1. 1924 Jewett Six Brougham
2. 1924 Marmon Model D-74
3. 1924 Dodge Touring
4. 1919-1922 Ford "Centerdoor" Sedan
5. hidden behind the Model T
6. 1917-1925 Ford TT truck
7. 1917-1925 Ford TT truck
8. 1921-1924 Checker Model H
9. 1920 Overland Model 4

There seems to be an interesting little moment frozen in time here. There is that truck double-parked next to the car at the entrance to the Arcade, which is in turn parked next to the No Parking sign, and the ladies on the sidewalk looking inward toward something in the Arcade or its window. The driver of the truck is still behind the wheel, looking in the same direction as the ladies.

Questions arise: what did the ladies see that was so fascinating? Was the driver of the truck looking at the same thing as the ladies, or was he just scoping them out? What about the car that was illegally parked, did it get a ticket?

Amazing the flights of imagination that one photo can trigger ...

The car second from the left is a 1925 Studebaker. Went to the west coast Studebaker meet last weekend and there were 2 just like it.

Another mention of United Cigar Stores and my memory kicked in. Friends of my parents, when I was growing up in the Bronx, were a Mr & Mrs Hoffenberg. Mr Hoffenberg managed a United Cigar Store, I think, in the Hub section of the Bronx, the area around 149th St & Melrose Avenue. Their son Seymour was a Bataan death march survivor and spent the rest of the war in a Japanese POW camp. He returned home safely. The only thing I remember about United Cigar Stores was a gas pipe situated near the cash register, that had an opening, a flame burned in it, and people used it to light their cigars and cigarettss.

I envy those that had the opportunity to get a Coke, buy a good cigar and smoke it indoors, while bowling.

The only cars I can I.D. are, from the left to right,
3rd Chrysler 4th Model T 5th Model TT 7th Checker 8Th Overland.

After seeing the guy on the ladder on the overhang, I will never again complain about changing some of the tricky lightbulbs in our house. Scary.

Interesting how many of your photos include cigar stores. There are a few of these left today but an exclusively-tobacco store is really a thing of the past. Gone the way of buggy whips?

Isn't that a high tension tower rather than a radio tower? There are cables on insulators running off to the right side of the frame, but I don't see any on the left side, which is odd.

[That's because it's a radio antenna. The transmitting antenna for station WRC consisted of four wires stretching 216 feet between two 100-foot towers. The other mast was atop the Tompkins building. - Dave]

Ah! Thanks for the schoolin'.

The Riggs Bank building (now PNC) with the antenna on its roof is the only building from this era still standing on any of blocks visible in this shot:

http://flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/2620003788/