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Public Square, Cleveland: 1907
... best known for its appearance in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (1983), where young Ralphie drools over a Red Ryder carbine-action Range Model (etc., etc.) BB gun in the window. Statue of "Liberty" When I was a boy, an older friend ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:33pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1907. "Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Public Square." This Civil War monument was dedicated July 4, 1894. Panorama made from two 8x10 glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Co.  View full size.
Memories I waited for the Number 20 bus daily 1972 through 1976 while a schoolboy across the street from this fine monument. The local men who served in the Civil War have their names displayed on the walls on the inside.
[One commenter speculated that the monument housed public toilets. - Dave]
ComplexThat is an impressive piece of work.  Anyone know what was housed in the base of the monument?  And, yes, that bicycle looks really lonely just standing there.
Details, details.Love the sprinklers, and am curious who would leave a brand new bike just sitting there unlocked.
Things to comeNote the harness company sign in the upper left, and, in the streets below, a few examples of the machines that would be the death of that industry.
Public vs. individualAlways amazing, how much public transport one can see in these old photos, and how little private transport (shank's mare excluded). Obesity was not much of a problem then and even portly people got up and down stairs well, I suppose. 
Fascinating picture.Do you know if it was shot from one camera at different times or two cameras simultaneously? 
If it was a single camera I'm curious if some of the people, and particularly some of the trolleys and carriages appear in both photos?
[The exposures were not made simultaneously. Below, the individual plates and their Photoshop marriage. Note the visitor at the base of the monument, present only in the lefthand image, and the difference in the height of the shadows on the wall. - Dave]




Below, an initial and not very satisfactory attempt.

Drugs/dentistPresumably, one pops upstairs for some of Marshall's cut rate drugs after one has been to the "painless" dentistry below?  And after that, off to the church across the road to pray for the pain to go away.
Same scene 50 years onHere's an interesting view my father took of the same area in the late 1950s.

Floral emblemsI assume the artwork carved into the vegetation around the monument are some type of unit insignias? I notice one for the Corps of Engineers and another for the Signal Corps.
ViewpointThe camera is on the southeast corner of Public Square. You can see the edge of the old May Co. building on the left edge of the picture. The location of the Terminal Tower complex would be where the Stein Cafe is in the photo.
Signs of the timesThe old street scenes have several things in common.  Signs for painless dentistry, cigars and cut rate drugs.
Remembering going to the dentist starting about 1950 I have to question the painless statement.
InsideThe monument houses a small museum. The photos were taken from the southeast. The Terminal Tower is to the southwest. 
A great tribute to Ohio's Civil War VetsThat is an amazing monument! When you compare the white objects (dresses/lamp globes) to the white stripes in the American Flag, the air pollution of the day is evident. Old Glory even looks weighted down.
Fortunately, it still remains a great monument. I want to go see it.
It has its own website:
http://soldiersandsailors.com/
Re: Floral EmblemsIf you look closely, the same emblems are carved in the upper portion of the base of the monument. These are the symbols of the different elements of the Union Army 1861-1865.
[You can see a close-up here. - Dave]
You'll shoot your eye out!Ah yes, The Higbee Company (left) forerunner of the iconic Higbee's department store (in nearby Terminal Tower), perhaps best known for its appearance in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (1983), where young Ralphie drools over a Red Ryder carbine-action Range Model (etc., etc.) BB gun in the window.
Statue of "Liberty"When I was a boy, an older friend of our family gave me a tour of this monument and told me that the statue on top was "Liberty" and was deliberately placed facing north with sword unsheathed because, in the years after the Civil War, there was some ill-will with Canada and even some fear that Canada would consider "invading" America and the Cleveland citizens put her up as a warning. Never sure if that was a true story (and have never been able to find a historical reference to it) but that's how I heard it more than 50 years ago.
THANK YOU!!Thank you very much for sharing this photo.  I have a collection of 4 photos from about the same time (very low quality), that were passed down through ancestors and I was having trouble identifying.  Then I came across your photo that has the same Stein Cafe and King Harness signs.  This helped me identify the angle and roughly date my photographs.  I am enclosing a scaled down version here.  Thanks again for sharing.
(Panoramas, Civil War, Cleveland, DPC, Streetcars)

And Now the News: 1956
... a souvenir redwood wishing well coin bank on the window seat, along with my mother's African violets in their occasional living ... presented us with a set of those aluminum tumblers one Christmas in the 50s. I think it was six of them, each one a different bright ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 11/17/2016 - 3:46pm -

November 22, 1956, Larkspur, Calif. My brother reading The San Francisco News, at the time one of four dailies published in the city. He's home on Thanksgiving break from Cal Poly, where he'd just taken up the pipe. We're hosting a big crowd of relatives for dinner, hence the kitchen chair in the living room for overflow dinner seating. In the upper right corner on top of the TV cabinet I see my coin collection, ready for me to show off to my uncles and anybody else I can waylay. At the lower left, an item familiar to just about anybody who grew up in the 50s, an anodized aluminum tumbler. The magazine rack has a Coronet, a Life, undoubtedly some Saturday Evening Posts. To prove we're in California, a souvenir redwood wishing well coin bank on the window seat, along with my mother's African violets in their occasional living state. My sister snapped this Kodachrome slide with brother's Lordox. View full size.
Cold Hands   I remember those aluminum glasses, how cold they were to hold when full of an icy liquid.
Stark HistorySo much to comment upon in this scene, besides it being my last Thanksgiving in the SF Bay area (Hayward).  The newspaper headline shows the aftermath of the short-lived 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It had been a busy month of news, even for a fourth-grader, what with the Suez Crisis and Ike being reelected as well.
My modest coin collection had not yet advanced to the point of needing those Whitman Coin Books to stuff them into.  Checking any change for the supposedly super-rare 1943 copper penny was almost a reflex back then.  I was also totally ignorant of the silver in those WW2 nickels! (And never imagined that less than a decade later newly-minted US coinage would be almost totally devoid of silver.)
Where there's smokeThe contrast between his shirt and the color of the newspaper is striking; I can definitely see that a different process is used now. That's the evening paper, which would indicate that it's new, and hasn't sat out in the sun to yellow, and yet the color looks like it's been sitting in the driveway for three days. 
Also I have to admit to being deeply amused by a freshman with a PIPE. Heh. Wonder how long that particular affectation lasted!!
Our family artifactsThe turtle: Good eyes! Actually, it's made of sea shells: cowries for the carapace and head and snails for the feet. I actually still have it, as well as a twin of the wishing well. Fish bowl: it served two purposes: to temporarily house goldfish that one of us would win at a festival game booth by throwing a ping-pong ball in their bowl, and to temporarily house tadpoles and polliwogs we'd catch at the Russian River. "Temporarily" because in each case their survival rate was depressingly low. Aluminum tumblers: ours had come with cottage cheese in them originally. Funny, I have that foil-gum-wrapper sensitivity thing too, but I never had a problem with the tumblers. Newsprint: no, the SF News came on uncolored newsprint. The Call-Bulletin, which The News later merged with, had a pink front page, as I recall; and a red masthead, I think. Ginger pots: my mother's shopping expeditions to The City (via Greyhound bus, with me in tow) would generally include Chinatown to get candied ginger and watermelon, so we always had several of those around.
Nodding turtle?Could that be a nodding turtle with a half walnut shell carapace, just to the right of the wishing well? Wow!
Time CapsuleThis is another example of a photo that people would have barely looked at when it was first developed but is hugely interesting to us 50 years later.
It's one of the reasons I find it difficult to delete any photos that I take. 
What's with the empty fish bowl? Was there a recent death in the family?
College funDid your goldfish die or was your brother trying to see how many he could swallow?
At SeventeenMy mother made knitted booties to surround the anodized aluminum tumblers. Of course the seam was at the bottom, so the tumblers never sat quite straight. Neither did they prevent the terrible sensation of icy medal clinking on my teeth -- the horror, the horror. I came home for my Thanksgiving break from Cal Poly with a boyfriend; perhaps a pipe would have been better. Our souvenir from Sequoia was a redwood plaque fringed with bark that said, "There's no place like home." Times were so much simpler then -- frilly white curtains and all. Or maybe it was because I was just seventeen.
Two thingsTwo things. Is it possible that the paper is on pink newsprint? Pink, light green and yellow were used back in the day along with white. And my mother still has some of her anodized aluminum tumblers, but I find the taste and feel to be like chewing gum wrapper foil (try it, you won't like it).
Scrap Aluminum TumblersMy dad worked for Alcoa for years and they offered employees blemished aluminum items that were being reprocessed for scrap priced by weight, 50 cents per pound.  Sometime in the 50s he bought about twenty of those tumblers in their unfinished aluminum state.  I sold the old home place in 2002 and I think they are still there in the basement.
He re-roofed a carport in the early 70s with 4.5' x 12' corrugated aluminum sheeting bought at 50 cents a pound.
Ginger potThose green pots that candied ginger came in and that no-one could ever bear to throw out -- they must have sat by the millions on window ledges across America, just like the one here.  I haven't seen one lately, though.  Does candied ginger come that way any more?
Hungarian MonksI go to Mass most Sundays at a local monastery that was founded by Hungarian Cistercians who escaped the Communists. Those that are  left of the original group are all in their late '70's or early '80's. Odd to think of them winding up in Texas.
I swear my grandma had those exact same drapes in 1952. We had commercial knitty sleeves for the tumblers that fit smoothly around the bottom, so you could set them down. Their iciness made the peculiar water in my mom's old home town at all palatable.
Learning to InhaleSmoked a pipe for many years. I needed to learn how  to inhale to enjoy that other smokable that became increasingly popular in the '60s.
-- Will, the guy in the photo
Call-Bulletin's newsprint colorwas actually purple as I recall for the front section wrapper, if that's the correct term. My grade school friend Charles McGowan and I used to joke at the top of our lungs when coming back from Saturday matinees in San Anselmo to Larkspur about it being made my microbes that would eventually consume the readers. Great 1940s smart-aleck 10-year-olds' humor in those days. BTW, the S.F. Chronicle's Sporting Green then was printed on green newsprint....
-- Will in the photo (Paul's brother)
Stylish window fashionsMy house was built in 1950, and I'd love to have those frilly dotted swiss curtains for my bedroom and the floral barkcloth drapes for my living room.
Dotted Swiss CurtainsGood for Mattie for noticing that. Our mother was always very proud of having "real" dotted Swiss curtains and not just "flocked". Mother would be pleased. She came into a bit of money and had the living and dining room windows "done" by a decorator from a local store. Not seen are the custom made wooden cornices above.
What, the curtains?I now know more about the window decor I lived with through my entire childhood than I ever knew before, including the "dotted Swiss" business and that those drapes (which I would kill for) are of "barkcloth."
The ChairsHey - We have one or two of those Kitchen Chairs today. Really, and the table they went with!
-- Mary and Lane
Niece to Will (the guy in the photo)
Aluminum tumblersMy Aunt Daisy presented us with a set of those aluminum tumblers one Christmas in the 50s.  I think it was six of them, each one a different bright color.  They were put away on a high shelf and my mother never used them.  She was convinced that aluminum cookware, etc. was a danger to one's health.  She never mentioned anything to her sister about the deadly gift.
[If Alcoa ever fields a gymnastics team, you know what they should name it? The Aluminum Tumblers. - Dave]
Robbed!I feel cheated.  Having been born in 1964, I never was myself acquainted with those aluminum tumblers. My era was plastic.
Aluminium TumblersI was a child of the 50s and in our family only the little kids used the aluminum tumblers. My mother threw those out, along with the Fiesta pitchers she had. Yow! I have collected aluminum ware for many years and I have dozens of tumblers, as well as many natural aluminum pieces that were hand made in the 30s and 40s. The main problem with the anodized colored aluminum ware is that it scratches easily, especially if the anodizing was not done well. The anodized layer needs a coat of clear lacquer to protect it. Some manufacturers just didn't bother. 
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Thanksgiving, tterrapix)

143 Hudson Street: 1911
... size. re: Paper Things I think they're Victorian Christmas tree decorations which are usually filled with nuts or candy. I ... stove, lamps, what have you till the money ran out. TB Window Those windows commonly seen in old tenement photos like these were ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 6:17pm -

New York, December 1911. "143 Hudson Street, ground floor. Mrs. Salvia; Joe, 10 years old; Josephine, 14 years old; Camille, 7 years old. Picking nuts in a dirty tenement home. The bag of cracked nuts (on chair) had been standing open all day waiting for the children to get home from school. The mangy cat (under table) roamed about over everything. Baby is sleeping in the dark inner bedroom (three yrs. old)." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
re: Paper ThingsI think they're Victorian Christmas tree decorations which are usually filled with nuts or candy.  I would guess that the family is shelling walnuts to put into the paper containers (cone and slit-sided).  
143 Hudson Street:This is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. I found the sons of Joe and Camille last year and interviewed both of them. This is quite a story, but I haven't posted it on my website yet. This tenement burned down a few years later, and the family lost everything, including their family pictures. When I sent the Hine photo to Joe's son, he was very excited, because it was the first photo he had seen of his father as a boy, his grandmother at a younger age, and the inside of the tenement where they lived. Joe became a New York City policeman and moved to California when he retired. Camille married and had a long and successful life. The story will be posted on my site some time this year. www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/lewishine.html
ExaggerationHines sure likes to breathe fire into every scene.  Place doesn't look dirty to me -- just messy, like any kitchen where work is being done.  Cat doesn't look mangy and cats always roam all over everything.  All seem to have shoes (a good sign in those days).  So, the nut bag was open all day -- so what.  They have protective shells.  Hines certainly did an admirable job of depicting poverty but I don't think this is one of those times based solely on the photo.  They all look pretty happy to me.
[Hine's motive, as we have pointed out many times, was the elimination of child labor. So his captions, which accompanied these photos in the National Child Labor Committee's report to Congress, tended to paint as bleak a picture as possible. As for the cat, his point was that fur, fleas etc. could have gotten into the nuts, which were already cracked and would go back to the wholesaler to be sold to the public after the kids had removed the shells. Communicable disease and adulteration or contamination of foodstuffs and fabric were among the health issues attached to tenement homework. - Dave]
The CatSorry, but I must once again take exception to Mr. Hine's description, even though I know his intentions. The family looks happy, and I would hardly describe the apartment as "dirty." My 3 cats "roam about over everything," as all cats are wont to do, and this one is no more mangy than I am. Cats really have a bad rap, considering they are one of the cleanest creatures on earth AND they keep vermin populations down.
[His point was that cat hair, fleas etc. could have gotten into the nuts, which were already cracked and would be sold at market after they were hulled. - Dave]
Judgy?The caption seems a big judgmental to me...the place may be a bit messy but it's not as bad as the caption says is it? They all seem to be happy. The furniture looks pretty nice.
Josh
Radio?Anyone know what the "thing" is hanging on the wall next to the calendar?  Looks like a box of some sort.
[It's a gas meter. There was no radio in 1911. - Dave]

Nut PickersIt doesn't look that horrible, at least they're smiling. The way Hine describes this scene, he would have had a stroke seeing the people in the Elm Grove picture.
The WallsIn this photo and in a lot of other photos of tenements, there always seems to be a lot of pictures hanging on the walls. I've always wondered why this is.
Also in this photo the wallpaper is unusual. Can anyone make out what the pattern is?
Items on lineThere's a line/cord running from the doorway to the gas meter and it has items hanging from it.  Can anyone tell what they are?  The look like little paper lanterns to me.
Christmas ornaments perhaps?
[Are they papillotes? Those paper cutlet frills you'd put on the bones of a crown roast. Maybe another branch of this family's cottage industry. - Dave]

Paper thingsI don't know about the slit-sided ones (can't tell for sure if they have a bottom or liner in them) but to this day you can buy nuts at Christmas in those cone-shaped bags like that, so maybe they are all nut-containers of some kind.
Shell GameFrom their smiles, it does appear they are trying to make a game of this tedious task.  That looks like a sewing machine at far right.  If so, it would seem Mrs. Salvia could earn more by stitching piece goods for the garment industry than shelling nuts.  But maybe not. I don't think any of the home workers earned much, whatever the task.
[According to Lewis Hine's notes, "nut-picking" brought in about $4 a week. - Dave]
Nuts to DollarsOut of curiosity, I went to a dollar buying power historic conversion site. According to their calcs, one dollar in 1911 would equate to $23.64 in today's economy. So, their nut enterprise would garner the equivalent of something like $88 per week now. 
The thing on the wallIn the tenements, each apartment had a gas meter installed on the interior wall. If you wanted gas, you put money in the slot like a vending machine, and you could run your stove, lamps, what have you till the money ran out.
TB WindowThose windows commonly seen in old tenement photos like these were called "Tuberculosis Windows".  The idea behind them was to facilitate air circulation in those stuffy tenements, thus helping to alleviate the TB that was rampant at the time. 
143 Hudson StreetThis is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. The link to my story of this family has been changed. It is now:
http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2014/11/26/camille-and-joseph-salvia-pa...
(The Gallery, Kids, Kitchens etc., Lewis Hine, NYC)

Men in White: 1923
... Uncle Luigi! Above Zero The thermometer next to the window under that sign would be almost impossible to read. Location, ... those pea coats and the drivers look like the muscle. Christmas plans 1923 Ah yes, first stop off at the ice cream parlor and get ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:15am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1923. "Fussell-Young Ice Cream Co. trucks." I scream, you scream, etc. National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.
Oh, relaxThat's just Rondo Hatton at his day job.

The Bad Humor ManMr. 32 looks to be a pint or three short of a load. Yikes.
#32Hey!  That's my Uncle Luigi!
Above ZeroThe thermometer next to the window under that sign would be almost impossible to read.
Location, location, locationThe address on the sides of the trucks looks to be 1310 Wisconsin Avenue. Interesting that the trolley here didn't have the underground conduit but rather overhead lines. I thought nearly all the DC Transit lines used the conduit within the downtown areas.
[This is Georgetown, not downtown. Now the site of the Georgetown Inn. - Dave]
What are those?Nice trucks! They must have been the newest adittions to the fleet, considering how shiny and new they still look. I wonder what make they are.
[Graham Brothers. - Dave]
Ice SquadThat's one sinister looking bunch of ice cream peddlers. The suits look like they're packing tommy guns under those pea coats and the drivers look like the muscle.
Christmas plans 1923Ah yes, first stop off at the ice cream parlor and get some Fussell Young ice cream. Then next door to the billiard parlor for a buffet lunch.
And what would happen to their fleet of delivery trucks if one of them had a flat tire? Usually you see a couple tires stored on the fender, to mount on the rim in place of the tire that went flat. Here you see an extra rim with no tire there. 
I'm also having trouble seeing how these trucks deliver ice cream during the months when ice cream is popular. It would be fine to cart around ice cream in open trucks when it was freezing. But aren't the hot months of July and August the best times to sell that stuff? Wouldn't ice melt just as fast as ice cream in August?
It is clear to see why Good Humor and Dolly Madison became household names, and Fussell's did not.
[America's first ice cream factory was founded by Jacob Fussell in 1851 in Baltimore. Fussell's expanded into a huge operation and was a very successful business for well over a century. Below, how the company's trucks looked after being equipped for delivery. - Dave]

See Your Ice Cream MadeA cropped version of this photo appeared in the February 25, 1923 Washington Post.  The caption states:

Graham Bros.' Trucks with Dodge Bros.' Power Plant.
Fleet of Trucks Delivered by Semmes Motor Company to Fussell-Young Ice Cream Company



See Your Ice Cream Made
Fussell's Real Cream Ice Cream,
Public Inspection Invited.

Some Like it ColdThe photo reminds me of the movie "Some Like it Hot," in which a funeral home is the cover for a speakeasy.  I think these guys were selling more than ice cream.
Father of the Ice Cream IndustryJacob Fussell is known as "father of the ice cream industry." A hundred years after it was founded in 1851,  his company went through the first in a series of mergers and acquisitions that saw it taken over by Arden Farms Dairy, which had almost half a billion dollars in sales in 1962. Today the Arden Group owns the Gelson's supermarket chain in California.
Creepy!That driver moonlights as a graverobber.
Just before the heist"So these mugs will meet us at the back of the bank, right Boss?"
The new Dodge trucksThose trucks are Dodges, brand new, and they didn't come with a spare tire, only a spare rim. They are 1 tons so they can haul a heavy payload.
[These are, as noted below, Graham Brothers trucks. - Dave]

A 92 year old still remembers!My mom, who is now almost 93 and lives (alas, far away from Georgetown) in Maine, still talks about the ice cream at Fussell's. She was born in a house around the corner on P Street NW in 1920 and still compares all ice cream to what she remembers from Fussell's as a child.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo)

Modern Nativity: 1953
... magazine series "night photographs of houses decorated for Christmas." You know what they say about people who live in glass houses -- ... Stand of 1965. And the stockings were hung from the window with care! It is always interesting where people hang stockings when ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/23/2013 - 7:42pm -

December 1953. Continuing the Look magazine series "night photographs of houses decorated for Christmas." You know what they say about people who live in glass houses -- they don't throw Christmas parties. At least not until they can afford curtains. From photos by Jim Hansen and Bob Lerner. View full size.
Be Still My HeartMultiple colors, not just an alpha channel? What is the Shorpy brand coming to? 
Unwinding my tongue from my cheek, I guess that it's time to wish everyone Seasons Greetings.
Heat lossThe R-value of glass is about 0.14, and there's 120 square feet of it right here. When it came to selling, picture windows were the '50s equivalent of today's granite countertops, but the thermostat is probably set on 82 just to make that room comfortable. Oh, and did anybody notice that all of the snow and ice are melted off that roof?
Season's GreetingsI see the "war on Christmas" has been going on for at least 50 years now. My father was drafted in 1964 and injured in the Battle of Tinsel Hill, recovered, and then took part in the famous Christmas Tree Stand of 1965.
And the stockings were hungfrom the window with care! It is always interesting where people hang stockings when they don't have a mantel.  We used the backs of chairs, if I remember rightly. The window would be handy, especially is Santa could open it.
CharactersI want to say those three figures at the bottom of the window are the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. And I really want to say they're the versions from the 1951 Disney film.
UPDATE: Well, they may be. This ad is for a set of toys issued upon the original release of the film. The size seems right. Also, surviving examples of the final products.
All Through the HouseThe stockings were hung by the window with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas --
Hey! No chimney?
Jingle BillsJust think of the heating bills. All that glass *shudder*!
WindowOur second house, which was built in '58 had a huge window like this in the living room.  Fortunately it faced south, but was still a cold air source.  The rest of the house had aluminum frame crank out windows, single pane.
The furnace and A/C were original as was the water heater. We bought the place in the late '70s, so you can imagine the efficiency.
We finally replaced all the windows,added six inches to the insulation in the attic and put a new furnace, water heater and A/C in.
Energy costs must not have been an issue in'58 but what a difference all of that made.
(Christmas, LOOK)

Christmas: 1951
... and brother at the house in Merchantville, NJ, during Christmas in 1951. My brother still owns the Lionel trains seen under the tree. ... He hauled them upstairs and tossed them out my bedroom window. "Geronimo!" CRASH. "Geronimo!" CRASH. Finally it occurred to him to tie ... 
 
Posted by SharkNose - 12/09/2009 - 8:48pm -

My sister and brother at the house in Merchantville, NJ, during Christmas in 1951. My brother still owns the Lionel trains seen under the tree. Looks like it was a good year for the kids. View full size.
Boy!That is some wallpaper! However, the carpet is very much like the one we had in the living room for many years -- until my dad replaced it with mustard yellow shag.
Didn't have to say "cheese"I'd have an S.E.G. like that on my face if I'd been your brother, too. I would have killed to have one of those. But, living as we did on the side of a hill, there was barely enough room to make a u-turn with my trike.
The carI was so struck with the wallpaper that I failed to notice the car. My stepsiblings had a pedal car each. I don't know the make of them. I do remember they were solidly built.
My brother, ever trying to exceed himself in toy destructiveness (he fed string into my record player and flour pasted my walking doll), decided one day to focus on the cars.
He hauled them upstairs and tossed them out my bedroom window. "Geronimo!" CRASH. "Geronimo!" CRASH. Finally it occurred to him to tie a rope around the steering wheels and haul them back up through the window so he didn't have to drag them up the stairs.
Surprisingly, those cars survived the 6 or 7 drops and were saved when my father hauled my brother to his room by his ear for a week's incarceration.
Love the carI had a fire chief car, which looked very similar to that one. It had a bell for a hood ornament. I pedaled many a mile around my neighborhood in it. I'm afraid there is no one left who could tell me when I got that car, but I'd guess 1950.
Sis!Cute sister, SharkNose!  You have a current picture?
Test DriveThe neighbor kid got a car just like that for Christmas one year (1958?) and I got a bicycle.  I was royally jealous of the car until he let me drive it.  Then I realized you couldn't go very far or fast, because the pedals were a clumsy mechanism.  
After that I loved my bicycle!
Ignore the WallpaperIn all the family photos from that era in that house, the wallpaper grabbed center stage! Let's see, my brother was 3 and my sister was 5 in the above picture. I was still nine years away, not to be seen until 1960. It seems that all the good kiddie riding vehicle were either before my time, like the above car, or after I out grew them, like the "Big Wheel." All I remember was my tricycle.
Fatal TinselI don't know when the custom started, but the tinsel on that tree is almost certainly made from lead. Our family used it all through the '50s until one year my favorite cat -- eight toes on each front paw and seven on the back -- ate a bunch of it and died a week later. I also still have my Lionel train.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)

Silent Night: 1940
... Stewart running down the street to bang on Mr. Potter's window and yell "Merry Christmas!" Beautiful Vermont Looks the same then as now, only with ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/24/2014 - 7:27pm -

March 1940. "Center of town. Woodstock, Vermont. Snowy night." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size.
Had to google it!I had to Google this image to see if any of the structures are still standing.  It is so beautiful.
I could make out the sign of the inn, on the left, partially reading "Cupboard Inn."  From there, I was able to determine it is the "White Cupboard Inn" and the building is still standing, though it seems not to be used as an inn anymore, but rather some type of historic preservation or museum or attraction.
This visitor's guide lists and shows it in a photo (from 2008): http://www.woodstockvt.com/visitorsguide08a.pdf
And this postcard shows it in 1952:
http://www.cardcow.com/images/set142/card00336_fr.jpg
And here you can see it from the far, lower left:
http://www.cardcow.com/images/set146/card00153_fr.jpg
North Park StreetThe house is the old White Cupboard Inn.
View Larger Map
Like being there.What a stunning photo, who says time machines don't exist. This reminds me of the film "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Field of Dreams." Just to walk down this street as seen here would be wonderful. Their are some great photographs on Shorpy but some of them just drag you into them, I feel this is one.
70 year old footprints Woodstock, like most Vermont towns, hasn't changed that much since 1940.  What struck me here was the many footprints in the snow.  It looks like it was trudged yesterday, but of course, it was yesterday seventy years ago.  The footprints gave hope of life, but looking over on the right,the darker side of the picture, I got cold shivers down my spine. I remember spending too many cold winter nights forty years later, waiting to get a ride from the train station in Brattleboro, which was also dark and lonely on winter nights.  
White NightsGiven the depth of field in the Woodstock photo and the likely slow film speed Wolcott would have been using, this is probably a 30 second exposure. It's pretty sharp, so there was probably no wind.
I am fond of night photographs in the snow, and have taken many over the years around New York City. My favorites include images of the Midtown skyline taken from Central Park. On snowy nights, light becomes diffuse and it's hard to get exposure right, but with practice and willingness to waste a lot of film, I can get some really striking images.
["Film"? How quaint! - Dave]
Grab a shovelBack in the day, before snow blowers, people removed show from their sidewalks.  Where I live, that's becoming a lost concept.
Hard startingThe picture looks like a place I'd like to be, except for having to drive one of those cars.  Back then it was carburetors with manual chokes, and 6-volt electrical systems -- no electronic fuel injection or engine management computers.  As the late humorist Jean Shepherd once said, cars fell into two categories: "good starters, and hard starters." You definitely didn't want to own a hard starter in a New Hampshire winter.  A hard starter potentially meant a spray can of starting fluid (ether), and (oh, the horror) jumper cables.
Through the Looking GlassIt's hard to tear my eyes away from this picture. It's like you could step right into it and walk down the cold street. I love it!
It's a Wonderful PhotoWith great anticipation I look at this picture and fully expect to see  Jimmy Stewart running down the street to bang on Mr. Potter's window and yell "Merry Christmas!"
Beautiful VermontLooks the same then as now, only with newer cars and roads. That is the thing I always loved about the Green Mountain State was it was like stepping back in time! Thanks for sharing this photo!
The lens of time, Is it only me, or were snow falls and storms greater in the past. Was it solely because I was three feet tall that snow drifts were huge or have we segued into a period of global weather that favors lighter snow loads? I recall snow two stories high on the back of the farm, allowing you to just walk up onto the roof of the house to shovel off the snow, and summer floods that put 1950's cars under water.
Merry ChristmasBedford Falls!
Memories of chidhoodThis shot could be main street, Bedford Quebec, in the 1950s, when I lived there as a kid. The only difference would be 40s and 50s cars, but the signage and buildings (and snow!) were the same.
This is what Hollywood was idealizing in the movies, and we thought we were living in a sleepy town. We were very lucky to actually live it.
Marion Post WolcottMarion Post Wolcott was such a photographic genius. I have never seen a photo by her that failed to impress me.
(The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Small Towns)

Welcome to Big D: 1963
... coming forward behind the bus. The few people at the window seats on the bus have really lucked out. Jackie is looking right at one ... lived in D.C. for about about two years in 1960-62. Once Christmas we attended the White House tree-lighting ceremony which the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/22/2013 - 7:44am -

        President Kennedy on that dark yet sunny day in Dallas 50 years ago, minutes before he was assassinated.
November 22, 1963. "Overview of crowds of people waving as President John F. Kennedy and his wife sit in back of limousine during procession through downtown Dallas, Texas; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife ride in the limousine's jump seats." New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.
There are no words...Life changed for many of us, 50 years ago, tomorrow. The memories of those days forever burned into our hearts. I remember being in Miss Barbara Rappaport's World History class in Abraham Lincoln HS in Brooklyn. Someone came into the class that afternoon, approached her, whispered something in her ear. I still see her, sort of falling into her chair (she NEVER sat in class), with her head in her folded arms, sobbing.... President Kennedy has been shot. We sat there, stunned not knowing what to do, or say. The next days were crazy, with new names popping onto the news minute by minute, it seemed. Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Jackie, LBJ, Lady Bird, Governor Connolly, the Texas Book Repository..... on and on, Zapruder film, grassy knoll, Warren Commission. Blood on Jackie's pink dress, running FBI agents, that presidential Lincoln... Madness, it seemed! Our calm quiet, idyllic world, was suddenly insane. Caroline and John-John at the grave. And finally, the eternal image of the skittish horse, following the caisson, with the reversed boots in the stirrups. We grew up really quick on that day 50 years ago. Those days live on in our hearts, don't they?
A Very Long And Tragic DayInteresting to read all the comments from the Shorpy community. Those of us aware of what was happening that day can never forget it, and those who weren't around will never understand our feelings.
John Kennedy was so alive, with so much to do with his life, that the idea of his life being cut short was all the more unbelievable.
I was living in Houma, Louisiana, and had a paper route, for which I collected my dimes and quarters every Friday. The thirty or so customers I had were usually ready for me when I came around after school, and I'd complete my collecting no later than 5pm. That day, it was well after 9pm when I got home. The phrase I heard over and over-- and everyone wanted to talk, if only to an 11-year-old paper boy-- was "I just can't believe it!"
--Jim
What I remembered that dayThe often asked question, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot"....I was in 6th grade at about lunchtime. The PA had clicked on (always a noticable indication that someone was going to the office) and the principal read a short message about the President being shot but no other information as of yet. I remember my teacher looking down at the floor with his hands folded. We were released for lunch and in the hall kids were crying. I went home, the TV was on, (I remember looking at Walter Cronkite on the TV) and my Mother had tears in her eyes while she was making sandwiches. "The President's dead" she murmured and threw the towel to the floor. Mom was so proud that Kennedy was our president. She voted for him...partly because of his good looks, same age and he was Catholic. It seemed, to me, that she was just about as devastated over his death as she was of her Father's passing just a year earlier. My Father, who worked in Manhattan, came home later in the day (it was a bit early for him to be home at 4 PM) saying that the trip home on the train was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Every rider had a stunned look about them. Even the conductor was speaking in hushed tones. This is what I remember.
The AnnouncementI was on the basketball court at recess in the eighth grade
when we were told over the school loud speakers. I'll never forget it.
A sunny but sad dayMy mother worked in downtown Dallas, in the Davis Building at 1309 Main Street.  She rode the elevator down from the eighth floor, and watched the motorcade go by.  Just a few minutes later, the president was gone.
I can't exactly place where this picture was taken, except that it's on Main.  Downtown has changed a lot, and some streets have been removed over the years as new buildings have gone up.
"Your president has been shot"A man came into the break room where I worked and made that odd announcement. We were all in shock and it wasn't until later that I wondered about the word "Your" being used to tell the people there this horrible news.
The ShotsMy step brother's brother was walking from his Law Office to lunch
when he heard the shots and had no idea what that was about... until
later.
On top of the busI'm trying to figure if that's an old-school air conditioning system or some other modification, to fight the hot Texas heat?
Breaking NewsI was in my TV/Appliance store in Jamaica, NY as I was walking toward a bank of playing TV sets, all of which were on ABC Channel 7. A news bulletin  lit of all the receivers. An announcer was on screen reporting that shots were fired during the President's slowly moving motorcade in downtown Dallas. As I kept watching further news breaks, it became clear that President Kennedy had been shot. Later in the day, as the news spread the store was filling up with people looking at all the TV sets. Later that afternoon I decided to close the shop and went home.
SurgeA crowd would never be allowed to move that way today with a president so close.  Just look at the excited people coming forward behind the bus.  The few people at the window seats on the bus have really lucked out.  Jackie is looking right at one of them, and JFK himself could be waving at the same person.  A gaggle of women on the right could reach out and touch the motorcycle cop.  They're all waving and screaming for the President's attention, but he's looking at that friendly face on the bus.
I was in Grade 1 in Winnipeg and I remember the grief of the funeral like it was yesterday.  We Canadians felt as though this American event was ours too, as though we ourselves had also lost this amazing person.
Main and ErvayThe view is toward the southwest corner of Main Street and Ervay Street.  The Neiman Marcus building is in the upper portion of the frame.

Our Latin TeacherMrs. Closser was my grade 10 Latin teacher at Herman Collegiate Institute in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. She was an American in her 50s who lived in Detroit and commuted every day to teach in Canada. Before the end of the period she would leave the classroom to join the other teachers for a quick cigarette in the teachers' lounge. She never came back before the bell rang. Until that November day in 1963 when she burst into the classroom, tears streaming down her face, and stood in front of the class and announced, "Our President is dead!" She collapsed into her chair as several girls went up to comfort her. She didn't come back for a week. I took the bus to a dental appointment, and recall that even the hit parade radio stations were playing sombre music. 
I'll never forgetI remember that day. It was a Friday. Thanksgiving was near at hand..
I was 10 years old. I was in the fifth grade at South Avondale Elementary School in Cincinnati. It was warm that day for November..I checked and the high was 68. After lunch at school we all lined up to go back inside and it seemed the teachers were anxious to get us back in class. I remember our math teacher Mr Jackson told us that Pres Kennedy had been shot and turned on our Tv in the classroom. We heard Walter Cronkite voice but did not see him until he announced JFK was dead at the hand of an assassin. In the classroom next to ours a teacher, Mrs Keller, screamed and fainted. She was taken to the hospital. She never returned to school. School did not resume until after the Thanksgiving Holiday.
After the death announcement school was dismissed..I walked home. On the corner of Reading Road and Rockdale AV a news person was hawking the Cincinnati Post-Times Star.. he was shouting;
"Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur!!..President assassinated in Texas..Extrrey! Extrey! Read all about it President is dead..Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur' Over and over again. I the Irony is he was standing in front of a Statue of Pres. Lincoln.
I solemnly walked home..things were in a daze. When I reached my home my step-mom was going out to visit my sister in Childrens hospital. She had had her transistor radio with her so she could get the latest news.. She asked did I hear about Pres Kennedy. I told her yes...
The next three days all that was on Tv was news about the assassination of JFK. His funeral on Monday was a site to behold. I will never forget that black caisson with his coffin riding atop it. The sadness and grief of everyone. Never ever...That was a long time ago in a World so different than today's.. 
ThenI had just joined a Mechanical Engineering firm that week located on 15th Street in D.C.  We had radios in the drafting studio and time stood still that Friday.  Surreal; we just stood around, what was there to say?
Fourth grade teacher's wordsWe had just returned from recess at P.S. 81 in the Bronx.  Our teacher, Mrs. Stanton, told us to put all of our books and things away. This seemed really strange to us, as it was time for our flutophone lesson.  I remember her words, "President Kennedy is dead.  He was in a parade today, and he was shot."  I remember the feeling in my stomach--as though it had dropped somehow.  We were sent home.
My parents had copy of the comedy album, "The First Family," which poked fun at President and Mrs. Kennedy.  When Dad arrived home from work that night, he had a copy of the NY Post with its terrible headline.  He took out the LP, wrapped the newspaper around it, and sealed up the album with heavy tape.
My family had lived in D.C. for about about two years in 1960-62.  Once Christmas we attended the White House tree-lighting ceremony which the President presided over.  When Dulles airport opened, Dad took me to the ceremonies.  I was perched on Dad's shoulders.   We stood not far from the stage where Kennedy gave his speech.  I remember thinking how handsome the President was.
WNTC RadioI was in the student union at Clarkson College (now University) in Potsdam, NY. Saw the news come across the teletype we had in the newsroom window there. I immediately crossed the street and fired up the college radio station, WNTC, so the guys in the newsroom could broadcast developments.
As Angus said the radio stations were playing sombre music - I distinctly remember being very hard pressed to find something to fill the time between news bulletins since we were a rock and roll station and there was not much appropriate music to be had.  
Canadians tooI was also in 6th. grade,  and I was living on an Airforce Base in Canada's capital,  Ottawa.   
It hit us hard too,  although at the time I couldn't understand exactly why.   I was only 11 years old,  but I remember I cried,  somehow knowing he was a man who would have done a lot of great things.   He wasn't our President,  but somehow it was as though he was the world's President.  
To this day in my 60's I remain fascinated and interested in JFK,  his family,  his life.
NewsmanMy dad on the evening of 11-22-63, after a long day of covering the assassination from the Oakland (California) Tribune.  Dad was a reporter and remembered when the AP wire first came in from Dallas.  Soon the whole newsroom was frantic with the shock and the task of putting it all together for the afternoon edition.  They got the special edition done in time, almost an entire rewrite, and this photo shows my dad waiting in the Tribune foyer for my mother to come get him and drive him home.  The Tribune photographer had been taking photos all day of the activity in the newsroom and caught my dad here as he waited for mom.   
"The president has been shot"I was in third grade in Northern Kentucky.  Someone's mother had driven to the school to inform us of the news she had just heard.  An unseen adult came to our classroom door and spoke with our teacher, Miss Reagan.  I recall that she took a moment to compose herself, then stated that we were to put away our books.  She said that the president had been shot.  We were to pack our things to leave for the day, as school would be dismissed early.  Soon, each classroom would be called to the cafeteria to pray.  There was a hush.  A knot in the pit of my stomach.  Not much talking, brief nervous laughter that soon ceased.
Then the entire student body, 865 children, assembled in that basement cafeteria.  I remember standing room only -- we ate in three shifts -- and all those children were led in praying the rosary until the buses came to take us home.  No one talked.  Some of us quietly cried.  We prayed desperately for the president's survival.  Everyone was riveted by the unfolding events.  Even the bus ride home was subdued that day.  
I remember being glued to the TV coverage as events unfolded.  Later in the day at home Walter Cronkite announced that the president had died of his wounds.  The news coverage was nonstop and I recall that the funeral, especially the sight of the Kennedy children, was overwhelmingly sad.  Jackie seemed courageous beyond belief -- how could she retain such composure in this tragedy that had me bawling for days?  The pomp & circumstance of the funeral proceedings, all the symbolism involved, marked the stature of this event and also somehow, gave solace.
When I heard the newsOne of the things forever remembered by us as individuals is not only where we were, but who it was that broke the news. For many, this accidental fact influenced the way we reacted that day in November. I was 21 and working as a draftsman at a small business computer firm. There were five of us in our windowed room from which we could see the production floor. I had just begun to notice that the assembly workers had left their stations and were standing about in small groups. Moments later one of the electrical engineers, who often used our room as a shortcut, came breezing through and asked if we'd heard that someone had shot President Kennedy. The guy was a jokester (often shamelessly irreverent), so we looked up from our desks, smiled, and waited for the punch line. When he continued out the other door without another word we realized in sudden shock that there would be none. It was true, and thus began a season of feeling that ice water in your veins disbelief I would suffer again many years later when I watched the Twin Towers come down on live TV and realized that we were at war.
No matter how hardened and cynical we are made by this world, we are never quite prepared to receive startling and painful news of great magnitude, even though we know it can come at any time, and in any form.
Change of subjectI was in fifth grade on the day he died.  There are many good comments on that day.  Still the bus picture has a reminder of my youth.
I grew up in Florida but the soft drink Dr. Pepper was not sold in Florida.  In those pre-Interstate years, we went to North Carolina to visit the grandparents.  The first thing we did when we stopped at "South of the Border" was to buy Dr. Peppers.  It had a real bite and a strong aroma.  Now Dr. Pepper is still tasty but without the bite and strong aroma.  I would love to be able to buy the original Dr. Pepper.
UnbelievableI was 11 years old and, like everyone else my age, I was in school.  The door to our classroom was at the back of the room. We had just come in from recess and the teacher was beginning our next lesson when the Principal quickly stuck his head in the door, made an announcement, and quickly moved on.  Because of his distance from our teacher and the quickness of his words, she didn't understand him. She asked us what he said and a child that sat at the back of the room by the door said "He said the President's been shot!"  Well that was a concept too ridiculous to believe, so our teacher just said "No he didn't, I'll go find out what's going on," and she went out the room to the class next door.  The next thing I remember was everyone standing in the hall, lined up to be excused for the day.  The teacher from the class next door was crying inconsolably. I was like our teacher, and was having a hard time believing that all of it was happening.  It wasn't until I got home and found my family in front of the TV watching the news that I finally realized that my perfect little world was no more.
How I remember itI was in the seventh grade at Centralia High School in southern Ohio. We were taking a math test in Mr. Potter's class. There was a wall behind us with large windows that looked into the journalism class. We were distracted by noise from that room, and as I turned to look, I saw the whole room emptying. 
We returned to work but soon the class behind us returned and some of the girls were crying and dabbing their eyes with tissues. They had gone to hear the news on the TV in the study hall on the same floor.
We heard over the intercom that Kennedy had been shot, but we didn't know whether he was hurt fatally. I was so stunned. I still cannot believe that Mr. Potter made us finish the math test! My next class was study hall, and when I could, I rushed up there and positioned myself in the middle of the room to get a good view of the TV, which soon showed Walter Cronkite make the announcement. We were all silent. 
Next and final class of the day was Ohio History, where our young teacher, Mr. Lungo, through tears, said that we should pray for the Kennedy family, and then just sat throughout the whole period crying uncontrollably. 
When my little brother and I got home, we found my parents outside. My mom was sweeping the walk and my dad was sharpening a hoe. I asked if they knew Kennedy was dead and she asked how I knew that, like was it something some kid of the bus had said? I said no, it was on TV in school. She looked at my dad and wondered if it could be true. Of course, we all went right in the house and turned on the TV. Naturally, they were stunned and just watched in disbelief.
You Can Hear Radio Recordings of That DayGo to RadioTapes.com to hear several hours of recordings of that day, as broadcast over Minneapolis radio station WCCO. Eventually the coverage shifts mostly to the CBS network, including Cronkite's announcement of Kennedy's death. There are also recordings from NBC and Voice of America.
I was in second grade, Mrs. Gooler's class at Hale Elementary School in Minneapolis, and we had just returned from lunch. The principal came over the PA system to announce the shooting; we were asked to put our heads down on our desks and pray silently for the president. Not fifteen minutes later she came on again to announce that President Kennedy had died and that we would be dismissed early. (In those days, virtually no mothers worked, and we all rode the bus home for lunch and back for the afternoon class.)
I remember arriving home and being shocked--SHOCKED!--that my mother was actually WATCHING TV DURING THE DAY! My parents had a love/hate relationship with the TV and had only bought one the previous Christmas because I was given "viewing assignments" at school. They typically watched it only an hour a day for the NBC Evening News and the local news. 
And as if that weren't bizarre enough, my father came home from work early, which he never did. All normal broadcasting--including advertising--was suspended until the funeral the following Monday. We didn't completely resume our normal activities until after Thanksgiving weekend. No one who was alive then will ever forget where they were when they got the news; a so-called "significant emotional event" like this generation's 9-11.    
I was asleepI'm probably one of the few who *doesn't* remember where I was.
I was 8. We were living in Melbourne, Australia, where my dad was in the Foreign Service.  I remember the next day, my mom had to sew a black armband for him to wear to work at the Consulate.
I thought it was a bad thing that someone would shoot the President, but it was nowhere near the same impact it would have been if I'd been in the US.  School went on normally, as I recall, and there was not much fuss that I noticed.
(Cars, Trucks, Buses, Motorcycles, Public Figures)

Santa Fe: 1920
Circa 1920. "George Barkhausen's Christmas tree." Yet another tastefully understated tree-n-train yuletide ... have to call the police! That's a lot of craftwork for a Christmas tree stand. I bet it weighs a ton and takes up a good bit of storage ... enough For the dark pine that kept Forever trying the window latch Of the room where they slept. The tireless but ineffectual ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 1:55pm -

Circa 1920. "George Barkhausen's Christmas tree." Yet another tastefully understated tree-n-train yuletide display. National Photo Co. View full size.
Deck the HallsIf this was any more understated, we'd have to call the police! That's a lot of craftwork for a Christmas tree stand. I bet it weighs a ton and takes up a good bit of storage space in the stables. 
I see a nice old Victrola on the right of the photo, and the marble blockage on the fireplace is tastefully decorated with brickwork stripes.
Robert Frost in ReverseMakes me think of the Robert Frost poem:
She had no saying dark enough
For the dark pine that kept
Forever trying the window latch
Of the room where they slept.
The tireless but ineffectual hands
That with every futile pass
Made the great tree seem as a little bird
Before the mystery of glass!
It never had been inside the room,
And only one of the two
Was afraid in an oft-repeated dream
Of what the tree might do.
Water FeaturesThere also appears to be real water in the fountain in front of the tree -- the surface is darker in a circular area surrounding it.  How I would love to see that dollhouse up close!
Putt-PuttYikes. All this needs is a windmill and a putting green. If they aren't there already.
InterestingLots of interesting things in this picture.  The fireplace seems to closed off.  It doesn't look like actual bricks but maybe some sort of patterned board.  There is an Afro-American doll in the lower left of the display right behind a building with some sort of wires comming out of the roof.  There is also a model of a house with a large porch with steps going up to it sort of hidden behind the tree on the left of the picture. Lots of other neat stuff.
Railroad DangerThose rails cross a water filled fishing pond on the right. You can see water flowing over the wheel and boats in the circulating stream. Playing with this layout could have shocking results.
Oh What FunSomeone had an awful lot of fun setting up the train display. It looks like real water falling onto the water wheel, but I can't imagine that it is. Is that a black Kewpie doll in the corner? I've never seen one before. 
A fitting sceneHoly mackerel, that looks like the set for Laurel & Hardy's Babes in Toyland (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers). That also has to be the most precise tree/ceiling fit we've seen this year. Presumably other arrangements have been made for Santa's midnight ingress and egress.
 Good enough for Macy's windowThe little black doll supposedly was made in honor of the Amos and Andy characters from the popular radio show of the day. My aunt gave me one for my 1948 birth.  I called her "AmbroSandra," my interpretation of the writing on her neck. In 1975 my parents sold their home and contents, including my AmbroSandra. Mean, eh? 
She had a bitten off little finger...if you have her please give her back.
Tiny WorldWhat a nice little town under the tree. I like the dog standing guard at the fence. Putting up these decorations must have been an all-day affair. I also like the landscape painting on the right wall. Ironic, too, that the light fixture on the ceiling has come back into style with a vengeance.
And A Partridge In A Pear TreeMy tree is positively boring compared to this one. I love how much detail went into the village - the tiny lampposts and the small rocks for the paths. Someone put a lot of time, love and effort into this Christmas scene. Beautiful!
(The Gallery, Christmas, Natl Photo)

Piano Man: 1941
... I'm with Penny on the sketchy wiring. It reminds me of A Christmas Story. An entertainer's lot is not a happy one even if it ... I suggest p.m. since it appears to be dark outside the window, as it would be in Virginia in March. [Your mantel clock is off by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/10/2021 - 10:06pm -

March 1941. "Mission pianist in his room at the Helping Hand Mission. Portsmouth, Virginia." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Picture on the far wallI wonder who that is in that picture.  It looks like it could be an entertainer. Who does the Mission pianist idolize? Any Shorpy fans have any ideas? 
Call me crazybut I am always amazed at photos like this, of the decrepit state of the walls, and in this case even the mantelpiece. Had these folks never heard of paint? Were they so destitute that they could not afford even a single coat, or a layer of wallpaper? Or were they too lazy, or did they simply not care? The ugliness had to have threatened to suck the life right out of them. I'll wager that even the goldfish would have agreed with me. And don't get me started on that welter of wires. 
"Outside these walls"Hope our subject lightened up a bit when he played for the audience.
Rings a bellThe image above our man’s right shoulder—man and woman in a field—is Millet’s “Angelus,” which depicts farm laborers stopping their work to pray at the 6 p.m. ringing of the bells.
Speaking of time, the unsynchronized clocks on the mantel fit right into the general decrepitude.  
Re: crazyNow that I own my house (an old one), I do fix-it work non-stop.  As a rental tenant, though, I never did a thing – I figured it was the landlord’s responsibility.  What I didn’t realize in my younger years was that, even though I didn’t own my home back then, I would have improved my living conditions immeasurably had I painted or gardened, despite the fact that I was maintaining someone else’s property.  All the work put into my rented place by myself would have benefited myself, but I didn’t understand this concept.  With regard to the piano man’s place, it needs more than a lick of paint -- some preliminary plaster work is definitely required.
On the far wallThe picture looks like it may be Dickie Powell.
Early Power BarWe plug our scanners, computers, printers, etc. into a power bar with a circuit breaker. The octopus wiring setup in this photo might be considered an earlier version of the same thing. Having moved into my 1928 home in 1977 that still had its original 30 amp 115 volt panel with fuses, I soon learned which electrical appliances could not be plugged in simultaneously. Within three years the house was upgraded to a 125 amp system with 115 and 240 volts available. 
I might also note that many of John Vachon's photos of people bear a resemblance to those of Diane Arbus in the 1960s.
Living SimplyHe probably lives in such spartan conditions because he works at the mission for nothing, or next to nothing.  Believe it or not, there used to be a time when people did church work because they loved people and cared about them.  I would hazard a guess that the modern-day 'teaching pastor' or 'praise team' member wouldn't be caught dead living in a hovel like this so that they could have the privilege to minister to the needs of their fellow man!   
Way Down On The ListYes, we see a lot of places we wouldn't want to live on Shorpy. I think it's driven by the everyday need to acquire basic necessities to survive back then (and for a lot of folks today too). The furnishings are nice and the place looks clean.  
The stove fluecaught my eye right away.  I wonder how hard it was to get a draft going.  While the flue pipe may radiate a lot of trapped heat, getting that heat to go down and then up is no easy task.  All I can see is smoke billowing from the door each time it's stoked.  I look at the walls and wonder what became of the trim around the windows.  Perhaps the stove can tell us.  I'm with Penny on the sketchy wiring.  It reminds me of A Christmas Story.
An entertainer's lotis not a happy one even if it includes a Loths Air Blast (a name not dissimilar to that of a local brew in a far away place I once knew). Don't you just love this truly magnificent piece of kit! 
The inclusion of a multiple light extravaganza with a suspended control centre however is still not enough to please our master of the keys. Having just recently adjusted and fine tuned (with a hammer?) the contemporary air conditioning (note the spare parts in the storage facility behind the seat) he is left to contemplate the reason why one of his timepiece collection appears to be malfunctioning. 
With regard to curtains and paint, the property is owned by others, in this case "the Mission," wherein lies the economic scantiness of the trend-setting decor. Entertainers the world over are quite inured against the quality of gaffs between
gigs. 
There are also reasons to be found for the crutch standing forlornly in the corner. Excellent material for the housebound Shorpyite.
Love the stoveBut the draft situation looks sketchy. 
Looks familiar I just took painted wallpaper off exterior plaster (on brick) walls, in a house that's probably older than the place pictured here. And the walls looked ... about like that.
Sad quartersJenny Pennifer mentioned paint, wallpaper and scary wiring, but this is really, umm, *basic* living! How about that toaster, jammed on the back of the crowded dresser? Is that the only suggestion of cooking in the room? And, as with any man with two clocks, he has no idea of the time of day.
A tip of the cap to Mad MagazineIn my misspent youth, Mad Magazine had a regular feature called "What's Wrong with This Picture?" Most of them looked a lot like this one.
What time is it?Was this photo taken at 2:12 or 7:43?
Déjà vuI feel like the photo hanging above the mantel is one I've seen on Shorpy before. 
Two out of three!Although the clocks don't agree on the time of the picture, his wristwatch and the mantel clock on the left appear to agree that it is 8:43 p.m. I suggest p.m. since it appears to be dark outside the window, as it would be in Virginia in March.
[Your mantel clock is off by an hour -- it says 7:43. - Dave]
The Face on the WallCurious about the man's portrait on the wall obscured by 'wiring,' I checked out a few of Vachon's other photos of this profoundly sad room. I came across this shot of our dour keyboard artist, which has an unobstructed view of the portrait which appears to be of, and inscribed by, Mickey Rooney...am I right? 
[You are right, and it bears the inscription "I'll be seeing you at the Gxxxx Theater Something" and then maybe "Sunday September Xth -- Mickey" - Dave]


Lighten up, everybodyHow many of us are wearing a tie?
Strike up the bandI believe the inscription reads "I'll be seeing you at the Gates Theater starting Sunday September 29th  -- Mickey." The Gates Theatre was a cinema in Portsmouth in this era. Rooney's third(!) film of 1940, "Strike up the Band," was released on September 29, which was a Sunday.
It appears our musician in the photo was a vermouth drinker. That's a bottle of Gambarelli & Davitto dry American vermouth on the chest of drawers.
Not-teaFrom that bottle of hooch on the dresser I am guessing that this mission is not being run by strict Baptists. 
Plugs and PicturesI also find the wiring a bit worrisome; the relatively short time I spent as a volunteer firefighter instilled in me fire prevention measures that will always be with me.  I hope he unplugged that mess when he left the room.
Also, the older looking picture of two people on the wall seems to me as if it should be a man with a large bundle of sticks on his back; the condition of the wall matches that of the Led Zeppelin IV album cover.
Who is the "piano man"?He is Clayton William Pierce (1905-1953). He never married and lived with his parents, and then his married sister, in Portsmouth for most of his life. He was a piano teacher his entire adult life. He died of heart disease at age 47.  His WWII draft card indicated he was 5' 6" tall, 235 pounds, brown eyes, black hair, ruddy complexion, and a scar on his right cheek. ~ Steve
Weird mental acrobatics on my part but --There was that keyboard player in early Rolling Stones lineup who did not fit in the band's image. 
LookalikeHe reminds me very much of another musician -- Riley Puckett, guitarist and vocalist of my favorite old-timey string band, the Skillet Lickers.
Danger!Dangerous room to live in. If the wiring doesn't catch on fire, the leaky stove pipe will get you with carbon monoxide.
(The Gallery, John Vachon)

The Gift Cycle: 1953
... Georgia, comes this circa 1953 image of what seems to be a Christmas party at a laundry. Be of good CHEER, and a happy yule TIDE to ALL! ... is the only area to put up the tree. And that spray on window snow looks more like an early attempt at graffiti. Let's hope that none ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2015 - 8:16pm -

From Columbus, Georgia, comes this circa 1953 image of what seems to be a Christmas party at a laundry. Be of good CHEER, and a happy yule TIDE to ALL! 4x5 acetate negative from the News Archive. View full size.
One spark...One spark from one of those electrical boxes on the wall would certainly yield a well lit tree!!
So sad...This has got to be the saddest Christmas photo I've ever seen. I'd hate to see the rest of the place if this is the only area to put up the tree. And that spray on window snow looks more like an early attempt at graffiti. Let's hope that none of those fuses blow next to that splendid tree hidden beneath the ton of angel hair. Joy to the whirl cycle.
The size of the packagelooks about right for a box of detergent?
Christmas in the Snow?Or, perhaps, in Snow's, the Columbus laundry depicted a few posts ago?  Part of a hard-hitting photo-journalistic exposé of the perils of ring around the collar, no doubt.
W Roy KenimerIn the 1953 Columbus, Georgia city directory, we find W Roy and wife Ruth M. Ruth is running the Sunshine Automatic Laundry while W Roy is a salesman for Eelbeck Milling Company, a purveyor of grits and corn meal. The laundry was located on Victory Drive.
W Roy is handing out the gifts while Ruth looks on approvingly from the left. Afterwards, the entire company will sit down to Christmas brunch. If this is 1953, then this is Christmas Eve. Christmas came of Friday that year. 
After brunch, W Roy and Ruth will find the City code inspector looking for a "gift" to overlook the location of the Christmas tree in front of the power distribution panel.
The lady in front reminds me of my grandmother. 
Square DBegun as McBride Manufacturing Company in 1902, the name was changed to Square D in 1917, and as of 1991 it has been a subsidiary of Schneider Electric.  The most recent circuit breakers I bought for my electrical box this year are Square D, with the exact same logo as on the box in the photo (adopted circa. 1910).  By the way, the sight of those old fuses makes me shudder.  So many fires caused by stupid and careless people replacing them with fuses of higher amperage.
When it comes to punsnobody DUZ them like Dave.
HairLooks like the Christmas tree is decorated with hair.  Maybe the barbershop is next door?
Rock around the laundromatThat must have been one wild party judging by W. Roy's festive tie and the ratio of four goils to one guy.   It's not my place to judge, but that cedar bush looks like it was decorated with laundry lint and loose threads, in keeping with the wash-a-teria theme.  I appreciate the "rest of the story" revealed by commenter John J's enlightening research which makes the picture much more interesting and I can certainly relate to those much simpler times. Perhaps some of those gifts contained grits and corn meal samples which Roy sold as well as laundry detergent.  Good times.  
Angel HairWhat you see on this tree was and is called angel hair. It is made of spun glass. In the 1950's my uncle would always decorate his tree with it. Angel hair was never allowed on our tree because it was known to draw blood if you were jabbed by broken ends.
Properly applied to a tree it took on a very pleasing appearance. However, when hastily applied the tree could take on a Harpo Marx look as in this Shorpy photo.
(The Gallery, Christmas, Columbus, Ga., News Photo Archive)

A Candle In Every Window
Join the Red Cross and on Christmas Eve a candle in every window, a service flag for every home. A 1917 membership poster for the Red ... The artwork is by L.N. Britton. View full size. (Christmas) ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 12/11/2007 - 11:54am -

Join the Red Cross and on Christmas Eve a candle in every window, a service flag for every home. A 1917 membership poster for the Red Cross. The artwork is by L.N. Britton. View full size. 
(Christmas)

It's Curtains: 1955
... dolled up, but the fancy apron and the condensation on the window point to a major cooking operation going on in the kitchen. All the ... you post. Red Ryder BB Gun It's Ralphie from "A Christmas Story"! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix) ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 02/10/2018 - 9:38pm -

Here's my mother's drapes and curtains again, not to mention my mother, along with me and my father. I didn't get decked out like that for an ordinary Sunday, so this has to be some special occasion. Mother's all dolled up, but the fancy apron and the condensation on the window point to a major cooking operation going on in the kitchen. All the relatives are probably coming over. Her African violets are cooperating by not only being alive, but blooming. Appropriately enough, there's a Saturday Evening Post in the magazine rack, and, good California family that we are, a Sunset. The only mystery is the yardstick on the floor under the chair. An Ansco Color slide by my brother. Phantom images from the desk lamp must mean he had a couple misfires before the flash went off. View full size.
What, no cocktails? The sun is over the yardarm!Can you recall what brand your mother smoked? By '55, my parents had made the healthy switch from Camels to Pall Malls. 
I take it your bow-tie was a clip-on. All of mine were.
Look at your French cuffs.....spiffy!
Let the good times roll!Do you realize "tterrace" how lucky you were to have such a nurturing family and a welcoming home?  ("'Twas so good to be young then") I sure would have liked to be invited to a dinner at your home where it is quite obvious all preparations have been made and a special home-made meal will be served.  Perhaps 70% of today's families will never experience this type of united togetherness and planned celebration.  In your photos you have captured the idyllic 50's "everyone's family" in that relatively peaceful era of prosperity, decency, civilized society, modernistic changes, sleeker cars, better jobs and emphasis on the importance of education.  It seems like a simpler time, too good to last.  Where and when did we all go wrong?  Thank you for sharing your Camelot to share with Shorpy readers.   I love your "slice of life" photos, they are ALL keepers. 
tterrace, I am glad you were bornI smile after the first words of commentary because I know it will be a tterrace. I was a child at the same time and my life was nothing like yours--you were indeed blessed. Surely I'm projecting my own home life, but looks like Mom is giving someone the stink-eye, probably Dad. 
When do we eat?Perhaps your mom found a dead mouse under a piece of heavy furniture and used the yardstick to drag it out? It seems like good ol' wooden yardsticks have always been used as reachers more often than as measurers.
And I think I'd disagree with Older than Yoda on his "better jobs" point. As someone who barely studied in school, barely went to college, and makes a very comfortable living at his dream job working from his home office, I'm not so sure I'd say this is worse than most jobs available in the '50s or '60s. Well, OK, it might've been more fun to work in a "Mad Men" type place, smoking, drinking, and pinching the office girls.
Yuppie dreamsAs someone who knows what sjmills is all about,  "I thought going to college WAS your job!"
More family secretsMy mother mostly smoked Philip Morris, interspersed with mentholated Kools when her throat got too raw. The one in her fingers is cork-tipped, which my memory, such as it is, associates with Kools. Family lore is inconsistent on the timing depending on who you talk to, but my recollection is that she quit just a few years after this. She'd gotten a scare by accidentally dropping either an ember or a lighted match into her apron pocket where she carried her matches and only later, upon finding the scorched fabric, realized how close she'd come to burning herself up. Regarding the look on her face, it's more likely just her putting-up-with-getting-her-picture-taken expression.
That is indeed a clip-on bow tie, and I still remember those cufflinks; they had large blue glass stones about the size of marbles. I assure you I wasn't responsible for the color styling, tie, pants, cufflinks down to blue socks. I just now noticed my father and I both have tortoise-shell eyeglass frames.
The yardstick is more likely there having been used to determine the focus for this shot. I'm happy to say I now have possession of it, and indeed the last time I used it was to retrieve a spoon that had fallen down the crack between the counter and the refrigerator. I also have the floor lamp, and right now I'm sitting at the desk behind the brown chair (not in this house, regrettably). Mother's brown TV-watching chair is now the treasured possession of her granddaughter.
Thanks for all the positive comments, people.
Happy Hour with tterraceI missed responding to the title of the first comment. We were never big alcohol drinkers. Father always had a small glass of Burgie (that's an old beer brand) with dinner, poured from a brown quart bottle, and we'd have wine for Sunday dinners. At around this time, I'd be having a diluted one, wine, water and sugar. We had before-dinner drinks only on Sundays as part of the cheese-and-crackers ritual. Eventually, I was able to have a very weak highball (aka bourbon-and-Seven) or wine cooler on these occasions. For big deal, dining room dinners with guests, the after-dinner liqueurs would be hauled out - Cointreau, creme de menthe, creme de cacao (with a layer of cream or half-and-half floating on top), Forbidden Fruit. In any event, the supplies in our small liquor cabinet lasted forever. I myself never took up regular alcohol consumption.
E-DayMy favorite tterrace pics are the ones with cars. Where were you and your camera 9-4-57?
The Edsel and MeGiven my interest at the time, I have surprisingly few photos specifically of cars, and none of the Edsel. I know didn't think much of the design; the front end reminded me of a silly-looking cartoon fish or something. A year or so earlier, though, I trotted down the hill and across the street to Hil Probert's DeSoto-Plymouth and snapped off this shot of the business end of a 1956 Plymouth. Funny, I just now noticed the trunk lid is popped.
[Ooh. Flat duo jets. I still have my 1956 Plymouth. It's blue rubber with yellow wheels. - Dave]
Happy HourRegarding tterrace's Sunday dinners with wine, when we had dinner with my grandparents, my grandfather would give us wine diluted with 7-Up. The older we got, the less 7-Up. None of us turned into alcoholics. By the way, great tie and thanks for all of the great pictures you post.
Red Ryder BB GunIt's Ralphie from "A Christmas Story"!
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)

Model Home: 1946
... blast occurring if the light streaming in through the window is anything to go by. The tree outside doesn't seem lit from the same ... world. Dream House Now this is what I want for Christmas -- a model house, and time to fiddle with the teensy tiny bowls. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/03/2008 - 7:59am -

From a series titled "Experimental housing models. Storage shed & garage, dining room & kitchen." Circa 1945-48, of the "Your Future Postwar Home" genre. Kodachrome transparency by Eric Schaal, Life photo archive. View full size.
Pope-LeigheyThis looks to be drawing heavily from the Frank Lloyd Wright well, at least from my limited exposure touring the Pope-Leighey house in Alexandria, Virginia.  
How sleek it all is!
Polly put the kettle on..I love the addition of the 18th century-style iron crane with copper tea kettle to the otherwise oh-so-contemporary fireplace! 
Very nice!I'll take two, please.
LoftyLooks like half the lofts you see in San Francisco. Minimalist and modern. Not exactly my taste, but obviously this design has weathered well.
PomoI love the copper kettle in the 'fireplace' and the sailing ship in a bottle. Seems that postmodernism is older than I am!
No castleReminds me of Pete Seeger's "ticky-tacky little boxes." I live in a 1946-built ranch-style but only because the surrounding land is lovely.  These things were efficient but sure not comfy. No thanks.
California ModernThis was the style being promoted as Architecture for Everyman back in the 1940s, but it turned out that simplicity wasn't really that easy (or inexpensive) to pull off. You'll see its influence in the California Modern style of open floorplan found in midcentury houses that might go for $500k and up today. What everyone else got was pasteboard ranchettes with trickle-down features like sliding glass doors and carports.
Kettle at fallingwater The Kaufman House (aka "Fallingwater") also has a similiar kettle on an iron crane over its fireplace. The fireplace and built-in shelving are all very Wrightish.
Boom!There looks to be a distant atomic blast occurring if the light streaming in through the window is anything to go by. The tree outside doesn't seem lit from the same perspective. Otherwise, fantastic. Makes me want to drink pink lemonade and read National Geographic.
Ektorp! Leksvik! Flattorg!Proto-Ikea.
[I thought that Minus chandelier looked familiar. - Dave]
DesiluI can see the attraction of order and simplicity after the chaos of the war. Now all they needed to add is a drain in the middle of the floor so that you can hose everything down for that weekly cleaning. The couch/chair set looks like something out of the Ricardos' apartment.
Where's the TV?Obviously, they didn't foresee that in just a few short years living rooms would -- in practice, not in magazines -- be forever after arranged around suitable viewing locations for the ubiquitous television set.
Hideous.It's bare, minimal, and utterly without a soul. The only thing it shares with a "Wright" building is: you see the personality of the architect in every detail, or lack of detail. There is nothing for the owner to add. In this case, it is a very bad thing.
[Um, this is a scale model made from cigar boxes. - Dave]
Don and June in La JollaThis closely resembles the thousands of Postwar Modernist houses built for every economic level in Southern California in the late 1940s and 1950s. My godparents, Don and June, lived in such a house, architect-designed and built in 1951 in La Jolla on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. The house wasn't large and had more glass on all sides, but the fireplace and furnishings were very like those in this model. Everything Don and June owned and wore was emphatically Modern. There were Eames chairs and Danish sofas, saber legs under the blond-finished tables and cabinets, immense Blenko Glass ashtrays, and wrought iron floor lamps with translucent pressed fiberglass shades. Don wore Don Loper jumpsuits in bright rich-guy colors and drove an MG. June wore charcoal gray knit turtlenecks and chunky hand-wrought silver jewelry. For me, living with my folks in a redwood-sided ranch house with knotty pine paneling and Early American maple furniture, visiting Don and June was like a trip to Mars. But Modernism didn't age well, and weathered quickly. In our current age of pseudo-Tuscan McMansions, minimalist Postwar Modern houses in Southern California are an endangered species and are increasingly protected by architectural preservation statutes. And many are being rediscovered and restored by affluent young Post-Modern buyers.
UncannyIt is uncanny how closely this vision indeed resembles interiors of homes of 10-15 years later. Exposed-beam ceilings were a highlight, as were multiple wall materials in the same room, e.g., mortared rocks form two walls, sliding glass doors create another and paneling covers on the fourth. Also cool: sliding room dividers.
Called to the FloorI know I'll get called to the floor for missing something obvious... but in a room that appears completed - what's that out of place beam looking thing lying across the floor?
[Seems to be a stray beam left lying around when they took out some parts to take the picture. - Dave]

Fooled meI knew something was a bit stagey about this shot, bit it wasn't until I read the comment below that I realized it was a cardboard model. I thought the term "housing model" was like a display home they use to sell condos. Curse my old eyes! Nice job to whoever built it.
I love it! ... And I even love allie's snarky suggestion about putting a drain in the floor - an idea I've fantasized about for years. Seriously. Stop laughing.
Model verisimilitudeMy favorite in that LIFE archive selection is the one looking down into the garage with its roof off: there's a drip mat on the floor with model oil stains on it. Looking at these gives me the same kind of feeling I get when watching Republic movie serials with speeding locomotives derailing into high-tension electric towers or warehouses exploding in clouds of fuller's earth and balsa timbers: making detailed models like this for a living must have been the best job in the whole world.
Dream HouseNow this is what I want for Christmas -- a model house, and time to fiddle with the teensy tiny bowls. Architects have such an AWESOME job.
"Little Boxes"The song was composed by Malvina Reynolds. You can hear her her version in the title sequence of the first-season episodes of Weeds. Later episodes feature versions by other artists, and it's interesting to compare and contrast those with the original. 
Steve Miller
Someplace near the crossroads of America
The Rooster LookModel home pictures.  A lot of it reminds me of some of the things we had or tried to imitate in our house in the early 50s. My mom bought "blonde" furniture  in a very contemporary style!  All the rage.  That sleek moderne look then changed to homey and there was rooster decor.  Anyone else remember the roosters? Rooster lamps, dishes, wrought iron rooster on the wall! Ah, the beauty of trends!
(Art & Design, LIFE)

Good Old Guckenheimer: 1938
December 1938. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Christmas tree over the door of a bar on Market Street." Medium format nitrate ... the eave, the blinds raised and a small houseplant in each window, and the lights on inside so you can see Christmas decorations and a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/11/2022 - 12:22pm -

December 1938. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Christmas tree over the door of a bar on Market Street." Medium format nitrate negative by Paul Vanderbilt. View full size.
CousinJohn Jacob Jingleheimer Smith was a celebrated relative.
Good Grief!Hey Charlie Brown!  We found your Christmas tree!
Charlie Brown called --You know the rest.
Victim of ProhibitionThe original Guckenheimer Rye whiskey was dead and gone by the time the picture was taken, a victim of prohibition. Another distillery had bought the name at that time. It's possible a bottle of the real stuff could still be found by 1938, but most likely, it was a whole different whiskey with a Guckenheimer label.  This long-winded article has a lot of detail:  http://www.ellenjaye.com/guckenheimer.html
The composition is correctMy first thought was this photo needs some snow on the eave, the blinds raised and a small houseplant in each window, and the lights on inside so you can see Christmas decorations and a friendly bartender.  But no, it's 1938 and the Great Depression is in its ninth year.  To make the bad worse, 1937-1938 were years of a recession with high unemployment within the depression.  Paul Vanderbilt (not one of THE Vanderbilts) knew what photo he wanted.
(The Gallery, Christmas, Eateries & Bars, Philadelphia)

A Little Night Music
... by Columbia in 1948. I'd like to think this was a Christmas present. View full size. Player and record Steelman ... were the days. Christmas season? Small tree in the window. In the 1960s my dad picked up a portable Motorola stereo phonograph ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 01/24/2013 - 7:02pm -

tterrace here to report that in this, another unlabeled Kodachrome from the "Linda" series, our music-loving friend is about to enjoy (and unfortunately is touching the playing surface of) an LP of one of the top items in the classical hit parade, Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. This performance, with Walter Gieseking, piano, and Herbert von Karajan conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, was originally recorded at Kingsway Hall, London, by EMI on June 6 and 11, 1951. It was licensed to USA's Columbia Records, which released this album in late December 1951 as ML 4431, selling for $5.45. His player appears to be a 1950 Steelman "Quartet" Model 515 portable, one of their "better buys," priced at $29.95. Definitely not hi-fi, but perhaps this is an example of the stopgap that many of the time employed, their older behemoth radio/phono consoles unable to accommodate the relatively new long-playing record, introduced by Columbia in 1948. I'd like to think this was a Christmas present. View full size.
Player and recordSteelman "Quartet" and Columbia ML 4431
VTF in ounces, not gramsConsidering the weight of the tone arm on that Steelman touching the records surface was the least of his worries. 
Columbia Record "Club"Remember the Columbia Record Club? They'd send a new recording (I belonged to the Classical Music option) once a month or so. I would send the record back and they would send me a bill, or I would accept the record and they wouldn't send me a bill. Finally quit sending the recordings back and they dropped me from their mailing list. Those were the days.
Christmas season?Small tree in the window.
In the 1960s my dad picked up a portable Motorola stereo phonograph player that had detachable speakers. You uncoupled them from the sides of the cabinet and could pull them out as far as the cable would allow, but that was easily 6-8 feet on each side.
Dad modified the amplifier so that he could plug a microphone into a jack he added on the side and use it as a PA system. He and mom then took the stereo to a few PTA parties and kids' dances and school functions. Flip the switch-- PA announcements. Flip the switch back-- play the dance music. My dad was a great improviser and quite handy with tools. Too bad I didn't inherit much of that.
Dramatic or romantic?Probably one of the most well known dramatic piano intro flourishes ever! The rest is pure romantic loveliness. (Though still nothing close to Ase's Tod or Peer Gynt.) The crop on this image is tantalizingly close. One more mm of image and we would see whether he wears a ring. The photo frame on the turntable is also just enough out of focus. Off to listen now. I love the art on the album cover.
Well, this was a coincidenceI clicked on Shorpy.com this evening while I was listening to this week's New York Philharmonic radio broadcast.
What was playing at that moment?
Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet!
Putting sound to the recordTo add to Deborah's comment, here's the opening flourish of Grieg's Concerto in A Minor, played on a Steinway Duo-Art piano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqKQILSr44
Reproducing pianos such as this were different from your normal player piano. The paper roll included markings for sustain, dynamics, etc. These pianos typically went for $2,000 on up in the 1920s ... so needless to say, not many had them.
Great picture. I have a LP collection of jazz from the 1950s and early 1960s. Reading the covers gives you an attachment to the music, something that sadly is lost today.
RE: Columbia Record "Club"I think you may have reversed part of your comment:  If you "kept" the record, they sent you a bill.  Of course, in my case, it didn't matter if I sent it back or not; they ALWAYS sent me a bill for it.
What It Is DependsIn those days the kids called it the record player. Mom and Dad called it the Victrola. When sober Uncle Ernie called it the phonograph. 
Not cheap$5.45 for a record back in 1951 sounds pretty expensive.  Were classical records more costly as a rule?
DramaticI love this picture.  Dark, but not foreboding, it suggests comfort, if not luxury.  The shadows invite speculation, as many Shorpy photos do, and the lamplight invites one into a warm, cozy room to enjoy an evening symphonic performance.  Nice!
Expensive!As per the Consumer Price Index, that $5.45 record album would cost over $48 in today's money.  The phonograph works out to a whopping $265.
[Originally the Masterworks price was $4.85 or $5.45 depending on length, later standardized to $4.98. In January 1956 Columbia reduced it to $3.98. - tterrace]
StopgapWe had a "stopgap" like that, only later.  When I was young my parents had a Montgomery Ward radio-phono in a wooden cabinet.  The radio would do AM, FM (which was almost nonexistent then) and shortwave.  The phono would only do 78s.  In about 1961, my father bought a used Zenith record player with the old Cobra tonearm (which looked like a snake.)  It would play LPs and 45s, but only mono.  A couple of years later they bought a Zenith stereo in a cabinet.  By then, of course stereo LPs had been out for several years.  I remember it had a flip feature on the tonearm--you turned a disc one way to play LPs/45s and rotated it to get a 78 stylus.  The turntable would do all three speeds.  If you set it for 78s, however, because the whole thing ran on a cam, the changer worked so fast that it would likely have smashed itself to bits if you did it very many times.  I have bought more used vinyl than CDs in the past 2-3 years.  There is some real treasure out there for very little money ($1 a disc at my store.)
Night HawkThis photo has an Edward Hopper quality about it.
(Linda Kodachromes)

Family Porchrait: 1939
... Are those some kind of manufacturer stickers on the window panes? You know, like Minnie Pearl's hat with price tag still attached. ... Joan Crawford is probably lurking somewhere nearby. Christmas lights? Those "stickers" in the window look like Christmas lights ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/24/2012 - 12:53pm -

January 1939. Chicot Farms, Arkansas. "Husband and wife on porch of farm house." Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
New Home OwnershipI can feel the pride they have showing off their new home; all white and pretty.  Are those some kind of manufacturer stickers on the window panes?  You know, like Minnie Pearl's hat with price tag still attached.
Ma & Pa KettleAnd from the looks of that ax, Joan Crawford is probably lurking somewhere nearby.
Christmas lights?Those "stickers" in the window look like Christmas lights (which would be somewhat appropriate since it's January).  It's hard to tell if they're really lights or just stickers.
Okay, I'm going with Christmas light stickers.
Just mucking aroundBesides fishing, you'd need the boots when doing the chores such as feeding the hogs or mucking out the stable. You wouldn't want to be stepping in that stuff with regular shoes. Also, Ms Hen might not be ready to meet her demise. On family farms, it would be the poorest layers who'd meet their doom first.
Uniroyal, Red Ball or LaCrosse?No signs of fishing equipment in the scene, so I wonder - why the hip boots?
Ms. Hen in the left background may be the guest of honor for that chopping block.
[I truly love old farm scenes.]
ElectricityIf these folks didn't have power for a radio, they probably didn't have power for Christmas lights.
Chopping blockBlock could most certainly be used on ms hen's neck, however, the block was most likely for chopping firewood.
A hatchet for the hen, an ax for the wood.
Hip BootsI have no idea why he's wearing those boots, but to SJBill's comment about fishing, it seems that Chicot Farms was/is located on Chicot Lake.
Boots on the groundBoot are a must have on a farm.  Animal muck everywhere.  I wore mine all the time.  No worries and when you are done you can spray them with the hose before you take them off.
I tell young friends that my Mother didn't live in an electrified house until she was 20 and moved to Atlanta.  They are dumb-founded.  Rural electrification was a great thing.  The electric company's would never have done it. To few customers to justify the lines.
Also, great dog!
Dawg on the left"I smell a cat around here somewhere..."
(The Gallery, Cats, Dogs, Russell Lee)

Janes Candy: 1924
... Logistics I wonder if the candy display in the window was an elaborate prop. There doesn't appear to be refrigeration, and ... by are dressed would suggest that this is sometime around Christmas. Janes' Little Chunk of Heaven I envy those people ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/01/2011 - 11:40am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1924. "Janes' candy store, Ninth Street." Another moldy oldie from the vaults. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Elvis has become the buildingPeeking through the acanthus, upper left.
LogisticsI wonder if the candy display in the window was an elaborate prop. There doesn't appear to be refrigeration, and that mass of candy would be a melty mess by early afternoon.
[It's December. - Dave]
Never for 3 CentsWhen I was a small lad, we use to get triple dips at the ice cream store for 15 cents.  I have never seen another cone like those.  The three dips were side by side.  That was in Cushing, Oklahoma, in the early forties.
DecorationsThe decoration in the window, the giant candy cane that the little girl is holding as well as the ones in the window, what appears to be fir boughs in the window, and the way the people walking by are dressed would suggest that this is sometime around Christmas.
Janes' Little Chunk of HeavenI envy those people fortunate enough to have visited the Janes candy store.  All those delicious chocolates were probably hand made with care and attention to detail.  The fact that they are displaying boxes of chocolates in the front windows lets me know the picture was made in the cooler months of the year and that they had to be changed out frequently to preserve freshness and to maintain quality standards.  One bad truffle and you lose repeat business.
Imagine having this much chocolate laid before you at only pennies per pound, not per piece like we've grown accustomed.  I remember in the early sixties having candy weighed in front of you then getting the price.  Sometimes they had to remove a little to make the allowance money fit the candy or to help control a child's sugar greed. 
Having said that, the little girl with the "life-sized" peppermint cane had to be the envy of every other child  she encountered.  That had to be the Cadillac of candies and it did what chocolates couldn't do: it lasted all day and you still had candy even after the stretchy licorice was long gone.
So much Sugar, so little Fluoride!I'll bet the dentists in that town did a thriving business.
John Janes, Fine Confectionery


Washington Post, December 6, 1913.


Candy


Schools, Churches, Hospitals, and all institutions contemplating Christmas entertainments. Allow us to furnish your Christmas Candies, Favors, and Novelties. We extend the most liberal concessions to all institutions.


Janes Brothers
514 Ninth St. N. W.
Phone Main 3420.

We make our own candies and guarantee them under the Pure Food Law.




Washington Post, July 22, 1915.


District Court News

Constantine Janes was convicted in District branch of the police court yesterday on a charge of disorderly conduct. Janes runs a candy store in Ninth street between E and F streets northwest, and had some difficulty with a colored man, who claimed that Janes owed him money. Policeman T.J. Sullivan, of the First precinct, who made the arrest, said Janes swore at him and was disorderly when asked what the trouble was. The policeman testified that the employes of Janes took the defendant away from him on three occasions.
Judge Pugh said that "the policeman got himself into this trouble by going into the store. He had no right to enter into this matter, as it was a civil transaction between an employe and an employer." The court, however, though the defendant was guilty of disorderly conduct, but released him on his personal bond.



Washington Post, Oct 18, 1915. 


Pure Candy Sale


We have 1,000 pound boxes of our make. Absolutely pure and fresh.


Assorted Chocolates
Choclates and Bon Bons

Regular  30¢ a Pound Candies
 Special for Today Only
 per pound, 19¢.

 Mail orders receive prompt attention. Visit our Light Lunch and Ice Cream Parlor.

Janes Brothers
514 9th St. N. W.




Washington Post, Oct 23, 1917.


Special Notices

Notice is hereby given that the partnership hitherto existing between Constantine Janes and John Janes, under the firm name, Janes Brothers, which firm has conducted a confectionery business at No. 514 Ninth Street Northwest, Washington D.C., was dissolved by the mutual agreement on the 13th day of October, 1917, and Constantine Janes withdrew from said business.
All debts due to the partnership are to be paid to, and those due from the same discharged by, John Janes, at 514 Ninth Street Northwest, Washington D.C., where the business will be continued by said John Janes in his own name, he having purchased and succeeded to the interest of said Constantine Janes.

Constantine Janes,
John Janes.


The James BrothersJess & Frank James? I don't think so.
Ornery JaneI'll bet the tough looking gent inside the door is the feisty Constantine Janes who got into it with the cop! The kindly John Janes must be the one who gave that amazing candy cane to the little kid. No wonder the partnership broke up!
And - - And - -LUNCHEONETTE !
Lansburgh sign is what I noticedJanes Candy was before my time (my mother was about as old as that child in 1924). But I remember well Lansburgh. It was one of my mother's favorite department stores, along with Woodward & Lothrop, Hechts, Kanns and Garfinckels (all gone now). Lansburgh was one of the first old style department stores in the Washington area to fold - I think in the 70s or 80s. Back in the 50s and early 60s the trip from Fairfax to Lansburgh was a real trek. There were no "shopping malls" then.
[The sign in our photo is on the Lansburgh furniture store -- two blocks away from the Lansburgh department store. - Dave]
Wow!  That's a great candy sale!I wish we could hurry and get there for the 19 cents per pound sale! Those must have been heavenly!  
Of course, the pennies that they cost per pound were a lot of money, in 1924. It reminds me of hearing my dad tell of getting a nice big ice cream cone for 3 cents, during the 1930s. But, before I could spend much time being impressed, he added that he had to work hard for that 3 cents! 
By the way, Bob, I remember getting ice cream for 5 cents a scoop during the early 60s, at High's ice cream shop in Virginia.  I never saw a cone made for three scoops side by side, but they had some that held two scoops side by side.  I got triple dips by having them put another on top, in between the two on the bottom. By the late 60s, High's was charging 10 cents a scoop, which was still a great deal!
Chinese Cuisine!Look all the way to the right, the window says "Mandarin Chinese Restaurant". I'm just too excited to see that there were Chinese restaurants back in those days.
[Also here, in 1912. "Chop Suey." - Dave]
The Mandarin


Washington Post, May 15, 1922 



The Mandarin
Chinese and American Restaurant
514 Ninth St. N.W.
will be reopened, Thursday, March 16, 1922, under new management. The best of service and the best of Chinese and American dishes will be our Motto.

The Mandarin Restaurant Co.



Additional appearances of Chinese restaurants on Shorpy:
Chinese Delmonico, NYC, 1910. 
The Canton Pagoda, Washington D.C., 1920.
Chowing downApparently, the first recorded Chinese restaurant in North America was Macao and Woosung, founded in 1849. The history of the Chinese Restaurant in the US was pretty much mirrored in Canada where Chinese men came to work on the building of the trans-Canada railway. Men who had arrived to work on the railways and unable to find employment due to racism, often went on to cook in mining and logging camps, setting up their own restaurants or laundries.
Chinese restaurants or cafes were often the first and only restaurant in most small Canadian towns, especially in the prairies. They generally served typical Canadian dishes. In many cases, they were the life and soul of small Canadian towns.
http://www.uglychinesecanadian.com/?p=1623
Janes FamilySo happy to have stumbled across this.  John and Constantine were the brothers of my husband's grandmother, Sophie Janes.  They were Greek immigrants from Karystos, Evia, Greece.  Sophie worked in the candy store after coming to America, before marrying and moving with her husband to St Petersburg, Florida.  
I would be very interested in any other information about the Janes brothers or the candy store.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)

Christmas 1969, image one
Christmas dinner at my grandparents' house in Floral Park, NY, 1969. Left, My ... crafts made from discarded (pardon the pun) punch cards. Christmas trees and wreaths come to mind. Anyone who worked with computers back ... And here is a great home decorating idea... Punch card window blinds ... 
 
Posted by gjoe - 10/06/2009 - 10:08pm -

Christmas dinner at my grandparents' house in Floral Park, NY, 1969. Left, My mother, Rosemarie; My Aunt Barbara; My uncle Patrick; one of my aunt's sisters (I can't remember her name); my uncle Ralph; my aunt Loraine and cousin Mary. View full size.
Punch Card WreathThat's a nifty gold spray painted wreath made out of IBM cards on the wall!
WreathIndeed... Younger visitors wouldn't understand the significance of the tacky crafts made from discarded (pardon the pun) punch cards. Christmas trees and wreaths come to mind. Anyone who worked with computers back in the mid-70s always had boxes and boxes of them hanging about.
And here is a great home decorating idea... Punch card window blinds
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/06/computer_punch_card_windo.html
There is a resurgence in the form of stamp art made on punch cards.
http://www.washingtonpavilion.org/VisualArtsCenter/events/punchcardart.c...
I used to play officewith the punch cards my dad brought home from his job at IBM.  And remember the Christmas trees made from folding each page of a Reader's Digest and then spraying it green or gold?
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)

American Gothic: 1940
... Red Ryder This look like a scene from the film "A Christmas Story". Details The kid all the way to the right is clearly ... or something. There is another little kid peering out the window all the way to the left. Little boys have been playing in dirt, as ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/05/2017 - 4:02pm -

December 1940. "Children in the tenement district, Brockton, Massachusetts." These houses, which look to have been built in the 1890s, must have been imposing in their day. Note the elaborate woodwork and intricate system of gutters and downspouts. Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.
American Gothichard working people doing the best they could.
American GothicJust wanted to say how much I appreciate someone sharing these awesome pictures with the rest of the world.
Thanks!
The HouseI am totally in love with this house..I just can NOT get enough of these incredible colour pictures of the 40's. I think they appear to have better quality than the photos of today. I'd so love to live in this era.
My HouseI lived in a house like this one in the 50's but it wasn't in Massachusetts.  They tore it down and built a hospital which greatly distressed me. I hate it when old houses die.
Red RyderThis look like a scene from the film "A Christmas Story".
DetailsThe kid all the way to the right is clearly some sort of weisenheimer.  Looks like he's adopting a purposely artificial pose or something.  There is another little kid peering out the window all the way to the left.  Little boys have been playing in dirt, as evidenced by the lovingly molded dirt mound replete with tunnel for the toy truck to drive through.  There is an old can, perhaps for a game of kick the can...?  It must have been around Christmastime, as there are wreaths in the windows.  The proud fellow in the red and black jacket could be Terry Malloy in another fourteen years.  Love that there is a sense of love and protection coming from the parents.  I get the idea that though the kids didn't have much they knew they were cared for and didn't feel sorry for themselves.  Thanks for indulging my ruminations and thank you for this gorgeous website.  I love it to bits and pieces.  
Cue boiling oilThis reminds me of the Charles Addams cartoons from the old New Yorker magazine. Just needs a punch line.
"I'm sorry, Ollie"The kid on the right seems to be doing a Stan Laurel impression.
The street nowWhat Was There offers a nifty view of what this street looks like now. Is it possible half the house is still standing?
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Brockton, Dogs, Jack Delano, Kids)

Mother's Vacation: 1963
... wall pocket; incredibly neat ceramic 8-day clock. In the window: large ceramic squash-shaped shaker and a carnival ware tumbler. Not ... chairs is in the shot below that I took right after the Christmas 1955 flood (I just noticed the carnival ware tumbler is there, too). ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 08/28/2021 - 12:22am -

My mother doing the dishes (with earrings and a piece of candy) in the knotty pine kitchen of our summer place in East Guernewood, California in June 1963. Note the items then regarded as fit only for vacation home use but now either antiques or retro: genuine cracked ice pattern Formica and chrome table with matching chairs; set of floral pattern tumblers (can't remember if they were glass or plastic); ceramic teapot wall pocket; incredibly neat ceramic 8-day clock. In the window: large ceramic squash-shaped shaker and a carnival ware tumbler. Not shown: the dirty look she gave me after hearing me snap off this Kodachrome slide.
Mother's VacationI enjoyed your great candid photo.  Most of the objects you pointed out in your photo were made just before or just after World War II.  The floral tumblers are late 1940's and made of glass.  My family was also still using them in the early 1960s.  The Depression generation tended to use things until they were not merely out of style, but broken.    
The ceramic clock is earlier, pre-war German.  Such ceramic clocks were inexpensive and widely distributed in the US in the 1920s and early 1930s.  Most were distributed by the Miller Co. of Newark, New Jersey.  If its border is green it is likely 1930 or later; if blue it was made after 1924, but probably before 1930.  
The wall pocket is almost certainly late 1940's American.  The shape of you kitchen table suggests it was manufactured just before or after World War II.  Yellow as a kitchen color became popular again in 1941 after a brief vogue in 1927.  It went out of fashion again after 1952.  The chair backs may be original or later replacements. 
The sources for this information are period magazine ads and catalogs.
Thank you for sharing!  
PerfectionI can't imagine why your mother would have given you a dirty look. After all, she's all made up to have her picture taken--perfect hair, earrings, dress--while washing the dishes. Maybe she wanted you to get her at a better pose? Your pictures make me want to go back and relive my childhood. Well, maybe not.
Back in stockThe identical kitchen table set is sitting in my late mother's kitchen right now, as it has since 1957, with the yellow "cracked ice" Formica top. About 25 years ago she replaced the worn-out matching yellow vinyl on the chairs  with an annoying floral patterned "Look-O-Linen" textured vinyl, and now it's shot and I never liked it anyway. I'd never known what the original vinyl pattern was called until your posting of this photo, tterrace. And, I've just discovered that both cracked ice Formica and cracked ice vinyl have been revived by manufacturers for the Retro market. I don't know if you like the pattern, but I do very much, and I thank you. (Come to think of it, the tubular chrome folding step-stool in the kitchen used to have that vinyl too. Now look what you've done!)
RecyclingThe tumblers look like jelly or peanut butter jars.
Remember Betty Furnesstterrace's mom was indeed very well turned-out to be doing the dishes at a vacation home, but I remember the model Betty Furness who used to wear a flowing chiffon cocktail dress, dangling earrings and spike heels to demonstrate refrigerators (always full of showy desserts), ovens (with a turkey or ham cooking) and stoves (brimming with steaming pots), while her hair-do  and make-up was as glamorous as a movie star's portfolio photos.   I wondered if my mom was the only one who wore a cheap cotton housedress, no jewelry and loafers to schlep around the house.  Also I must note that these so-called "vacations" were not much of a vacation for Moms because they still had to do everything they did at home (cook, clean, laundry and dishes) but with crappier tools and appliances.  For everyone else though, it was a holiday.   Did tterrace or his brother become professional photographers?  Inquiring minds want to know, because they sure had a gift for capturing real life at moments in time.   Many thanks.
Re: You must have been richThe vacation home came with all the furniture. It had been owned for many years prior by another family. Much of the furniture was from the 1920s. Some of the kitchen items, the "Dutch" blue and white clock, and the pink wall teapot, and the tumblers came from our house in Larkspur. One item still in the family is the amethyst Carnival glass tumbler on the window shelf. That came with the house and is on my knick-knack shelf right now.
--tterrace's sister
You must have been richThe stuff fit only for your vacation home was what we had in our non-vacation kitchen. The table and chairs in particular bring back memories of the 60's and 70's. Also the yellow bird and the tumblers. 
The Family MuseumOur "cottage" up north became the family museum. Anytime something at home wasn't needed, you'd hear "take it to the cottage." Our dishes, curtains and furniture all ended up in the north! Lots of "I remember these" heard through the years!
MomThis makes me feel so nostalgic for my own childhood, and my mother.  It probably sounds weird but your mother's arms remind me of my mother's arms ... those arms could comfort like none other on earth!
Arvin Industries.............and Hamilton-Cosco, both of Columbus, Indiana,  were leaders in the manufacture of tubular chrome and vinyl kitchen tables, chairs, step-stools, and utility carts. The furniture in this photo looks as if it could have come from one or both of those companies.
[Below: The Kuehne-Khrome "Planter" from  1952. - Dave]

Preservationtterrace,
Thanks once again for a great picture.  The picture precedes me by a good two decades, but I am enthralled with the domestic life of mid-century America, and therefore love your pictures.  I was wondering if you were putting these pictures into some sort of printed photo book, along with your very detailed, interesting, and often humorous captions?  I don't know what the offspring situation of you and your siblings is, but I know that as a member of the "younger generation," I would really love to have such a chronicle of my family's everyday lives.  (If that weren't enough, the pictures are wonderful in their own right.)  And finally, as a future historian with a love of microhistory, I can only imagine how much some historian of the future would love to stumble across a collection like that.  Anyway, I do hope you'll put these together for you and your family in some way (maybe you already have).  And thanks again for sharing with us!
The tterrace summer homeNo, we weren't rich, just comfortably middle class. I'm not sure of the full price of the River place when my folks bought it in 1950, but the loan they took out was $1000, an incredible $8814 today if you go by the BLS inflation calculator. The original table and chairs were actually wooden; one of the chairs is in the shot below that I took right after the Christmas 1955 flood (I just noticed the carnival ware tumbler is there, too). The Formica set was a later addition, I believe a hand-me-down from friends or relatives, and fortuitously happened to match the kitchen's yellow color scheme. I have to confess that I didn't know the name of the Formica pattern before researching for this photo caption.  For several years we only had an ice box at the River, so I actually remember the ice man coming around and the sign whose direction you could rotate to indicate how many pounds you wanted. Mother usually wasn't this dressed up to do housework, so we must have been about to go someplace. She was never really thrilled about having her picture taken, particularly candidly, and a number of her photos mysteriously disappeared from the family album over the years. And yes, I was being more than a bit ironic in my titling.

Earrings and dishesGreat history! I grew up in the 1950's (in 1963, I was 14) and don't remember my mother without her clip-on earrings. Earrings were the first thing she put on in the morning and taking them off signaled bedtime. She said that if you had on earrings, you were fully dressed, even in a housecoat.
Mom cleaned in a long dressing gown and then "dressed for the day," but always wore her earrings "in case someone should came to the door." She cooked and baked in a short apron and was always immaculate. I once remarked to her that Donna Reed vacuumed in stockings and pearls, and she replied, "Well, she has a vacuum cleaner!" Mother swept the rugs with a broom and never did own a vacuum.
Thanks for sharing the memories of a time that doesn't seem so very long ago!
"..just a change of sink my dear.."My dear great aunt Phyl used to say, when on a family holiday (vacation) at a summer home they had, "....it's just a change of sink my dear.." meaning, of course, that for her, the mom of the family, she'd be cooking and doing dishes as always - but just in a different place - at a different sink.     This photo brought the memory back to me of her voice ... thanks.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kitchens etc., tterrapix)

Bambi and the Cadillac: 1961
... could they? Was that Rudolph? And did they eat him for Christmas dinner (as this was December)? Oh Dear Maybe they hit the deer ... once reached. The car pictured is a 1961 Cadillac Six Window Sedan de Ville. There was also a Four Window Sedan version that had a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/06/2012 - 4:00pm -

Somewhere in South Florida. "Marvin, Goble & deer. December 1961." My dad on the left and Mom in the car. 35mm Kodachrome by Aunt Marty. I found this slide just last week in a Kodak Carousel box labeled "Hunting." View full size.
Nice Mad Men outfits.People even dressed nicely to go Hunting back then!
Cross CreekI s'pose it isn't, but that house sho'nuf looks like the old Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings place on Cross Creek. I guess those fellers got the yearling! 
GrotesqueSmiles and gore. God Bless America!
Florida ChevyCadillacs were very popular in Florida (50's 60's) for many reasons, but most of all because they came standard with A/C. Hence, they were commonly called "Florida Chevys."
[Air conditioning was not standard in Cadillacs. -Dave]
Caddyshack hatI'm reminded of Rodney Dangerfield's line from Caddyshack: "With a hat like that, you probably get a free bowl of soup. Oh, but it looks good on you."
I'd be embarrassedThere ain't enough deer meat there for a proper lunch.
Florida tagsThe old Florida tags had a number followed by the weight class of the vehicle. This Cadillac has a 1 followed by WW, which means that it was registered in Dade County (Miami) and the WW was for a large car that you see here. All 67 counties in Florida had a number prefix based on the population of that county sometime in the late 1930's, I believe. Examples are, Jacksonville (Duval County) had a 2, Tampa (Hillsborough) a 3 and so on. The practice was discontinued in the 1970s, I think. 
That's a deer?We have fawns in North Missouri that are bigger than this thing.
How could they?Was that Rudolph?  And did they eat him for Christmas dinner (as this was December)?
Oh DearMaybe they hit the deer on their Sunday drive. The woman in the car seems to be ready to go.
Channeling GonzoDave, the surreal qualities of this photo bring Hunter S. Thompson to mind.  Fabulous picture.   So rich, especially with your mother's body language.
[I suspect varying degrees of mortification all around except for my dad. (The deer of course being maximally mortified.) - Dave]
Key Deer?Is the location far enough South in Florida to be in the Florida Keys, where they have miniature Key Deer?
Forlorn Florida FawnFor transporting that teensy sized deer, a Corvair would have worked as well.
Very Cool!Dave, your dad looks like a very cool guy and an interesting character.
Wish we could see your mom.
[Mom is here. -Dave]
Re: Key Deer?From the size of it, my first instinct was that it was a Key Deer, too.  Key Deer generally don't get much bigger than a large dog-- 75 lbs. at the most.  However, because Key Deer are an endangered species, hunting of Key Deer became prohibited in 1939, and a refuge was established for them in 1957.  Most likely, this is a small Florida Whitetail, or maybe even a crossbreed of a Florida Whitetail and a Key Deer that had wandered north looking for fresh water.
Cat-deer?I have a cat that isn't a whole lot smaller than that poor little deer!
RE: Key DeerI would hope it's not a Key Deer, though it is the right size. Hunting Key Deer has been banned continiously since 1939 and the population dropped to near extinction in the mid-'50s. 
Conservation efforts have worked to bring the population up a bit, from a low of around 25 to something in the mid 100s. They are still very Endangered.
Vanishing TailfinsThe size of Cadillac tailfins began to diminish starting in 1960.  By 1965 Cadillac tailfins were completely gone on all models except the Fleetwood Seventy-Five Sedan and Limousine, but even these models would have the fins truncated for 1966. The tall narrow taillights, even seen on Cadillacs today, still hint of the heights they once reached.
The car pictured is a 1961 Cadillac Six Window Sedan de Ville.  There was also a Four Window Sedan version that had a wrap-around rear window.  The upholstery for each Cadillac model was different, so the open door on the drivers side, along with the number of side windows and type of rear window, helps to determine the exact model.
Prices for 1961 Cadillacs ranged from $4,892 for a Series 62 Coupe to $9,748 for a Fleetwood 75 Limousine.  Prices for 1961 Chevrolets were from $2,230 to $3,099.
Florida started using County Codes in 1938 on license plates, and in 1942 the state began using the "WW" code on license plates to indicate a passenger vehicle that weighed more than 4,500 pounds.  The County Code system lasted through 1977.
The 1961 Cadillacs ranged in weight from 4,560 to 5,420 pounds.  The six- and four-window versions of the Sedan de Ville are shown below.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses)

Home Entertainment: 1943
... school: a three-legged creature with arms akimbo, carrying Christmas wreaths? Donuts? The radio is a Philco 40-155, sold in ... we had curtains that extended only to the bottoms of the window cases. What gets me going is the modern fashion of completely naked ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/14/2009 - 10:37pm -

February 1943. "Blue Island, Illinois. 2439 Orchard Street. Bobby Senise and mother listening to a radio program. Home of Daniel Senise, engine foreman on the Indiana Harbor Belt Line." Safety negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
The Human ComedyThis immediately made me recall reading Saroyan's "The Human Comedy" except it's the Midwest rather than California. 
Watching the RadioThis scene reminds me of what Grandma Rose used to frequently tell us kids:  
"TV off!  Use your imagination!"
Souvenirs from Out WestI'm not a "know-it-all" as I cannot identify the two implements that are keeping Bobby amused, but I do know that the items in question were all keepsakes from the souvenir shops in the West and Southwest in days of yore. The pottery was simply a novelty planter made by American Indian or Mexican craftsmen out of clay, as was the sombrero which had a decal on the front of where it was from. It did not necessarily serve a purpose as "souvenirs" are often useless curiosities. The giant pinecone was from the California behemoth redwoods, the fiber or straw totebag with ethnic people pictured is from the Southwest and the trophy looks like a bowling prize. The comfortable affection between mother and son is very similar to Elvis Presley's easy, kindred, unconditional love with his mother Gladys. We need a lot more of this type of family relationship today.  It's a great picture that really takes one back, thank you Shorpy.
[Speaking of tacky tchotchkes, let's see if we can't work Elvis and Gladys into more comments. Well done! - Dave]
The bad old daysDaniel Senise (who isn't even in the photo) and Bobby Senise get names, but Mrs. Senise is just "mother." If Jack Delano was working in 2009, instead of 1943, his editor would probably rip him a new one, with her bare hands.
[Jack Delano took dozens of photos of the Senise family -- Betty, Daniel and their three sons and dog. He gives all of their names in the introductory photos and then as needed so we can tell the boys apart. - Dave]
Strange objectsCan anyone identify those things Bobby is fiddling with?
On the other hand, the thing on the table that looks like a ceramic sombrero is obviously a combination ash tray and citrus juicer. Wartime rationing strictures required that all ornamental devices also serve at least one, preferably two, practical purposes.
UPDATE: Dave's close-up inspires this guess: a couple of Mom's knitting or embroidery implements? Or maybe manicure thingies?
Watching the radioIt's interesting how people used to watch the radio.  I also notice how much the Bible on the table has been worn from being read.
My best guess for the thing on the table is an ash tray.  My mother tells me that students were commonly taught to make ash trays in school over much of the 20th Century, so perhaps one of the boys made it.  It would make sense, since it is on the same table as the ambiguous trophy.
It looks like Billy has a twig in his left hand and some sort of plastic knife in his right, but I'm not sure if that is right for several reasons.
I wonder what periodical Billy is using as a pillow. 
DadIs "Bobby" perhaps Robert L. Senise, father of actor Gary Senise (also born in Blue Lake}?
[Interesting. Although Gary's last name is Sinise. - Dave]
2439 Orchard todayNice place.
View Larger Map
Mothers and sonsMy favorite thing about this photo is the comfortable affection between mother and son.  It makes me think of my own kids and how they still like to cuddle their old mom on occasion, regardless of their ages.  
Great siteG'day all.
Absolutely love this site, it's such a refeshing change from the doom & gloom of Main Stream Media. The clarity of the pics and the informed comments make it a must read site for me.
John
Melbourne Australia
Mothers and sons III'm a new mom to a baby boy, and this shot really warms my heart.  It shows that their relationship is a cozy and comfortable one.  Funny, though, Ma looks more like Grandma or Aunt Bee to me.  Pa seems too young for her.  The worn Bible is a lovely touch, but what is that strange gewgaw next to it?  Forget the sombrero; this is the doohickey I want to know about.  It too looks like something one of the boys must have made in school: a three-legged creature with arms akimbo, carrying Christmas wreaths?  Donuts?    
The radiois a Philco 40-155, sold in 1939-40.  It's a quite nice large table-top radio, with 8 tubes, covering the AM broadcast band and international short wave bands. It had built-in loop antennas for both broadcast and shortwave. I am currently restoring one, and it's a quite good performer.
They were lucky to have a relatively new radio, since production of radios for consumer use was halted shortly after Pearl Harbor.  Repair parts were scarce, due to allocation of most production to the military; if your radio died and replacement parts could not be found, you couldn't just go and buy another one.
Three-legged potI think the pot and the sombrero are both souvenirs of Mexico.  The three legs and the lifting rings are typical of American native folk pieces, and it's decorated with the cactus motif expected by tourists.
Oh JoeI know this is a little recent for Mr. Manning but hey Joe?  Such a nice family, Mom always in apron, Dad hard-working. Hope Jack came home from the war safely.  If we knew where they were now, wouldn't it be interesting to contact them and say "Hey, take a look at Shorpy"?  These photos bring back such a flood of memories for me. My mom had nine brothers and they all served in WWII. One never made it home, two were badly wounded. I picture my grandmother sitting where this lady is, listening to war news. And by the way, I am proud to go by "Mom."
I could not spell it...Loved your hilarious reply as I really wanted to use that word but  could not figure out how to spell 'tchotchkes' as it was not in my 1975 dictionary.  Found out it comes from both Polish (hooray) and Yiddish words.  Nothing wrong with Elvis and Gladys, she too lived at Graceland, the motherlode of both tacky and tchotchke.  
"Pine" coneIf walking through a redwood grove every day of my grade school life, and then frequently playing in one on the school grounds itself make one a true Californian, then I'm your boy. Therefore, I can attest that the cone is from a pine tree of some kind, not a redwood, whose equivalent is a little dinky thing. The other item no one's mentioned is the thing under the basket on the bottom shelf of the table: could be a photo album, which should get Shorpy mouths watering.
Norman RockwellThis brings back soooo many memories! Junior is clutching a rib and pulmonary artery recently plucked from his chest by the Mother-Goddess, who is going to make a sacrifice on her ottoman-altar just as soon as she fires up some incense in that Mayan firepot and tunes in the appropriate flute music. I love those curtains!!!
Coulter pine coneThe giant pine cone came from a Coulter pine. This medium-sized pine tree is most prevalent in the coastal mountains of Southern California, but there are stands of it as far north as the Bay Area, and as far south as northern Baja California. Coulter pines produce the largest and heaviest pine cones of all species, and people working among them are cautioned to wear hard hats at all times.
Curtains vs. drapesI was about to launch a pedantic tirade over A. Tipster's use of the term "curtains" in reference to what I'd call "drapes," but a simple online search proved that the matter isn't so simple. Everybody can do their own, but the most interesting bit I found was etiquette maven Emily Post's 1950 fulmination over the word "drapes": "This word is an inexcusable vulgarism." Therefore, I instead commend Tipster for displaying a scrupulous sense of propriety.
It's curtains for you, Mister.I grew up in a house with inexcusably vulgar drapes in the living room and dining room. In the bedrooms and bathroom we had curtains that extended only to the bottoms of the window cases. What gets me going is the modern fashion of completely naked windows, no matter how traditional the rest of the interior features might be. And in the Cosi Fan Tutte world of today's English, saying drapes instead of draperies is probably not the social suicide that it once was. Better Homes & Gardens' online site makes a practical distinction between curtains and drapes, courageously defying the Wrath of Post:
Drape vs. Curtain
When is a "drape" really a "curtain"? Although the terms drapery and curtain are often used interchangeably, there is a technical difference. Curtains are made of lightweight fabrics and most often are unlined and operable. Draperies extend to the floor, tend to be lined, and are sewn of heavier fabric.
Cool ChairI love the chair and ottoman.  Does that style of furniture have a name?
(The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Filene's Basement: 1963
... down shortly Those three with their backs to the store window are up to no good. The View Today This is the same location ... in West Side Story. He attributes his appearance in White Christmas with Rosemary Clooney in the "You Didn't Do Right By Me" dance number ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/10/2022 - 11:51am -

February 9, 1963. Boston, Massachusetts. "Pedestrians on Washington Street walking by Filene's department store." 35mm acetate negative by Thomas J. O'Halloran for the U.S. News & World Report assignment "Boston Commuter Experiment." View full size.
We'd go there!When I was a kid living outside of Baltimore in the early '60s, Kresge's was one of the stores we shopped at.  Getting lunch there was always a treat!
Filene's as a destination, then and nowI first went down this sidewalk in the late '70s, and it looked pretty much as it does in the photo. (Outdoor February wear in Boston doesn't change too rapidly.) 
Filene's pioneered off-price retailing, and shouldn't be blamed for all the crummy imitators. But the Boston location closed in 2007 and the chain entered a prolonged demise which may not be over yet. Though there have been no stores for years, a website encourages you to "sign up for emails."
The name Filene survives, however, as the performing-arts amphitheater in the Wolf Trap National Park outside Washington, DC. That honors Catherine Filene Shouse, granddaughter of the Filene chain's founder. She donated the property and built the amphitheater twice (it burned in 1982).
Loew's flippity flopThe Orpheum entrance has since been moved around to the back side, and the front entrance you see here is now retail. Mounting points for the sign and flagpole can still be seen on the facade.
Voyeur's DelightI first visited Boston in 1973. My parents lived in Boston for two years right after World War II, and Mum told me I had to be sure and go and check out Filene's bargain basement. Due to a lack of changing rooms, a woman would take off her dress in the aisle to try on a sale item. Sure enough, I saw a mother order her teenage daughter to take off her dress and see if a sale item would fit. At first the daughter resisted, but finally caved in and continued the tradition in the family. 
I was in my 30s when I finally figured out that I was conceived in Boston; my parents returned to Toronto where I was born in 1947.  
Something's going down shortlyThose three with their backs to the store window are up to no good.
The View TodayThis is the same location today.  The theater is behind the netting, and I think the entrance was moved to the other side of the building.  Someone from Boston may know better.
There's still a little of the jewelry business left on Washington Street, to the right of the netting.  Not much else remains.

Normal day at Downtown CrossingHeadquarters for bargains, rich or poor, and everywhere in between, Filene's Basement was frequented by all. If you were a learned shopper you could score bargains unheard of elsewhere. Automatic markdowns brought the price down to next to nothing over 30 days.
The Basement and its parent Filene's were part of a group of major retailers and smaller ones too. It was Mecca for shoppers, all within walking distance to each other and with the trains running below the street. All tracks led to Downtown Boston.
It's still there but a shadow of its former self.
Shocked and Confused... is what I was. At about the time this photo was taken, I was tagging along with my mother on a shopping trip to Filene's Basement. Filene's Basement had no dressing rooms. Women would try on the merchandise right on the salesfloor. My 8-year-old eyes had never seen so many ladies in their bras and girdles. 
Take your time, honey ...I don't think anything nefarious is afoot with the three characters in front of the window ... with personal experience as a guide, I'd say they're just waiting for their wives to finish shopping in Feline's Basement.
Those threeDefinitely agree with PhotoFan about those three on the left.  In the crowd of pedestrians coming at us along the sidewalk, you’ll note an older guy giving them the once-over.  Those three somehow look more to me like a trio of Brits in a photo from England in the same era.
George ChakirisGeorge Chakiris, appearing in the Charlton Heston movie at the Orpheum, won an Oscar in West Side Story. He attributes his appearance in White Christmas with Rosemary Clooney in the "You Didn't Do Right By Me" dance number as the key boost to his career.
 WOW! DID YOU SEE THAT? The two young men walking into the street carrying the bags are apparently so excited and happy about witnessing the aisle of undressing and redressing that they plan on returning very soon.
Best way to get the automatic markdown:If I could step into this photo, I'd probably find my grandmother in the Petites department, looking for bargains.  
With the Automatic Markdown system, if something had been on the floor for a certain amount of time, it went 25% off.  The following week, it was 50% off, then 75% the week after that.  If it was still there after the 75% sale, it was donated to charity.  I was a college student and managed to get a great looking designer label trench coat at 75% off.  
Nana would find something she liked, and then take it and hide it on a rack in another department.  She'd come back two weeks later and pick it out of its hiding place, and save a bunch of money!  
(The Gallery, Boston, Cars, Trucks, Buses, News Photo Archive, Stores & Markets)

Brattleboro Blizzard: 1940
... And I see an umbrella. In winter! "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls" This photo reminds me of the climax of "It's ... on the roof? My guess is the photo was taken out a window or on the roof of the building at High and Main streets. Prosperity ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/08/2019 - 1:26pm -

March 1940. Brattleboro, Vermont. "Corner of Main Street, center of town after blizzard." Acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
How Vermont Cities ChangeThe gas station is a pocket park plus a florist shop. Montgomery Ward is a hardware store. Some of that green space has been taken over by a bank. The movie theatre has been replaced by a building with an interior decorator and a coffee shop. And because this is Shorpy, the picture was taken from a hotel (Hotel Brooks) which later caught fire. Fortunately, that building is still standing, and has its own wikipedia page.
Pshaw!Wolcott calls that a blizzard?  Not where I come from (Canada).  And I see an umbrella.  In winter!
"Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls"This photo reminds me of the climax of "It's a Wonderful Life," when Jimmy Stewart runs through town, shouting, "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!" I believe Seneca Falls claims to be the inspiration for Bedford Falls, but Brattleboro has the same feel.
BlehzzardI live an hour south of there and that ain't no blizzard.  What -- 5 inches of snow on the roof?
My guess is the photo was taken out a window or on the roof of the building at High and Main streets.
Prosperity Reigns!Brattleboro must have been a prosperous community, if such can be judged by the high proportion of current or very late-model vehicles appearing here -- probably higher than would be the case in a similar automotive assemblage today.  Then, again, in light of the year-to-year sameness of today's vehicles, how could we tell?
Now Playing at the Auditorium"High School" starring Jane Withers, aka Josephine the Plumber.
Mandatory Car IDOK, I give up. What is the car in the foreground, next to the streetlamp/highway marker?
Manual chokesI'll bet a lot of those cars spit and sputtered on that cold morning since they didn't have automatic chokes like those some ten years later.  Made the first few minutes of driving a chore as the car would buck and jerk until it got warm enough to run on the regular mixture.
It's all white now. The church, that is. 

Mystery CarRe Rowdy5858's comment, I believe that snow-covered car might be a 1937 Hudson.
That GrilleIt's a Hudson Terraplane. Possibly a 1937.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, M.P. Wolcott, Small Towns)

Saks Fur: 1920
"Saks Fur Co. 1920 or 1921." Wintertime window display at the Washington, D.C., furrier featuring a taxidermy tie-in ... batting, which my grandparents used at the bottom of their Christmas trees. The display is effective, I want to see the movie! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/03/2012 - 11:55am -

"Saks Fur Co. 1920 or 1921." Wintertime window display at the Washington, D.C., furrier featuring a taxidermy tie-in with the movie "Isobel, or the Trail's End." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Time warpAmazing detail. This must have been a wonder to see in 1920, but today I feel a tinge of sadness at all the wildlife sacrificed for a window display. 
Trail's EndLeaving aside contemporary attitudes toward the wearing of fur, this is an impressive, museum quality display with some fine examples of taxidermy.  The trappers appear to be Inuit.  Their garments are worn with the fur inside. You can almost feel the chill in the air. I'm betting this realistic tableau resulted in a lot of attention.
Meanwhile, Next DoorWhile this is indeed a quite impressive display of window dressing, I am equally intrigued by the glimpse we get of the "new" line in women's fashion in the next window.
Isobel: A Romance of the Northern TrailMany of James Oliver Curwood's works are available on Project Gutenberg. Isobel can be read here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6715
His novels are heavy on both emotion and action; the frozen North plays a big role. I've enjoyed reading them.
WOW!This photo is pretty amazing! I can't believe the lavish display to promote a movie! It certainly is shocking to see growling, taxidermy DOGS in a store window! I can imagine the outcry today...
You know, I am not even certain what kind of animals those are attacking the (gigantic!) polar bear! One is a dog...but the others...more bears? The snow looks like large pieces of cotton batting, which my grandparents used at the bottom of their Christmas trees. The display is effective, I want to see the movie!
Kathleen 
Saks Furs historySaks Furs, no relation to Saks Fifth Avenue, was founded by Samuel Saks in 1888.  Originally located at 610 12th St. NW, it moved in 1912 to the pictured location, 1212 F St NW, "right in the heart of the high-class retail business section."  After Samuel's death in 1931, his son, Jerome M. took over the business and operated it until 1959.  When Jerome retired in 1959, he sold the business which continued to operate with the Saks name until at least the early 1970s.
The adjacent women's clothing store at 1210 F St NW is Erlebacher's, "Where Style Originates and Emanates," founded by Gustave and Birdie Erlebacher in 1907.  
Photo from the Theodor Horydczak collection of the Library of Congress showing the 1200 block of F where these stores were located.

 Washington Post, Feb 7, 1912
 Washington Post, Mar 13, 1931
 Washington Post, Dec 17, 1938
 Washington Post, Nov 12, 1970
Yikes!I hope those aren't real Inuit! Somehow the datedness of having a stuffed polar bear makes it seem possible.
Chilling.Wow, how incredibly disturbing..
Fur bearersI take it that PETA wasn't around back then. I think the display is fascinating. I miss the old store window displays.
Erlebacher's Clothing StoreI would be interested in any more information on Gustave and Birdie Erlebacher and their store.
ErlebacherThe following is extracted from the book,  Washington Past and Present: a history published in 1932.

Born in Gernsbach, Baden, Germany, December 5, 1869, Gustave Erlebacher was the son of Joseph and Annette Erlebacher.  Mr. Erlebacher came to America in 1883, and acquired a business training in Baltimore, Maryland, here gaining the high regard of those with whom he had business relation.
In 1907, Mr. Erlebacher moved to Washington and established a women's specialty shop at No. 1222 F Street, Northwest, where he carried an exclusive line of goods for a select trade. The business having enlarged to the point where more commodious quarters were required, Mr. Erlebacher very wisely took the more advantageous location at No. 1012, on the same street where the business is still being conducted on the same high place of quality and service as during the lifetime of the founder.  The establishment, now known as Erlebacher, Incorporated, has as its president and moving spirit, Mrs. Erlebacher, one of the most finished and progressive business women of the national capital.  She has not only held the business developed by her late husband, but also has been successful by her personality and progressive methods in drawing many new and desirable clients, which speaks well for her merchandising abilities.  As a business executive, too, she has manifested remarkable capacity, and is the envy of many men who are not so well equipped in this respect.
Gustave Erlebacher married in Baltimore, Berthe Goldstone,  daughter of Jacob M. and Cartherine (DeHaan) Goldstone... For many years Mr. Goldstone was engaged in the clothing business in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and was well and favorably known to the trade in both cities.  Mrs. Erlebacher was reared in culture and refinement in her native city, receiving an excellent education in select schools....

Gustave Erlebacher died at his home in Washington, June 8, 1925.  Birdie remarried to David Frank and survived till February 22, 1962.  The Baltimore firm of Bonwit, Lennon & Co. acquired the clothing store in 1938 but retained Birdie to aid in running the store. 
Association Of...... Army-Navy Stores?  
I *think* that's what the round logo on the window is, although I could find only one reference to it on the Internet. Not sure why that would be on a fur store...
[Maybe they supplied the Army. Which used fur-trimmed hats and coats in places like Alaska. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Animals, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)

Family Dinner: 1952
... pool... Put in circa 1949...whoda thunk? A Not-Christmas Story Am I the only one who looks at this kitchen and sees the ... son's t-shirt is ripped with holes. The plant at the window is a 'Wandering Jew.' The tin pots and pans are surely much lighter to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/29/2015 - 10:31am -

1952. "Photo for U.S. Information Agency propaganda poster titled 'I Choose to Be a Miner,' distributed in Asia; poster includes photographs of coal miner Walter Ward and family in David, Kentucky." Gelatin silver print. View full size.
The most used utensilin my grandma's kitchen was the soup ladle hanging above the stove.  Having come from a Pennsylvania coal miner grandfather, my 'take' on this picture is that it was staged, posed and fully planned in advance (unless this was on a Sunday when they would have their best meal of the week).  The other six week-night suppers were mostly home-made soup and bread, every kind of soup imaginable, more than Campbells could ever come up with. Having a large family, my mom said there was nothing else that could satisfy seven or eight hungry, hard-working people as a filling, hot and inexpensive meal like soup and fresh bread & butter.  She was a master soup cook too, taught by her mother, and I was pretty much raised on soup, some heartier than others, but never disappointing.  It can be time-consuming to prepare but I've never felt deprived and it really stretches your meat to feed any number of people.  (If someone got a big chunk of chicken or beef in their soup, or too many clams in their clam chowder, we used to say "the string must have broke").   
... and look!  Cake!I do love this photo.  It's all shiny and full of bounty.  Once you look closely you'll see the financial constraints this family must have faced.  I'm left to wonder if she normally served cake at dinner.
Need a new washer on that faucet?If they're under financial constraints, they could help their water bill by either a) turning the faucet off, or b) putting a new washer in it.
MixerIt looks like a '40s Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
[Looks like a Sumbeam Mixmaster to me. -tterrace]
It still works...I bought this Sunbeam Mixmaster for $25 on a trip to Tacoma, Washington, over 20 years ago. 
So 1950sThe Mixmaster, the teapot from the Jewel Tea Company, the General Electric range, and all the gleaming surfaces that wipe clean with a damp sponge. Why can't I have a kitchen like that?
Miners at tableNo miners I grew up with ever lived that well, dressed that well nor ate that well.  With all the fresh haircuts, clothes, appliances, etc, this was nothing but a stage production. Folks my age will recognize it as such.
[The worn-out stool for a chair and the T-shirt with holes are probably props, too. - Dave]
I'll Second ThatIt looks like the second-hand one in my kitchen--a Sunbeam Mixmaster, which gets frequent use and works perfectly 60+ years on.  I bought it minus beaters and must have bought about 50 pairs of beaters before I found the right ones.  I have a drawer-full.  Maybe they fit tterrace's "Sumbeam".
Miners' HousesThe Wards' house (at right, with the tree), and their neighbors. Click to enlarge.

MixmasterMy mom had one of those.  It was an ergonomic beauty: you operated the speeds by rotating the black dome-shaped knob at the far end, and you released the beaters by swiveling the black handle 90 degrees.  Ah, and the glass bowls.  Seeing that Sunbeam in use on the kitchen counter meant something aromatic and yummy was on the way.
P.S.  A place named David!  I’m okay with that.
Which?OK everyone, would you like dessert first or these lovely string beans?
Just as I RememberA typical middle class family dinner, as I remember it, from the early 50's, although:
Cake wasn't a normal feature and the kids always had milk (Starlac as I remember and it was terrible) instead of water.
Older sis looks a bit peeved at the main course (it was always someone's least favorite).
Dinner was always in the dining room.  Breakfast was always in the kitchen.
Mom was always in a dress but no high heels.
Another vote for the MixmasterThat Mixmaster brings back some pleasant childhood memories for me. My mother had one very  similar to the one in the image. I was about the same age range as the boys in the photo in 1952 and I always lobbied to lick the bowl and the beaters after the cake was finished.
they even had a swimming pool...Put in circa 1949...whoda thunk? 
A Not-Christmas StoryAm I the only one who looks at this kitchen and sees the "eat like a pig, Ralphie" scene from A Christmas Story in the making?
(Of course I also have one of those Sunbeam mixers, and so does my mother. They are/were indestructible).
Jelly GlassesLove those bird themed water glasses on the table.  I have the same glasses my Dad used as a kid.  They came from the grocery with jam or jelly in them and then you used the glass later.
Running WaterThe faucet water flow may be intentional, if the supply is by gravity through an uninsulated pipe from a mountain side spring.  Otherwise, it could be too hot in Summer, and frozen solid in Winter.
I recognize the sink/counter!Unfortunately, it's because I see it every day in the kitchen of the house I rent. I love the style, but those cupboards are mighty small.
Youngstown KitchensThe logo in front of the sink is from Youngstown Kitchens. Yup, I grew up with them.
Here's what I see….Mother's Swiss-dot curtains are torn on the left panel; her drain rack for her dishes is in its place by the drainboard.  She normally uses her table for her counter space, but since the table is set for dinner, she's using her sink drainboard for her Sunbeam Mixmaster which whipped up the frosting. Ah, yes, that tiny black spray nozzle on the sink.  Is that grated cheese in the cheese shaker or do they use a lot of salt?  The younger daughter has her eyes on the boiled frosting cake, as would be mine as well.  Father and the boy are eying the fried chicken.  Deviled eggs on a side plate with lettuce?  There are sweater 'pills' on the older daughter's sweater, at the farthest point West.  Nice white bread, hard to find nowadays with all the nutritious breads forced on us in our stores.  Father's hair is combed in a 'combover' on his bald spot.  Bet any money that Mother's wrist watch is a Bulova.  Mother ironed and 'starched' the tablecloth, so it must be Sunday.   Father's shirt is ironed, older daughter's sweater is ironed, younger daughter's dress is ironed, younger son's t-shirt is ripped with holes.  The plant at the window is a 'Wandering Jew.'  The tin pots and pans are surely much lighter to lift than my All-Clad set today.  All in all, the scene resembled by own childhood in 1952, right down to the floral design on the linoleum on the floor.  
MenuI'm trying to figure out what they were eating that night.
I can distinguish the green beans and bread and the consensus on the lumpy main course is that it's fried chicken.
I'm curious what's in the bowl underneath the chicken. Potatoes? The side plates look like they have salad on them and that's maybe pickles next to the bread?
I have to assume the cake on the table was for the benefit of the photo. No mother then or now would put dessert out first! I also have to wonder if the ice in the water was there to indicate prosperity, along with the mixer and the frig. 
(The Gallery, Kitchens etc., Mining)

Toy Store: 1941
Boys at toy store window with Hop Ching (Chinese checkers) display, Christmas 1941 or 1942. 35mm Kodachrome transparency. Location unknown. View ... cover art, they'd be in for a class-action law suit. Christmas Story I half expected to see a Red Ryder BB Gun in the window ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/11/2007 - 11:52am -

Boys at toy store window with Hop Ching (Chinese checkers) display, Christmas 1941 or 1942. 35mm Kodachrome transparency. Location unknown. View full size. Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Collection.
Corset ShopThere's a reflection in the window of a sign reading "Corset Shop." Were there really stores that specialized in corsets?
Yes, anonymous, of courseYes, anonymous, of course there were.  Why wouldn't there be?  We have plenty of lingerie stores, and corsets were a lot trickier (more customized).  Think of it like a milliner's.
ColorsDefinitely Kodachrome; look at the color retention after all these years. - Nick
If they tried to sell that "Hop Ching" game today with the same cover art, they'd be in for a class-action law suit.
Christmas StoryI half expected to see a Red Ryder BB Gun in the window
(Christmas, Kids, Stores & Markets)

Old Hat: 1920
... the fuel tank (I assume) it's on look the same as in the window of that shop. http://parkerindian.com.au/1920PP.html ... between Joe Turner and Silent Olson , a deaf-mute. "Christmas night he beat Joe Turner, for ten years champion middleweight ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 12:01pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "814-816 Ninth Street N.W." Moldy negative of a decrepit storefront, with many musty details. National Photo Co. View full size.
Motocycles?I just learned that the folks at  Indian didn't know how to spell "motorcycle."
The Indian Motocycle shopI find the partial view of the Indian Motocycle shop more interesting than the almost-derelict storefront that's the subject of the photo. Here's a photo of a 1920 Indian Motocycle; the "Indian" name and the fuel tank (I assume) it's on look the same as in the window of that shop.
http://parkerindian.com.au/1920PP.html
"Silent" OlsonThe poster above the For Rent sign is for a wrestling match between Joe Turner and Silent Olson, a deaf-mute.
"Christmas night he beat Joe Turner, for ten years champion middleweight wrestler."
They came and went.BEAUTIFUL Indian in the window next door.
One please, to go !
Washington RedskinsWhile the out of business hat store has its decrepit charm the store to the left has much more to offer. Indian brand motorcycles, bicycles and tricycles are all on display. What a treasure trove. Also,the reflection in the hat store window shows cars in the street and what looks like someones legs on a ladder or scaffold rung. I wonder if it is somebody in the store working or perhaps the reflection of the photographer in the street getting a raised perspective. The Gold Medal Flour sign up above states "Why Not Now?" No time like the present indeed.
Elementary ParticlesNot sure, but that curved white line with the little black teardrop at the top ... I think it's the Higgs Boson!
New HatIt's all gone now, replaced by the U.S. Mint Headquarters. 
View Larger Map
Lady of the Lamp Looks like she left it on the sidewalk in front of the Indian dealership. Also looks like the rear of the hat store has collapsed.
Sniper!Top window, second floor! Or maybe it's some sort of Rube Goldberg drainage system.
The Lady of the LampThe sign in the window to the right is a play by Earl Carroll, closed November 1920. The sign  states Dec. 6. Seems it never made it to that date. 
http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=8963
[December 6 is the performance date in Washington. The Broadway Database dates are for performances on Broadway, in New York. - Dave]
Motocycles and motorcyclesThe corporate name was always "Indian Motocycle Company" but it made motorcycles and advertised them as such. Well the nearly new 1946 Chief I owned was called a motorcycle, but company name was still "Motocycle."  Dang, I sold the thing for $75 in 1958 to a guy who had never ridden one.  I had to drive the bike into his pickup truck and he said he was going to unload it in a 40 acre pasture and learn to ride.  He figured there weren't many things to hit in a pasture except for the cow patties.
Too dark to see in the daytimeWhat's with the kerosene lantern on the sidewalk? 
Now a Parking LotNo, not the U.S. Mint headquarters; that's on the east side of Ninth Street, the odd-numbered side. Where 814-816 Ninth Street was is now a vast parking lot, where the old new Convention Center used to be, till it was mercifully torn down. Even a parking lot is preferable to that awful building. If the Hoover FBI building and the OPM building at 20th and E could go the way of the old new Convention Center, even if they became nothing but parking lots, Washington would be a better place.
 F.L. Leishear, Indian MotorcyclesThat's F.L. Leishear's motorcycle shop to the left, also seen in Shorpy post Wireless Apparatus: 1919. The previously open D. Neufeld Hat Manufacturer has since closed and lost its most prominent signage.



Washington Post, Jun 23, 1921

Motorcycles
PRICES reduced 20% on new 1921 Indian motorcycles and side cars;  also used machines at exceptional prices.  F.L. Leishear, 812 9th st. nw.

A LeopardIt seems strange that there is a leopard skin in the Indian window.
One item that Indian made that does not appear to be on display is a canoe and trailer that can be used with a motorcycle.
(The Gallery, D.C., Motorcycles, Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)

Booze Is Back: 1934
... circa 1934. "Leon's Delicatessen, 1131 14th Street NW. Window display of whiskey." Courtesy of Leon Slavin (1893-1975), who, according ... officially ended Dec. 5, 1933, perhaps he used "Christmas tinsel" in this display because it was the season, or more likely ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2013 - 9:06am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1934. "Leon's Delicatessen, 1131 14th Street NW. Window display of whiskey." Courtesy of Leon Slavin (1893-1975), who, according to his obituary, "obtained the first off-sale retail liquor license in Washington after the repeal of Prohibition." 8x10 negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
Nice display......but not much variety.
OopsThere are three jars of olives, sorry. Still, outnumbered by a lot.
Quite a displayObviously Mr. Slavin was very excited to again sell these products. Since Prohibition officially ended Dec. 5, 1933, perhaps he used "Christmas tinsel" in this display because it was the season, or more likely because he was so happy to be able to sell liquor again.
Is that his own brand of "Leon's" (probably whiskey) in the bottom front row? Maybe he was a private brand pioneer, too.
Canada Dry GinI always wanted to go to Toronto, and drink Canada dry.
Olive countMel,I count four jars of olives...just saying 
Ahead of their timeNext to one of the jars of olives we have Manhattan cocktail, which I assume is pre-mixed.  On the other end of the display is Martini cocktail.  I always thought pre-mixed cocktails were a modern thing.  Perhaps not.  Only other thing I can think of is that they're just cocktail shakers, as they have a similar top.  Hard to say.
[Below, from a 1934 liquor ad. - Dave]
Where's Olive?That sure is a lot of booze. Play "Where's Waldo", and look for the lone jar of olives.
OlivesI only see one jar of olives....but 3 jars of what could be Maraschino cherries and a jar of cocktail onions. 
BiscuitsFortunately they sold some Uneeda biscuits to help soak up some of that booze!  
Re: Oops (and Where's Olive?)I found the solitary jar of olives.  Two shelves above that are a couple more jars; however I think those are pickled onions.  Look for them just under the E and L in the word DELICATESSEN.
"Spirits" of the seasonI can imagine a drunk passing out in front of the display, and upon wakening, believing it to be Christmas, no matter what time of year it was.
2 fewer crowns...Having drank gallons of Seagram's 7 Crown in my life so far, I'm very curious about how "5 Crown" differed.
[Their budget line. Aged 2 years rather than 4. -tterrace]
Booze UtopiaWhat a beautiful display of booze. It must have sparkled like a case full of diamonds at the finest jewelry store. I imagine that it looked like a mirage in the desert to many people right after Prohibition was repealed.
Was it typical for delicatessens to sell a liquor during that period? This is the first I have heard of it. 
They don't make 'em like that any more,or at least I don't think so.  Chianti sold in bottles with straw jackets.  Back in the sixties and seventies people used to make them into lamp standards.
Olives or onions?I count 4 jars with striped lids that appear to be either onions or olives. And yet another jar with a plain lid that also appears to be olives. And are those Angostura Bitters next to the jars?
Back in the dayWhen Calvert was still a top-shelf brand.
Items in jarsThree kinds. Here's an example of each. None have a label facing forward.
Brandied peaches?That delicacy might comprise the contents of one of the jars ... or maybe preserved sheep eyeballs.
As to a delicatessen selling booze, the issue of who (if anyone) can sell what alcoholic product varies so much between and within the several states as to render a generalization impossible.
Re: They don't make 'em like that any moreSure do; I have one I just finished...
We always used the raffia-wrapped bottles for candles, especially the (groovy) drip ones.
So, what was in the "pumpkin" jugs?
[Laird's Applejack. -tterrace]
MeadwoodMeadwood was bottled by the American Distilling Company, Pekin, Illinois. 


Meadwood is good, honest, straight whiskey …

(The Gallery, D.C., Stores & Markets, Theodor Horydczak)
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