Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1910. "Dinner hour on the docks." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1908. "Switch yards, Union Station." Tracks last seen here in April, back for another glimpse of the well-ordered world a century past. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Niagara Falls, New York, circa 1908. "Falls Street at Night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1912, another view of Old Miami and some long-gone landmarks. "Car'dale Tower and landing and Musa Isle Fruit Farm, head of navigation, Miami River. Steamer Lady Lou entering the mouth of state drainage canal." The origins of the name of the tower, which overlooked the Everglades, are obscure. Sometimes spelled as "Car'dale," also "Car Dale" or "Cardale." View full size.

Circa 1908. Who would care to hazard a guess as to the location of this bustling metropolis? Extra points for Street View. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

UPDATE: The guesses as to the location of "Anytown, USA" (this post's original title) were, quite literally, all over the map -- from Deadwood to Buffalo to Whitehouse, Ohio. Many incorrect guesses for Titusville, Florida. The correct answer, and original caption: "12th Street, looking east, Miami, Florida."

Gulfport, Mississippi, circa 1906. "Steamer loading resin." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, circa 1909. "Vicksburg National Military Park. New concrete observatory tower." Which looks something like the Tower of Babel as designed by Dr. Seuss. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.

West Baden, Indiana, circa 1903. "The atrium, West Baden Springs Hotel." 8x10 glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Louisiana circa 1903. "New Orleans milk cart." Bonus points if you can Street View this. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1905. "The Ayres Building, Indianapolis, Indiana." The L.S. Ayres & Co. department store. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

The Crescent City circa 1906. "The French Market, New Orleans." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

This shot answers the question, "Just what was tterrace photographing that day in 1975 when he was strolling around Petaluma?" Well, when I got to this spot on Sixth Street I apparently stumbled into a gap in the space-time continuum. Fortunately my Konica was loaded with Kodacolor, so I was able to return with the kind of scene one normally encounters only in black and white.

If we were to do an equivalent shot today, the car would be something like a 1965 Dodge Dart, which to me doesn't seem like a really old car, whereas the one here unquestionably does. Doesn't stuff like that drive you nuts? View full size.

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1905. "Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad office, Woodward & Jefferson Aves." A number of familiar Shorpy standbys here: The newsie, the "painless dental parlor," ectoplasmic pedestrians and a cameo by Goebel's beer. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

January 26, 1925. Washington, D.C. "National Theater. Earl Carroll instructing showgirls in Vanities." More of the Broadway showman and considerably more of his performers. For a decade or so, annual productions of Earl Carroll's Vanities ("Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world") were a staple of the theatrical stage, "treading the fine line between titillation and indecency," as one reviewer put it. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

January 26, 1925. Washington, D.C. "Broadway impresario Earl Carroll signs up Miss Katherine Revner in The Rat." Nat'l Photo glass negative. View full size.