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Magic Kingdom: 1931
December 15, 1931. New York. "River House, 52nd Street and East River. View of power house." 5x7 ... this area? [The air back then was full of coal soot. New York today, like most big cities, is a much less smoky place than it was 80 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 6:34pm -

December 15, 1931. New York. "River House, 52nd Street and East River. View of power house." 5x7 safety negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. What do we see here?OK, perusing this vista I spy the Williamsburg Bridge, through the mist at the left, and further down the Manhattan Bridge. The tower on the far left is at Remsen and Court streets in Brooklyn (I think). The other three spires in the center are (l to r) the American International Building (a gorgeous Art Deco giant), then what's now called 40 Wall St, originally the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building, and then the magnificent Woolworth Building. Don't know what the square topped one is, but the one that seems little by comparison, just to the left of the Woolworth, is the Singer Building. I believe that the Singer was (before the destruction of the World Trade Center) the tallest building ever demolished. The big plant in the foreground is Big Alice, the Con Ed power plant, isn't it? Can't see a single living thing, not a human or a seagull, but the barges by the water with railroad cars are interesting. Once more on Beekman Place.Here we are again, the buildings in the foreground are 1 Beekman Place on the left and 2 Beekman Place on the right. The smokestacks are at the Consolidated Edison site that ran from 35th to 41st Street between First Avenue and the East River. The structures as well as the smokestacks were leveled a few years ago. The area was supposed to be turned into luxury condos and office towers but the project faced delays from neighborhood opposition and the downturn in the economy. Beekman PlaceAll I can think of is "Auntie Mame"! She lived at this trendy address. Auntie Mame was a lucky lady! SmogI wonder how much worse or better is the smog today in this area? [The air back then was full of coal soot. New York today, like most big cities, is a much less smoky place than it was 80 years ago. - Dave] Bank of New YorkThe flat-topped building is the 50-story Bank of New York, built by the Irving Trust Co. in 1929-31. Its address, 1 Wall Street at Broadway, was reputed to be the most expensive real estate in the city. StacksThe power plant is Con Ed Waterside; the smokier stack beyond is a New York Steam plant. Big Allis is/was on the east side of the river, in Queens. The pic only spans 32 degrees edge to edge, so if this is full frame he used a 12-inch lens. He used a more normal lens for the other pic from River House. (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)
New York Giant: 1908
New York circa 1908. "The Singer Building." Shortly after its completion. 8x10 inch ... floor at the right side. So it goes In the 70s, the New York city fathers saw the error of their ways and replaced this striking, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2013 - 10:03am -

New York circa 1908. "The Singer Building." Shortly after its completion. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Man on a LedgeI love looking at these big building and finding a man on a ledge cleaning windows. This time it looks to be the 7th floor at the right side. So it goesIn the 70s, the New York city fathers saw the error of their ways and replaced this striking, beautiful building with a brown Modernist rectangle. Howard Roark would be pleased, at least. (Trivia: the Singer Building was at the time the tallest building ever demolished.) Obligatory rooftop laddersTwo, at least, on the ornate setback deck. Still hold the recordIt still holds the dubious record as the tallest building ever intentionally demolished (I presume there's no need to explain the "intentionally" part). As unfortunate as its demolition may be in retrospect, it was not at all surprising at the time. The floors in the tower section were very small in terms of square footage, wholly inadequate for 1960's-style offices. Today the obvious solution would be to convert the Singer Building into very expensive apartments. Forty-five years ago, however, the idea of living in lower Manhattan would have struck almost everyone as strange to the point of absurdity. You *worked* in the area, and at night it was a ghost town. Things most definitely have changed. Happy MealBentwood chairs, specifically the Vienna Cafe chair #14 was produced for "mass consumption" beginning in 1859. According to Carroll M Gantz' Design Chronicles, there were more than 50 million Vienna Cafe chairs produced by 1859 and the company had 52 European factories by 1900. So, it might be safe to say that in 1908 this type of dining chair was fairly typical. Looks like this family is prepared for a happy meal quite unlike the happy meals of today! (The Gallery, DPC, NYC)
Little Falls: 1941
... 1941. "Looking toward the Mohawk River. Little Falls, New York." Which is at least a two-stoplight town. Medium format negative by John ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/05/2023 - 3:42pm -

October 1941. "Looking toward the Mohawk River. Little Falls, New York." Which is at least a two-stoplight town. Medium format negative by John Collier. View full size. The Bank is still there?But either I'm wrong or they got bombed during the War because almost nothing else still stands. It's not near that badWhat got razed was the east side of that one block of South Ann Street. While the cigar store and the ... train station? ... are gone, along with everything between, Little Falls National (Berkshire Bank) is still in place, as is the Herkimer County Trust building (Adirondack Bank) and the former Hotel Snyder and tavern (Happen Inn). Looks good to me.No, you have the right corner. If you go to N. Ann street & Albany street and look back up Ann, you can see the same triangular roofed building on the right. I googled "little falls" "city cigar", and got back a book on Little falls. It said they cleared the buildings in the 1970s for urban renewal. (The Gallery, John Collier, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
New York Volunteers: 1861
1861. "Soldiers of Company G, 71st New York Volunteers, in front of Sibley tent." Wet plate glass negative, left half ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/15/2008 - 4:02pm -

1861. "Soldiers of Company G, 71st New York Volunteers, in front of Sibley tent." Wet plate glass negative, left half of stereograph pair. Photographer unknown. Civil War glass negative collection, Library of Congress. View full size. Foot MaintenanceChopping off your corns with a knife for the portrait photographer -- so classy. Guys will be guys...It appears there are a couple of pranksters standing behind their victims attempting tickle their ears with a small twig or blade of straw perhaps. Typical of guys, no matter what era, eh? [Those are pipes they're holding by the bowls. - Dave] Mr. BeardlessThe fellow in the middle, without the beard, is he writing or possibly sketching? It looks like he is holding a writing implement. Probably a pencil? his facial expression is quite a bit dofferent from the others in this crowd. Hard LifeI can't believe how far they have probably walked in those boots. Sometimes I wish they could tell us what they have seen, but I think you can read the look on their faces and tell that it hasn't been easy. (The Gallery, Civil War)
Home of the Brave: 1949
New York, 1949. This Kodachrome slide of Broadway at Times Square arrived by postal ... Neato! I could look at this all day! The New York I Remember I used to live at 72nd Street Central Park West and walk ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/05/2018 - 3:42pm -

New York, 1949. This Kodachrome slide of Broadway at Times Square arrived by postal mail a few weeks ago from Shorpy member RalphCS, who snagged it at a yard sale. Good work and thanks! There are a few more to come. View full size. Neato!I could look at this all day! The New York I RememberI used to live at 72nd Street Central Park West and walk to this area on weekends. It's great to see a photograph from that time. I had no camera of my own, but borrowed my mother's. CheersLondon 2.0 Face on the Camel signHard to tell from this angle, almost looks like a Mexican sombrero maybe? [The infamous "Urban Sombrero"! - Dave] A Plethora of DetailsSuch a wonderfully colorful photo with so much to see, captured on a bright sunny day in New York City to distinguish it from the more typical drab black and white photos we typically see of it in this era. "Every hour 3490 people buy at Bond" -- their numbers may be down somewhat these days, and I wonder whatever happened to Mr. and Mrs. Statue. I was always fascinated by how theaters used to be able to construct such colorful electric signage on a movie-by-movie basis in those days. Let's stop in at the Mayflower Coffee Shop and try their doughnuts. Kudos to the photographer for capturing the Camel sign blowing a smoke ring. We see the ubiquitous DeSoto taxicabs of that era in New York City as well. [Plus a Packard. - Dave] Wow!Amazing photo! How can I buy a print? [I've added it to Print Gallery. - Dave] Camel FedoraA better view of the sign. Click to enlarge. [Not quite the same sign, is it? The Kodachrome version shows the brim turned down. - Dave] Different stylesMen wear clothing and women wear apparel? Zooming in, it looks like the female statue is a bit cold. She definitely needs more apparel, or is it clothing? Neon and BulbsThe movie "Home of the Brave" cost $375,000 to make in 1949. Today it would cost at least that much just to create the elaborate signage that accompanied it at Times Square. ... and "The Home of the Brave"I hope one of those other Kodachromes shows the marquee of the theater just beyond the Victoria, because I can't for the life of me make out what it's advertising and I am dying of curiosity. "Strangers" on a SignNext to the Victoria: Jennifer Jones and John Garfield in "We Were Strangers." I was able to tweak the image just enough to make out the names, then a quick visit to the IMDB to find out what movie they were in together. The Barkleys of BroadwayAlthough this was the only film that Astaire and Rogers made together in color, it was their last film together, and their first after ten years apart. The song “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” by George and Ira Gershwin, was also used in the 1937 film “Shall We Dance,” in which Astaire sang it to Rogers, as in “The Barkleys of Broadway.” The dance duet for the 1949 film was ballroom, not tap, and is well worth watching for its elegance, vigor, and moments of restraint. He was 50 at the time, she 38. Color!!!I love these shots from RalphCS. Thanks, man! Somewhat illogically, I suppose, when I view so many B&W photos at Shorpy, I begin to sense that much of history was drab and graceless — mostly blah. Thanks for the magical antidote Ralph! Most will never knowAfter spending a long time gazing at all the fascinating sights in both of these nostalgic Times Square pictures from RalphCS, it is impossible to choose a favorite. There is so much going on in both of them and if one were to focus in on each pictured person's current activity, one can get caught up in their imagination, i.e., the young man with the long cardboard box hailing the taxi (what is in the box, where is he taking it, etc.). Each person pictured has their own mission, errand or destination just as is still going on everywhere today, like watching an ant farm with all the inhabitants completing their tasks, all intent on their own personal pursuit. One can write an entire book just observing the characters in both pictures and envisioning their purpose at this hour on this day 68 years ago. The mystery is in knowing that everyone alive is doing likewise somewhere on earth at this hour today and may also unknowingly be having their photo frozen in time, oblivious to the fact that their particular moment of activity may be stored away in obscurity for almost 70 years and then suddenly be revealed on computers or TV screens for everyone to see and question. Most of the people in these pictures are probably long-gone and will never know that on April 5th in the year 2018, they were being studied and scrutinized in detail anywhere in the world by countless viewers of Shorpy's wondrous website. Do this, don't do that --To Greg B's point about the elaborate signs - it may have been the studios that were paying for those. 1949 was the tail end of it, but Hollywood used to operate under the "studio system", where movie studios would also own a relatively large chain of theaters. The studio probably had more money than an individual theater, so they could more easily produce fancy signs. Something that probably helped was that under the studio system, studios would sign contracts with actors for several movies. Once they figured out who their top few leading men and ladies would be, they could re-use the letters for those names for several movies if they wanted to. I also understand that until maybe the 1970s, it wasn't common for movies to be released all across the US at the same time. They'd get an initial release in, say, New York and LA, and then expand to smaller cities over time. Spending money on fancy signs in New York might have helped the studios to convince independent theater operators in smaller cities to book the film - "it sold 5,000 tickets a day in New York!" Finally, for electric signs like this, it wouldn't have been difficult for the sign company to stock a few copies of the alphabet, with bulbs installed and ready to go. Then, when they got an order, they could paint a backing board, hang the letters on it, and wire them together relatively quickly. This would have worked better for standard-ish typefaces, like on the "Home of the Brave" sign, and not as well on custom ones, like the curved letters for "Barkleys of Broadway". In another sign of the times, 1949 seems pretty early to me for a "seven-segment" clock display (on the Bond store). Apparently somebody didn't care for the open-topped "4" that most LED and LCD seven-segment displays now have, and installed one more segment to get a pointy-topped 4. June 10, 1949Based on all of the visible movie marquees on this wonderful pair of Times Square photos, they were taken on or around June 10, 1949. (High-speed film may have been needed to catch a theatre actually showing "Night unto Night." It was savaged by critics. In an era in which even bad reviews tended to be understated, the New York Times review on June 11 ended with this dig: "Having waited so long to expose 'Night unto Night' to the light of day, the Warners might better have left it at the bottom of the well, for some things are best forgotten.") Feel the heatThose hot days in NYC. You can just feel the car exhaust bouncing off the pavement. Nice to see the top of the Empire State Building sans radio tower. [Look again. - Dave] Bond Sign Waterfall turned off hereThe bond sign had a 50,000-gallon waterfall 27 feet high and 120 feet long behind the large "BOND" logo which was apparently turned off when this photo was taken. Drat! (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Movies, NYC)
New York: 1908
The New York of 1908 as seen from the 33rd floor of the Metropolitan Life building. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 7:08pm -

The New York of 1908 as seen from the 33rd floor of the Metropolitan Life building. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. ESB and W-AI think that large, dark building in the center is the original Waldorf-Astoria, where the Empire State Building is now. And look how the Time building towers above the others in the area, hard to believe. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Court of Railways: 1939
"New York World's Fair (1939-40) railroad exhibit. Historic locomotives at Court of ... known for detonations. Some Family Ties to the 1939 New York World's Fair My paternal grandparents first met at the '39 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2022 - 3:27pm -

"New York World's Fair (1939-40) railroad exhibit. Historic locomotives at Court of Railways." 35mm color transparency by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. Rolling Romance It is perhaps lamentable that our high-tech age has largely forgotten the powerfully romantic appeal that railroading held for earlier generations, as the steam goliaths of yesteryear stirred a wanderlust and thirst for adventure among millions of young Americans -- not to mention a passion among countless fascinated boys for all things mechanical. While well represented in popular songs such as "The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe," "Sentimental Journey," and "Chattanooga Choo Choo," the railroad's place in the American heart was perhaps best expressed by the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay: The railroad track is miles away, And the day is loud with voices speaking. Yet there isn't a train goes by all day But I hear its whistle shrieking. All night there isn't a train goes by, Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming, But I see its cinders red on the sky And hear its engine steaming. My heart is warm with the friends I make, And better friends I'll not be knowing. Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take, No matter where it's going. The World of YesterdayHistoric, as in "history", sums it all up: within a decade-and-a-half steam would be all but dead on the country's rails. Boom Times in CharlestonRightmost: A replica of the 1830 locomotive "Best Friend of Charleston". The original engine's working life ended in a rather spectacular way on 17 June 1831 when the engineer felt annoyed by the sound of steam released by the safety valve and decided to solve the issue by simply closing the valve. The result was a 4th of July fireworks slightly ahead of schedule. Fortunately, the 1928 replica seen in this photo is not known for detonations. Some Family Ties to the 1939 New York World's FairMy paternal grandparents first met at the '39 World's Fair in New York. My grandfather was a recent graduate of Georgia Tech. In 1939, Granddaddy was working for the Atlanta Journal newspaper and covered the fair. My grandmother was in her senior year at Columbia University. Amazingly, they were both from Georgia. Grandma and Granddaddy likely saw the trains that are pictured. Back in the 1980s, when I was a kid, I wish I had asked them more about that fair. I wish had asked them, both, more about a lot of things! Please educate mePerhaps someone will explain to me why this photograph looks like a painting. [Color-shifting. - Dave] in the family 2Grandfather was an engineer for the NYCS, I worked for Conrail briefly and pulled the "put in service plate" off the side of an engine dated within his work history, still have it. The NYCS and Nickel Plate Road tracks ran a quarter mile from our house, late at night the "ringing" of the wheels could be heard along with the "clickity-clack". PRR No. 3768Pennsylvania Railroad No. 3768, the leftmost locomotive, is in the K4 "Pacific" series, which were used until the late 50's. The streamlining seen here was only fitted to 6 locomotives in the series. The shrouds impeded maintenance, so they were removed later in the locomotive's life. Want to see this one at work, still in its streamlined glory? It's easy to find the film noir mystery "The Great Flamarion" on line. There are a few moments of 3768 hard at work at about 21:40 in the film; the time will vary a bit, depending on what copy of the film you find. No. 3768 was retired in October 1953, and was sold for scrap. The TMI RRFor some it will be Too Much Information but for the railroad connoisseurs, aficionados or the just plain RR Nutsies aboard the Shorpy Express it will be an occasion to break out a premium six pack or vintage bubbly along with bowls of popcorn as they delve deep into the tender cars of the historic locomotives at the Court of Railways in the 1939 New York World's Fair railroad exhibit. Raymond LoewyIndustrial Designer Raymond Loewy's work, if I recall correctly. He also designed the Studebaker Avanti, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, and the Coca Cola bottle, among many other famous innovations. Amazing guy. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC, Railroads)
They Like Winter in New York State
... A Federal Art Project poster promoting winter sports in New York: "They like winter in New York State. The state that has everything." The ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 12/03/2007 - 10:27am -

A Federal Art Project poster promoting winter sports in New York: "They like winter in New York State. The state that has everything." The poster was created by Jack Rivlota between 1936 and 1941. View full size. (The Gallery, Art & Design, Posters, Sports)
New York Tenement: 1912
... A Jewish family works on garters in the kitchen of a New York City tenement home. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine, November, 1912. View ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 09/08/2011 - 8:23pm -

A Jewish family works on garters in the kitchen of a New York City tenement home. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine, November, 1912. View full size. What?My 14-year old daughter asked "What's garters?" What's Garters?Well in this particular case you can tell your daughter that they are used to hold up a gentleman's socks. Ladies' garters looked...different. You can still buy gentlemen's garters - you can certainly find them online. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, NYC)
New York Public Market: 1948
March 22, 1948. The New York City Public Market at First Avenue and East 73rd Street (?), an example of ... vendors fade from the scene and the market has a new name: "super-market," now spelled without the hyphen. View full size. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 2:34pm -

March 22, 1948. The New York City Public Market at First Avenue and East 73rd Street (?), an example of the food market in transition. A typical 19th-century market would have many separate vendors in an open-air space like a town square. By the early 1900s the open-air space had given way to separate vendors under a large shed roof with no walls, often near the train station. Here in 1948 the space is enclosed, but still with separate vendors (greengrocer, butcher, dry goods, fishmonger etc.). After the introduction of centralized distribution and self-service for the various product categories, the individual vendors fade from the scene and the market has a new name: "super-market," now spelled without the hyphen. View full size. 5x7 safety negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. Another Timeless PictureThe only indications that this photo was not taken yesterday are the food prices. Farmers' markets are one of those rare things that simply haven't changed much over the last 60 years. Even the scales look the same. [True, although the men selling the produce are not the people who grew it. It's more of an old-style grocery as opposed to a self-service market, i.e. supermarket. - Dave] VintageIf the 1948 photo is *vintage* and I'm pre-1948 what does that make me? Was it really that long ago? My Grandmama took me to a few of these markets in the 40's and 50's. They slowly moved out into the suburbs, year by year, until you couldn't find them in the city anymore, and had to travel out into the 'country-side' the find them. Fortunately, we moved out to Queens along with them and were able to continue to purchase fresh produce. (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC, Stores & Markets)
Easter in New York: 1904
New York, 1904. "A flower vender's Easter display, Union Square." 8x10 inch dry ... of the Socialist Labor Party and he later died during a New York heat wave in 1900. In the 1960s it was home to Andy Warhol’s ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/01/2018 - 1:23pm -

New York, 1904. "A flower vender's Easter display, Union Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. The Little TrampThat fellow in front of the big tree with his back to the camera needs only a cane to be Charlie Chaplin. Added 1904 BonusFree plant fertilizer right on the street. I love black and white photos but —Wouldn't this be glorious in color? The Infamous Decker BuildingJust to the right of the large tree is the Decker Building at 33 Union Square, designed by the radical socialist-anarchist-architect John H. Edelmann. Edelmann's anarchist beliefs got him kicked out of the Socialist Labor Party and he later died during a New York heat wave in 1900. In the 1960s it was home to Andy Warhol’s Factory, the studio where he was shot three times by an angry female associate. (The Gallery, DPC, Easter, NYC)
Christmas Shoppers in New York
Christmas shoppers in New York City. Photo from the Bain News Service collection, between 1910 and 1915. ... More on retouching Of course, looking closer (I am new to thinking about old photos being altered) I can see the odd-looking ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 09/09/2011 - 9:59am -

Christmas shoppers in New York City. Photo from the Bain News Service collection, between 1910 and 1915. View full size. Deft brushworkWhat bizarre retouching! I wonder what was originally in the box that was blanked-over. [Not uncommon for newspaper photographs of that era. - Dave] RetouchingYou wouldn't want to inadvertently publicize a store that didn't pay for advertising! Retouched?Interesting, I assumed when I first looked at the photo, that the woman on the left was carrying a ladies muff in her left hand. Are you thinking that is a package or box that was been retouched? [The packages and hat, as well as the coats (the lapels of the lady on the left, for example) have been retouched to make them stand out. - Dave] More on retouchingOf course, looking closer (I am new to thinking about old photos being altered) I can see the odd-looking highlights. So, what I think is a muff, probably is--which is also a bit odd because it's so large! (The Gallery, Christmas, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Malone, New York: 1897
This photo was taken July 1, 1897 in Malone, New York during the anniversary celebration of the Jean Baptiste Society. I found ... 
 
Posted by drawsing - 01/09/2015 - 7:53pm -

This photo was taken July 1, 1897 in Malone, New York during the anniversary celebration of the Jean Baptiste Society. I found an old newspaper article describing the event. In 1960 my father was working for the USDA on Long Island, New York. He was looking through a dump one day and found this fat packet of over 100 negatives. He brought them home with him and kept them in a box. Some of the negatives had writing on their paper sleeves, and it is from this that I determined the place and time. I have recently begun scanning them and developing them in Photoshop. Some of the photos are from the parade and the accompanying fair. Others are of well-to-do young people engaged in courting, fishing, canoeing and various leisure activities. View full size. It doesn't look like a stationIn the background is Rutland Railroad's unusual station at Malone. The tower in view is identical to a tower hiding behind the tree, and connected by a covered train shed, which made great sense here in New York's snow belt. All trains, both passenger and freight, ran through the shed. In later years the shed was removed and the Rutland (Chatham, NY, and Bellows Falls, Vt. to Ogdensburg, NY) was greatly downsized. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
New York City Hall: 1903
New York circa 1903. "City Hall." Note the building going up at left and ... of this picture. Tweed And behind City Hall is the "New County Court House." (Official name) Better known as the Tweed Court ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/01/2013 - 11:07am -

New York circa 1903. "City Hall." Note the building going up at left and construction at right. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. 299 Broadway?That appears to be the building going up on the left at Duane Street. Known as the Ungar Building, it has 18 stories and was completed in 1905. There are those newsies againPreviously seen at Shorpy, two statues of newsboys on the building behind City Hall. Changing viewsThe view would change dramatically in just a few years, with the construction of the 40-story Municipal Building on the right side of this picture. TweedAnd behind City Hall is the "New County Court House." (Official name) Better known as the Tweed Court House, now the home of the Board of Education. It is the only building named after a rouge, Boss Tweed, and while it was a knick name - it became that when it was re-dedicated as The Tweed Court House! It's even written in stone on the re dedicated corner stone. For laughs once I asked 2 NYPD officers standing on the steps if they knew where the "New County Court House is" and they shrugged and pointed me up Centre Street. The North side of City Hall is made of cheaper brownstone painted white while the rest of the building is marble. When built, the city fathers thought the city would never grow north, and saved the tax payers money on the backside of the building that would face away from town. Next uptown on the left of frame is the building housing the NY Sun Newspaper. To the right of that, standing two stories taller is the Emigrant Savings Bank. Both still standing. The fountain in the foreground ran on Croton water, and flowed freely without a pump from the gravity feed from the reservoir. (All water in NYC will go 6 stories high by natural pressure.) 180 degrees from this view would have been the main post office - an eyesore from the day it was new. A year later?The kiosks and skylights for the 1904 Interborough Rapid Transit Subway are complete and not barricaded, could this photo be a bit younger? Neither brownstone nor marble these daysAleHouseMug is correct in stating that the north side of City Hall was, for nearly 150 years, brownstone painted white to match the marble on the other three sides. (City Hall was at the city's extreme north when it was first built, so they used the cheaper material on the north side on grounds that few people would ever see it. Ha!) But both the marble and the brownstone deteriorated so much that they were both replaced with limestone during a major renovation in the mid-1950s. (The Gallery, NYC)
New York Central: 1905
Circa 1905. "New York Central railroad station, Rochester." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, ... 1910s this station would be replaced by Rochester's brand new New York Central station, about a block or two further east on Central ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/26/2015 - 11:49am -

Circa 1905. "New York Central railroad station, Rochester." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Replaced a few years laterIn the 1910s this station would be replaced by Rochester's brand new New York Central station, about a block or two further east on Central Avenue. The new station was considered by the NYCRR to be the second best station in their system; Grand Central of course being the first. The station also won recognition as one of the most beautiful American train stations to be demolished. It disappeared by pieces in the 60s and 70s, and was replaced by an Amshack. Taj Mahal indeed!Being the primary mode of long distance travel at the turn of last century, the railroads were not shy in building - and overbuilding - homages to themselves in the form of stations. I'm not being critical. It was their way of advertising their role in society. What better way to show your place in a city. Amshack indeed! (The Gallery, DPC, Horses, Railroads, Rochester)
Starlight Park: 1921
... Broadway Production, 1927 Lady of the Ensemble More New York City photos requested... More photos of people and places in New York ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 12:24pm -

June 1921. Eleanor Tierney at Starlight Park on the Bronx River at 177th Street. Eleanor, a Broadway chorus girl, married a banker and ended up in Larchmont. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. Hairy gamsShe has more hair on her legs than some of those Confederate soldiers had on their chins. I bet it's a good thing her arms aren't raised. EleanorYou could almost think this was a recent photo. She has a very modern look. The suitWas this bathing suit considered risque at the time? I wonder, only because so-called "modesty suits" which are marketed to (mostly extremist) religious women these days (i.e. http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/11745.htm ) offer significantly more coverage than this item from nearly 90 years ago. [It's not unusual for a 1920 bathing suit. - Dave] Itchy & ScratchyThat suit looks mighty itchy... Is it wool? A Little ChubbyA lot of those 1920 bathing beauties seem to be slightly pregnant I guess they weren't into washboard abs or heroin chic. Grooming NotesWow, I guess women of the 20s were not too worried about shaving their legs. Of other interest, it appears that there is more material on the men's bathing suits of the day than on Eleanor's! A real woman*sigh* every chorus girl's dream: to marry a banker and move to Larchmont.... RE: "Chubby," Seems that some men today are too used to the hyper airbrushed "perfect 10's" they see in the media. As apparent in comments seen here and elsewhere on Shorpy. Someone always seems to pipe up about weight. Most women share a shape similar to Eleanor's. Not fat, not skinny, not hard-bodied, not total slobs--just real and healthy. That being said, most of us do shave our legs nowadays. Comment criteria?I find it interesting that every comment I've submitted to this site -- which have had to do with artistic decisions in photographs or societal conditions at the time the photos were taken -- has not appeared in the threads, and yet comments about the hair on this woman's legs or that say she looks "slightly pregnant" (please, calling her "a little chubby" is absolutely ridiculous) pass muster. This is a private blog, of course, and you may post comments or not as you please, but this thread is a bit annoying. [Indeed. - Dave] I like her attitude.I would seriously like to go back in time and hang out with this girl. Concrete beach?What is she standing on? [Concrete paving. - Dave] Starlight ParkFrom what little I can find about Starlight Park, it was at 177th and Devoe and closed around 1940. The site is now occupied by a city bus barn. From other writings, Eleanor was apparently standing on a "beach" at the edge of a large wave pool on the park grounds. The chin-up pose is striking. Eleanor had confidence. She's all that...and she knows it! Here's a woman with a healthy confidence and outlook! Real women, indeedI agree that normal women are shaped like this young lady, if they're lucky; she was indeed a beautiful girl. As a guy in his 60s, I would point out that the rage for anorexics is a fairly recent one, and I think that even young men would largely prefer a healthy woman to one who is obsessed with her weight. It seems to me that this is something that women have brought on themselves in the last 25 years or so. Maybe not. It's also true that men like me knew lots and lots of unshaven European and American girls in the '60s and '70s. Natural and feminine women can be devastatingly attractive. ShowboatAccording to http://broadwayworld.com/people/Eleanor_Tierney/ Performances Show Boat [Broadway] Original Broadway Production, 1927 Lady of the Ensemble More New York City photos requested...More photos of people and places in New York City that are no longer "there" would sure be welcomed here, a la' the vast file of DC scenes you've published to date. [We have more than 400 NYC photos on the site. - Dave] Where it was...If I'm reading my Yahoo! Map correctly, Starlight Park in the Bronx was just about where the northern terminus of Sheridan Parkway feeds off to East 177th Street, very close to East Tremont Avenue. The Bronx River is basically clean where in runs through the NY Botanical Garden, but I don't think I'd want to take a swim it it today where Starlight Park used to be. Who wants plastic anorexia?I'm a relatively young man myself (37) and it's all the starved carpenter's dreams walking around these days that makes me really appreciate the beauty of this photo. Nothing fake or plastic here - to paraphrase, "it's all her, baby!" - and that's how I personally prefer women, inside as well as outside. Since we're on the subject of "modern" women vs. the extremely appealing jazz babies I've seen here thus far, my question is, why on God's green earth have hips and real busts been outlawed the last 3 decades or so? Dave, I can't tell you what a wonderful job and service you're doing. The streetscapes - as well as the jazz babies, among the many other things here - are exceptional!!! Twiggy Go HomeTo answer the SwingMan's question: It's that darn Twiggy in the early 1970's. I wish she had quickly crawled back into the golf hole from whence she came. *sigh*"It's also true that men like me knew lots and lots of unshaven European and American girls in the '60s and '70s. Natural and feminine women can be devastatingly attractive." Heck, yes. That's a reason I keep coming back to this site. The Hepburn FactorTwiggy was a latecomer in the thin-is-stylish sweepstakes. It actually dates back to Audrey Hepburn, the quintessential high-fashion template of the 50s. On a related note, let's not forget that of Katharine Hepburn (no relation), Spencer Tracy said, "Not much meat on her, but what there is is cherce." YMMV, of course. Almost Nekkid!For its moment, ca. 1920, this is a mild news service cheesecake photo produced for one of New York's many illustrated dailies. Eleanor Tierney's two-piece wool jersey bathing suit is acceptable in 1920 but a bit risque in its lack of a skirt. Many women continued to wear corsets under their bathing suits until the mid-teens at least, and one-piece bathing suits for women would remain illegal on many American beaches until the early 1930s. Many viewers at the time would have considered her "almost nekkid." With her casually proud stance and short hair, Eleanor is expressing modernity and liberation from older values, embodying social changes that were exciting, controversial and hotly debated throughout the country. Real WomenOnce again, Shorpy proves why it is my daily online morning ritual. Cup of coffee in hand, I have to peruse the jewels set up for daily display. As a woman who would have been described a "sweater girl" back in the good old days, I have always been amazed and a bit irritated how normal, healthy women in pictures such as this are berated in the comments on Shorpy for their weight when they have the curves and lovely meat a woman is supposed to have. I'm very glad I resemble Mae West rather than Twiggy, and I know not a few men who are as well. Flat-Chested FlappersOdd that so many readers view thinness as a purely modern fashion phenomenon, although our rail-thin models are a record-setting extreme. By the mid-1920s the ideal beauty was "boyish," with very slim hips, long legs, a flat chest and very short hair. This was the culmination of a revolutionary fashion trend that began during World War I with "mannish" dresses that suppressed the hourglass body shapes of the 1890-1910 period. In the 1920s John Held's covers for Life and Judge magazines featured girls with barely noticeable breasts and no waistline. This is the basis for the joke in "Some Like It Hot," when Marilyn Monroe envies Jack Lemmon's figure (in drag). She says that his beaded necklace hangs straight, and complains that hers just go all over the place. The Boyish LookSetting aside the fact that had the current fashion for anorexic actresses been in place fifty or sixty years ago we would have been robbed of the pleasure of watching Marilyn Monroe, the boyish look of the '20s was quite common, and would later come to be thoroughly misunderstood. If you've ever seen a not very good movie called "Getting Straight" which starred Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen, you may recall a scene in which Gould's character is defending his thesis on his favourite book "The Great Gatsby." One of the professors insists that Fitzgerald's description of Daisy is distinctly boyish and points to this as proof of Gatsby's (and maybe even Fitzgerald's - it's been a long time since I've seen the film) suppressed homosexuality. I at least see it as being as much a product of the fashions of the times as the descriptions of blacks in other novels of the period. My Two CentsNot to belabor the point regarding women's curves, I can only think of the classic artists whose magnificent paintings of beautiful, fleshed-out female forms are unintentionally so much more interesting (as in erotic) than would be bone-thin, shapeless females exhibiting a dearth of both feminine hormones and sex appeal. Take for example Venus, September Morn, the entire works of Rubens, Botticelli and hundreds of other artists and paintings that celebrate the true nature of the female form. Of course, then we have Botero, who makes all his figures very short and very stocky, but they are such great fun to look at. I can't imagine the great painters even desiring to paint the anorexic girls on the runways today. Just had to add my humble opinion to the mix. Thank you for not only the fascinating photos but also the stimulating discussions they inspire. EleanorEleanor, gee I think you're swell, and you really do me well, you're my pride and joy, etcetera... ©the Turtles ...this beauty can model for me any time. WOW...That is some hairdo! Very pretty woman. Can this be back in style?I absolutely love her bathing suit. I may need to get to work on one not made out of wool... Re: Show BoatShe's a chorus girl, too? Can she GET any more awesome? Why this photo?DO you know why this photo was taken? Was it a private photo? Or was it taken as publicity for the show she is appearing in at the time (being a chorus girl) or for the park itself? It has all the hallmarks of a professional photo due to the angle and her stance. [The Bain News Service photos were all professional. - Dave] EleanorSomething about the way she is standing and the look on her faces tells me that Eleanor might have been that girl who knew how to have a good time. Love the photo. Eleanor TierneyAccording to census records and the NY Times archives, Eleanor married John A. Van Zelm. He died of pneumonia on August 1, 1937. Eleanor died on June 22, 1948. Chubby? Slightly Pregnant??!!Honestly, get a clue. She just happens to have internal organs. Gee,if only they could come up with plastic surgery to remove them. Starlight Park in my LifeI admire the candid of Ms. Tierney, but the background is most interesting. I knew Starlight Park more than a quarter century later. By then there were no remnants of roller coasters or the like. The arena had been converted to a bus barn by Third Avenue Transit( taken over and operated now by the government transit op.) Many of the stucco buildings with red tile roofs were either destroyed,falling down or abandoned playgrounds for kids. That pool she is standing beside had a large sandy beach area and was of monumental proportions. It was the length of a football field, oriented east-west. At the west end, beyond the paved promenade, was a retaining wall and the land fell off sharply to the Bronx River. When this photo was taken this was largely an area that was undeveloped. The 180th Street Crosstown trolley (X route) went by and there was the West Farms junction of several trolley routes (after 1948 all buses) about a quarter mile away. The White Plains Road IRT elevated line with a Bronx Zoo destination had a stop another few blocks further west. In the 1940s when I frequented the place, it was because I accompanied my father, who was a soccer buff, when he went there on Sundays to doubleheaders of the German-American Soccer league. Not withstanding the leagues moniker; the NY Hungarians, Praha, Savoia, Hakoah, Eintracht, Brooklyn Wanderers, Bronx Scots, my old man's former team the NY Corinthians, and a plethora of teams with non-teutonic associations made up the league. There were professional leagues that had a larger territorial range, but almost all of the players in those days were either immigrants, or their first generation progeny. The GA was the MISL of that time. There was no real money to pay living wages to soccer players so either industrial teams, like the Uhrich Truckers in St. Louis, or semi pros - like those from the G-A league were the source of the best players in the country. Yogi Berra, and Joe Garagiola who grew up on "The Hill" in St. Louis, were part of a similar world and played soccer for local Italo-American sides there as children and teens. I know this seems strange, when the American goalie Brad Fridl pulls down 5 million bucks from Aston Villa in Birmingham in the UK Premier League, but until the Spaniards and Italians started offering whatever wages they would to get the best players, the British paid washers to professional soccer players. Ten pounds a week was the fixed rate in the forties for UK soccer players. Liverpool offered a NYPD sergeant named Miller, who was the G-A all star teams goalie, a contract. He would have had to have taken a substantial pay cut to have gone there. Foreign wage pressures, and the fixing of games by underpaid players has changed that forever. The Post War would change everything, but meanwhile the German-American League was the best we had. In the early 1950s, I was at Randall's Island Stadium when the G-A League All Stars beat Kaiserslauten , the German Bundesliga champions, 2-0. So Starlight Park's large playing field, north of the pool site ruins, was, along with Sterling Oval, and a field across the road from Con Edison in the south Bronx, were the places where the best soccer in the US was being played. As a young kid, I and the sons and daughters of the immigrants tore around the ruins playing games, built fires to roast spuds and marshmallows and the like, while our parents watched the games and relived their own athletic youths. Unfortunately, it wasn't all a halcyon time in the ruins for us. Charley, a 12-year-old acquaintance, was murdered by a sexual pervert there after swimming in the Bronx River. I never knew the place in its heyday, and I wish I had been there to ride the roller coaster and swim in such an immense pool. Still, it provided a different set of experiences and meaning to another generation. Good-Luck, Peter J. Eleanor in ColorWhen this photo originally appeared on Shorpy last year, I decide it was a good experiment for hand-coloring. I did this in Adobe Illustrator CS2, not a traditional photo-manipulation program. With the recent mania for colorizing, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. Fire away, philistines! [The system deleted your attachment because it was wider than 490 pixels. Please read and follow the posting instructions! - Dave] More Starlight PixI first became aware of Starlight Park from a photo in Roger Arcara's "Westchester's Forgotten Railway" (1960). Now, the Internet and this web page have opened a whole new box of nostalgic pleasures. I have uploaded more Starlight Park pix here. Beach hairYes, it appears that Eleanor is both confident and fun-loving! It also appears that (by the look of her carefree 'beached-out' tresses) she has been SWIMMING this lovely day. This makes me very happy! I imagine that not too many women of the day would purposely submerge their HEAD in the salt water, much less consent afterwards to having their portrait made. That said, I have no doubt that for stage and most all other social appearances, Eleanor made diligent use of hair straightening rods, pin curlers, scented hair oils, etc. How do I know this? I (and all the other women in my family) have Eleanor's hair. Pool I wonder how they took care of keeping a pool of this size clean in 1921. I don't think they had Olin's HTH product at the time. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Pretty Girls, Swimming)
New York Life: 1900
September 11, 1900. "New York Life building, Chicago." The building, at LaSalle and Monroe streets, was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/02/2017 - 2:28pm -

September 11, 1900. "New York Life building, Chicago." The building, at LaSalle and Monroe streets, was completed in 1894, with major additions in 1898 and 1903. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Lasalle and Monroe: 2017Like many other Loop properties, this has been converted to a boutique hotel. The Kimpton Grey Hotel opened in 2016. Look Out for the CurveThat continuous line of hatch covers between the inner rail and the slot as the streetcar track goes around the corner means that this was a "pull curve", the cable car had to hold on to the rope all the way around, and would do so until 1906. Lost CraftsmanshipI'm amazed daily by the amount of masonry craftsmanship used on the upper floors of early buildings like this. Decoration and ornamentation in places or so high they'll never be fully appreciated by those at ground level. Headless horse?There appears to be a headless horse in front of the building. I hope this is not really the case. Cornice-ectomyIt would be a nice, classy gesture if they replaced the original, prominent cornice. I am not, however, holding my breath. [One way they're dealing with cornices in Detroit. -tterrace] "Cornice Danger" prompted removalsNumerous buildings lost pieces or whole sections of their uppermost cornices as age and freeze-thaw took their toll on the materials through the 1920s and 30s. In 1938 the City gave itself the authority to require owners to remove cornices deemed dangerous. This threat was enough that by the 1950s wholesale decapitation of these elements was underway. However, given the successful restorations of several cornices in recent years (like the Marquette building just around the corner on Dearborn) it is surprising that the just performed hotel conversion did not add this historic element back. Probably it was just deemed too expensive, or, if historic tax credits were involved, there wasn't clear enough documentation of the original to cornice to do it to preservation standards. (The Gallery, Chicago, DPC)
New York World's Fair: '64 or '65
This is a picture of my mom and her brother at the New York World's Fair. I guess my grandma wanted to get the at much as she could in ... 
 
Posted by Dana - 07/23/2009 - 8:02pm -

This is a picture of my mom and her brother at the New York World's Fair. I guess my grandma wanted to get the at much as she could in the photo so my mom and uncle are really far away, but you can see my mom's pretty plaid dress. My grandpa worked for the airlines in Miami, Fla., the now defunct Eastern Airlines. So they were able to get cheap tickets up to New York. When talking about the Fair my mom always mentions seeing the talking Abraham Lincoln robot. View full size. Me too!My mom and dad went to that World's Fair too. Dad was also fascinated by the Abraham Lincoln robot. When Disney World was built, we had to go right away so Dad could once again see "Lincoln" in the Hall of Presidents. Me ThreeMom and Dad didn't make it, but I was at that World's Fair. The Bull City (actually Durham, N.C.) H.S. Band played a concert at one of the outdoor venues there. I came away with a piece of spin art (the first time I had encountered that medium) and a Sinclair brontosaurus made by the injection molding process. Ah, Band Trip to NYC, the Taft Hotel -- what could be better? (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Joe's Clothes: 1942
September 1942. "New York, New York. Under the Third Avenue elevated railway." Starring Joe's Clothes Shop ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/27/2023 - 5:27pm -

September 1942. "New York, New York. Under the Third Avenue elevated railway." Starring Joe's Clothes Shop and the Variety Theatre, which had a bit part in the movie "Taxi Driver." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size. Cycle of the HoleNothing remains from this shot, except maybe - maybe - the block pavement (but if so it's buried under asphalt). The Variety went to that cutting room in the sky in 2005. However, where the doughnut shop once stood, more-or-less, is now the "Bagel Belly". A Bagel shop in NYC? I'm guessing it's not the only one. Sounds yummyI want to go to the Wheatland Doughnut Shop and Milk Bar. Lawrence LoansBoy, would I love to browse that pawn shop on the right to check out all those stringed instruments showing in the window. The Variety TheatreI grew up around there in the '50s and '60s, and I remember the Variety. It often featured live shows by old-school Jewish comedians who often performed in Yiddish. (There was a fellow named Ben Bonus who played there frequently.) That version of the Variety went away when the immigrant Jews in the neighborhood died off or retired away from Manhattan; their offspring weren't interested in that kind of entertainment. The Variety booked some rock 'n' roll acts in the late '60s and early '70s, but the interior acoustics were terrible. That was also when the inside of the theater started smelling less like a movie house and more like a public urinal. It had become a dump. [Also: Porn! - Dave] Bagel Belly... is at 114 3rd Avenue, where Joe's and probably the doughnut shop was. There is a film, c. 1983https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(1983_film) The story centers around a woman who worked in the ticket box. It was reviewed in the Village Voice by David Edelstein. I commented on the review and he wrote back a response. Just a wild guess1937 Buick. Films at the VarietyI'd like to add that the last legit film I remember playing at the Variety was the first Matt Helm movie, which cast Dean Martin as a James Bond-type spy. It was The Silencers, released in 1966. More VarietyThe Variety theatre also played a role in the 1983 independent feature Variety, directed by Bette Gordon and written by Kathy Acker - both of them leading counter-cultural figures at the time. Sandy McLeod, then Jonathan Demme's girlfriend, works in the box office of a porn cinema and becomes obsessed with a mysterious rich patron. The film is currently available on the Mubi streaming service. (The Gallery, Marjory Collins, Movies, NYC, Railroads, Stores & Markets)
Signs of the Times: 1942
September 1942. "New York, New York. Looking north south on Broadway at Times Square." Acetate ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/26/2023 - 5:11pm -

September 1942. "New York, New York. Looking north south on Broadway at Times Square." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size. +69Below is the same view from April of 2011. DirectionNo offense to the Office of War Information, but I'm pretty sure this is looking south. [You are right ... Marjory Collins strikes again! - Dave] What’s the deal with those parking rules?They seem bizarrely complicated. Re: What's the deal?If I had to take a guess at the rationale behind those complicated parking rules, I’d say there’s no parking during the morning rush hour (7-10 a.m.), during the evening rush hour (5-7 p.m.), during the time when the plays begin (8-9 p.m.), then during the time when the plays let out (10:30-11:30 p.m.). Complicated, but at least not so bizarre. Drastic changeSuch drastic changes to the Times Square district after 80 years. The New York Times basically moved from the Times Tower to 229 West 43rd in the 1960s where it remained until the 2010s when it moved to 620 Eighth Avenue. Now Times Square is primarily a tourist trap. Locals avoid it like the plague unless they have a Broadway show to see. [The Times moved into its 43rd Street headquarters in 1913. - Dave] Rush HoursThe evening parking restrictions are possibly for theatre dropoffs and pickups. (The Gallery, Marjory Collins, NYC, WW2)
Bar Car: 1955
September 1955. Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, New York. "Arden field trials for spaniels." 35mm Kodachrome by Toni Frissell for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2023 - 3:46pm -

September 1955. Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, New York. "Arden field trials for spaniels." 35mm Kodachrome by Toni Frissell for the Sports Illustrated assignment "Sporting Look: Field Trip at Marshall Field's Long Island Estate near Cold Spring Harbor." View full size. Action, pleaseThis could easily be a still from a forgotten comedy with Doris Day and Rock Hudson. In one second, Rock and his friend, played by Tony Randall, will enter the frame and a wacky situation will develop quickly. Non-Bar CarLeading the way is a green and white 1954 Buick. Car bottleMy dad always kept a car bottle in the trunk, and I now do, as well. But neither of us had a setup like this! MoviesMovie I think of re this scene is "Man's Favorite Sport" with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss. Bar CarA 1955 DeSoto is bringing up the rear with the good stuff! Booze, cigars, cigarettes, cars (and maybe some guns). What can possibly go wrong? Booze in the TrunkMy uncle had a little liquor suitcase like that, about half that size. When I would travel with his family, he wold pull it out in the hotel room and make himself a martini or two (or three). It had all the ingredients and a shaker too. His brother, my father, didn't drink, probably because of his older brother's booze fueled escapades when they were younger. What can go wrong with an Old Fashioned?Just press the button marked B for Booze. Park HereSix years later this Marshall Field estate became a New York State Park. It is called Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve. https://parks.ny.gov/parks/23/details.aspx Ain't no party like a Lloyd's Neck partyGuns, cars, and alcohol. What could go wrong? The License PlateIn those days, New York State would issue new license plates, with new numbers, to each vehicle every two years. The color scheme would be reversed, so one year you'd have orange ("gold") plates with black numbers, which would be replaced by black plates with orange numbers. It was a real pain having to change those plates and send the old ones in (the screws tended to rust badly), so by the mid-'60s the state began issuing stickers, and you would put them on the old rear plate. You weren't supposed to turn in your plates until they became unreadable. Now part of Caumsett state parkI grew up less than 5 miles from here. The Marshall Field estate house is now part of Caumsett State Park. It's a nice place for a walk. CaumsettOne of the largest (1700+ acres) of the Gilded Age Long Island estates, Caumsett (as the Marshall Field estate was known) is now a state park occupying a third of Lloyd Neck: https://parks.ny.gov/parks/23/details.aspx Top of the Line DeSotoThe bar-car is a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite. The Fireflite was introduced in 1955 to be the premium DeSoto model. The model was built until 1960 when the DeSoto brand was discontinued by Chrysler Corporation. [We actually can't be sure what model this is. The script next to the taillight says "PowerFlite," the name of DeSoto's automatic transmission. - Dave] SI in the 1950s - Documenting a different worldSports Illustrated used to cover hunting and card playing (a lot). Watching others play sports was a much smaller part of life back in the day, it would seem. It's Field Trials for spanielsFor all you people saying firearms and guns what can go wrong. It's just field trials on pointing out ring neck pheasants for hunting dogs. There are NO firearms involved at this event. [Um, no. Field trials involve shooting and retrieving. - Dave] I beg to differ Dave …No firearms no hunting license visible. Any responsible hunter does NOT mix alcohol and ammunition. [Can you not read? Can you not see the photos accompanying the article about this event? Hello?? - Dave] What could go wrong?Guns, alcohol, cars (and tobacco, besides)- what could go wrong? Fortunately, this was Long Island, not Harlan County, Kentucky. Shooting involvedThe dogs were retrieving birds shot down to order. I did enjoy reading this for the colorfulness of the language and for the emphasis on testing the dog: “The dog stopped instantly, dropping to his haunches, and sat marking the game bird’s flight, every muscle aquiver with intense eagerness. ‘Ride it out,’ signaled the judge, and the gunner held his fire in recognition of the request for a ‘long fall.’ At the crack of the gun, the pen-raised bird crumpled and slanted down into the high cover which bordered the woods, foretelling the difficult retrieving task for which the judge had hoped.” Black and White Scotch whisky Makes sense to drink that for people who like dogs. My mistake.Read? Yes. The article? No ... I based my postings on the bar car picture and missed the 'read article here' Begging for a thousand pardons Dave. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dogs, Toni Frissell)
Longacre Square: 1904
New York circa 1904. "Longacre Square." Soon to be renamed Times Square after the recently completed New York Times tower seen here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:35pm -

New York circa 1904. "Longacre Square." Soon to be renamed Times Square after the recently completed New York Times tower seen here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. 106 Years Ago…Or thereabouts. It is utterly amazing to see a photo of Times Square from this era. To think of how far we have evolved as a nation is evident in this photograph. This area of NYC is a place where my great-grandfather worked and lived a portion of his life. I cannot help but think how the world will be when my future great-grandson (or granddaughter) ventures out into the world 106 years from now. Guys and DollsI'm sure others have noted/ commented how few women we see in some of these "downtown" pics, in any U.S. city. Also, I don't know that much about how many people had their own horse and carriage for transportation. For example, the guys on the far right, both wearing hats, both sitting "up front" - what's the deal? Driver and passenger? Coworkers in a company vehicle? Two guys commuting together? Extraordinary photo!It's hard to believe that people once lived there in apartments with flowers in the window and, probably, clothes drying on a line in the back. This may well be the most remarkable glimpse I have seen of my hometown's past. Thank you Dave! Pre MouseWow! Times Square looked great before Disney took it over. Oh, to explore this scene in person..This image comes alive like few have, you can almost hear the clippity-clop of the horses' hooves. Makes me wish I had a time machine and could spend a day or two exploring those streets. Thank again Shorpy! Cohan & Packard1904 was the year of George M. Cohan's big hit, "Little Johnny Jones," which opened at the Liberty Theatre on 42nd Street (somewhere to the right of this picture) in November 1904. The run didn't last long, but "Little Johnny Jones" was successfully revived in 1905 at the New York Theatre, apparently the one we see here with Cohan's name in lights. So should this picture be dated 1905, or was something else by the great Cohan also showing? On another front, I thought surely 1904 was early for a full-scale Packard dealership. Wrong! Packard went big time in October 1902. New York's FinestPolice protection seems abundant. I seem to count six policemen in this photo. And, oh, the glorious, glorious signs, including George M. Cohan at the New York Theater. Center StageAnd right in the middle of all this urban confusion is the newly minted Flatiron Building. Can you imagine the impression this building must have made at the time. It looks, from this angle, like it could lean over at any moment! Great Photo! [Another tourist lost in Manhattan. As noted in the caption, the tall building is the New York Times tower. The Flatiron building is 20 blocks away. - Dave] Re: Center StageCould I sell you a map, sir? Or perhaps a bridge. Getting in on the ground floorI've scanned the photo carefully--am I right? The Packard dealership has a wide field for growth--no autos on the street. And what was the history of the building it occupies? I'm vaguely thinking a church. IntriguingWait, you mean there's a building under all those billboards? Understandable MistakeOne might be forgiven for mistaking the Times Building for the Flatiron. They both occupy a similar triangular-shaped block created by the angular intersection of Broadway with (in the case of the Times Building) 7th Ave. and (in the case of the Flatiron Bldg.) 5th Ave. But the top half of the two buildings are quite different. Very difficult to determine whether any of the buildings in this photograph are still in existence today. Today everything is plastered with electronic billboarding. As in "everything". The Times Building is still there (I believe), but is today vacant and serves only as an easel for a number of extremely large, electronic billboards that completely cover the once-grand exterior of the building. The New Year's Eve ball descends from its roof top, but it has really ceased being a "building" in the true sense of the word. The functioning NY Times Building is today a new skyscraper over on 8th Avenue. Packardoccupied the showroom at 1540 B'way from November 1904 to June 1907. Can't find any info on previous tenants. 1540 B'way is now occupied by the Bertelsmann Building. Just four years laterMontague Roberts would be pulling away in the Thomas Flyer automobile right in front of the Times building to begin the NY-Paris Race. 1540 BroadwayIt seems I took a photo at a similar angle back in 2000 (as, I'm sure, did a few million other people) that includes the Packard dealership's address of 1540 Broadway. A little snooping indicated that this address now contains the Bertelsmann Building and the Virgin Megastore - which I think may be closed now. In my crappy little photo can be seen across the top of the Virgin sign the partial "LSMANN BUILDING" sign at far left. More About the Times TowerYes, there really is still a building under the electronic signs. It recently added a new tenant on the bottom floors (the ones with visible windows): Walgreen's new flagship store. (In the early days of the Times Square renewal project, this had been the home of a Warner Brothers store that had some fun items that combined WB characters and Times Square references.) Sadly, however, if you stripped off the signage, you would not see the grand old facade of the Times Tower. At an intermediate stage in the building's evolution it became the Allied Chemical Building, and the decorative stone and terracotta were stripped away and replaced with a bland white "modern" facing. The present hodgepodge of signage is actually preferable. The AIA New York Chapter's Urban Center gallery once had a great show with all kinds of serious and whimsical proposals for how the Times Tower might be restored or adaptively reused. I seem to recall that one included a roller coaster! It's too bad none of the better ones were ever adopted and carried out. Packard BuildingI would venture to say that the Packard building was a stable or carriage repair facility of some kind. That's what The Longacre was known for-If you look around on 8th Ave, there are still a very few buildings that look like the 2 just north of Packard. What a picture! Oh, and Happy New Year Electric cabOn the right, facing away from us in the distance past two hansom cabs,is an electric hansom cab with pneumatic tires. You can see the electric motors on the rear axle. The Times TowerThe building was empty for a long time, but has since been renovated and has tenants, including a Walgreens on the ground floor. Last year, Mayor Bloomberg drove through an initiative to reserve much of Times Square for pedestrians, with the result that it today looks and feels in some ways more like the 1904 photo than the one shown from 2000. +106Below is the same view (south from 46th Street) from November of 2010. (The Gallery, DPC, Horses, NYC)
Escape From New York: 1938
1938. "New York, New York. East 63rd Street apartments." Medium format negative by Sheldon Dick ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/08/2018 - 8:36pm -

1938. "New York, New York. East 63rd Street apartments." Medium format negative by Sheldon Dick for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Iron Bars on those windowsIs the real purpose to keep the citizens in? Or the denizens out? Remains to be seen. (The Gallery, NYC, Sheldon Dick)
The Kraken: 1942
... War Information. View full size. Built in 1921 at New York for E. J. Otis of Washington The Kraken spent its entire life in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/10/2022 - 10:55am -

July 1942. "Washington, D.C. -- Washington yacht basin." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the Office of War Information. View full size. Built in 1921 at New York for E. J. Otis of WashingtonThe Kraken spent its entire life in the waters surrounding the nation's capital, a 43-foot "bridge deck" power cruiser with a 100-bhp, 6-cylinder MEU Stearns gas engine. Its later owners, all of D.C., were Charles Benns and Nelson Nevius. Sold at a sheriff's sale in 1935; L. R. Kuldell of D.C. owned it until he sold it to Edgar Goff in 1944 who converted it to a fishing boat. Remarkably, it endured for almost another quarter century owned by Goff until removed from documentation in 1967. Shiver me timber!Having a raised deck like this yacht sure looks sweet. Trying to figure out the relationshipsNecktie is the Kraken owner or potential buyer and crouching teen is his son. As the cap on one implies, Sherwin Williams and his shirtless helper are painters. Black cap runs the engine and pilots the boat. But if they're about to paint the Kraken, why haven't they pulled her out of the water? They need to get a-cracken, cause that boat needs paint. I'm still considering alternate relationships and scenarios. New scenario: Black cap is the skipper of this tiny ship and crouching teen is his first mate. Sherwin Williams is actually a professor and shirtless helper is a wholesome farm boy from Horner's Corners, Kansas. Necktie is a millionaire, who's waiting for his wife to arrive with a surprising amount of luggage. The wife is bringing a movie star friend. They'll set sail for a three-hour tour. Know your meme!And plenty more where these came from. Ahoy !! Ye deadbeats. From the looks of the paint the new owner is just as much a flake as the previous one. Squatter has Rock and Roll HairHe's just 15 years too early. Bottoms UpHopefully they have already done the bottom. Then as now dry dock space at marinas has always been tight. The dock master would push you to get it done and back in the water. Once back in you could take your time scraping and painting above the water line. Repair CrewAll the young men are wearing work clothes, and the tools on the deck and visible seams suggest they've just replaced the canvas decking and are reinstalling the coaming rails. Since these are unpainted they're probably new as well. Wooden boats are, as Joseph Conrad once said, "like a lady's watch; always out of repair". Repair/RenovationIt looks like they are installing a new wood gunwale. There is an open paint can on the boat near the pier, so Doug may be correct about what is going on. Those guys definitely look like they have been doing some painting or caulking in those pants. Maybe they are just painting her above the waterline. It was wartime, sacrifices had to be made! IncidentThere was some drama the week before this photo was taken. Another captain accused the Kraken of cutting off his sailboat. Things escalated, and the yacht basin port master impounded both boats. Luckily, the owner knew a lawyer (in tie) who got a court order and forced the port master to release the Kraken. What a "do"Son, the rodents have made a nest on your head. Release the pompadourThat's some wild head of hair on the lad crouching on deck. RepairsIt appears that this yacht is getting a new foredeck splash fitted. There are tools on the deck and the lad on the front looks to be doing the work. The two gents in the dinghy have paint stains, likely Sherwin Williams, on their slacks. The retrofit will need to be painted when complete. There is also some missing gunwale to be replaced. Lyle Lovettis much older than I thought. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, D.C., John Collier)
Noir York: 1950
August 29, 1950. "Storm over Manhattan. New York: The towering buildings of Manhattan are silhouetted against heavy clouds ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/22/2018 - 2:53pm -

August 29, 1950. "Storm over Manhattan. New York: The towering buildings of Manhattan are silhouetted against heavy clouds which gathered over the city just before a sudden electrical rainstorm late in the afternoon of Aug. 29. This view looks south from the area of Central Park." Acme Newspicture. View full size. Sherry-NetherlandPhotographer must be on top of the Sherry-Netherland, still there on the NE corner of 5th Ave and 59th. At the right edge of the pic, the roof of the Savoy Plaza, not still there. Look up "eerie"and this photo appears with the dictionary definition. The Fuller BuildingOn the left is the 40 story Fuller Building, which is now almost swallowed up by newer, taller skyscrapers. The Fuller Company made a move that coincided with the architectural changes of the times, moving from the Renaissance revival Flatiron Building to the Art Deco Fuller building in 1929. United Nations HeadquartersAt left on the East River is the UN Secretariat. Just one week after first 450 employees started working there on August 22, 1950. (The Gallery, News Photo Archive, NYC)
Ghosts of New York: 1907
New York circa 1907. "Marble Collegiate Church, Fifth Avenue." Surrounded by a host ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/06/2014 - 6:25pm -

New York circa 1907. "Marble Collegiate Church, Fifth Avenue." Surrounded by a host of ectoplasmic pedestrians. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. A rapidly changing viewWhile the church itself still stands proudly on Fifth Avenue, the structure seen here to its rear, the 1895 Bancroft Building at 3 West 29th, is in the process of being demolished. A developer bought it and some undistinguished adjacent properties a few years ago and is razing all of them to make way for a mixed-use development. Historical preservationists were quite unhappy with the plan but there was nothing they could do as the building had never gotten official landmark protection. FinallyA milk bottle in the window! Been a long time since I've seen one. UnusualHas there ever been another three-horse rig on Shorpy? I can see the logic of it (heavy load being pulled around tight corners), but I can't recall another example. (The Gallery, DPC, Horses, NYC)
Veribest Canned Meats: 1900
New York circa 1900. "John C. Graul's art store, 217 Fifth Avenue." 8x10 inch dry ... Soon The Great White Way will be born. Shopping in New York with my father These stores look pretty classy from that genteel ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:16pm -

New York circa 1900. "John C. Graul's art store, 217 Fifth Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I better run!To the train depot. That lady is looking at the very photograph I want on my wall! Thanks Dave, that's funny! They say the neon lights are bright... on Broadway, and we have O.J. Gude to thank: It's 1878 in Brooklyn, and my great-great-grandfather O.J. Gude starts an outdoor advertising company with $100 in capital and goes on to pioneer the first use of the electric bulb in a billboard sign in May, 1892. Soon The Great White Way will be born. Shopping in New York with my fatherThese stores look pretty classy from that genteel age of gracious living. My father was somewhat of a bargain hunter and low-price shopper and I remember in the 1950's going with him into New York every three months or so where he would purchase $1 neckties at a store called Tie City or he'd go to Orchard Street on the Lower East Side to haggle over the price of socks and underwear and even suits and shirts. Once a year or so, he would buy new eyeglasses at Pildes Opticians, which had the newest styles and the lowest prices. We'd buy a wonderfully delicious lunch at Katz's Deli or some cheap Italian pasta emporium whose name I've forgotten. I have inherited the skinflint miserly pennypincher mentality but every once in a while I splurge exorbitantly although I now live far away from N.Y. My father used to tell me that in New York you can get anything from anywhere in the world. I was very impressed and still am. Photo shopperA closeup. Shadows and lightThis picture is deliciously creepy. The lone woman window shopping in a near-defunct district ... those hauntingly dark windows above her. Thanks for this one, Dave. I love these thrilling peeks into time gone by. Literally they make my day. I'm a bona fide Shorpyholic! VeriworstAccording to a New York Times expose six years later (July 12, 1906), Veribest canned chicken loaf was "a small amount of muscle fibre and a large amount of cornmeal." Mystery SolvedNow we can see where Nestle might have gotten the inspiration for their familiar slogan. Who can resist?It looked familiar. Upton's Opinion DifferedUpton Sinclair's infamous book "The Jungle" didn't opine that Armour's meats were the Veribest™. The Brunswick, againThere are interesting differences between this view of the doomed Brunswick Hotel building, and this one, posted in July. Building Coming Down SaleThe vacant windows would certainly uphold that sign. Cool and creepy all at the same time. Look again. She's Kuklanated.Somebody's going to be late for the big Gude meeting. Paintings...I would love to be able to get my hands on those paintings being sold in that store. The frames alone are absolutely beautiful. Location, Location, LocationAll the $5 Hat Shop had to do at their new location was hold out for another 30 something years and they would have had it made. 359 5th Avenue would put it directly across the street from the Empire State Building which is at 350 5th Avenue. A woman of means This window-shopper's ensemble is very finely hand-tailored, and her coat appears to have a velvet collar. Everything fits her perfectly, suggesting that she has access to a private dressmaker. Her hat is equally stylish. Wonder what type of feathers make up that jaunty plume? Notice how carefully coiffed her hair is, and how shiny clean. Knowing from Shorpy how grubby life could be for many people at the time, this lady had it good. DyslexiaI thought it said Verbiest. I don't want my meats chatting at me. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC)
Dead End: 1905
Circa 1905. "The close of a career in New York." Photo by Byron. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... The McDermott-Bunger sign is a clue. The company built a new dairy at 527 West 125th Street in 1903 ( NY Times ), so the delivery ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 5:26pm -

Circa 1905. "The close of a career in New York." Photo by Byron. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Not ready for a poke.You really want to wait a day or so, until the legs on top are lifted skyward, before poking the horse with a stick. Grew up in cattle country, and had the chance to do so as a kid. Great photo, this one, for showing what life was like. Also enjoyed the Little Italy 1900 view posted today (or was that yesterday?). Urban ArchaeologyWho'll be the first to figure out what street this is? The smellI would not last very long in the olden days. Gag. Future GlueFascinating photo. Apparently this was a very common sight. NYC had men with wagons in place to pick up carcasses and bring them to rendering plants, many of which were located next to Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn. I hear that bones are still occasionally found! Nowadayshe'd be plastered with tickets. For Jack FinneyIf I could dedicate a photograph from this site, I'd dedicate this one to Jack Finney, author of "The Third Level," "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime" and the novel "Time and Again," among dozens of stories all focused on the notion that any normal, healthy, sane person would want to flee the oppression of modern life and escape to the healthier and more beautiful world of 1905. Which, in Finney's mind, apparently consisted entirely of men in straw boaters, women in leg-o'-mutton sleeves, and band concerts in the park on summer evenings. There are no dead half-starved horses in Finney's world, no ragged children, no shaved heads to get rid of the lice (note the extremely short haircuts on a couple of these kids), no mud. That's why I love this site: it's like getting a glimpse into the past, unfiltered by the wishful thinking of modern filmmakers or fictionalists. Google Street ViewBefore too many people post Google Street Views of 527 West 125th Street (the address noted in the excellent comment below), two observations. 1. 527 West 125th Street is the address of the dairy (photo below), not of the rundown stable whose entrance is shown in the dead-horse photo. Dairy and stable not necessarily same street address! 2. Please DO NOT make a screen grab of a Google Street View and then upload the screen grab here or elsewhere. If you want to show a Google Street View in the comments box, all you need to do is copy and paste the Google "embed" code, which is super-easy. Thank you and good day. Stop right there boyo!Don't you dare poke that animal with that stick. McDermott-Bunger DairyThe McDermott-Bunger sign is a clue. The company built a new dairy at 527 West 125th Street in 1903 (NY Times), so the delivery stable was probably not too far away. Beginning in the 1860s, factories producing lumber, paint, beer, dye and other materials cropped up on the far western end of Manhattan Valley, around what is now West 125th Street, with its direct connections to the rail line along the Hudson River and the ferry. While I am loath to beat a dead horse, I speculate this photo was shot in that area. In the movies from that eraI always wondered why even really poor people were always clean and had good teeth. Also thought it was strange that there were never any dead horses in the streets--except the ones shot in gun battles. West Side DairyThere was another McDermott-Bunger facility at 525-27 West 38th Street. I think the older boy cares.Though horse death was a regular part of life in the dairy delivery business I'm sure people did get attached to some of the animals. When the time came a horse had to be gotten out of the property and out to the street where the carcus could be picked up. I'm thinking the boy with shoes and a hat works in the stable and has been tasked with waiting for the pickup. I'm also thinking he is not too happy with the task nor what has happened to one of his charges. It's entertainment for the kids and it's a responsibility for him. His affect says, "Aw crap, this sucks." "Mind your horse for you, Mister?"The kid in the flat cap looks a bit guilty to me. The Knackers TruckGetting a dead horse up off the street was hard work. Here is a photo of one being winched into what looks like an early Daimler municipal knacker's truck somewhere in Germany. Another note re: Jack FinneyAnother note re: Jack Finney and his wonderful book, "Time and Again", as posted by Cactus Wren. I've read it at least three times over the years, and it would be a book that I'd want to have with me to read once again, if marooned on a desert island. We tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New YorkWell, a few of us, anyways. Others, not so much. Dave, some of the photos you find astonish me. They have changed me. This is one of the saddest ever. Looks LikeThe Yellow Kids of Hogan's Alley Look at the old facesThese kids had such old looking faces...this was the most depressing photo yet...interesting, but depressing! I could have lived the rest of my lifewithout seeing this photo. Why oh why did I click on this email this morning? Ok, I'm a woman who loves animals, babies, children etc. I'm no member of Peta and I eat meat but this picture is heartbreaking. To see a magnificent animal like the horse lying in a ditch looking starved and unkempt just makes me want to cry. I wish I could go back to that time and whip that owner for abusing that horse the way he did. This just makes me even more thankful for our modern ASPCA. I hope this horse is in horse heaven now galloping over the hills and valleys of heaven and eating all the oats he desires. Please don't reply about all the other misfortunate beings that existed then. I'm not really interested. Any architectural historians out there?The clapboard house next to the dairy looks considerably older than the brick structures elsewhere on the street. Any clues as to its potential age? It looks fairly rattletrap when this photo was taken. Is this a Saturday or in the summertime - or are all these boys playing truant? And I bet none of them wash their hands before eating. You can do better, DaveJesus, man - don't we see enough death and violence in modern media? You can actually select the pics you post, right? [Boo-hooey. - Dave] For Cactus WrenNot to get in an argument with you, but I recently read "Time and Again," a work of FICTION, which was written in 1970. I didn't get the idea from reading it that 1882 was such a fabulous and glorious time to live in. In fact, there's a part in the book where the main character Simon Morley is riding in a taxi and discussing with the driver the poverty he and his family live with constantly. If people really want to know how the "Other Half" lived, they ought to read Jacob Reis. Look at their facesI see an obvious resigned sadness in each little boy's face over the demise of the equine as though, even at their tender ages, they accept the sorrowful but inevitable finality of death. Even the kid that has spotted the photographer wears an undermask of mourning. (Yeah, I am one of those morose drinkers who cries in my beer). The poor horse was a good animal, he didn't deserve this. He served his master well, worked his carcass off and this is how it all ends up. Where is the justice? Great Photo Dave!Not sure what everyone's gripe is about you posting this photo. As a history buff, I am thankful that such photos are available to view. They give us a peek into history, and the way things were. A great photoSure it's depressing, but it's as real as the pictures of death taken by Mathew Brady during the Civil War. When I was a kid in New York, circa 1944 to 1948, there were still a number of horses drawing vendors' carts. Vegetables, rags, and a knife sharpener were the ones I remember. I also remember a traditional organ grinder with a monkey, and guys building skyscrapers tossing red hot rivets through the air. This way to the Egress.The comments regarding the "depressing" subject remind me of a comment left at the Children's Museum at a certain major Canadian institution when I worked there. "You should only put up pictures of pretty things like flowers and butterflies instead of the Satanic things you have" (which were, amongst other things, costumes from other countries and an inflatable igloo). I, for one, am glad that no punches are pulled, here. Life isn't always flowers and butterflies. Cost of HorsepowerThe fate of horses worked to death, and elimination of their droppings from the street, were big reasons why automobiles were looked on as a great advancement. By comparison, automotive smoke and oil drips seem minor. On PhotographersAn eloquent, honest, even wrenching photo. And it has inspired a range of emotions. This is what the best photography does - beyond the merely documentary. Thanks for unearthing and posting this. Thanks, DavePut me in the category of readers who appreciate photos like these. The great thing about so many of these historical photos is that they show the dirty fingernails and the sweat-soaked clothes of past times, not just picture-postcard views of town and country. When thousands of horses pulled thousands of carts, wagons, and carriages through cities every day of the week, some horses obviously died. Let's not be so meek and prim that we complain about seeing photos that depict everyday reality. If you're too fragile to view these photos, maybe the problem is with you, rather than the truth portrayed in the photos. And Shefindsu, what makes you think any cruelty was involved in this horse's death? The horse doesn't look "starved and unkempt" to me. He just looks dead. Geez, people, get a grip. Losing the rose-tinted glassesI've been enjoying the photographs on Shorpy.com for over the year now. During that time, I noticed a certain tendency of some commentators to shake heads at our present while nostalgically looking at pictures of men and women of the past century. I hope this photo will serve as a sharp reminder of how primitive and brutal life could be in a average Western metropolis, barely a century ago. Mind you, I don't think present times are anywhere close to utopia. But comparing the place I live in today with the way it was a hundred years ago... I'd say I'm better off then my grand-grandparents. Blogging a dead horseThis was a common sight in any big city at the time. Just because this horse is on the street waiting to be picked up does not necessarily mean that the animal died from abuse. I wrote an article last year about the history of carriage horses in New York, and in the course of my research I found numerous pictures just like this (and none of the horses in the pictures looked "healthy," probably because they were, you know, dead). Freak accidents, disease, and simple wear and tear from years of pulling carriages on the city streets are just a few of the things that could send a horse to an early grave. Although it may seem sad, horses in this era were still considered a means to an end, and their usefulness was determined by how much they could work. I'm sure that there were owners that mourned the death of a cherished animal, but truthfully people around the turn of the century were generally a bit more realistic about the inevitability of death than we are today. Horses still need disposalI worked for the National Park Service for many years and we had mounted patrol rangers who rode the back country trails. I vividly remember the card we kept in the Rolodex file for a "dead horse removal" service. Never had to call on them, thank god. Our horses were loved and cared for like no others (a small army of volunteers assisted in feeding and currying) but they were still animals that might fall victim to sickness or injury. Yes, not 125thGreetings -- just discovered this fantastic site. Amazing stuff. Kudos to webmaster Dave. Adding to what's probably already been confirmed, a friend on 126th Street notes that while the photo of the dairy (comments, 1/21, 9:06) is definitely West 125th (Manhattan Ave, as it was called around the time that pic was taken), the picture of the dead horse does not look like West 125th. There is no place on West 125th that has that kind of perspective, straight to the vanishing point. It could possibly be East 125th, or, much more likely, someplace well downtown from there. Thanks for this pictureA sad photograph, but an interesting one that shows something about history that we don't ordinarily think about much. That's what I like about this site: old photographs show us the forgotten details. For me the most telling thing is that the kids are more interested in the camera than they are in the horse. It's not that the kids are particularly inhumane, but for them a dead horse isn't all that unusual. A camera is. And is that so bad, for children to focus on the new? I'm sad for the horse, but let's not forget the kids. They're vibrant, alive, interested in new things around them and in each other, even in the face of death and their own poverty. There's hope here. The kidsI agree that this is a sad picture, but alas, it is real life. The horse does not look that well fed, but perhaps it is because it was ill, not starved. What I really find interesting is how many kids are just sort of running around on their own - no supervision, no shoes, and that one little guy on the sidewalk by himself looks no more than 3 or 4. That's Life (& Death)I am new to this site but must comment on this picture. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s. There was a livery stable on Dean Street where peddlers stored their wagons and boarded their horses. Occasionally a horse would die and wind up in the street just like this. The owner of the stable would cover it with a blanket (presumably to keep the flies off) until the Department of Sanitation (around the block on Pacific Street) could pick it up. I remember one instance where we kids watched as the dead horse was winched onto a flatbed truck and hauled away. Horses (even the most loved and well-cared for) die, as do all living things eventually. The horse in the photo may well have been 25 to 30 years old. Possible Location ...I have been spent a little while trying to solve the puzzle of where the location of this picture was and I may have found it. Not only was the McDermott-Bunger Dairy located at 527 West 125th Street in NYC, but they also had an additional location at 525-531 West 38th Street in NYC. I have found several references to this, including one in a November 1902 issue of the Jefferson County Journal (of Adams, NY.) Unfortunately, when I looked at the location on Google maps, I found an open space that is an overpass for one of the entrance/exit ramps to the Lincoln Tunnel. Additionally, there are no old buildings that are identifiable on the block. (The Gallery, Bizarre, DPC, Horses, Kids, NYC)
Vacation Wagon: 1964
... my father, was driving Volkswagen Beetles. (He later had a new Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 , with a 289 ci V8 and a four speed box, rally pack ... we got in our in our '53 Chevy coupe and went from New York City to the SF Bay Area, mostly along US 40. Entertainment consisted of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/31/2022 - 1:09am -

        Our annual salute to the start of vacation road-trip season, first posted here 15 years ago. Everyone buckled in? Let's go! "Great Falls, Montana. Return after 3 weeks Vacation. June 27, 1964." This Kodachrome of a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon is from a box of slides found on eBay. View full size. family trips in those carsI also spent some hot days in a car like that on the way to the grandparents. My mother flattened the second seat, put a mattress on the floor and loaded three of us and the stuff in on top of it, us and the stuff equally loose and not tied down. We whined and fought and slept our way to Cape Cod from southern NJ. My father always "had to work" (they were her parents), so she did the drive alone, I think maybe 12 or 16 hours? Seemed like forever. NostalgicThese people still had a bright future ahead of them, full of great hopes for the days to come. They hadn't gone to the Moon yet, and to them, by 2007 we'd have personal helicopters and robots would run everything. The possibility of the President being indicted for a crime was unthinkable. My job as a web designer hadn't even been invented yet. The lawn looks like it's literally astroturf. Were the colors really like that, or is it an effect of the kodachrome? Holy cow! We had a 59 chevyHoly cow! We had a 59 chevy stationwagon back in the day. Does this bring back memories. We would drive to Florida from Virginia a two day trip usually in the heat of the summer to visit grandparents. Five children two parents no ac. Damn! [This is a 1960 Chevrolet. - Dave] DeflectorsDoes anybody know/remember what the deflectors left and right of the rear window were for? These may have been an aftermarket item. It is amazing how well the colors in this slide are preserved after almost 50 years. It looks like Kodachrome all right, including the telltale blue cast in the shadows The Astroturf look......to my eye, seems to come from the little flowers (or toadstools?) that are in the lawn. At the smaller image size, they look like specular reflections, making it seem like the grass is shiny. [The white flowers are clover. - Dave] 1964As I remember it, this was less than a year after the assassination of JFK, there were race riots in the south and we (I was 14) were all starting to question attitudes towards women, blacks, hispanics, homosexuals and the culture we had grown up with. One of the more minor cultural things was the importance of your front lawn. 50 years?I was born in 1964, and trust me, it hasn't been 50 years since then, yet.... ;) Re:DeflectorsThe deflectors on either side of the rear window were intended to blow air across the rear window to prevent snow from accumulating. A similar deflector is often fitted along the roof on station wagons from the 60s on. I think they were usually a factory or dealer option in later years, but I really don't know specifically about this model or when they might have first been used. OK, 40 years.Sorry, I was too vexed on the year of manufacture of the car. I remember that someone in our street had the sedan version of this Chevy. Like any 8 year old, I was fascinated by the winged tail and the panorama windshield. You didn't see many of these in Europe around 1960; everbody, including my father, was driving Volkswagen Beetles. (He later had a new Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 , with a 289 ci V8 and a four speed box, rally pack and (optional) front discs, which I found very impressive at the time. A real gas guzzler by European standards. Family TrucksterThis is probably what Clark Griswold's dad took the family on vacation in. It's a 1960 Chevy, and I'm guessing it's a Kingswood model. The Brookwood was the more stripped down model and I think the "full dresser" was called a Nomad. This one isn't completely chromed-out and it has the small, dog-dish hubcaps so I'm thinking it's the middle of the line model. I think the rear air deflectors also helped keep exhaust gas from entering the rear passenger compartment when the vehicle was moving with the tailgate window was lowered. Though it doesn't look like there's room for anybody in the third row of seats for this trip. With the window up they also helped keep the rear glass clear of snow and dust. These are Parents of the Year......in my book. Can you imagine going across country now without all of the luxuries and Wendy's and portable DVD players and Nintendo and cell phones and credit cards? These parents did it all the HARD way...and I'll bet they made a lot of memories that summer! My jaw droppedOnce again the red stationwagon family blows me away. The color composition here is perfect. Chevy ParkwoodThis is a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood. Parkwoods and Kingswoods both use Bel Air trim (mid-level). The Kingswood, a nine-passenger wagon, has the third-row rear-facing seat, and two steps on the rear bumper (one on each end just outside of where the tailgate would come down). Less obvious is that all Kingswoods have power tailgate windows, an option on the other Chevrolet wagons. I still drive a '59 ChevyI recommend owning one. In 2000 We took the ultimate road trip with mine from near the Canadian border in Washington State through the desert to Las Vegas and back up through California and Oregon. There really is nothing like seeing the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet. Cruising the Strip in Vegas was a blast. We might as well have been driving a space ship with the reactions we got. Sadly, these Chevrolets were mostly scrapped and very few survive. 60 ChevySadly, the third row seat had not been invented as of yet and the deflectors were used to deflect air into the rear of the stationwagon at slower speeds. I may not be an expert but I'm old enough to have ridden and slept in the back section of a folded down stationwagon. We didn't know about SUV's yet. Chevy WagonChevy's Parkwood and Kingswood wagons could both be had with a third-row seat. And back then, for the record - wagons WERE the "SUVs" of the day! [According to the 1960 Chevrolet sales brochure, only the Kingswood was available with third-row seating. The International Travelall and Chevy Suburban Carryall were two of the SUVs of the day. - Dave] The luggage rackis something you don't see anymore. It hung on the wall of the garage when not in use. Once my dad, who was in a big hurry, didn't secure the tarp on top properly... We played car games, like Alphabet, Road Bingo, and License Plates, read books, colored,sang songs and squabbled. You took your chances with local restaurants. We hadn't got used to entertainment on demand, so we didn't miss it. And to Dave Faris: It's the film. I once assured my daughter that colors when I was a kid were the same as today. "The Fifties," she said, in her narrator's voice, "were an oddly-hued decade." Slide ConversionHow does one convert slides to digital photos? Any website links or advice? [You'd use a film scanner. I used a Nikon 4000 ED for this one. - Dave] Family TrucksterWe had a green Ford station wagon, not nearly as nice as this, and with our family of six, it was a masochistic experience to take family vacations. Every summer we said that's it, we will never do this again, until the following summer when we did it again. The best part was arriving home again, but I will say that NOT having DVD's and high tech electronic gadgets forced the kids to look out the window and they gained incredible geographic knowledge from seeing the U.S. I could truthfully call these annual trips "purgatory on wheels." Road TripMost all of my long-distance car trips were connected with moving as my father was in the USAF. In August 1954, after being in the UK 2½ years, we got in our in our '53 Chevy coupe and went from New York City to the SF Bay Area, mostly along US 40. Entertainment consisted of looking at the scenery and checking off the towns on the free roadmaps that the service stations provided in each state. Iy being the pre-Interstate era, one did go thru many towns back then! (Excepting on the PA Turnpike) Burma-Shave signs relieved the boredom in the rural areas. We had a car radio (AM only, of course), but for some reason I can only recall it being used while crossing the salt flats west of Salt Lake City. Westward HoIn 1951 our family, my wife, son and daughter, living in Detroit, started taking trips to Cheney, Washington, to visit my WW2 buddy. All on old state highways, no air conditioner, 4½ hours to get through Chicago and the kids loved it. Took these trips out west to the 1970s. We still go west to see my buddy and my daughter in Seattle and we enjoy crossing Nebraska on old U.S. 30. It is a treat to be off of I-80. Nostalgia Ain't What it Used to BeDon't look at this picture and pine for the old days. Change the car to a green Olds Vista Cruiser and that's us in 1969. Back then, dads bought a new station wagon to kick off the summer vacation. Dads don't buy an SUV today for that reason. Without repeating some of the horrors already mentioned below, there was the additional joy of Mom sending back a Coca Cola bottle for one of her sons to use in lieu of a loo. If the girls had to go, we had to pull over. Not so with the boys. Watching mom backhand-fling a Coke bottle out her window, filled with fluid far different that what was originally intended, and seeing it bounce and spill along the shoulder as we whizzed along at 75 mph (pun intended), that's about the fondest vacation memory at least from the car perspective. Today with the daughter hooked up to a video iPod and the sons enjoying their PSP, it's a pleasure to drive for distances. Back then, we didn't play License Plates. We played Punch Buggy and Slug Bug, etc. Fistfight games. Let's go!I loved car trips, and I never had DVD players and Nintendo. I watched the scenery and kept a travel diary. those were some of the greatest times of my life. Road TrripWe had to make do with pillows & blankets. A mattress would have made it actually comfortable. I don't know if Dad didn't have the imagination for that, or just not the money. I suspect the latter. We'd sing sometimes. It was 12 hours from north Georgia near the North Carolina line to south Georgia, near the Florida line, where my grandmother lived. I see the moon; the moon sees me. The moon sees the one that I want to see ... Thanks for the memoriesMy folks had the four-door sedan version of this car, in sky blue & white. My mom used to have a station wagon, don't remember what kind, but it was memorable for its pushbutton transmission on the dash instead of a gearshift! However my favorite "finned" car was our family's Buick Invicta. Now that was a car! Third Row SeatsFords had third-row seats in 1955. I'm pretty sure Chevy had them by 1958 at least. Chevy didn't offer woodgrain sides until '65. Sunday ridesWe had that same car, only in light blue. No seat belts or infant seats for us! We'd put my baby sister in one of those deathtrap baby seats that hooked over the front seat and off we went! What a picture!This picture takes me back almost 40 years to the road trips our family did during summer holidays when I was a little boy. It feels like I myself am stretching my legs after coming home. The colours, the moment -- one of my favorite pictures in Shorpy. My Favorite Car was a 1960 Chevrolet Impala 2-dr hardtop. Bluish gray with white segment on the side, red and white interior. The first car my wife and I bought. Paid $1750 for it used in 1962. We made some wonderful trips in that car. Re: Family TrucksterJust saw this item on TV yesterday about a real family named Griswold that had their station wagon modded to look like the Family Truckster from National Lampoon's Vacation movie for their trip to Disney World. http://tinyurl.com/plo5kub See the USA in Your ChevroletFor our family, it was a 1962 Buick Invicta wagon. Huge car designed for doing massive mileage on the interstates and that's what we did -- six or seven hundred miles a day from Indiana to the Rockies for our annual vacation. Procedure for Accessing the Cargo AreaWe had one of these when I was a kid as well. Ours was a silver gray color. See the chrome disk on the trunk door? Upon arriving at destination, here's what you had to do: 1) Put trunk key in center slot (separate keys for ignition and trunk back then) 2) Open flap (as seen in photo) 3) Rotate flap several times till rear window is fully down 4) Reach in and grab handle to drop tailgate Simple, huh? Looking at old red carsmakes my elbows hurt! Seemed like some of those old single stage paints, reds in particular, had to be waxed every two weeks to keep them looking decent. The widespread adoption of clearcoat finishes in the late 80's to mid 90's freed modern kids from the dreaded frequent waxing chore, thereby giving them the leisure time to start the video gaming revolution... As Long AsThis isn't really the "End of the Road"! That's a scary title for all the Shorpy Faithful. 3 Adults + 7 Children =1000 mile round trip to see grandma. We kids didn't mind a bit. Seat belts?I don't think you heard "Everybody all buckled up?" all that much in '64. I'm not sure of the exact dates, but if you had seatbelts back then, you bought them at a discount store or an auto parts store like Western Auto or J. C. Whitney, and they were lap belts only. Three point seat belts didn't come along for several more years, if I recall correctly, and it wasn't until the government mandated new cars with ignition interlocks in the 1970's that "real men" started to actually use them. Back then, we used to spend our vacations camping, so the car was packed to the gills, including the center of the back seat. My sister and I each got little cubbyholes next to the doors, with just room enough to sit for the trip to northern Wisconsin. My dad drove a two tone green '55 Oldsmobile Delta 88. I saw a picture of that car a few months ago, and as soon as I did, I started remembering a surprising amount of detail about the car's details. It was handed down to me when I went off to college in '64. Seat beltsbobdog19006 is correct in that seat belts were not standard equipment in 1960. However, they had been available as a dealer-installed option since the 50s. By 1966, they were standard in all Chevys, and by 1968, they were federally mandated. I spent many a happy hour on family roadtrips in our '68 Ford wagon, nestled in the narrow gap between the second row and the rear-facing third-row seat, no seat belt, of course. Neither did my siblings in the third row. Service StickersI remember those stickers that service stations or car dealers put on the inside edge of the driver's door when you got your car serviced. This Chevrolet has two. Our road trip rigWe had a '76 Chevy Beauville van, a ho-hum light brown rather than red, which made up for the lack of chrome spears with its cavernous interior: two bucket seats in front for Mom and Dad, two bench seats, and a homemade plywood bed. Strangely, all that space wasn't enough to prevent sibling quarrels. The best story of this van was the return trip of its maiden voyage, when my uncle, who owned a small niche-market manufacturing firm, talked my dad into towing a piece of equipment from South Texas to a parking lot near Chicago, where we would deliver it to his customer from Wisconsin. We quickly got used to being asked at every single hotel, gas station, and rest stop, exactly what was the three-wheeled contraption with the hydraulically-actuated vertical roller-chain conveyor with teeth. The looks on everyone's faces when my dad told them it was a grave-digging machine: Priceless! Curtains?Every August for years we travelled from Birmingham to Cincinnati for a week of visiting my parents' relatives. Before our last such trip in '69, we went through a black-and-white '57 Plymouth Savoy, a metallic-beige '63 Ford Country Sedan wagon (the one without wood on the sides) and a '67 Olds VistaCruiser. I'd love to have that VistaCruiser back today. Ours was burgundy red and my dad put red stripe Tiger Paw tires on it. Imagine a 442 station wagon. As for Shorpy's '60 Chevy wagon, I only just noticed the homemade or aftermarket side curtains, with vertical stripes of brown, gold and red to compliment the bright red car. Thanks, Dave, for showing us this photo again... and including all the original comments, too. Great to relive all the great summer vacation stories with everyone! Re: deflectorsIn the days before the rear window wiper on a station wagon, some folks put these on and the deflected air current would help to clean off that window to a degree. Not having either, within a mile that rear hatch would be almost impossible to see through. Been there, done that and got the tee-shirt. This does bring back memoriesWe had a similar station wagon, but it was salmon (or was it mauve, or ecru?) colored with a white top (I think). It had a 460 a/c (four windows down while traveling sixty miles per hour, some times 560 with the rear tailgate window down). I remember taking a trip from Mississippi to Six Flags over Texas on U.S. Highway 82 (two lane most of the way) in Summer, 1964. The back seats were folded down, and the four of us kids had pillows, blankets, books, and board games to pass the time. It was replaced soon after with a 1965 Ford Country Squire Wagon with a/c, and fake wood paneling on the side. Instead of a rear facing bench seat, it had two small seats on either side that faced each each other. Memories of summer tripsWe also lived in Montana back then, and our family truckster in the 1960s was a 1963 Rambler Classic station wagon. (Yes, I suffered greatly for it among my friends.) That's what I learned to drive, and we ranged all over the western US and Canada in it. Before that, however, we traveled in a 1949 Studebaker Land Cruiser 4-door sedan, which my dad (both inventive and frugal) had outfitted with a set of three back seats that, when covered with the mattress from our roll-away bed, filled the back seat and trunk area with a very passable sleeping unit. That's where I spent most of my time on our travels. At other times, I would climb over the front seatback into the front bench seat between my parents. That's where I was on August 5, 1962, when we were preparing to leave Crescent City, CA, and heard on the radio that Marilyn Monroe had died. Deflector's actual purposeWas to break the "vacuum" the "wall" that was the rear of that wagon created which would suck exhaust into the car if that rear window was open even a little bit. The fresh air, the snowless/cleaner rear window were merely bonuses... Buckle up?A 1960 Chevy wagon probably didn't have seat belts unless the owner installed them. The kids in the back were pretty much free range as long as they didn't make too much noise. Lots of people piled the stuff on the roof and put a mattress in the back for the kids. It was a great way to go and most of us survived. [Seat belts were optional on all 1960 Chevrolets. - Dave] Car playgroundMy folks had a Ford wagon of that era. No seatbelts. Folks put a mattress in the back. Became our playground on long trips. We had no desire to "sit" in a seat. Miss station wagonsI miss station wagons. I prefer them to the SUVs that replaced them. I also miss the bold bright colors that cars use to come in. No SquattingLooking at all the stuff already loaded, I'm surprised the back of this wagon isn't dragging on the ground. In fact it's sitting pretty level. I wonder if dad had overload springs installed? We've had one built for you.To BillyB: Station wagon suspensions were designed with the idea that they would have to haul some combination of eight people and their luggage, so they did OK when loaded down. They *were* softer than contemporary pickup trucks, so the back end of the station wagon wouldn't bounce all over if there were only one or two people in it. Especially at the time of this photo, gas was 25 cents a gallon and would be that price forever, so the factory didn't mind spending a little extra weight on a beefier suspension. Also, most of the really heavy luggage went on the roof rack, which was fairly close to being in the middle of the wheelbase. The back-back, behind the rear seat, tended to contain lighter things, like blankets, pillows, the picnic basket, and - as the trip progressed - bags of souvenirs. If Dad wanted to use the inside rear-view mirror, you couldn't stack stuff much higher than the seats, anyway. Source: I rode in the back of a '79 Oldsmobile wagon every summer from '79 to '87. I think the longest trip we took in it was from Kansas City to Washington, DC and back. WagonsWe had a 1956 Ford wagon, then '61 Mercury wagon, finally a (I think) 1964 Ford wagon. I remember one year with the Mercury, my mom ran low on gas. We were up in the mountains in a resort town. To get to the gas station, she had to reverse up hills, turn around for the downhills, turn around again for going up the next hill. What a ride. Another time, 1965, we were in a typhoon in the current wagon. There were eleven of us in it. Another wild ride driving on a road along the bay. Waves washing over us, my mom hugging the middle of the road (there was an island we could not get across). Wagons were great. The 283 V-8with its 170 gross horsepower is not going to have much highway passing reserve with all that weight. Cross-flags over the V on the tailgate would have indicated one of several 348's which would have given more than enough reserve. That car is 58 years old but properly equipped could have kept pace with most cars on the road today in equal comfort. A 58 year old car in 1960 by comparison was barely even recognizable as such it was so rudimentary by comparison to the 1960 version in its looks and capabilities. The same comparisons held true in all other realms of life comparing 1960 to 1902--homes, conveniences, dress, you name it. Virtually any of those later areas are not that significantly different from their 1960 versions. Those deflectors... were supposed to keep dust off the back window Nikon CoolscanI am having a problem with mine. Can you recommend a place that can repair them. [There aren't any. Try buying them used on eBay. - Dave] 283 V8Although I agree that a 348 engine would have been a better choice for this station wagon. The 170hp 283 was the base V8 engine with just a single two barrel carburetor. The next option up was also a 283 but with a four barrel which the above wagon may have had, which would have given it a little more passing power. Koolscan softwareDave. What software program do you use with your 4000? As it seems the program that came with it is only works for Microsoft VISTA. [I use the NikonScan software that came with the scanner, on a Windows 10 workstation. To install the software on a modern operating system, you have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement. And it's Coolscan, with a C. - Dave] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kodachromes 1, Travel & Vacation)
Winning Swimmers: 1927
August 27, 1927. "Raymond Ruddy, 15-year-old New York Athletic Club swimmer who won the race on the Potomac, with members of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2016 - 3:52pm -

August 27, 1927. "Raymond Ruddy, 15-year-old New York Athletic Club swimmer who won the race on the Potomac, with members of the victorious team -- Lee, Fissler, Farley and Geibel -- on Washington Canoe Club float at Chain Bridge." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. NEW YORK BOY, 15, IS WINNER OF THREE-MILE SWIM ON POTOMAC Raymond Ruddy First in Test for President's Cup       "His tapering legs and well-formed body apparently visualized the Greek athlete to all, as this comparison was general as he stood on the Washington Canoe Club float at the finish." -- Washington Post RAY RUDDY, OLYMPIC SWIM STAR, KILLED BY PLUNGE DOWN FLIGHT OF STAIRS       Raymond Ruddy, whose achievements as a swimmer and water-poloist caused him to be ranked among the outstanding athletes of the world, died at 7 o'clock last night at the age of 27 in Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center from the effects of a fall twenty-four hours earlier.       The swimmer was about to leave the home of his aunt when his foot caught in the carpet of a stairway leading down from the second floor. He lost his balance and fell nearly the entire flight, striking his head against a radiator on the first floor. -- New York Times, Dec. 5, 1938 RAYMOND RUDDY DEAD AT 27New York Times, Dec. 5, 1938. RAY RUDDY, OLYMPIC SWIM STAR, KILLED BY PLUNGE DOWN FLIGHT OF STAIRS         Raymond Ruddy, whose achievements as a swimmer and water-poloist caused him to be ranked among the outstanding athletes of the world, died at 7 o'clock last night at the age of 27 in Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center from the effects of a fall twenty-four hours earlier.         The swimmer was about to leave the home of his aunt, Mrs. Walter Leary, 68-47 Exeter Street, Forest Hills, Queens, Saturday evening when his foot caught in the carpet of a stairway leading down from the second floor. He lost his balance and fell nearly the entire flight, striking his head against a radiator on the first floor.         He was able to rise, but was forced to abandon a plan to go to the New York Athletic Club, for which he had competed during most of his career.         Instead, he went to bed and apparently fell asleep. In the morning, however, members of the family found it impossible to arouse him. He was taken to the Medical Center, where it was found he had suffered a fracture at the base of the skull. He died without regaining consciousness. The scene of the accidentGoogle of course can't go inside the house (yet) to see the actual stairs. PhotobombCould that possibly be Gilligan at the far right? Poor young man. How sad. Even today many people don't realize that a head injury can be fatal hours later, even though the victim is able to walk away, thought to be unscathed. That is how Vanessa Redgrave's daughter Natasha Richardson died after a skiing accident. Olympic Silver MedalGeorge R. Fissler, the one with arms crossed, was a member of the 1932 Olympic team and won a Silver medal, in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Ruddy competed in the 1928 Olympics, and also the 1936, Berlin, Olympics, as a member of the US water polo team. (The Gallery, D.C., Sports, Swimming)
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