The hardware store was still in business in the early 1980s. I used to shop there regularly. They stocked things you could never find today at a big box. Now this street is all gift shops for upscale tourists.

Good thing we have come a long way with burying telephone and electrical wires! It looks so cluttered! Love this picture!

I think the decorative is not tilted, just shown from an odd angle (or I stared at it too long). It looks like a crest or shield with a horizontal band in the middle. The leg that appears to be supporting the "tilted" chunk, appears to have a symmetric mate. The other leg is barely visible, but you can see the scroll at its base.

That precarious-looking window decoration appears to still be in place on current Google Streetview, so I guess it's not so precarious after all.

(PS. Hello everyone, I've been lurking for years. This is my first comment.)

I believe that this is what was being referred to below. The lintel is the thing above the window.

It looks like a wayward stone decorative piece but from what? There is nothing above that it could have fallen from. It does look precarious.

[Thanks! I stand doubly-corrected! - tterrace]

From this pic, you can see at least three of the buildings on the right are still around.

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I'd really like to know if this bustling town has never had paving on its main drag, or if this shot was taken while the street was being repaved.

[It was the norm for small towns of the period. In my own home town, Larkspur, Calif., Magnolia Ave., even though it was part of the county's only north-south route, wasn't paved until 1913. - tterrace]

Watch out for falling stone finials! Could this be why people have (voluntarily? ) had them removed from a lot of old buildings?

I see it now from the modern street view. It's the diagonal left to right strip and angle that made this somewhat of an optical illusion.

Something atop the lintel, middle window, second floor, left side of the photo.

[Looks like the kind of shelf often used in pre-refrigeration days to keep things, like milk, cool overnight. - tterrace]

The window to the right of that one, above it, not on the sill.

[Ah. Looks like a towel or other makeshift curtain, perhaps. - tterrace]

Right window, but up on top. Looks like a brick or chunk of concrete.