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- Bright Eyes
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[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
Toy Story: 1925
Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "The toy shop, 1207 New York Avenue." The former Apolonia Stuntz store (seen earlier on Shorpy here and here) where Abraham Lincoln is said to have bought toys for his son Tad, now the Lee Lung First-Class Laundry ("Bosom 6¢"). A scene so sun-dappled and languid, it's making us ... very ... sleepy. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Louis Kurtz: Presidential Bootmaker
Washington Post, Sep 23, 1923.Made Boots for Gen. Grant.
By Byrd Mock.
How many people in Washington know that the shoemaker to President Grant still makes shoes at this little shop at 1209 New York avenue northwest?
Above the door of this battered-looking old shop is the legend, "L. Kurtz, Boot and Shoe Manufacturer," but it takes good eyes to make out the lettering dimmed with age, for the sign has never been changed or renewed since it was first nailed over the door of the cobbler's shop 43 years ago, when he moved from the old shop at 733 Seventh street northwest, where Grant, both as general of the United States army and as President of the United States, personally paid frequent visits to have his boots made and repaired, as well as to order shoes for his entire family.
At the time Gen. Grant gave his first order for pair of boots, L. Kurtz was a young apprentice to his uncle, Louis Kurtz, and it fell to the young man's lot to stitch the tops of the uppers of the general's boots and to fit them to the bottoms, which were made by his more experienced uncle.
Gray haired, horny-handed, wrinkle-skinned, almost at the end of his three score and ten, Louis Kurtz still toils. "Week in, week out, from morn till night," smiling as he sits on his low and much worn cobbler's seat, keeping a sort of jagged rhythm with his hammer strokes with which he punctuates his conversation. …
[Stories of Grant's first visit to the shop, his shoe size, "He wore a 7½ on a wide last," and visits from Grant's children. Other famous patrons: Gen. Sherman, Adm. G.W. Baird, Judge Dent, and President Mckinley.]
Before inflation
To launder a complete shirt: 7 cents for the shirt, 15 cents for the collar, and 3 cents for the cuffs - a total of 25 cents. In 1966, it cost me 25 cents to launder a shirt (with starch) in Carbondale, IL. The collar and cuffs were attached.
Rooms For Rent
I wonder how you got to your room when Lee Lung had closed up shop for the day.
Boot & Shoe Repairing
It's good to see Louis Kurtz is still going strong these 12 years later. His store hasn't changed a bit.
Prices
Is that 6 cents a bosom? Perhaps a dime for the pair?
Camera Shy
The horse may be drowsing, but his groom is very aware of the photographer.
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