A lot of high value properties equal high numbers of engines connecting to hydrant. Before gated wye's were common each engine needed its own connection to the water supply.

A familiar facade, from Google streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/S9XVo

is very reminiscent of a sailing ship's mast. Would have had ratlines leading to the platform from the deck below.

I'm sure I've seen this sort of roadway before here (such as the Hotel Rochester image), but what's up with the different appearance between the car lanes and the streetcar lane? It looks like snow, but that can't be; sand maybe?

Not in the 1970's. The last streetcar service in Rochester ran on March 31, 1941. By some accounts, most of the rails in the streets were collected for WW II scrap drives; other accounts attribute their loss to post-war street maintenance. I've lived here since the fifties and have only seen a few spots where rails remained, revealed by a large pothole or an excavation.

that no one has commented on those two sporty little motor vehicles, one parked in front of the hotel and one farther down in front of the pool hall. They appear similar in design, but what stands out is that neither one seems to have a roof. Anyone have an idea what they are?

[Runabouts. - tterrace]

You don't see that too often...a 5 sided fireplug!

kurmujjin is right about the location - West Main Street, looking east from Plymouth Avenue. The former Hotel Rochester on the right spent its last years as a nursing care facility known as "Mariner House". It met its end in a spectacular building implosion on the morning of Saturday, December 18, 1999. The event drew a large crowd, as such implosions often do. We took our younger kids, aged 10 & 11, to watch. They thought it was super-cool.

If that fellow dug that hole all by himself, I want him on my team. A separate thought: I wonder if those barrels were orange?

I noticed the sectional flagpole on the building with the domed roof and wonder if anyone can enlighten me about it. Perhaps it was a retractable?

I wonder which was taken first, this or the "Hotel Rochester" photo. The roadster parked in front of the hotel is in both, as are the two men standing in front of the theater and the hole digger. Meanwhile, the coach behind the roadster has either taken on or disgorged the group of six, and the white roadster parked by the pool hall has left, or not arrived. Fascinating stuff. You guys run an outstanding site.

I'm pretty sure this view is looking east from Plymouth Ave, the cross street. If that is the Hotel Rochester on the right, that building eventually was the home of Rochester Institute of Technology before they built their Henrietta campus.

"I see you're digging a hole there."