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Detphoco: 1903
... Powder Proceedings of the Annual Meeting North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association 1907 Amolin Deodorant Powder ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 4:33pm -

New York circa 1903. "Detroit Photographic Co., 229 Fifth Avenue." Another of Detroit Photo's Manhattan stores. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Toilet issues"Toilet" refers to general dressing, grooming and hygiene, not to what we call "toilet", as in potty. The act or process of dressing or grooming oneself. Dress; attire; costume. The cleansing of a body area as part of a surgical or medical procedure. Archaic: A dressing table. From the French "toilette" for clothes bag, from Old French tellette, diminutive of teile, cloth. Special toilet euphemismsAmolin's most common use was as a menstrual deodorant. And just up the streetThe Museum of Sex is apparently at 233 Fifth Avenue now. http://www.museumofsex.com/ DO NOT go in there!The Brunswick appears to be the opposite of a no-tell hotel. Military protocolSure the General begins it, but the grunt work is usually done by the Privates. The chap with the bowlerKEEP ON TRUCKIN' Forget Abercrombie and FitchI want a Fullencamp and McGonigal sweatshirt. Be wary of generalswho speak in the third person. Fullencamp and McGonigalThe only gentile tailors in New York. Sign of the timesWho could have guessed that this innocuous example of artistic expression was an omen of things to come, a visual plague that would morph from desecration to gallery art? PaleograffitiologyEvidently Kilroy's dad was here. Rumor had it... that the General was a real stickler about making the privates in his outfit stand at attention. Kilroy was thereIn full profile this time; maybe he started peeking over fences in WWII so he wouldn't get shot at? Amolin Deodorant Powder Proceedings of the Annual Meeting North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association 1907 Amolin Deodorant Powder Amolin Chemical Company. The label bears this statement concerning Amolin: "Destroys all odors of perspiration." "Wherever it touches it instantly deodorizes. Its wonderful healing and deodorizing properties combined with absolute harmlessness make it infinitely superior to any preparation hitherto sold. Amolin powder relies chiefly for its antiseptic, deodorizing, and therapeutic potency upon a coal-tar derivative of the phenol hydrocarbon series, which differs from carbolic acid in being agreeable in odor, healthy, and absolutely harmiess." The analysis of Amolin shows it to contain about 29% of boric acid and a small quantity of thymol. Alum and zinc, which are frequently used in preparations of this kind, were absent. No salicylic acid, phenol, or any similar organic substance except thymol, was found present. The statement on the label evidently is intended to refer to thymol, but as there is only such a small quantity of thymol present, the antiseptic properties of the powder must be due to the boric acid alone CoincidentallyThe Museum of Sex is across 27th from where the General's specialty was located. The Graffiti MenaceAs a lifelong New Yorker, I find this to be a fantastic photo. The highlight for me is the little chalk graffito on the wall of a man in profile. Watch out, New York! This is how it starts! Legend has itthat the Brunswick was a hard place to get a room and the General was a real stiff! Analog AdsThe signs are awesome. We have electronic billboards everywhere now, but there is something to be said about old-style advertising. Before ViagraThere was Amolin, Bénédictine and the Hotel Brunswick. Vandals!I love the graffiti on the wall. Very well executed. Graffiti ArtistLooks as if the building to the left has been tagged. OK, it's probably chalk. But if someone doesn't get some water and a rag on it next it'll be soap on the windows! HmmExactly what are those "Special Toilet Uses"? (The Gallery, Bicycles, DPC, NYC, Stores & Markets)
Powder Monkey: 1865
... New Hampshire , Federal depot ship off Charleston, South Carolina." Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Faster than a ... battery of 74 guns, she was a sister of the USS North Carolina, probably our best ship of the line of the age of sail, according to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:17pm -

Circa 1864-65. "Powder monkey by gun of U.S.S. New Hampshire, Federal depot ship off Charleston, South Carolina." Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Faster than a speeding bulletThese young boys or teens were part of the military in the age of sail. They were chosen for their speed and earned little more than a cot and food. Old for his ageHe's probably 12, but looks 30. Boarding axeNote the boarding axe fitted into a bracket on the cheek of the gun carriage. Boarding axes found their main use on sailing vessels in chopping through fallen rigging to help clear the decks. Normally they were worn in axe holsters on the belts of sailors. I have seen this picture many times, but this is the first time I have noticed the boarding axe in that bracket. Shorpy of the Age of SailThis cocky kid, is, in his way, not unlike Shorpy -- a youngster working in an adult world sharing the same dangers as the grownups. CutlassesThose cutlasses on the bulkhead were not there for decoration. En garde!Is that a selection of swords ready for action on the wall behind the boy? Even for 1865, they seem like relics of the past. The Good Old DaysWhen ships were made of wood and men made of steel. Monster GunI noticed how big the gun is and also that there didn't seem to be a rear wheel on the carriage (although it's possible it was concealed behind the boy's legs). So I looked up New Hampshire in the official "Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships ("DANFS") and found some neat details: "The 9-inch [Dahlgren] broadside guns were mounted on the two-wheel Marsilly carriage rather than the four-wheel common carriage...." and also the shells weighed over 72 pounds! The boy must not only have been quick on his feet but also have been strong as a horse. The absence of scoring on the deck from the non-wheeled carriage, and the fact that the breechings and gun tackles are tied up out of the way of the holystone party to facilitate washing down decks shows that on a depot ship the gun was mainly a decorative object. I wonder if they ever had live fire drills or if they just practiced running the guns in and out? Our hero probably kept the elevating screw clean and well oiled in addition to his ammunition supply duties. New Hampshire, a 2600 ton ship of the line authorized way back in 1816 and kept under construction as a means of preservation until the Civil War, was armed only with four 100-pounders and six 9-inch Dahlgrens. Designed for a traditional battery of 74 guns, she was a sister of the USS North Carolina, probably our best ship of the line of the age of sail, according to Chapelle's "American Sailing Navy." Bag O' ShotLooks like a load of grape shot at the ready on the upper deck above the touch hole of the gun. Somewhere in AppalachiaA worried mother sewed that heart and border on what appears not to be a uniform top, and sent it off to her little man, far away from home, hoping that the top would help keep him warm and the heart would remind him that she loved and missed him. Pleasant SurpriseAt first glance I thought this to be a later photograph as it doesn't have the "look" of most Civil War era photos shown here. This is quite a piece of work in my opinion. And that young man.... and man he is .... is timeless. Wonderful. Jaunty and jadedLooks like he's thinking, "Okay, take your picture then move along." But the rakish angle of his tam and the heart embroidered on his chest belie his tough-guy swagger! I imagine he'd seen a lot for one so young. I "heart" his shirtSuch sweet embroidery. A going-away gift from Mama? C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerreA proud and handsome ship the USS Hampshire may have been but sadly in 1865 she was obsolescent. In 1859 France had built the first ironclad of the modern age, the La Gloire. By 1865 the major nations of the world were building ironclad screw or steamships as fast as they could. He looks confidentand well fed. Brave lad! Old CutlassThe cutlass was an official weapon in United States Navy stores until 1949. The last new model was the Model 1917 which is a popular collector's item. USN cutlasses made during World War II were the Model 1941, but they were only a slightly modified M 1917. In the Korean War, a Marine NCO was reported to have killed an enemy with a cutlass at Inchon. The Recruit Chief Petty Officer for each division at US Navy Recruit Training Command is still issued a cutlass. Change is slow in the NavyMany have mentioned the cutlasses, and other items as being dated for 1865, but they remained until after the Spanish American war of 1898. Hundreds of years at sea of crews having to repel boarders was well ingrained in any navy, and as steam and steel slowly developed over the years few things where given up on. Sails lasted for many decades after the advent of steam. Change was not only dragged down by traditions, but budgets as well, and also the new technologies were prone to constant breakdowns. Sailors could sew Back in those days sailors would embroider their uniforms themselves. You were considered salty if you had embroidery on your uniform and had it tailored just right. I am guessing he has a heart on his jumper top because he is BRAVE!!! Most sailors could sew, if not for the simple fact that they had to repair the sails and their own uniforms. If you get a chance read "My Twenty Years in the Navy" from the Naval Institute Press. Parrott RifleThe cannon in the picture is a Parrott rifle. A Dahlgren gun looked more like a Coke bottle. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War, Kids)
Military R.R.: 1865
... acquired new by the USMRR on February 18, 1863. Sent to North Carolina in 1865 to work on the USMRR, it was still in the USMRR inventory in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 8:53pm -

City Point, Virginia, circa 1865. "Gen. J.C. Robinson" and other locomotives of the U.S. Military Railroad. From views of the main Eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Robinson ahead by a nose Seems that the Lt. Genl. Grant is running a close second. The named locomotives are from the Wm. Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Mass. The engine ahead of both seems unnamed. Might be an "American" locomotive or a Wm. Mason. LocationThe terrain and the enormity of the facilities in place makes me almost certain that this was taken at City Point, Virginia, the Union's main supply depot for the area at the time. [Another clue would be the first three words of the caption. - Dave] Who's DrivingThe engineer is definitely not Buster Keaton. Any ideawhat the black things are in the upper right hand portion of the picture? When I looked at the blown up picture it looked a little bit like a lot of black socks hanging on a clothesline but that's obviously incorrect. [It's a scratch in the emulsion. - Dave] A bigger nameHard for me to see, but appears to be "Lt Gen. US Grant" on loco behind the Robinson machine. I am amazed at the hillside, ships and living conditions of the period. Grant's Iron HorseSaturday we saw Grant's horse "Cincinnati;" today we see Grant's Iron Horse, "Lt. Genl. Grant," on the left. Union IroncladA turret of a Union ironclad can be seen in the background over the top of the pier-side warehouse. This could be the USS Onondaga, which was stationed at City Point to prevent Confederate ironclads from breaking out of the James River and attacking the supply base. The problem is that the USS Onondaga had two turrets and I only see one. Grant and Lee There is a photo so similar to this one in the book "Grant and Lee" by William A. Frassanito that it must have been taken about the same time. It is in the City Point chapter view 8. The tents and buildings on top of the bluff were part of the Railroad Hospital. The wharf shown is a replacement for one that was blown up by saboteurs on August 9,1864. The explosion killed 43 laborers and according to Mr. Frassanito narrowly missed General Grant who was in front of his headquarters tent at the time. His books have photos taken during the Civil War and then the same scene in modern times. IroncladIn regard to the comment by Excel08 about the ironclad. Also according to Mr. Frassanito there would be about 200 vessels anchored off of City Point on any given day by the fall of 1864 including the ironclad ram "Atlanta" with one stack. Poor LightingAmazing that all the headlights on these locomotives were a kerosene lamp in a box with a magnifying lens. Spectre-visionNifty ghost in front of main tent! Hillside erosionAttention troopers! Gen. Grant has authorized the issuing of hazard pay due to the hillside erosion and the location of the outhouse. It is further recommended that only those soldiers who know how to swim should make use of the facilitiesafter dark. Buster Isn't ThereI'll bet he is out visiting Annabelle Lee. InterestingAlmost as interesting as the locomotives are the view of the ships in the harbor. OopsHow did I not see that? Boy, is that embarrassing. Hey youget back to work. 25 years of progressIt amazes me to think that these beautifully turned out engines are only one generation away from the dawn of American railroading (think Tom Thumb and iron-plated wooden tracks). A person born in 1820 grew up with horse, foot or canal-boat travel, when 50 miles was a good day's journey. During their adult years, they saw the rise of well-established railroads that could travel fifty miles per hour. This, together with the telegraph, was the dawn of the "shrinking world." The Third LocomotiveThe locomotive moving forward between the "Lt. Genl. Grant" and the "Genl. J.C. Robinson" is the "Governor Nye." This 4-4-0 was built by the Richard Norris & Son locomotive works in Philadelphia, and was acquired new by the USMRR on February 18, 1863. Sent to North Carolina in 1865 to work on the USMRR, it was still in the USMRR inventory in April 1866. Another photo taken within minutes of this one shows it in the yard. Watch that last step...I don't think that cliff-side staircase meets any imaginable safety regulation. Bridge Of Beanpoples & Cornstalks General J.C. Robinson 4-4-0 (Construction # 124) Formerly known as the USMRR locomotive General Haupt and acquired new by USMRR on January 17, 1863. Renamed General J.C. Robinson. Sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1865. http://www.nvcc.edu/home/csiegel/USMRR%20Locomotives.htm "That Man Haupt has built a bridge over Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and upon my word gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and cornstalks." Monitor identityThe monitor noted by others is most likely a Passaic-class ship and probably the Lehigh. The primary assumption is that the ship is perpendicular to the line of sight (as are the other ships). In that case comparing the monitor's funnel (tall thin light-colored tube to the left of the turret) to the turret, they are signifiicantly closer spaced than would be the funnel-turret distance for a Canonicus-class ship, the only other type which fits what is visible. This marks it as a Passaic. To identify it as the Lehigh is the stretch. At least three Passaics were known to have been in the City Point area at this time; the Lehigh, Patapsco, and Sangamon. The Patapsco and Sangamon were both confusingly identified as having a white ring at the top of the turret/base of the rifle shield. There is no ring visible on the turret of this monitor. The Lehigh was all black. O Scale model Civil War model railroadBernie Kempenski is building a model railroad with these kinds of locomotives, etc. His is dated 1862. http://usmrr.blogspot.com (The Gallery, Civil War, Railroads)
Shoofly Hangers: 1939
July 1939. Shoofly, North Carolina. "Son of tenant farmer hanging up strung tobacco inside the barn." ... 
 
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)
American Beauty: 1940
July 1940. "Near Shawboro, North Carolina. Group of Florida migrants on their way to Cranberry [i.e., Cranbury], ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/01/2021 - 12:51pm -

July 1940. "Near Shawboro, North Carolina. Group of Florida migrants on their way to Cranberry [i.e., Cranbury], New Jersey, to pick potatoes." Medium-format safety negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Coals to Newcastle...... Potatoes to Cranberry. Cranberry?Hmm. . . strikes me that they are probably going to Cranbury, NJ - I don't know of any town called Cranberry in NJ. Though we grow a lot of them here! ShirtsleevesThese people didn't have a lot of clothing, and what they did have was a bit worn down, but really well made. Look at the shirtsleeve on the man to the right. That's not cheap stuff. I wish I could help the young lady fix the front of her dress. And she's got a ring on her finger. Betrothed? BaldThese people don't look like they can afford tires with rubber on the tread. I imagine they spent a lot of time patching tubes and mounting tires. Oh, my....A somber photograph, but such a beautiful, beautiful face. This is one of my favorite Shorpy photos ever. They are also..."Pledged to Drive Safely" on their way to New Jersey to pick potatoes. Obviously, a very hard working family too. License plate toppers like this one are a very valuable collectible in the automobilia market. Sentimental journeySuch an evocative picture. That beautiful, soulful face. What were her hopes and dreams? And did any of them come true? One of my very favorite Shorpy pictures. It almost makes me cry. Who are you.My God, so beautiful. Did you know, sweetheart? Did you realize? In the next century, we do. American Beauty: 1940and the beauty of it all is she could well still be alive. Wouldn't it be a hoot if she posted here? GorgeousWhat a beautiful young lady. She is still full of hope for the future. I wonder what became of her? The car1934 Studebaker Dictator, if anyone asks. I agreeI think the comments reflect my feeling perfectly. It is really a very moving photograph, and she is absolutely beautiful. Perfect 10The prefix on the license plate indicates the car is from Broward County, probably Fort Lauderdale, Pompano or Oakland Park. WowThis is just one of those pictures you want to stare at forever. Her beauty is classic. La GiocondaA "Mona Lisa" smile.... Beautiful GirlI don't think the ring on her finger is an engagement ring. My guess is it's the one pretty thing she had and she put it on the finger which could hold it. I am curious though--how many of the sharecroppers would have been drafted into the army in another year or so? Did they return to their former lives? Did the women sharecroppers find work in munitions factories? Blossom DearieThis girl is like a gorgeous rose that has suddenly bloomed in a most unexpected place. LovelyBut considering the times, destined to look like the older, tired eyed lady in the background. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Jack Delano, Pretty Girls)
Seven Up: 1942
... especially enjoy visits to my current and former homes in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Maine, and Providence, and anything by Marion ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/26/2022 - 1:25pm -

        Happy Valentine's Day from Shorpy, who made his very first post 15 years ago today, back in 2007. John Vachon shot eight exposures of this fellow in Grand Island, Nebraska, in May 1942, and none of them has a caption, so you'll just have to use your imagination. View full size. Time Flies and then gets blurry ...Only 15 years! Feels like at least 20 plus to me. I found the site early on, finally signed up a few years later and have enjoyed almost every post. Dicey InspirationThat the big dice begat the idea for Giant Jenga is unlikely but the dice would be easier to tote. Curiouser and curiouserMany years ago, as a neophyte blogger, I Googled something like, "best blogs to read" ... and a shortish list popped up that purported to comprise the absolutely essential blogs of the day. Besides Shorpy, I remember only two others: The Everywhereist, and one whose name I'd rather not mention. The only one I have visited more than once is Shorpy; I took one look and was hooked, and yes, it is essential to me. Much appreciation, Dave, for the knowledge and hours of enjoyment you have added to my life with this great work. As for today's photo, I don't know from giant dice games but our mystery man does have a fistful of folding money. Maybe he's betting his shadow that with the right combination, the door will open. Mr. Vachon must have had some extra time on his hands. Open open openThe early combination lock. Thanks Dave for the past 15! You think those dice are bigYou ought to see his windshield. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!Love may be a crapshoot, but Shorpy is a sure thing. For me it's been 13 years 29 weeks at the Shorpy table. Virtual MonopolyHe's trying to get to "Park Place" in a game of Virtual Monopoly? Hang OnYou ever think that maybe the dice are normal size, and the man being shown is actually only about a foot tall? Some government experiment gone awry in Nebraska, The "Grand Island Project" or something akin? Okay, maybe not. My proposed captionsSweets Bayne of Grand Island, Nebraska says he wants the cops to catch him playing craps. Sweets Bayne of Grand Island, Nebraska ordered loaded dice; didn't read the fine print. Sweets Bayne of Grand Island, Nebraska has to stand on his money when it's his turn to roll. A few years too early, but . . . Our mystery man looks like Richard Widmark as the horrible Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death" (1947). Happy Anniversary and ThanksYou can't imagine (or maybe you can) how much I enjoy Shorpy. It's my first stop every morning, and I especially enjoy visits to my current and former homes in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Maine, and Providence, and anything by Marion Post Wolcott. And along the way, I have learned a lot of history, geography, and photography. Teneha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair!The old Houston, East and West Texas rail line ran through Shelby County, Texas and the tiny hamlets of Teneha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair were all stops along the line. The conductors' alliterative calls announcing the train's stops were picked up by craps shooters the same way "eighter from Decatur, the county seat of Wise" was a popular Texas-based craps call when rolling an 8. According to lore, the craps call was diffused widely during WWII and Tex Ritter, son of nearby Panola County, had a hit song that mentioned the conductors' call. Happy Birthday, Shorpy ... I just checked my profile and found I've been coming to this site 14 years, 17 weeks. That's a lot. Thanks Dave, Tterrace and team. Goober Pea Lucky Us!¡Felicidades! Happy Anniversary! And many thanks for all these years of wonderfully curated, engrossing photos. Dice memoriesI spent nearly 40 years teaching elementary PE and I used oversized, homemade dice exactly like these regularly in all sorts of games and activities. The eight foot 4x4 i chopped up way back when was a super investment. I sure miss being around those kids. They kept me young. And a slightly belated Happy Anniversary to Shorpy and the whole crew that makes it such an interesting and essential daily stop for me. Here's to 15 more! Shorpy was built on more than a roll of the dice.As my father used to say while shooting dice, "Papa needs a new pair of shoes!" Adding my thanks to Dave for setting up and running Shorpy. Without Dave’s wit, knowledge, and wisdom, it would be just another “vintage photos” site. To those who have ever said or done something dumb and felt the slash of Dave’s quirt of wrath, stand proud. You have earned the right to wear Shorpy’s bloodied but unbowed, golden badge of honor. Combining all elements, Shorpy is an outstanding site that keeps people coming back for more. Thanks very much Dave, colleagues and contributors and Happy Birthday Shorpy! [Aw shucks. Also: The "role" of the dice is to roll. - Dave] Ha! Ya got me Dave - putting on my golden badge. Role/roll now corrected. FloatingMy first thought was "Guys and Dolls" ... Happy anniversary!Wishing you happines and joy from running shorpy. Best regards. Javier Happy belated anniversary!I look forward, every evening, to the Shorpy post! For me, going on 7 years. Essentially, a time machine to look back at interesting times. I’ve learned so much from Shorpy in these 7 years. Thank you Dave for a wonderful daily stop for all of us! Shorpy's tenthTo celebrate Shorpy’s fifteenth birthday, I went back to the post that celebrated the tenth birthday. I invite you all to go visit and read the comments from back then. Amidst all the nostalgia of revisiting half a decade ago, I must confess to a feeling of sadness at reading the names of commenters who no longer appear. Hooked on ShorpyI don't know if I have been a fan of the Shorpy site for 15 years but I have sure been a fan for a long time. Best Wishes to both the administrators and the other fans of Shorpy. I hope you have, at least, another 15 years of success. Always a day lateAnd $1.36 short (inflation adjusted). Happy Birthday Shorpy, Ken, Dave, tterrace and all of us! Shorpy remains sui generis! Thanks CommishBobI hope it's OK to say a thank you to CommishBob for what he posted to this thread. His post touched me, and I just want to thank you Commish for devoting your career to the youngsters. They no doubt loved you. Thanks for the Memories ... :)Dave, Thanks for all the wonderful pics you have enlightened us with over these 15 years ... And then there's your wit too. HAHA. (The Gallery, Bizarre, John Vachon, Slender Man)
Road House: 1956
1956. "Segregation in South Carolina. Separate and unequal recreation facilities." I've looked at hundreds ... (Colin Powell) Booze by the Drink I grew up in North Carolina about this time, and made frequent trips to Ocean Drive, SC (known as OD to the intiated), which is now called North Myrtle Beach. Liquor was not available by the drink in the Carolinas ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/25/2008 - 12:51am -

1956. "Segregation in South Carolina. Separate and unequal recreation facilities." I've looked at hundreds of photos from this assignment and would have to agree -- the white folks in general seem to be having a lot less fun in their hopelessly boring bars, uptight country clubs and over-chlorinated swimming pools. Eventually they got wise. Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White. View full size. What's on the Jukebox?I'd love to hear what they're dancing to! Who said what?I am assuming that:"Segregation in South Carolina. Separate and unequal recreation facilities." is from Bourke-White. Who is the author of the rest of the statement? Trent Lott, maybe? Hopefully it is not Shorpy. Although the statement, "I've looked at hundreds of photos..." might be read as a simple statement about the levity shown in them, it also carries the bigoted message, "The darkies so much enjoy their place!" [Oh brother. - Dave] AskanceThe woman in the upper left is looking askance at the photographer. I wonder what she's thinking Bourke-White will do with the photo. Reminds me of "Hairspray"All I can think of is the scene in Hairspray (the original one, if you please!) where the kids are dancing in Motormouth Maybelle's record shop. Cool shot! Family MattersThe guy in the skimmer looks like Steve Urkel Looks like funLooks like a fun place to hang out! Is the man on the right wearing a hearing aid? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with earbud technology from the 50's. Interesting tank top shape under his shirt, at least to modern eyes. EarphoneThe first Japanese transistor radios didn't arrive here until 1957. The fellow on the right, with the earpiece, may be listening to a Zenith AM receiver priced at about $75., a sizable sum then. Perhaps he was wearing a hearing aid, but I doubt it. It wasn't until the early 1960s that the popularly priced Asian radios first hit the market, priced under $30. The first Panasonic transistor radio, circa 1959, marketed under the brand "National" was a fairly large piece, that worked on 4 C cells. It sold for $59. The competition was a Sylvania slightly larger and much heavier. It was powered by 2 batteries an "A" and a "B" battery. If I remember correctly the batteries sold for around $40, the radio around $79. We had a lot of sales resistance because of the Japanese manufacturer. A lot of people still objected to the Japanese products even though the war had ended 15 years before. When Mitsubishi marketed their first TV's in this country, the brand was MGA, the spector of the Mitsubishi Zero fighter airplane and their heavy bombers were fresh in the memories of Americans. However, their lower pricing and acceptable quality gave them the foothold they needed and their lower production costs was the beginning of the end of American electronics production. Early iPodLove the earbud on the man in the straw hat. Since there is music playing on the jukebox, do you suppose he is listening to the ball game on his transistor radio? What song is playing?No one knows, but my guess is Little Richard's Rip It Up. I'm also guessing from the poster on the wall that the photo was taken somewhere in Greenville. I dance quite a lotI dance quite a lot, so this photo really grabs me. The kid in the middle is leading with his right hand which probably means he's got a few moves in his bag. Plus, he's just using his fingertips. Sign of a good lead. I can kinda sorta imagine how these people are moving just by their body positions, but I'd really love to know what kind of music they're dancing to. Looks like some variant of your typical rock and roll jitterbug that has a myriad of styles. Love to see what's on the jukebox list. I don't see any ads for liquor, just food. So I suppose this could have been a roadhouse, but without any drinks on the bar there, it just might been a little cafe on a weekend night with a well stocked jukebox. Someone from South Carolina might weigh in on whether they had dry counties. Hearing AidWhy couldn't it be a hearing aid? The guy looks to be of an age that could suggest he is a WW2 vet where in a number of circumstances he could have lost his hearing. The picture is a wonderful slice of life. Oooh, check out suave dudeOooh, check out the shoes of the suave dude with the boater. Those look like spats! I love that the men are hatted, indoors, and the women are not. These are definitely Hats of Coolness, not everyday headgear. [He's wearing two-tone wingtips. And yes, they are tres cool. - Dave] HUH?!?Bobby from New Orleans...What the He!! are you talking about??? I am just saying, I am a black man - I am assuming you are as well - and I don't see a bigoted statement in the description of this picture. It actually is a statement to the rigidity of the "established" recreation facilities. Basically from what I can tell whoever the author was was saying that the "darkies" had more fun. As my godfather once said: "people with hate in their hearts see hate wherever they look". I think maybe you should look at your heart, what you find there may surprise you... "Freedom to be your best means nothing unless you're willing to do your best." (Colin Powell) Booze by the DrinkI grew up in North Carolina about this time, and made frequent trips to Ocean Drive, SC (known as OD to the intiated), which is now called North Myrtle Beach. Liquor was not available by the drink in the Carolinas except at private clubs, and most of that probably wasn't legal. There were a number of "beer bars" and dance halls like The Pad in OD that sold beer to those 18 and over. Underage guys would find an empty beer can, take it back to the bar and ask for another. Worked for me! But many of the people in this shot look well under 18 and they spent good money too. So there were a lot of places, known as family places, that sold just soft drinks. We don't have to drink to have a good time. And this is an example of seeing a market and catering to it. Smart! ShagdanceThere were "shag dance" places in both NC and SC where the races danced together. This particular dance seemed to bring all together and still does. The AB pack and earbudThe A/B battery pack was only used in tube radios, where the high voltage was the plate voltage and the lower voltage was for the filament. Transistors have no filament, and operate at much lower voltages. Regency was the first transistor radio on the market. They came with a warning to "never under any circumstances use a meter with more than 1.5 V on the probes in this radio" that gave service people fits. Some Regency owners would not even let a serviceman check the battery voltage! Like the Regency, most of the original transistor portable radios used a NEDA 216 9V battery, although a few used two to four AA cells. $79 to $99 for a name brand 4 tube battery portable is about right. Most of the Burgess and Eveready 90/7.5 V packs for Zenith portables cost $10.00 or so and lasted 15 to 20 hours of intermittent use. The 90/1.5V "farm packs" were the same price, but lasted a bit longer. Western Auto had farm packs in a tin can for $10.95, and had the reputation of lasting much longer. That earbud is a puzzler. That style was fairly common with hearing aids, which were usually carried in a shirt pocket, but not at all common with any sort of radio. In fact, many radios had no earphone jack. While that may be a pack of smokes in the man's pocket, I don't think so. And it's too short and too narrow for any of the popular transistor radios of the era. I think it's an early one tube hearing aid with a 22.5/1.5V battery pack, since I have seen them in cases that size. Knotty PineThe paneling tongue-and-groove knotty pine. Definitely from the past. The fellow with the ear bud is wearing a hearing aid. There was a kid in junior high with me in the 50's that wore one. He had a special pocket inside his shirt to hold the power pack. If he carried it in his shirt pocket, he had to keep it buttoned to keep the power pack from falling out. I have to wear hearing aids now, and thankfully, they have come a long way. Southern NightsI worked with a guy who in the '50s was an Airborne soldier stationed in SC. He said all the white bars played only country music. If Jazz or R&B was desired you had to go to a colored establishment. Since he is white this would have caused unpleasantness. If he wore his uniform there was never any trouble. He is a Northerner. I don't know if this would have worked for a white Southerner. Each one teach one While in the service in the south, Florida, to be exact, I had, as a white northerner, no inhibitions about where I partied. Many bottle shops, liquor out front, juke joint in back, had separate facilities for the two races. The white side was mostly angry drunks looking for a fight, while the 'colored' facilities had the best music, dancing and good times. Eventually, some of the rednecks would cautiously slip inside for the good vibe. But stay away from the gals, their boyfriends wouldn't hesitate to let you know the score. (Eateries & Bars, LIFE, Margaret Bourke-White)
Three Indians: 1915
... restored model, snapped last spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. They may be a bit newer, with kick starter, no leg-power pedals, ... 3:15 AM, Victor, Iowa to Walnut, Omaha, Columbus, Kearney, North Platte, Julesburg to: July 22: 3:15 AM, Cheyenne, Wyoming to Pine ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:57am -

Washington, D.C., July 1915. "Motorcycle team, relay to Frisco." Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear (whose Indian store we saw here) and Josiah McL. Seabrook. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. California, screamin'They sure did take a circuitous route (NYC and then way up to Albany). The stretch from Reno down into Sacramento must have kept the lads awake with fear if that lap's bikes had no front brakes either. The first time I drove from Reno to Sacramento - and this was on a road they could not dream of, I-80 - one item that caught my eye was a sign, "Caution. Downgrades next 40 miles." Light fantasticThe one smart enough to put the light on his bike will win it for them. Gold mineThe guys from "Pickers" must be drooling. Maybe they could find out who these men are and see if their families have these bikes behind the barn. Safety first!At least for the fellow with the tossled hair. He has on his protective gloves! Rudimentary brakes.Emergency stops much have been pretty exciting on those old bikes- I don't think they even had front brakes. No stoppies for them! Nice!I've been sitting here soaking up this picture. Just fabulous! Great shot, great clothes, great bikes! Wish I could go for a ride with them. Thanks again Dave. Handsome BravesBeautiful bikes! These have many, many similarities to this amazingly restored model, snapped last spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. They may be a bit newer, with kick starter, no leg-power pedals, skirted fender, hand-grip clutch, an electric headlamp on the rear bike (as opposed to Prest-o-Lite [acetylene]), and "soft-tail" rear suspension. I guess any of this could have been optional equipment. DatingI believe that the date of this photo is probably 1916 and not 1926. The Indians pictured appear to be 1915 models. I believe that 1915 was the last year of the inlet over exhaust engine (which these bikes have)and the first year of the kick starter. [You are close -- the year is 1915. - Dave] World's Fastest IndianWhen you see these bikes it really is incredible that Burt Munro took a similar model, a 1920 Scout, modified it and drove it to several land speed records. In 1967, with his engine punched out to 58 cu.in. (950cc) he set a class record of 183.586 mph. To qualify he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian. The hogs of their dayLaugh at the funny horn if you like, but those bikes are Indian "standards" with 1,000-cc engines. Too bad they didn't add front brakes until 1928. Murder Inc.Maybe these fellas were part of the traveling team of hit-men for Murder Inc. They sure look like they want to kill something. a-OO-gah!Although the braking wouldn't be the greatest, at least they'd be able to clear a path with a mighty squeeze of the horn. Silent RIt was Shorpy that taught me that these are "Motocycles." 119 Hours to FriscoWashington Post, July 18, 1915. RELAY RACE TOMORROW Motorcyclists to Carry Message From Capital to Pacific. START FROM WHITE HOUSE Three Washington Men Will Cover the First Lap, From This City to Baltimore -- Expect to Make Cross-Continent Run in 119 Hours -- Secretary of War to Start Riders. With all arrangements for the transcontinental motorcycle relay race completed, the riders for the first lap of the long journey await the starter's word. The start will be made from the White House at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. They will carry a message from the President to the officials of the Panama-Pacific exposition at San Francisco. The Washington team, which will cover the first lap, will be composed of Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear, and J. McL. Seabrook, mounted on Indian motorcycles. These men will carry the message from here to Baltimore, where another team will take it up and carry it over the second lap which ends in Philadelphia. From there the route across county is via New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno and Sacramento to San Francisco. Fast Time Is Scheduled. On account of the absence of the President, the message will be handed to the riders by Secretary of War Garrison. It is due on the Pacific coast 119 hours after leaving Washington. The riders in the Eastern part of the country will have little difficulty in keeping up with the schedule on account of the good roads, but some of the Western relays are more than 200 miles in length. The longest lap will be between Elko and Fenley, Nev. This stretch is 274 miles long. One of the purposes of this relay is to demonstrate the utility of the motorcycle for military use. The relay is intended to show that the motorcycle is capable of delivering messages under all conditions of road and weather. There will not be one minute from the time the message leaves Washington until it is delivered to the officials of the exposition that it is not moving, day and night, rain or shine. The motorcyclists of this country have been as one volunteering their services as dispatch bearers, and it has been a task for John L. Donovan, chairman of the competition committee of the Federation of American Motorcyclists and manager of the relay, to select the riders. HornyThe furthestmost bike from us has an electric horn, but the others have the bulb variety; I'm guessing it was an optional extra or later add-on. Also interesting to note that heavy cardigans seemed to be the outer garment of choice for moto-cyclists at this time. I wonder when and why the black leather jacket took over. Front SuspensionIt's called a trailing link suspension as the arm pivots ahead of the axel axle. Not too common at all. I believe some early BMWs used this type for awhile as well. In All It's Its GloryHere is a picture of a restored bike that is exactly like the ones in the picture. Note the kick start is on the left side and there is no gear shift to the left of the tank. Apparently slightly later models had the space occupied by the kick start mechanism replaced with a transmission that included a gear shift from it to the left side of the gas tank. Front SuspensionThe Indian front suspension was designed so there was caster to the wheels. According to the old guys I knew 60 years ago, this caster made for very secure handling and less tendency to high speed wobble. You haven't lived until you have experienced a case of high speed wobble!!! UnpunctualThe messages were delivered 36 hours late according to the article below from The Salt Lake Tribune from July 26, 1915. Research indicates that the riders were trying to show that taking a dispatch on a motorcycle across the country would be faster than placing the same message on a train. As originally scheduled, the race would have gone through Sacramento during the national Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) convention in Sacramento, but this did not happen because of the belated arrival of the dispatch rider. The FAM was the organization behind the race. All riders were asked to conduct a rehearsal ride on July 11th. The purpose of riding in teams of three was to ensure that if something happened to the primary rider or his motorcycle another rider would be immediately available to continue the mission to San Francisco. Of the three riders pictured here, Seabrook punctured a tire before reaching Baltimore, and he dropped out; Long ran into a pile of rocks in Baltimore, and he was injured; so Leishear became the only man to make it to the first transfer point. By Bryan, Ohio, near the Indiana border, the racers were five and a half hours late because of rains and bad roads. By the time the riders reached Chicago they were 12 hours behind schedule. Some time was made up on the way to Moline, Illinois as the deficit was reduced to just eight and a half hours upon arriving there, and seven hours at Des Moines, Iowa. In Nebraska the lead rider had an accident, but the other riders were far behind him. Consequently, by Rock Springs, Wyoming the riders were 19 hours behind their scheduled arrival, and at Ogden, Utah 18 hours overdue. I did not find where the other 18 hours were lost, but many sources mention the 36 hour late arrival. The official route, dates, and times as originally scheduled were shown in the Ogden Standard (Ogden, Utah) on July 17, 1915. Note the earlier start time than what actually took place. July 19: 6:00 AM, Washington. D.C. to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester to: July 20: 12:45 AM, Buffalo, New York to Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Bryan, South Bend, Chicago, Sterling, Davenport to: July 21: 3:15 AM, Victor, Iowa to Walnut, Omaha, Columbus, Kearney, North Platte, Julesburg to: July 22: 3:15 AM, Cheyenne, Wyoming to Pine Ridge Station, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Evanston, Salt Lake City, Ogden to: July 23: 12:45 AM, Kelton, Utah to Cobre, Elko, Rye Patch Station, Battle Mountain, Tenley, Reno, Colfax, Sacramento, Tracy, to San Francisco. (The Gallery, D.C., Motorcycles, Natl Photo, Sports)
Mom and Pop: 1937
... what the apron says? I love this photo. I grew up in North Carolina and I remember store keepers that looked much like this couple. I like ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/04/2010 - 12:53am -

August 1937. "Storekeeper and wife in front of their store at Section 30. 'Bust' iron mining town near Winton, Minnesota." Medium format nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. They are quite endearingWould this have been what the song "Sixteen Tons" called a "company store"? How many souls are on its books? A sweet looking coupleNot sure if they are husband and wife, brother and sister or just good friends, but they look like they've been together for years, have seen a lot together and still enjoy each other's company. A great natural pose! [The mystery of their relatedness can be solved by, quel surprise, reading the caption. - Dave] Thanks Again, Shorpy!You did it again: another photo that brought a smile to my face. What a happy and sweet looking couple. Whatza whizitReally neat old Lee denim sign in the upper left. Has their early "house" or triangle logo and "slanted e" logo. Whizits were Lee jeans and overalls with zippers. The first jeans maker to use 'em. Less draft and no puckers -- smoother lines. When Levi's finally began offering 501ZXX jean with a zipper, one irate cowboy who had been sent a pair with his order as a promotion of the new product sent them back -- "It's like peeing through the jaws of an alligator!" Pipe SmokingDang... I miss my pipe. I finally get old enough to not look odd smoking a pipe, and I have to go and get all health conscious. Fleischmann's YeastAh yes, Fleischmann's Yeast. At one time, they operated a large factory in Peekskill, NY and when it was up and producing, a karge part of the Mid-Hudson Valley could inhale its scent. Worth a thousand words...Much as I love those photos, a moment frozen in time does not need bustling streets and signs galore to say as much a this one does. Really a wonderful backward glance—thanks, Steve. Whizits AKA zippers"Railroad men tell us we must have made Lee Whizit Union-Alls and Overalls for them. We did- and we made them so handy, roomy, keen looking and comfortable that you find men on famous trains of every system wearing Lee Whizits. Railroad men with pride in their jobs-men who have service records in the cabs of famous trains-say, "We feel dressed up in Whizits." The Whizit fastener, exclusively Lee, means no buttons to bother - to come off - to sew on. Then too, Lee fabrics with their distinctly different weaves are stronger, wash more easily and cleaner, keeping color, shape and clean-cut appearance through months of hard service. The Whizit is a real man's work garment. More Lee garments are worn than any other make." http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/magazines/fem_... Sans PitchforkAmerican Gothic without the pitchfork, frowns and barn. Denver SandwichHits the spot everytime. Wonder what the apron says?I love this photo. I grew up in North Carolina and I remember store keepers that looked much like this couple. I like the looks of his hands, they look like he has done some good honest work with them. Great picture. OutstandingDave, you've made my day! One of the best pictures yet on Shorpy! A perfect pair. Denver Sandwich CandyI had never heard of such a thing! The only photo I could. TV Mystery SolvedSo this is where Sam Drucker got his start! They must be....in love. I am always impressed when I see a couple that look as comfortable around each other as these two do. I only wish my marriage had been so successful. Who has the keys to the Delorean?There's something I love about this couple. They look like people you could meet today, or during any time period really. Great picture! Denver Sandwich Candy"Crispy wafers surrounded by creamy caramel and nuts coated with plenty of milk chocolate." What's not to like? Made by the Sperry Co. in Milwaukee. "Take your brother with youWhen you go to the store, pick up our meat order and Mr. Burge will have a surprise for you." Usually it was a dime credit for coke or candy for us. Our grocer was a butcher, baker, produce manager, and stock clerk. He did it all with help from his wife, probably just like the folks in the picture. He also knew every customer's name including their kids. She looks like my grandmaShe wore a tidy little hairnet too. Great photo!Reminds me of all the mom and pop stores of days gone by. And they're actually smiling for a change. Empress"We Feature Empress Coffee" -- that's what the apron says. Laugh lines don't lieBoth of them have plenty of laugh lines around their eyes, indicating a lot of fun in their lives. I bet they were a hoot and a half to hang with. 7 Layer cakeThe Denver Sandwich reminds me of what we New Yorkers called Seven Layer Cake. Alternate layers of vanilla and chocolate butter cream. My God, how I wish I could walk into one of those Bronx bakeries and buy a slab of that. Imitations are available everywhere including Palm Desert, California, where I am spending the winter. Dr. GrabowThey're in love, seems to me. Radiates from them like sunshine. I especially like the pipe; it looks like one of my Dad's Dr. Grabows. He's unconsciously tamping it with his finger, as my dad used to do, and as I do now,on the rare occasions that I smoke. Denver sandwichStrange, here in Canada we refer to a "western sandwich" as a "Denver Sandwich" and usually it's an "Open faced Denver" that is the preferred. Mom and Pop storekeepers identified!"Oppel’s Store, fore-runner of modern shopping centers, was famous throughout the area and did so well that eight clerks, a bookkeeper and two butchers were kept full time." -Minnesota Humanities Center This is Joe Manning. I managed to identify this couple by contacting the local newspaper, the Ely Echo, which ran a short article with the picture. They were William and Nellie Oppel, who ran Oppel's store, near the iron ore mine. William died at the age of 72, about two years after this photo was taken. You can see more information, and more photos of the store, on my website. http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2015/01/05/3564/ (The Gallery, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets)
Hessick and Son: 1925
... very recently on the block bounded by N Street to the north, M Street to the south, 1st Street to the west, and the Amtrak ... Not just in the Northern states. I grew up in North Carolina in a two-family house in the late 1940's. My father had to go to the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 12:41pm -

Washington, D.C., 1925. "Hessick & Son Coal Co." The company's catchy slogan: "Anthracite and Bituminous Coal in All Sizes (Furnace, Stove, Egg, Chestnut, Pea) for Immediate Delivery." National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size. Valley of ashesAll that's missing are Doctor T. J. Eckleburg's spectacles. Two Scales...Two scales for in and out weights....Exit weight minus Entrance weight equals the weight of the coal load. The coal came out of the bottom of the rail car into the pile below, how did they get it from the pile into the trucks for delivery? I don't see any conveyors unless they are hidden behind the building. [Or they could just weigh the truck twice on the same scale. The coal comes out of the chute to the left. - Dave] Black goldWhen I first looked at this photo, I immediately sensed the "smell" of coal in my mind although it's been 40-plus years ago that I last knew the aroma. Note the worn doorway threshold; many a gritty boot has trod there. Clear as a bellThis is one sensational negative! Perfectly developed as well. True GritThat place has "Dirty Jobs" written all over it. A coal bin in every basement....Younger people may not realize that in days of yore, the homes in cold climates (northern states) all had an area of the basement walled off from the rest of the cellar, in which a very low-to-the-ground window allowed passage of a chute (like a children's slide) with which the coal truck would deliver large amounts of coal, a ton or more, to be used by the home's occupants over the winter. We had a coal stove and a coal-burning furnace before we switched over to oil and gas. I would not want to go back to those laborious days. Coal, coal, everywhere...So why is there a pile of firewood stacked to the right of the scales? [They sold wood, too. - Dave] The Gentle Art of Coal Delivery With regard to an earlier comment: if you were LUCKY, coal would be delivered direct from the truck to the basement chute. My grandfather was not so lucky: the chute was to the rear of his house, and there was no alley. Coal was dumped on the curb in front of his house. He'd have to transfer the stuff around back via wheelbarrow. He was very happy to convert his boiler to natural gas. One could still see the rail berm pictured in this photo until very recently on the block bounded by N Street to the north, M Street to the south, 1st Street to the west, and the Amtrak right-of-way to the east. Immediately prior to the construction currently underway, the site required some environmental remediation, including the removal of underground storage tanks of some kind. Another perspective on coalI heat my house with wood. I wish I had ready access to coal! It's hotter than wood, burns slower, and I would think cheaper too. Coal bins and thingsNot just in the Northern states. I grew up in North Carolina in a two-family house in the late 1940's. My father had to go to the basement to feed the stove to keep the heat up. We had ice delivery to keep the icebox chilly, but later upgraded to an electric fridge with the coils on top. For radio reception, there was a small hole in the living room floor to run an antenna wire from the console radio to the plumbing pipes in the basement to do the job. Ah, the Good Old DaysCoal by the truckload, ice by the block, radios the size of refrigerators. Arghhhh! Makes you appreciate what you have today. FossilsWe had a coal fired furnace until I was 11. Sometimes I would break up pieces to see if I could find fossils. I don't think I saw anything but plant impressions. At one point, we had an "Iron Fireman" installed to feed coal from the bin into the furnace. I think it used an auger feed, similar to what farms use for grain. Coal Delivery in My Old NeighborhoodIn the terraced street I lived on back in the mid-1940's, semi-attached duplexes lined one side, and garden apartment buildings lined the higher-elevation side. The coal bins for the duplexes were in the front, and chutes were used for easy delivery into the basement bins from the trucks parked on the street. On the other, apartment side, the land itself was higher, and the coal bins were in the back. Because of the lie of the land, chutes couldn't be used, so the deliverymen had to shovel the coal into very large canvas sacks and lug them up to a basement window in the rear, through which they then unloaded the coal. That must have been a job from hell. Back-breakerMost coal trucks had tilt beds and the delivery man guided the coal onto the chute. The guy that delivered for my dad did not have a tilt bed and actually shoveled the whole ton of coal from the bed to the chute. I never knew what that was all about, but it was unusual. Cold in the MorningsI grew up in Michigan, and we had a coal furnace to heat our house. One aspect no one has touched on is that no matter how much coal my dad put in the furnace before going to bed at night, it always ran out by morning. Winter mornings it would be in the 30's or lower inside the house. I'd get dressed in bed under the blankets. There would be frost on the windows -- not on the outside but on the inside. Ah, the good old days. Coal RenaissanceLocal antracite coal has made a comeback in Pennsylvania these days, probably due to the outrageous cost of heating oil. One block of coal, say the size of a cinderblock, is enough to keep a woodstove hot overnight. The stove goes in the basement below the ductwork. Not the warmest arrangement, but a cheaper alternative. Has the coal been watered?I remember my dad running out to ask the coal delivery driver if the coal had been watered so the coal dust didn't get all over the basement where my mother hung clothes to dry in the winter. If it hadn't been he'd have the guy sprinkle it with the garden hose. Also remember them stuffing rags around the coal room door to block the dust. Remember: "Take out the ashes!" Dad had his first heart attack stoking the furnace on a Saturday morning. He was in the hospital for three weeks. When he got home Mom had converted the furnace to fuel oil and no more coal. Chicago coalI'm in my mid-50s and probably among the youngest to remember coal deliveries, in Chicago (alley, dump truck, chute.) And the smell! I can't describe it. Probably for the best, but Chicago does not smell nearly as interesting as it did 45 years ago. "Them" were the days!We had two coal-burning stoves in our third-story walkup. Every summer, in the heat and humidity of an Eastern big city, my mother ordered "two ton of coal" to be delivered. She claimed it was cheaper during the summer. The delivery men had to haul up the whole two tons one burlap bag at a time. This was up rickety wooden stairs in an unlit stairwell without a handrail. I doubt they were making more than 25 cents to 50 cents an hour. I was, at most, 7 or 8 at the time; I recall them sweating profusely. As I stood there and watched, they would pass me and still be able to crack a smile. That was brutally hard work. They truly earned the little money they made! Old King CoalI worked for Hessick between 1984 and 1989 and was told many times about its history in the coal business. This photo might be the old Washington Coal Depot on Rhode Island Avenue NE. I believe the coal silos are still there today. Ashes and clinkersMy first apartment, over a carriage house on an estate, had a coal furnace that I hated. The only good part was the ashes and "clinkers" - the chunks of "stuff" that wouldn't burn. It was the best material I have ever found for putting on the ground for traction on ice and packed snow. Coal shifting.There were conveyor belts on wheels, powered by gasoline engines, that lifted the coal from the piles on the ground into the trucks for delivery. Deliveries to our house were made by a five-ton truck with solid rubber tires and a huge chain like a bicycle's to drive the back wheels. It cost extra to use the chute, so my father, ever thrifty, would just have the driver dump the five tons on the sidewalk and we would shovel the coal into the basement window by hand. It took most of the day for us to shift it into the coal bin. In the basement, the bin was about six feet away from the furnace. As the level of the coal was lowered, 2x8 boards were removed from the door. King Coal I still use lump coal in my house and shop. Far easier and cheaper than wood, not to mention cleaner and easier to contain. I buy it by the barrel full. The acrid smell is nostalgic perfume, nauseating in heavy concentration, but wonderful in small wafts. The neighbors are all too young to know the smell and I have occasionally heard them asking one another what that "odd smell" is! I keep it a "secret," but the DeSoto in the driveway ought to give clue that something is going on. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)
Welcome to Big D: 1963
... in Florida. In those pre-Interstate years, we went to North Carolina to visit the grandparents. The first thing we did when we stopped at ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/22/2013 - 7:44am -

        President Kennedy on that dark yet sunny day in Dallas 50 years ago, minutes before he was assassinated. November 22, 1963. "Overview of crowds of people waving as President John F. Kennedy and his wife sit in back of limousine during procession through downtown Dallas, Texas; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife ride in the limousine's jump seats." New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. View full size. There are no words...Life changed for many of us, 50 years ago, tomorrow. The memories of those days forever burned into our hearts. I remember being in Miss Barbara Rappaport's World History class in Abraham Lincoln HS in Brooklyn. Someone came into the class that afternoon, approached her, whispered something in her ear. I still see her, sort of falling into her chair (she NEVER sat in class), with her head in her folded arms, sobbing.... President Kennedy has been shot. We sat there, stunned not knowing what to do, or say. The next days were crazy, with new names popping onto the news minute by minute, it seemed. Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Jackie, LBJ, Lady Bird, Governor Connolly, the Texas Book Repository..... on and on, Zapruder film, grassy knoll, Warren Commission. Blood on Jackie's pink dress, running FBI agents, that presidential Lincoln... Madness, it seemed! Our calm quiet, idyllic world, was suddenly insane. Caroline and John-John at the grave. And finally, the eternal image of the skittish horse, following the caisson, with the reversed boots in the stirrups. We grew up really quick on that day 50 years ago. Those days live on in our hearts, don't they? A Very Long And Tragic DayInteresting to read all the comments from the Shorpy community. Those of us aware of what was happening that day can never forget it, and those who weren't around will never understand our feelings. John Kennedy was so alive, with so much to do with his life, that the idea of his life being cut short was all the more unbelievable. I was living in Houma, Louisiana, and had a paper route, for which I collected my dimes and quarters every Friday. The thirty or so customers I had were usually ready for me when I came around after school, and I'd complete my collecting no later than 5pm. That day, it was well after 9pm when I got home. The phrase I heard over and over-- and everyone wanted to talk, if only to an 11-year-old paper boy-- was "I just can't believe it!" --Jim What I remembered that dayThe often asked question, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot"....I was in 6th grade at about lunchtime. The PA had clicked on (always a noticable indication that someone was going to the office) and the principal read a short message about the President being shot but no other information as of yet. I remember my teacher looking down at the floor with his hands folded. We were released for lunch and in the hall kids were crying. I went home, the TV was on, (I remember looking at Walter Cronkite on the TV) and my Mother had tears in her eyes while she was making sandwiches. "The President's dead" she murmured and threw the towel to the floor. Mom was so proud that Kennedy was our president. She voted for him...partly because of his good looks, same age and he was Catholic. It seemed, to me, that she was just about as devastated over his death as she was of her Father's passing just a year earlier. My Father, who worked in Manhattan, came home later in the day (it was a bit early for him to be home at 4 PM) saying that the trip home on the train was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Every rider had a stunned look about them. Even the conductor was speaking in hushed tones. This is what I remember. The AnnouncementI was on the basketball court at recess in the eighth grade when we were told over the school loud speakers. I'll never forget it. A sunny but sad dayMy mother worked in downtown Dallas, in the Davis Building at 1309 Main Street. She rode the elevator down from the eighth floor, and watched the motorcade go by. Just a few minutes later, the president was gone. I can't exactly place where this picture was taken, except that it's on Main. Downtown has changed a lot, and some streets have been removed over the years as new buildings have gone up. "Your president has been shot"A man came into the break room where I worked and made that odd announcement. We were all in shock and it wasn't until later that I wondered about the word "Your" being used to tell the people there this horrible news. The ShotsMy step brother's brother was walking from his Law Office to lunch when he heard the shots and had no idea what that was about... until later. On top of the busI'm trying to figure if that's an old-school air conditioning system or some other modification, to fight the hot Texas heat? Breaking NewsI was in my TV/Appliance store in Jamaica, NY as I was walking toward a bank of playing TV sets, all of which were on ABC Channel 7. A news bulletin lit of all the receivers. An announcer was on screen reporting that shots were fired during the President's slowly moving motorcade in downtown Dallas. As I kept watching further news breaks, it became clear that President Kennedy had been shot. Later in the day, as the news spread the store was filling up with people looking at all the TV sets. Later that afternoon I decided to close the shop and went home. SurgeA crowd would never be allowed to move that way today with a president so close. Just look at the excited people coming forward behind the bus. The few people at the window seats on the bus have really lucked out. Jackie is looking right at one of them, and JFK himself could be waving at the same person. A gaggle of women on the right could reach out and touch the motorcycle cop. They're all waving and screaming for the President's attention, but he's looking at that friendly face on the bus. I was in Grade 1 in Winnipeg and I remember the grief of the funeral like it was yesterday. We Canadians felt as though this American event was ours too, as though we ourselves had also lost this amazing person. Main and ErvayThe view is toward the southwest corner of Main Street and Ervay Street. The Neiman Marcus building is in the upper portion of the frame. Our Latin TeacherMrs. Closser was my grade 10 Latin teacher at Herman Collegiate Institute in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. She was an American in her 50s who lived in Detroit and commuted every day to teach in Canada. Before the end of the period she would leave the classroom to join the other teachers for a quick cigarette in the teachers' lounge. She never came back before the bell rang. Until that November day in 1963 when she burst into the classroom, tears streaming down her face, and stood in front of the class and announced, "Our President is dead!" She collapsed into her chair as several girls went up to comfort her. She didn't come back for a week. I took the bus to a dental appointment, and recall that even the hit parade radio stations were playing sombre music. I'll never forgetI remember that day. It was a Friday. Thanksgiving was near at hand.. I was 10 years old. I was in the fifth grade at South Avondale Elementary School in Cincinnati. It was warm that day for November..I checked and the high was 68. After lunch at school we all lined up to go back inside and it seemed the teachers were anxious to get us back in class. I remember our math teacher Mr Jackson told us that Pres Kennedy had been shot and turned on our Tv in the classroom. We heard Walter Cronkite voice but did not see him until he announced JFK was dead at the hand of an assassin. In the classroom next to ours a teacher, Mrs Keller, screamed and fainted. She was taken to the hospital. She never returned to school. School did not resume until after the Thanksgiving Holiday. After the death announcement school was dismissed..I walked home. On the corner of Reading Road and Rockdale AV a news person was hawking the Cincinnati Post-Times Star.. he was shouting; "Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur!!..President assassinated in Texas..Extrrey! Extrey! Read all about it President is dead..Pooossst Timesss Pap-pur' Over and over again. I the Irony is he was standing in front of a Statue of Pres. Lincoln. I solemnly walked home..things were in a daze. When I reached my home my step-mom was going out to visit my sister in Childrens hospital. She had had her transistor radio with her so she could get the latest news.. She asked did I hear about Pres Kennedy. I told her yes... The next three days all that was on Tv was news about the assassination of JFK. His funeral on Monday was a site to behold. I will never forget that black caisson with his coffin riding atop it. The sadness and grief of everyone. Never ever...That was a long time ago in a World so different than today's.. ThenI had just joined a Mechanical Engineering firm that week located on 15th Street in D.C. We had radios in the drafting studio and time stood still that Friday. Surreal; we just stood around, what was there to say? Fourth grade teacher's wordsWe had just returned from recess at P.S. 81 in the Bronx. Our teacher, Mrs. Stanton, told us to put all of our books and things away. This seemed really strange to us, as it was time for our flutophone lesson. I remember her words, "President Kennedy is dead. He was in a parade today, and he was shot." I remember the feeling in my stomach--as though it had dropped somehow. We were sent home. My parents had copy of the comedy album, "The First Family," which poked fun at President and Mrs. Kennedy. When Dad arrived home from work that night, he had a copy of the NY Post with its terrible headline. He took out the LP, wrapped the newspaper around it, and sealed up the album with heavy tape. My family had lived in D.C. for about about two years in 1960-62. Once Christmas we attended the White House tree-lighting ceremony which the President presided over. When Dulles airport opened, Dad took me to the ceremonies. I was perched on Dad's shoulders. We stood not far from the stage where Kennedy gave his speech. I remember thinking how handsome the President was. WNTC RadioI was in the student union at Clarkson College (now University) in Potsdam, NY. Saw the news come across the teletype we had in the newsroom window there. I immediately crossed the street and fired up the college radio station, WNTC, so the guys in the newsroom could broadcast developments. As Angus said the radio stations were playing sombre music - I distinctly remember being very hard pressed to find something to fill the time between news bulletins since we were a rock and roll station and there was not much appropriate music to be had. Canadians tooI was also in 6th. grade, and I was living on an Airforce Base in Canada's capital, Ottawa. It hit us hard too, although at the time I couldn't understand exactly why. I was only 11 years old, but I remember I cried, somehow knowing he was a man who would have done a lot of great things. He wasn't our President, but somehow it was as though he was the world's President. To this day in my 60's I remain fascinated and interested in JFK, his family, his life. NewsmanMy dad on the evening of 11-22-63, after a long day of covering the assassination from the Oakland (California) Tribune. Dad was a reporter and remembered when the AP wire first came in from Dallas. Soon the whole newsroom was frantic with the shock and the task of putting it all together for the afternoon edition. They got the special edition done in time, almost an entire rewrite, and this photo shows my dad waiting in the Tribune foyer for my mother to come get him and drive him home. The Tribune photographer had been taking photos all day of the activity in the newsroom and caught my dad here as he waited for mom. "The president has been shot"I was in third grade in Northern Kentucky. Someone's mother had driven to the school to inform us of the news she had just heard. An unseen adult came to our classroom door and spoke with our teacher, Miss Reagan. I recall that she took a moment to compose herself, then stated that we were to put away our books. She said that the president had been shot. We were to pack our things to leave for the day, as school would be dismissed early. Soon, each classroom would be called to the cafeteria to pray. There was a hush. A knot in the pit of my stomach. Not much talking, brief nervous laughter that soon ceased. Then the entire student body, 865 children, assembled in that basement cafeteria. I remember standing room only -- we ate in three shifts -- and all those children were led in praying the rosary until the buses came to take us home. No one talked. Some of us quietly cried. We prayed desperately for the president's survival. Everyone was riveted by the unfolding events. Even the bus ride home was subdued that day. I remember being glued to the TV coverage as events unfolded. Later in the day at home Walter Cronkite announced that the president had died of his wounds. The news coverage was nonstop and I recall that the funeral, especially the sight of the Kennedy children, was overwhelmingly sad. Jackie seemed courageous beyond belief -- how could she retain such composure in this tragedy that had me bawling for days? The pomp & circumstance of the funeral proceedings, all the symbolism involved, marked the stature of this event and also somehow, gave solace. When I heard the newsOne of the things forever remembered by us as individuals is not only where we were, but who it was that broke the news. For many, this accidental fact influenced the way we reacted that day in November. I was 21 and working as a draftsman at a small business computer firm. There were five of us in our windowed room from which we could see the production floor. I had just begun to notice that the assembly workers had left their stations and were standing about in small groups. Moments later one of the electrical engineers, who often used our room as a shortcut, came breezing through and asked if we'd heard that someone had shot President Kennedy. The guy was a jokester (often shamelessly irreverent), so we looked up from our desks, smiled, and waited for the punch line. When he continued out the other door without another word we realized in sudden shock that there would be none. It was true, and thus began a season of feeling that ice water in your veins disbelief I would suffer again many years later when I watched the Twin Towers come down on live TV and realized that we were at war. No matter how hardened and cynical we are made by this world, we are never quite prepared to receive startling and painful news of great magnitude, even though we know it can come at any time, and in any form. Change of subjectI was in fifth grade on the day he died. There are many good comments on that day. Still the bus picture has a reminder of my youth. I grew up in Florida but the soft drink Dr. Pepper was not sold in Florida. In those pre-Interstate years, we went to North Carolina to visit the grandparents. The first thing we did when we stopped at "South of the Border" was to buy Dr. Peppers. It had a real bite and a strong aroma. Now Dr. Pepper is still tasty but without the bite and strong aroma. I would love to be able to buy the original Dr. Pepper. UnbelievableI was 11 years old and, like everyone else my age, I was in school. The door to our classroom was at the back of the room. We had just come in from recess and the teacher was beginning our next lesson when the Principal quickly stuck his head in the door, made an announcement, and quickly moved on. Because of his distance from our teacher and the quickness of his words, she didn't understand him. She asked us what he said and a child that sat at the back of the room by the door said "He said the President's been shot!" Well that was a concept too ridiculous to believe, so our teacher just said "No he didn't, I'll go find out what's going on," and she went out the room to the class next door. The next thing I remember was everyone standing in the hall, lined up to be excused for the day. The teacher from the class next door was crying inconsolably. I was like our teacher, and was having a hard time believing that all of it was happening. It wasn't until I got home and found my family in front of the TV watching the news that I finally realized that my perfect little world was no more. How I remember itI was in the seventh grade at Centralia High School in southern Ohio. We were taking a math test in Mr. Potter's class. There was a wall behind us with large windows that looked into the journalism class. We were distracted by noise from that room, and as I turned to look, I saw the whole room emptying. We returned to work but soon the class behind us returned and some of the girls were crying and dabbing their eyes with tissues. They had gone to hear the news on the TV in the study hall on the same floor. We heard over the intercom that Kennedy had been shot, but we didn't know whether he was hurt fatally. I was so stunned. I still cannot believe that Mr. Potter made us finish the math test! My next class was study hall, and when I could, I rushed up there and positioned myself in the middle of the room to get a good view of the TV, which soon showed Walter Cronkite make the announcement. We were all silent. Next and final class of the day was Ohio History, where our young teacher, Mr. Lungo, through tears, said that we should pray for the Kennedy family, and then just sat throughout the whole period crying uncontrollably. When my little brother and I got home, we found my parents outside. My mom was sweeping the walk and my dad was sharpening a hoe. I asked if they knew Kennedy was dead and she asked how I knew that, like was it something some kid of the bus had said? I said no, it was on TV in school. She looked at my dad and wondered if it could be true. Of course, we all went right in the house and turned on the TV. Naturally, they were stunned and just watched in disbelief. You Can Hear Radio Recordings of That DayGo to RadioTapes.com to hear several hours of recordings of that day, as broadcast over Minneapolis radio station WCCO. Eventually the coverage shifts mostly to the CBS network, including Cronkite's announcement of Kennedy's death. There are also recordings from NBC and Voice of America. I was in second grade, Mrs. Gooler's class at Hale Elementary School in Minneapolis, and we had just returned from lunch. The principal came over the PA system to announce the shooting; we were asked to put our heads down on our desks and pray silently for the president. Not fifteen minutes later she came on again to announce that President Kennedy had died and that we would be dismissed early. (In those days, virtually no mothers worked, and we all rode the bus home for lunch and back for the afternoon class.) I remember arriving home and being shocked--SHOCKED!--that my mother was actually WATCHING TV DURING THE DAY! My parents had a love/hate relationship with the TV and had only bought one the previous Christmas because I was given "viewing assignments" at school. They typically watched it only an hour a day for the NBC Evening News and the local news. And as if that weren't bizarre enough, my father came home from work early, which he never did. All normal broadcasting--including advertising--was suspended until the funeral the following Monday. We didn't completely resume our normal activities until after Thanksgiving weekend. No one who was alive then will ever forget where they were when they got the news; a so-called "significant emotional event" like this generation's 9-11. I was asleepI'm probably one of the few who *doesn't* remember where I was. I was 8. We were living in Melbourne, Australia, where my dad was in the Foreign Service. I remember the next day, my mom had to sew a black armband for him to wear to work at the Consulate. I thought it was a bad thing that someone would shoot the President, but it was nowhere near the same impact it would have been if I'd been in the US. School went on normally, as I recall, and there was not much fuss that I noticed. (Cars, Trucks, Buses, Motorcycles, Public Figures)
Wendell & Oscar: 1939
November 1939. "Main street of Wendell, North Carolina. Negroes on way to work in tobacco stem factory." Photo by Marion Post ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/01/2022 - 11:30am -

November 1939. "Main street of Wendell, North Carolina. Negroes on way to work in tobacco stem factory." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Looking toward Main StreetI'm pretty sure this is the same stretch of sidewalk as in the 1939 photograph. You're at 15 E 3rd Street looking west toward the intersection with Main. The Philco Radio building is still on the corner -- compare the second story windows. The buildings immediately across Main Street and on this side of the Philco building are still there -- compare cornice and second story brickwork. But the Whitley & Son building has been replaced by the bland brick building with tiny windows. The Oscar Griswold building may or may not still be the building with two steps up from the sidewalk. This was confusing because, if you cross Main Street the buildings on the immediate left have the same second story windows with brick eyebrows and the same brickwork parapet as the now gone Whitley & Son building. I kept trying to make that building the one in the photo. FaceliftI think that bland brick building *is* the Whitley & Son building, but with a new face. Look at the banding on the side of the building - five light courses and a dark course. It also looks like the same banding is in the Oscar Griswold building in the original picture, and you can see the same pattern in the white building, but it's tough to see under the paint. Final Score: 3 to 1 to 1Coca-Cola over Pepsi and 7up in signage: We know we're in the South (and no: "nitrate of soda" isn't a beverage ... for people, anyway) What went on in the tobacco stem factory?Not to be confused with the part of a pipe that you put in your mouth, a tobacco stem, aka midrib, is the thick part of the vascular structure of the plant. Stems are mostly removed during processing, though some of them remain in filler of cigars. A main use for the rest is sale to pigeon fanciers for their birds' nests. Madison-Clark BuildingI think the the Oscar Griswold building *is* the building with two steps up from the sidewalk in Doug Floor Plan's image. The bricked-up window (with the white rectangle occupying most of it) in Doug's image is where there's someone leaning against it in the Shorpy image (under the striped awning, arm up next to head, elbow pointing at the camera). The air conditioner in Doug's image is atop the 2 steps in the Shorpy image where the door was. Looks like the opening was widened, adding a window toward the right edge of the Shorpy image (where the flea funeral home is). Also, it looks like the same two brick building corners across the alley from each other. (The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Small Towns)
The Spring House: 1944
... Washington state or Washington DC then or now. Most are in North Carolina and it is an endangered species. [If only people would read the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 4:41pm -

Wilkes County, Georgia, circa 1944. "Spring house, Hill Plantation. Washington vicinity." 8x10 inch safety negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South. View full size. Bubbling UpThere was a good article on springs in the NY Times about a month ago. Not Washington.Sorry but that tree on the left is a long leaf pine tree and it's straw is on top of the spring House. Long leaf pine didn't grow in Washington state or Washington DC then or now. Most are in North Carolina and it is an endangered species. [If only people would read the captions we put under the photos! The Washington in question is Washington, Georgia. - Dave] View Larger Map No half moonI'm just glad to see no half moon cut out of that door on the right! Cool storage in lieu of refrigeration seems to be the consensus. Springhouse memoriesI grew up next to my grandmother's house in South Carolina. In my time (and my father's) the house had indoor plumbing, but behind her house was a wellhouse featuring the classic round brick shaft sunk into the ground with a bucket and pulley mounted above on a crossbar. Down a gentle slope about 30 yards and into the woods was the foundations of a springhouse. My father remembered when it was standing, a smallish low-ceiling building with stone walls. Inside was a pipe coming out of the ground that trickled water into a basin that in turn flowed out of the structure through another pipe, the water flowing down to a small pond. There were built-in shelves inside and cross timbers with movable hooks to hang items. He recalled it was still used for long-term storage of foods like cured hams, but had been mostly superseded by a refrigerator and icebox up at the house. The well water was quite drinkable; by my day the well house had gone dry due to disuse and lack of maintenance, but Father remembered hauling up buckets of water for himself and his friends to drink when they didn't want to bother going inside. The house I grew up in was supplied with water from a well my father had sunk when he built our house; all you had to do is treat it to remove excessive iron (it turned china and clothes yellow) and it was ready to drink, bathe with, etc. Lively DialogueGirl on left: "Do you know Art?" Girl on right: "Art who?" Girl on left: "Art Tesian" Girl on right: "Oh sure, I know Artesian well!" Washington memoriesWhile traveling a few years ago I hopped off a Greyhound bus in Washington, GA. Later that night I ate dinner with the Mayor! It was a pretty small place. Young girlsBeautiful girls in a gorgeous picture. Makes me wonder what that shack was used for. [Something tells me it might be a spring house. - Dave] The old springhouseThe title of this post and the caption are two definite clues that this might be a spring house! As you might infer from the name, a spring house houses a spring or well. The shed keeps animals and birds out. The bigger ones, at least. Half the storyThe spring house only seems to take up the left side of the structure. Could the right, screened-in side be a chicken coop or, perhaps, just a shed for yard equipment? [You would probably not want chickens (and their byproducts) right next to your water supply, or food. - Dave] A Rural Privilege Some comments make me realize how lucky I am to live in an area of the country where the occasional spring house still survives. For those not so lucky, I suppose the concept of clean, cold and potable water bubbling out of the ground is inconceivable. Chillin in the Spring HouseI've been more than a few spring houses, and never saw one used as a drinking water supply. The ones I've seen housed a pool of cold spring water that was used to keep food from spoiling. I see bunniesThat adjacent room looks slightly more secure. So, I think maybe a place to keep produce that you wanted to keep cool. Love the cute little dress she's wearing with the velvet (?) bunnies on the pockets. SlatsMy guess, and the only spring house I've seen were in south Texas where water is important (if not rare) and heat plentiful, is that the enclosed part houses the well (closed to keep animals out as Ginny said). The part with the slatted sides, where the girl's are sitting, was probably the wash house, and the slats were there to allow a breeze to keep those working cool. VentilationIs the half-open part on the left the spring enclosure and the open-at-the-top part on the right cool storage? What an awesome use of natural resources. Around my place we have to drill deep into the ground for water. In W VaMy grandfather had an artesian well tapped into the side of the mountain that shot a good 20 feet horizontally before seeming to arc down. It fed a raspberry patch, a spring house, two large ponds and, finally, a creek with its overflow. My grandparents used the spring house to keep milk, eggs and butter cool before lugging them to the bottom of the hill to sell once a week. Part of the water was plumbed to the house (coldest showers I've EVER taken!) and then down the hill to the Ingole household in exchange for helping to tap the well to start with. The well was old when I was not even 10, and I'm nearly 60 now. The Well and IWhen I was little, my mother bought a farmhouse -- Ontario fieldstone, about 100 years old, then. We never actually moved in due to family circumstances so my mother rented it out and we would visit. The first visit we made, the well still hadn't been capped and a pump installed. They were drawing with a bucket from a hole in the floor of the well-house. I was just toddling, at that point and when my mother took her eye off me for a second, I made a beeline for the well-house. They little boy of the family caught me by the straps of my sundress just as I tipped over the edge of the well. A drowned chicken!My first year of marriage, we lived on an oyster farm, near Quilcene, Washington, along with my in-laws. Our water came from a spring, which originated up on a hill, and we had a spring house much like the one in this picture. One day, I went out to the spring house and was shocked to find that a chicken had fallen into the water and drowned, with its wings out and a horrifying look on its face. I walked down to the house with my heart pounding, and into my in-laws' house, looking like I had seen a ghost. My mother-in-law was very alarmed and asked me what was wrong. When I told her that there was a drowned chicken in the spring house, she said, "Oh, is that all" and went and fished out the dead chicken. They had it for dinner that night. I had a piece of toast for dinner. My hometownGreat find! I grew up in Washington, Georgia, and am restoring an old house here now. I am pretty familiar with the many old homes and plantations we have there, but never heard of the Hill Plantation. Lots of history here. Somewhat of a living time capsule, even today! Good news!I am pleased to report that the structure in the photo is still standing, in much the same condition as in the picture. It is in fact a spring house, located at our home in Wilkes County, Georgia. The left side contains an artesian well, and this section empties into the right side. The right side contains a long, narrow trough filled with water. The trough is deeper at one end than the other. People would put jugs in the water, and items in the jugs (e.g., butter, milk) to keep them cool. Live, fresh fish were someimes kept in it until they were ready to be eaten. The right side empties into a stream in a forest. Local lore has it that the water has mystical properties. I can't say for sure, but I can attest to the fact that the water is cool, clear, delicious, and abundant. Our house is probably located where it is because of this natural spring. We think we might know the women in the photo, and we're checking with them. I recognize the spring house!!The picture above is indeed a spring house on the Old Hill Place Plantation. We own it now!! Bought it from the original owners several years ago. The right side of the spring house was for refrigeration and the left side houses the spring head. It bubbles all the time! Right now I am researching the two little girls in the photo. I think I may be able to find out who they are! Thanks for finding this picture. Dave, are there any more of Frances' photos around of the Old Hill Place or Wilkes County? [Amazing! It sounds like a magical place. There are more photos here. - Dave] (The Gallery, F.B. Johnston)
The 'Super Market': 1940
May 1940. "The 'super market' in Durham, North Carolina." Back when self-service groceries were enough of a novelty that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/02/2022 - 11:01am -

May 1940. "The 'super market' in Durham, North Carolina." Back when self-service groceries were enough of a novelty that photographers put the name for them in quote marks. 35mm nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Shopping for nostalgiaAleHouseMug - A coffee roaster in Burbank has bought the rights to Bokar Coffee and has attempted to recreate the taste. JennyPennifer There are multiple recipes for Spanish Bar Cake, if you bake. Or you can order one directly from the Jane Parker Bakery. They supplied the cakes to A&P originally, and claim to be using the original recipe now. The only downside is that they cost much more than what you paid at A&P. Y'all are on your own for those home killed fryers. That's the Post Office in the background. The current location of the old A&P is now a parking deck. I sometimes park hereAs J. W. Wright pointed out, the A&P at the corner of Rigsbee & E Chapel Hill is now a parking deck. The Post Office across the street is unchanged, and seems to be in good shape. There were about a dozen A&P stores in Durham in 1940, but most were the old-fashioned small stores, not the new-fangled super markets. Long gone nowA&P Supermarkets dominated Durham all the way into the 70's. Here is a little history of this one on Rigsbee: https://www.opendurham.org/buildings/rigsbee-avenue-super-market Tasty TimesBecause who doesn't remember fondly when advertising Fryers as being "Home Killed" wasn't seen as a major selling point? Your meter is runningEven the cabbie couldn't pass up the home killed chickens! Love the brush lettering. Reminds me of my old Speedball text book. We used to go shopping with dad at the A&P when we lived in Cockeysville, MD in the early 60's. I can still smell the coffee when you passed the grinder! They had an A&P in Mathews, VA when my folks moved there in the mid-70's. Three BlendsHow I miss Bokar Coffee. Back when ...... you could park your bicycle on a sidewalk without a lock. I love this photoAnd it looks for all the world like the building and market that was used in the movie "Driving Miss Daisy." I remember when most "supermarkets" looked like this - I was born in 1945 and I remember as early as 1948 going with my mother to the local Kroger store that was in a building smaller than this one. Great photo. More, more. I remember it wellThe A&P will forever be to me one item: Spanish Bar Cake. Every now and then Mama would buy one -- dark, spicy, applesaucy cake studded with raisins and nuts and coated with a generous layer of cream cheese icing featuring a fork-tine design that resembled corduroy. We couldn't wait for a thick hunk of that cake to land in our hands. To smell it was almost as good as to taste it. Much obliged... to archfan for the info. I am aware of the many recipes for "original" Spanish Bar Cake and have a few stored in my recipe file. A friend made one for me some years ago and the result was, shall we say, close but no cigar. Since we know that certain childhood memories are far more likely to be emotional than factual, it's possible that nothing not bought at the A&P, rung up with one of those gloriously chunk-kachunky cash registers and coming from my mother's hand will do it for me. But I do plan to make the recipe that I think would most approximate what I remember, and if it truly does the job, I will report back. As for Jane Parker, all I can say is that she's got her nerve charging $36 for that. Nope! A Night to Rememberby Walter Lord was on the paperback carousel at the A&P on 11th Street in Waco, Texas, in 1955 -- my first exposure to the Titanic tragedy. I mentioned it to my mother and she told me she was 10 when it sank. She added it to her tab before checking out, and I was hooked on Titanic from that point on. 8 O'ClockMy memory goes back to when I was about 3, and my parents would take my maternal grandmother (she didn't drive) to the A&P in tiny New Freedom, Pa. I would gravitate quickly to the 8 O'Clock grinder area just to smell the coffee being ground. Here I am now, at 74, typing out this memory, and I'm sipping a mug of 8 O'Clock Original. Just think of me as "hooked for life." Not so fast, Broadway!Gimme a minute to write down that phone number. Coffee"How I miss Bokar Coffee" There was also a stronger brew -- Rokah. Check my math. [Your math does not add up! - Dave] Super A&P MarketThe big sign on the roof looks like steel-embossed and porcelain enameled panels. They last forever. An unmolested version is a very sought after commodity today. Broadway Taxi Broadway Taxi changed its name to Broadway Yellow Cab in the 1970s, and was still operating in the mid 1980s -- its depot was on Hunt Street. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Stores & Markets)
Hudson Motor Cars: 1911
... Here's a 1911 Hudson, snapped at a car show in Concord, North Carolina, April 10th, 2010. Its body style (touring car) is like the one ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 10:39pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1911. "Hudson cars, H.B. Leary agency, 1317½ 14th Street N.W." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Keep the Cars Coming!I love the pictures of the cars! Where else can we see such detail of these cars "in period"? Enough!How many more pictures of DC car dealerships are we going to have to suffer through? Squeeze me.I bet kids found those horns irresistible as they walked by parked cars. Great Scott!I looked and looked, and then my wife noticed: These are all right hand drive cars! Why??? 99 years and still on the roadHere's a 1911 Hudson, snapped at a car show in Concord, North Carolina, April 10th, 2010. Its body style (touring car) is like the one visible in the storefront window. This was only the third year for Hudson production. No Hupmobiles?Five spiffy Hudson models in a row and not one Hupmobile! I owned a Hudson myself for over 40 years. They were good cars (obviously). Great historical car photographI love these vintage car photos. They are as much about our history as the architecture behind them. This photo just got copied into the Hudson folder in my digital car collection. memo to 8:28Hey Anon at 8:28 - some of LOVE pictures of old cars. If you're "suffering" - GO SOMEWHERE ELSE !!!!!! What's wrong with cars?What's wrong with pictures of cars? Besides, they're neighborhood pictures. At least around here, we no longer have laundries on the scale of the Star Laundry next door. Quaker Oats isn't a surprise, but some of the store-side ads are. Some products are a lot older than you think. Please keep to the LeftThere was no requirement for left-hand steering in those days-- but Henry Ford switched from right to left in October 1908 as his Model S gave way to the Model T, and he wound up with enough sales volume to influence the trend. By about 1914, most or all the US cars had settled on left-hand drive. [In 1914, many if not most American cars used right-hand drive. Even in the early 1920s some manufacturers were still using RHD. - Dave] Seriously?These dealership photos are beautiful. Americana at its finest. Keep 'em comin'. Anyone know where Star Laundry might be?I see eight signs in this picture. Wow. Star LaundryThe Star Laundry building is still there, relatively uncannibalized, at least above the first floor level. At street level, it is now the La Villa Restaurant, a take-out fajitas and taco joint. The buildings on either side, including the Hudson dealership, have been "updated" beyond recognition. No way to tell if the buildings behind the faux siding are even the same as what was there in 1911. The Star building is holding up well though. View Larger Map My HeritageAs the scion of two generations of hand laundrymen, I understand the importance of "We mend your linen." If the customer didn't know his sheets were torn, the storekeeper took the heat. Sometimes they would be beyond repair and were returned unlaundered. As for "Regular Pkgs 10¢" -- my grandfather opened his laundry on Market Street, on the Lower East Side, in 1910. Unfortunately, he died in 1935, so I'll probably never know if he ever got as much as a dime for a bundle of wet wash. In any case, notwithstanding the disapproval of Automobile Dealership Americana, this is one great photo. Left and RightEarly cars had right-hand steering because the brake lever (which was hand-operated), gearshift and horn were on the outside of the car. Since most drivers were right-handed, they had to sit on the right to reach them. Car displayWhat I find so interesting about most of these car photos is that the cars are displayed on the street. The businesses were storefronts rather than stand-alone car lots. I suspect this is the case since cars were rare and most probably had to be special ordered. I wonder when the stand-alone lots became the standard mode of car sales. Bring on the Detroit DealershipsI can't wait until you feature MORE early car dealerships. Bring 'em on! 8:28: What a Party PooperI love the old auto dealership photos. Why should 8:28 complain? There are also old buildings in the photo. I propose that a right-hand drive auto be driven over the foot of 8:28 until a more reasonable attitude is evinced. More HeritageMy dad was an automobile dealer all his life. I practically grew up in showrooms and used-car lots in the 1950s and 1960s. I love these shots, keep 'em coming! Times have changedThat Hudson dealership is now a gay bathhouse. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
Against the Wind: 1902
September 19, 1902. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "Side view of Dan Tate, left, and Wilbur Wright flying the 1902 ... the face of God. Ohio, First in Flight Kitty Hawk, North Carolina provided "regular breezes and soft sandy landing surface," as ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/22/2022 - 6:02pm -

September 19, 1902. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "Side view of Dan Tate, left, and Wilbur Wright flying the 1902 glider as a kite." 5x7 glass negative by Orville Wright. View full size. We have liftoff!It's hard to say where this photo was taken in relation to Kill Devil Hill, but looking towards the right, you can see what looks like the base of a sand dune. I've taken a screenshot showing Kill Devil Hill today from Google Earth and did an overlay with today's Shorpy. So much has changed since the brothers were there in the early 1900s. Searched "Dan Tate" -and found only "Bill" Tate as postmaster, host to the Wrights, and everything else in Kitty Hawk. [Daniel Tate was Captain William Tate's half-brother. - Dave] If God wanted man to fly... He never would have invented the bicycle. The FactoryWhere the later commercial planes for the military were built on Home Ave off 3rd Street in Dayton, was one of my first jobs as an IT person. The old Home Avenue factory building (Named building 6 by GM who owned the plant) was where the Wrights built the planes. I was privileged to sit in the office of the Wrights when I called to fix the GM foreman's computer (the building was now a machine shop), who was the most recent occupant. He told me that the desk in which I sat belonged to either Wilber or his brother. As a note of interest the roof still had the steel girders attached with chains to move the planes to the double doors for exit. The building was marked with the blue Historic Building disc. But, alas, the building is now just a shell of its former self. Plus a 1997 photo of the monument at Kitty HawkWhen TV was in only black and white, stations where I lived signed off at night and then back on with the morning farm report. One station signed off with film of jet airplanes leaving vapor trails, and narrated with this poem by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. High Flight Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air… . Up, up the long, delirious burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or ever eagle flew — And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod The high un-trespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. Ohio, First in FlightKitty Hawk, North Carolina provided "regular breezes and soft sandy landing surface," as well as seclusion from reporters and the circus-like atmosphere that got in the way on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Wright brothers did all their theorizing, design, and building in Dayton, Ohio. Every time I see a North Carolina license plate, I scoff. (And I have no connection with Ohio.) Worth a visit when near the Outer BanksThe Wright Brothers National Memorial has an excellent, if small, museum. Standing on the site where their flights took place, you can easily imagine Orville and Wilbur's small planes taking off and landing. The longest of their first flights in 1903 covered just 852 feet. Less than two years later, Wilbur completed a flight of 24 miles in 40 minutes. Artist's Rendering?Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a drawing? (The Gallery, Aviation, Wright Brothers)
Picture Window: 1937
... Gee's Bend Joseph Gee, a planter from Halifax, North Carolina established in 1816 a plantation, and named the place for himself: ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:49am -

April 1937. "Girl at Gee's Bend. Descendants of slaves of the Pettway family are still living very primitively on the plantation." Wilcox County, Alabama. Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA. View full size. The ironing is delicious!Wow, how ironic is it that the "window" to the house is covered by an advertisement for Cellophane. [Yes, delicious ironing. Must be the starch. - Dave] Proud faceProud face the girl has, I like the picture! Girl in the windowI am amazed almost every day by the quality - and qualities - of the photographs. This one reminds me so much of Andrew Wyeth. Fine ShotThere are so many fabulous photos on Shorpy, but once in a while one really stands out. This is one. Gee's BendJoseph Gee, a planter from Halifax, North Carolina established in 1816 a plantation, and named the place for himself: "Gee's Bend." Mark Pettway bought Gee's Bend from his relatives, Sterling and Charles Gee (nephews of Joseph), in 1845 to settle a $29,000 debt. A year later, Pettway and his family moved there in a caravan with a hundred or more slaves. Except for one cook, the slaves literally walked from North Carolina to Gee's Bend. The 10,000 acre plantation retained "Gee" for its name but the name of each of the slaves became "Pettway", a name that has prevailed in Wilcox County until the present day. Today, if someone from Gee's Bend is named Pettway, he or she is a descendant or married to a descendant of those Mark Pettway wagon-train slaves who walked from North Carolina. That is why many of the black tenants Arthur Rothstein photographed (as Annie Pettway Bendolph below) were named Pettway. By the way, the Resettlement Administration reports of the 1930s already emphasized ... the unreliable ferry. This, and more can be found here and here. In the "Will of Mark H. Pettway, Wilcox County, Alabama - July 1860," you can read which of his properties he would "give and bequeath" [un]to his beloved Wife, his eight daughters (depending on their civil status: married, unmarried), his son and his grand children. Among his daughters there was one who seems was married, but practically divorced, because her legacy is given in trust to his brother in law and son in law "to have and hold the same in trust for the sole use & benefit of my said daughter and her children free from the control and management of her husband." Among the properties were: fifty head of sheep, ... negroes and their increase (by name, among which: Peter No 14, Ginny & carpenter tools, Altimare -the ugly- Bett, Bathemia Dempseys and his black Smith tools), ... the gold watch usually worn by myself ... and a gold watch known as the watch with the gold face. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Gee's Bend)
Viny Houses: 1902
... west Orville and Wilbur are planning their next trip to North Carolina. Tendrils of Doom I always cringe when I see vines growing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/21/2022 - 4:29pm -

1902. "Characteristic employees' home, National Cash Register, Dayton, O." Along with two characteristic employees. 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson. View full size. Nice characteristics!Them was the days, not an ankle showing! What is the tall stack? The plant? I came in second in the 7th grade spelling bee, because I left out the first C in the word. Characteristic mistake. She and she and KayeOr make that "K", as in the street ( looking west to Rubicon as best as I can tell) Sadly, this picturesque assemblage - brick veneered on first floors of the furthest five (tho you wouldn't know it!) - didn't last long: the ever expanding factory complex had replaced it within a few years. Today the scene is as depressing as one might fear, if not worse: something that reflects none of the charm of this scene, or of the history of the site in the century since...it's Parking Lot D. [Chimneys excepted, no bricks here. - Dave] The map shows a row of six and five so veneered (the nearest one being an exception). I'll not vouch for what secrets the foliage hides, but if one embiggens the porch area of the second house, there seems to be the rectangular pattern of brickwork. N [Indeed! - Dave] Would you like to come over for tea?It's just a bit earlier than Randy Newman's song "Dayton, Ohio 1903" but it does look like a nice place to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. The vines growing over the houses also has me thinking of end times when the natural world is taking over. And the total isWe know from a previous post National Cash Register had a pretty impressive attraction at the 1939 New York World's Fair. I'm impressed with the two curves in the wooden walk in the foreground. It took more time but makes for a much nicer look than what you'd probably see today. The lady on the left has a really good expression. Her look makes me think the man in the background called out something rude to the two women and she has just decided to turn around and give him a response so shocking it will cause the woman on the right to drop her handbag. Meanwhile, a couple miles westOrville and Wilbur are planning their next trip to North Carolina. Tendrils of DoomI always cringe when I see vines growing unchecked on buildings. Even though some people think it makes the building look neat, the long-term damage is cringeworthy. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, W.H. Jackson)
Islesworth Gardens: 1906
... Jersey Shore. We stayed in an old converted mansion on North Carolina Avenue called the Manlor Guest House. Every morning was an open air ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 12:32pm -

Continuing our trip to Atlantic City circa 1906. "Islesworth Gardens Hotel, Virginia Avenue." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Just for a momentI thought the woman in the streetcar was texting a friend. Then I woke up! Great shot!I think the Trump Taj Mahal casino is there now. All GoneI'm about an hour's drive from Atlantic City, though not being a gambler, I don't go there often. With the advent of the casinos, locales such as this, evidently at the Boardwalk, are completely gone. I'll have to make a trip there with a camera and some of these old pictures to see the differences. Thanks for all the great pictures. The Streetcar!At first I was confused with the streetcar having its pole up in the wrong direction for a double track line but then I noticed that there is a crossover (a pair of switches in the street) allowing the car to "turn back" or "short turn" without having to go to the end of the route. The pole has been turned but the seats are still facing the wrong direction. The faded lettering on the sign on the roof also suggests that this car might not be going to the end of the line. InterestingThe only people I see around here using parasols are Asians. Remembering Atlantic City in the 1950sOur family vacationed in Atlantic City for many summers in the 1950s. We would load up our old Buick, include the dog, and take off from Cincinnati for that glorious week on the Jersey Shore. We stayed in an old converted mansion on North Carolina Avenue called the Manlor Guest House. Every morning was an open air breakfast on the Boardwalk, then to the beach and back to the Manlor to squirt off the sand in the backyard and go to dinner at Betty's Restaurant. The Manlor is long gone along with all the other old converted homes but those places had a charm that no Holiday Inn could replace. Look through the windowYoung lady in the window under the letter "N" of the streetcar looks like she just realized she has purchased the wrong ticket. TrumpedIf this is where the Trump Taj is now, I think it looked much better then! Her TownThe sidewalks are full of Mary Poppinses. The End of the Line or Back at 'Go'?The streetcar in the photo is interesting, having just arrived at this location on the track closest to the curb and the horse cabs. The car seatbacks are in position indicating the right end of the car was the front on arrival, the seat backs could be flipped over depending on car's direction. The outer arm rests are on the window ledges. The seats at the front and rear two side windows would have their backs to the window, the patrons facing the aisle. On cars with sanders the sand boxes would often be located under these lengthways seats which hinged up when filling with sand. However, the trolley pole has been moved around so the car will now travel right to left when it starts on it's next journey, the left end now the front. The car is short enough, altho' it has two 4-wheel trucks beneath, that the Motorman or Conductor could walk the trolley pole around with the trolley pole rope still able to hang over the end at either end with the trolley pole stand centered lengthways on the car roof. Without the trolley pole rope overhanging it would be difficult to centre the trolley pulley on the wire. A longer two-truck car would have to have a separate trolley pole at each end. There were also parameters governing the placement of the trolley pole stand on the car roof so that the pulley would track on the wire properly when the car beneath turned at a track switch at an intersection or went straight thru. Now, there are TWO tracks in the street, and this car will cross over to the far track to 'Run on the right' as it moves ahead on it's new journey. The 'crossover' in the street is visible by the man's head above the nearest horse cab and thru the cab behind. Thank You. Phones in RoomsThe Islesworth Gardens Hotel was popular with conventioneers (pharmacists, railroad ticket agents, elevator operators ...) 1908 Advertisement Impossible waistsThe women wearing corsets have those impossibly small wasp waists. I wonder about the young woman walking toward the camera. She appears to have a normal waist. The corset must have exacerbated the heat problem. Give me my smelling salts. And Gracious Sakes, I see a few women without their hats in public! City of the FutureIt looks like a futuristic city of dollhouses. They had some kind of super "green" vehicle that ran on hay and produced fertilizer instead of carbon monoxide... and even mass transit that ran on electricity! Wow, imagine if we could harness that kind of technology. No sunscreen requiredI but none of these people is thinking about sunscreen! Also, its a shame that we don't use parasols anymore. I count about 15 in this picture (if you count both sides of the street). Dress CodeNo shorts or tank-tops allowed! Good MannersNotice that the men use proper etiquette when walking with a female companion. The man walks on the street side, ladies to the inside. By the way, what is the covering on the roofs of the horse cabs? Is it some kind of treated cloth? In praise of ShorpyShorpy is my all time favorite web site ! It's like having a portal to the past. Shorpy lets us see in incredible detail what life was like decades ago. I tell everyone I know about this fantastic site. My problem with this site is that I could spend all day looking at the photos. Thank you for all of the work you do in making these Library of Congress photos look as good as they do. Fastest Way to Ocean CityThat interurban trolley on the right is from the Shore Fast Line connecting Atlantic City to Ocean City, New Jersey. It operated into the 1940s and was immortalized as the Short Line on the Monopoly game board. Car 6812West Jersey and Seashore Type Q semi-convertible, built by the J. G. Brill Co., Phila, 1904-05. Originally single ended, rebuilt as double ended car in 1908. Sold off in 1913-14 when new "Nearside" cars were delivered. The cars, incidentally, are numbered in the Pennsylvania Railroad fleet as the WJ&S was a PRR subsidiary. This is the kind of picturethat deserves the "even bigger" option, or the colorized version. Lovely, absolutely lovely in every detail. Exquisite photo. Speaking of Monopoly RR'sDid we ever find out why Darrow used the B&O railroad for his game? The Baltimore and Ohio never served Atlantic City; only the Shore Fast, Reading, Pennsylvania (later these would merge into the PRSL) and the Central RR of NJ (with it's its infamous Blue Comet) did. From Atlantic City to Ocean CityThe trolley advertises 2 ways to get to Ocean City: "SHORE FAST LINE ELECTRIC FLYERS VIA GREAT EGG HARBOR BAY" "ATLANTIC AVE. TROLLEY AND BOAT VIA LONGPORT" No. 6818 is a local Atlantic City car, maybe even a shuttle out to Atlantic Avenue. It does not have 3rd rail shoes, which Shore Fast Line cars needed, as they used a part of the West Jersey & Seashore RR to get across the meadows between West Atlantic City and Pleasantville, where the electrified railroad didn't use overhead wire. Shore Fast Line ran between Virginia Avenue and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City to 8th Street and the Boardwalk, Ocean City, both on barrier islands, via the Mainland. (The Gallery, Atlantic City, DPC, Streetcars, Travel & Vacation)
Currin Grocery: 1939
... Bricks I live in the deep South (rural upstate South Carolina). putting buildings on bricks is still a very common practice. These ... octane. Cola Wars response Actually, Pepsi is a North Carolina creation. Invented in 1898 in New Bern, NC. Looks like home ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2014 - 8:55am -

July 1939. Granville County, N.C. "Country filling station owned and operated by tobacco farmer." Our second look at this establishment offering combustibles and comestibles. Medium format negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. The empties sleep outsideThe empty bottle returns are stacked outside in front of the building, a practice that still goes on at the small general store at the village near my summer cottage in the middle of nowhere. Some things truly never change! QuestionThese buildings were simply built on piles of bricks and not really anchored into the ground? Were they connected to the bricks somehow? [Yes. By gravity. - Dave] Bonnie & ClydeLooks like the place they picked up C.W. Moss in the 1967 film. Cola WarsLooks like Coca Cola was the leading cola force in N.C. with this past series of photos, but RC Cola was definitely coming on strong. Pepsi is nonexistent. I suppose it was still more of a Northern thing at the time. BricksI live in the deep South (rural upstate South Carolina). putting buildings on bricks is still a very common practice. These days it's usually a pre-fab storage building or an old double-wide, but bricks are still the order of the day. Found the shopkeeperLucius Aaron Currin, born 1879, died 1958, husband of Lelia Bobbitt, and father of at least three sons (all of who appear in the WWII draft records). They were buried in Creedmoor, NC. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21348686 The original C-storesI grew up in rural South Carolina. These stores were quite common, and as a kid you were lucky if you lived within walking distance of one. You could spend your meager allowance there, visit with friends and check out the travelers that stopped for a cold drink and a fill up. I left SC for good in 1963, and up until then all of the houses that I lived in were built on brick pillars. The H C on the Sinclair Oil pump stands for High Compression or high octane. Cola Wars responseActually, Pepsi is a North Carolina creation. Invented in 1898 in New Bern, NC. Looks like homeI was born in 1939 (same year of this photo) in a store that looked like this; Except it was in WVa. My dad worked in an orchard. My mother worked in the store/post office,pumped gas,etc. in exchange for a room in the rear for us to live. We used the neighbor's outhouse across the road. We left there when WWII started and my dad got a job in an aircraft factory. The swingThis is an upgrade from the usual bench or old sofa. I'm surprised it isn't occupied. Missing: bucket o' sticks for whittlin'. Re: Cola WarsNo Pepsi advertisements as mentioned by skylark68. Pretty ironic, considering North Carolina is the birthplace of Pepsi. Sinclair gasolineThe H-C on the Sinclair pump stands for Houston Concentrate. The H-C was Sinclair's "regular" gas grade at the time. 1920s-1930sHi, I have some strange questions related to the picture. Is anyone aware of other areas in the country where gas stations where built off the ground like this and on dirt roads like this? Are homes in the area from this time period also off the ground like this? Were these homes 1 story with only one small bedroom? Would an African American woman been able to work in the evening at a place like this? My questions are super strange but any insite is greatly appreciated. You can email me at Randi0411@yahoo.com or just reply on here. Thank you!! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Gas Stations, Stores & Markets)
Brinkley & Huntley: 1960
... David Brinkley's grave at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina. Are you sure That's not Bob and Ray playing "David Chetley" ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/02/2022 - 11:03am -

July 1960. "David Brinkley and Chet Huntley -- NBC convention coverage. From NBC Television Audience Promotion." 4x5 acetate negative from the News Photo Archive. View full size. Goodnight ChetGrowing up, they were by far my favorite evening news anchors. They delivered the stories of the day in a way that was always interesting and never dull plus a little wry humor thrown in here and there. When ethics meant somethingPlease bring back the good old days! I was there, 63 years agoHuntley-Brinkley even made Rocky & Bullwinkle. Being only 3 then... I was too wrapped up in the politics of hysterically funny, violent 1940s Bugs Bunny cartoons to care about the news. LoyaltyWalter Cronkite at CBS always seemed to be the lead dog. However, I grew up with Huntley/Brinkley, and stayed for Chancellor, Brokaw, Williams, and Holt. That's sixty years with NBC. I hear it stillThe Beethoven! Symphony No. 9, 2nd movement. Part of my childhood -- the black and white part. Forgot to mention: In 2016 I visited David Brinkley's grave at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina. Are you sureThat's not Bob and Ray playing "David Chetley" and "Brink Huntster"? Empty handedSo unusual seeing Chet Huntley's right hand empty. If nothing else was demanding its attention, it typically was holding a cigarette. Huntley was a notorious chain smoker to the point where he even smoked during televised newscasts. 5 pm in b&w The adults in the house listened to these two guys everyday they were on; one reason was a cousin who was in Nam at the time and the other was just good reporting. And being but a lad at the time I do remember learning at an early age what a C.O.L.A. raise was, hearing them report about it almost daily by a group of unhappy somebodies. Best team ever!Their pairing during the 1956 elections was a stroke of genius, just like Laurel and Hardy. They played off each other like no other news team. Not only were they outstanding newsmen, but great personalities. Chet was the old-time radio announcer, with a great voice and David was the commentator with a wry sense of humor. By the way, Chet Huntley had a minor career in movies, mostly as the narrator or announcer in certain scenes, usually off camera. But he was seen as a baseball announcer for games in "The Pride of St. Louis," an old biopic about Dizzy Dean. This was before becoming famous for his news work. Time FliesMy first thought when I saw him was that it wasn't long ago when This Week With David Brinkley was on. Of course, a Google search reveals it was 25 years ago when Mr. Brinkley signed off of his show for good and nearly 20 years ago when he left us. Fantastic newscaster, and I miss him. I really never got to watch Huntley, as he died when I was 11. Remember?We had real news from real professionals and not editorializing hacks. 1960This is the first election coverage I can remember. I was seven, almost eight, and I really liked JFK. In fact, Nixon campaigned in my neighborhood, and I refused to go over two blocks to see him. As for Huntley-Brinkley, one anchored from Washington and the other from New York. Their "Good night, Chet" and "Good night, David" signoff became a cultural staple. Walter Cronkite on CBS didn't find ratings traction until Huntley retired and broke up the team. Goodnight, Chet. Goodnight, DavidI think it was Brinkley who said he hated that sign-off because it sounded like they were in bed together. (The Gallery, News Photo Archive, Politics, TV)
Bal Masque: 1922
... Not that long ago My family is from Columbia, South Carolina. After my grandfather died in 1953, about six months before I was ... Sad This one reminds me of being a little girl, in North Carolina, from 1959-63, when I was 5-8 years old. My dad was stationed at ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/31/2011 - 4:35pm -

June 28, 1922. Washington, D.C., or vicinity. "Ku Klux Klan meeting." 8x10 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size. Beyond scaryIt's amazing just how much power the KKK had in this country in the '20s. They controlled elections in many areas and kept Catholics from serving in many venues (including the governor's position in my home state). Let's hope their reign of terror is completely finished. Cowards hide your faceThis was not too many years ago. The same mentality still exists. Oh myWhat dangerous fools!!!! Sad that these people still exist today. Low-RentI grew up and have lived in a very rural section of NC all my life. I can remember the subject of the KKK coming up in conversation with my grandparents and great-grandparents. According to them the KKK was always made up of the "low rent" crowd and looked down on. Men in SheetsThe most scary image I can think of for Halloween. Herb, where's the good pillowcase?Grampa, is that you? A sign of ageTo me 1922 seems shockingly recent for as photo like this to have been taken near our nation's capitol, yet to my 14 year old son, it's nearly a century ago. I pray we can change as much in the next 90 years. Not the Klan of TodayIn the 1920's, the Klan was less about racism and more about maintaining the status quo of the day. Which sure, was racist but as others have said we can't look back on photos and judge them with standards of today. What I find interesting though is that this photo is in Washington D.C. In 1922, the KKK held a march down the streets of Washington. They were met not by outrage, but cheered by the citizens and treated like heroes. At the time it was fashionable to be part of the Klan, since they stood for good American values. Meaning God, Country, and Family. (Racism as I said was there, but keep in mind the period.) The culmination of this march was the swearing in of U.S. President Warren G. Harding as a member in the White House. (This is largely disputed, but there is evidence that supports it.) Harding renounced that membership about a year later, after consultation with his advisers. It didn't help that he had passed the anti lynching law, which brought much of the old Klan's activities to light in 1923. However when this picture is taken, it's entirely possible this is the night before the march on Washington, making the photo VERY historic. [Your timeline may be a little confused. The Klan was forced to postpone or abandon various parades in 1922 and 1923 due to community opposition in the Washington suburbs. Its "march on Washington" came in 1925 (and then in 1926), after Warren Harding had died. Serious historians dismiss the "evidence" of Harding's induction (the alleged deathbed reminiscence of a New Jersey Klan leader many years later) as ludicrous; rumors to that effect may have been spread in response to a speech he delivered in 1923 denouncing hate groups, a move that was widely viewed as a rebuke of the KKK. - Dave] Scary!The really "UGLY" side of America. Not that long agoMy family is from Columbia, South Carolina. After my grandfather died in 1953, about six months before I was born, hidden among his personal effects were found his robe and documents indicating that he had at some time been a member. Neither my grandmother nor anyone else in the family had a clue. I can remember seeing newspaper ads announcing meetings well into the 1960s, a few in the 70s. I once read or saw in a documentary that the highest per capita membership was in Indiana. It's almost hard not to laughIf the import of this were not so serious, it would be difficult not to laugh at the image of so many grown men with face-masks apparently in homage and thrall to other grown men in such ridiculous attire. Appalling as were their attitudes and their beliefs, this group, at least, could hardly be accused of being tainted by the presence of the opposite sex. Presumably most women would have considered these menfolks' activities as faintly ludicrous. InitiatesThis has all the look of a fraternity initiation with the pledges assuming various uncomfortable, subservient postures before the older (robed) members. Also, the apparently portable/reuseable burning cross (with guy lines) seems to be an innovation that I've not noticed before in pictures like this. Soft Serve Ice CreamEverything reminds me of food today to the point that I feel like Homer Simpson. I do have to say though that any group that has to wear masks and hoods to hide their true identities have to be feeling profound shame at what their group represents. Since 1922 when this was taken, we have had a Catholic and an African-American president and there may one day be a Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Mormon,or any other faith-based leader of our country that shows most humans MUST be getting smarter, even though lots of old-timers might disagree. This picture says a lot though, in that all the participants would not reveal their faces and they had their meetings under cover of night. SadThis one reminds me of being a little girl, in North Carolina, from 1959-63, when I was 5-8 years old. My dad was stationed at Camp LeJeune and we were living in base housing. On the base, the only segregation was by rank. Off base, it was a different story. There were "whites only" signs, separate restrooms, and footage of KKK rallies on the local news. I saw a little girl about my age, at one of those rallies. She was standing on the hood of a car and her father, wearing one of those scary, idiotic hoods, had his arm around her. I felt very sorry for her. A sign of age. We haven't changed all that much. I passed a group of five Klansmen, dressed in white and red robes (they looked so silly) picketing outside of Mount Dora, Fla., in 2001, right beside a major highway! Just when you think it's safe to go back on the road. Cross BurningsMy mother was born in Independence, Missouri, in 1915. Together with my grandparents she lived there until moving to Los Angeles in 1937. In the 1960s my older brother once idly remarked that it would be "interesting" to attend a cross burning, to which my mom replied "they weren't all that great." Upon further questioning, she reluctantly recalled that such events sadly weren't uncommon in 1920s Missouri, frightening (though memorable) as they were to a small child and certainly beyond that to whomever was being targeted. The soft optionVile as that bunch was, and I don't at all minimize it, it could have been worse. What you're looking at here is the "Second Klan," which was primarily political in its orientation. The guys in front, kneeling and wearing masks, are waiting to be inducted into the Real Organization so that they can wear robes. Nasty to a huge degree, but not a patch on the original KKK, which was organized by die-hard Southerners as what we today would call a "resistance group" along the lines of the IRA or Shining Path. They didn't march in the streets wearing robes, they moved around in the shadows assassinating people and engaging in what can only be called terrorism in general. Imagine if that had taken hold. The original Klan was derailed by its insistence on racial repression, which weakened it enough that the Government was able to infiltrate and eventually suppress it. If they'd stayed with States' Rights and the like, instead of concentrating on "beating up the n--s" (as an ancestor of mine supposedly put it), they might still be around as an organized force not all that different from al Qaeda. It may be difficult to comprehend, but in this case vicious race prejudice was the soft option. ColorizedThat flame is colorized, right? It really stands out because of that. I'm sure there's something clever to be said about colorization and the black and white photograph, but I'll leave you to work out the details. Famous peopleI think I see Hugo Black and Robert Byrd. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
Is the Caller There?
... previous comment was by Patrick Frye III of Charlotte, North Carolina For more about the first decades of telephone work and the strikes ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2011 - 4:21pm -

Early 20th-century telephone switchboard in British-Mandate Palestine. View full size. American Colony Photo Department. Location not specified although sign in background lists police and ambulance numbers "in Jerusalem." OperatorsOh my god that must have been miserable ... I answer phones now and I would die if we had to sit that close! My Mother had to work at one of those but I never got to see it. I have even more respect for her which I didn't think was possible. David Kifer Tulsa Aeron 1.0The chairs don't look too comfy, do they? Of course they all seem to be sitting about six inches in front of the backs anyway. amazing~~amazing~~ OperatorsI was surprised to see men doing this.( No.s 20&21) I thought that they were all female operators back then. Rick Taylor Lecanto, Fl Men as OperatorsFrom 1878, men were employed as operators and within a year callers complained that they were rough toned and too brusque for most people's taste, so women quite quickly supplanted them and by about 1910 there were very very few men still used as operators. An added bonus for the employers was that women could be paid less and profits were thus higher for the Bell Systems of the time. Today we see this as unfair, yet it was an easy decision for employers at the time! Men as Operators and Telephone StrikesThis and the previous comment was by Patrick Frye III of Charlotte, North Carolina For more about the first decades of telephone work and the strikes of those years, go to: www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=119 A FASCINATING history! Telephone OperatorsWas this a call center? For what company? Probably for Ma Bell (AT&T).Probably for Ma Bell (AT&T). Call Center?If you read the caption you will see this is in British-Mandate Palestine (what later became Israel). Call Center?I don't think "call centers" like we know them existed in that day! I Did That JobYou won't believe it but this is exactly how it looked as late as 1978, I was 18 years old at the time, and I was a telephone operator in Baton Rouge, Louisiana then. The room we worked in was just like this, with just as many people and the chairs were only SLIGHTLY different than these. It was a facinating job!! Telephone ExchangeI worked on one similar to this in England in the 1950's and then for the BBC who had about 20 positions in their telephone exchange. Norma Taylor Tucson That supervisor is ready toThat supervisor is ready to crack the whip, isn't she. Cord BoardI worked on a cord board that looked just like this in Joplin, Missouri until 1980. Not only was it was this long, but there were 2 identical lines in the same room, one up each side. That job taught me more about multi-tasking than I could ever have learned anywhere else. What a fun job it turned out to be. It looks intimidating, but it really wasn't. Telephone OperatorsMy Mother retired from Cincinnati Bell Telephone after nearly 40 years. I find this site's photos excellent as well as the information contained in it. Does anyone out there know of other sites with photos of switchboard operators and related items? Unlike the earlier post from David Kifer I was able to go visit once in a while and remember the boards. The chairs were not comfortable (at least in the 50's and early 60's. The one thing I remember most is the women making making comments about the "Cute little boy" in their midst. Thank you all. Robert Federle New Iberia Louisiana TORTURE!Sitting there, facing a wall ... for what 8 hours a day? Any bathroom breaks allowed? When? And no seat pillows? We've got it made in 2007, don't we. IS THE CALLER THERE?I WORKED AT THE JOPLIN SWEST MA BELL IN 1952..JUST OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL...THEN AGAIN IN 1959-62 IN DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY ..AGAIN FOR S'WESTERN BELL. MOST OF THE OPERATORS WERE A LOT OLDER THAN ME AND SCARED ME TO PIECES ..THE WAY THEY TALKED! NEW OPERATORS GOT THE WORST HOURS...SPLITS LIKE 8 TO 12 ..4 TO 8 OR 9 TO 12 ..6 TO 9. ALSO 1 TO 9 AND 2 TIL 10..SINCE I LIVED IN INDEPENDENCE, I HAD TO WALK DOWNTOWN TO THE BUS STATION LATE AT NIGHT.. BUT THE BUS DRIVERS WERE WONDERFUL..THEY LET NO ONE MESS AROUND WITH ME..WERE VERY NICE...THESE WERE THE DAYS OF 4 INCH HEELS, A-LINE DRESSES, WHIPPED CREAM MATERIAL, PANTSUITS AND BOUFFANT HAIR..IT WAS WONDERFUL...HAD TO QUIT TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE KIDS...I'M IN MY EARLY 70'S AND I'M STILL A NIGHT OWL AND I'D WORK 11 TO 7 NOW. I LOVED IT..ESPECIALLY TRACKING DOWN CREDITORS FOR THOSE CREDIT COMPANIES!!HAH STELLA [S] D. WISCONSIN .. U.S.A. SwitchboardTHANK YOU FOR THAT WONDERFUL RECOLLECTION! Operators and the old manual cord boards.Many nice memories of a great job from high school until my first child was born. I worked the split trick and as a night operator. Made many lifelong friends and I remember when the Western Electric men came to the office to add new lines and switchboards. They were all such gentlemen and all good looking. Several of the girls married a Western guy including myself. That was 50 years ago and I still cherish my 10 years with New York Tel. Upstate NY Is the Caller There?Thank you Stella, Cincinnati Bell also had those weird hours. I can remember Mom working 3 to 11, 2 to 10, 6 to 12, 11 to 7 and many other combinations. Some were 8 hours and others 6 hours. I think what I remember most was the smell of Ozone when you walked in the front door (once you buzzed in the outer door you went in to a locked foyer. There you picked up a phone and gave your employee I.D. and they would buzz you in that door. Then the Ozone smell would hit you. I can smell it now just talking about it. Mom was an Operator, My Aunt was in Repair Service and her Husband was a Switchman (downstairs where the switch gear was located. Relays would would be clicking and clattering). Thank you Stella for bringing more memories to light. Mom is now 82. When they closed the local office in Hamilton Ohio (automation and no need for the Operators) she was allowed to have the switchboard number plate and it also matched their house number. It is still mounted on the back porch wall. Thanks again and the best to you Stella. Robert Federle New Iberia, Louisiana Operator's StoolsBecause of the height, the stools (many with with wicker seats and backs) were uncomfortable to get on and off. Operators had to enter from the left, exit from the right. Some offices raised the floor to allow low chairs. The location of the switchboard in each building was known as "The Operating Room." Their lounge was "The Quiet Room." (Technology, The Gallery, Matson)
Charleston Noir: 1910
Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1910. "King Street lights at night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass ... cigars before heading home. +100 This is looking north from Wentworth. Below is the same view from May of 2010. Past is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 4:37pm -

Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1910. "King Street lights at night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Previously on ShorpyA daytime view, posted here two years ago. The YMCA clock is on the Hirsch, Israel department store. What's missingNo dentists! Cable PianoMy parents had one. 'The Cable Piano Company, established by Herman D. Cable of Chicago in 1881, claimed to be "the world's greatest manufacturer of pianos, inner player pianos, and organs." Exhibit ALooks like the camera caught someone driving under the influence. YMCA needs help!The "Y" needs another $140,000 to meet the goal of $150,000 for its new digs. I wonder if it ever got built. Exhibits B, C & DThose light trails have to be the traces of four someones, since they're not parallel. On the SquareIt looks like the Brethren have closed the lodge and moved onto the sidewalk for a few cigars before heading home. +100This is looking north from Wentworth. Below is the same view from May of 2010. Past is betterI like the old view better! String of LightsI can recall in the 1960s, some small towns still had a string of incandescent lights across Main Street. The newer photo is not as interesting. Charleston updateHere's an update from my friend in Charleston: I checked this out last night when I went home. This is in fact the corner of Wentworth and King. The building in the right hand foreground is extant. It is the old Masonic Hall. The ground floor is now a women's shoe store (aren't they all?) and the upper floors are slated to become lofts, but the economic collapse saved - oops, stopped the destruction of the old Masonic meeting room. The beautiful building on the left with the YMCA fund raising wheel was torn down and replaced with a modern building c 1960. Base Ball on tapWhat wonderful signage here! Having been born and raised in NYC, I'm wondering what makes the New York Shoe Shine Parlor (on the left side of the street just past the department store) New York-ish. I don't have the means to enlarge a section of the photo for more detail, so I'm also wondering about the "Base Ball" poster in the store's window. re: +100 CharlestonTimeandagainphoto's +100 shot is gorgeous. Was it pure luck that kept the display windows from getting blown out while at the same time getting detail in the low light and shadow areas, or deviously clever trickery and expertise on your part? Whatever the case, bravo. re: re: +100 CharlestonThanks tterrace. It was actually luck combined with an improvised "tripod" (a temporarily liberated trash can nearby) and very little traffic at that time of night. I am nowhere near your mastery of Photoshop. Light trailsI agree with tterrace on the light trails. There is one pair of headlight trails, and the four taillight trails were made by four vehicles. A single taillight was the legal minimum until sometime in the '50s (grandfathered on models as late as 1960 under Texas law). In 1910, I'd be surprised if one vehicle in a hundred had a matched pair. They would also have been quite a bit dimmer than modern ones. [In 1910, a taillight on a car or wagon would have been a kerosene or oil lantern. Which might have swung side to side a little. - Dave] Somehow diminished nowThe older photos always look more grand compared to the modern day vantage points. Must have something to do with the lenses used. Buildings look bigger, streets deeper, etc. (The Gallery, Charleston, DPC, Stores & Markets)
North by Night: 1940
... the crops northward. The company store at Camden, North Carolina, where migrants buy anything from clothing to Coca-Colas." Photo by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/02/2021 - 3:03pm -

July 1940. "Negroes from Florida and Georgia travel by car and truck, following the crops northward. The company store at Camden, North Carolina, where migrants buy anything from clothing to Coca-Colas." Photo by Jack Delano -- Farm Security Administration. View full size. Where's George C. Scott?This is like a scene from "The Flim-Flam Man." Near twinsOn the left, nearly out of the frame, is a 1935 Ford Tudor sedan -- a standard model, with but one taillamp. Farther to the right is a 1936 Tudor that may or may not be a standard, since the far lamp is hidden, if it's there. There were other differences not seen in this photo. I have owned an example of each of these jewels. Florida in JulySteve Belcher, I'm right with you except the cool evening breeze would be very humid, hot, and muggy. That BikeLooks exactly like the one that my wife had a few years back. Her's Hers was green and white with whitewall tires. Outstanding composition, detail and exposureIf there was ever a photo here that moves me, it's this one. I feel like I just walked up a dirt road and back into time. I can almost hear the bugs and feel the cool evening breeze. 361-452 & Old Screen Doors1931 Chevrolet AE Independence Coach. Mixed in with the faint whisper of the evening breeze and summer night insect sounds, I hear the gentle double-slam of those ornate screen doors. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, Jack Delano, Stores & Markets)
Perpendiculator: 1938
1938. Pender County, North Carolina. "Sloop Point at Hampstead. House over 200 years old. Now occupied by ... Point Plantation is the oldest surviving structure in North Carolina, built in 1727. The McMillan name is mentioned here . On ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 11:06am -

1938. Pender County, North Carolina. "Sloop Point at Hampstead. House over 200 years old. Now occupied by Miss Nellis McMillan." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size. Boy is that ugly ...... but it sure looks a lot easier to build. So which is structurally better?You can go dizzy looking at the railing. However, which way is more structurally sound - this or the way we normally have it? Would the spondles lossen up easier this way since there is less resistance? Just curious. [We all know what curiosity about lossened spondles leads to. -Dave] WTF?!Is that linoleum over the old floor boards? Say that ain't so. You almost don't need to caption this.Her style is so distinctive. If you think about itthat's REALLY clever! TimelessI have seen a similar railing design in Art Deco buildings; wonderful and really simple. Almost perfect! Slippery slopeIt looks like they took a porch railing and cut it to fit the stairs. Makes me dizzy just looking at it. The fractured newel post doesn't encourage sliding down the banister, does it? What a find!A rare example of M.C. Escher's short career in carpentry. Sloop Point PlantationSloop Point Plantation is the oldest surviving structure in North Carolina, built in 1727. The McMillan name is mentioned here. On Flickr, the house as it was in 1950. Still more info here. Was restored in the 1990s. Privately owned. Darn, I forgot to bring my miter boxThis was built on the day the carpenter forgot to bring his miter box. Thanks Shorpy for my giving me a new word today, "spondles." I guess I need to go back to carpentry 101. I can't seem to find spondles in an online dictionary or on Wikipedia though. [Try "spindles." - Dave] Obviously installed bythe Three Stooges! Choir of anglesIt's great to see unusual architecture, at least compared to modern times, but it still looks incongruent. Gulp!That railing would not help at all to keep you from tumbling over the side. This place pioneeredthe "build ugly" movement. And in a lot of places they succeeded wildly. Tilt.Someone didn't have a mitre saw. I like it! No fence on table saw.Nobody had a protractor. Boom! Innovation. Vernacular VertigoWhat a stunning example of vernacular architecture. Amazingly it still stands today. (The Gallery, F.B. Johnston)
Hudson River Piers: 1910
... and image on that billboard have quite a story. The North Carolina tobacco merchant who founded the Bull Durham brand took the Bull from ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2022 - 2:27pm -

New York circa 1910. "Marine terminals -- Hudson River docks along West Street." Seen earlier (yet later) here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. No Channel 13Without radio, the vessels in this photo would rely on whistle signals to let the other ships know their intent. Can you imagine what it sounded like with just the ferry traffic? [Marine wireless got its start in the 1890s; by the early 1900s the major shipping line docks had their own Marconi operators. - Dave] True, they had radio but that was spark using morse code. I'm talking about short distance communication. When they pass, overtake or when backing they were required give a sound signal. Still done today but most just make their intentions known by VHF radio channel 13...."Take you on one whistle, Captain?" ( I intend to leave you on my port side), the other vessel acknowledges so everyone is on the same page. One thing remainsThat of course being New Jersey. The area changed dramatically around 1930 with the construction of the West Side Highway. Then the river traffic dried up (so to speak), then the piers went; but other than that ... "Bull" DurhamThe name and image on that billboard have quite a story. The North Carolina tobacco merchant who founded the Bull Durham brand took the Bull from Colman's English Mustard (based in Norwich, not Durham). The American company engaged in extended litigation to protect the trademark Bull. The Durham NC baseball team was originally (1902) called the Durham Tobacconists, but fairly quickly rode the Bull too. The hit 1988 baseball movie is named for the team, for which Kevin Costner ("Crash") and Tim Robbins ("Nuke") supposedly play while being romanced by Susan Sarandon. Apples to apples, then to orangesI cropped the 1912 photo to make a better comparison to the 1910 photo. My reference points were the Lackawanna & Western RR building on the left and the Bull Durham sign on the right. Possibly it was a slow day in 1910, but things were definitely more crowded and hectic in 1912. In these days of shipping containers, it's difficult to figure out how what appears to be chaos all made sense. I'm sure it was loud and smelly. Also, a Google Earth view today. My reference point is the still-standing West Street Building; I put a red line in the street in front of it. Just beyond is Ground Zero. Only 91 years, a little over one lifetime separates the days of horse-drawn wagons at the piers and the 9.11 attacks. Click to embiggen. NoiseA couple of other commenters mention the noise of this hustle and bustle. I would love to hear what it really sounded like. I'm sure it would have been loud in some way but I'm sure it would have been a very different noise than a similar scene today. Imagine how different it would have been without car engines, horns honking, airplanes overhead, sirens blaring, etc. Would have been mostly horses, voices, and boat whistles etc. I bet it would be nearly shocking to our modern ears to hear how quiet the "noise" would have really been, in comparison. West Street BuildingConstruction on the Cass Gilbert-designed West Street Building began 1905 and was completed in 1907. I found an article in Architectural Record that includes a photo of the outside of the building and a review by a critic. I highlighted the part where I think the critic says he likes the building. The article includes references to the "architectural problem" of skyscrapers. I wish I could make a sarcastic comment using the critic's writing style, but I have been trained not to write that way. I found the original floorplans in a 1907 American Architect and Building News magazine. Click to embiggen. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Sartorially Correct: 1940
... "Interior of general store at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, with high school boys dressed up because it's Election Day." Medium ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/01/2022 - 12:06pm -

Saturday, May 25, 1940. "Interior of general store at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, with high school boys dressed up because it's Election Day." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The more things change the more they stay the sameI've love to hear the comments from the older generation in 1940, looking at the same picture: "So sloppy! Where are their vests and jackets?" "Those two-tone brogues and plaid ties are too loud." "Why is he wearing his hat indoors? So disrespectful." "In my day none of this would have been allowed." Familiar TerritoryStem is about fifteen minutes north of where I am sitting. It's a small town (population 576 in the last Census). Only a few commercial buildings stand on Main Street, and some are old enough to be Stem Grocery. UniformityA big change in clothing style is right around the corner. One of the young men appears to be a cinch for shoulder (or collar) bars. Scratches on the StoveWhile looking closely at the finish on the cast-iron stove I noticed dozens of little scratches all over it. It wasn't long before I realized these little scratches were the results of all the match strikes across the coarse, rusty surface. And, hey, isn't that a perfectly good ice cream cone in the box behind the stove? Cereal killerThe upper right-hand corner of this photo reminded me that twenty-five years later I'd be a kid obsessed with Kellogg's Corn Flakes (in my dreams, doused heavily with ice-cold milk and several spoonfuls of sugar), but obliged to dine on Quaker Oats for the morning repast. My sister and I were allowed to have dry cereal approximately once every other blue moon. Now that I can eat whatever I want for breakfast (or any time of day), what did I have this morning? Quaker Oats. I cannot be trusted with Corn Flakes in the house. Doesn't get any better than this?Besides thinking about the widow who buys tins of pilchards from him, the fellow behind the counter is trying to remember where he put his radio! Primary Election Day 1940This would have been a primary election, but in the Democratic "Solid South" that determined local and state offices. J. Melville Broughton was elected North Carolina Governor in 1940; he then increased the public school year from six to nine months, which may or may not have met with the approval of these young men. The presidential nominating season of 1940 was unique. Franklin Roosevelt had not publicly responded to calls that he run for an unprecedented third term, which effectively stymied potential successors. FDR wouldn't commit until the Democratic convention convened in July and a "spontaneous" demonstration provided the occasion. If there was a tradition of dressing up on Election Day, it had lapsed by my postwar Southern youth. Black Flag kills fast! (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Politics, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
Heap Big Birthday: 1964
... Native American themed birthday. It's spring of 1964 in North Carolina as noted by the jonquils on the table. Kodachrome slide taken with my ... 
 
Posted by PJMoore - 09/20/2011 - 10:24pm -

My nephews and I celebrating my Native American themed birthday. It's spring of 1964 in North Carolina as noted by the jonquils on the table. Kodachrome slide taken with my father's Kodak Automatic 35 camera. View full size. Indian GuideI was a member of the YMCA-based Indian Guides and was proud to wear my feather headdress at age 10. Enameled traysI actually have a set of 4 of those exact trays, but they have thin tube legs that unfold to make standing TV tray tables. I also love the coffeepot. I miss the soothing percolations ours made in the morning. Today's automatic drip just doesn't wake me the same way. The CakeThe birthday cake appears to be homemade and there's no writin' on it. Sealtest oh yes!Oh, I remember Sealtest Ice Cream! Great photo! I'm the same age and lived in Greensboro at the exact same time; we also had the very same table. By the way, what happened to your little brother's bolt-action rifle? I ScreamI remember that half-gallon carton of Sealtest so well -- cheap, good and consumed immediately! Always with Hershey Chocolate Syrup poured all over it. East Meets WestFirst of all, I'd like to know just exactly what our kitchen drawer pulls are doing back in North Carolina. Secondly, Sealtest was one of those brands we never had on the West Coast that, when I did hear about them, thought were the dumbest names ever. Everybody knows ice cream is supposed to be Foremost. And mayonnaise Best Foods, not "Hellman's." What kind of a name is that? Thirdly, did everybody have those black enameled metal trays with the floral motif? Fourthly, why can't I find Kleenex in blue and white boxes? Don't those people know the meaning of the word "retro"? Fifthly, and I need hardly point out the obvious: there's one in every crowd. Looks like homesweet home to me -- Mom's red nail polish, purse on the counter, best silver and dishes in the built-in china cabinet. I remember it well. CakedI wonder if those were accidentally clever teepees on the cake. FreebiesIn the early 50s my father owned a store about two blocks from a Sealtest plant. I would wander over (streets were safe for little kids back then) and the ladies would always give me a little cup of ice cream. As for dumb brand names my vote goes to Uneeda Biscuit. Still send shivers. Drum cakeLove the older brother (or nephew), obviously too old to wear a costume and headdress, but he still wants to be included. Also, love the DRUM cake! By that stack of plates, I'm guessing there is a large supporting cast of adults behind the scenes. Birthday Girl UpdateThe cabinet and drawer pulls are still there, as is most of the china. The cabinet is currently painted white. The area where we're all sitting was a breakfast nook. Now it's a pantry but still the same color. The little boy in the back is "Pinwheel Boy" from my post Kids' Table 1966. DecorI'm admiring the simulated woodgrain Formica table. Green paint flavorsI'm surprised I didn't comment on the paint color, since it looks like an exact match for our living room and dining room - whatever brand my father used called it "Mist Green." Flat latex for the walls, semi-gloss for the woodwork, like the china cabinet here. Oh, and white ceilings. I remember being amazed when Father first used latex paint over the fact that he could clean his brushes by just rinsing them out under the faucet. Get the Best...Great photo! These kids wouldn't remember, but one of our favorite Saturday morning TV shows was the "Sealtest Big Top", which aired from 1950 to 1957. Ed McMahon was a clown and a writer on the show. They nearly always had trained seals. Burned into my mind is the chorus of the jingle: "Get the best, get Sealtest. Get the best, get Sealtest." A Favorite FlavorThe cabinet and walls are the very popular color of the 40's through the 60's: mint green, a.k.a. Dr Pepper green. The latter name refers to the color of the coolers and vending machines of the time.The deco-influenced hinges on the cabinet would have been a matching chrome of the drawer pulls but, like so many households, they just painted over them. [Also called Seafoam Green. - Dave] Pinwheel BoyThis a funny, funny picture! Cracks me up everytime I see "Pinwheel Boy" poking his head into things. Little one perched on the counter doesn't look too happy, though. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kids)
Black and White: 1939
... When you consider the location of Oklahoma - just north of Texas and west of Arkansas - and it's history this photo is less ... Glad! I was born in July 1939 and grew up in North Carolina. This sort of thing was still going on when I left at age 18. I have ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/04/2018 - 11:28am -

July 1939. "Negro drinking at 'colored' water cooler in Oklahoma City streetcar terminal." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee. Well whaddya know!Obviously, Jim Crow wasn't just a Southern thang. More than a few non southern rectangular like states had their quirky little practices too. Thank the Lord those days are all gone now, right? It's a sobering service for Shorpy to put the bad out there with the good. No rose colored glasses in a coal mine. Oklahoma sort of southernWhen you consider the location of Oklahoma - just north of Texas and west of Arkansas - and it's history this photo is less surprising. The Cherokee (most numerous of the "Five Civilized Tribes" who were relocated from the south by Andrew Jackson) owned slaves - black slaves - and there several regiments of Indian soldier from what was then the Indian Territory and is now Oklahoma that served with the Confederacy. One unit was under the command of Brigadier General Stand Watie, himself a successful Cherokee plantation owner. So as I say, this picture is hardly surprising. Oklahoma's not Southern? Right....It also should be noticed that anyone from outside the US would assume automatically that Oklahoma was without question or discussion a southern state. It's pretty damn far south compared to Alaska or Minnesota. Oklahoma and the SouthI've lived in Oklahoma most of my life, and at times lived in Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas. Oklahoma is probably best considered a "border South" state. There are cultural affinities with the Midwest, but also strong cultural similarities to the traditional South. Not surprisingly, southeastern Oklahoma is more "Southern," culturally, and the northwest panhandle tends to be more "Midwestern." And, in the 1920's era, there was a strong tendency to identify as a Southwestern state. Being sort of in the middle of the US, and joining the Union rather late, there is an amorphous quality to Oklahoma's regional identity. Geez, even with disposableGeez, even with disposable paper cups they had to have separate water tanks. I guess just touching the same knob on the tap was too much for people. BathroomsAt least they get to use the same bathroom, or so it appears. Are You Really Glad Those Days Are Over?Being a fan of that era, I've asked many people who lived during that era if they were indeed "the good old days." Surprisingly, most of them say that they were indeed better days than modern times. They explained that there was plenty of bad, but the good aspects of life FAR out-weighed the bad aspects. Yes I'm Really Glad!I was born in July 1939 and grew up in North Carolina. This sort of thing was still going on when I left at age 18. I have no nostalgia whatsoever for it. Searsed Into MemoryI remember being in Sears, Roebuck in Lubbock, Texas, in the very early 50's, when I was a very young child. I was thirsty but my mother wouldn't let me drink from the fountain marked Colored Only. I threw a fit and wanted to see what color the water was that came out of that water fountain. Needless to say, my mom took me home and beat the crap out of me for embarrassing her in public ARE YOU SERIOUS???Try asking many of the people on the NEGATIVE side of Jim Crow laws - the ones oppressed by them - if the good far outweighed the bad. I have older family members that still bear the scars - in some cases literal - from the "good" old days. Good Ol' Days?@Alan: Being a fan of that era, I've asked many people who lived during that era if they were indeed "the good old days." Surprisingly, most of them say that they were indeed better days than modern times. They explained that there was plenty of bad, but the good aspects of life FAR out-weighed the bad aspects. What are the "good old days" exactly? Time brings change and often folks look back on any time earlier in life as good ol' days. Perhaps things were simpler, or more clear, or people stayed in their places. What are the demographics of the many people who lived during that era that you've asked. What were "the good aspects of life that FAR out-weighed the bad aspects?" Your thinly described anecdotal evidence seems merely a justification for your own perceptions. I'm glad those days are over and here, in a moderate slice of the South, I wish for even more equality than exists. Good Ol' Days?This photo reminds us of one very important fact: Those were the "good ol' days," if you were lucky enough to be one of the "good ol' boys." Caption Terminology"Negro"? Is that really the best term to use in a caption on a photo that is such a demonstrative comment on racism? [It's the photographer's caption. Hence the quote marks. And there's nothing racist about the word. - Dave] Jim Crow CaliforniaMy parents are white Mississippians who grew up in the days when segregation was the norm, so they were quite used to such things as separate facilities everywhere in public buildings. They were overseas in the Foreign Service during the Chinese revolution, and returned to this country via northern California about 1950. They were startled to notice signs in Oakland proclaiming gas stations to be "whites only" -- not the bathrooms or water coolers, but the whole station. No "colored" customers at all! The South certainly did not have a monopoly on Jim Crow, and it took a lot to startle a Mississippian in those days. (The Gallery, Great Depression, OKC, Russell Lee, Travel & Vacation)
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