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W@F: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Hi-yo Silver! The Maccabees ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/29/2023 - 3:37pm -

July 1942. Detroit, Michigan. "Street scenes in the downtown business section. Cars waiting for a traffic light on a street with traffic markings." More specifically, Woodward Avenue at Farnsworth Street as seen from the Maccabees Building. 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Hi-yo Silver!The Maccabees Building housed WXYZ radio which debuted the "Lone Ranger" radio serial on January 30, 1933. The building is now part of Wayne State University. Shorpy NoirAnd there Shorpy was, right where he said he'd be, standing by the lamppost on the corner of Woodward and Farnsworth. He was taking the foil off a strip of Wrigley's. Poor guy, he went through a pack of gum faster than he used to go through a pack of menthols. He kept staring at the manhole cover in the intersection. He had a sad look, like a guy who had just been jilted by a dame he really loved. Knights and Green HornetAs a native Detroiter and Wayne State University alumnus, The Maccabees Building is very familiar to me. Designed by Albert Kahn (Detroit's resident architect) and built in 1927 by the Knights of the Maccabees, a fraternal order, they offered low-cost life insurance to their members. When they moved out of the city the building was taken over by the Detroit Public Schools and then Wayne State University. It also housed the studios of radio station WXYZ, which in the 1930s and '40s broadcast the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet on the Mutual Broadcasting System. At WSU in the early '70s I took a meaningless class in Radio Production just so I could work in those studios. By then the studios were the home of WDET, the educational station in Detroit and local affiliate for National Public Radio. Also, in the picture, notice the streetcar. Detroit once had a quality mass transit system but with the quick expansion of the city and the lower cost of buses, it became too expensive to operate and was slowly dismantled by the 1950s. Silver StreaksIt was awfully easy to spot Pontiacs in those days. Dollar for dollar you can't beat a Pontiac! (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, Streetcars)
Medium Tedium: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. A fertile ground for humour ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/31/2022 - 3:03pm -

June 1942. "Escambia Farms, Florida. Grading eggs in the FSA cooperative. The cooperative hires these men by the day to do the grading." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. A fertile ground for humourIt's not hard to imagine them amusing each other: - Weigh to go George!! - (phone rings) Shell I get that ?? - Crate Scott!! Once you get on a roll, I guess it's hard to stop ... Off timeWhen these guys are done gradin' eggs, they're paddling on the Chattahoochee looking for some fun ... [Or should that be Chattooga. - Dave] Better scrambleI sure hope they rotated jobs from day to day. Even in those tight economic times, there must have other tasks to perform. The title recalls an old joke about the smiling mystic -- otherwise known as a Happy Medium. I hope this is all mechanized nowI can easily envision a point at which inspecting each egg would be pointless for me because, the moment it comes off the scale or out of the light I wouldn't remember into which pile that particular egg goes. And yet, I appreciate them being categorized in the store. My guess is, the reason both men are wearing their hats is because it puts them just one step closer to walking out the door. TwinsAre these guys mirror images of one another? No wait, one has overalls and the other doesn’t. And their hats are different. It's just a yolk Who wouldn't what this job ... [What? - Dave] Electric meter IDIt's a General Electric I-30S, with the special odometer-style register found on REA meters. The Rural Electrification Administration needed farmers to be able to call in their meter readings monthly, rather than send a meter reader around a sparsely-populated territory, and these registers were easier to understand than the standard counter-rotating pointer dials. I have one of these in my collection. Just above the number display you can see the faded REA lightning bolt logo, which originally was bright red. "Rollo Tomasi"Is that James Cromwell's father on the left? Hour after hour!I hope these guys were allowed to at least sit down for this!! "Hey Elroy ---- do you realize that only fifteen minutes has gone by?" Are They Real?My first impression on the two gents was that they look like motion capture caricatures such as appear in the movie 'The Adventures of Tintin' (2011) Very surreal scene in so many ways. A fertile ground for humour - In Reply ToEggsactly! (The Gallery, Agriculture, Florida, John Collier)
Barbeque Gas Beer: 1940
... 35mm color transparency by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Squeak-Slam I can still ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/14/2010 - 2:58pm -

June 1940. Melrose, Louisiana. "A crossroads store, bar, 'juke joint' and gas station in the cotton plantation area." 35mm color transparency by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Squeak-SlamI can still hear the squeaky hinges and the stretching of the springs that were used to close those screen doors. Well I never."Dental Snuff"?? Whoa.I build dioramas of soulful, seedy and well-worn buildings, and have a good-sized collection of photos I use for reference and inspiration. A little ink-jet print of this one's been on my studio wall for years. When I opened up Shorpy today for my daily perusal, I couldn't figure out where I was for a second. Why is this familiar? What day is this? Finally came to me. It's nice to see this beautiful photo get the Shorpy treatment. I see details and texture I never discovered in my reference print. Now I think I'll relax with a cold Nehi and a pinch of Dental Snuff. My kind of placeNo flashing disco balls here. I'll bet the barbeque is top of the line and the sauce is home made. The buns would be regular hamburger buns, no fancy swirls or seeds. Maybe there would be a red & white checked or plain white cotton tablecloth; more than likely it would be a black or red linoleum top. The napkins would be in a chromed dispenser and the salt & pepper shakers would be octagonal with chrome tops. The ashtrays might have beer company logos, if not just plain pressed glass. The floors would probably be plain wood, the finish worn off by years of traffic. Sit back, soak up the atmosphere, swat a few flies and have a good meal. Re: My kind of placeHamburger buns? There's a real, transplanted Southern BBQ joint near here (San Jose) that serves a lunchtime "rib sandwich" in what I understand to be the authentic style: A basket with a section of incredible, slow-smoked baby back ribs, and two slices of white bread in a sandwich baggie! The bread is basically your edible napkin, so's not to miss any of the sauce. Regal BeerAbsolutely wonderful picture. Regal was still active in the early 50s and was perfect with shrimp or oysters! You can feel the summer heat just oozing from this picture. Thanks. Looks like just the spot! Dental SnuffA product still readily available today, "Dental Snuff" was advertised more than a century ago as a cure for toothache, gingivitis, facial neuralgia, caries, and scurvy. The page goes on at length to list the harmful effects with pictures). My cure is a cold beer. Time slowly changesI bet twenty years later, those men will still be there, talking about life with a "chaw" of tobacco, and a bottle of beer. I remember places like this from my childhood in rural Kentucky. AmazingThings have changed so much in the last 70 years. Listen to the MusicGrowing up in the 50's in the south,there were still a lot of these old stores left. I guarantee the front entrance is an old screen door with a bell attached. I can still hear the creaking of the door opening,the distinctive slam and jingle of the bell.There was always an ice cold 6 oz. Coke to be had inside to be drawn from the old chest type CocaCola cooler. Location, location, location...Melrose is between Alexandria and Natchitoches in central Louisiana, in case anybody was wondering. Including the gas pump, I see between $5000-$10,000 worth of antique advertising here. Wonder where it all wound up? And "Jax-Best Beer In Town"? Not what I've heard from those who survived the experience of drinking one! The CrossroadsThis might be a great place to be after the sun goes down and the "boys" pull out their guitars. PopNehi Orange was the good stuff. Forget the Root Beer. Hey, no fair.Dave B. You cannot give out information like that regarding BBQ and not give the location. A name would be nice if it's not against the rules. That place sounds awesome. Doesn't even look that oldI've seen gas station-restaurants still operating in rural parts of the South that don't look too different from this pic. (Granted, I've never seen a combination gas station and bar before.) And I bet the barbecue here was insanely good. Top TobaccoTop Cigarette Tobacco is still around, and the package looks just the same. Re: Hey, no fairSorry about that, "r"! Quincy's Bar-B-Q 70 North Main Street Milpitas, CA 95035-4323 (408) 945-7943 Under the Calaveras Blvd. R/R overpass, where you'd expect to find a seedy bus terminal. I think they may be gone, according to the most recent Yelp! entry. MemoriesBack in the 1950's my dad would take me with him into the Mississippi Delta on his Saturday laundry route. With the exception of the sign advertising whiskey, that place looks like dozens of small stores, gas stations, and/or joints we stopped at to pick up and deliver laundry. (Mississippi was dry, well at least you couldn't advertise whiskey) The places were colorful, dirty, dusty, and their coolers were always filled with some of the most exotic soft drinks you could dream of drinking. Oh this photo brings back such fond memories. Digital PaintingSuch a great image, it inspired me to do a little photoshop magic on it. Click to enlarge. Jax jingleRemembered from my Mississippi childhood in the late '50s. Oh you'll never know What that other beer lacks, Until you've tried The real beer taste The real beer taste of Jax! Mellow Jax! Model BarI thought that this image looked familiar. Twin Whistle Sign and Kit has a model kit based on this photo. [Wow. Amazing! - Dave] (The Gallery, Gas Stations, M.P. Wolcott, Stores & Markets)
Shoofly Hangers: 1939
... the barn." Nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Dirty Jobs 1939 style, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/19/2022 - 3:38pm -

July 1939. Shoofly, North Carolina. "Son of tenant farmer hanging up strung tobacco inside the barn." Nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Dirty Jobs 1939 style,Dirty Jobs 1939 style, somebody get Mike Rowe a time machine! overallsMy husband hung tobacco like this in the mid 70s. He says that temps got upwards of 120 degrees in the barns. He'd take off his shoes to grip the beams better. The white on the boy's overalls are salt stains from dried sweat. Actually, there's TWO people up there...There's another pair of feet above the son's, so there's at least two people up there doing that. You can see the feet of theYou can see the feet of the hanger above in this great photo. It took two hangers working together to fill these tall barns. Top guy had the best job as he only hung his racks and did not have to pass the sticks up. white on pants legsSee those slanted wide white marks on the lower legs of his pants? Bet they are from being bleached by the sun where they were hung over a clothes line. 1984We were still doing it this way in Martin County, NC in 1984. There was usually a boy on the ground as well, taking the sticks from the pallet and bringing them in to poke up to the first guy. I seem to recall the sticks with bundled leaves of green tobacco weighed about 30 pounds each. The tobacco was very wet in the morning and it rained water and tobacco juice down on everyone in the barn until about 10:30 am. The "beams" they are standing on are called "tier poles." The highest one in the barn is called the "wind tier." Contrary to this picture, the man on the lower tier poles usually faced the opposite direction of the man on the upper tier poles to make poking the stick up easier. Once the higher tiers were hung, the lower man would come down on the ground, and things would speed up. The man up top was usually the senior man, because hanging the sticks correctly with proper spacing for equal curing was critical to the farmer. Also, he wouldn't get "rained on" as much up there. As a white teenager in the 1980s, I "helped" a local farmer every weekday, from 7am to 6pm, July through August, for $26/day. A black man, named Ralph, was the senior man in the barn, and he was the descendant of a tenant farming family that had lived on the same farm generations before. His son and nephew worked on the ground and the lower tier poles with me. At night, Ralph worked as a guard at a local prison, and I went to football practice from 7:30-9:30pm. Then we would get up and do it all over again. We road in the back of a pickup truck to and from the farm each day. It was grueling work. Some farmers used more modern "bulk barns," but many farmers believed the pole barns cured a better product. The sticks were much lighter, but much much dirtier, when they were pulled back out of the barn after curing. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Rural America)
Bird Herder: 1939
... turkeys." Gobbler and gobblee. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Eat more ham! He's staring ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/23/2022 - 10:56pm -

October 1939. Chaffee County, Colorado. "Paul Arnold, son of FSA client. Herding turkeys." Gobbler and gobblee. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Eat more ham!He's staring straight at you so you can read his mind -- Turkey is way more work and half the time you have to drown it in gravy cause it's so dry. No one really knows how to carve a turkey and everyone ends up fighting over this piece or that. The frustration is what causes someone to mention that old topic no one wants to hear about and now not even grandma's dressing and pumpkin pie is gonna make everyone happy. Get a ham. Typical TomHe's undressing that bird with his eyes. Ironically the vision includes dressing. Hmmm, he's not herdin' themIt looks to me like Paul, son of FSA client, is holding them! There may be a little cuddling going on there too. The world wants to know --Is herding turkeys as hard as herding cats? Above and beyond that, this is a great Rothstein photo. Fowl bawlat the realization the window of opportunity for collective bargaining rights had closed in October. The Scarecrow ComethA young Ray Bolger, circa Wizard of Oz look-alike, is bringing the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Love the turkeys!Jeez, Doug, what an attitude! My wife and I cook succulent, flavorful turkeys and all the sides are delicious! Besides, we have been eating our way through a succulent, flavorFul ham for the past week and it's time to talk turkey! :-) I think we'l be doing a nice roast beef next... All three of the above make a great sandwich after the big day What's not to love? Oh, maybe you cook your own turkey and need some help? Doug, those are mostly long lost arts... in many places perhaps, but in my house we try to cook the turkey moist and with the traditional sides. Hope everyone had a wonderful day. Turn That Bird Upside Down!Pay no attention to that earlier comment! Put some chunked carrots and celery into the bottom of the roasting pan, add some water, put the roasting rack in and place that bird breast-side down on the rack. Stuff some halved oranges and lemons into the bird's cavities, massage it with melted butter mixed with a little maple syrup, and roast at 325 until it's done. You'll have a tender, moist, and delicious turkey that'll make a ham hide itself in shame . . . not to mention the great gravy fixings you'll get. I love me some turkey, tooMy previous comment was plagiarizing a famous ad campaign by saying what the turkey would be saying to save his life. Thanks, Matilda, for reminding me about roasting a turkey upside down. I do, indeed, love turkey and all the fixings. I also tell people that, for six and a half years I was the sole caregiver for a family member. We had no family nearby so, each year for Thanksgiving we ordered Chinese takeout. Our logic was: if the Pilgrims could have ordered Chinese takeout -- they would have. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Arthur Rothstein, Thanksgiving)
Lunch Meet: 1942
... N.W. at noon." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. People's #7 Located at ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2022 - 2:48pm -

July 1942. "Lunchtime in the wartime capital. People's Drug store on G Street N.W. at noon." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. People's #7Located at 1100 G Street NW across 11th Street from the Woodward & Lothrop department store, making it a very popular lunch spot. The building was razed in the mid 1960s. Odor SweetI reversed an image in a mirror. I'm at a loss as to what products would be stocked under the heading "Odor Sweet." It's not a great hook phrase for perfume. Thanks, Dave, for identifying the product. I'm gonna stick with my current deodorant, No Stink. A Rare Non-SightingMy completely unscientific impression is that this is the only known Shorpy picture of any establishment that doesn't feature a Coca Cola sign on, in or near the premises. How did Coke's marketing department, omnipresent even in 1942, miss these folks? [They didn't. ICE COLD. - Dave] Front of People's #7As an add-on to sshistory's comment below, Shorpy and Dave posted a pic of the front of People's #7 circa 1920 back on 11/27/2009 here: https://www.shorpy.com/node/7213 Pure AmericanaFascinating. Perhaps it's just my little area of Canada, but I've never seen a drugstore here with a lunch counter or serving milkshakes and floats. My experience goes back to the 1950s. It was the department stores that had the lunch counters, plus of course regular restaurants which also had booths and/or tables. And lining up to get service while people slowly ate their way through a sandwich or piece of pie just was never on. If it was that busy, you'd find somewhere else as there was plenty of choice. Different country, different mores. The Happy Couple?Although this photo doesn't have the intrigue of our favorite office Christmas party, we do have the two people at the counter who are not stuffing their faces but are participating in a stare-down. What's going through their minds? Are they a married couple, communicating with their facial expressions? Since they both are pretty blank, I doubt it. She seems to have raised eyebrows. Maybe it's an office romance. Is she saying, "We've got time before we have to get back to work." Maybe they're strangers just trying to figure each other out. Then, there are the man and woman behind them waiting not so patiently, trying to burn holes in the back of the sitting people heads with their stares, particularly the woman. You know she's thinking, "If you're done, would you get up already and get a room. I'm hungry." And the guy with his hands on his hips is about ready to pull someone out of their seats if they don't hurry up. There's a lot going on here for such a simple picture. Conundrum's conundrumConundrum, here's an article about the history of lunch counters at drug stores. They sounded like the fast food of the time - a quick lunch while you're shopping for other things. As for the people in line, I suspect they were crowded because Washington DC grew enormously during WW2. The influx of people must have overwhelmed the existing restaurants, and July 1942 may have been too soon for new restaurants to open. (The Gallery, D.C., Eateries & Bars, Marjory Collins)
Tomato Express: 1942
... fields in New York state." Photo by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Answer the call to farms, high ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/01/2023 - 6:43pm -

September 1942. Richwood, West Virginia. "Trainload of migratory workers (mostly high school students, many accompanied by family members) in day coach bound for the harvest fields in New York state." Photo by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Answer the call to farms, high schoolers!See your principal about joining the Victory Farm Corps, because Farm Work is War Work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8hHBf7tYDw (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, Kids, Railroads, Small Towns)
Sunday Skoal: 1941
August 1941. "Farm boys in beer parlor on Sunday afternoon. Finnish community of Bruce Crossing, Michigan." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Raising Helsinki You knew somebody ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/29/2022 - 5:29pm -

August 1941. "Farm boys in beer parlor on Sunday afternoon. Finnish community of Bruce Crossing, Michigan." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Raising HelsinkiYou knew somebody was gonna say it ... Gottleib Grip TesterThe coin-operated machine at the far left of the counter is a Gottleib Grip Tester. Drop a penny and either pull the two halves of the grip together, or push them apart. See how strong you are -- compete with your friends. Easy money for the bar owner. (Photo lifted off the web -- my grip tester is long gone.) Belt, no capI believe we have a handsome rake in this Finnish community beer parlor on a Sunday afternoon. Sisu with a little uff da too, eh?At first glance I thought that this might be a Michigan bar, maybe tipped by the antlers & Stroh's Beer sign. All of the men look at least a little like my late Uncle Otto, hence Finnish. Therefore, a Yooper bar. Raised canesIt seems like an odd habit to store canes on the antlers. I that some tradition that I don't know about? RepeaterOne of those Yoopers has been here before. https://www.shorpy.com/node/25973 First step to becoming hepI remember the belt buckles being worn like the fellow on the right. One of my cousins wore his that way too and he also had taps on his shoes (we always called them cleats ... a Baltimore thing??). I bet the guy in the picture also has taps. Blue Law Sunday?What is hidden behind that cloth on the back of the bar? Did the blue laws state that hard liquor couldn't be sold and had to be hidden on Sundays? Familiar faceAt first glance I thought that was a young Johnny Carson. I remember those Gripmasters. I'd do well to be able to put the penny in it now. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Small Towns)
Low-Rent: 1941
... format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Long gone This area is now ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/20/2022 - 10:04pm -

September 1941. "Negro slum area near the U.S. Capitol, between D and C Streets off First Street S.W. Most houses have five small rooms renting for twenty dollars and fifty cents a month, with rear wood kitchen shed, cold water, outdoor privy." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Long goneThis area is now under a freeway interchange. AmazingI lived basically right here, or within a couple of hundred feet of here, throughout 2003-4. The townhome where I lived sold just last year for $2.1 million. The neighborhood is mostly congressfolks and lobbyists/lobbying firm offices in 1890s rowhomes. Power of artWith no intention to go hard on the residents of the structures in the photo, I am thinking that if occupied by artists, places like this would have been "cool" to be in or visited. More questions than answersI guess the $15 million President Roosevelt approved in 1938 to get rid of D.C. slums didn't help these 1941 renters. Is this what this caption means by cold water? I'm guessing these five room houses had no electricity. And yet, we know many good intentioned low-income housing projects quickly or eventually become slums themselves. I honestly don't know the right answer. HybridSo many harsh and interesting details, but the one that really catches my eye is the cobbled-together pushcart / baby stroller / wheelbarrow device. Man in a BoxIs he resting? [Having a smoke and reading the newspaper. - Dave] And the Government of the USAJust threw more and more money at the problem and the situation never improved. Any major and even minor cities are full of this ghetto area. [Um, no. And certainly not like this. - Dave] White Box for Rent - Eighty Cents a MonthThe man in the box accommodation would be considered 'low income' by those enjoying the comparative luxury of the houses. (The Gallery, D.C., M.P. Wolcott)
Story Time: 1941
... Medium format acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Ah, it brings back memories ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/03/2022 - 9:49am -

October 1941. "Williamstown, Massachusetts. Father reading to his children." Medium format acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Ah, it brings back memoriesI remember when people left the cellophane on lampshades. CellophaneI wasted a minute or two looking for the cellphone on the lampshade and wondering what in the world Doug Floor Plan could be on about. The encyclopedias are out of order!This triggers my OCD. There is another sideways book on the bottom shelf. This would drive me crazy! Worn outThe bottom of that one shoe look a little tired. I wonder if Dad smokes Camels? Non-offensive storiesfor children. Not so for adults Story Parade Gold BookBiblio has what appears to be a first edition for $21.29 Very Touching ... and TactileThis image is a study in textures. I have a sensory memory of the feel of each of the fabrics: the corduroy of the boy's shorts, the dad's (likely) wool/rayon suit, and the daughter's slubbed wool skirt. Then there is the fineness of the herringbone on the slip-covered chair, the satisfying order of the dotted Swiss of the curtains, and the cool silkiness of satin cords. These are mostly pleasant, except for one: the scratchy fabric on that upholstered ottoman the boy is perched on. It was so deceptive, looking like velvet but feeling like sandpaper. I cannot recall the name of that wears-like-iron upholstery -- it's not moquette, which was smooth, and not boucle, which was scratchy but supposedly forgivable since it was "fancy," having tone-on-tone patterns that were mostly floral or foliate. Well placedThe combed, and presumably oiled, hair meets up with the perfectly located antimacassar. Professor?Given the well-stocked bookcase against the wall, and the tweedy, three-piece suit Father is wearing, I wonder if this fellow might have been a Williams College faculty member. With the exception of the college campus and wider academic community, Williamstown, Massachusetts, especially in 1941, was a pretty rural place, and I am guessing you wouldn't have seen that many men dressed in such finery. Bib overalls, more likely. The next 32%The world has gotten a lot thicker since those Britannica’s were published. Rough lifeThat father's in his 30s. By his mid 50s he prolly looked 75. Most people don't age like that anymore. The children ...based on size and resemblance appear to be twins. Cellophane PurposeFollowing the introduction of moisture-proof Cellophane in 1927, the material's sales tripled between 1928 and 1930, and in 1938, Cellophane accounted for 10% of DuPont's sales and 25% of its profits. Lampshade manufacturers use cellophane to hand finish their lampshades. Cellophane is the best way to protect the lampshade from dirt and dust. Thin is InNot an ounce of fat on those two wonderful children. I bet they spend a lot of time outdoors running and playing! (The Gallery, John Collier, Kids)
Small-Town Newsman: 1942
... girls will be permanent." Photo by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Twig twist Wisteria is my ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/01/2023 - 5:01pm -

Sept. 1942. Richwood, West Virginia. "B.E. Thompson, editor of the Nicholas Republican, let his own son go to New York state to work in the harvest but feels the recruiting has interfered too much with schooling, and that the break in education for many of the boys and girls will be permanent." Photo by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Twig twistWisteria is my guess. Ben probably got tired of trying to control it on his front porch at home. Now an office windowsill ornament. Stick FigureThat tin featuring a stick figure on the back window caught my eye ... it seems like a modern design. Anyone know what it is? [Carter's Ink Eraser, aka "Inky Racer." - Dave] Not a Regular TypewriterCan anybody offer information about the typewriter? [It's a Remington decimal tab model. - Dave] The West Virginia HillbillyRichwood was also the home of The West Virginia Hillbilly, a weekly (or "weakly," as it said in the banner) newspaper originally published and edited by Jim Comstock, who also did the legit News-Leader. A collection of Mr. Comstock's columns for the Hillbilly was published in the late 1960s. The paper ran for more than forty years, until 2000. Type CastI have a similar looking typewriter inherited from a relative. It is a Corona ca early to mid 1930s. An uncle of mine ran a Greek language newspaper in Australia, in the 1970s, single-handedly, editor, printer, and distributor. In a single fronted shop he had a massive Heidelberg press that took up all the space with only enough room to squeeze around the edges to pass or work the thing. It often malfunctioned and the room was knee deep in torn and crushed paper that my uncle in fits of rage would fling about. I used to be employed for free, manually collating the broad sheets. (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, The Office)
Sun Coffee Shop: 1935
... Front at Canal. Nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Untrustworthy Laundry ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 4:35pm -

December 1935. "New Orleans, downtown street." North Front at Canal. Nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Untrustworthy LaundryAnother wonderful Shorpy picture packed with detail! I'm curious about the laundry sign in the centre of the the picture; they are advertising that they are "Not in the trust." Can anyone shed light on what this phrase refers to? [It means the business is not part of a price-fixing cartel. - Dave] French DripNot to be confused with French Press. The French Drip coffee maker consists of a pot from which you serve and the top part which contains the coffee grounds. Pour the hot water into the top portion and allow the water to drop through the grounds infusing the flavour into the water. continue to add water until the desired amount of coffee is made. Similar to the way that most coffee makers today operate, but when you realize that in the day most coffee was either percolated or served out of those big urns you can see why they advertised the more labour intensive (but better tasting) process. Chinese LaundryChinese Laundries were ubiquitous in most cities. There was one in our neighbourhood when I was a kid but it closed in the very late 60s. The building is still there but I doubt that the people who live in the remodelled and upscale building know its history. I can still remember the tubs sitting outside the building at the back that was the actual wash-house, also turned into a pied-a-terre. The photo was taken before its latest refurb. Bohn Ford still thereOne of the Fords in the foreground has "BOHN" on the spare tire cover. Bohn Ford (now Don Bohn Ford) is still there, located on the West Bank in Harvey. In the '70s they were Dick Bohn Ford (no snide remarks, please). Also, it looks to me like the sign for the cross street is Canal. Today that's where the Harrah's casino is located. The City That Never SleepsNew Orleans looks to be one well-caffeinated town! LuzianneI actually drink Luzianne coffee, but I didn't know the brand was that old. Getting your message acrossThe lengths they've gone to, extending so many signs closer to the street and car traffic, it seems. I imagine the first business to extend their sign outwards by about 10-15 feet caused the many others to do the same. Looks like the Oriental Laundry is ahead right now. Dang!`Wish that pedestrian wasn't blocking our view of the menu board. Also, wonder when New Orleans got the tri-color traffic signals. All goneThe city of my birth and it probably didn't look much different in 1948 when I made my appearance. Canal Street and North Front don't meet up today; Saks Fifth Avenue is on this corner and Harrah's Casino is across the street. At 921 Canal St was the wonderful New Orleans department store Maison Blanche where we would go for photos with Santa and his sidekick Mr Bingle. Today it's the Ritz Carlton. I have to find one of our Santa photos. Arthur Brisbane was one of the most important newspapermen of the early 20th century and worked for Hearst, but would die a year after this photo was taken. The Daily States would disappear by 1962 in a newspaper merger. BangAnd how often today do you see a huge "FIREWORKS" sign? [Well, if you live down South ... - Dave] Barq's has biteBarq's Root Beer on the chalk sidewalk sign, didn't know Barq's was that old. Signs on signs.Interesting in that some of the poles carrying the advertising signs have smaller signs advertising the fact that they maintain the signs! Jax Beer signNot to mention the more picturesque neon Regal Beer sign. Jax and Barq'sI find it interesting that the tradition of being able to get a beer anywhere in New Orleans stretches back as far as anyone can remember, which is very much uncommon in the rest of the South. Does anyone else see the partially hidden Jax Beer sign? I also like that the Barq's Root Beer logo hasn't changed in 75 years, in those days Barq's was a Southern Mississippi and South Louisiana beverage with the Biloxi, New Orleans, and Baton Rogue bottlers each having slightly different syrup formulas. Sadly, I'm too young to have experienced the old Third Coast. Very exoticWhat, I wonder, is "French Drip Coffee"? French DripCoffee made in a two-part pot. The bottom has a spout and handle and it is capped with a small pot with a lid.... You put the coffee in the top pot and and boiling water is poured over the grounds. They then drop down into the bottom pot. It is/was the favoured coffee in Louisiana. Pots were hard to get for a long time but the popularity is again on the upswing and there are pots again being made. Here is a poem about making the coffee... http://frenchdrip.com/_wsn/page3.html Popular Among the PoorOftentimes in the South of antiquity, and I suppose the process was developed during the Civil War as a result of the Union blockade, a substitute for coffee was chicory. A brew from it would be syrupy, bitter, and quite strong, but sometimes ya gotta do what'cha gotta do. Chicory coffee is still popular today in some areas of the South. I Love This SiteThanks for this wonderful photo. I grew up in Metairie, 20 mins from New Orleans - but really I'm from that sweet old city New Orleans. This photo along with the others on this site are inspiring me to do a painting. Thank you so much! Re: "Oriental" LaundryIn 1959-60 I lived in New Orleans, on St. Charles street, between Canal and Lee Circle, maybe 6-7 blocks from the Sun Coffee Shop corner shown above. My then employment required white dress shirts. One block down St. Charles and across the street from me was what I called a Chinese laundry. I would leave my shirts and get them back wrapped in a brown paper package tied with white string. In the 1990s I saw the play "Driving Miss Daisy." I was astounded to see, as a prop, laundry returned in brown paper tied with white string. Until then I'd never realized that was probably a common practice. I lived about two blocks toward Lee Circle from the Liberty Theatre. https://www.shorpy.com/node/5786 The Liberty and another theatre close by were still open when I was there. The Dream FactoryThe above New Orleans "Sun Coffee Shop" photo is shown in "Hollywood: The Dream Factory" (TV 1972). It's meant to show a scene of the 1930s depression. It immediately follows a "Hollywood Party" with women dancing, literally, on tables. It's at 2:35+ in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83cqJPwlvQA === Happy New Year, Shorpy, Dave, and all! Chinese Hand LaundriesMy Father the Laundryman, always complained about the Chinese Hand Laundries in NYC. He once said to me that he was convinced that Chinese Government subsidized those businesses so they were able to undercut the pricing of the regular (White) owned shops. They really weren't his competition because they couldn't afford the rents on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The reason they could do it so cheaply was, simply that the overhead was much lower. Their shops were in mainly in less affluent residential areas. The usually lived in or above the store and employed no help. The entire family worked, the husband marked the incoming wash, with those indelible ink characters, used to identify the customer, found usually on the inside of the article to be laundered. The pair after laundering the clothes then ironed them. The children did other tasks including pick up and delivery. All meals were taken on the premises. They never got rich but the children all went to the public school and many continued to High School. I think most of us are familiar with the 3rd generation and their accomplishments in this country. (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, New Orleans, Walker Evans)
Guitar Four Hands: 1942
... "musical Drake family," performing at a barn dance in the Farm Security Administration's Mercer G. Evans camp, February 1942. Medium-format ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 7:24am -

Weslaco, Texas. The "musical Drake family," performing at a barn dance in the Farm Security Administration's Mercer G. Evans camp, February 1942. Medium-format safety negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Update: The fiddler is Nathan Drake, the younger boy is Jasper "Sleepy" Drake, and behind him is brother Weldon Drake. View full size. The Drakes' GuitarWho can tell us about the guitar, and the Drakes? Detail below. Broman GuitarBroman was one of dozens of brand names that Harmony Guitars (est. 1892) produced. Near as I can tell, it was a short-lived brand (late 1930s?), so this might be a semi-rare item. It also appears this was a Casa Loma model, which would have been capitalizing on the Glen Gray Casa Loma Orchestra, a well known and fairly well regarded band from about the late 1920s to the 40s or 50s. At one time or another, they had some pretty well known musicians, as was the case with a lot of the swing bands. I'm sure there's somebody out there who can tell you a whole lot more about it than I can. [Very interesting, thanks. Fiddler Jasper Drake's grandson (or maybe great-grandson) Eric Wauson has a MySpace page here. - Dave] Jasper DrakeOk, This is way too cool!!! Never seen these photos before, but the young man playing the guitar is Jasper "Sleepy" Drake. How do I know? Because he is my Dad. I am the youngest of his five daughters. The man playing the fiddle in the picture is my Grandpa Drake, N.W. (Nathan) Drake. Also my uncle Weldon Drake is behind my Dad playing guitar. This has made my day!!!! [Amazing. Thank you Connie! There are a few more Drake photos that I'll post later in the week. So I have to ask, how did your dad get the nickname Sleepy? - Dave] Drake 1942 photosDave, I'm the daughter of Jasper Drake. Could you please let me know were you come-about these photos of our family. Jasper Drake has five daughters. The pics of the fiddle player show my Granddad N.W. Drake. And my dad, Jasper Drake. And Uncle Weldon Drake. These are too cool, we love these. The Drake Family is in the book "Picturing Texas" on page 111. Thanks. Janette Wauson. [Hi Janette! These photographs come from the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington. They were taken by government photographers (in this case, Arthur Rothstein) documenting the relocation of farmers following the Great Depression of the 1930s. - Dave] SleepyHe got his nickname "Sleepy" because every time he would go on tour with various bands he would always want to sleep on the bus. [Hi Connie! No, I did not know your family. These photographs come from the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington. They were taken by government photographers (in this case, Arthur Rothstein) documenting the relocation of farmers following the Great Depression of the 1930s. - Dave] Jasper DrakeI am one of Jasper Drake's granddaughters ... his oldest daughter's youngest. Ann Jackson is my mom. I bought my 13-year-old son a guitar for Christmas hoping he inherited some of that Drake talent!!! So far, by hearing him practice I think he's got it!!!! I know my children will love to look at these photos of their great-grandfather they never got to meet. [Thanks for writing! It's like the Drake family reunion here today. What can you tell us about Jasper's life? He was a professional musician? Who did he play with? - Dave] Drakes galore!This is way cool. Downright serendipitous. This board constantly gives rise to the thought, "No way on God's green earth that the people taking these pictures (and even less likely those having their pictures taken) could have imagined us doing what we do here every day." I also have to add that there's a huge and impressive knowledge base residing out there amongst the Shorpy constituency. And while I'm at it, I have to say that I have looked at a number of these LOC images before, but seeing them in this context and, as it were, in the company of others, casts them in an entirely different and altogether more luminous light. It's not unlike seeing a movie on a large screen in the middle of an audience vs. seeing the same film in your living room with the dishwasher running and the phone ringing and all the rest. A tip of my hat to Dave and the rest of the Shorpy crew for taking something that was there all along and allowing us see it anew. And I have been wondering since I first saw this pic what those four-handed Drakes sounded like. Neat looking trick that is. [Good insights, SLR. Thanks. I might add that the closest thing to this picture that you will find on the Library of Congress site is this - not nearly as big or sharp, and kind of washed-out. The jpegs we post here are extracted from the raw image files (called tiffs) on the Library of Congress servers. It takes a bit of work on our part to come up with the images you see here. - Dave] Jasper's lifeSleepy starting playing professionally shortly after he married our mother, Irene, in 1944. He mastered the fiddle and became one of the best Western Swing fiddlers ever. He played with Bill Boyd and the Ramblers, The 7 Row Brothers, Hank Thompson, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, and many more. Sleepy & Irene were married for 48 years have five daughters and 11 grandchildren. Now they are both deceased. So these pictures are very precious to all us in the Drake family, and believe me there are A LOT of us! [Wow. Thanks! - Dave] My Great Grandpapa DrakeI am the great-granddaughter of Jasper (Sleepy) Drake and am pleased to be a part of this family. My family has a lot of history and there are some things I don't even know about. Just today, i learned that my Grandpa Drake was on a website that i can learn more stuff about him. Even though i did not get to meet him i have heard a lot of stories of him and the things he did from my wonderful nana and papa. They told me that he was in a band and played the steel guitar, fiddle, guitar, and banjo. A lot of very interesting instruments. Being in this family means a lot to me and it just keeps getting better and better now that i know i can learn more about my great grandpa that i never got the chance to meet. [Goodness gracious. We've heard from three generations of the Drake family in one day! Thank you for writing, Shelby. Your great-grandpa sounds like a truly wonderful and fascinating person. - Dave] JasperGranddad once told me that he played in Jack Ruby's bar and that one time he got a ride from Bonnie and Clyde. I always got a kick watching him play because he would whistle softly while he was playing. I sure do miss him and my grandmother, they were fun to be around. Lots of lovin' came from those two. Have you ever......... talked to so many ducks (Drakes) in your life!!! Wow the other day we didn't know about all but one of the pics and now there are more than we can shake a stick at!!! Thanks for the pics of Grandpaw!!! [Another one! Glad to oblige. Actually the other day when I Googled "Jasper Drake" and "guitar" the first hit I got was your MySpace page. Good to see you are keeping up the musical tradition. - Dave] Plays well with othersWay back in the early 60s I saw the Everly Brothers do this same thing on the Tennessee Ernie Ford TV show. Then Ernie joined in and all three were playing the same guitar. Since my brain and my left hand seem to be total strangers, I could probably handle the strumming... The DrakesWould you mind posting a link to the original file location on the LOC website for this photo? I've found others of the Drakes but I can't seem to find this particular shot. I ask because I'm trying to teach myself photo re-touching (I use Photoshop Elements) and you do it so well on Shorpy, that my learning method amounts to attempting to make the raw tiff look as close to your version as possible. You guys are very skilled at this. I've experimented on a few others of those you posted--but I think I have a long way to go to be any good. Thanks. [How to locate just about any of these: First determine the filename of the image by right-clicking on it. Then plug the result (in this instance, 8b37744 -- do not include the one-letter suffix) into the bottom field ("Searching Numbers") of the LOC query form. - Dave] (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Drake Family, Music)
Bell System: 1942
... Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Bells Are Ringing If you've ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2022 - 5:14pm -

July 1942. "Oakridge, Oregon. Population 520. Town telephone switchboard." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Bells Are RingingIf you've seen a switchboard operator in action, it was probably in the movies -- most prominently, "Bells Are Ringing" (1960), starring the great Judy Holliday. PBXHome-built, from the look of it; neat and careful carpentry, but no frills. Thanks to Starrleo, this is not home-built, but W.E. The nice finger joinery on the cabniet should have been a clue... A massive array of 16 8 bells, with room for expansion (?) to serve 520 residents! (clapper's clappers between the bells and hits both when it rings, I suspect) I counted 34 subscribers, starting with City Hall, City Marshal ... Clark's Garage, along with Clark, Dale, Mrs. Cramer's got two, the Drug Store and the Highway Store; must be profitable! Samantha here (doesn't she look like Elizabeth?!?) might be all of 20, and probably bored witless, without a screen to be had ... I'll pay you later, Thelma!I find the NO CREDIT sign interesting. I would guess the town operator had some leeway somehow to give credit. Would only be on a pay phone I suppose? Also, interesting that there is cash in the drawer. Your call cannot be completed...anymore to #26. Burned in 2000. (which building had the phone ?? We may never know) A Nod to Bryant Pond, MaineBryant Pond had the last crank telephone system in America, finally surrendering to Touch-Tone phones in 1983. To call my friend in Bryant Pond, I had to dial O and explain to the Operator that I wanted to call Bryant Pond 33. Most Operators had no idea what I was talking about and needed to hunt down an old-timer to handle the job. Her name is operatorSince Oakridge was a small town, I looked in the 1940 census for anyone listing their occupation as operator for a telephone service (there are various operators for the railroad and lumber mill). No one showed up. Either our young switchboard technician wasn't working there in 1940, or she lived outside Oakridge. [Just because you can work a switchboard doesn't mean you'd list that as your occupation. - Dave] Point taken, but I'd list it before anything else. She's a young person on the cutting edge of technology. I've been on the cutting edge of technology only once, remember Lotus123? Ever since I just stand in Best Buy and stare at the sales associate, wondering what they're talking about. One man in Oakridge listed his occupation as proprietor of a fix-it shop. No, his name wasn't Emmett. Multi Tasking Job PositionI suspect that "Samantha's" job was more than just the phone operator. The "No Credit" and "Coca-Cola" signs behind her head in the adjacent room combined with the cash in the drawer make it appear to be some kind of a store. She was probably responsible for both the store operation as well as the phone operator duties. The tape on the one side of a double bell pair would have given that particular bell an early version of a what we now call a "Distinctive Ring Tone". Western Electric type 1012Is the make and type of this switchboard, made some 30 years before this photo was taken. Paid ExtraThe Grade School and High School are on a 2 party line, many other customers have more parties sharing their lines. See list at left edge of board. While that list shows 10 lines, the 10 position switchboard has only 8 pairs of bells installed. FlashThis link tells about message precedence on radio, etc., and ranks "Flash" messages at the top of the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_precedence The card instructs the operator to tell Long Distance "Army Flash", probably to expedite getting a connection. An example of such an important message in July 1942 might be "The Japs have landed"! From a conversation with my father, circa 1954"No, son, that's not why it's called 'Bell Telephone.'" Too many for meBack in the late 1960s, I tried to operate one of those multi-plugged PBX boards at the Cove Inn in Naples, Florida. The night clerk needed to go somewhere for an hour or so, and he gave me (a bellman) a cursory explanation of how the board worked and what I needed to do. I didn't do well and never tried it again. Not intuitive. Army Flash?Anyone want to 'splain the "Army Flash" sign at the bottom right? Army FlashThe "Army Flash" instruction card seems to relate to the Aircraft Warning Service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Warning_Service), where locally-organized volunteers were trained to spot enemy airplanes along the east and west coast. Per this account of legal testimony by one Mr. James Tully, in a 1945 NY Supreme Court Case (https://books.google.com/books?id=bBAMmaBa6LEC&lpg=RA6-PA457&ots=Vyogrc8...): "Q. Briefly, will you tell us … just what was the Airplane Warning Service was? A. Well, they had Posts located within about approximately eight miles of one another, and each post was supposed to take care of that eight mile area distance. You are supposed to see that far. As soon as a plane come into sight, you notice where it was going, the type plane it was, how many motors it had on it, and how many planes there were, whether one or more than one, and then you take off the telephone and you’d call the operator, say, ‘Army flash,’ and give your code number. They would hook you up with New York and you would tell the girl down there how many planes, how high they were, how far from your obgservation post and which way they were going and, that’s all." Hope somebody might have more info, or a personal recollection to share! SwitchboardingI ran a switchboard that size during 1970-71 while working my way through college. The board was at the front desk, mounted flush into a wall. All the wiring doodah was behind the wall, in a very small room, out in the open. There were wires hanging everywhere, and you had to be careful. I answered incoming calls and directed them to the right people. I also placed long-distance calls. It was a thankless job, and I left as soon as I could. I just Googled, and I see that the company went out of business in 1990. Well, that's fine with me. Army Flash The Army Flash card was instructions for handling military traffic. The card is specific to the local Army unit. (Technology, The Gallery, Pretty Girls, Russell Lee, Small Towns)
Richwood Irregulars: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Main and Oakford This was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/30/2022 - 2:39pm -

September 1942. "Richwood, Nicholas County, West Virginia. Saturday afternoon." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Main and OakfordThis was taken looking southeast from the northeast corner of East Main Street and Oakford Avenue. The New Star Theatre in the background still stands at 6 East Main. A hydrant is still present at the location shown in the photo as well. [At this very moment you are no doubt booking a flight to West Virginia. But not on Southwest. - Dave] I thought about driving, but my wife would've probably killed me. Boys & Old MenThe ages in between are busy working at a very important and difficult task that will take a few more years to complete. To the boys' immediate rightThe future. If they survive the Chosen reservoir battle in 1950. [*Chosin* - Dave] Hey, that's my seat!I bet that old man is still sitting there on the curb, telling the same stories over and over again. But I doubt it's about the litter problem. Foot LooseAfter staring at this picture for some time, I cannot come up with a scenario about why that young man has only one shoe on. The angle prevents one from seeing if he is wearing a cast on his right foot, so without tangible proof, his reason for this sartorial choice is lost to history. [The boy is wearing zero shoes. - Dave] (The Gallery, John Collier, Kids)
Night Riders: 1942
... 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Unconscious, but conscientious? I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/02/2023 - 4:23pm -

September 1942. "Boys sleeping as best they can on special train from Richwood, West Virginia, to upper New York state to work in the harvest." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Unconscious, but conscientious?I was friends with a man who was a conscientious objector in WW2. He was sent to a farm in New York to work the harvest. I wonder if that's what has the lads leaving the almost heaven land of West Virginia. [Um, no. These are boys not men. - Dave] PretzellyI bet those teens woke up, stretched once, and got on with their day. If I slept like that now, I wouldn't be able to move for a week! (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Collier, Kids, Railroads)
Pedal-Pushers: 1942
... N.W., on Sunday." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Been there, done that In ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2022 - 2:41pm -

June 1942. Washington, D.C. "A bicycle rental shop on 22nd Street, near Virginia Avenue N.W., on Sunday." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Been there, done thatIn August 2017, Dallas joined the inspired world of dockless bike-sharing. Sponsoring companies promised it would come at no cost to taxpayers. The app-controlled feature allowed bike-share companies to distribute their dockless fleets wherever they wanted. By February 2018, five bike share companies transformed Dallas from the largest American city without a bike-share system to the city with the largest fleet in North America. That's right, everything is bigger in Texas. At our peak we had 18,000 bicycles scattered all over our fair city. And I do mean scattered. By comparison, New York City had only 12,000 bicycles and weak sister Seattle only 10,000. D(allas) Magazine warned “Let’s not screw this up.” But, we did screw it up. By August 2018, it was all over. And guess who had to pay to clean up the mess. The more things changeCapital Bikeshare 2022. One hour for $4 (more than 26 times the 1942 rate), though you can get membership rates and passes. PricingSo it’s 15 cents an hour during the day, Monday to Friday, but 25 cents for the whole evening or, even better, the whole weekend? I’ll take the weekend, please. The girls are wearing the same shoes, as girls are wont to do. They both look great, really strong, especially the one on the right. I’d vote for her for President. Wonderful title, Dave! Price Is About the SameThe Bureau of Labor Statistics online inflation calculator says 15 cents in June 1942 is equivalent to $2.74 today and 25 cents is equivalent to $4.57. Capital Bikeshare's 2022 rates are more or less the same as the 1942 rental rates in real terms. Hey, that's my bike!That dude in the doorway is more concerned about his bike being stolen than he is with the fine pairs of departing legs. Prime Time25 cents an hour, evenings and weekends seems logical to me. (The Gallery, Bicycles, D.C., Marjory Collins)
Tuscaloosa Wrecking: 1936
... Auto Parts." 8x10 nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Per Groucho Marx, We went ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/26/2022 - 2:30pm -

Alabama, 1936. "Antebellum residence converted into Tuscaloosa Wrecking Co. & Auto Parts." 8x10 nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Per Groucho Marx, We went ivory hunting in Alabama, because the Tuscaloosa there Still Standin'It's been moved to a vacant lot, but apparently it's still there: The Drish House. Dr. John R. Drish houseThis house had seen, and now has seen, better days. It was built in 1837 on a 350-acre plantation, with the columns and Italianate tower added just before the Civil War. Dr. Drish died there in 1867, his wife Sarah in 1884. It was the Jemison School from 1906 to 1925. After its time as an auto parts warehouse and Walker Evans's visit, it was purchased by Southside Baptist Church, which built a brick sanctuary on one side. Threatened with demolition, it was leased to the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County in 1994, and after designation as a "place in peril," acquired by the Tuscaloosa Preservation Society in 2007. It was finally renovated starting in 2012 and opened in 2016 as a venue for weddings and other special events. Of course it is said to be haunted. The good with the sadIt is good the Dr. John R. Drish mansion has been saved. It is sad much of the charm has been lost. +85Below is the same view from February of 2021. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Walker Evans)
Dallas Noir: 1942
... Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Clean Carburetors That's ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/21/2018 - 4:41pm -

January 1942. "Elm Street -- Theater Row in Dallas." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Clean CarburetorsThat's Elm Street in Dallas = Deep Ellum as in Deep Ellum Blues as in "when you go down in Deep Ellum, keep your carburetor clean, 'cause the women in Deep Ellum sellin' dirty gasoline." The Majestic Theater opened in 1921 - history here: http://www.liveatthemajestic.com/history.shtm Goober Pea [Thanks, Goob. - Dave] Hotel ShorpyCute watermark on the wallpaper! Neat...I always wanted a high-res pic of world famous Shorpy building! Two signsThe Majestic is playing "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" which was the fifth Tarzan film that MGM did. Released in December 1941, it starred series regulars Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Johnny Sheffield as "Boy." It co-starred English character actor Reginald Owen, and Irish character actor Barry Fitzgerald just three years before his double Oscar nomination for "Going My Way." (Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the role of Father Fitzgibbon - he lost Best Supporting Actor and won Best Actor and spawned a new Academy Awards rule that you couldn't be nominated in two acting categories for playing the same role in the same movie.) The other sign is something I see at the very end of the street, just to the left of the Palace Theater sign [below]. I swear the letters are F A K E Weird huh? All GoneMost of these wonderful buildings are gone. Go to Google Maps and enter 2036 Elm Street and click "streetview" and look west. Mostly parking lots and garages. It looks like a street (Harwood St.) now runs perpendicular to Elm a couple of buildings east of the Majestic, about where Winn Furniture stands in the photo. This area got pretty seedy in the late 40's and 50's. Two blocks south of the photo location was The Carousel Club, owned by Jack Ruby - the guy who shot Oswald. "Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night? Well Dallas is a jewel, oh yeah, Dallas is a beautiful sight. And Dallas is a jungle but Dallas gives a beautiful light." - The Flatlanders Goober Pea Dallas NoirI love your addition to the "supersize" wallpaper! Great Photo!This photo is taken looking west down Elm Street from the corner of Olive. The good news is that not all those buildings are gone. On the right side, the Majestic Theater (1921) remains, as well as the Hart Furniture Store Building (1888) next door to it. Do you see the heart-shaped neon sign that reads "Hart's"? That building is still on the NW corner of Elm and Harwood Street. The Tower Building is also still standing just beyond the Majestic with the stair stepped roof. The entire block between Harwood and Olive on the right side of the photo however is now surface parking. On the left side of the photo the Titche-Goettinger department store building is still there and is condos and apartments (at Elm and St. Paul). The White Plaza Hotel is also still there but is now called the Aristocrat Hotel. The left side of the street across from the Majestic is now a 5 story parking garage. What a great photo! Thanks for posting! Re: FAKE__The street actually takes a pretty big dip where that sign is. I can vouch for that as I walked that sidewalk two days ago and drew a picture of the Titches building on the left from where that sign was. Fakes FurnitureHaving lived in Dallas all my life (born 1936), I can recall the scene looking exactly as pictured above. In response to Brent who spied the FAKE sign past the Palace Theater, allow me to clarify that it actually said F-A-K-E-S, as in Fakes Furniture & Carpet Co., located at 2509 Elm. For what it's worth, I still own a bedroom suite my parents bought at that Hart's store beside the Majestic. Abbott and Costello at the MajesticI was living on Eastside Avenue and Carroll Street in Dallas in 1948. I was 10 and recall getting on my bike and riding downtown to the Majestic to see "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." I don't remember locking my bike and I know my parents never locked our doors. It was a different time in America. The Majestic had a big living room up the stairs with a TV which most people didn't have as yet. After watching a movie I would sometimes watch TV with other patrons. Not Deep EllumJust a comment: this is not, nor was Deep Ellum. If you were to walk a few blocks east, you would find Deep Ellum. This part of Elm was considered Theatre Row. Haverty's Furniture...is still alive and well, with locations throughout north and central Texas. Interesting to see all the lights [only a month after Pearl Harbor]. By the summer of 1942 blackout rules would be in effect and "the lights wouldn't go on again" [to paraphrase a popular wartime song] for another 3 years. Dealey PlazaIf you keep walking in this direction on Elm, you'll find yourself at the front door of the Texas School Book Depository. Titche-GoettingerMy parents purchased a baby carriage for me at Titche-Goettinger on December 22, 1949. Price $39.95. TemptationI cannot explain what drew me to open the super size wallpaper image, but I am glad I did. You constantly outdo yourself, Dave. Judy Garland's Palace Song"A team of hoofers, Was the headline, At the Majestic, Down in Dallas. But they cancelled the day, Their agent called to say... You can open the bill at the Palace!" WatermarkPlease tell me where it is. I've been looking for quite some time. [Click the Wallpaper link in the caption. - Dave] Deep EllumIn the 1960s, when I lived there, native Dallasites talked about "Deep Elm" (pronounced ELLUM by some--as they enunciated each letter of ELM, with a full pronouncement of "M" such as "EL-M"). Anyway, I was never sure of the exact location of Deep Elm. Now that we have Google, I am directed to Wikipedia, among other places, for an answer. Wikipedia says, "Deep Ellum is a neighborhood composed largely of arts and entertainment venues near downtown in Old East Dallas, Texas." Fair Park, the location of the Texas State Fair, the Cotton Bowl, and Big Tex, is just east of Deep Elm. The Baylor University Medical Center adjoins the north side of the district. I don't think Deep Elm was an artsy neighborhood back in the sixties. It was a run-down area--as I surmised when I drove through there on the way to the Fair or some other more distant location. In fact, it is probably still run-down, but trendy. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Stoplight in Vermont: 1941
... Vermont." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Is that Grandpa Hall? The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/09/2019 - 10:24am -

August 1941. "A street corner in Burlington, Vermont." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Is that Grandpa Hall?The man on the corner could be my grandfather Peter Hall. It looks just like him, and he always wore that kind of hat. He also smoked a pipe or a cigar. However, by 1941, I believe he had pulled up stakes and moved to Maine, unless he just happened to be back in Vermont for a visit or for business. Most interesting ghost in the underworldI don't always haunt greasy spoons, but when I do, I haunt Limoge's Grill. It's a long way to LimogesAnother classic title by Dave. Have to wonderAre those singing telegraph cables overhead? Please step downWow, what an interesting building on the corner. It looks like in the old picture, from the step-down entrance on the "ground floor" that someone actually started a restaurant in the basement of what looks like an pre-existing house. Normally you'd expect some kind of hill or slope to necessitate a raised first and second floor in a home, but none exists here. Neat to see that the house still remains, that the paint has been stripped off the brick which suggests a major renovation, and the "basement" appears to have continued service as maybe a rental unit. Looks like the neighborhood has been gentrified. Excellent picture, Dave. A couple of survivorsMostly the same with a lot less character. Ready, Set, GO!Is WALK written on the middle lens of the traffic light? Probably a reasonable explanation and I'm sure it made sense then, but I'd probably have looked both ways and run. Stop-Walk-GoI notice this old Crouse-Hinds traffic signal has Stop-Walk-Go lenses rather than the more typical Stop-Caution-Go. It was an early attempt to provide some pedestrian indications without additional signals and cost. There's a little info here http://www.kbrhorse.net/signals/ch_dt_4-way01.html though the arrangement is different. Wow!This photo has everything! KidsI'll bet there's a baby carriage without wheels somewhere. The daily breezeThe coolest thing about this picture is the lady sitting in the sun on the side porch, with her planter box of flowers, enjoying her newspaper. Stayed close by --We were in Burlington two weeks ago. We stayed at an Airbnb that was just five houses down North Street (toward the lake) from this house. This area is the south part of the Old North End. It used to be a lot rougher than it is now. I was a prison guard in the late 1980s in nearby St. Albans, and half the inmates at that time were from the North End of Burlington. No longer. Burlington is a great town; big enough to be interesting but small enough to feel safe. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Jack Delano, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
A Higher Tower: 1942
... in the background." Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The Front-line Fallen much ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/23/2022 - 12:31pm -

July 1942. "Top of Detroit City Hall dwarfed by the modern Penobscot Building in the background." Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The Front-line Fallenmuch as in warfare, all of the buildings in the foreground are gone, all those behind them have survived (with some battle wounds). Of more interest, perhaps, this photo serves as a tutorial on the "Detroit's Highest" progression: the Hammond Building, to City Hall's left, and the Majestic, to the right, had each borne that title previously. Less than forty years separated the Hammond from the Penobscot; the latter would hold the title for fifty. [Among the background survivors are the twin towers of the Dime Savings Bank. - Dave] Eighth-tallest towerEighth-tallest building in the world when completed in 1928 (according to wikipedia). This beautiful 566-foot building has 45 above-ground floors and has Native American motifs in art deco ornamentation inside and out. As a kid driving downtown with my parents I loved seeing the Penobscot getting closer, crowned by the red-blinking tower on top. Penobscot AntennaThe Penobscot Building originally hosted AM radio station WBXWJ, owned by the Detroit News. The FCC, however, decided that FM was the future thing. So, in anticipation of the FCC's actions, the Detroit News began the process of replacing W8XWJ with an FM station. AM station W8XWJ went silent on 4/13/1941. Beginning on 5/13/1941, the new FM facility, employing W8XWJ's former Penobscot Building studios and transmitter antenna, returned to the airwaves as Michigan's first FM station, W45D. Today, WXYT-FM is owned by Audacy Inc. The transmitter and antenna are no longer on top of the Penobscot Building. Merry ChristmasDave, I don't know how to photoshop, but you get the idea. Thanks for creating such a great website. Thanks for letting me babble on it as much as you do. I hope you and tterrace et al. have Merry Christmas and a great 2023. Thank you Arthur SiegelFor your beautifully and strikingly composed and executed photograph. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Detroit Photos)
St. Albans: 1941
... in Saint Albans." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Gone 500 Miles The car they ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/21/2022 - 5:05pm -

August 1941. "Small-town scenes in Vermont. In the square, facing the main street in Saint Albans." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Gone 500 MilesThe car they call the City of St. Albans. Life goes on and you can't go back again.One of the best pictures ever. Four geezers reminiscing of years gone by. I was born in Southwestern Ontario two years later. Now I'm one of them. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)A sign points the way to Chester A. Arthur Camp, where the following took place: Built bath house, retaining wall and trench at St. Albans State Park. Constructed a road and fire tower to the top of Bellevue hill. Camp in St. Albans at “Blue Bonnet Park”, 2 miles from L. Champ. Project work was under direction of National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of Interior. Bellevue –- ski trails and lodge. Stone from Gays quarry used in retaining wall. You can learn more about the CCC here. Has a barber shop been there for 80+ years?Here is the view looking west down Lake Street today. On the right, the buildings beyond the one with the arch in the cornice and The News Boy painted on the side are gone, replaced mostly by a fairly new looking Hampton Inn. On the left, the buildings beyond the one with the Coca-Cola blade sign are gone, replaced mostly by a parking lot and the Franklin County Court building. There isn't much retail on this part of Lake Street today -- certainly no Florsheim Shoes or Winifred's Shop for Children; most likely because there's a Walmart just north of St. Albans. But, if you look just below the aforementioned Coca-Cola sign, you can see a barber pole. On Street View, there is a business with the blue awning in that same location (as close as I can tell). That business is a barber shop. At the end of the day... the two on the right became best friends. DIY 55-gallon gas tank Be not deceivedBeneath this seemingly placid scene lurk ancient rivalries. St. Albans is, in fact, three, three, three towns in one. St. Albans City is surrounded by the town of Saint Albans, which is incorporated separately from the city of St. Albans. Accordingly, the peculiar grouping on the bench hints at the schismatic nature of this outwardly idyllic tableau. If Cerberus were a city, he (it, they) would be St. Albans (or Saint Albans or Saint Albans City).There is a theological element in play (as is all too often the case), concerning the precise doctrinal significance of Saint Albans's martyrdom, circa 209 – 305 AD. Had we but world enough and time (and a good Thesaurus), I would unravel a triplicitous tale of treachery that would make Stephen King, of neighboring Maine, blanch in tremulous terror. Think twice before you rush off to Travel Advisor or booking.com! Different Points of ViewTwo guys reading something, possibly the same newspaper, two guys gazing into the distance reminiscing about the good old days, and one on the right watching people. Great photo! Best I've seen in while. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Small Towns)
Between the Lines: 1935
... West Virginia." 8x10 negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Unusual perspective It ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2022 - 11:24am -

June 1935. "Mining towns and camps in the Scotts Run area. View of Morgantown, West Virginia." 8x10 negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Unusual perspectiveIt would be difficult to plan capturing a view like this, absent a scary harness or (today) a drone. But the answer is there in the hilly terrain and the telltale railing at lower left right. The U.S. Geological Survey makes no official distinction between a hill and a mountain. But my grandmother, who lived most of her life in southeastern Kentucky, was contemptuous when anyone described the view out her window as mountains. Them was hills. South Walnut Street BridgeThe 1935 photo was taken facing east from the South Walnut Street Bridge over Deckers Creek. Below is the same angle today. Here is an aerial. The brick building with quoins is now lofts at 10 Pietro Street. To the right of that, the big brick house with dormers is the building with the sun reflecting off its roof in the aerial. The complexity of human settlement.Evans took advantage of the hills in the Pennsylvania steel country, and took many pictures of the cities looking down, as landscape. The most famous in Bethlehem, where he managed to catch the graveyard, houses, and steel mill. Here we have a delightful jumble of forms. The roofs look as random as the telephone wires. Three cheers for ---- the Western Electric 83A Protector Mounting (Technology, The Gallery, Mining, Small Towns, Walker Evans)
Any Thing Store: 1940
... Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Cats rule, Dogs drool ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/03/2022 - 11:55pm -

February 1940. "Secondhand store. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Cats rule, Dogs droolAdmittedly I am more of a feline fancier than a dog lover, possibly why I didn't notice the chair-mutt until jamax commented on its presence. Spurred on by all of the eclectic merchandise on offer, it seemed appropriate to look for any signs of a cat, on or near the premises. Much to my delight my search was rewarded! Nobody can tell me that isn't Felix watching the universe unfold below him from his lordly vantage point. Observe the Mighty Ruler surveying his kingdom from the lofty branch situated between the two main tree trunks on the right! [That "cat" has more bark than bite. - Dave] Going, Going ... Gone?We can only wonder how many of the "treasures" here were collected for the scrap drives a few years later. Photo ShoppingThis one grabbed my attention. I see several things to buy. The woman is eying the crib. Maybe the gentleman watching doesn't know why. He'll get the lunchbox. Ab's Picker's HeavenAllan Thomas Abston (1892-1976) is seen standing in front of his Used Furniture Store at 609 W. Reno Avenue in Oklahoma City. He and his wife, Ova B. Page, came from Tennessee in about 1930. Selling used furniture was a lot easier than working in the coal mines. They had three sons and two daughters, to help them sell their "gently used" goods during the Great Depression. Kettle Store?If Ma and Pa Kettle owned a store, this is what it would look like. Garbage In, Garbage Out"One man's trash is another man's treasure," goes the old saying. However, after years spent "antiquing", thrift shopping, Craigslisting, eBaying, and even "dumpster diving", I've come to the conclusion that, often, "one man's trash" is just "your trash" waiting to happen. Signs4sale: $0 OBOBet the same hand that did that masterpiece atop the porch roof had no part in those ransom-note-like scrawlings off to the right. What do I bet?? How 'bout a washboard, slightly used. Come to my estate sale; you won't be sorryBelow is 609 West Reno Avenue today. Given the condition of the old house in 1940 there was little doubt it would not be there today. I am spending a good part of my retirement years on the same treasure hunt as Dezi Beck, only substitute Estate Sales for Dumpster Diving (most of the dumpsters around me are in locked enclosures). I tell people I should be ashamed at how much art on my walls came from thrift stores. I have about a dozen pieces on the walls worth over $1,000 each for which I paid less than $100. I suspect most of it was from the kids cleaning out their parents' houses and just wanting the houses emptied. I've also developed a list of search words for Craigslist, which include divorce and downsizing. I have bought some amazing things that people in those situations just want to get rid of. The end result is I told a friend I am purging my house of things I don't need while filling up my house with things I don't need ... but of better quality. Things ChangeClearly, the items in the front yard likely don't come back inside each evening for safekeeping when business is done for the day. No Ring cameras or high tech survellaince back then. Junkyard dog on duty? Coming out of the Great Depression, were people in general just more trusting of their neighbors? Maybe a rhetorical question. NOT ON MY WATCH Wow that proprietor is keeping a close eye on those two old gray would be thieves Wow! Wow!The very original recycling. I mean, springs for a mattress for sale? Man, we honestly have it good in these modern times with disposable everything merchandise. So ...Why is there a sawhorse on the roof? Guard dog on dutyI wonder if the dog is for sale? Suddenly …the Sanford and Son theme is playing in my head String bean treeOn the left of the photo. Northern catalpa is the correct name. Yes, I Googled it. It's complicatedIt makes my brain hurt to look at this but I'll make a quick stop and pick up one of those charming little drop-leaf tables far left beside the bedsprings, and a couple of the Windsor chairs. I will probably paint them all chartreuse. Firmware for SaleThe modern version (in the 70s) was surplus electronics catalogs, like ROMs for sale, "many useful patterns." Left behindI suspect that most of the items came from the homes of folks who migrated to a supposedly better life in the Far West in the 1930s to escape the ruin of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Families had to sell at giveaway prices what they could not take with them, and often their household possessions literally were given away. Kindred spiritWe actually had one of those Windsor chairs in my basement when I was little, and during her "antiquing" phase, Mom did indeed stain it chartreuse. Sewing MachineTo the right there is a sewing machine with a manual foot pedal. My Great Aunt Flossie used to make patchwork quilts with one of those. She sewed well into her 90s. She passed back in the early '80s. The Dog's name must be WaldoAfter much searching I finally found him! "Waldo" appears to be relaxing under the table with a couple of early Home Depot 5 gallon buckets sitting on it. Mattress springswere a cheaper alternative to store bought harrowers. If you needed loose soil smoothed out you would drag one or two mattress springs (weighted down a bit) behind your tractor. We did this when we landscaped around our new house in the early 1970s. More bark than bite ...Yep, you're right Dave, should have looked up there with binoculars. I am overdue for my cataract surgery also. Keep up the fantastic work! Catalpa TreesIn the South these trees were planted not for beautification but for fish bait. A specific type of moth lade their eggs on catalpa trees so their larvae (or worm) could feed on the catalpa leaves. These worms were used for fishing. (The Gallery, Dogs, OKC, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets)
Happy Thought: 1940
... and her little boy. Family lives in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Lots of Pots That stove ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/19/2018 - 12:41pm -

September 1940. "Mrs. Garland and her little boy. Family lives in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Lots of PotsThat stove looks huge and can accommodate so many pots but I guess once you made the fire, you had to cook everything at once instead of making things one after another. Perhaps she had a large family (or planned to) and this was a wise purchase. Another thought -- during harvest season my grandparents would hire threshers to come in and harvest everything in a short period of time. The farm wife was responsible for feeding them. This probably came in handy if used for those times too. Shoe problemMr. Delano must have shown up when no one was ready. Maybe scurrying around to get their shoes on. The little boy either didn’t get both shoe on on decided he didn’t want to wear two shoes. Mother simply didn’t have time to tie her shoes, I suppose. Anyway, that is quite a remarkable stove! [That's a baby shoe. Our young lad has both shoes on. - Dave] Threshing, heat, and canningThat big stove is probably for a bunch of reasons, starting with the fact it was probably a main source of heat for the home. It also would come in handy for not only threshing season, but also canning, preserving, boiling down maple syrup, baking bread & pies, and even heating water for doing laundry. It's impressive how much oven you can use when you're doing all that. Close your mouth, you'll catch a fly.That's what my old dad would tell me when my mouth was hanging open like this young lad's. Give me gas (stove that is)The stove was a critical appliance. My family were from the anthracite region in northeastern Pennsylvania. My aunt had a coal stove. It had to be kept burning all year round. It was a pain to re-light so extended trips from home were few. In addition to cooking, it was the primary source of heat and hot water. There were metal grates in the floors upstairs to let the heat rise up in the winter. For really cold days she had a second coal heater in the "parlor," as she called it. She had this setup until she had to move into a "home." Maybe the result of living through the Depression, but my family never updated anything without good reason. Things were used until they broke and couldn't be repaired. Shorpy StoveNice placement. The Stove That Made Pittston FamousFounded in 1869, the Pittston Stove Company's business took off after 1873, when Samuel Smythe, an engineering pioneer with 25 patents, designed a duplex grate, which became an industry standard. The company shipped $175,000 worth of stoves in 1917, the equivalent of $3.2 million today. The one shown in this ad has much fancier ironwork but the components are similar the Garland family's version. Re: Give me gas (stove that is) I have had many conversations as a curious teen, and even more curious adult with my grandparents, as well as my husband's Indiana farmer grandparents of German farm family roots over the last 40 years. In those conversations, I discovered that due to not only the Great Depression, but general farm family economics, combining a lifetime of thrifty farming ways, plus the aforementioned Depression, AND WWII, they just lived that way, because that's the way things were. While "the men" - meaning the grandfather and any uncles that remained to follow in their father's footsteps - ruled the roost regarding not only farm operations, but economic ones as well. Grandmothers - mothers at that time, of course - ruled the home, and all operations taking place inside it, but only to the point where the economy would allow. The furnishing of the kitchen, the sewing room, the canning storage, water supply, and other utilities were ruled by the amount of money available coming from the economies of the farm operations, which always came first. If electricity were to be furnished to the property, it came to benefit the running of the farm first, and then the house IF there was enough left over to do so. So, the harder the men worked, and the more money that came from those efforts, the more everyone would benefit. Updating the features of the farm home was practically impossible not only during depression times, as there was no money to do so, until the Federal government and the FSA began getting involved in helping farm families pull themselves out of the Great mire they found themselves buried in during the very late thirties. But, it all came to a halt during the War years, because even though there was more money in the bank finally, there was little to nothing to buy! Restrictions, rationing and priorities on metals reduced new farm equipment to absolute minimums, if not down to nothing to be had at all. Even repair parts were almost impossible to come by. Same for tractor tires, truck tires, wagon tires, even bicycle tires! So many farm families lived miles and miles "from town" they had difficulty getting there to buy anything, if there was anything to buy. Going to the local co-op for seed, feed, and fertilizers - also difficult to get in needed quantities - was about as close to shopping as many farmers or their wives would get for years. My husband's grandmother never learned to drive, and she was relegated to sending a list with grandpa to get the things she needed, so she had to depend on him entirely for several years to get her shopping done. The only time she left the house for years was to go to church down the road about two miles on Sunday mornings. Sometimes she would be able to send mail orders in from her Sears catalogs, if they had what she wanted for the money she had to spend. She had three sons and one daughter, born in a period of 36 months from the birth of the first to the last, all by C-sections, in the mid-30's, so those trips to the hospital were also rare outings! And extended rests, with other local church acquaintance farm wives coming to help her out for the first few weeks after each one came. Cloth diapers were washed daily in a bucket, rinsed twice in the wash tub, run through the wringer, and hung on the line in the sun to dry. Laundry wasn't just a Monday only job, with farmer's overalls getting filthy on a daily basis. Nobody had a week's worth of clothing to get from Monday to Sunday. Gasoline restrictions and rationing certainly didn't help that, as you didn't get far on three gallons per week. Gasoline meant for farm equipment only had been colored with a red dye, and if you were found to be running farm gas in your automobile, there was severe fines that could be levied. So, keeping things running, and fixing instead of replacing were the rules of the day all during the War years as well. Once all those restrictions, rationing, priorities, etc., were over with, it wasn't so easy to just start throwing things out and buying new. Not when you had been doing things that way practically all your life. Mrs. Helen Struble Garland, age 31This is most likely Helen Garland and her 3-year old son Chauncey. Per the 1940 census, Helen lived with her husband Clarence and five young sons in Van Etten, NY, where her husband worked as a woodcutter. Helen and Clarence both lived into their eighties. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Kids, Kitchens etc., Rural America)
Piano Man: 1941
... Virginia." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Picture on the far wall I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/10/2021 - 10:06pm -

March 1941. "Mission pianist in his room at the Helping Hand Mission. Portsmouth, Virginia." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Picture on the far wallI wonder who that is in that picture. It looks like it could be an entertainer. Who does the Mission pianist idolize? Any Shorpy fans have any ideas? Call me crazybut I am always amazed at photos like this, of the decrepit state of the walls, and in this case even the mantelpiece. Had these folks never heard of paint? Were they so destitute that they could not afford even a single coat, or a layer of wallpaper? Or were they too lazy, or did they simply not care? The ugliness had to have threatened to suck the life right out of them. I'll wager that even the goldfish would have agreed with me. And don't get me started on that welter of wires. "Outside these walls"Hope our subject lightened up a bit when he played for the audience. Rings a bellThe image above our man’s right shoulder—man and woman in a field—is Millet’s “Angelus,” which depicts farm laborers stopping their work to pray at the 6 p.m. ringing of the bells. Speaking of time, the unsynchronized clocks on the mantel fit right into the general decrepitude. Re: crazyNow that I own my house (an old one), I do fix-it work non-stop. As a rental tenant, though, I never did a thing – I figured it was the landlord’s responsibility. What I didn’t realize in my younger years was that, even though I didn’t own my home back then, I would have improved my living conditions immeasurably had I painted or gardened, despite the fact that I was maintaining someone else’s property. All the work put into my rented place by myself would have benefited myself, but I didn’t understand this concept. With regard to the piano man’s place, it needs more than a lick of paint -- some preliminary plaster work is definitely required. On the far wallThe picture looks like it may be Dickie Powell. Early Power BarWe plug our scanners, computers, printers, etc. into a power bar with a circuit breaker. The octopus wiring setup in this photo might be considered an earlier version of the same thing. Having moved into my 1928 home in 1977 that still had its original 30 amp 115 volt panel with fuses, I soon learned which electrical appliances could not be plugged in simultaneously. Within three years the house was upgraded to a 125 amp system with 115 and 240 volts available. I might also note that many of John Vachon's photos of people bear a resemblance to those of Diane Arbus in the 1960s. Living SimplyHe probably lives in such spartan conditions because he works at the mission for nothing, or next to nothing. Believe it or not, there used to be a time when people did church work because they loved people and cared about them. I would hazard a guess that the modern-day 'teaching pastor' or 'praise team' member wouldn't be caught dead living in a hovel like this so that they could have the privilege to minister to the needs of their fellow man! Way Down On The ListYes, we see a lot of places we wouldn't want to live on Shorpy. I think it's driven by the everyday need to acquire basic necessities to survive back then (and for a lot of folks today too). The furnishings are nice and the place looks clean. The stove fluecaught my eye right away. I wonder how hard it was to get a draft going. While the flue pipe may radiate a lot of trapped heat, getting that heat to go down and then up is no easy task. All I can see is smoke billowing from the door each time it's stoked. I look at the walls and wonder what became of the trim around the windows. Perhaps the stove can tell us. I'm with Penny on the sketchy wiring. It reminds me of A Christmas Story. An entertainer's lotis not a happy one even if it includes a Loths Air Blast (a name not dissimilar to that of a local brew in a far away place I once knew). Don't you just love this truly magnificent piece of kit! The inclusion of a multiple light extravaganza with a suspended control centre however is still not enough to please our master of the keys. Having just recently adjusted and fine tuned (with a hammer?) the contemporary air conditioning (note the spare parts in the storage facility behind the seat) he is left to contemplate the reason why one of his timepiece collection appears to be malfunctioning. With regard to curtains and paint, the property is owned by others, in this case "the Mission," wherein lies the economic scantiness of the trend-setting decor. Entertainers the world over are quite inured against the quality of gaffs between gigs. There are also reasons to be found for the crutch standing forlornly in the corner. Excellent material for the housebound Shorpyite. Love the stoveBut the draft situation looks sketchy. Looks familiar I just took painted wallpaper off exterior plaster (on brick) walls, in a house that's probably older than the place pictured here. And the walls looked ... about like that. Sad quartersJenny Pennifer mentioned paint, wallpaper and scary wiring, but this is really, umm, *basic* living! How about that toaster, jammed on the back of the crowded dresser? Is that the only suggestion of cooking in the room? And, as with any man with two clocks, he has no idea of the time of day. A tip of the cap to Mad MagazineIn my misspent youth, Mad Magazine had a regular feature called "What's Wrong with This Picture?" Most of them looked a lot like this one. What time is it?Was this photo taken at 2:12 or 7:43? Déjà vuI feel like the photo hanging above the mantel is one I've seen on Shorpy before. Two out of three!Although the clocks don't agree on the time of the picture, his wristwatch and the mantel clock on the left appear to agree that it is 8:43 p.m. I suggest p.m. since it appears to be dark outside the window, as it would be in Virginia in March. [Your mantel clock is off by an hour -- it says 7:43. - Dave] The Face on the WallCurious about the man's portrait on the wall obscured by 'wiring,' I checked out a few of Vachon's other photos of this profoundly sad room. I came across this shot of our dour keyboard artist, which has an unobstructed view of the portrait which appears to be of, and inscribed by, Mickey Rooney...am I right? [You are right, and it bears the inscription "I'll be seeing you at the Gxxxx Theater Something" and then maybe "Sunday September Xth -- Mickey" - Dave] Lighten up, everybodyHow many of us are wearing a tie? Strike up the bandI believe the inscription reads "I'll be seeing you at the Gates Theater starting Sunday September 29th -- Mickey." The Gates Theatre was a cinema in Portsmouth in this era. Rooney's third(!) film of 1940, "Strike up the Band," was released on September 29, which was a Sunday. It appears our musician in the photo was a vermouth drinker. That's a bottle of Gambarelli & Davitto dry American vermouth on the chest of drawers. Not-teaFrom that bottle of hooch on the dresser I am guessing that this mission is not being run by strict Baptists. Plugs and PicturesI also find the wiring a bit worrisome; the relatively short time I spent as a volunteer firefighter instilled in me fire prevention measures that will always be with me. I hope he unplugged that mess when he left the room. Also, the older looking picture of two people on the wall seems to me as if it should be a man with a large bundle of sticks on his back; the condition of the wall matches that of the Led Zeppelin IV album cover. Who is the "piano man"?He is Clayton William Pierce (1905-1953). He never married and lived with his parents, and then his married sister, in Portsmouth for most of his life. He was a piano teacher his entire adult life. He died of heart disease at age 47. His WWII draft card indicated he was 5' 6" tall, 235 pounds, brown eyes, black hair, ruddy complexion, and a scar on his right cheek. ~ Steve Weird mental acrobatics on my part but --There was that keyboard player in early Rolling Stones lineup who did not fit in the band's image. LookalikeHe reminds me very much of another musician -- Riley Puckett, guitarist and vocalist of my favorite old-timey string band, the Skillet Lickers. Danger!Dangerous room to live in. If the wiring doesn't catch on fire, the leaky stove pipe will get you with carbon monoxide. (The Gallery, John Vachon)
Sins of Passion: 1937
... Medium format nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I want that Phillip Morris ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/01/2010 - 2:21am -

August 1937. "Early morning scene. Tower, Minnesota." Medium format nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I want that Phillip Morris sign.Is this Lee Harvey Oswald's dad? Still standing on Main.View Larger Map Opera singers!Not only does Lucky Strike have Madeleine Carroll selling tits wares, but also Metropolitan Opera singer Helen Jepson. Even better than a doctor! The resemblance to Oswald is spooky! So that's where all those Norwegian bachelor farmers wound up on a Saturday night! "Sins of Passion" does not show up on IMDB. Were there second rate theaters that sidestepped the Hayes Office, showing this kind of film without getting arrested? [The Hayes Office was an arm of the motion picture industry. Which of course didn't have the power to arrest anyone. - Dave] It's HIM!! Wow, I was thinking the same thing! Suspicious cigarette he has there. B.V.Ralph Fiennes, Before (Lord) Voldemort. Saturated MarketInexplicably, I have the desire to use tobacco products. CALLING...PHIIIIIIIIILLLLIIIIIIIP MOOOOOORRRRRIIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!! Time traveling tterraceWhere'd tterrace get the time machine? And if he could go back in time, why'd he pick this bar to hang around? "Sins of Passion"A "sex hygiene" short produced by Maurice Copeland. Generally classed as an exploitation film with the ostensible topic of venereal disease. As if we needed itEven more proof that LHO had been in some unexpected places. People's BeerFrom Oshkosh. First black-owned brewery in the U.S. http://www.mainstreetoshkosh.com/2008/02/peoples-beer.html Lucky Opera SingerHelen Jepson chose Lucky Strikes because of her voice. Her arias must have been something, punctuated, as they must have been, by coughing fits. On the Sunny Side of the StreetThis place does not appear to be there any longer. The building below in the Google Street View is on the south side of the street facing north. The shadow of the time-traveling tterrace shows him to be on the north side of the street facing south. Helen Jepson saysHelen Jepson sang lead soprano with the Metropolitan Opera from 1935 to 1941. She was also popular on radio shows and had a brief film careen. Do you suppose she REALLY smoked Luckies "because of her voice"? SundayReminds me of Edward Hopper's "Sunday" from 1926. Beautiful downtown TowerI've been to Tower -- on business, believe it or not. Can you say "middle of nowhere"? SmokesWe see ads for Lucky Strikes (before Lucky Strike green went to war and didn't come back) featuring actress Madeleine Carroll and soprano Helen Jepson; Chesterfields (whose theme song contains a line "while your Chesterfield burns" that was highly alarming in Canada where chesterfield is another name for a sofa); Philip Morris (featuring Johnny, the Bell Boy), Camels, as well as Van Dyck and White Owl Cigars, and "Model" which looks to me to be some sort of pipe tobacco or tobacco pouch. In fact, besides the ad for the movie, the only non-tobacco things I can see here are a sign pained onto the glass for Peoples Beer (a small brewery out of Oshkosh) and a small sign telling people that this place "serves" "we have Wrigley's" Spearmint gum. JohnnyThe "Call For Philip Morris" Bellman was Johnny Roventini, a 4-foot-7 actor who was a national celebrity in his time. More Doctors Smoke CamelsDid you know? Censorship, Mad City styleA November 1937 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal reports that the City of Madison's censorship committee (led by its acting mayor) concluded that "Sins of Passion" could not be shown in the Capitol Theatre - but instead could be shown only "as an educational film in a school auditorium or some other public place." The Mayor's last name was Gill, not Quimby. The sun is in the morning. The sun is in the morning. In Minnesota, the sun rises in the northeast in the summer. So I believe the google picture could be correct. This ain't Florida. In summer you have 18 hour days or longer. [Back to school for you. The sun doesn't rise in the northeast anywhere north of the Tropic of Cancer.* - Dave] *Actually, back to school for me. The sun will never pass directly overhead north of the Tropic of Cancer, but it can rise north of due east, and therefore can shine from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere. I think. - Dave North and SouthIt's not astrophysics, but the sidewalk is sloping downhill to the left in the Lee photo. The Google Street View below seems to show the sidewalk sloping in the opposite direction. From what I can tell, most or all of Main Street in Tower slopes downhill east to west. The two stores are probably on the opposite sides of the street, the Street View store on the south side and the Lee photo on the north. On the other hand, step down the street to the old building next to Hardware Hanks on the north side of Main Street. View Larger Map I think this is probably your old store, or at least a better candidate. The sidewalk has been raised (as wasn't too uncommon in many midwest towns as the roads were improved and built up) but the short step inside the alcove seems to still be there. The photo isn't very good and someone parked a silly trailer home partially in the way of our better view!! Sunrise[Back to school for you. The sun doesn't rise in the northeast anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. - Dave] Oh, yeah — just like a rocket can't work in a vacuum, I suppose. I suggest that you go back to school. In the northern hemisphere, for instance, after the autumn equinox and before the spring equinox, the sun rises south of east — and between the spring equinox and the autumn equinox, it rises north of east, the number of degrees north dependent on the latitude and date. In extreme cases, such as just south of the Arctic Circle (which one might note is in the northern hemisphere), on the day of the summer solstice, say, the sun will rise just east of due north, and set (24 hours less a bit later) just west of due north. Thus, there certainly are dates and (north) latitudes where on those days and at those locations the Sun will rise exactly in the northeast. (Similar arguments might be made about southern latitudes, but that wasn't what you tried erroneously to dismiss.) [Back to school for me indeed! - Dave] This Post's PopularityCourtesy of Instapundit. (The Gallery, Movies, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets)
Utopian Picnic: 1936
... food for Fourth of July celebration at Delta Cooperative Farm settled by evicted sharecroppers from Arkansas, organized in 1935 by ... writer and reformer." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. That Haircut Mom, who was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2018 - 11:57am -

July 1936. "Hillhouse, Mississippi. Girls with food for Fourth of July celebration at Delta Cooperative Farm settled by evicted sharecroppers from Arkansas, organized in 1935 by Sherwood Eddy, a New York writer and reformer." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. That HaircutMom, who was born in 1930, had a haircut like the girl on the right for most of her childhood. "How I hated that haircut!" she'd always say when looking at old pictures. That was one of few styles for little girls during the Great Depression. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange, Kids, Rural America)
Oxydol: 1942
... FSA Camelback Farms." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Soapstone Washtub When I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2009 - 7:24am -

March 1942. Phoenix, Arizona. "Washday at the FSA Camelback Farms." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Soapstone WashtubWhen I was a kid in the 40's, we had one of these dual tubs in our basement. The water faucet and soap dish were the same also. They probably weighed 300-400 pounds. Three years ago, my wife and I had our kitchen counters made frome this stone. It weighs 20 pounds per square foot. Cute but not too brightWe had a tub ringer washer in the back yard under a pole shed in the early 50's. I of course being a 4 or 5 year old boy was fascinated by it .Mom would leave it unattended once in a while and I would take advantage by seeing what I could put through the rollers (mostly blades of grass, weeds, and I tried a cat once. The cat was not amused and scratched me up pretty bad before he made his escape). Several times I caught my arm in the rollers.I would start screaming and she would come running out and hit the release and pull me free. Wish I could tell you it only happened once. Wringer Pain!My grandmother used to roll her big tub washer out on the big front porch to do the laundry. Like Fanhead, I loved to put things through the wringer too -- and got caught at least once. I still remember how much that hurt -- some 60 years ago! How did we all manage to live through machines like this? Soapstone or concrete?The house I grew up in had a double sink like those in the picture (and I can remember the wringer washer too). Ours though was concrete and when it (and the wringer washer) got replaced, we knocked out the center partition, buried it in the back yard, and had a beautiful goldfish and lily pond for all of the years we lived there. Oxydol in actionIf you want to see Oxydol in action, there's a fantastic film from the Prelinger Archive. You'll note that this woman is much prettier than the actress housewife in the film. Washday workoutWho needs aerobics classes. No wonder that generation was thinner -- from real work. Ironer LadyMy mother had an electric mangle. It cut down on the ironing (for seven children and a college prof husband). She was very careful to not just turn it off but unplug it and stow the cord away when she was done. Little pitchers have prying fingers. Thanks, FanheadI had forgotten about the quick release on the wringer, but I can't say I ever got caught. However, I do remember my mother had a washing machine on the back porch powered by a gasoline motor -- probably late 1940s. About the same time, my uncle owned a dry cleaning business. There were some awesome and frightful machines in there as well. Washday TalesSmall brown bottle of Clorox bleach on shelf behind the lady. I grew up with every Monday being washday. ALL DAY. First load was delicate whites, then regular whites, followed by colored clothes, with Daddy's overalls last. Rugs were *dead last.* Two best tales: before I knew the washing pecking order, I once let my 1960s madras shirt ("guaranteed to bleed") share the washer with Daddy's overalls. For about three weeks, Dad had pale pink striped Big Smith overalls . . . One day, toward the end of the washing cycle, Daddy asked if I would wash the gunny sacks he used on his fishing trips. Let them wash for about a half hour and then put them through the wringer into the rinse tub. The last one would NOT go through the wringer -- it took about three or four tries of raising up the wringers to accommodate it. When I threw the sacks over the fence to dry, a small bullhead fell out -- with a distinct curve to it! My mother had one of these tooIn the early 70s. I remember that when we finally got a real washing machine (and given my dad's talent at frittering away money on worthless doodads, that was an event), Mom dragged the wringer washer into the back yard and smashed it up with a hammer so that nobody would ever be forced to use it again. She hated that thing with the fire of a thousand suns. I remember her taking two jobs so that we could afford modern appliances, and my dad whining all the while that "the old stuff is good enough and you're just being picky." Of course he never did a load of laundry or washed a dish in his life. Trapped in my own mindsetMy first thought on seeing this was, "Wow. That's a LOT of pasta!" Modern TechnologyLooks like there is an "EASY" button on the front of the roller section, wonder why she is not using it? [That could be truer than you think. Easy was an early manufacturer of washing machines. The round tub in the foreground might be an example of the Easy SpinDrier. - Dave] Those Sinks!We also had those same double sinks in our farmhouse "utility room." Long after my mother got a modern washer the sinks were still put to good use. Even though I was barely tall enough to reach into the sinks, it was my job each day to stand on a wooden stool near the sink and wash the dozens of metal pieces (some with sharp edges) that made up the attachments to the motorized cream separator. The big sinks were used to soak my dad's greasy clothes, to wash the dog, and the most fun of all was that my brother and I got to use the sinks simultaneously for our baths. I remember the sinks had washboard ridges in the slanted walls. Speaking of the fire of a thousand sunsYou all are going on about the washing, but my first thought was "Ugh, living in Phoenix before air conditioning." Even with A/C it's pretty unbearable-- it's supposed to be 114 this weekend. Those poor, poor people. (And don't believe that "but it's a dry heat" nonsense -- so's an oven) Soap FlakesAnybody remember the Oxydol competitor back then that my mom bought called Lux? There used to be an hour-long broadcast Sunday nights from Hollywood, "Lux Radio Theater," that featured big-name movie stars. It was always a fight because it finished late and we couldn't listen 'cause Monday morning came by early for school. Oxydol taught me to read.According to my mother, the big O on the Oxydol box caught my attention when I was about 3 years old. She explained how that big round thing stood for the letter O, and how each of the other things stood for other parts of the word. From then on I started looking at other packages and learning more letters and words. Wringers, sticks and Oxydol!That box of Oxydol brings back memories of my childhood! I can still see my mom cursing that wringer washer. I grew up in rural Oregon in the 1950s. Saturday was washday and I was assigned to help my mother. To this day I can still see her with a stick forcing things through the wringer and her telling me how dangerous it was. She would cuss like a sailor, and sometimes had a cigerette hanging from her lips. In the meantime I would run outside so she couldn't see me laugh until it hurt. Precious memories! Amos n' OxyThe commercial power of Oxydol was demonstrated by its being the sponsor of the long-running No. 1 radio program of the era, "Amos n' Andy." Haircut the hard way My stepmother got her waist-length hair caught in the electric wringer as a child. Ripped a big patch of scalp right off of her head. She said it was so traumatic that she cut her hair short after that and never wore it long again. About Lux soap: When I told a friend of mine that I was going to name my daughter Lucy, she asked me what the name meant, and when I said that it was from the Latin for "light" -- lux -- she decided that Lux would be a great name for a girl and lobbied very hard to get me to use it. I told her that anyone over a certain age who met my child would think "soap flakes," which was not exactly the effect I was hoping for. I guess I could have named her sister Palm Olive! Wringer washerMy Mother got her arm caught in one of these at around this time in the early 40's. As she's gotten older, the residual effects of this have become more visible. You can actually see where her little arm was flattened out. Kind of runs a chill up your spine to be honest. I love the Oxydol packaging btw. Through the wringerI worked for Maytag in Newton, Iowa. We produced millions of wringer washers but they didn't look quite as primitive as this one. We built them with electric or gasoline motors so they could be used out where electricity hadn't reached yet. Seems so long ago. Our parents for the most part worked much harder than we do. That type of wringer was a luxury for them. Thanks for the memories. Generic ever sinceMy late grandmother had generic terms for most things -- any cooler was a Frigidaire, and any laundry product was Oxydol! My mother's handMy mother ran her hand through the wringer back some time in the 50s. She started to panic. Fortunately, my grandmother was there, and she calmly ran the wringer backwards to get Mother's hand out. But she still has a white spot covering the back of her hand. Tubs bring back memoriesWe lived on our grandparents' farm in the late 50s. They had a utility porch with tubs like this. There was always a bar of Lava soap in the soap dish, which Grandpa used to wash up, when he came in for dinner. My sister and I always begged to be able to take our baths in the stone tubs (actually, I probably did, since she was barely old enough to talk at the time.) Once in a while, our request was granted. I vaguely remember a wringer washer on the porch, too, but I wasn't allowed out there when it was in use. (The Gallery, Russell Lee)
Junkscape: 1935
... Large-format nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Uncle Mortie's Old Line ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/13/2009 - 11:29am -

November 1935. "Auto dump near Easton, Pennsylvania." Large-format nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Uncle Mortie's Old LineAs my dear departed uncle used to say whenever we passed a car junkyard, "Wow! That was one heck of an accident!" ScavengingYeaaaa indeed. They don't all seem to be wrecks -- just past their time. The tires seem to have been spoken for but you just might find a flower vase or two. RonnieA lot of good street rod material there. I was hoping to see a '32 -'34 Ford. Oh yeaaaaaa!Wouldn't you like to walk about there? Small FortuneToday those cars in that condition would be worth a small fortune. Did you notice how none of the cars are totaled like you would see in the salvage yards of today? I'm shockedGiven that the picture was taken in 1935, I'm shocked at how those cars don't seem to be very old (mostly late '20s to early '30s). Somehow, I doubt this junkyard survived the WWII scrap metal drives. Death by DesignBy 1935 the new cars looked more similar to what we own today than to those shown here. I know -- we had a '35 Stude. These old models became junk -- as you can see here. PotentialIn 1935 that was an auto dump. 74 years on that place would be a Rodder's Heaven, and would make the yard owner some pretty good scratch. Doubt we'll say the same about our daily drivers decades from now. They make them better todayMost of these seem to be 1924 - 1931 models. I'm sure that many of them are here because they simply wore out. It's not true that they were built better in the old days as per the old adage "they don't make 'em like they used to." Nowadays a car is hardly broken in at 125,000 miles - in the old days, you'd be very lucky to get 60,000. Still, I'd like to have my pick of a few of these to restore or make the hot rod I never finished back in the early 60's. Hopelessly obsoleteThe driver of a 10-year-old car in 1935 had a vehicle made hopelessly obsolete by major changes in the construction of automobiles, mainly the advent of the all-steel body -- the chassis for most cars in the teens and 1920s was a wooden frame with the metal bits bolted on. Which would rot and flex over time. And then there were the roofs. General Motors introduced the all-metal roof ("Turret Top") around 1935. Up till then, the roofs on closed cars were usually painted canvas stretched tight over a wooden frame. The manufacturers had experimented with sheet metal roofs, but they tended to resonate like a drumhead at certain speeds, which made for a lot of noise and vibration. The answer was giant (and expensive) stamping machines, which made steel roofs that were slightly domed to keep their stiffness. This led in a few short years to a complete reversal in the sales market for open and closed cars. Whereas open cars with folding tops had once been the norm and closed cars with roll-up windows tended to be the more expensive models, the all-steel body enabled the masses to enjoy the advantages of the sealed passenger compartment -- roll-up windows, heated interiors, protection from rain and snow. Other changes included steel instead of wooden wheels, as well as smaller wheels and lower clearance made possible by the construction of thousands of miles of paved highway. Under the hood there were higher-compression engines made possible by the development of higher-octane gasoline, resulting in better acceleration and fuel economy. The Life SpanCars now last much longer, are safer, and more reliable. That's one of the reasons that modern car makers are having so many money woes. The average length of time a car is owned by the initial buyer is now estimated at over 9 years. People just don't see the need to replace "the old buggy" every few years like they would back in the 1950s. Joe's Auto Graveyard Other places on the web identify this photo as Joe's Auto Graveyard on Route 22. Walker Evans took this photo on November 8, 1935. Field of Dream CarsI bet there are car buffs and hot rodders out there who dream of coming upon a field like that. My Brother's Old LineWhenever WE passed an auto junkyard my brother would say that's where I took driving lessons. Field of DreamsPeople dreamed of owning those cars when they were new, and we dream of owning them now. The only time they were junk was when the picture was taken. Junks.....No, fajna sprawa....szkoda ze nie mozna bylo ich zachowac dla przyszlosci Google translation: No, the cool .... the damage that it could not be the preserve for the future. In other wordsThe first word is misspelled, it should be "nu" -- "Well, that's a fine state of affairs ... what a shame that they couldn't have been stored for posterity." Real Gold MineTo stumble upon something like that nowdays would be better than, or as good as, having a small gold mine. Just think what collectors/restorers would pay for some of those. Have a Great Day! New desktop wallpaper.Oh I love those old cars. I am a Hot Rodder period. I'm salivating right now to think what I could be doing with those cars. Especially what looks like a 1928 or 1929 Model A Roadster in the middle. Thanks for sharing these images. Boneyard CensusAfter a bit of research and zooming, some of my guesses 1928 Chevrolet Coach (2) 1923 Dodge coupe 1927 Chevrolet coupe 24-25 Buick sedan 26-27 Ford Tudor 24-25 Ford coupe (in a light color with lettering on it) 23-27 Ford Fordor sedan 23-24 Chevrolet Coach 25-26 Hudson pickup conversion 24-27 Dodge roadster (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Landscapes, Walker Evans)
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