Vienna gasometerIn Europe (I don't know about the U.S.A.) you may even see gas holders covered by a brick building, like this one in Wien-Simmering:
 
Snuffed out.I have actually seen several accounts in 19th Century newspapers of country rubes arriving in the city and staying at a hotel, seeing gas lighting for the first time in their lives and proceeding to blow out the flame at bedtime without turning off the gas jet, despite signs warning not to do so. The poor devils snuffed themselves out.
Gas PoisoningCoal gas, around 25 percent carbon monoxide by volume, was the cause of frequent accidental poisonings, with lots of articles in the newspapers about people found dead in their beds because someone turned on a gas jet by accident without lighting it. Or maybe not so accidentally -- "taking the gas pipe" was a common method of suicide.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Industry & Public Works)

A Dickey Christmas: 1919
"Dickey Christmas tree, 1919." The family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey. 8x6 inch glass negative, National ... I read they lived at 1702 Kilbourne NW in Washington DC, it can be found on Google Street View. I wonder what it looks like inside ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/20/2023 - 3:27pm -

"Dickey Christmas tree, 1919." The family of Washington, D.C.,  lawyer Raymond Dickey. 8x6 inch glass negative, National Photo Co. View full size.
It's Not Christmas Without The DickeysAlways look forward to the latest Dickey Christmas picture. If someone made a book of all the pictures I would buy it. They intrigue me, despite their gloominess! I would love to see what they looked like smiling. I read they lived at 1702 Kilbourne NW in Washington DC, it can be found on Google Street View. I wonder what it looks like inside there now.
Happier than they look.I would bet they aren't nearly as gloomy as their pictures suggest.
Clearly this is a family that loved Christmas enough to get a tree that all out of proportion to the room, decorate it haphazardly and have the most unflattering portraits made of themselves. 
This is not the picture of a rigid, organized, disciplinarian father with an iron fist.
Children of the DamnedI think the younger Dickey boy is attempting to will them out of yet another Dickey Christmas with yet one more rotund tree.  Judging from the molecular disturbance around Dad and Sis, I think his efforts at quantum phase-shifting just might be working.  We'll know for sure when the gunboat disappears.
Well of course they're upsetThats a Marklin "La Dague" Steam powered Torpedo Boat worth between $18,000 and $20,000. And someone has already broken off one of the smokestacks. I would be upset too!
Dickeyensian ChristmasThey may well have been the most pleasant of families, but their consistently disturbing Christmas portraits always seem to hint at some dark, Stephen Kingesque, ongoing abuse; something along the lines of "Sybil."
Unanswered prayersKid at center: "Please don't let the mold eat me like it has the rest of the -- oops, too late!"
Obviously a lawyer ahead of his time.He and his family are already thinking "This will eventually be Public Domain".  
Good and EvilThe younger brother's Christmas prayer is that his evil sister and her voodoo doll will leave home and never return.  While their older brother, Emilio Estevez, keeps his distance from this entire clan huddled beneath the Griswold family Christmas tree.
The doll fits in with the family well.The eyes have it.
Meet the DickeysDoing a quick Google on Raymond Dickey, I found that there was a Raymond R. Dickey who was a political intimate of William Casey, late head of the CIA and a "Republican Party Stalwart". He died somewhere in the second half of the Twentieth Century (one of the sons?) Also there is a J. Raymond Dickey (grandson?) still practicing law in the Washington area.
Marklin ShipActually the ship is a Marklin USS New York.  Count the rear portholes at rear; in the picture there are about 6, the other ship proposed has nine visible.
What do you mean? Smile? I *am* smiling. 
Xmas Lesson #1When the tree is too tall, cut at the bottom, not at the top. 
The weight of the world -- or something -- seems to be pressing down on this family. Is it the tree? The ceiling?
Dickey family informationI found the Raymond Dickey family in the 1910 and the 1920 US Census.  In 1910 Raymond and Rose lived at 1358 Otis Place NW with two children, Granville and Alice, and two servants, a 33-year-old woman and her 16-year-old son.  The son also worked as a laborer in a store.  When the house last sold in 2003, it was 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1,776 square feet.  In Street View below, 1358 is the house to the right, trimmed in blue and white.
In the 1920 Census Raymond and Rose lived at 1702 Kilbourne Place NW with four children (welcome John and Raymond Jr.) and four women lodgers, all in their early 20s, two were sisters.  One was a stenographer and three were clerks.  When the house last sold in 1996 it was 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2,631 sf.  In Street View it is the house painted white.
Raymond was born in Maryland and Rose in Indiana.  Why they chose such an unusual Christmas tree each year is still a mystery.


Bah, humbugThe Dickey family's collective ponder of father's comment regarding the cost of photography has been captured for the archives.  A good son will pray that he doesn't blur the investment.
Remnants of the Kaiser's army may have returned to the toy factory, but shell shock has impacted quality control.  Regardless, Marklin models must have been a difficult get in 1919, even for wealthy Americans.  The toy museum is worth a visit if you go to Goppingen.
I have a treasured photo of my father's Christmas tree circa 1919-1921.  The cast iron carbide cannon under the tree now sits on my living room end table. The tree is decorated with dozens of unlit candles in clip-on candle holders.  Scary! 
Six years too early for the Office PartyI thought, by digitally adding some color, that it might would improve their holiday outlook ... but then I realized their real problem. No doubt, they are despondent over the fact that they are six years too early for the Office Christmas Party-1925!
Trite but trueI've said it before and I'll say it again, with no judgment or unkindness intended, but merely as an observation: Mrs. Dickey is hammered.
More Dickey family informationSome years are a little off, but I think I have the correct family members. Raymond Dickey wed Rose Maxwell in 1901 when Raymond was 23 and Rose was 21.  Her father, the Reverend John A. Maxwell performed the ceremony in Washington.  Raymond died in 1940 at the age of 62 and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Prince George's County, Maryland.  Rose died in 1967 at the age of 87 and is also buried in Cedar Hill.  It appears she did not remarry. 
Granville was born in 1902.  In 1924 he graduated from the College of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was a member of the varsity swim team, and in his senior year was named a member of the all-American swim team.  In 1928 he married La Verne Carnes and the couple settled in Chicago where Granville was an advertising manager for a large wholesale house.  By 1942 he was living in Maryland and employed at the U.S. Conservation Corps in DC.  The move may have been due to a divorce and remarriage.  He divorced in 1941 and an Evening Star death notice said Granville’s second wife passed away April 5, 1945.  Granville died in 1948 at the age of 45 and is buried in the same cemetery as his parents.  His obituary references his surviving sister as Mrs. Alice Beaton.
I could not find Alice.  Raymond Jr.'s 1981 obituary referenced survivors included his sister, Mrs. John Beaton of St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
I did not find a grave or obituary for John.  But in the 1940 Census I found a 28yr old J. M. Dickey, attorney, born in DC.  Divorced, he was living at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Clarksburg, West Virginia. I did not find anyone who might be John in the 1950 Census.  He was referenced as a survivor in Granville's 1948 obituary, but not of Raymond Jr. in 1981.
Raymond Jr. became a very influential Washington D.C. lawyer.  His first law firm was Dickey and Dickey in which he was a partner from 1940 (when he was 22) to 1942.  This would seem to be with his father or brother, except his father died in 1940 and his brother was in West Virginia.  Married three times, twice divorced, Raymond died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 63.  A place of internment was not given.
AgonyOur family went thru the agony of Christmas pictures every year.  Since we lived overseas, my folks would have the pictures taken in September.  That gave my mom enough time to get the prints, write the annual missive, and get them in the mail in October.  She mailed them via surface mail (would take just about two months to get to the US) since in those days air mail was too expensive for the number of folks the missive went to.
I was so thankful one year that I was going to be leaving home in July.  I thought I would not have to go thru the agony.  Nope, the folks just took the pictures a week before I left.  And the following year, when I was not home, my folks had my grandparents take a photo in July and mail the negatives home.
I tried to find out when the Dickey photos were taken.  Curious as to whether these photos were taken early to share with friends or taken in December just for the family.  Unfortunately, at LOC, all I could find is the year taken, no month.  
Poor Mrs. DickeyHammered or not, she has to put up with Mr. Dickey.  And there’s less speculation about his consumption habits, because we’ve seen the outline of his flask in other years.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, The Dickeys)

The Alarm Desk: 1943
January 1943. Washington, D.C. "Firehouse Station No. 4, one of the separate Negro units in ... picture. The Hornet's Nest Although Washington DC had Black firefighters as far back as 1868, Engine Company No. 4 was ... U Street “Black Broadway”. Burton Westbrook Johnson, DC’s first Black Fire Chief (1973), came up through the ranks from Engine ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/02/2024 - 1:03pm -

January 1943. Washington, D.C. "Firehouse Station No. 4, one of the separate Negro units in the District. Lieutenant Mills on duty at the alarm desk. Two firemen in the rear quiz each other on the quarterly examinations they must take during their probation period." Acetate negative by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Paper tapeHere's an explanation of that paper tape alarm reporting and recording tape that's seen at the bottom of the picture.
The Hornet's NestAlthough Washington DC had Black firefighters as far back as 1868, Engine Company No. 4 was organized in 1919 after a petition from all minority members of the force (three of them), who found career advancement lacking. Gordon Parks took this photo three years after the unit moved from Southwest Washington to 931 R Street NW, where its coverage included the U Street “Black Broadway”. Burton Westbrook Johnson, DC’s first Black Fire Chief (1973), came up through the ranks from Engine Company No. 4. (It was Johnson who appointed the first female firefighter, in 1978.)
Like other companies, No. 4 had a nickname: “The Hornet’s Nest”, which is emblazoned on the firehouse (moved a mile north) today. There are various theories about the nickname's origin.
Smoke 'em if you got 'emAnd the chief clearly did. 
CigarsNice catch, leightonwalter.  That’s one of the many advantages of a cigar over a cigarette:  it goes out when you put it down.  Say you’ve just lit a cigar, as the chief here has done, but something comes up, and you’ve got to put it down for a while.  The cigar will conveniently go out and wait for you till you come back.
(The Gallery, D.C., Fires, Floods etc., Gordon Parks)

Gas Class: 1927
Washington, D.C., circa 1927. "Cooking demonstration, Washington Gas Light Co." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 3:44pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1927. "Cooking demonstration, Washington Gas Light Co." Where no cake is ever half-baked. Or else. View full size.
Based on the coatsperhaps the Washington Gas Light Co. needs to divert some of the gas into the heating system.
Whoa momma!This lady does not look like she will take any sass from her students while in the kitchen.
2nd row 2nd from rightShe's daydreaming, thinking "I'm pretty, I don't have to learn to cook."
Washington Gas Light Co. indeed!Apparently, they aren't wasting any of that gas to heat the room.  All the ladies sitting in their coats and hats.
Coats and hatsPokerChip sez: "Apparently, they aren't wasting any of that gas to heat the room. All the ladies sitting in their coats and hats." My mother would have been a bit younger than the women here, but she would never think of attending such an event, or going anywhere else in a large city, without a coat and hat.
"Just wait til you taste this, You all!"I guess this is the forerunner of Paula Dean. (or Paula's more serious Aunt)  I am a newcomer to these photographs so I am curious about many things.  Does anyone know why these ladies would be wearing coats for a cooking class?    I am sure it is warm in the room with the ovens.  Great picture!  I love it!
Cooking With GasThe gas stove is a Tappan, which were manufactured for many years in my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio.
No questions!The teacher scares me. She could be in the next Stephen King movie. Great photo filled with incredible details.
Anything to spin the meterMost gas and electric utilities had programs to promote increased use of their product.  Many also sold appliances right from their offices.  It was a good thing to get folks to spin their meters.  Now days the utilities preach energy savings so they don't have to invest in expensive infrastructure upgrades because they have not kept up with demand.  It also looks little Johnny, out from school early and stuck with Mom is about to bolt out the back door.
Lady in stripesHas made quite the muddy mess with her shoes. No one looks overly happy to be there.
Gee she looks familiarNow I know where I've seen that lovely lady at left.  The matron from hell in a B-level women's prison movie.  Yeowl!
Poor KidLooks like the little guy peeping up from the back had to tag along with Mom. It must have seemed like an eternity in there waiting for a taste of the finished product. Hope he got some!
Family event?The two ladies on the left of the front row and the two on the right look like mothers and daughters. Not sure about the centre lady. The older front row ladies seem to be thinking 'I've made better cakes than that for forty years!'
It's your duty, ladiesThis was definitely from the era when cooking wasn't necessarily something you did for enjoyment. It was definitely a required task for most married women and a rather laborious one at that, considering that they had to prepare a big meal for their husbands every night without all the modern conveniences we have today. With that and the apparently cold room, no wonder they weren't smiling! 
Bring Your Son to Cooking ClassAfter looking through the sea of surly-looking faces, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the little boy near the back (the only one sans hat) is probably the one who does NOT want to be there the most!
Happiness Cooking


Washington Post, February 27, 1927.

Come to Our Demonstration
of “Happiness Cooking” 
Daily This Week—9:30 to 4:30.


Come to see the magic of new cooking methods; short cuts in meal planning time savers in meal getting—as demonstrated by Mrs. Lois Shelton, Directory of Home Service of the Standard Gas Equipment Corporation. Daily from now until March 12. Don't miss the opportunity

Special Terms on Ranges During the Demonstration.

Washington Gas Light Company
419 Tenth Street N.W.—Main 8280

Cooking expressionsThey're not looking "surly" (well, except for Mrs. Shelton, but more on her later), but instead rather neutral. People didn't automatically grin like morons when getting their picture taken in those days. Also, proceedings have ground to a halt as the photographer and assistant go through the rigamarole of making a flash-powder exposure with a large, tripod-mounted view camera. I think this helps explain Mrs. Shelton's expression; seeing it on my mother, I'd call that her "you and your darned foolishness" look.
Women's Hats and CoatsSeveral questions have been asked about why the women here are still wearing their hats and coats.  Here's my theory:
The demonstration is being held at the gas company's office, in a room which may not have provided a coat rack.  The women are generally wearing longer winter coats, and if they hung them over the chairs, the coat tails would get dirty.
Women's hat etiquette at the time stated that it was not required for a lady to remove her hat indoors, as it was for men.  
Even today, women are typically permitted to wear hats that are part of the outfit indoors. Emily Post advised that a hat should NOT be worn with an evening dress (more of a style point than an etiquette point). The style mavens of the 1950s and 1960s advise that daytime hats with large brims not be worn inside in the evening. Smaller brim hats should be worn if any hat is worn. Some would say that any dress hat can be worn indoors without exception. After dinner is the appropriate time to remove your hat if so inclined. A woman would not normally wear her hat in her own home even in the old days.
Wearing hats at an upscale restaurant is acceptable especially for fancy luncheons and High Teas. Indeed many ladies get together for High Teas where hat wearing is mandatory and is a fun event. Some advise that the hat should be part of your street clothes – a nice dress for example. 
Muddy shoesAll the shoes on the women in the front row have mud on them. Maybe that's the reason for their unhappy look. They must have had to walk through a muddy parking lot in there fancy dress shoes.
[You think they drove there? - tterrace]
Washington Gas Light CompanyThank you stanton_square, for providing yet another rabbit hole to follow. The Washington Gas Light Company, 419 Tenth Street N.W.—Main 8280 is a parking garage at the moment, not surprising. The company does provide a good history of their progress from 1848 to present day in section on their web page.
(The Gallery, Kitchens etc., Natl Photo)

Dupont Circle: 1905
Washington, D.C., circa 1905. "Dupont Circle at Connecticut and Massachusetts ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/25/2024 - 2:08pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1905. "Dupont Circle at Connecticut and Massachusetts Avenues N.W. White building at left is Patterson House, 15 Dupont Circle." Not to mention all those pedestrians. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
Cast of CharactersClick twice to embiggen.

No Exhaust FumesSeeing old photos here dating to 1905-1907, it is clear how very quickly motor cars overtook horse-drawn transport. Here there are no automobiles yet, so no gasoline fumes, just the earthy smell of life, especially in the intersection.
The Patterson placeThis building with all the horses started as the Patterson Mansion. It was designed by Stanford White, and had just been completed a couple of years before this photo. The Patterson family only occasionally stayed there and often lent it out. President Calvin Coolidge lived there during White House renovations; Charles Lindbergh used it after his transatlantic flight. It also spent ~60 years as the Washington Club, before being converted to apartments in the 2010s.

SurprisedOne feature of note for me is that there are bars on all of the ground level windows. Something I guess I have allowed myself to not notice in my naive thinking that so far back times would have been more honest.
Ah ...... the earthly smell of life. So that's what that was. I thought it was low tide.
Level of detailI’m very impressed by the level of detail in the embiggened slice that Dave has provided.  Once I opened it, I embiggened even more and was further impressed by the facial detail in the old woman crossing the street (center) and the mother and daughter walking towards us (right).  Then I noticed the bricks, the leaves, the grass ... amazing.
135I walked a foot-beat here once in the late '70s. The cast of characters included One Armed Johnny and Bad Feet Sam. Fun times.
(The Gallery, D.C., DPC, Horses)

The Fed: 1937
Washington, D.C., circa 1937. "Federal Reserve Building, Constitution Avenue. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2024 - 12:53pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1937. "Federal Reserve Building, Constitution Avenue. Front and right side." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
"I want to talk for a few minutes ... about banking"Thus began Franklin Roosevelt's first broadcast fireside chat, eight days after his inauguration. FDR's response to the banking crisis was codified in the Banking Acts of 1933 and 1935, which centralized the Federal Reserve System -- and led to this building. The design was chosen in a 1935 competition which -- as can be seen -- resulted in the most grounded, solid-looking building imaginable. Very much part of what, it has been plausibly argued, saved American capitalism.
Is Cret in?The building is officially named the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building after Franklin Roosevelt's Chairman of the Federal Reserve. It was designed by
Paul Philippe Cret, a Beaux Arts trained architect (Pan American Union building, Detroit Institute of Arts). He later applied modern sensibilities (e.g. reduced ornamentation) to classical forms to come up with buildings like this, the Univ. Texas Main Building and the Folger Shakespeare Library. The style is called Stripped Classicism or Greco Deco(!). If it looks familiar, it was the style used by many of the building built by the New Deal/WPA. It lost popularity, though, when both Nazi Germany and the Soviets under Stalin made it their preferred style.
(The Gallery, D.C., Theodor Horydczak)
Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.