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Streets of Baltimore: 1940
... Medium format safety negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. For the love of old cars. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:45pm -

"Row houses, Baltimore, June 1940." Medium format safety negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. For the love of old cars.The immaculate black 1937 Ford Touring Car was a rarity at that time and scarce today - valuable indeed. The last car is a similar vintage Chevrolet. Would someone please identify the car in the middle of the scene. ShuttersI don't think I've ever seen shutters on doors before. You usually see them on the windows of coastal cities for storm protection but unless the doors were primarily glass the shutters would be more ornamental than practical. AntennasI'm always fascinated to see rooftops without TV antennas but I'm seeing shortwave "longwire" antennas aplenty here. Radio truly was the mode of communication back then. Work dayIt must be a workday -- no one is stoop-sitting. Baltimore was famous for marble steps on its row houses, but these look like wood. LocationAnyone know this intersection? Hear the drums?Gene Krupa! ShinySo that's what they looked like brand new! Bazooka Bubble GumI bet those kids are reading the Bazooka Joe comics from the gum they just bought. Gene Krupa, July 2Wow! There's a band date I would have liked to attend. Baltimore Row ApartmentsAll those incredibly narrow apartments with the flimsy wood stoops. They can't be much more than 12 or 14 feet wide. Is this an old Baltimore solution for cheap housing, or do some other Eastern cities have these as well? They all look neat and well scrubbed, but my dad would have called them "cribs." Meeeeeeooooow!You can almost hear that kittycat on the stoop wailing to get back in! Graham-PaigeThe middle car would appear to be a circa 1934 Graham-Paige, possibly a Blue Streak or Custom Eight. Quite a machine. Fond memories are mineThese are not apartments! They are individual homes. Many had small back yards on the alley. Some even had garages. Many residents would turn their "stoops" over at night. Virtually every step was painted annually, and was washed every day. Most of the rowhouses were on "land leases" over the whole city. The ground lease was typically for 100 years. Philadelphia and St. Louis also had many rowhouses. What's the larger structure in the background? That would place this on the money. I think this is north of the harbor. Marble stepsIt looks like there are some of the famous marble stairs by the first parked car in the background. I imagine this looks fairly similar to my dad's boyhood home on Kennedy Avenue in Bawlmer -- He'd have been about 4½ when this picture was taken. Cross-ventilationThe shutters were on the front door for ventilation. The row houses I knew had solid front doors. The front door was opened; the shutters were closed and latched. Typically the front door was at the bottom of the steps to the second floor. The windows would be opened at the back of the house on the second floor. Voila; natural ventilation. Shuttered doorsShutters are common all over the Caribbean and in South Florida, and exist in many places in the south. They were popular in pre-air conditioning days, so you could get let a breeze in with the window or door shaded to stop "heat gain" and a wood barrier is slightly more security than a flimsy screen. In a urban setting like this, the bigger appeal may have been privacy, even with the door open. Yikes,This is funThe tracks were for the #27 Streetcar line. The building in the background was the Carroll Park Shops. This was an absolutely enormous facility that did virtually all of the heavy overhaul and maintenanc for Baltimore's streetcars. Found this on Wikipedia: The Washington Boulevard streetcar line, which started operating in 1905, was designated No. 27. This was converted to electric trolley buses in 1938. Ground RentNot called "land lease" but "ground rent." It made it possible for people with not a lot of money to buy a house without buying the land. The rent is fixed and rather low. The system is so old and antiquated and the deeds were so poorly unrecorded that people who bought a rowhouse would sometimes not know they were on ground rent. Until they didn't pay for X years and had their houses taken away from them! The Baltimore Sun did a series on this in the last couple of years and laws have been reformed to make this impossible. Too bad there are no visible house numbers, that would help narrow it down a lot. You can see it was on a streetcar line. It appears to be fall or spring, not hot enough for the man in the background to go without a jacket, but the kids are okay without one. [Another clue is in the caption, where it says "June 1940." - Dave] So tidyYes, those are actually wooden steps. I think marble would be seen on a slightly higher class house (or later). These look like "alley" houses, the smallest of the rowhouses, usually built for working folks. I just looked through a book at BCPL on Baltimore Alley Houses, and they showed a lot of pictures of houses with shutters on the doors and windows, to actually use in hot weather. Seems like it would be so handy. They do look about 12 feet wide in this picture, which is pretty common. Judging from the Italianate styling, I'd guess late 1800s. They do have rowhouses in other cities. Washington, Philadelphia, and the narrowest ones I've ever seen were in Georgetown (DC). MemoriesGrowing up in Bal-mer in the 50's and 60's, these places are my memories. We lived in the burbs although all my family lived in places like these. And yes, even in the burbs we were paying ground rent! Just a way of life and I've never heard of it anywhere else! Horton"Horton" (or Morton) would be the company that painted the sign. HortonDidn't they sometimes used to put street names on corners of buildings back then? I wonder if Horton is maybe the name of that side street. Just a thought. Hortons Nortons and MortonsI checked them all via local.live and google maps. They're alleys with nothing like this scene. The street has streetcar tracks, so it's at least a halfway important street. But Baltimore had tons of lines. The big structure in the background looks like a church nave to me, the front of the church facing the photographer, so that would put the church on a corner. [This is from a series of photos taken on U.S. Route 1, Baltimore-Washington Boulevard. - Dave] I think it's a LincolnI think the spiffy droptop on the street is a Lincoln Zephyr, which would've looked a lot like it's poor cousin, the Ford. The teardrop shaped headlamps are the clue. [The car is a Ford, not a Lincoln. - Dave] Found it: Carroll ParkThanks Dave for the clue about US 1. View Larger Map This is at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Bayard Street. The opposite side of the street is Carroll Park (which probably explains why the car has such a long shadow). The big roof in the back ground is not a church like I thought, but an old carbarn for the streetcars. The long monitor roof along the ridge of the carbarn has been removed and the building is now a bus maintenance garage. Of course, being Baltimore, the whole row is covered in FormStone or PermaStone, whatever you want to call it. You see one of the sad things about FormStone: all the great wood cornices are chopped off so the FormStone can be installed. Charm CityGreat shot--it's June, the two kids are hanging out at the corner store, the cat on the steps, the car--a nice moment in time. Trackless TrolleysYes, these are in fact trackless trolley wires. You can clearly see where the B.T.C. simply added a negative wire along side the existing positive street car wire. There is a Baltimore trackless trolley sitting inside of the car barn at the Baltimore Street Car Museum. It was built by the old Pullman Standard Car Mfg. Company of Worcester, Mass. I grew up in BaltimoreIn the 26th Ward, in a rowhouse just like these. I'll never forget Saturday mornings and my mother scrubbing the white marble steps. Although we lived on the southeast side, I passed this intersection daily making deliveries to the old Montgomery Ward building that was the next block down!! MemoriesI grew up in Baltimore and my grandma lived on East Monument Street and she had marble steps. All the neighbors would wash their marble steps and keep them looking white. And everyone sat outside at night to chat. Pigtown Historic DistrictThis scene is indeed at Washington Boulevard and Bayard Street, facing south. It is within Pigtown Historic District. The hip-roofed building at the end of the row appears to have been constructed after 1914 and been demolished by 1951. It stood at 1463 Washington Boulevard, and was a filling station by the December 1951 Sanborn map. The 1914 Sanborn shows the lot owned by D.M. Larkin, Contractor. None of the buildings depicted look much like the hip-roofed structure in the photo. The Carroll Park Shops, on the far side of Bush Street from the mystery building, were constructed c. 1899. The United Railway & Electric Company hired B&O architect E. Francis Baldwin to design a single, centralized shop for repairing and rebuilding streetcars. Two huge one-story buildings (each covering an entire block) went up on the southeast side of Washington Boulevard, between Bush and Elk Streets. Each structure is lit by four long roof monitors that run the entire length of the building. Today, these turn-of-the-century facilities still stand as the repair shop for MTA buses. The buildings were never three stories high, however, and couldn't be the structure depicted in the photo. Of the houses in the photo, they were built in 1888 by Cornelius H. Saffell (or Soffell), and have typical Queen Anne-style decorative brick door hoods; first floor windows have segmentally arched lintels made up of a double row of header bricks, with the upper row alternately projecting to create a decorative effect. The late Italianate-style cornices have jig-sawn friezes. Saffell was one of many German-born builders to construct buildings in the district. Indeed, many of the residents were German immigrants working in the butchering industry. +74Below is the same view from July of 2014. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano)
I Love a Parade: 1938
... Crowley, Louisiana." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. What a cute smile She ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/02/2008 - 11:28pm -

October 1938. "Cajun girl at National Rice Festival. Crowley, Louisiana." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. What a cute smile She looks so happy! I bet it was a great afternoon. Family ResemblanceThe girl on the right looks so much like my grandmother it's spooky. She would have been 18 at the time. She and her family, however, are all from Virginia. I wonder if it's some distant cousin or something. I've heard it said that everyone has a double, and I believe I just found hers, or at least a photo of hers. Family Resemblance IIThe reason I clicked on the photo is the girl on the right could be my mother's sister. Mom was also 18 at the time, but in Massachusetts ... uncanny. Can't wait to show my sister. Pretty girl Does anyone else think the pretty girl in the middle looks like Scarlett Johansen? [Or maybe Scarlett Johansson. - Dave] Curler giveawaySomeone needed to tell this pretty girl that you need to brush and style out, out the very obvious curler hair after you take out the curlers. LookismI love all the "helpful" advice from the trendy commenters of today. However, if they were suddenly plunked back into those old photos, they'd be the ones quite out of place, and themselves the recipients of all kinds of helpful advice on how out to become fashionable and trendy...for then. Take-away point...if you see a "look" in a photo, that was pretty much what everyone wanted to look like at the time. Crowley, La.I love all these photos of Crowley. My family lived there long ago. (The Gallery, Russell Lee, Small Towns)
Giant Food: 1942
... appliances." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Antonyms The stolid expression of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/21/2022 - 1:20pm -

June-July 1942. Washington, D.C. "Cashiers checking out customer purchases with Ration Book No. 1 at the Giant Food shopping center on Wisconsin Avenue. Giant Food Store is a self-service market chain handling all types and many varieties of food and household appliances." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. AntonymsThe stolid expression of the woman on the left is either determined or resigned. We've all been there ... heck, I WAS there yesterday during the pre-blizzard, Christmas-compounded panic in our local grocery stores. They still need more clerksThe lines aren't quite as long at Giant stores today, but they still often need more people staffing the registers, even with barcode scanners and some self-service checkout stations. Is everybody happy?Shopping is supposed to be fun. They look like they're at a funeral! Thank you for your serviceThe lady in the floral dress with the cocked hat has the July 13, 1942 edition of Life magazine in her cart; the cover story is all about Corporal Alexander Le Gerda of the 853rd Ordinance Ordnance Company.
New Math: 1942
February 1942. "Third grade classroom, Farm Security Administration camp at Weslaco, Texas." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/02/2010 - 12:39am -

February 1942. "Third grade classroom, Farm Security Administration camp at Weslaco, Texas." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein. View full size. A real "blackboard"I haven't seen a black slate blackboard in years. I remember kids staying after school to wash the board and beat the chalk dust out of the erasers. The tall kid must have had arithmetic problems to be in that class with those little kids. Either that or he was was really big for his age. Blackboards go greenBy my grade school era (1952-60), most black chalkboards had been replaced with green ones. You can find all kinds of screwball "reasons" given for this on the Internet, but the two most plausible ones to me are that a) they were originally black because they were made of slate, and b) a green background was easier on the eye and thus aided legibility. Brown was another popular color. I don't know about other people, but web pages with white text on a black background drive me nuts. I loved watching my teachers writing on the blackboard, not for the content particularly, but I found something satisfying about watching the chalk skim over the surface; sometimes it rasped, but at others, due to the varying composition of the chalk or of the surface of the board, it would glide noiselessly along like butter over a warm surface. Mmmmmm... Man, you thought I was a weird kid before. One roomIt may be that this school was still on the one-room system, where everyone worked at a level rather than a grade. The big boy I initially mistook for the teacher, though! [This was, as noted in the caption, one of the classrooms at a Farm Security Administration camp for families and migrants displaced by the crop failures of the Dust Bowl years. Exterior shots below. - Dave] Take the chewing gum out of your ears!"I said FIFTY, Ned, not fifteen. Fifty plus forty-five gives us what, class?" Fold and CutRemember making fold and cut silhouettes like the scene at the top of the blackboard? It looks like digging and packing to make a snowman. Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo.?Although I know it was very common at the time, its still weird to see kids attending school in bare feet! Yeah, he's tall butIf Third Grade has a basketball team this year, look out! Winter Silhouette The border decor above the blackboard indicates it is winter but the boys are barefooted. They also seem to be pretty clueless for an answer to the math problem, each is looking to copy from someone else. A confident little girl sitting at the table on the right is busily working away, engrossed in her own work, possibly as smart as a whip. She is also wearing very nifty cowboy boots. This may have been a "one-room schoolhouse" in which kids of all ages were all taught in the same room by one teacher which would explain the difference in size. Very interesting personalities. Thanks Shorpy. [Indeed, as noted in the caption, it's February. Exterior shots a few comments down. - Dave] YeehawOh man, I wish the photographer was just a little farther back. I'd love to see that little girl's cowboy boots! An extra recessA lot of pics lately from 1942. That year was big for me. I started my first trip around the sun that year. Loved being picked by the teacher to go pound the erasers. It was always during school time and it was like having an extra recess. Hey Mr. Wilson!The kid in the striped shirt looks just like Dennis the Menace! Future Heismann contenderThe big guy is obviously being held back to improve his NCAA football chances. School attireMy parents (and aunts and uncles) all went to one room rural schools. All the boys wore the overalls. Looking at the school pictures (always taken outside of course), I always thought that looked sloppy. But I suppose that was primarily what they owned. Probably a nice shirt for church. We're always barefoot in the winter!Weslaco is just about five miles from where I live. We're on the Mexican border, and it rarely gets cool enough to wear long sleeves or long pants, even in the winter! So barefoot in February isn't that big a deal. Within the past couple of years, we've had temps over 100 in January. Green "Chalkboards"At St. Catherine's (Catholic) Elementary School, Spring Hill Avenue, Mobile, Alabama, we had wooden classrooms with blackboards. A new brick school was built adjacent and opened in 1949. It had green "chalkboards." We were told at the time that they would be easier to see. They were a wonder to us for a good while. Barefoot boyI went barefoot to school a few times during the first grade. That was in 1936. But not many boys did that, and I quit. Tactile memorytterrace, as I was reading your comment about the chalk on the board I was thinking to myself how the chalk would glide...you captured that so perfectly! I completely understand what you're referring to here. I went to grammar school in the 60's and I have the same sensual memory about chalk moving across the board. You're not the only weird one here, I guess. 2 and 2The big fellow might not have been all that smart or he might just have missed a lot of school with his folks moving around the country, or maybe some of both. Back then, they didn't move you to the next grade unless you were up to the work. Eventually, some kids got so big and far behind that they dropped out of school, but if there's farm work around, his folks probably won't complain and he'll do well enough. Barefoot in School, and everywhere else.People often misinterpret barefoot kids. Were we barefoot because we had to be? Well, some were, but usually not. Were we barefoot to preserve our shoes? Usually not. Usually, we were barefoot by choice. We didn't have to wear shoes, so we didn't. When I started school, we each had a little cubby to put our jackets in during the day. My shoes and socks went in there too. The other kids kept theirs on, but nobody said, "Tommy, put your shoes on," so I didn't. Before they came up the the little jingle about shirts, shoes and service, it was pretty common for kids to be barefoot, even shirtless in stores, or even the library. In school, we were supposed to wear dress clothes. I wasn't the only kid in jeans, but usually the only one in a bib. Time frame? I started school in 1963. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Education, Schools, Kids)
Hoes Before Bros: 1942
... in the Smith-Hughes bill." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. An actual corner Here it is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/11/2022 - 3:39pm -

February 1942. "Eleven Mile Corner, Arizona. FSA farmworkers' community. Boys learning to garden in the vocational training class. This is vocational training as provided for in the Smith-Hughes bill." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. An actual cornerHere it is at the corner of AZ 287 and 11 Mile Road in Pinal County, 11 miles from Casa Grande, Eloy, and Coolidge. Cotton was the main crop. The boy with the aviator goggles and helmet looks a little old to be strapping on a toy pistol though. Eight Boys, One Pair of GlovesWhen you're learning to garden, an early lesson is that gloves prevent blisters. By lunchtime, seven will have learned that lesson and the kid on the left will be the only one still hoeing. I triple dog dare ya!Flick’s aviator cap is worn by a boy who might give you a lickin’ if you make fun of him. Re: An actual cornerMaybe it's not a toy gun? Hybrid hoerWe've all heard of the ideal of the citizen-statesman; here's an aviator-cowboy from the forties. A real-life Buckaroo Banzai. I Can Name Three -- Guess which "Bros" they are.John Wayne, Slip Mahoney, and Smilin' Jack! (Hint, Saturday afternoon movies and Sunday comics, the 1940s) Biggest guyGets to rake. Not for longThis charming photo actually represents something that anti-New Deal conservatives hated -- farmers in communities, working together under expert guidance to improve their lot. The Farm Security Administration and its photo unit were under attack from their formation in 1937. In February 1942 all was in transition. The unit's head, Roy Stryker, was encouraging his photographers to supplement their documentary mission with positive and patriotic American images. With these eight boys, Russell Lee found a way to combine the emphases. Eight months after this, the photo unit was moved into the Office of War Information. The next year it was disbanded. Thought bubbles?This would be a fun photo to add thought bubbles to! I won't take the time to do them all, but I can imagine one thinking, Jeez my sis gets to do Home Ec (and he grows up to be a trans woman), another wishing he was on a horse, another wants to be a preacher, one a soldier, etc. Great faces! There's good money in ho'inLet's finish this up so we can meet the dames back at the ham shack! Early versions of celebrity lookalikesLeft to Right: Alfalfa, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Gordon-Levitt , John Travolta, Steve McQueen and Jim Parsons. Now appearing at the Dunes in Vegas In the Top Five ...of the greatest all-time Shorpy titles from our Potentate of Puns. Just the implementI have a hoe that my great-grandmother used. How many years she used it I have no idea but the blade is worn down to about the size of a large serving spoon and the handle is worn to about half its original diameter where her hands gripped it. A lasting memory is going to see Granny after church and there she would be in the garden with the hoe and wearing one of those old fashioned sun bonnets like the logo for Old Dutch Cleanser. It's going to be a very long while… before you see another dude in a double breasted jacket hoeing a row. And a well-earned tip of the hat to Dave for yet another exemplary feat of lexical dexterity. Future ...Accountant, Baseball Player, Farmer, Actor, Homesteader, Outlaw, Mechanic, Lawyer. There is such a flatness to this pictureAnd yet you can see for miles and miles. If this weren't on Shorpy, I'd suspect these eight characters were photoshopped into that field. Or they were placed in front of a stage backdrop for the original photograph. Russell Lee took an interesting picture. Knowledge is power These kids certainly know where all the bodies are buried. I hope they use it to their advantage. Trust me I like them all -- a lot, especially the one with the aviator goggles and holster -- but the third young man from the left is everything. Second from leftThat's one handsome rake there! What's the DealWhat are the reasons that conservatives like to hate on the New Deal? (The Gallery, Agriculture, Kids, Russell Lee)
Step 1: 1935
... permitted!) 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. They look bored This is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/18/2011 - 1:42am -

August 1935. Prince George's County, Maryland. "One step in artificial insemination." If you like animals, and working with your hands, we have the perfect opening -- apply within. (And, smoking permitted!) 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. They look boredThis is just another job. Ready, set ...Let the wristwatch jokes begin! I need this pic to remind mejust how bad my job COULD be. Caption Contest"Too much information" "Put that in your pipe and smoke it" Always something interesting!I about fell out of my chair on this one. Can't wait to read the comments that will be flooding in. Sense of taste?I've done it and got to say that putting anything in my mouth at the time would have been the last thing on my mind. That ol' boy must be a hardcore piper. Lovely!Just what I needed to see before breakfast! Whoa!And I thought the Kubrick photo would be a record setter for comments! I think this one will go where no man has gone before on the comments. You're gonna be elbow deep in commentsSorry, I just had to! Step 2:Put on a Barry White record. Mooon RiverThat, and other one-liners from "Fletch" come to mind. Was it CarnationThat advertised milk from "contented cows"? Doubtful that Bossy is one of them, despite the stab at suavity with the pipe. [This bull is no Bossy. - Dave] Why I am not a farmerBesides the amount of actual work one has to do as a farmer which would probably kill me, I don't understand much of what they do. Take this picture for example. It's a bull. Perhaps I've blocked it, but I don't remember anything remotely like this in the process that resulted in my two kids. Granted, the act photographed is part of an artificial process (although I'm sure the bull would argue that point), but still. Perhaps I could ask my wife. Then again, maybe not. Moving on ...Just this once, I think I'll pass on the big, high-res photo. Is this what they mean by"animal husbandry"? I'll stick to humans, thank you.Is this what they mean by "animal husbandry"? Like leaving his socks on.Smoking a pipe while up to his elbows in bull is just plain rude. El Toro's thoughts"Can you believe the NERVE of some people." "Are these guys looking for romance?" "I'll give 'em aromatherapy they won't forget." "They didn't even take me to dinner first." "Shouldn't this be consensual?" "Yes officer, I was just standing here minding my own beeswax and contemplating the stock market when these two jokers walked in and -- " Bachelor of Sciencefollowed by More of the Same, and Piled Higher and Deeper. NO BULLI don't think old Bessie would appreciate being called a bull by timeandagainphoto. All the bulls I ever saw did the inseminating instead of receiving it. For Dave's eyes onlyPerhaps I should have looked at the picture more closely. I guess old Studley is getting his timely prostate exam. [The objects of our pipe-smoker's exertions are the bull's seminal vesicles; the technique is called "manual massage." - Dave] This reminds meI need to schedule my annual physical. And little did we knowthat dairy farming would be so difficult. All in a day's workMy niece graduated from vet school last year. I asked her about this, and she said you can learn a lot sticking your arm up a horse's or cow's butt. Colic, which is a leading cause of death among horses, is diagnosed and treated this way. It always reminds me of the many, many scenes in the great British series "All Creatures Great and Small," where Mr. Heriot is rolling up his sleeve, or washing his hands. Vets nowadays have nice little pink shoulder length rubber gloves for the purpose. Did they offer the bull a cigarette afterward?Just wondering. Hope that pipe wasn't litReminds me of the story in the "Book of Heroic Failures" about the vet who was treating a cow for gastric distress and lit a match in the vicinity of, as the book put it, "the end of the cow not capable of facial expression." The resultant explosion killed the cow and burned down the barn. The police searched for some charge to bring against the vet and finally settled on "setting a fire in a manner surprising to the magistrates." All this in England, as you probably gathered from the quotes. Oh My!Fisk-husking! And you think your job is badI wonder why they don't show the bull's face? I can picture a big smile and crossed eyes and a cigarette. Farmer in back of us says they stick some kind of an electrode up there now and shock him. Kinky! Bob Eubanks asks"Where's the strangest place you've ever made whoopee?" My KudosDave, you never cease to amaze me with your knowledge of varyious endeavors. Who else would know what was happening in this picture? I salute you. [Run a website long enough, and you learn a little about everything. - Dave] Specially Trained Men Farmers' Bulletin No. 1412, USDA, 1938. Care and Management of Dairy Bulls. Artificial Insemination. In recent years much interest has developed in the use of artificial insemination for breeding dairy stock. If the proper care and technique are exercised, semen can be collected, kept for several days, and successfully used on cows in the herd or in nearby herds. This should extend the use of a valuable sire to a much greater extent than if natural matings are used. Then, too. many valuable sires, because of age or because they are crippled, are unable to perform natural service, in which event artificial insemination can be practiced. It has also been demonstrated that semen can be transported by airplane to distant points for artificial insemination. In the laboratory of the Bureau at Beltsville, sperm cells have been kept active from 6 to 11 days in numerous instances and for as long as 21 days in some instances. Only veterinarians or specially trained men should attempt the collection and preparation of the semen for holding or shipment, and artificial insemination of the cow on receipt of the package. Further information on methods of collecting, storing, and transporting semen from bulls, together with suggestions for impregnating cows, will be sent if a request is addressed to the Bureau of Dairy Industry, Washington, D.C. "Found three watches""And not one of 'em mine" Hokey PokeyRemember the lyrics of that 1940s favorite -- and that's what it's all about, as we suspected. Road TripOoh (or maybe eww). This reminds me of a scene in a really stupid movie I watched with my kids! Hey, Dave!I also knew what was going on here! 34 and countingComments I mean. Andy, did you wear the extra, extra long glove at work today? Properly Equipped I note a shovel to handle all the BS that goes with the job. We should all be so lucky. At least they aren't tipping him over'Cause that would be undignified. The back-end man does appear to be wearing a just-barely-long-enough glove. I also just noticed the conveniently placed, non-empty shovel. So not only is the guy a massage therapist, he's also a concierge pooper-scooper. Why would anyone be required to wear a WHITE uniform for a job like that? Are those Keds high-tops the older man is wearing? How did all those dark splatters get on the wall? Caption Contest 2 Hold my beer and watch this. So many comments --I just can't get a grip on them all. It could be after-the-factMy dad was a veterinarian and we raised apporximately 100 beef cattle, mostly herefords and angus, along with the new calves that made their appearances each spring. Once a year, we'd get the cattle rounded up and my dad would do this to the heifers. But he was not performing artificial insemination, he was preg-testing them to see which ones were with-calf, and at the same time getting an idea of the size of the fetus, so he could tell how far along they were. Perhaps that's what's going on here? Since I see no equipment related to the insemination process that would be my first guess. (The Gallery, Animals, Carl Mydans)
Country Kitchen: 1942
... house." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Eleven Years Later ... ... ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/19/2023 - 11:43am -

July 1942. "Birmingham, Michigan (vicinity). Kitchen in a country house." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Eleven Years Later ... ... I finally see the rest of the kitchen. I clicked on "Kodachrome treatment" and discovered I made a comment on 01/01/2012. [There's even a third pic! Check back in 2034. But seriously, the negative for this particular photo didn't get scanned until 2022. - Dave] Drink Sanka Coffee and Sleep!My grandma use to drink Sanka. I remember seeing the jar in her kitchen when we'd visit. I also remember seeing Grandma's weed she kept in a big jar, between the Sanka and the juicer. Ahhh, those were the days. Made in Detroit -- "Tasty-Krisp Popkorn"... just to the left of Sanka. Popcorn was the go-to snack in those days. Tasty Krisp Products was located at 11166 Grand River Avenue in Detroit. Now an empty lot in a much-decayed neighborhood, but in the 1940s it was growing and prospering. Cold QuestionHave to wonder what the jar of cold cream is doing on the kitchen counter. With 6 sisters I sure saw a lot of that product in my youth, but always in the bathroom. Perhaps there's a culinary use I'm not aware of? [In the kitchen, a cold cream jar is not necessarily a jar of cold cream. - Dave] The MirolarmThe clock on the shelf is a Telechron Model 7F77, or "Mirolarm". Made between 1932 and 1938, it was Telechron's first "buzzer" alarm clock and would have been rose colored glass with a mirrored background. [Not to be confused with "Mirro" brand kitchen timers, or Joan Miró. - Dave] Grandma's weed?My first thought was: What’s a jar of nails doing on the kitchen counter? From the breadbox libraryCharles Gundel's "Hungarian Cookery Book" had its first printing in 1934 and is still available 45 printings later, and Gundel's is a world-class restaurant in Budapest still in business today. If one enjoys Hungarian food, this cookbook with its delectable offerings is sure to throw one off their January weight loss diet. Sone things never change (much)The bottle near the middle of the top shelf, in the paper wrapper, is clearly Angostura bitters. The labeling is amazingly similar to the one on my shelf, 80-plus years later. And my tin of Colman's Mustard is still more like this one than it is different. Bitters with the sweetThere's a bottle of Angostura bitters on that top shelf next to what might be maple syrup. UtensilsArthur Siegel also gave this kitchen the Kodachrome treatment -- Maybe not weed --Oregano? Well-wiredAny decorator magazine today would publish this kitchen with the word "whimsical" somewhere in there, but they would either studiously ignore the exposed electrical conduit, or comment on its "industrial" aesthetic. This is certainly an unusual abundance of electrical outlets for a kitchen of this period, and no doubt added at the owner's discretion to serve their abundance of kitchen gadgets. (How many people had an electric orange juicer in 1942?) Notice the light fixture above, with the original wiring concealed in the walls. In 1940, the National Electrical Code added a requirement for a dedicated 20 amp circuit for kitchen appliances, something that had been recommended as a best practice for a couple of decades. My sense is that this rule was little-enforced, as wartime materials shortages soon prevented compliance. But here's the original concept, illustrated in an official publication of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Edit: I mistakenly typed "conduit," though this is clearly the first-generation iteration (1928-ca1950) of non-metallic sheathed cable, popularly known by the trade name Romex. Brought to You By --Shorpy should get ad fees for product placement: Kroger’s Colman’s Durkee’s Jell-o Sunkist Sanka Mary Scott Rowland Grandma's laboratory Perfect meals (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Kitchens etc.)
Miracle Ham: 1941
... ." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Pretty New Cars Facing us ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/25/2018 - 10:29am -

April 1941. "South Side Chicago, 47th Street (Bronzeville)." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Pretty New CarsFacing us far left is a 1940 Mercury (first year); closer behind the truck is '40 Chevrolet; at the curb on the opposite side is a '39 Ford Tudor behind a '37 or '38 Buick; farther down that side ahead of the coupe at an angle is another '39 Ford. Always surprises me how often the '38, '39, '40 Fords show up in these pics. Spiritual Parochial school luncheonA Miracle Ham sandwich with Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread and for dessert, Heavenly Hash with Angelfood cake. Of course, if it is on a Friday, the sandwich would be Holy Mackerel. (no meat on Fridays for Catholics in 1941) and don't forget to say Grace before your meal. 47th St & Indiana AveIn the novel "Native Son," this corner was the location of Ernie's Kitchen Shack, where Bigger takes Mary and Jan, who want to see an authentic place "where colored people eat". The book (released in the spring of 1940) revolves around the neighborhood where Russell Lee was photographing in 1941. If we continue walking towards the L, we will find the shoeshine we met a while ago on Shorpy. Miracle on 47th StreetI wonder what is "Miracle" about the ham. That it was pre-cooked? Inspector Of Radios?The sign in the lower left has aroused my curiosity - RADIOS INSPECTED FREE. I was born in 1943 and I have never before seen such a sign. Why, in 1941, would a radio have a need to become inspected? [It's broken and doesn't work is why. That's a radio repair shop. - Dave] CarsThe coupe in front of the '37-'38 Buick is a '37 or '38 Chevy and the Mercury on the far left is a 1939, the first year for the marque. Shiny Nash?I believe the very shiny car, either new or freshly waxed, parked at the curb facing the camera in the bottom of the frame is a 1939 Nash sedan. The squared-off headlights seemed to be a trend for a couple of car manufacturers that year. I am struck by how much the scene resembles the area in the movie "The Sting" where Robert Redford's character Johnny Hooker rented a room, right down to the lunch counter on the corner. Not much left of this viewYou can see 119 on a sign across 47th, and the street crossing appears to be Indiana (better seen on the LOC image), today the view on E 47th looking east toward South Indiana looks like this: In both viewsIn the modern street view, the old building a block away just to the left of the light pole can be seen - just the top of it - in the old view, but it is quite apparently the same building still there. Amazing how much is gone from the new view - I wonder when it was torn down. Old buildingsThough extensively changed, the row of stores across the street (where is now a vacant lot) was still there until at least 2014; the Packing Town Market building with its entry columns is still identifiable from them. Also on Shorpy ...The photo was taken from the roof above William Green's Electrical Appliances shop as seen at Mr. Radio: 1942 and Tommy Dorsey: 1942. (The Gallery, Chicago, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets, Streetcars)
Dancing Queen: 1942
... Agriculture efforts to recruit adolescents and adults as farm labor to relieve manpower shortage for harvesting New York State crops." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. "Leeks are for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/28/2022 - 1:47pm -

September 1942. "Local dance hall in Richwood, Nicholas County, West Virginia. Photos document U.S. Department of Agriculture efforts to recruit adolescents and adults as farm labor to relieve manpower shortage for harvesting New York State crops." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. "Leeks are for geeks"... might have been a good slogan for the USDA to lure Wallace, Ferrell and Josephine or their fellow foot stompers from their mountain home, 'cuz Richwood is home to the longest continuously running festival celebrating America's native wild leek, the ramp. (As if you didn't know!) The Festival seems to be a Spring affair, so they might just be looking for something new anyway. (We know the juke box never left town...much to its eventual regret) That look --Her song just came on! If not rockSince rock 'n' roll would not become a thing for more than 10 years, I am wondering what those teenagers were dancing to. Bebop? Swing? Swing Out SisterI would guess that her biggest problem is catching her breath between dances. I can't imagine her sitting out many numbers. p.s., It's easy to dance to swing music, just about impossible to dance to bebop. 1941 Wurlitzer 850 PeacockIt appears that this 78 rpm jukebox was one of the most technically advanced of its time, according to this collector. Save the last dance for meFrank and Joe Hardy taking turns with Callie Shaw. Iola Morton, the pleasantly plump sister of Chet Morton, is not a happy camper. Only song title I can make outFirst row, bottom: "The Nickel Serenade" by Les Brown (misspelled as "Less", I think). Amazing Images From Our PastI have been a member of the Shorpy community for many years. During this time I have been amazed of the variety and quality of photos that came from the Depression years. This collection of photographs exist because several US Government agencies actually paid photographers to document the country during that time. What we now have is an incredible and diverse collection of photos that record our country during the most difficult economic times in our history. Some of these photos have become quite famous, but the rest which Dave has shown us I find endlessly fascinating. I am thankful the politicians at the time had the vision to fund this, and most of all the photographers who brought them to us. [Also the Library of Congress, repository for this vast collection, whose contractors and employees are still busy scanning the negatives. The ones we've been seeing on Shorpy were digitized and uploaded only days or weeks before being posted here. - Dave] Selections #2, 6, 7 and 8The second one down is "Midsummer Matinee" by Russ Morgan. No. 6 is "Ev'ry Night About This Time" by The Ink Spots. No. 7 is most likely "Abraham" by Freddy Martin No. 8 is "I Threw a Kiss in the Ocean" by Benny Goodman (Peggy Lee vocal) Famous companyWurliTzer of course not only made iconic juke boxes but also their mighty theater organs, some of which are still in operation. (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, Music, Pretty Girls)
B&O: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Springs and pulleys? That ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/30/2022 - 10:18am -

September 1942. "Richwood, West Virginia. An engineer on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Springs and pulleys?That is the most unusual view of a locomotive I've ever seen! Looking up from beside the driving wheels, am I seeing leaf springs? I didn't know there were springs on locos! And what are the belt and pulleys for? It appears that the "2" in 4-6-2 has springs to keep it pressed onto the tracks. Can anyone explain? It's sheer weightkeeps it on the tracks. The springs do the same thing the springs in your car do. Don't know about the small pulleys though. Yes, springsAll wheels on railroad rolling stock have both springs and equalizers. The springs support all of the weight, and allow the wheels to follow small irregularities in the track. Equalization allow for larger irregularities in the track, and assures that the weight is properly distributed. In the picture, the lever which links the trailing axle spring to the springs on the driving wheels is partially visible at the far right. Levers are used so that the weight can be less on the trailing axle than on the drivers, for example. Dunno about the pulleysAll locomotives and all rolling stock have some sort of spring suspension, just like highway vehicles. That's no mystery. As for the pulleys? I dunno. It was common in the steam era for passenger cars to have a 32-volt DC generator belt-driven from one of the axles. This would charge a battery, so the lights wouldn't go out when the train stopped. This system was gradually replaced by head-end power, reaching completion in the 1970s, but cabeese continued to use it through the end of the caboose era. I say I dunno because locomotives got their very small electric power requirement (basically just a headlight and dashboard light) through small steam turbines, starting after 1900, when vibration-tolerant light bulbs were developed. Just like automobiles The pulley and belt are part of the power steering mechanism. Pulleys and BeltThe only purpose I can conceive for the pulley and belt would be, perhaps, for a speedometer. It's an arrangement I've not seen before on a steam locomotive. Edited 12/31/22 3:30 pm Yup! Found this, with a bicycle chain drive, in a 1941 steam locomotive parts catalog. Postulating a potential pulley purposeThe top pulley appears to be connected to a mechanism within a bracket-mounted box. A pipe passes behind this box, curves down and ends at some hardware located behind the driver, which may be a steam-operated sander. The box at the top may be a valve equipped with an overrunning clutch that opens when the drivers are reversed to provide traction sand behind the drivers instead of, or in addition to, ahead of the wheels. Or not. This is all just a guess as we mark time waiting for a comment from someone who knows what the heck he/she is talking about. Regardless, the whole setup looks to be very light-duty and unrailroady, as is the bare light bulb below the "P-3" label. Not likely to pass the hammer test. PulleysI surmise it's for a speedometer. Locomotive IDNo. 5123 was a Class P-3 4-6-2 locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1913. Only one 4-6-2, of more than 200 operated by the B&O, survives today. Here's another photo of this locomotive, taken in 1936. Springs on A Steam LocomotiveThis drawing shows how springing and equalization works on a steam locomotive to keep weight evenly distributed over irregularities in the track. Fireman or firemen?A engine that size is approaching, but doesn't exceed, the limits of what one good fireman can handle. Probably a bit over 4 tons per hour. On a passenger engine, such as this one, he was also keeping the floor swept, monitoring the water level in the boiler, and watching track conditions and signals ahead, among other things. Manual firingInfo on the B&O P-3 class is far and few between, did find that the locomotives had no mechanical stoker. Poor fireman who had to shovel in the tons and tons of coal by hand. I wonder if the B&O employed 2 firemen on this type of loco. Been There, Done ThatI've hand fired a steam locomotive of that size and type. Yeah, It's work, but one man can do it. (The Gallery, John Collier, Railroads)
Sidewalk Squadron: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Thanks for that caption, FSA! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/19/2023 - 9:26pm -

July 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Boys and a girl on bicycles." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Thanks for that caption, FSA!Without it, I would never have realized I was looking at boys and a girl on bicycles. [The captions are a finding aid for researchers who may not have access to the negatives they describe, or to avoid having to take the negative out of its sleeve, and also because it can be hard to figure out what you're looking at in a negative image. - Dave] Omira Avenue??Brick house on the right a spitting image for my grandmother's house. Same pipe fence around the pride-and-joy 6-foot lawn. AhoogaI had (actually still have) one of those horns on my bicycle which I got around 1948. No batteries required and really LOUD. Captions MatterIn regards to GlenJay's comment: having slogged through 12 linear feet of uncataloged negatives and prints in a local museum, I can verify that even a bare bones caption dramatically reduces a researcher's workload. Bike BreedsTwo Cleveland Welding Company (CWC) "Roadmaster" bikes (one slightly older) ca. 1937-1941. From the Vintage American Bicycles website, "CWC started producing bikes in September of 1935." The third boy's bike appears to be badged Winton, though that company stopped making bicycles before 1900; but hundreds of badges were placed on various makers' models. Cannot ID the girl's bike, but it is certainly the de rigueur 1940s "girly" color model. Remember the days when your bike handles fell off and you were left with cold steel? Bell Bottom BluesSailor, Tuck in those pant legs, or else a member of the Sidewalk Squadron is going to make unwanted contact with it! Child retirees ??We hear so much about restrictions on automobile tires during the war, but what about bike tires ? Were they similarly rationed, or was it just too minor an issue to bother with? (that would be hard to believe: it's seems like nothing was "too minor to bother with" during WWII.) Waiting for someone to identify the models: I thought one was a Schwinn, but the spelling is wrong (unless they omitted one of the "N"'s as a wartime economy measure!) [Roadmaster, Winton, ???, Roadmaster. - Dave] Rubber shortageGlancing at the front bike tires made me think of rubber rationing and if bike tires were rationed. Of course. Immediately after Pearl Harbor ALL rubber was rationed/banned for most civilian use from tires to hot water bottles to rubber shoe soles. I had never heard of these but there were Victory Bicycles built during the war to aid with transportation. Less metal by weight, elimination of the frills, small amounts of strategic metals, narrower size tires. Neat photo today that had me diving into bikes in WW2. Is that a rock?Why hang a rock from your handlebars? And if it's something else -- what is it? [The girl has one, too! - Dave] Not an onion, but ...with apologies to Abe Simpson, "So I tied a rock to my handlebars, which was the style at the time!" My mom (b 1942) told me that in Des Moines in the '50s it was popular for girls to tie a thread around the neck of a dime store chameleon and pin the other end to your blouse so the little lizard could walk around on your shoulders. Crackerjack outfitThe guy on the left has a sailor hat and bellbottoms. Was there a high school Naval ROTC equivalent at the time? (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Bicycles, Detroit Photos, Kids)
Newport News: 1941
... Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Huntington Cafe The street ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/07/2020 - 3:53pm -

March 1941. Newport News, Virginia. "Shipyard workers going home at 4 p.m." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Huntington Cafe The street appears to be Washington Avenue. According to an ad in a 1940 edition of the local newspaper, the Huntington Cafe was located at 3600½ Washington Ave. In the ad, the restaurant was looking to hire a waitress. Nary a woman to be seen!I don't see any women yard workers in this pre-WWII scene. That would change during the war. https://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/women/wartime/ww2.htm N.N.S.& D.D.Co. The Shipyard - Newport News Shipyard & Dry Dock Co.- has been a definitive workplace of generations of local (and not quite local) families since the end of the 19th century. My stepfather began working there as a full time employee just after WWII, when he graduated from 4 years at the Apprentice School in 1950, through the auspices of the GI Bill, and became a Piping Designer in the Submarine Division. He was a part of the development of the nuclear submarines from day one. Hyman G. Rickover was a seemingly permanent fixture of that section, ruling with an iron will. Stories about him were regular parts of every day's dinner table conversation! Dad worked there until his Union went on strike in the late 70's/early 80's and never went OFF strike. He continued working for another company who was a contractor for the shipyard for a long time, until he retired. He passed away this past spring. Asbestosis was a major player in his passing, after spending decades in that shipbuilding environment, making frequent journeys from his office space to the outside buildings where "mock ups" were located, and actual construction in the dry docks took place, where there was little to no breathing protection provided or even acknowledged in those many early years. He recieved legal asbestosis "benefits" from various class action law suits, but in the end, no amount of money could repair the damage inflicted by those incredibly tiny, dangerous fibers that permanently scarred his lungs. His father - my paternal grandfather - had worked there, beginning in the Sail Shop, in the late 1920's, which was actually after sails were no longer part of ships, but handled all the textile components of ships, and the yard itself. He fabricated upholstery on ships and subs, awnings on buildings, and other items. He retired in 1968. He has three sisters, two of whom married men who would become permanent employees of the shipyard through their retirement. The other one was associated through shipyard contractors. I have numerous cousins, brothers, nephews, and many school friends who either have worked for the Yard in all its incarnations, ownership, changes, etc., and still do, or have done. One uncle gave his all, who was an official photographer for the Yard, when he had a sudden heart attack during lunch with coworkers in a little cafe across the street from the yard, and didn't go home again. In the 1960's, taking Dad to work across town from as far as Denbigh so Mom could have the one car on Fridays so she could do all her shopping is something I will always remember. Being part of all that craziness of early morning traffic and back again for the madness of afternoon shift change, with the thousands of cars from everywhere, and what seemed like hundreds of charter busses from as far as North Carolina transporting the employees on their way in and on their way home again seemed to be just another normal day. The shipyard has been a permanent fixture of most of my early life, from the age of 6, until I married at 19, and moved away to the Midwest at 20, in 1977. It still continues to move on as it provides submarines and aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy, as well as numerous other projects that keep "the yard" humming. (Original 7/2/2020) Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.In the 1940s A&P was at the height of its success - so much so that it was charged with antitrust violations. Because of management mistakes, it started sliding in the 1950s and disappeared in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Atlantic_%26_Pacific_Tea_Company Eight O'ClockThe A&P is gone, but I still drink Eight O'Clock coffee. "No Pedestrian Traffic"A 1940 newspaper want-ad for a waitress position at the Huntington Cafe (lower left) gives an address of 3600½ Washington Avenue, which means Vachon was standing near the intersection of Washington and 37th Street, facing south. There is still a gate to the shipyard at that corner, but "no pedestrian traffic" signs in place of crowds of workers headed south at shift change. Today, there are acres of surface parking lots behind Vachon's location. Many women - just not in sight here!(EDITED to remove typo. ORIGINALLY posted a few years ago.) This photo just doesn't show the right building or gate for all the women employees to be making their way out of the buildings to go home. There were/are different buildings where the white collar workers - management, secretaries, administrative assistants/private secretaries, file clerks, the typing pools, other clerical workers, etc. - had the offices where they did their vital work, and design divisions had their facilities, working in large open office spaces where their drafting desks and other equipment was kept, and where they did their work everyday, Monday through Friday. Not a computer to be found, or even a pocket calculator. Yet. I'm sure there were all the IBM, other bookkeeping and office machines were being used to the utmost, keeping up with the work of production, repair, refitting, calculating contracts, payrolls for all the thousands of workers, and so forth though! My dad's "tools of the trade" were drafting pens and pencils and slide rules, and all the other drafting tools needed for his work, calculating and drawing to the nth degree the placement and bend of every pipe and conduit for his assignment at the time, on submarines. There were plenty of ladies working in those office spaces too. And, not every category of worker worked the same shift everyday. Production workers down in the yard, such as these men shown, worked one of three standard shifts, days, evenings, graveyards, and a five day shift out of any given seven days. My uncle worked in the welding shops, five evenings a week, always getting home about 11:45PM. My aunt always had his "dinner" waiting for him when he got home. I used to spend weekends there with my cousins as a kid when I could, and he was usually not home at least one evening until quite late. "QUIET" while he was sleeping during the early part of the day was an unbreakable house rule! The office workers worked the standard 9-5, Monday through Friday's, where the production personnel worked 7-3, 3-11, or 11-7, part of seven days a week. And there were also the Apprentice School students, who worked their time in the school proper for their four or more years, just like any other college program, but also worked in the yard itself, or in the design divisions, or whatever other division coincided with their area of interest or focus, as part of their training as well. Their schedules were always a mystery! And there were also the predictable city bus routes which included the shipyard stops as part of their daily routes. Staggering shifts like that was the only way they could get a handle on the amazing traffic tidalwaves that were part of getting people to work and back home again everyday. There are (or at least there were) specific parking areas near the buildings down in the yard where they were working, and surface lots for the use of specific classes of workers close by the buildings where they worked. (The Gallery, John Vachon, WW2)
Maine Man: 1940
... worker. Bath, Maine." Photo by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Head start (and still going) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/03/2023 - 10:00pm -

December 1940. "War boom in a New England industrial town. Portrait of a shipyard worker. Bath, Maine." Photo by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Head start (and still going)U.S. entry into World War II was a year away, but Bath Iron Works had been building destroyers and destroyer-minelayers since 1934. It completed 83 of them by the end of the war with, at peak, a launch every 17 days. It tells us something about the magnitude of America’s industrial accomplishment that the Bath Works ranked 50th in wartime production contracts. Bath Iron Works has been in business since 1884, and is now owned by General Dynamics. It is still building battleships: the USS Carl M. Levin was delivered to the Navy on 26 January 2023 and will be commissioned in June. Response to responses: make that "battle ships"? "ships for battles"? "destroyers of other ships in battles"? I hope he had a decent place to liveAs we already seen with Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Bryant and by whoever lived in these trailers, and are about to see by whoever lived in this shack, housing in Bath, Maine in 1940 was hard to come by. Potatoes Again??That look on his face is priceless -- [He seems to be in a bar. - Dave] Not a BattleshipBut an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Arleigh Burke was Chief of Naval operations in the 1950's. As a "Tin Can Sailor" at that time, I was privileged to salute him when he inspected our ship the USS Power DD839. Down a Peg or TwoNot to sink GlenJay's battleship, but the USS Carl Levin is a destroyer, not battleship. According to world authority on naval warships Milton Bradley: Battleships [BB] are 4-peggers Destroyers [DDG] are 2-peggers (were 3-peggers in the original version). GlenJay, Thanks for the info. Here's a link: https://news.usni.org/2023/01/30/bath-irons-works-delivers-destroyer-car... Not BattleshipsThe USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) is a United States Navy Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer, the 70th overall for the class. Haven't built and battleships since WWII. No mo' BattleshipsThe last USN battleships were constructed during WWII. Several have served active duty since the mid-40's but no new BB's have been built, nor are they likely to. They simply cost too much in dollars and sailors and the need for very large ships of that size are not needed for anything other than shore bombardment (which worked nicely during the conflict in the Mideast) but are a very small part of our defense needs now. Even during WWII the aircraft carrier replaced the battleship as an offensive weapon. Current Bath Shipyard BuildThe USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) is an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer, the 70th overall for the class. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Portraits, WW2)
Schott's Alley: 1941
... format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Do not go gentle into that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/02/2022 - 1:28pm -

        A scene last glimpsed here, but without the trolley. September 1941. Washington, D.C. "Schoots Court [i.e., Schott's Alley] with Senate Office Building in background. Four very small dark rooms rent for fifteen and eighteen dollars per month with water and privy in yard. It used to rent for six and eight dollars. Frank Coles and his friend are sitting on the bench. He was a cement plasterer but has been on relief during the past year. He has frequent heart attacks and his feet and ankles are all swollen. Doctor advises a chicken and lamb diet, no pork or beef, but he doesn't even have money to buy fuel. He can't get waited on in a clinic or get to one. He waited from before 11 until 4 p.m. but still could not see a doctor. He has been in Washington since 1906." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Do not go gentle into that good nightBetween the two photographs, Frank Coles has barely moved while everyone else has shifted one way or another and the tallest kid in the previous photo has been replaced by the tyke at left. I remember hearing if you have a heart condition and swelling in your feet and ankles, you should not sit for long periods in the position Frank Coles is. But who can resist sitting in the sun with friends and entertaining and being entertained by a group of kids who have endless energy? So Close And Yet So FarThe juxtaposition of a symbol of our nation's wealth and privilege within a few hundred feet of its poorest citizens is striking. I'm not sure I could define what, if anything, has changed in 80 years. The lesser known H streetDespite it's its name, Schott's Alley had a generous 28 foot width, and a curious "H" shape, designed to maximize use of the interior of the block (these are actually the fronts of the houses we're seeing, not the backs) The Elephant in the D.C. RoomI'll say it. After eight years of the Progressive FDR Administration, the simple fact that this level of poverty existed in the shadow of our Capitol and that our elected leaders could and would ignore it speaks volumes as to where their priorities lay. I fully accept that the "Great Depression" was just beginning to wane, finally, thanks to the advent of World War. Considering the IRS was originally established by Congress to collect income tax, specifically in order to fund the District of Columbia, one would assume they would have used it to modernize all of the district not just the elitist areas. Just saying. Schott's firedI came across this series of articles about Schott's Alley: first, second, third, fourth, fifth. The alley was first home to African Americans from DC, gradually became a home to Italian immigrants, then eventually home to African Americans migrating from further South. One of the buildings housed an Americanization school, where immigrants could take English lessons and prepare for naturalization tests. See the final article for fires, murder and an explosion! Not at all surprisingOne commenter expresses surprise that this slum existed in DC despite nearly a decade of progressive government. This seems disingenuous, considering that the picture shows Black Americans in 1941. The Senate that sat in the building behind this slum may have been associated with a progressive administration, but it was only progressive for its time. The alley's residents wouldn't enjoy even nominal equality in employment or housing for another 23 years, and it would be another year beyond that before the federal government vigorously protected their right to vote for any government. Casual racism was rampant, and government programs to help "the poor" routinely excluded anyone who was not white. While another World War was just around the corner, its unifying force upon American society didn't extend to racial or ethnic equality (the US armed forces remained segregated for years after the war ended), and post-war economic boost did not affect Americans of all races equally. [N.B.: That's the Senate Office Building, not the Senate wing of the Capitol. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, M.P. Wolcott, Streetcars)
Woo Woo: 1942
... negative (colorized by Shorpy) by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Guessing game Why did you ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/21/2023 - 12:53pm -

September 1942. "Boy and girl from Richwood, West Virginia, en route to upper New York state to work in the harvest." The young man last seen here. And here. Acetate negative (colorized by Shorpy) by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Guessing gameWhy did you feel the need to "colorize" it? [It wasn't a need, it was a want. It pleases me to do so. - Dave] Train of ThoughtEach time i see this young man I wonder why, in 1942, he's not on a troop train somewhere in the US or England instead of working a harvest. [He's a high school student, and the draft age when this photo was taken was 21. Out of the 34 million American men registered for military service in WW2, only around 10 million ended up being inducted. - Dave] Very Well DoneDave ... one of the best I have seen ... you expertly captured the look of aging Kodachrome. [The credit goes to Photoshop's "neural filters." - Dave] Nice Job DaveGood skin tone as well. Adds dynamic to the whole scene. Well done mate! Didn't KnowI wouldn't have known it was colorized. it looks like a vintage color photo to me. Well done. Boy, he looks tired, and she obviously is. (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, Railroads)
Pittsburgh: 1941
... scenes of ordinary people at a picnic, in a parlor, on a farm and in a schoolroom. Completed in 1951, the painting was unveiled that ... much of Ms. Sharrer’s source material, including Farm Security Administration photographs from the late 1930s. Hats off to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2018 - 11:03am -

January 1941. "Long stairway in mill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the FSA. View full size. HauntingSad but yet beautiful photograph. You can hear the ice crunching under the woman's steps on the long stairway. Would love to see a picture today to see what remains. When the mills closedI moved to Pittsburgh (Ambridge) in 1980 and the sky was yellow. By 1984 when I left the sky was blue...most of the mills had closed. This scene could be anywhere in the Pittsburgh area and is really representative of what it was like. Except for the vintage car, I've been in this scene. I don't understand why I'm coughing......maybe it's the pollen??? Less smoggy, still cloudyWell, the hills are still there! The mills, not so much. The smell of moneyLooks downright Dickensian. There is a pulp mill out in the bay near where I live. For decades it belched a foul smelling brew of toxins from the stacks until the owners were forced to install scrubbers to clean up the exhaust. Now you'd hardly know it was there. When someone would complain to my friend's dad, who worked there for decades, he would reply, "That's the smell of money." City StepsA few years ago Bob Regan documented these stairways in a book called "The Steps of Pittsburgh." There are some 700 stairways all over the city. From the publisher's website: Many of Pittsburgh's steps are legal streets, and all of them reflect the city's unique topography and history. Together, these 712 sets of steps provide a vital link in the city's transportation system as well as unusual challenges for pedestrians, joggers, the bike police, and especially pizza delivery. . . . San Franciscans like to boast about their steps and consider them a top tourist attraction, but they "only" have 350 sets. Cincinnatians do the same, but claim a mere 400. Neither have steps that are legal streets. Pittsburgh is clearly King of the Steps and a place beloved by the self-propelled. Whether you're an active step trekker or an armchair climber, The Steps of Pittsburgh should be on your to-do list! Every year there's an event called the Step Trek that takes participants all over the steps on the South Side Slopes. It's pretty cool and great exercise! Thanks for the beautiful photograph. Led ZeppelinI was raised in a small, very industrial Connecticut town in the 1940's which had a similar wooden staircase from Main Street over the railroad tracks. When we had to attend church, it was necessary to ascend these many, many stairs, after which we were faced with a steep, almost straight up hill, to get to the level of tiers on which our church stood. It was so steep, the concrete was scored about every inch to give better footing and in icy, snowy weather, it was a real challenge. I used to think of it as a stairway to Heaven, and then the title above came out with their hit song. I thought of it first. The town was Seymour, for all you doubting Thomases. The church was St. Augustine's. Good day. Smoke ControlPittsburgh passed strict (for the time) environmental laws a year later, in 1941. What they called "smoke control" back then was delayed until after the war, but went into effect in 1946 and cleaned up the city's air well before the steel industry went south. Smoke Gets in Your EyesMy dad visited cousins in Pittsburgh around the same time this photo was taken. He spoke of sitting on the front porch and watching soot settle on the railing. Hell with its hat offI saw that caption on a picture of a Pittsburgh populated by stacks belching smoke in the bad old industrial days. My daughter is studying ballet there now. It's a different place, really an beautiful city. Not hard to find reminders of those days, though -- soot-blackened buildings and decrepit factory sites. Bisbee, ArizonaAnother vertical metallurgical town where stairways take the place of streets. Three shirt townThey used to call Pittsburgh a three shirt town. You'd wear one in the morning until the sweat and soot mixture was turning your collar gray, then change into another at lunch, and then into a third at dinnertime. I Had No IdeaI had no idea that Pittsburgh was a city of steps. You learn something every day. Thanks for posting this beautiful picture. Photos of some of the city's steps here (http://www.frontiernet.net/~rochballparks2/towns/pgh_steps.htm) for those as ignorant as I of the wonders of Pittsburgh! Epic PicThis is an epic capture. Its like a frame from some Academy Award bait movie. This image is as fantastic to me as something from the new Star Trek movie - and I mean that as a compliment. So inclinedMy son delivers appliances in Pittsburgh, a challenge in that city. And watching a cable guy run a new wire is like having a front row seat a Cirque du Soleil. One of our roofers lives on one of these "stairway streets". He says that there are 214 stair steps to reach his front door and that the number one rule in his household is that you never enter or leave empty-handed. Those Steps...........look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I'm surprised someone didn't rig up some type of trolley to get from one end to the other (both ways). Dig Sixteen TonsAngular staircase, belching factory, grim lack of scenery: Makes me think of the bleak urban intro to Joe Versus the Volcano. Gotta hope someone in one of those houses has a hula lamp. Honore SharrerYesterday's New York Times carried the obituary of Honore Sharrer, "a noted American artist of the 1940s and afterward whose bold, witty, incisive paintings documented the daily experiences of ordinary working people. Known for their jewel-like colors and painstaking attention to detail, her paintings were purposely flat, hyperrealistic and strongly narrative in their depiction of everyday life." It doesn't have anything to do with this particular photograph, but I found this part of the obituary to be of interest to Shorpyites: Ms. Sharrer’s masterwork, critics widely agree, is her painting “Tribute to the American Working People.” A five-image polyptych that recalls a medieval or Renaissance altarpiece, it is more than two yards long and a yard high and took five years to paint. Its central figure, a factory worker, is flanked by smaller scenes of ordinary people at a picnic, in a parlor, on a farm and in a schoolroom. Completed in 1951, the painting was unveiled that year at Ms. Sharrer’s first solo exhibition, at the Knoedler Galleries in New York. Reviewing the exhibition in The New York Times, Stuart Preston called “Tribute” “a notable contemporary American painting” and “a bold, frank and fine achievement.” “Tribute,” which is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, was the subject of an exhibition there in 2007 devoted exclusively to it. Titled “Anatomy of a Painting: Honoré Sharrer’s ‘Tribute to the American Working People,’ ” the exhibition featured much of Ms. Sharrer’s source material, including Farm Security Administration photographs from the late 1930s. Hats off to Jack Delano and all the FSA photographers. "Paper Streets"I live in this neighborhood. The term we use is "paper streets" because on the city map, they look like any other street, but that's only on paper. My girlfriend has called me in tears when her Garmin couldn't get her home because it wanted her car to take staircases. These sets of steps also all have street signs like any other city roadways. Paper Alley"Paper streets" are common here in Pittsburgh and the suburbs, but most common are "paper alleys." There is one directly across the street from me that runs up the side, then in back of all of the houses. It's now covered in grass and woods (and I imagine it has been this way for at least 90 years). My parents used to fight the boro to let them take ownership of the "property," however they have not budged in 35 years. Funny how the local gov't doesn't want to take care of it, and after my parents stopped, the neighbor does on the other side. Love Pittsburgh!I have lived in Pittsburgh all 23 years of my life. I would never live anywhere else. It's sad we can't get this smoke-ridden image out of the minds of people. This is nothing like the city today. Pittsburgh is a beautiful, growing city that is leading the way in green technology. After the steel industry collapse, the city plummeted into debt. Now, we are a shining example. Anyways, that misconception will be shattered with the hosting of the G-20 Summit here in September! Pay attention to the news around that time. Anyways, this is still a great image. You cannot deny this city's history, and the steel industry was vital to the US, especially during WWII. Pittsburgh has always been a pivotal cornerstone in American (and world) history. Does anybody know where this mill is located? Warhol-landThis is the Pittsburgh that artist Andy Warhol was born into in 1928. When this picture was made, a 12-year-old Warhol was living with his family in a house on a soot-covered hillside in a neighborhood just like this. It's Tullymet StreetThese steps connect Sylvan Avenue and Chance Way in the city's Hazelwood neighborhood. The old wooden steps have been replaced with concrete. The house sitting just out of the frame is gone along with most of the homes on Sylvan. [Thanks for the answer to a longstanding question! - Dave] First Three homes are still thereIt looks as if the first 3 homes in the middle of the picture are still there. So cool to finally know where this photo was taken! many thanks to sinking_ship for solving that mystery! This is still one of the most beat up areas in the 'burghWhen I return via Allegheny County airport in W. Mifflin, we always pass thru this area on our way to Oakland. It's pretty sad now but still very recognizable from this photo. My foreign born wife immediately recognized the neighborhood just from the lay of the land. Back in the early 70s I worked the last in-city blast furnaces at Jones & Laughlin steel just down the road towards Oakland. Very glad I had the chance to touch the history before it was gone. Been thereI lived in the third house in from 1953/1960. Glad my house is still there. First Two HomesSince the photo of first three homes still standing was submitted, the third one in is now gone also...along with pretty much everything in the 1940 photo... (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Pittsburgh)
Early Boomers: 1940
... Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Bath Iron Works - Still There ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/30/2022 - 5:05pm -

December 1940. "War boom in a New England industrial town. Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Bryant in their trailer about two miles out of Bath, Maine. Mr. Bryant works in the shipyard. They have been living in the trailer for two months. They could not rent in Bath and although a trailer cost them almost as much as a house, Mr. Bryant feels that it is a better investment because they do not know where they will go next in search of work when this 'boom' is over." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Bath Iron Works - Still ThereBath Iron Works is still one of the largest shipbuilders for the U.S. Navy and one of the largest employers in Maine. As it was in Mr. Bryant's day, shipbuilding remains a boom-and-bust industry. Those ShoesSo many people have been those same shoes. Young, recently married, dreams and worries in equal amounts, uncertainty ahead. Love alone is not enough and there are always bits of life drama presenting themselves. But with a bit of luck, Mr. Bryant proves himself useful enough at the Plant that he avoids the draft. Mrs. Bryant manages to also find work, and the two find time to build a family under a permanent roof. [So they were real heels? - Dave] Well heeled, let's say. Wonder what happened to them?Well, the "boom" lasted another four and a half years, but Mr. Bryant might well have been drafted, if he couldn't get an "essential industry" deferment. That does remind me of the old used trailer my parents got for our summer place, with that thin wood veneer. Twin beds for newlywedsmay work in a movie or on TV, but is not so great in real life. At the other end of domestic life -- that trailer in a Maine winter during a marital bump-in-the road is not going to provide any get away-from-me space. But they are the Greatest Generation; they will make it work. Trailer lifeSpeaking of Maine winters, how would they keep the pipes underneath from freezing? And trailers are never insulated all that well, so it would’ve been mighty chilly inside, I’m thinking. As for twin beds, the seating arrangements generally pull into a double bed. [Insulated pipes. - Dave] Mr. & Mrs. BLeslie Eugene Bryant (1919-1995) married Ruth M. Barstow (1919-1994) in Maine on June 25, 1938. In December 1940, Leslie and Ruth were photographed in their home by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. The Bath city directory for 1942-43 mentioned their move to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Leslie was inducted into the Army on September 19, 1944, at Portland. His civilian occupation was machinist. In November 1944, he was admitted to the hospital. Diagnosis: reaction to drugs, vaccines, serums (smallpox vaccine) while in basic training. He was returned to duty. Leslie and Ruth were living in Escambia County, Florida, in the 1950 Census. Leslie was employed as a machinist at Pensacola Naval Air Station. They were divorced February 1957 in Huntsville, Alabama. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, WW2)
Playscape: 1941
... playing in vacant lot." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Front and almost center ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/20/2023 - 12:36pm -

April 1941. "Chicago, Illinois. Housing available to Negroes on the South Side. Children playing in vacant lot." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Front and almost centerThat whole building is one huge triple-dog-dare. Notice no kids are too close to it. A burning questionafter several hours of puzzlement as to why the best-looking building in the shot - that garage on the left - was a trashed ruin, I concluded it wasn't: it's a burned-out ruin (that seems to be debris in the street and a fireman looking it over). It may be our best chance at locating this scene more specifically; all we need is a list of all Chicago fires in the March and April of 1941. Yep, that's all we need. And here is the steepleI wish I knew the South Side better. I love pinpointing locales from clues in Shorpy photos. I predict someone will identify the church on the left of the picture. As different as white is from blackWhat a stark and disturbing contrast this "Playscape" photo makes with the previous "Sidewalk Squadron" image. White, seemingly middle class, kids in their nice, neat-neighborhood surroundings. Black American children in a scene similar to those from rundown neighborhoods in war-devastated cities of Europe and the Asia-Pacific theaters in World War II. "Housing available to Negroes." Housing available to those blighted with the stigmas attached to their dark skin and poverty. The good news is that it's likely grandchildren of the black children in this "Playscape" image are probably living in and raising their children in much better surroundings and circumstances. Rear WindowWhy am I thinking of a Hitchcock film when I look at this photo? Sad indictment On a society that deemed this suitable accommodation for a particular section of society. Beauty in fragilityI rarely felt such a giddy excitement by any structure that I've ever seen as with the the building in this photo. Dressed to the ninesSays something about the human spirit that, in the middle of all this urban decay, those kids are dressed to the nines and looking fine. Future leaderAt first I was going to write and say that the building itself was probably okay and that it’s only the wooden railings and balconies that were rickety and scary, but then I figured, nah, the building was probably crappy, too. What I find I can’t take my eyes off is that chunky kid in the middle with the white shirt and suspenders and puffy pants. He likely became somebody, that kid. There’s a dynamic glow to him. (The Gallery, Chicago, Kids, Russell Lee)
Buena: 1939
... 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Thanks!!!! It's great to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/26/2022 - 2:07pm -

August 1939. "Buena, Yakima County, Washington. Yakima Valley small town whose county ranks fifth in the United States in value of agricultural production." 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Thanks!!!!It's great to see Dorothea Lange's work here on Shorpy! My morning visit just got a bit brighter!! I'm hungryI want some Eats, and it looks like I have my choice of two Eats providers. [There was no shortage of Eats, Meats or Coca-Cola in Buena! - Dave] The location of this photo......is here (Google Maps). Behind the "Eats" sign on the left is the Golding Warehouse (still standing). Here's a picture from flickr of how it looked in January 1997. None of the other buildings are still there. Long ShadowsIf this shot had been taken a second or two later a bicyclist would have appeared in the right side of the picture. You Know You're In Redneck Country When......The word "Eats" is a noun instead of a verb. I'm sure there are also places in this town that sell "Chow" "Grub" and "Vittles," but not food. That's "YakimAH"NOT "YAKimuh" (which I keep hearing on TV and it drives me crazy). From a daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter of Washingtonians. Golding Warehouse follow up…The Golding Warehouse, the only extant building way back when this was first posted here at Shorpy, was apparently demolished sometime between September 2008, when it was still visible in Google street view, and July 2012, when it is no longer standing. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange, Rural America, Small Towns)
Your Move: 1942
September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba FSA farm labor camp. Recreational director watching boys play checkers in ... crops." Acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. You can cut the tension in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/01/2023 - 2:17pm -

September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba FSA farm labor camp. Recreational director watching boys play checkers in recreation tent. They are among voluntary migrant labor from West Virginia and New York City relief rolls arriving in upstate New York to harvest crops." Acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. You can cut the tension in the room with a knifeWhoever said that chess was the most intense, non-physical game in the world never played checkers against these guys. I swear, the boy on the right of the picture is mere minutes away from letting fists fly. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Camping, John Collier, Kids)
Media Room: 1941
... November 1941. "Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wagoner Wagner, who farm on the Black Canyon Project. Canyon County, Idaho." Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Best of Shorpy I love ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/09/2022 - 10:38am -

November 1941. "Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wagoner Wagner, who farm on the Black Canyon Project. Canyon County, Idaho." Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Best of ShorpyI love Shorpy.com, but these vignettes of middle-class home life in an America long ago and far away are my favorites. And I have to say, 1) that door must bang that chair every time it's opened, and 2) as someone who HATES ceiling lights, I can sympathize with whoever took that bulb out. Photos of their Sons?I wonder if those pics on the shelf are their boys. For Lee's sake, I hope they are. If so, he'll be able to continue working his farm during the coming world storm. Who plays the piano?On the extreme right of the photo there appears to be the edge of a piano keyboard and accompanying bench. NewsweekNovember 24, 1941. (Why no visor on the hats?) Don't look now butThere is an exceedingly creepy doll type thing doing an evil side-eye from the built-in cabinet in the foreground left. Speaking of left, I'm wondering if that is Mr. Wagoner himself, as a tyke, on the far left in the trio of siblings framed and hanging on the wall above his wife's head. Nov. 24, 1941 NewsweekThe cover story: "Malay Troopers: A Link in Far Eastern Chain." You can pick up a vintage copy from the Bill Graham Estate's counterpart to Shorpy, if you've got $92. https://www.wolfgangs.com/vintage-magazines/newsweek/vintage-magazine/OM... A DairymanWith a copy of Hoard's Dairyman in the magazine rack, one can assume that Wagoner was a milker. And so this picture would have captured one of those small spaces of time when a dairy man wasn't prepping the milk parlor, milking, cleaning up afterward, or sleeping. Hinge of fateCurious how the hinges are set on the door and on the cabinet on the left. Kind of nonstandard to have the hinge plate set on the face of doors like that. Life imitates artScene has a quality of Joseph Cornell's ready made box. Cluster of things, that should have some "meaning" - from previously mentioned doll in the forefront by the other poster, absence of a light bulb at the ceiling fixture, an oval framed photo of kids. The guy looks like the type with short attention span when it comes to reading. Did anyone notice ...Mr. Wagoner seems to be holding his reading material upside down? [Um, no. His newspaper is folded in half, so the side facing us is upside down. - Dave] No bulb in the socketOr any other source of illumination except for the reflection of the flash in the glass for this staged photo. A well-lit roomYes, I know it is the photographer's lighting, but the room is well lit for having no bulb in the ceiling "fixture". The couple look surprisingly modern for some reason, Is it the hairstyles? The clothing? The oddity that catches my eye is a very small one - the half-mortise hinges on both the door and the cabinet at the left. ReadersNewsweek, possibly "Silver Screen", "Hoard's Dairyman", "Bible Readings for the Home Circle"... quite a variety. Silver ScreenDecember 1941 issue. Effie Klinker?With regard to those two dolls on the shelf of the cabinet on the left, is it possible that the top-hatted one is Charlie McCarthy and the other one might be Effie Klinker? (Sure isn’t Mortimer Snerd.) I wasn’t able to find a photo of Effie Klinker in a hat like that or without her spectacles. Maybe it’s a doll of some other ventriloquist dummy not related to Edgar Bergen. And one more...The "S" is McCall's magazine. Black Canyon, SROThis looks like a stage set. The front door, couch, and radio are all conveniently facing the audience. The half-walls are where children or adults can sneak onstage and eavesdrop, unseen by the Wagoners, and behind which you can hide something from the audience. Opening scene: Lee to his wife, "Did you do anything interesting today, dear?" Wife, " " [I'm having writer's block ... I'll get back to you.] The Media Room is up to dateThe console radio is a Zenith of 1939 or 1940. These were quality radios, and not inexpensive. Just about a week laterThat radio will be announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor given she's reading the 11/24/1941 issue of Newsweek. Answering davidkNo visors on the caps probably because the Koran forbids shielding the eyes from the sun. WWI Turkish troops and Spanish Civil War Moroccans both cut the visors off their German coal-skuttle helmets. Americans finally allowed Muslim members of the Philippine Scouts to pin the brims of their smokey bear hats up. The photo looks like any of the craftsman bungalows we’ve all seen in the US Mystery of the sofaDespite the collapsed support system underneath (seen behind their shoes), the couple isn't sinking helplessly into old-sofa oblivion. Wonder what's keeping them and those cushions afloat? [That's a sofa-bed with the mattress showing underneath. - Dave] Lee?My search on Ancestry came up with zilch for a Lee Wagoner in Idaho. However, I found a Fred Wagoner in Canyon whose family seems to fit: in 1940 Fred is 39 and a farmer, wife Nellie is 33, and they have 4 boys ages 2-12. Another baby boy died in 1943. I wonder if the caption is wrong, or perhaps Fred went by a middle name. [Or their last name is Wagner. - Dave] The Real LeeAll about Lee Wagner: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wagner-15137 https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LL3B-13B https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86529889/lee-ernst-wagner (The Gallery, Agriculture, Russell Lee)
Car Stop: 1942
... N.W." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gordon Parks for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. 80 years and 1 month The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2023 - 2:34pm -

August 1942. Washington, D.C. "Streetcar at 7th Street and Florida Avenue N.W." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gordon Parks for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. 80 years and 1 monthThe 1942 streetcar photo laid over the Google Street View of the same location dated September 2022: No more streetcarsBut the building is still there: https://goo.gl/maps/TVVfCBNM9561jmUG9 Speedy Special 1939 Buick, Series 40 photobombing the scene. (The Gallery, D.C., Gordon Parks, Streetcars)
Hello World: 1942
September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba FSA farm labor camp. Boys and girls from West Virginia who came to upper New York ... " 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. That West Virginia look The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/15/2023 - 11:46am -

September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba FSA farm labor camp. Boys and girls from West Virginia who came to upper New York state to help in the harvest. Boy in the center said, 'Please take my picture now; I want the world to see me when I am happy!' " 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. That West Virginia lookThe young ladies have hairstyles appropriate for 1942. The young man's hair is a little unkempt. It reminded me of these young men, also FSA volunteers from West Virginia. Was this a look? I don't remember seeing it in the movies. Eye candy!Nice looking girls! I'd be smiling too if I was hanging with them!! I think I've seen him beforeIs the fellow at the party the same guy on the train? [Could be! - Dave] Looks like ...... he took the pick of the litter! (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, Pretty Girls)
A Tehama Home Companion: 1940
... Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. Cost I wonder how much this radio cost? It ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/22/2008 - 2:00pm -

November 1940. Tehama County, California. John Frost and his daughter listening to the radio in their home. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. CostI wonder how much this radio cost? It looks like a pretty high end piece of equipment for someone who quite frankly doesn't look like he can really afford it. The again I sometimes wonder how a lot of people who are buying HDTVs can afford it. tuning dialInteresting to see that the medium-wave am-broadcast band is "split" (550 kHz-1300 kHz and 1400 kHz- well up to what back then were common police dispatch/car frequencies). The top segment may be short-wave (c. 7-MHz to ?) with the cities/countries listed on it. Of course kHz=kc/s and MHz=Mc/s in that era as well. Wedding present or bought on installment by a news junkiePerhaps it was a wedding gift, or it was bought on installment, no credit in those days. It's possible the hubby was a news junkie; remember the year, and the war clouds gathering--shortwave radio would be like the CNN of the 40's. It'd be expensive, but as a commenter said about HDTV it would be the thing to get. Note also the big bound books in the background: dictionaries or encyclopedia volumes? RadioMy grandparents had one like this, maybe even bigger. I didn't understand all the applications but there was an image of the world and a switch that let you light up different parts of the globe--maybe short wave? Maybehe wanted a greeeat big set so he could hear it out in the yard. Radio It might be that the radio and the books are all he has left from better times. I am glad to see that he was getting his child involved in the world. So sad that some respondents try to compare it to today's world and are ready to criticize on such meager information. Fred AllenI'm reminded of what Fred Allen said: ''I don't hold with furniture that talks.'' Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska RadioMy radio buddy says its an RCA 19K. So yeah, a big console by a name brand. They must have made sacrifices to get that one. I hope they enjoyed it! The RadioI stand corrected. Thank you, Dave. Radio techie detailsNow that the unit has been identified, here are some more techie details about it for those interested in such. http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-sch.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p1.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p2.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p4.gif The pushbutton preset tuning is explained. The tuning dial shows that it did cover a goodly chunk of the shortwave bands (1.4-4 and 6-18 MHz). The same tube types were being used in some equipment still produced into the early 1960's. Re: RadioIn Dave's close-up detail of the dial bezel, the brand name looks like Zenith to me, not RCA. [It says RCA Victor. - Dave] John FrostRe Brent's comment, you can read a lot into a photo that may or may not be there. In the 1940's my college educated, former Naval officer grandfather bought a run down farm with no indoor plumbing. In fact, they didn't have indoor plumbing until the 50's. He had some money and more dreams. He valued education and followed world events but he lived much like this guy lived....with mud & manure on his boots and his child on his lap! I can imagine him in this very pose listening intently to the world news. He died a millionaire many years later. A picture may speak a thousand words but it still doesn't tell you the whole story! [More on John Frost: "Mr. Frost is part owner of 135 acres of semi-marginal land in Tehama County, California. He has a family of seven. His crops are turkeys, hogs and dairy cattle. He is a Farm Security Administration client." He also had a piano. - Dave] Radio DaysI was born in 1933, and some people we knew would spend a lot for a big radio. You could buy them on an installment plan. Often, this was the nicest thing in their house. It was the only thing bringing the world to us, since we lived out in the country. We didn't get a newspaper. My dad thought they were wildly extravagant and ours was a tabletop Truetone from Western Auto, also bought on installments. We had a windmill charger for the batteries. Even though it was little, we could hear it all over the house and outside, too. It was next to a window, with the wires for the antenna and charger going outside. I still have that radio and it still works after I fixed it. I can still remember Dad laughing at Jack Benny and Rochester. MuteI have this exact radio but one of the wires came loose from the back of the speaker. I can't begin to see where it was connected in order to reconnect it. Can anyone help or does anyone know of a speaker I can buy? The number on the back of the speaker is RL70J1 and the number on the coil is 89610-504. Fond memories of the Good Old Days listening to the RADIO My great grandmother owned a radio similar to this one. I remember gathering around the radio listening to "The Squeaking Door" as the light from the kerosene lamp flickered around the room. The year was 1942 and I was seven years old. My great grandmother raised a Victory garden - her part in the War effort. She also raised chickens, cows, and pigs. She wasn't a wealthy woman but we ate well. It occured to me that she may have sold a hog to pay for the radio. The radio sat near a window. I'm wondering if maybe the antenna wires were run outside the window. And the battery - I am also wondering if the battery had to be charged and how that was done. Can anyone help? Beautiful old radioI have an RCA 111K, which is very, very, similar to the one pictures. It is a great sounding radio. (The Gallery, Kids, Russell Lee)
Let Me Compose Myself: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The Beautiful Machine is a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/30/2022 - 2:38pm -

September 1942. Richwood, Nicholas County, West Virginia. "Lois Thompson, printer's devil on the Nicholas Republican newspaper, operating Linotype machine." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The Beautiful Machine is a Mergenthaler Model 14 Linotype, with 34 channel side magazine(s). Not quite as beautiful as the operator, but a really nice workhorse in the newspapers of the early 20th century. Kinda dangerous though with the shoes she's wearing, in case of a squirt of molten lead. Those didn't happen often, but when they did, move back quickly. This machine appears to be what was called a 72/90 channel machine, was shipped new in early 1921. ETAOIN SHRDLUFredric Brown "It was rather funny for a while, the business about Ronson’s Linotype. But it began to get a bit too sticky for comfort well before the end. And despite the fact that Ronson came out ahead on the deal, I’d have never sent him the little guy with the pimple, if I’d guessed what was going to happen. Fabulous profits or not, poor Ronson got too many gray hairs out of it." Lead Me Tell YouI worked in a printing shop in the mid-'70s and they still had a linotype they used for letterpress jobs. It was quite a piece of machinery. One other item of interest is the calendar from Central Ohio Paper Company. Thirty years later, they were still one of the paper suppliers used by the place where I worked. My grandfather's MergenthalerWhile visiting relatives in south Georgia recently, I came across a promissory note my grandfather signed to the Mergenthaler Company in 1928. He promised to pay $50 per annum until he paid off one of their linotype machines. That machine operated at the Ham Printing Co. in Cordele, Georgia, until about 10 years ago. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Lois: A LifeLois Ionne Thompson (1917-1991) 1940 - Resides in Richwood, West Virginia, with her father, Benjamin Earl Thompson, whose occupation is newspaper editor. His 1942 draft card has employer listed as Woodyard Publications. 27 June 1946. Lois enlists in the WACs at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with rank of Technician 3d Grade -- equivalent to Grade 4: Staff Sergeant. (This might be a reenlistment, as her grave includes "Tsgt US Army World War II) 17 July 1949. Her marriage to Sgt. Paul D. Williams in Heidelberg, Germany, is announced in the Daily Oklahoman. The bride and groom honeymoon in Cannes, France. She now holds the office of civilian research analyst, Department of Military Intelligence. 14 Sept. 1950. Her first child is born at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. 13 June 1955. Her second child is born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 8 June 1960. She returns from Frankfurt, Germany, with her children. Lots of long gone professionsOnce there were typesetters. First manually, picking lead type from type cases, and returning them to the cases after printing. Then the Mergenthaler company came along and mechanized typesetting line by line. By the way, the typesetters were also one last line of defence against weird grammar and typos. Long one, and it tells. Proofreaders too. Yes, they were humans. Not read red and blue lines on a computer screen. They also had machines to sort first the lead type and later the dies mechanically after casting / printing. The dies and the type had grooves on the side which mechanically indexed them. Dress SenseWearing a white shirt and open sandals in a printing works is asking for trouble. Thank you to all comment contributors in this post for the informative and fascinating knowledge about the printing trade of past. (Technology, The Gallery, John Collier, Small Towns)
Bathgate Avenue: 1936
... Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Nothing really changes Funny, I've seen scenes ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:50am -

December 1936. "Scene along Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx, a section from which many of the New Jersey homesteaders have come." View full size. Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Nothing really changesFunny, I've seen scenes just like this (with different languages on the signs and different clothes) in Cueramaro, GTO and Oakland, CA within the last few months. We don't really change as much as we think sometimes... Billy BathgateI lived on Bathgate and 187th four years ago when I went to school at Fordham. Looking at the address on the bulding I wonder what the cross-street was at this time? The one little boyThe one little boy appears to be carrying a toy airplane while the stroller has a piece of wood being used to keep it from rolling away. TK http://unidentifiedfamilyobjects.blogspot.com/ Bathgate AvenueI googled the address and it is shown to be between Claremont Parkway and East 172nd Street. It was never considered a Garden Spot. Pop vs sodaThis shows that the word "pop" was still in use in NYC at that time, with the word "soda" presumably meaning an ice cream soda. The word "soda" has all but obliterated "pop" for soft drink in most of the country now. If you still say "pop" you're really from the hinterlands. Bathgate AvenueI used to go shopping on Bathgate Avenue with my mother in the early 1950's. I was still a kid and it was an exciting place. Open display cases in front of the stores, the smells of dried fish and ethnic foods baking in the sun. The area was much more crowded in the 1950's. If I remember correctly there were still some pushcarts in those days. Bathgate Avenue is near Crotona Park. BathgateI lived across the street from this address at 1599 Bathgate Avenue in the late 60's thru the mid 70's and my fondest memories were that of Melvin's Eggs right next to this location. This store was right in the middle of the block. Next door to me was F.W. Woolworth. The Manager was Mr.Blackman, funny how some names you never forget. The cross street was Claremont Avenue and that was 172nd street. The next street over was Washington Avenue and the Deluxe Theatre, where I went to my first movie by myself for 35 cents. Gosh I feel old and I'm only 46. Great times playing stickball and kick the can on Sundays, everything was closed because of the Blue Laws. Tone2020@gmail.com Pop vs Soda MapSee this site. Bathgate Avenue ShoppingI lived on Washington Avenue during the same timeframe (mid 60s through late 70s) and can remember a poultry shop where you could buy freshly slaughtered (right in front of you) chicken. Also, the smell of roasted peanuts sold from the fruit stands on Bathgate is something I remember. My first job while in Junior High was at a small variety store across the street from Woolworth (I can still hear the 3rd Avenue El rattling as it heads towards the Claremont Avenue Station). Bathgate AvenueMy grandparents owned a small store called Tillie's Specialty Shop from about 1945 to 1957 on Bathgate Avenue, just next to the stores in the photo and a few doors down from Woolworth's. Tillie's sold housedresses, hosiery, robes, etc. During the summer, when I wasn't attending P.S. 4, I'd sit next to the hosiery display at the front of the store and sell stockings. I also collected baseball cards, which my mother threw out. My guess is that I had a bunch of Mickey Mantles. Wish I still did! I recall a haberdasher (when was the last time you heard that word?) on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Claremont Parkway. The el still stood then. Crotona Park was two blocks away. Nice to remember... Fond Memories of my youthMy grandparents lived at 1663 Bathgate Avenue and 173rd Street. My grandfather owned a tomato store near the corner of 173rd. I was only a small child then but can remember the delicious smells in the hallway when entering the building from all the cooking. There was Italian, German, Irish, Greek and Jewish food that created the most wonderful aroma. I remember all the stores that had their products outside under awnings. There was clothing, shoes, toys, food, etc. My mom used to take me to a clothing store south of 173rd on the east side of the street. I remember a heater in the middle of the floor in this clothing store. I also went to a pool a few blocks away, must have been Crotona Park Wading Pool. I remember the water not being very deep. For some reason many things have stayed with me and the memories are cherished. Memories of a fellow Bathgater..I was born in Apartment 4C at 1663 Bathgate, the southwest corner of Bathgate and 173rd, in December 1933. My dad died in 1934. Vogel's Grocery was on the northwest corner and I delivered groceries for them. Schactner's Haberdashery was opposite 1663 as was the Daitch Dairy. The orthodox synagogue was underneath 1663 on 173rd and Grubmans Interior Decorators was underneath 1663 on Bathgate. (For some unexplained reason the interior decorators' center of NYC was Bathgate between Clairmont Parkway and 173rd, three blocks with about a dozen interior decorator stores. As kids we used to marvel at the chauffeured limousines carrying elegantly dressed ladies from Park & Fifth Avenues in Manhattan to Bathgate to buy extraordinary fabrics for their apartment & mansions.) Tillie's Specialty Shop may also have been Zweigart's Specialty Shop, whose daughter, Sally, I once dated, when I was a student at P.S. 4 on Fulton Avenue. There were many such shops. Freshly slaughtered chickens and live pike & carp for Friday night's "gefulte" fish was a given. Mom used to keep the fish alive in the bathtub so we could see them when we came home from school! Punch ball on 173rd from Bathgate to 3rd Avenue started promptly at 10 every Sunday morning and ended promptly at 2 pm when all the Italian kids had to go home for their traditional Sunday pasta dinner. If there were cars parked on 173rd, we pushed them out of the way. Spectators lined both sides of the street and total bets could be $100 or more. I could punch a "spaldeen" 3 sewers, but Rocky Colavito, the eventual Cleveland Brown slugger, could punch the ball onto the 3rd Avenue Elevated tracks, almost a whole block away! Correction: The movie house on Clairmont and Washington Avenue was the Fenway, not the Delux. Admission was five cents and we were there on Saturdays from 11 to 5 -- two feature films and about 25 serials and cartoons. Our moms came to pull us out for dinner. If you went in the evening, you would also be awarded a free dinner plate. My mom collected an entire service for eight, some of which my niece may still have! The Delux was at the corner of Arthur & Tremont, also 5 cents. The Crotona on Tremont was 10 cents, the more resplendent Loewe's farther east on Tremont at 15 cents and the famous & magnificent Loewe's Paradise at Grand Concourse and Fordham Road, admission was a hefty 25 cents, but well worth the beauty of that particular movie palace! I left Bathgate in 1953 to go to college and never returned. I'm 75, but those memories are as fresh in my mind today as though they occurred yesterday. Please pass on to your Bathgate cohorts ! Fair Winds, Jack Cook Reprinted from an email I received today from Jack. Eat at Paul'sMy grandfather had a deli on Bathgate Avenue. I have a pic taken in 1932. The awning on the store said Eat at Paul's, my grandpa was Henry. That was the way the awning was when he opened the store. Does anyone remember? or know the address number of the store. I want to see what is on that spot now. I remember MamaI was born in 1946 and shopped with my mother on Bathgate as a very small child. I remember watching her choose a flounder at the fish market, and kosher pickles from the barrels on the street. One of the women in the Rothstein photo looks just like my grandmother. She shopped there too. What if? 1593 Bathgate AvenueThe window appearing in the upper right hand corner of the picture is that of a top floor apartment at 1593 Bathgate Avenue. From the early 1940s to the early '60s, our family (Tosca) lived on the first floor (same line as the window) in Apartment 6. 1589 was Geller Bros., a candy stand which in the fifties became somewhat of a supermarket. 1591 was a full fresh fish market, huge water tank and all. The ground floor of 1593 housed a kosher meat market and as well Mr. Cherry's grocery store. 1595 was another tenement. After a few shops, there was a Woolworth's, a drug store and Meyers & Shapiro Deli. After which more shops and at the end of the block 1599, another tenement. Further down from the other side of Gellers, a huge poultry store. With no doubt, hundreds of live chickens daily sold, slaughtered & quartered on the premises. Many many thanks for affording "Junior" the trip down Memory Lane. 1991 BathgateI lived at 1991 Bathgate apt 1A at the end of the 60s into 1976 and I love that neighborhood I still go back there once a year I walk down towards tremont where St josephs church is i had great times there if anyone was from around there at that time email me at bronx1966@hotmail.com Crotona Park PoolI taught myself to swim in the shallow pool and then was daring enough to dive off the diving board towards the ladder opposite in the semi-circular diving pool. I am 83 and still a good swimmer. I recently found a site where I could see the pool and the shallow one is still active but the diving pool has all the boards gone and a fence around the pool to keep people out! damn lawyers for making an end to diving boards due to their incessant suits! Bathgate Avenue1575 Bathgate Avenue, 1946 to 1952: from my grandmother's apartment, I could look across the street and see Daitch Dairy. Sometimes I would be sent there to get butter. Then, it came in a large block, and they would chop you off the amount you wanted, either by the amount or amount of money I was given to buy it. I was never board, after all, I could visit the chickens, watch the fish swim in a tank, go to the deli for chicken salami (which I don't believe is made anymore). Through my grandmother, the shop keepers knew me, so I always got a slice of salami. There was Woolworth to walk around in. The Sugar Bowl for ice cream, the shop around the corner for ices for 5 cents, the leather shop (to smell new leather), and produce stands everywhere. Loved to go to Crotona Park and climb what I thought then were mountains, but just big boulders. You could hear and see the world just by sitting at a window, and ride on a merry-go-round that came by on a truck. Most night the third avenue L put me to sleep. Everything was simple then, yet an awful lot of fun. Good memories they were indeed. Brings tears to my eyesMy Dad and his brothers{ the Geller Bros.} had the candy store, which later turned into a grocery store. There was Bobby{Isadore} Max, Sam, Harry,and Jack. My dad. who was the oldest, lived above the store with his four brothers and two sisters, Faye and Dottie. Will have to post a picture of all of my cousins standing in front of Geller Bros. My uncle Jack and Aunt Millie had the Sugar Bowl, and my Aunt Faye and Uncle Jaime had the chicken market. My dad Bobby died several years ago, and I have fond memories of going to the markets, and visiting grandma Sophie . If you have anything to share, I would love it! This all brings tears to my eyes. Melody Please e mail me @ melody.dancer@cox.net thank you City Girla short video shot on Bathgate in 1958 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgxr03mcVAs Moe, Irv and Max from BathgateMoe, Irv and Max from 1648 Bathgate Ave. in the 1940s are all doing well! I am Max's eldest daughter Aylene. My Dad wrote an article I attached below which was published in a magazine. I spotted this site and couldn't help but to send it to you. Should you wish to reach out to my Dad Max, his e-mail address is primeno19@aol.com. I am sure he would love to reminisce about the days at Bathgate! GOLDMAN’S YARN on BATHGATE AVE. Your last issue on Goldman’s Yarn store prompted me to reflect on some very fond childhood memories. When I was asked for my address as a young boy, at about the age of 11-12, I usually responded, “1648 Bathgate Ave., across the street from Goldman’s”. Mentioning Goldman’s as part of my address not only pinpointed my house but in my mind it elevated the status of my building. To the people in our area, Goldman’s was a neighborhood landmark. It almost ranked with the Loew’s Paradise Theater. My recollection of the Bathgate Ave. area in the late 1940’s was that shoppers associated the ‘market’ as the place to get bargains. My friend claimed he purchased a pair of pants and received a price reduction when he traded in his old pants. The pedestrian traffic on Bathgate Ave from 171st to 174th caused it to be among the most populated areas in the Bronx. Stores were continuous on both sides of the street. There were bakeries, grocery stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, butchers, novelty stores, candy stores, the very first Daitch store, and Olinsky which specialized in appetizing foods. Also, there were many, many vegetable stores which had stands extending half way out onto the sidewalk. Every woman had her favorite stores where she shopped. Also, stationary pushcarts were on the street lined up back to back selling vegetables which added to this already congested scene. In between the pushcarts one can see many horses (how else did the pushcart get to the location?) on the street and some parked cars. The cars which dared to travel through Bathgate Ave. were crawling at 5 mph. This was the environment where Goldman’s was situated. Goldman’s Yarn and Barash Decorators were considered the upscale stores in the area. These stores attracted patrons from affluent Bronx areas, such as the West Bronx (Concourse area), Riverdale, and Parkchester. During the early evening hours (after dinner), Bathgate Ave. took on a different appearance. Pedestrian traffic subsided, pushcarts were leaving, stores were closing, sanitation crews came in for their nightly clean-up job, and many of the residents in the buildings came outside to recapture their street. Mothers relaxed on their chairs outside and discussed the day’s activities with a little gossip injected to spice up their conversation. Friends from various age groups would congregate for their evening activity. One vegetable stand was used for a nightly card game by the older kids. One evening, that card game ended abruptly when a woman in the building above the stand poured a pail of water on the card players for making too much noise. Needless to say, they never played cards at that stand again. For a few years, one of the street games I enjoyed was ‘off the point’. This was a variation of ‘stoop ball’. In this game, we threw a spaldeen at the metal bar just below a store’s window. We used Goldman’s Yarn store for our game because it had a sharp point on its metal bar. On an accurate throw at the metal bar, a ball could travel far and hit the building across the street. If not caught, it‘s considered a home run. Occasionally when we were not so accurate with our throw, we would hit the store’s window above the bar causing the window to vibrate. Of course we kids could never think of the possibility of breaking a window. Evidently Mr. Goldman had a more realistic viewpoint. One evening, as my friends (Pete Palladino, Joseph Greco, and Angelo Pezullo) and I were playing this game, Mr. Goldman ran out angrily chasing us away from his store. The following evening, we needed a substitute activity. We decided to make picket signs which read, “Goldmans is Unfair to Kids”, and jokingly marched in front of the store with these signs. Apparently Mr. Goldman did not see this action as amusing. On the following night, as we were picketing again, 2 policemen from a patrol car stopped and approached us. They took our signs and told us to leave the area. Obviously Mr. Goldman called the police. This was a dramatic event for 11 and 12 year old kids. Who would believe we had a confrontation with the police at that age? During the next few years, I noticed many stores on Bathgate Ave were installing accordion gates. At that time, I naively thought the store owners installed the gates to curtail our evening game ‘hit the point’. Max Tuchman 1657 Bathgate in the 1920s (and maybe 30s)A great-great grandfather of mine (Solomon Beckelman) lived at 1657 Bathgate with his wife (Minnie) and at least one of their daughters (Pauline) in the 1920s. His son, Abraham, was my great-grandfather. Solomon was a tailor, and Abe was a cutter and dressmaker who was married with children by 1912. From the maps I've seen, 1657 and the whole block of houses is (long?) gone. 2068 Bathgate AveMy great-grandaunt, Anna Havemann, lived at 2068 Bathgate Ave from at least 1936 (the year of this photo) until maybe 1950. The building that stands there is a large apartment building. Near as I can tell, it's the same building. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, NYC, Stores & Markets)
A Lot of Cars: 1942
... of the Fisher Building." Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Now a Lot more! All ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/30/2023 - 1:30pm -

July 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Looking down on a parking lot from the rear of the Fisher Building." Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Nowa Lot more! All growed upInteresting to look at the size of the "slots" and the actual size of the vehicles parked in them. From when the auto body plant was built til the time of the photo, cars had sure undergone a growth spurt. Wonder how that lot made out in the mid-fifties when automobile took a really big jump in size. Perhaps most of all in the creations coming from this very place. [The Fisher Building is an office tower in downtown Detroit, not an auto body plant. - Dave] I just thought it was a factory -- my mistake. Is the building named for the same person that ran the design and manufacturing company? [Did you click on the link? The Fisher family financed the building with proceeds from the sale of Fisher Body to General Motors in the 1920s, after which it was known as the GM Fisher Body Division. - Dave] Kid friendlyThe tunnel under West Grand Boulevard, from "The Golden Tower of the Fisher Building" to GM headquarters, where you could see the Soap Box Derby winning cars on display in the lobby. Or the new models from the General Motors Five. Like so many other places in '50s Detroit: the Ford Rotunda, J.L. Hudson Co. downtown in December, the little trains at the Detroit Zoo, the Vernor's bottling plant at Woodward and Grand Boulevard, the model railroad layout in the basement of the Detroit Historical Society, the lobby of the Guardian Building, etc. There was no admission charge for many of these adventures, which fit the family budget nicely. My father was a shrewd family time investor. [Strictly speaking, the Ford Rotunda was in Dearborn. - Dave] A lot of carsIs that what it's called? Like a school of fish, or a pride of lions, or a murder of crows (my favorite). (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos)
Negro Cabaret: 1941
... Boyd Atkins Band. Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Swept away Hey, we're ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/05/2012 - 7:07pm -

April 1941. "Negro cabaret, South Side Chicago." The Boyd Atkins Band. Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Swept awayHey, we're trying to make a classy photo up here. Someone get that broom and the thingamabob outta that little room there. What's folks gonna think in 2009? Boyd AtkinsSaxophonist and bandleader. Wrote "Heebie Jeebies," which as recorded by Louis Armstrong was one of the first hit songs to feature scat singing. Probably PeoriaIf it's 1941, it's more than likely this is Boyd Atkins fronting the Society Swingsters in Peoria. [This is a Chicago nightclub. Doesn't anyone read the captions? - Dave] Various PatronsInteresting that most of the customers are white. The zoot-suited hepcat on the balcony looks like one of Will Smith's ancestors. Swanky JointMakes me want to go out and buy a suit and tie. And start smoking. Black and whiteJust about any nightclub on the South Side would have been considered "Negro" at the time -- the owner was probably black, it was in a famous black neighborhood, and most if not all of the name talent was black. Which isn't to say you wouldn't find lots of white folks there -- "slumming" had been considered fashionably adventurous well before the advent of swank watering holes like this. Anyone got a time machine?I need to go back and meet the dancer in front on the right. Cotton gin millHow very Cotton Club it all seems (except for the Caucasian people in the audience). The expressions on the faces of the dancers are very... distant. Many of these old timey dance pictures show girls with bright, lipsticked smiles. These expressions seem to range from concentration to disdain. Dave's Cafe I think I found the place. This is absolutely the right area, the right era and the right aura. Lena Horne is leaning on a railing that matches the Shorpy photo and it looks like "show stopper" Claudie Oliver is the front dancer. Interesting that the Chicago Tribune had exactly zero references to band-leader Boyd Atkins from 1930 to 1960. The great South Side black paper, The Chicago Defender, had dozens. The Chicago Defender, September 14, 1940 - Joe Johnson's Production Is Hot Harlem Done Up in 'Chi' Bronze What Little Ziggy Johnson has done for Dave's Cafe a-la floor show is more than patrons expected, even more from Ziggy. Johnson has some names; lots of dance, fine singing and a beauty line you find worthy of a rave. But even better yet, my friends, Little Ziggie has surrounded himself with such well-known artists as: Ted Smith, a radio star with the silver toned voice; Maxine Johnson, sweet singing Canadian songbird; Leroy "Pork Chop" Patterson, three hundred pounds of mirth and melody; Spizzie and George, a pair of clever dancers that have everything that the public wants and then those nationally-known society dancers, Johnson and Grider, a mixed team of terpsichoreans that display art with every move. Margie Smith, Bea Rhinehart, Arrabelle Martin, Ollie Dell Southern, Harriett "Hickey" Hickerson, Cecelia Jones, Mammie Morton and Claudie Oliver are the eight shapely line girls. one of the girls, Claudie Oliver, shows exceptional cleverness as she tags the finale "Tuxedo Junction." Boyd Atkins and his music master add the final touch to a show well worth seeing. Salad of the Bad CafeI got food poisoning once from the shrimp salad at a place just like this! Black and TanHow very Cotton Club it all seems (except for the Caucasian people in the audience). Blacks were usually barred from the Cotton Club, except as performers. Looking through the Defender archives, I ran into the term "black and tans" a lot, for black and white bars. Without black customers, I don't know if the Cotton club qualified. A mixed audience may have been progressive at the time, but notice who gets all the front seats, and who's restricted to the back rows and the balcony. Cotton Club audienceIt was said: How very Cotton Club it all seems (except for the Caucasian people in the audience). The audience at the Cotton Club was Caucasian. Club GlumThere is not one person smiling as the photographer clicks the shutter. Not one. Not even the dancers. This photo could hardly be used as an advertisement for having a fun night out! South SiderThis photo predates me by a couple of years. I was raised on the South Side of Chicago and would love to know where this photo was taken. Clarification*SIGH!* I meant "except for the African Americans in the audience." Thanks to those who corrected me. I was surprised to see brown skin even at back tables and in the upstairs. As someone who wouldn't want to sit at a strip club, either, I find it VERY weird how many women are with the men watching the dancers. Wouldn't that feel just awkward, especially back then!? Apparently not. [This is your standard mid-century nightclub floor show. Pretty much gone with the wind except maybe in Vegas. - Dave] Lollipops?It seems, that there are lollipops on some tables. Were they popular at that time? [More like little xylophone mallets. To tap out your applause or perhaps to stir your cocktail. - Dave] "Lollipops"Those are noisemakers called knockers. There would be one for every patron at the table. They were struck against the table (if unclothed) or mostly on the glassware. It was used as an applause mechanism by the celebrants. At New Year's Eve events they were, like the funny hats, expected accoutrements. Usually embossed with the venue's name & address, they were taken home as souvenirs of a night out. The beer that gave Milwaukee the Schlitz!Thanks for the close-up on the knockers because I see a bottle of Schlitz beer. You know, it was brewed with just a kiss of the hops, not the harsh bitterness. Just saying. Boyd AtkinsAtkins (standing with sax) seems a rather obscure figure considering his illustrious associations -- playing in Fate Marable's legendary band steaming up and down the Mississippi at the end of the 1910s, then with Louis Armstrong in the 1920s, etc. in addition to leading his own bands. Trombonist Kid Ory, in a 1957 interview, recalled playing in Boyd Atkins band in Chicago in the 1920s when two rival gangs of Chicago gangsters opened fire on each other. I wonder if the venue was similar to this one. SwinglandThis was at 343 E. 55th Street near Washington Park. Other names for the club were Swingland Cafe (1938 at least) and Rhumboogie (April 1942 to 1947). Building looks to be long gone. (The Gallery, Chicago, Music, Pretty Girls, Russell Lee)
Freaks Museum: 1942
... Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Times change Those may have ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/08/2022 - 2:41pm -

March 1942. El Centro, California. "Carnival attraction at the Imperial County Fair." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Times changeThose may have been freaks in 1942 but a stroll down the sidewalk in 2022 will turn up better examples. Look before you drinkI noticed the fellow at right seemed to be holding a refreshing drink in a glass jar until I noticed the goldfish swimming in it. Must have been a prize at one of the game concession booths. If I remember, you got five ping pong balls to throw at the little jars of fishies, and if one stayed in rather than ricocheting off the lip, you won the goldfish. I learned from hard experience the fish's life expectancy was only a few days before he took the inevitable trip down the commode. One step furtherLess than two decades later, Diane Arbus took her camera inside the freak show. An early focus for her were the attractions of Hubert's Museum on West 42nd Street in Manhattan. She took a disreputable carnival attraction into high art institutions. Hubert's closed in 1969, but can be briefly glimpsed in a street scene in "Midnight Cowboy." Have you "herd" of Ralph ?? Freaks?Judging by the hair (from behind), the audience is overwhelmingly female. A notable exception is the fellow on the right who appears to be scrutinizing the two women with almost identical hairdos on his left. And what’s freakish about a glass blower or a tattoo artist or a Native American or a woman in shiny shorts? I used to stand in the crowd, listening to the spiels, but I never paid to go in. Hurry, hurry, hurryAs I commented in a previous photo, the crowd at the 1942 Imperial County Fair in El Centro, California was nearly all female. Maybe because of WWII? I'm guessing the woman in shiny shorts is a contortionist and the pitch is she can fit inside the box behind the announcer. Few people in 1942 had tattoos, so did not realize the poster does not represent the way tattoo art is made (roll my eyes). The Indian is wrong on many levels. Aside from Native Americans not being freaks, he's holding a shrunken voodoo head, wearing a vest embroidered with a Mexican wearing a sombrero, and is generally dripping with Mardi Gras beads. But his presence causes me to notice the blonde announcer in the white t-shirt has an Indian Chief profile tattooed on his left forearm. Coincidence? The Sultan's DelightShe doesn't look particularly delighted. And that fellow's goldfish is gonna be dead as a doornail before too long. Time travelAnnouncer guy of the show can easily slip into any contemporary photograph and nobody would notice, despite eight decade time span. Guess who won a goldfish I wonder if the little fish survived the trip home. Goldfish BowlThe man on the right has definitely won the prize (you can spy the little fella in the glass jar he is holding), but may be miffed that his date seems more interested in the "freaks" than his achievement. One hopes that the goldfish avoided the fate of so many of its brethren and escaped the toilet bowl to live a long and happy life, peering at the wider world through a window of curved glass. Announcer guyHe's is actually part of the show, the incredible 'Man from the 21st century' Wally Is CorrectModern society has put these carny side shows out of business. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Native Americans, Russell Lee)
Regular Dinner: 1936
... here. 8x10 inch nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. More random observations No ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2022 - 10:31am -

1936. "Cafe -- Alabama" is all it says here. 8x10 inch nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. More random observationsNo date is given but this is summer. Having spent most of my life in the south, I recognize those clouds, and can practically feel the heat and humidity sitting here at my desk in winter. At first glance this is a lonely-appearing photo, but then closer observation reveals a worker at the counter, diners at the window table, and even the photographer (or assistant) in a selfie. The spiderweb motif is an odd choice. Not sure how that would attract diners. Probably has some specific meaning to the owners. The front door will not open all the way due to the slope of the sidewalk. Maybe 90 degrees max. Probably reduced the lifespan of the door with customers trying to shove it past its limit. Nice shiny new bicycle! OK I'm done. D-time in T-town ?? This is what, our third offering of no-nonsense dining? The '30s must have been tough on people seeking mealtime excitement. The cafe was located at the top of the Hill on the corner of 4th Street - that's the L&N station glimpsed off to the side (see below) - being replaced by the Temerson Building a few years after this picture. The latter currently houses a restaurant: the cycle is complete ! BBT/CPBefore Bucket Trucks/Cherry Pickers The condition of the surface of the utility pole indicates many scalings with traditional lineman's climbing spikes/spurs. I can remember when a lot of poles looked like this, not any more. Among the last people using them these days are big tree loggers in remote locations. Most of our local arborists seem to have switched to using aerial platform lifts (and more than doubled their prices to pay for the things). River Hill, TuscaloosaRiver Hill is an area of downtown Tuscaloosa. In a 1945 photo caption from the Tuscaloosa Area Virtual Museum, it is described as the north end of Greensboro Avenue, south of the Black Warrior River and north of Broad Street (now University Boulevard). US 43 and Alabama state road 13, identified in Evans's photo, carried traffic north over the river. (That stretch is now named Lurleen Wallace Blvd.) The area is now the center of Tuscaloosa's Civil Rights History Trail. Knob and TubeStill have that kind of wiring inside a few of my outbuildings (considered okay by my insurance broker). Exteriorly I've removed all of it because of degraded insulation as a result of decades of exposure to the elements. Pre GPSPeople's eyesight must've been a lot better back then or they went a lot slower to see and read those signs. Buffalo Rock, my favorite!Buffalo Rock was a brand of ginger ale that was popular in the northern part of Alabama in the 1940s. We lived in LA (lower Alabama) so when we were in Birmingham, we would swap a case of empties and bring a case home. Those didn't last long! There was so much ginger in it that it burned your nose! Tuscaloosa: 1936's US 43 and Today's US 43Thank you, GlenJay for the helpful information about River Hill, which is about one mile from my home in Northport, Alabama--across the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa! It's led me on a search to pin down the location of this great Walker Evans photo, which heretofore I did not realize was shot in Tuscaloosa. Incidentally, this spot is not far from where yesterday's Shorpy pic ("Tuscaloosa Wrecking: 1936") was located. One small correction to GlenJay's useful comments: In 1936, the road that is now Greensboro Ave (formerly 24th Avenue) led down River Hill to a lift bridge across the River. Thus, US 43 followed that route at the time of the photo. When the Hugh Thomas Bridge replaced the lift bridge in 1974, however, US 43 was shifted a few blocks to the west and became Lurleen Wallace Blvd (formerly 25th and 26th Avenues) in order to feed into the new bridge more efficiently. I've got some pals working on identifying the photo location and will update my comment if I come up with anything. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Eateries & Bars, Small Towns, Walker Evans)
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