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Suitcase Wireless: 1924
... a wonderful ad somewhere showing two guys camping, with fish in the pan, "listening to the big game". The tubes are encased in beeswax ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 3:18pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1924. "Brent Daniel, formerly of the Radio Laboratory of the Bureau of Standards at Washington, with the first portable Super-Heterodyne, his own design. The seven vacuum tubes, batteries, loop antenna, loudspeaker and other necessary units are completely self-contained in the carrying case. He has been able to hear Pacific Coast stations from this outfit." View full size.
BatteriesThe batteries on the right power the low voltage high current filaments, probably 6v in parallel; the batteries on the left supply probably 48v each in series for a jolting 144 volts for plate current.  Keep your fingers out.
Batteries were the problem; they're heavy, expensive and costly to replace, which they are often.
If you can't pick up anything, you can at least keep yourself warm from the heat it throws off.
[The 15-cell batteries on the left are 22.5 volts each, or 1.5V per cell. "Heavy Duty 6" on the right are labeled 1.5 volts (per cell, I guess). - Dave]
The ultimate in portabilityIt's the size of a Breadbox and only weighs fifty pounds!
You just know he was thinking that they'll never get any smaller than this!
The latest technology..."Transistors Under Glass"
Portable, all rightIf you have a dolly!
And thirty years later.It came down to this size. This is the first commercial transistor radio sold in 1954 by Regency. I remember listening to many a Giants game one those transistors. I wasn't around for the one in the main photo.
ReflectionsI love it when one of these old photos contains a reflective surface that provides a bit of unintentional insight into the background.  In this case, each of the silvery tubes tells a slightly different story - depending on which one you look at, you can see the subject's hands, legs, and feet, the camera and a bit of the photographer, the large window that runs the length of the studio, some sort of lamp that's projecting a halo of light onto the ceiling, various bits of furniture and shelving, and if I'm not mistaken, part of the (adjoining?) building outside the window.
At least we can figure it out!Unlike an iPod, at least the components are somewhat easy to understand. Wonder what he would think of an iPod?
Complete in Itself


Washington Post, July 15, 1923.

Make Successful Test of
Portable Suitcase Radio Set


Local Enthusiasts Get Clear Reception
 With Type Built by Brent Daniel


Various types of portable radio receiving sets have appeared from time to time in the last few months. While taking different forms, all the sets require either an external coil aerial or overhead antenna when in use, thus limiting their use to stationary installations or specially equipped conveyances.

A Washington manufacturer recently has standardized a design of portable receiving set which is complete in itself. The entire outfit, including all the batteries and coil aerial, is contained in a medium-sized light-weight suitcase.

This portable receiver is ready for important use at any time by merely closing the switch which lights the filaments of the six UV199 vacuum tubes used in the radio audio amplifier receiver. This amplifier employs three stages of DX-12 radio frequency transformers, detector and two audio stages. The same type instrument in nonportable form has been used repeatedly in the reception of transcontinental radiophone signals by employing a three-foot square coil aerial.

The builder of this portable set, Brent Daniel, recently made a series of tests to determine the practicability of its use in an automobile in motion, and in general outdoor reception. WCAP, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone station, was tuned in when the set was located on the fourth floor of an office building. Leaving the set in operation with the musical program from the broadcasting station coming in clear and loud, the set was carried downstairs and placed in an automobile without once interrupting the reception. When the car started off, the ignition spark was quite audible with the set placed near the bed of the machine, however, by placing it in different positions, the spark was not audible. … 

These tests, and the reception accomplished later with this portable set demonstrated its scope of usefulness in the hands of the auto-tourist or vacationist. With a high-class broadcasting station within a few hundred miles range, the user of such a set is assured of entertainment, regardless of his location. … 

The outstanding feature of this portable receiver is that when the summer season is over and a radio set is wanted for the home during the winter, it is only necessary to remove the amplifier receiver unit from the portable case and place it in the regular mahogany case which is furnished for indoor use.
 
The superheterodyne receiverThe superheterodyne receiver and FM radio were both invented by Edwin Armstrong, generally acknowledged the greatest American radio engineer. A Signal Corps officer in WWI, he gave his patents to the US government during both WWI and WWII. FM radio contributed to Allied victory in WWII since it provided communications when AM did not. Armstrong lost a years-long patent fight with RCA and committed suicide in 1954. His wife continued the fight and eventually won the FM patents from RCA. Armstrong's life is documented in the book and Ken Burns' film "Empire of the Air". 
SuperheterodyneThe big word "superheterodyne" means that this radio was quite advanced over the common tuned radio frequency (TRF) radio of the day. The fact that it has seven tubes and only two tuning knobs is unique among 1920s radios. Later, the two tuning knobs were put on a common shaft, allowing the single knob we're used to. 
The trick used in this model is that it converts the station's frequency to a lower intermediate frequency that's the same no matter which station you're listening to, and amplifies the weak signal using an amplifier that's factory-tuned to that one frequency, instead of requiring the listener to tune several amplifier stages to the station's frequency. Hence the need for fewer tuning knobs. 
By 1935, after the patent mess got sorted out, this type of radio completely replaced the TRF radio that Atwater Kent made a fortune from. It later became known as the All-American five tube radio, after the bean counters whittled every last penny from the design in the late thirties.
Ultimate geekHe's even got his pocket pen protector!  This must have been very advanced for 1924.
Dry Cell BatteriesZinc-carbon chemistry gives 1.5 volts per cell, so all batteries made up from them in series will be multiples of that.  The "A" battery was for the filaments, "B" for the high plate voltage (often 90V), and "C" for the grid circuits of the vacuum tubes (often 67.5V, so three of those 22.5 bats in this - four would give the 90V).  The UV-199s (triodes) in it have 3V filaments, drawing 0.06 amp each.  Larger current capacity is achieved by using cell electrodes with more surface area (so larger and heavier cells) or by connecting smaller cells/bats in parallel.  On those large "Twin Cells" on the right their terminals are marked "carbon +" and "zinc -".  Burgess has an interesting history with its distinctive "zebra striped" product.
Zenith TransoceanicThe largest radio I sold was the Zenith Transoceanic Radio. Zenith produced this shortwave radio that could be powered by AC or batteries . It was first produced in 1942 and continued to be made until 1981. In 1960 it sold with the batteries for about $160, figuring the average U.S. wage at the time at about $4000, it cost about 2 weeks pay. It weighed in excess of 25 lbs.
Not the only portableI happen to be the owner of a RCA Radiola AR-812, which is considered the first commercially produced superhet, and, which was considered a portable radio. Production began in 1924, and the radio sold for the bargain price of $220! It's an enormous thing, one foot high by one foot deep by three feet wide, with a mahogany veneer. I have a wonderful ad somewhere showing two guys camping, with fish in the pan, "listening to the big game". The tubes are encased in beeswax to protect them during transport. This feller's is a homebrew model. To understand the importance of the superhetrodyne technology, one must realize that there were several competing systems vying for dominance when the superhet came out. Today, if you have a radio, it's a superhet, period. 
Many of the facets of radio we take as given today were not yet common when these radios were being built. For example, the mHz system was not yet adapted, so every single knob on the radio scales from 0-100. Volume knobs, tuning knobs, everything. Gotta love it.
[Spelling note: heterodyne, not "hetrodyne." - Dave]
(Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing)

Waste Not: 1918
... like the notorious Temperance fountain (with its twisted fish and green-copper heron). If so, it seems to have moved a bit north since ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 4:01pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1918. "World War I. Food Administration electric signs, 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue N.W." National Photo Co. View full size.
Fog or Photo?Are the halos around the lights caused by atmospheric conditions, or are they photographic phenomena?
Temperance Fountain MoveThat is the Temperance Fountain.  I think it was moved when the Metro line was built under Seventh Street.  I always though it was ironic that the Temperance Fountain stood in front of the Apex Liquor Store.
The Jesus signI think the Jesus sign says, "Jesus the light of the world." I think it would only be a controversy if it were on a public (government-owned) building--and, if it were on such a building, it should be a controversy.
Temperance FountainThe cement-canopied monument right in front of the Apex building looks like the notorious Temperance fountain (with its twisted fish and green-copper heron). If so, it seems to have moved a bit north since this photo was taken.  
The Word Will Shine SteadilyWashington Post, March 25, 1910.


ELECTRIC SIGN FOR MISSION
Great Letters Will Flash "Jesus, the Light of the World."
        The Central Union Mission will soon erect on the roof of the mission building an immense electric sign bearing the words "Jesus, the Light of the World."
        The letters in the word "Jesus" will each be between 12 and 14 feet in height, and the word will shine steadily. The phrase "The Light of the World," in which the letters will be about 8 feet in height, will flash alternately.
        It is the intention of committee which is conducting the work to have the cost of the sign, which will be about $700, borne by the Sunday schools of the city, and the young people's societies of the different churches will be asked to contribute to the expense of maintenance.

Mexico City - 1962Its a long story, but I found myself in Mexico for Christmas and "Three Kings Day" in 1962 and the church near where I was staying had put out a bright red flashing neon sign as their holiday decor which simply said "Ole'Jesus".  
Regardless......it seems the Army outranked Jesus...
Religious expressionYou can put a sign up saying "Jesus Loves the World" anywhere you want, as long as it's not on public (city, state, country) owned property. You could also put up a sign which says "Allah Loves the World", or anything else you want to say. Let's not make controversies where they don't exist. Ain't America great?
UnsignedThe building today.
View Larger Map
Heavenly LightThe sign below the name of Jesus reads, "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." It is taken from John's gospel (8:12), where Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
Calling Jay WardAm I the only one who is old enough that this brought back memories of the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show closing credits?
Central MissionCentral Union Mission still exists in Washington and still has a religious message in big letters on its building.  There is no controversy about it.  The only controversy is from the gentrifiers who have moved into the neighborhood and don't like having a homeless shelter nearby.
The sign to the leftDoes the sign to the left say "Jesus Loves the World"? Sadly in today's America, that would be a controversy if it wern't in front of a church.
Food or Army?Don't waste the food or don't waste the Army?
re: Fog or Photo?It's a photographic effect called halation, in which the light passes through the emulsion and is reflected back onto the rear of the emulsion by the glass plate or film base, as the case may be.
Sometime later (1920s?) manufacturers placed an anti-halation coating on their plates and films.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, WWI)

Fishkill Sluggers: 1907
... off marine life. "Kill" means "creek" in Dutch, and "fish" means, well, "fish," so Dutch settlers in the 1600's bestowed the name after finding local ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/27/2013 - 1:38pm -

Circa 1907. "Holland Hotel, Fishkill-on-Hudson, N.Y." Backstop for our sidewalk athletes. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Nemo has nothing to fearFishkill's name has nothing to do with knocking off marine life.  "Kill" means "creek" in Dutch, and "fish" means, well, "fish," so Dutch settlers in the 1600's bestowed the name after finding local streams to be full of fish. 
The name Fishkill-on-Hudson has fallen into disuse, most likely because the center of town is several miles east of the river.  It's home to a huge IBM manufacturing and research facility and to an even larger state prison. The latter's presence notwithstanding Fishkill is a nice town, and the Hudson Valley is very scenic.  No more Holland Hotel, alas.
Speaking of the Dutch settlers, as late as World War II there were some elderly people in this area who spoke Dutch as their first language.  As immigration from the Netherlands had pretty much ended in the late 1600's, this means that children were still being raised speaking Dutch at least five or six generations after the last immigrants arrived.  There may be no other case in the world of an ancestral language surviving for so long.
Hey, I foul tipped it!Oh man, stickball.  This pic should bring back memories to many Shorpies.  I played stickball on a quiet rural road at home as well as busy streets when visiting relatives in the city.  The best was half-ball with a sawed off broom handle and the hardest part was getting our ball back from the mean old man with the fenced in yard.  That's why I now give the kids back their soccer and footballs - I remember the names we called that geezer.
BeaconFishkill-on-Hudson is the former name of Beacon, NY and shouldn't be confused with the village of Fishkill a couple miles inland.  Without Mt. Beacon in the background I'm guessing this view is looking toward the Hudson on lower Main St.  The hotel is no longer there.
Something Is MissingSomething is missing in this image from 1907, but not for long probably. 
Several horses and no automobiles.
DetailWhat details in the building...fancy brickwork, etc.  A dying skill to lay bricks today.  Straight faced structures is all you see IF they decide to use brick.
Fishkill on Hudson is now Beacon Same scene today, hotel is gone but some of the buildings beyond are still there today.
View Larger Map
The DutchessApparently the name was later changed to the "Dutchess of Beacon." I found newspaper references until around 1950, but nothing later. 
A postcard, maybe ten years later, shows a significant addition to the hotel taking up the grassy yard area. The hotel was said to have been at Main and S. Chestnut, but the current Google Street view doesn't seem to support that location. 
for DeziI had found the address on Main at the corner of Elm.  That particular reference escapes me now.  Following pic from google books titled "Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Dutchess and Putnam New York", Volume 1 By J.H. Beers & Co puts The Holland at that location. Take the street view and travel a little down the street and compare the buildings just beyond the hotel. The 2 story red brick followed by the 3 story, then the small frame and then the 3 story 10-12 window wide red brick.  I believe it is the same block.
(The Gallery, DPC, Kids, Sports)

The Krusty Krab: 1922
... was often an option for those wanting something other than fish on Friday. #*&?! that's a big tortoise head I mean wow that's a big tortoise head. Gimme That Filet-O-Fish What if that were you hanging up on that wall? Phone Book Looks ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 7:40pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Wearley's Oyster House, 12th Street." With toothsome fare priced for every purse (Plain Clam Stew 40¢; Milk Clam Stew 45¢). Please Do Not Touch the Turtle. National Photo Company. View full size.
Its eyes are following me.I don't know what that hideous thing is supposed to be, but I won't be able to sleep tonight thinking about it. Back in the day, I wouldn't have wanted it watching me eat my clam stew at the Oyster House either.
Bikini BottomAre SpongeBob and Patrick hiding behind the counter?
Anti-fanityAre we at least allowed to say "aw, shucks"? It is, after all, an oyster bar!
Two of these things are not like the othersA fine selection of seafood both on the menu and on the wall. I especially like the eel-like creature on the right that seems to be quite upset to have gotten stuck trying to swim through the wall. But what are those two taxidermied mammals doing there?
Sea Turtle SoupI don't see it on the part of the menu you can see but Turtle soup was a common enough menu item when the trade in sea turtles was still around.
Since tortoise shell (made mainly made from three species of sea turtle, including the Green Sea Turtle) was used for brushes, combs and boxes, etc., you had to do something with the meat.
As well, since the Church did not consider turtle to be a meat, it was often an option for those wanting something other than fish on Friday.
 #*&?! that's a big tortoise headI mean wow that's a big tortoise head.
Gimme That Filet-O-FishWhat if that were you hanging up on that wall?
Phone BookLooks a lot thicker than the one back at the Office.
That is one stand-up clam barNot even a brass rail?
ButI'll bet the Krabby Patties are still $3.95.  That Mr. Krabs.
Shell collectingIt's obvious that Wearley's has its devoted followers. Those shells on the wall include abalone, which is found on the seacoast of almost every continent *except* the eastern coast of the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast of South America.
You'd not likely harvest conch in Chesapeake Bay, either.
Give me some of that effen milk stew!Can't you read the sign? No stew for you!
You would thinkthat if the owners of this place wanted it photographed at some cost, they would at least shovel up the schmutz on the floor.
Mind your P's & Q'sSeems strange to see a sign requiring no profane language for this more "proper" time period.
[Evidently it was less proper than we've been led to believe! - Dave]
(The Gallery, D.C., Eateries & Bars, Natl Photo)

Cuyahoga Bridges: 1912
... I found, which would explain her presence at the Case Fish Company's wharf. The Schaefer remained in service until she burned in ... Company was at 1566-1568 Merwin Avenue, and the Case Fish Company was next door at 1574 Merwin Avenue. As I look down on that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/24/2012 - 10:53am -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1912. "Cuyahoga River. The Lift Bridge and Superior Avenue viaduct." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
Moving bridgesNot being able to judge the depth of field in the photo, I'm led to wonder if the swing bridge and the bascule bridge were able to collide if someone was not paying attention.
RE: Drying racksFor drying fishing nets. Before they were made of nylon, they were made from natural fibers and would rot if they weren't dried between uses.
Wonderful photoFull of steam, smoke, reflections, bridges, and industrial buildings. One of Shorpy's best ever!
And that's not all...it even relieves fatigue!
Phoenix Ice Machine Co.Alternative Shorpy view of this stretch of river at Cuyahoga: 1910.
Drying racks? Does anyone know what those racks on the far right are?  Some appear to have patterned material stretched across them, as if for drying.
Replaced by the Detroit-Superior Bridge in 1918"The Superior Viaduct was closed to traffic in 1918 after the Detroit-Superior Bridge opened. The viaduct was condemned in 1920 and two years later, the central river span was demolished with 150 pounds of dynamite." 
Source:
http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/cuyahoga-river/superior-viaduct/
If you zoom into about the middle on the right side, in one of the building doorways, you can see a little girl in white with a bonnet on.  So tiny and almost invisible within the vast surroundings. It makes me wonder what type of building that is and what she happened to be doing there.
Relieves FatigueOn the right side of the photo, I believe I see the freshly painted left side of a "Chas H Fletcher Castoria" sign. The ubiquitous laxative claimed curing or lessening many of the discomforts of the 19th and 20th century.
Phillip G. SchaeferAccording to various online editions of the U.S. Bureau of Navigation's "Merchant Vessels of the United States," the screw-driven steamship Phillip G. Schaefer was built in Buffalo in 1903 and home ported in Cleveland. Her hull dimensions were 64.4 feet in length, 14.3 feet in breadth, and 5.0 feet in depth. She displaced 29 gross tons and was operated by a crew of three.
Surprisingly, given her appearance, the Schaefer was listed as a fishing boat in every reference I found, which would explain her presence at the Case Fish Company's wharf. The Schaefer remained in service until she burned in 1931, having been renamed the Maumee in 1930.
Merwin AvenueStanton Square's reminder of the previously posted 1910 view enabled me to locate these companies in the online 1912 Cleveland City Directory. The Phoenix Ice Machine Company was at 1566-1568 Merwin Avenue, and the Case Fish Company was next door at 1574 Merwin Avenue. As I look down on that address from low earth orbit in Google Earth, the building there now might still be the old Case warehouse, but the Phoenix building is long gone.
Not Fletcher's CastoriaThe sign that is partially visible in this picture, with the slogan "Relieves Fatigue" is actually for a product that is still very common. in fact, i just had some with my lunch: Coca-Cola.
There is another sign in the middle background, of which only the word "HONEST" is legible. Not sure what that was advertising.
More Phillip G ShaeferI too thought the little steamboat was interesting. I went online and found this. Buffalo is just a few miles down the lake and I wonder if the boat is related to him.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cleveland, DPC)

Atlantis: 1905
... of people, who have watched it cavorting in the large fish tan on Young's pier. What to do on the pier? & Are those dogs? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:14pm -

Glimpses of a lost world circa 1905. "Young's Million Dollar Pier, Atlantic City." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
What?Down here we have fishing piers. What does one do on one like that?
Fire magnetTell me that huge mass of wood construction never caught fire and burned to the ground/water.
SignI'd love some salt water taffy and Hygienic Ice Cream!  Love this photograph - obviously during the day during the week, the slow time when the blue collar workers come out to maintain the grounds.  Notice the men on the roof and the gardener in the yard.
One Look Tells MeI bet that Young's Million Dollar Pier was destroyed by fire.
Just a guess. 
PuppiesThe two dogs on the lawn caught my eye. One more curious than the other.
I'll Take That BetAccording to the sources that I've found, Young's Million Dollar Pier survived until 1981 when it was demolished and replaced with a concrete pier known as "Ocean One." In 2002 it became "The Pier Shops At Caesars" but is currently in foreclosure. I don't doubt that much of what was on The Million Dollar Pier might have disappeared over the years, it was almost certainly due to demolition rather than fire.
Deep Sea NetWhile the best online history of the 'Million Dollar Pier' records that net fishing began in 1907, the following article calls this into question.  
The Washington Post reports on the capture of a baby white whale at this location, two years prior to this photo.  While Americans had mastered the technology to launch global, multi-year voyages to hunt whales, newspaper accounts from the time display a maddening nonspecificity regarding whale species.
The only true white whale is the Beluga, which inhabits the margins of the arctic ocean.  It would have been a truly remarkable event to find one this far south.  Today, the reported southern edge of their range is the St. Lawrence River in Canada.



Washington Post, Aug 23, 1903 


At Atlantic City
A baby White Whale Captured in the Fishing Nets

Among the incidents of the week was the capture of a baby white whale, the only of its kind ever seen in this city, and the big baby has attracted thousands of people, who have watched it cavorting in the large fish tan on Young's pier.
What to do on the pier? & Are those dogs?The pier included the world's largest ballroom, named The Hippodrome, and a huge exhibit hall. It also hosted movies, conventions, and exhibits. So say they intertubes.
In the yard where the gardener is working - are there two dogs laying on the grass? Can't imagine he would allow that. I see a small statue in the closer yard so perhaps that's what they are.
I also see 3 or more people working on the far end of the roof. Probably spreading tar.
Oh, thank goodness,the ice cream here is hygienic!!! The last time we visited the shore we got some of that unhygienic ice cream by mistake. Poor Aunt Tessie was sick for a month!
Tar TimeAs far as the guys taring the roof goes, "Only 50,000 square feet to go"
Pier reviewAuthor Emil Salvini's "Tales of the Jersey Shore" blog includes a postcard that he found in 2009 depicting a March 29, 1912 fire:

Jim Waltzer, co-author of "Tales of South Jersey," wrote an article in 2006 in Atlantic City Weekly that describes Young Pier fires in 1949 and 1981.  
Fate of the PierYes, indeed, fire did claim the pier (kind of), but even to this day, not completely (the pier is about a third of a mile long; you are only looking at some 300 feet or so).
The Grand Ballroom, which is to the far right, was destroyed by fire in 1949; the pier itself was still sound, however, and the section was rebuilt as an amusement park; it was very well known in the 1950s.  The center section where the workers are on the roof was torn down in 1969, and replaced with other amusements.  The far ocean side of the pier burned in 1981.  The Ocean One Mall is built on what's left of the pier and pier site at this time, though one of the casinos is eying rebuilding the pier to something close to its former state.
What does one do on a pier like that?One strolls while eating Cones filled with Hygienic Ice Cream, of course.
Second-String but stll First-Rate.The Million Dollar Pier was still intact as an amusement venue as late as the middle-1950's, although it was always 'second-string' to The Steel Pier. But back in those days, that was in no sense a demeaning position to be in, in AC.  
Long-Lived"When did that thing burn?" was my first thought.  It lasted a good long time.  The pier had burned in 1902. (You can see some roof work going on in this picture).  The rebuilt pier lasted in one form or another until the ocean end burned in 1981. The pier at Caesar's stands at the site now.
(The Gallery, Atlantic City, DPC, Swimming)

Omar: 1935
... know I could just link to it right here. But give a man a fish ... ) - Dave] Or Ernest Borgnine! Or Ernest Borgnine! Stache ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 11:03am -

October 1935. A street scene in the mining town of Omar, West Virginia. 35mm negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
You are in -- The Twilight ZoneThat looks like Rod Serling on the right.
[Or Adolf Hitler. - Dave]
Keep your eye on the sparrowMethinks Robert Blake.
The bike!I thought there was a better picture.  Where is it?
[Two posts up. Or you can click on the photographer's name above the photo. (Yes, I know I could just link to it right here. But give a man a fish ... ) - Dave]
Or Ernest Borgnine!Or Ernest Borgnine!
StacheA few years later I bet he shaved that thing off!
Adolf Jr.Looks like Little Hitler
Mountain HomeThose homes on the mountainside must have been fun to build.
Think of what a good rainstorm could do to them?
Omar WVI grew up here. Almost every building you see in this picture is now gone, many before the 1960s. When the companies abandoned these towns, the people abandoned them for lack of work. 
Oh, but the railroad tracks and the roads are still there.
The fella in the hat What a looker he is! I agree about the Hitler looking mustache. I wonder what they were discussing. 
Omar WV MinesMy father (Ervin Sargent) worked at Omar #5 and Stirrat #15. He is now 90 years old and loves talking about "those days."
Omar, W.Va.The house behind the man on the right was still standing in the 1970s. My grandfather Dana Moore was a doctor and lived there. We had many a good Christmas, sometimes with snow. Grandpa doctored some of the Hatfields and of course miners. My parents at one time had his birth books, he delivered a lot of babies. My father was born in Stirrat, just down the road.
Dr. Dana MooreBlitz...Your grandfather delivered my mother (Erma Crum Sargent) 83 years ago.
(The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Mining, Small Towns)

Farm to Table: 1960
... after dinner, which was usually something fried ( chicken, fish, or something like that along with any number of casseroles) we would sit ... 
 
Posted by Brasscreek - 10/12/2014 - 2:21pm -

Amelia County, Virginia, in the early 1960s. Sunday dinner at the Miller house, with the farm of Marvin and Thelma Warriner in the background. Photo by Helen Warriner-Burke. View full size.
If I were in this picture   I'd have gotten up to give one of the ladies on the glider, a chair that wouldn't be such a difficult thing to get out of, once the meal was done.
   I can taste that late afternoon as I peer into this moment captured on film, and I know how the evening will approach. Soon, everyone will polish off what they can eat, and the hostess will offer pie, or maybe home made ice cream. The folks will clear off the mess, the men will stow away the tables, and they'll sit and chat into the coming dusk with the lightning bugs as company. Then, goodbyes are said all around, they pile into their cars, and in a moment, all that are left are the Millers and the Warriners. And as Marvin and Thelma say their goodbyes and take the short walk through the field to their farmhouse, the last golden strands of sunlight drain away from the sky.
It's a Southern thing!Our family's farmhouse, in Callahan, Florida, was much like the one in this photo, complete with the washer on the back porch. Now a dryer has joined its replacement there. In the days of drying clothes on a line in the back yard, it was a shorter trip that way.
Things I didn't like about those Sunday dinners: having to kill the chickens beforehand; shelling peas on the porch beforehand; when the preacher was a guest; and the inevitable dessert made of Jello with whipped cream and marshmallows in it. Pineapple upside-down cake or pecan pie was more to my liking.
We had the glider and the metal chairs, and, as Bob Wilson recalls, they had thick layers of paint. Good times!
UnplumbedThe frozen pipes Lectrogeek mentions wouldn't be an issue here, as this machine has no plumbing.
Grandma heated water on the stove and carried it in buckets to this washing machine, which did nothing but agitate.  After agitation, Grandma ran all the clothes through the wringer to squeeze out and save the hot soapy  water. Then all the clothes  were rinsed in a tub of cold water and went through the wringer again. After all the clothes were washed, whites first, the  soapy water was simply drained out onto the ground.
Whoops, that's no bench seatIt's just a really comfy looking (and rusty) swing seat.
[Specifically, I think it's a glider bench. -tterrace]
Needful ThingsIf I had to describe my "vision" of a farmhouse, it would be this. Porch loaded with stuff -- washing machine, laundry line, ladders, everyday needful things.
Appliance PlacementMy Southern roommate in college in the '50s explained why washing machines were placed on the front porch. To impress the neighbors, of course.
I want to walk into this photoAnother overpowering Shorpy photo.  I can smell the food and the country side. The friendship is obvious. Even the washing machine is strangely not out of place. I’ve been to places like this and they remain very special, but I don’t have the photo! Thanks again for this wonderful place!
Minnie Pearl's hatI don't doubt that for some families in some communities, the washing machine on the porch was a form of conspicuous display, akin to the price tag on Minnie Pearl's hat. But I think there was a practical reason as well. It was  notoriously difficult to use a wringer washer without getting water on the floor. For this reason, northerners usually put the washing machine in the basement, where there was probably a floor drain, and where the pipes would be protected from freezing.
Southern homes typically didn't (and still don't) have basements, as there is no frost line to dig footings beneath. You don't want to put the machine in the house, so you put it on the porch. You don't have to worry much about frozen pipes in that climate. There might be a few freezing nights per year; they are predictable. You can drain the pipes and the machine, or you can plug in a light bulb in there overnight to keep it warm.
I can almost reach in and be a part of that picture.I've been reading this site for years but never commented. I am originally from Tennessee and though I am in my late 30's I have very fond memories of family get togethers at my Grandparent's house. Their house was sort of like the one here above. They also had mostly 1940's-50's metal yard furniture which Grandad had painted with a million layers of paint so that once they started to chip there would be many colors to see underneath.
 We too would move everything outside for occasional summer dinners, complete with paper plates and plastic silverware. Seeing this photo brings back a lot of very familiar sights, sounds and smells. I can look at it and just imagine that its late in the day yet still pretty hot. The humidity is high. I can imagine the air is filled with the sounds of a million insects buzzing away. Perhaps a slight summer breeze with a dramatic thunderstorm on the way for the evening. 
 I remember after dinner, which was usually something fried ( chicken, fish, or something like that along with any number of casseroles) we would sit around and tell stories and most of the time stories everybody had heard many times but we sat and listened like we had never heard them before.
 After my Grandparents passed away that kind of era in our family ended. The metal furniture is now dispersed amongst all of us ( one is at my aunt's, a few at mom and dad's) and not too long after that I moved to California. Sometimes I really miss those days. People simply don't do those kinds of things anymore.
Out backAlthough I'm originally from Oklahoma, this image resonated with me--we had a back porch that sported a Maytag wringer machine, a ladder like that, and a galvanized bath tub we used about once a week, taking turns. This isn't likely to be a front porch--that would've had a glider or swing and a plant or two. This is the business end of the house.
Screen doorWhat are those iron pots doing in front of the screen door?  And is that plastic over the door to keep the chill out?
This is a hypnotizing time portal.
[Those are galvanized steel washtubs. - Dave]
Men, Women & ChildrenAs with all the other commenters, this photo brings back memories of my childhood.
Being a city boy, I never had the opportunity to experience much "outdoor" dining like the folks here, but I did notice that except for one lady, all the men are around one table, and the ladies have their own group.
Sunday dinner at my grandparents' house was mandatory, and all the men sat at one end of the long dining room table, the women at the other. We kids, of course, had our own table in the kitchen, and were not allowed at the "grown-up" table until you reached a certain age. It was a big moment in my life when, at about the age of 13, my grandfather, who always sat at the head of the table, told me I could sit "with the men". I sat next to my dad, who beamed with pride at my inclusion.
My God! How I miss those Sunday dinners!
PorchedThe wringer washer isn't the only appliance to be kept on rural porches. Many food freezers, both upright and chest were placed there as well.
Inspired me to commentI've been coming to Shorpy for years but I finally registered for this photo. It brings back so many memories of visiting my great-grandmother in Live Oak, Fl., a rural area. My dad, her grandson, helped build her house along with some of the other men in the family. We had dinners there just like this. There was a washer on her porch, too. My brother and I thought the washer was just for show but she actually used it. Only one room in her house had a window AC unit. After the meal, the women would wash dishes and the cousins would run and play outside until it was pitch dark. Not a TV, phone, computer or video game in sight. Wow.
I also remember looking in the sugar bowl and there were a few ants in it. She called them sugar ants. Her house was spotless but those ants really freaked me out.
On the Screen Door HandleI believe that's a clothespin bag hanging on the screen door handle.  
OutstandingI have lived in this scene has been lived many times as a kid at my Grandparents' in Chireno, Texas.  Difficult for a stranger to discern friend from family (a great feeling!).  Thank you Shorpy!  
HistoryI live about 20 minutes from Amelia, and have taken many a ride through that part of the country.  Simply gorgeous.  I'm also a history/Civil War junkie, which that area is also famous for.  Little tidbit:  Thelma Warriner's roots in that area spanned many generations.  Her grandfather, Powhatan Bledsoe, was actually a Confederate Surgeon in the 32nd Virginia Infantry Regiment. The stories must have been incredible.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)

And a Dog Named Boo: 1936
... is now a large apartment complex. Store for rent Fish? I dont smell no fish. I think I would remove the fresh fish sign before putting up the for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/17/2017 - 12:39pm -

April 1936. "House at 1629 North Ninth Street, Milwaukee." Or should that be 1313 Mockingbird Lane? Medium format negative by Carl Mydans. View full size.
North Ninth No MoreThis extension of North Ninth no longer exists.  The area where the house was is now a large apartment complex. 
Store for rentFish? I dont smell no fish.
I think I would remove the fresh fish sign before putting up the for rent sign!
I had to google "Simonizing" just to learn it's a 50-cent word that means polish, as in an auto.
[Simoniz was a brand of car wax. - Dave]
What a deal!Living both above and behind the store!
You've got mailThe door on the right of the residence appears to have a glass mailbox with a letter visible through the glass (it is diagonally placed inside).  These were made by some glass makers during the depression era glass craze in the 1930's so one could see at a glance if there was anything inside.  I have one made by the Bartlett-Collins Glass Co. (now defunct) in Oklahoma which has an aluminum lid and hanging base although the one pictured appears to be a different kind of metal.  I would never hang it outside for obvious reasons, but I did plan to keep my "bills to be paid" in there, and hang  it in the kitchen as a reminder and novelty, but never did.  I imagine they were not durable enough to catch on.   There is also a small clothesline on the top porch with clothespins clipped onto it, so somebody must be home.   
SimonizingSimonizing was what people did to their watches when they were coordinating something - before there were cell phones. (ha ha)
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Dogs, Halloween, Milwaukee)

Smoke on the Water: 1910
... various Lake Superior fishing operations and transporting fish back to Duluth. In 1917 she was sold to the French government and taken ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 6:44pm -

Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1905-1910. "Duluth from the Incline Railway." Another of the eerily depopulated hive-of-industry scenes that seemed to be a specialty of Detroit the Publishing Co. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.
Chamber of Commerce
Kelley
North Western Fuel Co.
Peerless Laundry
R.B. Knox & Co.
Stone Ordean Wells Co. Wholesale Grocers, Manufacturers & Importers.

Eerily depopulated?I think of it as charmingly high in buildings-to-people ratio. My vision of a prosperous future is lots of built square feet per person. My vision of Blade Runner hell is lots of people per built square foot: "hive of humanity." 
It's all goneReplaced by the convention center and playfront/bayfront parks. The finger of land betwixt the channel and the lake is still residential though. And tell that kid in the doorway of the house at bottom left to quit staring at me.
I spy someoneNot quite depopulated -- there's a figure standing in the side doorway of that ramshakle house in the left foreground. By the way, what is up with the brick flues poking through the house's roof? It looks like every other brick is missing. 
DepopulatedGuess if you choose your angle so you don't photograph any streets it get easier to not show people.  Also helps when folks aren't out on their porches.
Too cold to go outThis is Duluth, after all.
Where are the Trees?Interesting (and sad) to see Park Point so devoid of trees. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like back then, given its current state of tall pines, and lush, abundant plant life.
It should also be noted that most of these buildings are still standing. Unlike other downtown areas of Minnesota, Duluth's original buildings didn't get mowed-down in favor of new, shiny ones. The city really retains some of its original character (good AND bad. But mostly Good). 
Pop. 1I spy one person, I think, in the side doorway of the house at bottom left. For some reason, I find it amusing that 1910 Duluth had Turkish Baths. Seems so cosmopolitan for the Iron Range.
The Two Passenger VesselsThe vessel to the far left, mostly obscured by the warehouse of the Stone Ordean Wells Company, is the Newsboy, a 104-foot wooden passenger steamer built 1889 by F. W. Wheeler & Company originally for service on Saginaw Bay.  By 1902 she had migrated to the Zenith City and ran excursions inland on the St. Louis River to the picnic grounds at Fond du Lac. She ended her career on Lake Ontario, abandoned near Belleville, Ontario, in 1913.  The larger steamer farther right is the Easton, built of steel in 1898 at Baltimore, Maryland, by Reeder & Company for service on Chesapeake Bay. She was brought to Lake Michigan in 1901 to carry passengers and fruit between Southwestern Michigan and Chicago. In 1903 she began service for the White Line Transportation Company, connecting Duluth with north shore Lake Superior ports, eventually being owned, as shown here, by the A. Booth Packing Company, supplying Booth's various Lake Superior fishing operations and transporting fish back to Duluth.  In 1917 she was sold to the French government and taken across the Atlantic, converted to the naval patrol vessel Apache.  In 1926 she was sold into civilian use and reconverted to a passenger and cargo steamer, renamed Le Sahel and operating out of Tunisia.  She was broken up in 1938 at Bizerte, Tunisia, marking the end of a particularly peripatetic career.
Railroad DepotThe railroad depot in the center of the field is still there and now houses an excellent railroad museum. 
3 Homes in the foregroundDrove by these houses today, 2 of the 3 houses in the foreground are still there, the middle wooden is gone. You can see them here via Google Street View: http://goo.gl/GQNqa3
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Duluth, Railroads)

In Just-spring: 1952
... "Tadpole and the Big Dippers." And hey, did you see that fish?! 35mm color slide by Hubert Tuttle. View full size. And now we ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/16/2014 - 8:30pm -

"May 4, 1952. Dam at Blue Earth below cemetery." The latest installment of Minnesota Kodachromes might be titled "Tadpole and the Big Dippers." And hey, did you see that fish?! 35mm color slide by Hubert Tuttle. View full size.
And now we knowThis must be the trouble that our mothers knew we'd get into if allowed to frolic unsupervised.
Incredible colorI feel like I could step right into the picture. 
Initial impressionsNot even posed.  At first glance I thought this was a Rockwell painting.
You know you're in Minnesota-When boys wear winter hats with earflaps for Springtime wading.
I'm lookingBut I don't see the little lame balloonman.
Best dam photo on ShorpySeriously, that is a beautiful photo.
A Genuine Snapshot MasterpieceThe composition, lighting, and color in this image truly rise to the level of masterpiece.  I think Bazille would have traded his canvas and brushes for a roll of Kodachrome had he seen it.
Image qualityEither these were incredibly well preserved slides, or you have changed your scanning techniques. The quality of this set is absolutely amazing.
Initial impressions (cont.)I agree Dutch. Had to study closely looking for brush strokes. Great and unusual lighting and exposure.
RockwellianIf you say this is a Kodachrome, OK, but I've never seen a photo look so much like a Norman Rockwell's painting. 
(Maybe it's a Kodachrome of a Rockwell painting?)
E. E. Cummings Flashback!Just seeing the phrase "In just-spring" flashed an image in my head of Sven Armens, longtime (long, long time!) English professor at the University of Iowa.  He looked like Rance Howard and sounded like Arby's sandwich detective Bo Dietl.  I can just picture him sitting casually on the corner of the classroom desk in loose slacks and sport coat, chain-smoking ultra-low tar Carlton cigarettes in the classroom (in violation of policy) and reading in a heavy, husky, hoarse Brooklyn/Bronx accent, "Thy fingers make early flowers of all things -- "
eddieandbill come runningSomebody should note the title's reference to a wonderfully apt poem by E.E. Cummings. (Make that  e.e. cummings if you're a purist.)
CompellingIf this was just a snapshot, it was certainly a lucky one. It also proves that, in spite of what many used to say, Kodachrome was capable of subtlety in the way it handled greens. 
When the box of slides came back from the processor, it must have been a happy day for this photographer. 
Warm spellOften the lilacs don't bloom in Minnesota until after Mother's Day.  1952 had an unusually warm spring:
"The longest warm spell was from April 23 to May 7, constituting 15 consecutive days with warmer than average high temperatures." 
It reached 91 degrees in Minneapolis on May 4. No doubt Blue Earth was enjoying comparably toasty temps, but I'm sure that water was still ice-cold.
(Minnesota Kodachromes, Swimming)

Pass the Pepper: 1940
... bread, home-canned peaches, home-churned butter and fish caught by the three children the day this picture was taken. Homemade dill ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 2:42pm -

May 1940. "Mrs. Marinus W. Hansen, wife of Farm Security Administration rehabilitation farmer in Box Elder County, Utah, has dinner with her three children. On the table are home-produced milk, homemade bread, home-canned peaches, home-churned butter and fish caught by the three children the day this picture was taken. Homemade dill pickles provided a relish." Medium-format nitrate negative, photographer unknown. View full size.
The DenimLooks like it could be a pair of bib overalls.
1940 CensusThat's mom Elizabeth with oldest daughter Gertrude, her brother Don and little sis Helen. Younger brothers Mack and Clifford might be at the kids' table. Where's Poppa?
Cracking goodAlso, a nice selection of crackers.
A place at the tableHaving grown up in a close-knit family of anywhere from six to eight people together at every meal time, I can tell you that having the reassuring knowledge that there is a place for you in the family is what I feel really gives people a sense of security.  I notice it in very young toddlers and kids too, when there is going to be food served to a group.  They seek out their space and yearn to be included as a special recognition of their importance.  Our meals were rarely elaborate either, but the camaraderie, the laughter, discussion, whatever interactions involve the entire group gives one a good feeling of belonging, which is why I absolutely hate the design of a "bar" in kitchens where everyone sits in a long row or stands over the sink to dine.  That strong feeling of attachment to one's clan comes through face-to-face discussion and acceptance in my opinion. 
The absent dadAccording to Ancestry.com and findagrave.com, Marinus Woodruff Hansen was born 5 June 1891 in Franklin Idaho, and died 21 October 1964. He was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Tremonton, Box Elder County Utah.
Like most every PoppaHe's the one taking pictures.
[Not unless he was working for the Farm Security Administration. - tterrace]
I'll be darned!I never expected to see something from MY neck of the woods, here, but I live in Box Elder County, Utah!  This area was settled by Scandinavians and there are lots of Hansens (and Jensens, Jeppsens, Rasmussens, and all kind of other "sens").  
I just learned that this family was from Tremonton, Utah, 20 miles north of me. Don served in the Marine Corps during WWII. He just passed away, in 2011, or I would contact him. I will see if I can find any descendants of this family. I'm sure they would be very happy to see this every day scene from their family's history, frozen in time, here on Shorpy!
Homemade MilkNon-Pasteurized? *Gasp* How are they still alive?
Bread Of LifeMy mother-in-law grew up on a farm in Minnesota in the teens and twenties. I remember discovering how to make bread back in the 1970s and telling her about it. Although she was happy for my enthusiasm, it was hard for HER to work up any. She said that her mother almost always made bread for she and her 7 siblings. On the very are occasions that they got to eat store-bought bread, they were THRILLED because, to them, it was "like cake"!
Home is where the aprons areI noticed that the mother and the oldest daughter are both wearing aprons.  My mother used to make me put one on when I was helping her prepare dinner.    I was also wondering what the denim things are on the left hand side of the picture, next to the mother - jeans or a jacket?
Completely agree with OTY's statement about a place at the table.  
More about the HansensFind-a-Grave also names several other members of the family who are buried at Riverview Cemetery in Box Elder County.
Gudrun Elizabeth Pukkendal Hansen (mother)
 - Born December 3, 1895 - Died November 14, 1977 (age 81)
Helen Hansen Carlson (at left in picture)
 - Born December 16, 1928 - Died July 4, 1968 (age 39)
Don Marinus Hansen (at right in picture)
 - Born February 12, 1923 - Died February 9, 2011 (age 87)
Two boys not in picture:
Neal W. Hansen
 - Born December 26, 1915 - Died October 16, 1967 (age 51)
Carlos A. Hansen
 - Born April 23, 1918 - Died February 19, 1943 (age 24) in the infamous WW II Bataan Death March.  Don had a son named Carlos (1948-1994), probably in Don's older brother's honor.
Here's an undated but much later picture of Don:
I especially like the milk mustache on Gertrude.  And it's probably on the rest of the children.  Mom doesn't have one.  And the mismatched glasses.  Just like in my family when I was a kid.  The drink of choice was iced tea though.  Milk sometimes but especially in the morning for breakfast.
Momma sets the toneOMG! What twinkling eye Mrs. Hansen has!  They had food on the table, clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads= so happy.  What a great family picture.  
(The Gallery, Agriculture)

Fancy Drainpipe: 1937
... a drainpipe was given such a level of details. Love the fish head! I wonder if it was specially crafted for this building or if they ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 11:05am -

Savannah, Georgia, circa 1937. "Davenport house, Columbus Square." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
Still Draininghttp://maps.google.com/maps?q=Davenport+House+Museum&near=324+E+State+St...
Still SurvivingIt looks like that fancy drainpipe survives, as seen here on Google Street View.  Hopefully the brick has been repointed since the photo was taken.
View Larger Map
InspirationIs this where Gene Simmons got his inspiration for his famous platform Dragon Boots from the "Destroyer" album? 
Well...Fancy, yes. Also butt ugly.
Even a drainpipe was important. Love it. Great times when even a drainpipe was given such a level of details. Love the fish head! I wonder if it was specially crafted for this building or if they were mass produced. 
Absolutely still there. How ironic. My husband and I just took a trolley tour of Savannah on 9/9/10 and these downspouts are most certainly still on this beautiful home. Our tour guide mentioned that these downspouts are supposed to represent dolphins as dolphins are a sign good luck and prosperity, but apparently the designer had never seen a dolphin! 
Savannah IronworkingThe great thing about Savannah is that a lot of this kind of stuff is still around.  The wrought iron fencing, gates, railings, and downspout decorations like this one are so important to the historical character of the city that there's still people around who know how to repair and reproduce this stuff.  
Still There!I took pictures of these same awesome downspouts in Monterey Square in Savannah this past May!

This corner as of April 2009Some new paint and grout, otherwise no worse for the wear
Dolphin DrainpipesWhile these drainpipes don't look like real dolphins, they do bear a stunning resemblance to heraldic dolphins including the ones that are on the insignia worn by submariners in the US Navy.
From last monthFrom last month
(The Gallery, F.B. Johnston, Piscatorial Downspouts, Savannah)

Shad Boy: 1920
... post . Fresh Water Pigeons Shad are trashy fish and I don't understand why our ancestors once thought them so yummy. Read ... fighting, food was scarce and expensive, so easily caught fish like shad were bound to be featured on the menu. Get them deboned ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 11:09pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Shad fishing on the Potomac." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Child Labor!Lewis Hine, where are you when we need you?
If you like bones ...... you'll love shad.  As far as I'm concerned it's so bony as to be scarcely edible.  Shad roe, in contrast, is one of life's finer delicacies.
Shoulda seen it !The one that got away was trying to eat this little guy.
No QuestionPlank it!
Deja VuOn the right is the bow of the boat seen in a previous post.
Fresh Water PigeonsShad are trashy fish and I don't understand why our ancestors once thought them so yummy.  Read Civil War history and you'll find numbers of references to "shad fries" or "shad bakes" given by soldiers.  Along reservoir shorelines in Ohio I've seen shad lying dead by the thousands, stiff as a board and rotting, blown onto land during a storm. Perhaps this young man in the corduroys never tasted a walleye.  
Plentiful and cheap = popular during hard timesMy guess would be that our ancestors found them so yummy simply because they were cheap and plentiful.  During the Civil War when those who should have been farming and fishing were instead fighting, food was scarce and expensive, so easily caught fish like shad were bound to be featured on the menu.
Get them debonedand they are delicious!  Shad have returned to the Delaware and the Hudson recently -- they are a yummy sign that spring is on the way!  
(The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, Sports)

Fantasy Island: 1932
... Museum. To the right of Pier 16 is the Fulton Fish Market. How did you find the Fulton Fish Market? Follow your nose. Al Smith the politician when asked about ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/02/2016 - 1:25pm -

April 4, 1932. "New York city views. Lower Manhattan from foot of Brooklyn Bridge." Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
Pier 16Pier 16 - without the shed - It is now the home of the South Street Seaport Museum.  
To the right of Pier 16 is the Fulton Fish Market.  How did you find the Fulton Fish Market? Follow your nose. 
Al Smith the politician when asked about his education said he was a graduate of "FFM"  Fulton Fish Market.
The dome of the late lamented Singer Building can be seen on the right.  
I believe the smoke stacks are those of the Edison Electric generating station - long gone, but commemorated with a plaque today. 
Just on the edge of the frame on the left - the pier of Standard Fruit and Steamship - a lot of bananas arrived there.
Porto Rico?They shortened it to fit on the building or they just couldn't spell back then?
["Porto Rico" was used by the United States from the Treaty of Paris in 1898 until changed back to "Puerto Rico" by an act of Congress in May 1932. -tterrace]
NYC ZoningThis picture shows the result of the 1916 NYC Zoning laws that mandated "setbacks" on multi-story skyscrapers. That's why so many of them "stairstep" as they go up in height. A good discussion here, which also helps explain why the recently-Shorpied Lever House does NOT have setbacks.
City of the Future?Built from Lego blocks.
(The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)

Sport Mart: 1923
... Leather Bill Folds. Newtown Line Co., Homer N.Y., Fish Lines. Pflueger's Fishing Tackle, Enterprise Mfg. Co., Akron, Ohio. H.S. Frost Co., New York, N.Y., Snelled Fish Hooks. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/18/2013 - 5:40pm -

Washington, D.C., 1923. "Sport Mart, 1410 New York Avenue N.W." Continuing our day of window-shopping. National Photo glass negative. View full size.
Twinplex StropperFound one of these in the attic of my grandparents' Lake Huron house in Michigan many years ago.
Please Dave!!??Can we stop for a malted milk after window shopping? I promise we'll all be good.
Converse All StarsThis is probably one of the last photos of a pair of Pre-Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars. In 1923 the patch was redesigned with Chuck Taylor's signature.
Pure wool bathing suitsThey certainly must have itched!
MizpahFront right, we have the No. 44 Mizpah Jock Supporter, which comes with a two week trial - just return it if you find it unsatisfactory.  (Fortunately, it can be boiled, which was probably a wise thing to do before putting it on for the first time, given the return policy.)

A more intimate version of Mizpah jewelry, perhaps?  "The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another," indeed!
$3.95 for a wool bathing suitSuspect the itching and scratching were free of charge.
Sports Technology!Based on the description found on Google Books, I was excited to see the Brooks Golf Stroke Counter.  I thought it counted stokes by detecting the movement of the arms in a swing, kind of like a pedometer detects steps, which would make it a seminal device.  Alas, I learned from patent application 1,460,842 granted on July 23, 1923 that the golfer had to click it to count his strokes, thereby making it subject to cheating despite the claims to the contrary.  What easier way to cheat in golf than "forgetting" to click your high-tech counter?
"A huge maintenance hassle"To quote Dave on awnings, three posts back (One-Chevy Home:1964).  For evidence, please note the narrow panel of the awning, running the width of the shop, just above the fringe with the name and address, where one can view holes that have been patched and holes that have not been patched.
KedsGee, I had no idea Keds went back that far.
That was what we had before there were Nikes, Reeboks, etc.
And wool bathing suits sound so uncomfortable.
For members of the Polar Bear ClubPure wool bathing suits; must be for those January 1st dips in the ocean.
ToymakerI suspect the "Toymaker" box near the door is a kit for casting figures in lead. Can you imagine the outcry if you were to attempt to sell such a toy today? People would be apoplectic! Give me back my THING MAKER! Sure, I have a scar or two from the hotplate, but it was worth it.
[Used with wood. - tterrace]
My old neighbor ChuckLove the Converse All Stars.  Shoes invented by Chuck Taylor, who spent some time in my hometown of Azalia, IN.
Sport Mart MerchandiseSport Mart had locations at 914 F St. N.W., 1303 F St. N.W.,
and 1410 N.Y. Ave. N.W.  The following lists some of the suppliers for the sporting goods they carried (compiled from Jun 5, 1923 Washington Post).

D. Nusbaum Co., Union Course, L.I.,  Bathing Suits.
John Spicer, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., Bathing Suits.
Gantner & Mattern, San Francisco, Calif., Bathing Suits.
Armstrong Knitting Mills, Boston, Mass. Distinctive Knit Jackets.
Revere Knitting Mills, Malden, Mass, Sweaters.
Kenneth Harbison, Inc., 720 Herkimer St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Athletic Clothing.
E. Weisbrod Sons, Greenfield, Mass., Leather Bill Folds.
Newtown Line Co., Homer N.Y., Fish Lines.
Pflueger's Fishing Tackle, Enterprise Mfg. Co., Akron, Ohio.
H.S. Frost Co., New York, N.Y., Snelled Fish Hooks.

Norma Shearer: 1929
... to the motion-picture industry. Thalberg was a very big fish in the business at that time, and the industry itself was the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 11:41am -

July 24, 1929. "Norma Shearer (Mrs. Irving Thalberg)." The Oscar-winning actress at the White House. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size.
Fabulous!She's not recalled very favorably these days, but my God Norma Shearer was fabulous. And what a great print. Thanks, Shorpy!
Lovely necklaceReal pearls! And at such a uniquely 1920's length.
I Love Her!I fell in love with Norma when I stumbled upon a late night showing of "The Divorcee'" on TCM several years ago.  What a gorgeous, smart and talented woman!  Thanks for this photo; I look at Shorpy every day and this was a very nice surprise!
NormaConsidering her supposed physical faults ("dumpy figure, with shoulders too broad, legs too sturdy, hands too blunt, small eyes that appeared crossed due to a cast in her right eye"), Norma certainly turned out well. There is a certain studied confidence about Norma, but good for her. She knew what she wanted and she got it. She was, afterall, the Queen of MGM--thanks to Irving Thalberg.
FavourableSticking up for a fellow Canadian, I have to say that a lot of the "accepted wisdom" about Norma Shearer is due to her rivalry with Joan Crawford. Crawford famously described her as "cross-eyed, knock-kneed and she can’t act worth a damn." She was also the one who created the myth that she was only successful because she was "sleeping with the boss" (Thalberg, although some of the more scurrilous writers about Hollywood suggested that Mayer had been there first so to speak). If nothing else their rivalry made their scenes in "The Women" particularly juicy. 
KolinskisWhen I was a kid, two very richly dressed wealthy sisters always seemed to sit in the row directly in front of us at church.  They often wore similar fur stoles like this one, with faces on them (I believe there were fox and mink ones) and I was totally mesmerized each time, focused on the faces of these little dead animals with glass eyes.  Once when I mentioned it to my older sister, she said "those are Kolinskis" and being that we lived  in a Polish community I thought she meant the sisters.  It was many years later that I found out that kolinsky  was the name of that style of fur stoles.  Turned out the sisters were Italian.  
Feh on the new "The Women" Shearer starred in the original film alongside a fabulously bitchy Joan Crawford and a charmingly catty Rosalind Russell. The current ladies are no match. 
BeautifulWhat a beautiful snapshot of Norma Shearer! I love it. She's by far my favorite actress.
Norma in WashingtonNorma has long been my favorite Classic Era actress (I run a YahooGroup devoted to her), and I have to wonder what was going on here.  If I had to guess, I'd say she was in D.C. with her husband, M-G-M's Head of Production, Irving Thalberg, who was probably at the White House on some important matter pertaining to the motion-picture industry.  Thalberg was a very big fish in the business at that time, and the industry itself was the seventh-largest in America then, so he had quite a lot of clout (HIS boss, Louis B. Mayer, was wont to call the White House and ask to speak to the President - and when he did, he got the man on the phone).  Shearer is definitely there by invitation; that's the extension leading to the West Wing behind her, and even in 1929, you didn't stroll that part of the WH grounds just because you felt like it, except on public receiving days, a tradition long discontinued for security reasons.  The throngs of people that would have been around on one of those days are not in evidence.  Shearer is almost directly in front of the West Wing's lobby entrance (to her left, off the right side of the frame).
Norma's classic cloche hat was the salvation of every '20s woman; hairspray hadn't been invented yet, and a cloche kept hair out of sight, except for a fetching curl or two.  I can't be sure of the season from the foliage, but if it was any season but Winter, those furs had to have been warm wearing in D.C. (however, there is no sign of the fire that would strike the West Wing on Christmas Eve that year)  The pearls, in those days and in those circles, would have been real - and very expensive.  Her pumps are metallic-dyed kid, which would have been very chic, flashy even, for D.C. at that time.  I doubt that any old-guard D.C. matron mistook her for anything but what she was, an actress.
What's really wonderful about the photo is that Norma is deprived of all her usual on-camera tricks; she did, like all stars, have some physical characteristics that she was insecure about, and she had a pretty fair array of strategies for downplaying them.  Here, she's in broad daylight, no screen makeup, no trick Hollywood lighting or special lenses or fancy poses, and she looks great.  She's either 27 or 29 years old here, depending on which of her biographers you believe - over a decade younger than Jennifer Aniston (who resembles her) is today.  By the way, Norma, who was born in Montreal, was still a Canadian at this point; she didn't take out American citizenship until the '30s. 
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Public Figures)

Mary G. Powers: 1903
... Jeffries Point, East Boston, to increase the market for fish." The petition lists 19 owners together with the values of their ... crewmen fishing over the rail. If someone was paying me to fish from a dory at sea, that's about the last thing I'd want to do in harbor. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2015 - 7:59am -

Circa 1903. "Fishing schooner at 'T' wharf, Boston." With ice at the ready. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
$300,000 schoonerThe owner of the schooner appears in an 1893 petition asking that "a channel be dredged around Jeffries Point, East Boston, to increase the market for fish." 
The petition lists 19 owners together with the values of their boats. The Mary G. Powers came in at $13,000, which online calculators show as about $300,000 in 2015 dollars.
Arthur BinneyMary G. Powers was designed by a relatively little known naval architect, Arthur Binney, in 1891, and built in Essex, Mass., in 1892. So she was relatively new at the time of this photo, about 11 years old. However, I wonder about the curvature of the main boom -- doesn't look at all secure. Mary Powers was 109 by 25 by 10.8 feet register dimensions, a large vessel for the type and time period.
In Chapelle's "American Fishing Schooners" (1973) the author says 15 Binney fishing schooner designs (and some other vessels) were actually built. This was between 1892 and 1912.
Note the crewmen fishing over the rail. If someone was paying me to fish from a dory at sea, that's about the last thing I'd want to do in harbor.
Essex builtMary G. Powers was built in 1892 at the A.D. Story Shipyard in Essex, Mass. Designed by naval architects George A. Stewart & Arthur Binney.
It Went AshoreIn “History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905” by John J. Currier published in 1906, on page 25, he writes: “June 30, 1895, the schooner Mary G. Powers went ashore on Plum island. The vessel was only slightly damaged, and the officers and crew, consisting of twenty-three men, were saved.”
Stack-o-doriesA lot has been said about the shape of a dory's hull, as to its sea-keeping abilities and its capability of supporting a heavy load of both fishermen and the ground fish they caught. Both true, but here we see perfectly another key attribute of that shape -- five dories stacked like paper cups using the deck space of a single hull!
Sheffeyid schoonerThe schooner at the left seems to be the 1891 Sheffeyid out of Gloucester, Mass as listed in the 1911 Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Boston, DPC)

It's Curtains: 1955
... the front end reminded me of a silly-looking cartoon fish or something. A year or so earlier, though, I trotted down the hill and ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 02/10/2018 - 9:38pm -

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

Channel Surfing: 1956
... lumbered with an intensely ugly Blue Mountain tropical fish. This one looks like it's a lamp base but maybe it's just the angle. ... 
 
Posted by Angus J - 11/28/2011 - 3:02pm -

Dad is waiting for the Westinghouse to warm up, and the channel selector is set at 7, WXYZ, Detroit. Other choices were 2, WJBK; 4, WWJ and 9, CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, where we lived. The console TV had doors that closed so that it looked like a piece of fine furniture. The TV was turned on for a show, and when that was over it was turned off. If you tuned in too early in the day all you got was the dreaded Test Pattern. A favourite back then was Detroit's own Soupy Sales. The antenna was up in the attic of our two-story home. View full size.
Surf's Up,  SortaAngus J!  Great to see that your dad is still enjoying his TV!  At least now he can stay in his chair and choose.   
Still Channel Surfing: 2011My brother took this photo of Dad last week, in his apartment in Toronto, Ontario. He is 91 now, and his favourite channel is CBC Newsworld, a Canadian version of CNN. I asked him about the Blue Mountain pottery planter (with ivy) on top of the set, and he recalls the lamp was part of the planter. The tube television is hooked up to cable.
Deja VuI worked for Crescent TV Service in Windsor for 25 years, I think I remember that set !!
You can be sure ...... if it's Westinghouse. Nice to see a vintage TV shot showing the operator at the controls for a change. I think an interesting coffee table book (if not a scholarly monograph) could be produced on the subject of 1950s' set-top decoration modalities.
400 channels in 2011And still some nights there's nothing on. We got our first RCA TV in 1951 in Detroit when I was four.  CKLW in Windsor was still several years away.  Nothing on but test patterns until late morning.  In less than a decade all of the four stations listed in the first post had their own local afternoon kid shows.  Adjusting the set top rabbit ears antenna for each channel was a routine we kids quickly picked up.  When the picture "tore" or "rolled", and could not be adjusted with the smaller knobs on the front or back of the set, it usually meant a call to the TV repair man who made house calls in those days.  It was a sad day when the guts of the set had to be taken to the repair shop for more serious repairs.  Eventually our cost conscious Dad found he could solve most problems by pulling the small tubes and taking them to the drug store tube tester which could quickly diagnose the burned out or "gassy" tubes which were causing the problem.  Those of you who were TV watchers in the 1950's will probably remember the ghostly spot which faded in the center of the screen for a few seconds after the set was turned off.  I now know it was caused by the residual electrons from the "electron gun" in the picture tube as the tube's heater element cooled off.  That is what I keep telling myself.  
That's Blue Mountain pottery on the TVEverybody's mother in Windsor seemed to have at least one piece of the stuff.  Candy dishes, ashtrays, you name it.  My mum had been lumbered with an intensely ugly Blue Mountain tropical fish.  
This one looks like it's a lamp base but maybe it's just the angle. Could it really be a floor lamp behind the TV looking like it has taken root in a candy dish?
Early TVIn the mid-1940s the father of a friend of mine took delivery of the first TV set received by a radio store in the Bronx. I remember going to their apartment the night the set was installed, and as we all sat in front of the TV waiting for something to happen, there was nothing being broadcast. I must have gone there another 100 times or more and saw TV broadcasting in its infancy. It led to a career choice that I made and thrived on.
Vintage TV SetsCan't say I miss the days of the rolling pictures on TV sets. How many hours did we all suffer either fighting with rabbit ears or waiting precariously for the roll to start again!
Correction: Channel 9Thanks for the fun photo. Took me back to a childhood growing up on the other side of the Detroit River.
Not to be picky, but CKLW-TV was (and I think, still is) Channel 9, not 12.  And a good TV channel brought me The Friendly Giant! I always loved rocking chairs, and he had one for me.
Light years aheadI'm always fascinated by the wonderful old TV's from the 50's. How they went from something you'd try to hide to something you'd proudly flaunt in just a few years. Of course most fascinating is that in South Africa we still had 20 years to wait from 1956 before we got TV!
Re: Early TVMy mother spoke of seeing her first B&W TV in a shop window, probably in 1950, possibly a bit earlier.
She stood there watching "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" for a few minutes, and told Dad, "If that's Television, they can keep it!"
Aside: "Kukla" is simply "doll" in Russian.
CKLWGrowing up in SE Michigan, CKLW was our favorite channel. Besides such good kiddie fare as "The Friendly Giant" and "Milky the clown" they televised the canadian sport of Curling long before it became known to US sportsmen.  It inspired us to steal mom's kettle from the kitchen, fill it with water until it froze and go for it on a nearby frozen pond.
No SurfingMy maternal grandparents bought their first TV in 1952 - it was a Peto-Scott (?) where the CRT was vertical and projected on to a mirror. You then viewed the image on a translucent matt screen.
Like many they got it for the Coronation in 1953 - TV was extended to Scotland for this. The 1937 Coronation was televised, but only in the London area.
There was no need for a channel changer - the only broadcaster was the BBC!
Even when the 'inferior' commercial TV broadcasting started (1956?) they kept their set. 405 lines on VHF broadcast from Kirk O'Shotts in between Edinburgh & Glasgow.
Soupy Sales, a classic comedianWhen I was a kid in Armonk NY in the 60's, I remember watching Soupy Sales after school.  With his white fang and black tooth stick, and his often crude jokes that would get him tossed off the air for a spell.  Back then, it was all live.  Great memory of him.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)

Life Savers: 1908
... of the lighthouse. My recollection is that Brennan's Fish House over on the Grand River side has a Lyle gun like this one, along ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 5:54pm -

Charlevoix, Michigan, circa 1908. "Life saving crew practice." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Baby BoomerI wonder what that small cannon was for. I remember in Tom Sawyer (I think) that Mark Twain explained how cannon were fired either across the river or from steamboats in order to make corpses rise to the surface.  Surely this little pop gun wasn't used for that.  Perhaps it was used like a harpoon gun to throw line out to drowning victims?  That doesn't sound all that feasible either.  I'm grasping at straws here.
Lyle GunThat small cannon is called a Lyle Gun - after its inventor - David A. Lyle.
These line guns are used primarily for shore based rescue operations. The Lyle Gun was hauled to the shoreline usually by U.S.L.L.S. surfmen in specially made beach carts. The Surfmen would set up and fire the Lyle gun, aiming over the stranded or wreaked vessel and then pull the line within reach of the victims.  Once the breeches buoy lines and the Crotch Pole(an A frame) assembled, the survivors could be removed from the vessel by hand hauling the breeches buoy lines.
Lifesaving ServiceIn 1915, a little after this photo's time frame, the US Lifesaving Service was merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the US Coast Guard.  In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was merged in as well.
To answer Cracker's question:  The cannon was used to fire a light line, called a messenger, out to a grounded or sinking ship.  It was probably designed to aim high so that the weighted projectile went over the ship, draping the messenger across it in a position to be caught, without endangering the survivors.  Therefore it needed a substantial range.
This messenger line was used to haul out a heavier hawser that the ship's crew could tie to something on board.  It could then be used as a jackline to run a breeches buoy out to the ship to bring off the crew one by one.  In this photo, however, it seems that instead of a breeches buoy, which is a sort of sling you sit in that runs along the hawser on a pulley, they are practicing with a tethered mini-lifeboat.  The hawser might run through the two metal  rings on top of the boat to keep it on course.  The men at the right of the photo are pulling in the boat using one of the control lines; the other would go out to the disabled ship to bring the boat back for repeated runs.
A breeches buoy could only rescue one person at a time.  It might be that two could fit in this tethered boat, but probably not.  The rescue process would therefore go on for a substantial time and depended entirely on the ship holding together long enough for the entire crew to escape one at a time.  In the big waves that could be expected in storms, it might be that survivors needed to batten themselves into the rescue boat to avoid either drowning themselves or sinking it.  That's why it has a hatch, closed in the photo.
Rescue CannonI believe it was to shoot a thin line out to a stranded ship, in order to rig a "breeches bouy" rescue (a large rope with a sling that looks like underwear or "breeches" hanging from it).  Because of the lake's shallow beaches, a ship might ground a hundred yards offshore.  On the right edge of the photo is the remains of a ship's ribs, washed up on the beach.
Line cannon It looks like a line cannon. They were used on ships to cast lines to one another. I suppose it would work for casting lines to drowning victims as well.
Cannon before radios?Perhaps the cannon was used as a signal to alert others that a rescue was happening. A sonic SOS asking for help.
The cannonYou have it right, and I was actually able to correctly remember the name of the thing from a distant childhood memory is "Lyle gun." It was used for line throwing to enable the rigging of rescue lines and such. Google it thus and you will find plenty of information and images of the style shown and one mounted on a Civil-War looking carriage.
Thrown LinesThe cannon was indeed for getting the line out to a stranded boat.  There's a photo of the same equipment here.
The cannon was used to start a lifelineThe lifesaving crew would fire a small bolt trailing a cable, using the grounded vessel's rigging as a target. With help from the vessel's crew, they'd bring tackle across and set up a bosun's chair to shore.
At least one lifesaving station that used this technique, Chicamacomico in North Carolina, still gives regular demonstrations. Unfortunately they're out of action until further notice in the wake of Irene, but I hope they'll recover. The demo is always a highlight of my Outer Banks vacations.
LifelineThat's exactly what the small cannon is for, shooting a line out to the victim. It was also used to place a line on board a ship that had run aground, which was more common a century ago than one might expect today. Once the light line was secured a heavier line could be pulled aboard and a breeches buoy used to evacuate the crew. These life savers are the fore runner of the current Coast Guard.
"Life Car"The cigar-like object bobbing offshore is a "life car" which was used as an alternative method for removing victims from a stranded ship. It could make repeated trips between ship and shore, carrying multiple passengers in its watertight interior.
According to one source, the car held enough air for eleven (!) passengers for three minutes, although in practice it appears four to six people was the more common load.
Clumsy and hard to handle, life cars eventually fell out of favor while the breeches buoy served on.
Surf Rescue BoatThere is an identical surf rescue boat on display in front of the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse Museum (Ohio), along with a slightly different Lyle gun.  The boat is built like a mini submarine, much safer than a breeches buoy. It was run out along the rescue line to the ship in distress.  The Lyle gun fired a light line, that was used to haul out the main rescue line.
The lighthouse is a beauty, and the museum is jam packed with artifacts, pictures, and models, and you can go up the spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse.
My recollection is that Brennan's Fish House over on the Grand River side has a Lyle gun like this one, along with a museum quality collection of marine artifacts collected by the owner. (Great food too).
Throw him a line!Here's an example of the Lyle Gun at work: "The firing of Lyle Gun to the freighter J.R. Sensibar grounded in Lake Michigan December 1939 by the surf men of the U.S. Coast Guard, The projectiles with line attached is fired over the  stricken vessel, so it is possible to effect a rescue without putting a rescue craft in the water and needlessly risking the lives of the rescuers."
Breeches Buoy RescueHow it's done, explained in great detail.
Love this site! Can't get enough!!
Life CarThe small covered "boat" is a life car intended to haul up to 4 or victims ashore at a time from a wreck. The only instance of it's use on the lakes was the Hartzell wreck off Frankfort, MI. The greater use on on the Atlantic coast where wrecks sometimes had hundreds of victims aboard. Regardless of actual use frequency LSS regulations required weekly drill in its use. The shotline was used to haul a once inch whip line out (block fast to wreck and two running ends ashore) which in turn hauled a two inch hawser to the wreck where it was made fast and became actual over head rope for the breaches  buoy or life car, the whip becoming the method of hauling the breaches buoy etc, back and forth. It was a far safer method of rescue when conditions permitted, namely if the wreck was within 400 yards or so of shore. If not it was into the surfboat or big lifeboat and the life-savers earned their motto - "regulations say we have to go out; they say nothing about coming back." In 1915 the LSS and Revenue Marine consolidated into the new Coast Guard.
Crotch Pole?Um, no thanks.  I think I'll swim to shore.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)

Old Folks at Home: 1940
... same clothes all week and change on the weekend.] He would fish for the hotel down there [on Cedar Point]. There was a Fishing Point Hotel [inaudible], only hotel on that area. He would fish with a hand line and then he would take the fish-- I think they were ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/04/2019 - 10:13pm -

September 1940. "St. Mary's County, Maryland. Negro Farm Security Administration clients and their homes -- Mr. and Mrs. Dyson [John and Louise], aged rehabilitation borrowers. Mr. Dyson was born into slavery over eighty years ago." Photo by John Vachon. View full size.
WorthinessWhat a handsome couple. What dignity.
A lifetime of laughsMr. Dyson strikes me as a man who made the Missus laugh every day.
TRIUMPH OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL SOULS OVER ADVERSITYSo near the end of their journey and silently extolling what they have made of it. My vote for the outstandingly best photograph I've seen among many all these years that I've awakened to breakfast with 'SHORPY'. It's evening now and I return to cast my vote from among some of the most effective of all these wonderful "Socialistic" photographers of the thirties and forties. Thank you John Vachon for sharing this glorious moment with John and Louise.  
We've seen them before!If I'm not mistaken, this is the same beautiful couple seen sitting in their home, Mr. Dyson playing an accordian while Mrs. Dyson sits beside him enjoying the music.  They seem to be truly happy people despite the adversity and obvious poverty they had to endure.
Oral Histories about the DysonsThankfully, several oral histories have been given by the grandchildren of this couple. You can view the complete oral history by their grandson Ernest Webster Dyson here.
Excerpt:
"[Explains what the Farm Security Administration photo of his grandfather calls up.] Well, it's my grandfather and my grandmother ... show that he got his work clothes on ... for fishing. [He'd] go practically every morning. [Explains that he'd wear the same clothes all week and change on the weekend.] He would fish for the hotel down there [on Cedar Point]. There was a Fishing Point Hotel [inaudible], only hotel on that area. He would fish with a hand line and then he would take the fish-- I think they were paying about four cent-- either four or five cent a pound for em. He didn't work nowhere; he didn't work no job-- just would stay around the water."
This photo was taken in 1940, only a year or two before the US Navy took the land they lived on to create Patuxent River Naval Air Station.  You can read about that event and how the the Dyson's were displaced to New Jersey, as told by their granddaughter Edith.  There are also more photos from this set as well as a full photo of their house.
Thanks to the poster for the oral historiesReading of their displacement is one of the saddest things I've ever read. Their lives in St Marys sounded wonderful and well deserved considering what they survived. Such a tragic and horrible thing to imagine Mr. Dyson so stressed and full of grief. Shame on the US government for not providing for them better. 
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Portraits)

Sunshine School: 1941
... the sand on the beach. Times were simpler then. The local Fish Broil originated in 1930 at Sunshine School as a means of raising funds to ... and the pits were covered with bedsprings to grill the fish. Local fishermen donated the fish and ladies made side dishes. Fish ... 
 
Posted by hillie_bolliday - 10/18/2009 - 12:31pm -

In 1926, the Sunshine Elementary School opened in Pass-A-Grille (St. Petersburg) Beach, with teachers holding classes outdoors under palm-thatched shelters. They used portable blackboards, tables and benches. They ate at the "Sunshine Filling Station", the school cafeteria. They spent at least 45 minutes a day on the beach, and classes included swimming and small boat handling. The school closed in 1975, and was razed in 1983.
My dad, at age 8, is the one who is circled and with his eyes unfortunately shut for all posterity. Taken in March 1941. Dad, now 76, still has fond memories of taking classes in the sand on the beach. Times were simpler then. The local Fish Broil originated in 1930 at Sunshine School as a means of raising funds to pay teachers’ salaries during the Great Depression. Pits were dug on the beach, buttonwood coals were burned and the pits were covered with bedsprings to grill the fish. Local fishermen donated the fish and ladies made side dishes. Fish dinners were sold and money was raised.
Believe it or not, there is now a Facebook group page for any Sunshine School alumni to join. View full size.
Class of '75I was part of the last class in 1975. I remember the wood floors and the Friday trips to the beach. The next year we were all bused to Gulf Beaches Elementary, which was newer, bigger and not nearly as nice as Sunshine. 
Now there are condos where it stood. 
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)

Sixth Street Bridge: 1910
... I remember that bridge. My buddies and Me, we used to fish down there, anat. Neville Island Backchannel. Hippy Beach. Q: "Hey, yinz ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/02/2018 - 7:31am -

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Sixth Street Bridge over Allegheny River." In 1927 this span was moved 12 miles to a crossing over the Ohio River, where it spent the remainder of its long life as the Coraopolis Bridge. View full size.
Water MatterIt looks as though Patterson Coal Co. had their own portapotty with a gravity flush.  Can anyone say typhoid?
This old bridgeThis bridge was replaced by one that opened in 1928 and subsequently became the Roberto Clemente Bridge. The bridge pictured didn't meet War Department standards for clearance. In 1927 it was floated 12 miles downstream to a crossing over the Ohio River and reassembled as the Coraopolis Bridge. After decades of increasing decrepitude, it was replaced in 1995 by a boring truss span.
PRRThe train tracks in the foreground are probably those of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It looks like an old "NC" 4 wheel bobber cabin car {caboose} at the right of the photo. These were declared unsafe and illegal for mainline use by the ICC, and many were stretched into a 2 truck version.
My grandmother might have walked on this bridge.She lived in McKeesport, PA, born in 1899, my mom was born in McKeesport in 1938.
The DemolitionThe first two minutes of this well done video show the bridge in its heyday and its ultimate demolition. Very neat stuff, even for someone who has never been there -- me.
Cops for coalIf memory serves, then the Patterson Coal and Supply building on the river would now be the River Rescue building.  There was a Bruce Willis movie shot there called "Striking Distance."  The picture would be taken from the spot where PNC Park now sits.  The river looks wider now than it does in the pic.
Tags
Patterson Coal & Supply
Second Pool Coal Co.
T. Calnan
The Laader
Zatek

Patterson CoalAlthough the Patterson Coal building is in the same place as the current River Rescue, it's a different building---among other things, the new one is square, and I seem to recall it having some kind of artificial-material siding on it, though I can't get a picture of it at the moment.
Clemente Bridge 2010Here's a recent snap of almost the same scene.
The Demolition ClipMr. Rick Seeback does a lot of these TV specials for old Pittsburgh that were once here but now are gone!!
Coraopolis "Cory" BridgeI remember that bridge. My buddies and Me, we used to fish down there, anat. Neville Island Backchannel. Hippy Beach.
Q: "Hey, yinz cetchin inny catfish dahn air below da dam, anat?"
A: "Naw, nuttin but a coupla rock bass, coupla rock bass!"
Yeah, good times in the Burgh, back in the day ('60s, '70s, '80s) 
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Pittsburgh, Railroads, Streetcars)

El Cheese Ritz: 1939
... muralist Diego Rivera, who possibly was busy frying bigger fish. Is that an asp on your arm? In addition to the spider broach, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/24/2012 - 5:57pm -

November 24, 1939. Washington, D.C. "Noted in the diplomatic set for his expertness in concocting new salads, Mexican Ambassador Senor Dr. Don Francisco Castillo Najera is now teaching his daughter, Ermita, this culinary art. The Ambassador is especially adept at mixing salad with Mexican ingredients." Ritz Queso among them. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.
CreepyThis guy gives me the creeps.   Not sure exactly where he is staring so intently, but it does NOT appear to be at the salad. 
Guess you can expect that from a guy with a lit candle coming out of the top of his head.
The RitzIt was well known at the time that the best crackers are at the bottom of the box.
Dr. Don and ErmitaFirst the canaries (seen here), now the salads. This strange father and his icy, subservient daughter with the spider brooch at her neck are really starting to creep me out.
Fancy ThatAll right -- the three small ruffled bowls are by my favorite glass company, Hazel-Atlas, in a pattern now known to collectors as "Fancy," though "Item #730" was good enough for H-A at the time.  Would love to ask the Ambassador whether Diego Rivera had any hand in that mural above the food prep table, what with its minimalist-but-interesting images of a woman's legs and then a cat and dog.       
ErmitaIs quite a lovely girl, and my guess is she and her mother taught Señor Najera how to mix salads, not the other way around.
I don't know about youBut I am primed for salad lessons.
Lift up thine eyes from la preparación de la ensaladaHere's the mural they'd see, most likely one of the embassy works of Roberto Cueva del Río, a Mexican artist who in 1930 had been recommended for the job by muralist Diego Rivera, who possibly was busy frying bigger fish.
Is that an asp on your arm?In addition to the spider broach, she's wearing a coiled snake bracelet. Life must have been very interesting at their house, not just on Halloween. 
No no my dearYou put the Lime in the Coconut, then you drink them both up.
Lovely LadyVery pretty girl!
Cheesed OffThe people who open boxes from the bottom are the same people who put the toilet paper roll on backwards. They
really bother me and I believe there should be some sort of fine or punishment involved.
Hooda Thunk It?That tantalizing, yo no se que ingredient in the best Mexican salads is evidently candle wax.
Now the Mexican Cultural InstituteThis photograph was taken inside the Mexican Embassy which has since moved downtown. The old embassy building is now the Mexican Cultural Institute and is open to the public. It has charming interiors, and beautiful murals.
Turning over a new leaf?One year earlier, the Tuscaloosa News of Aug. 28, 1938, reported that Ermita (misspelled as Erma), the ambassador's daughter, was presiding over the annual National Tobacco Festival in South Boston, VA.  It states that she "has been chosen to head the court of 'Lady Nicotine.'"   
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing)

The Ring: 1915
... ring (Sisters dancing together) -- Leslie Fish sang it, Kathleen Taylor wrote it. One Grecian Urn! I can just hear ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/12/2009 - 2:33am -

Circa 1915. "Four dancing figures." Gelatin silver print by the pioneering Washington, D.C., photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
ProtoneopaganismWill you come with me, will you come and sing
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Come and join the dancing ring
(Sisters dancing together)
-- Leslie Fish sang it, Kathleen Taylor wrote it.
One Grecian Urn!I can just hear Hermione Gingold shouting instructions to the society ladies of River City ... 
Fairies at the Bottom of Our GardenAnd I can just hear Beatrice Lillie's hilarious performance of "The Fairies" (poem by Rose Fyleman set to music by the soprano Liza Lehmann). Lillie's music hall turns of the 1920s often parodied the flowery salon song styles of late Victorian singers. Here is the first verse of "The Fairies":
THERE are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
    It's not so very, very far away;
You pass the gardener's shed and you just keep straight ahead --
    I do so hope they've really come to stay.
There's a little wood, with moss in it and beetles,
    And a little stream that quietly runs through;
You wouldn't think they'd dare to come merrymaking there--
          But they do.
Bea Lillie recorded her comic version in 1934.


Poor young wood nymphsThey appear to have misplaced their undergarments.
It looks so familiarI could swear I've seen somewhere a sculpture so much like this picture, but I can't put my finger on where or when.
MaxThis reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish paining, but I can't think of which one it is.  Someone help me out here!
The Three GracesThis looks like a lot of images of the Three Graces, I think, although they seem to have picked up an extra Grace somewhere. Here's a Botticelli version -- in which the ladies are wearing a bit more than in many other representations. 
RemembrancesWood nymphs and faeries have been extinct in my area of the world for some time. But when I was a kid my dad and uncles would go out with clubs and a sack and get as many as they could on a Saturday night.
By dawn on Sunday they'd have six or eight of them in the back of the wagon and then we'd ... wait, that was opossums. Never mind.
(The Gallery, F.B. Johnston)

Through the Wringer: 1938
... the Great Lakes, it led to algae blooms that killed off fish and damaged the quality of the drinking water. Jealous of Mrs. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/07/2012 - 11:52am -

May 1938. Irwinville Farms, Georgia. "Mrs. Coleman doing a washing." Slow but steady progress in the science of mechanized laundry. Medium-format nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Pre-wash perhaps? I see what looks to be a portable washer on the other end of that wringer actually driving the rollers. She is probably either pre washing the sheets or just doing them by hand to save electricity. Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. They were a necessarily frugal bunch back then, and would be dismayed, I think, at the waste and profligate abuse of resources occurring today. But I still wouldn't trade places with them.
Laundry is so easyI do other things while the clothes are washing but I remember one of these machines in the basement as late as 1967.  BTW, I think this photo needs a "pretty girls" tag with that lovely face and smile.
Is she wearing a pair of Red Ball Jets?
Wringer useI thought the wringer was used for removing water from your clothes.  Yet both her buckets are full, and the presumably clean laundry is headed into a full bucket of water?  Am confused.
[She's wringing out the soapy water. - Dave]
The Wringer WasherOur Mother had a wringer washer well into the 1940s. An Easy. Here's the drill: Fill washer with hot water and soap.  Add dirty clothes. Let washer agitate for how many minutes you need. Drain washer into laundry sink. Run soapy clothes through wringer, place back in washer. Fill washer with clean water, agitate again. Drain washer, and wring clothes again. Shake out each piece and hang on clothesline. A lot of work, but it sure beats a scrub board.
Not Just Another Pretty FaceEverything in this picture conveys a hard life and then there's that pretty, smiling face. Her expression changes the whole picture.
Under That Bonnet Is a beautiful woman.
WringersMy grandmother used one of those into the mid 1970s.  She had it on the back porch between two sinks just like that.  She was a child of the depression and there was no reason to spend money on new-fangled washing machines when the old wringer worked fine.  Hers was electric if I recall.
Don't Waste the EffluentOld-timers have told me that the phosphates in the old laundry soaps made the waste water useful as fertilizer.
Work saverI have done laundry by hand a few times and the hardest thing about it, by farm was wringing enough water out by hand so that things could dry before bacteria would start to grow in them.  I've also used an old wringer washer, and the wringer made an enormous difference! I'll bet Mrs. Coleman had done plenty of laundry by hand and was very thankful for that electric wringer!
Is she wearing Why not? They were generally considered "po' folk" shoes back during the Depression. I think that Chuck Taylor designed them during the 1920s.
Just a non-scientific pollI wish I could know how many of us Shorpy viewers couldn't resist smiling back at this lady smiling at us. What a nice way to start my day.
Don't Waste the EffluentActually that was why it was banned in the 1970s and later. The phosphates got into the sewer water and eventually into the ground water. In rivers and (locally) the Great Lakes, it led to algae blooms that killed off fish and damaged the quality of the drinking water.
Jealous of Mrs. Coleman's water faucet.At least Mrs. Coleman didn't have to draw all that water out of a well, bucket by bucket, like we did.  Also, there had to be a fire built in the yard to heat the water.  Wash the clothes in the washer, wring out and into the first tub of rinse water, wring out again and into the secont tub of rinse water.  I hated washday until I was sixteen!
(Technology, The Gallery, John Vachon)

Seafood Special: 1936
... the photographer knew it or not. Shiners are small, shinny fish used as bait. Dawdling? Could the caption be accusing the young ... idle; trifle; loiter." clever title It's how you fish minnows and roaches with a cane pole. "Dawgling" refers to the way you ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/01/2012 - 10:44am -

June 1936. Memphis, Tennessee. The somewhat cryptic (not to mention racist) caption for this one is recorded as "Coon dawgling." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Duh?No idea what "Coon dawgling" is unless it's a black man cooling it on a bench. 
The sign is for a bait shop whether the photographer knew it or not. Shiners are small, shinny fish used as bait.  
Dawdling?Could the caption be accusing the young lad of dawdling? I've always heard it used referring to lagging behind distractedly, but one dictionary says, "to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter."
clever titleIt's how you fish minnows and roaches with a cane pole. "Dawgling" refers to the way you drop and hang your line.  When you fish like that on rivers, you never know exactly what you're gonna pull up, but it's all good eatin.  The "coon" refers to it being a grab bag scavenge.
(The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Kids, Memphis)

Planter: 1865
... he fishing? The river looks like it would be teeming with fish. Interesting pic ... could could those be coffins piled on the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/27/2009 - 2:14pm -

Circa 1865. "City Point, Virginia (vicinity). Medical supply boat Planter at General Hospital wharf on the Appomattox." Wet plate glass negative. View full size.
KedgingKedging -- using the anchor and the windlass to move a ship back and forth -- was also an option in shallow water.
I lustThe paddlewheel is nice but I'm going on that schooner.  Bon voyage!  Can you imagine trying to maneuver a vessel of that size in a narrow channel with no engine and, therefore, no means for backing up?  Guess that's when the rowboats come out to push/pull.  
Civil War Era BoatsThis is the best photo I've seen here in weeks. There's nothing better than boating images from this period. Love it!
Schooner etcLots of neat details in this picture. Planter is tied up to a piling with a stern and spring line, but the "dock" seems to be composed entirely of moored boats, suggesting its temporary nature. Alongside look like canal barges due to their straight sides and very bluff bows, apparently designed to a beam limit. In this period, barges could also be towed by a steam tug, but these may have been towed by mules.
The schooner, because of the short hoist and long gaffs of its lower sails and the very long bowsprit with so many headsails, looks like an "import" from Maine, or elsewhere in New England.  The Chesapeake Bay "pungy schooners" of this period had taller sails, fewer headsails, and more of a graceful sheer but with less steeve to the bowsprit, while this ship has the sturdy lines common in more exposed waters.
I wonder if there is any way to find out the name of this schooner?  Probably not without the exact date.
WowWhat a detail-rich photograph! Note the wash hung to dry just aft of the Planter's wheelhouse. And there appears to be something (dredging equipment?) moored to starboard beyond the Planter.  
BackgroundNice little history of the sidewheeler "Planter" here.
FishingI agree. This is a wonderful photo -- full of detail. I particularly like the wagon and horse in the far left center and the man sitting behind the little white house (captain's quarters?) on the boat. He appears to be looking out at the schooner. My question is - why isn't he fishing? The river looks like it would be teeming with fish. 
Interesting pic ... couldcould those be coffins piled on the supply boat?
They seem to have the wrong dimensions for coffins. - Ken
Steamboat PlanterSternquarter view of Medical Supply Steamboat Planter at General Hospital Wharf on the Appomattox River, City Point, Virginia, circa 1865, from Library of Congress. Here's a link to the story of how the Planter under the control of the Confederates was taken over by slave crewmembers and who escaped and turned her over to the Federal forces in Charleston Harbor, NC: https://civilwarbookofdays.org/tag/css-planter/
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War)

Delfeld & Son: 1954
... ground by the father's feet. Melted lead by day and fried fish on the weekends. Like Father, Like Son Paul grew up to be the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/17/2016 - 11:20am -

May 1954. "High school football player Paul Delfeld, 17, of North Dallas, Texas, helping father at plumbing business. Other photos show Delfeld attending high school classes; practicing football with teammates; playing in game; working at ice cream parlor; attending various social functions with girlfriend Janelle Gibson and other teenagers." Medium format negative from photos taken for the Look magazine assignment "High School Hero." View full size.
Arrangement of pictureEqual red Ridgid three-way pipe threaders are still used. But as every plumber can see, young Paul works at wrong, opposite side of tube, it is always easier to use your own weight and push tool down than lift the handle up.
And there was the Depot HackThe name has changed, eventually known as the station  wagon, replaced by the van, mini van, and SUV. As a lover of antique cars and hot rods I have a 1955 Chevy wagon known as a Handyman wagon and a 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton panel truck. The panel truck is basically a 1/2 ton pickup truck with a box. Some call them a large sedan delivery.  The station wagons and deliveries sit on a car chassis. 
The station wagon, especially those like my Handyman wagon served as a family car and a work vehicle by many who couldn't afford both. With side windows that often rolled down, the whole family could enjoy nature as they traveled, unlike the sedan deliveries. Both are on the common car chassis. There are variations of both. Some government deliveries and panel trucks had side windows and several types of rear hatches.
My 1955 Chevy 2-dr wagon served in small town America, also as a plumbers truck, for what seems many years before I saved it from a hot rodder planning on making it more of an off road toy. Far from original now, I recreated my own idea of a mini van. We've been using it for show and go since late 1989.
Threading pipeI see they are threading galvanized pipe.  Not a fun thing to do by hand.  You can see how much torque he has to put on that thing to do the job.  They have motorized threaders these days, but if you aren't careful with them, you can break a wrist.
Soldering copper pipe or gluing PVC together makes things so much easier these days.
Paul N. Delfeld 1936-2011Paul graduated from North Dallas High School in 1955 and went on to run the family business.  He didn't marry Janelle, but a young lady named Henrietta. He died Sept. 8, 2011, at age 74.  Henrietta predeceased him after 45 years of marriage.  They were survived by four children.
Sedan DeliveryThe vehicle being used for this plumbing business is a 1940 Chevrolet sedan delivery, which is based on the car chassis. More common for that type of business would have been the larger "panel truck" which was based on the sturdier truck chassis. That sedan delivery would be a very valuable candidate for todays street rod builder.
Lead melting FurnaceOn the ground by the father's feet. Melted lead by day and fried fish on the weekends.
Like Father, Like SonPaul grew up to be the spitting image of his dad. They look like twins
Sedan deliverySome places had high licence fees for truck chassis, but the normal rate applied to the car-based sedan delivery. I also believe that certain places didn't allow trucks to frequent every street, thus putting a crimp in the plumbers, painters and even flower and grocery delivery people's ability to conduct business.
The hotrodder of today would like the delivery, but the smaller panels aren't shunned now either.
Sedan Delivery, Part 2In addition to what damspot stated, in New York State, you had to have a more expensive license to drive a pickup or delivery truck than a simple operator's license. For a "kid" (under twenty-one) to get one was a real pain in the behind. Nowadays, the two levels have been merged (although motorcycle licenses were separated) at the higher rate.
Gridiron star back in the 50sIn 1953 Paul Delfeld was an all-state high school running back. A personable guy, Delfeld gained 1,078 yards for an 8.8 yard average and led the state in scoring with 23 touchdowns. His career ended with a leg injury. He played a little college football, then went into the family plumbing business. “He loved to play football,” says Rufus Hyde, Paul’s coach. “You sure like to coach a boy like that.”  
Silver 8 StreakIdentifies a base trim level 1950 Pontiac Chieftain.
MemoriesI showed this photo to my mother-in-law who grew up in North Dallas.  She remembers the Delfelds as their family's plumber during the 40s and 50s.
Thats my Dad and GrandpaThat's a staged pic behind their house for a Look magazine article that featured my Dad and his football talent.  That man could do anything on or off the field!  He gave us the best of everything in life regardless of what it took and I think of him daily.  I remember working with him as a kid and growing up learning so many things that I'm passing on to my kids today. I can only hope I keep trying to model myself after him.  If you knew him you would understand.
Here are some pics I have from his football days.
(The Gallery, LOOK, Sports)
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