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Rural Mother: 1936
... Nebraska! With family now on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington we have been driving across this country about once a ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 07/05/2009 - 2:29am -

March 1936. "Mother and baby of family of nine living in field on U.S. Route 70 near the Tennessee River." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. SonsRose, And notice that the boy you mention (the one on our right) is the only one wearing shoes. It looks like he's standing on maybe his father's feet--there's somebody else standing off the camera edge. But imagine: The clothes that they're wearing might've been their only clothes! Just to reiterate: there was no choice of what they could wear from day to day. What they have on now was all they (might've) had for possibly months at a time. "How do I get to the Susquehanna Hat Company?" What happened to them?While it's certainly disheartening to see that kind of abject poverty, the family probably fared better over the next decade. The TVA started bringing electricity to that area around the time of this photo and Tennessee had a pretty robust wartime economy. The draft board generally didn't take men with nine children so the father would have been around to find steady work. So however bad it may have been you can at least be confident it got better. And yet the boy is smilingAnd yet the boy is smiling :) Mother of povertyThis photo made cry. What more clear image of poverty in America could there be? A flour sack for a skirt and a safety pin holding a tattered sweater. I ache for her children and wonder what happened to this family. One bright spot is the boy smiling to his sister while holding her toe. Tatters...They may be poor material wise with their tatters and rags on their back, but they are rich in their love for each other. Mother of povertyThis is the worst case of poverty I have ever seen that wasn't from the third world, but look at them they are together, even able to smile, by far this picture is the best example of "the great depression". fakeThe picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. ["That era," the mid-1930s, when photography was 100 years old, saw some of the best photographs ever made - the work of Ansel Adams, for example. And of course a few minutes of Googling will show this to be a well-known Depression-era image in the Library of Congress archives. Comments like these are a good opportunity to point out that the farther back you go, the better and sharper the pictures get, because the recording media were bigger. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. - Dave] Re: No exaggeration"And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch." YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT ! No exaggerationIn addition to reading "Let us Now Praise Famous Men," check out the photos of Jacob Riis and read "How the Other Half Lives." Yes, muckrakers, but they were not making up the poverty they found and photographed. When people who were doing *well* had only 2 or 3 sets of clothing, there just wasn't as much "extra" around to give to the poor. Using flour sacks and sugar sacks was incredibly common - so common that it is a trope in literature of the time. Even solidly middle-class families "turned" collars and facings on their clothing when it wore to holes, to use the other side, and every family had a rag bag in which they saved *every* scrap of old clothing for other purposes. I guess in this day of cheap clothes made by slave laborers in poison-filled factories in China, its hard to believe anyone treated clothes as so precious that they were saved and worn until they were in this state, huh? And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch. Rural mother 1936Oh how I wish I could take the doubting thomases back with me to the North East of Scotland during the time that this stunning photograph was taken. I am glad that it has been brought up to watchable standard by digital magic or whatever. I can still remember my grandfather filling his boots with straw to keep the cold/wet out before going out to the field to plough or cut corn with a scythe. He also used the very same material to wipe his bottom. Granny had a grain sack for a skirt and wore clogs. My favourite time of day was when she put the 'hen's pot' out to cool. I invariably ate the potatoes and haven't tasted better since. Money-wise it was a very poor time but life had a richness difficult to achieve these days. Re: Fake>> The picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. We get a lot of comments like this, I guess from younger people, or people who have never been to a museum. They don't realize that the farther back you go, the better and sharper professionally taken photographs get, because the recording media were much, much larger. An 8-by-10 glass plate negative is 80 times as large as a 35mm film frame, or the image sensor in a digital camera. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. Also a lot of comments from people who seem to think color photography started around 1960. Poverty exaggerationOk, this photo is an example of early photo-journalism. The family could very well have been homeless and living in a lean-to or a wooden box on top of a truck chassis- during the summer, anyway. But the depiction of poverty is exaggerated- think about it- if someone steered the photographer toward the family, then others in the community knew they were there. There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes. These rags were put on to evoke sympathy for the plights of many during the depression. Don't get me wrong - shock value was probably needed to raise support for many valuable social programs that came about because of the depression. But how long could a family dress like that and not receive donations from others, no matter how bad off the community was. [Most of these migrants, refugees from the Dust Bowl farms of the Great Plains, were not especially welcome in the communities where they dropped anchor, and people often did whatever they could to get them to leave. You might want to read up a little more on the Great Depression. A good start would be "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee with photos by Walker Evans. Or "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. - Dave] Not an exaggeration"There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes." My mother was a teenager during those years and remembered how so many people were driven to desperation. Her comment was "there was always someone trying to cheat you." Two or three years into the Depression the do-gooders began to run out of sympathy and "used clothes." And after five more years of no improvement they began to fear things would never turn around and that they would end up in the same circumstances. There were just too many newly poor people and not enough people with excess resources to balance things out. BenIf anyone was ever interested in trying to achieve that kind of detail today, I'd highly suggest buying an old used medium format camera and using some 120 roll film. I have a couple of Yashica TLR's which were considered substandard in the 50's and 60's, but their quality still makes a 35 SLR look like a cheap point and shoot. It's not the camera that makes the pictures better, but the larger negative available in 120 film. Not only do you get more detail, but the color depth is far more realistic. ClothesMy Gramma has saved some clothes that her mother made from flour sacks. She also has some made from linen and wool they spun and wove themselves, when they were more prosperous. She lived in a house with a dirt floor and didn't wear shoes in the summer. The Face of the Great DepressionThank you Mr. Caruso. I echo the response from Dave....We read in history books about the Great Depression and over the years, in our mind it is simply a swirl of facts and figures, of almost dispassionate removal that was the reality. While it has been said that hindsight is 20/20, I think it can also be argued that hindsight, especially from such a distance can be sterile becoming almost become an illusion, an event without a substance. Hopefully this will once again place it into a reality ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y Dale Oh My GoshI'm 15 years of age and I had no idea that the Great Depression was that bad. This picture really oppened my eyes to the extreme conditions at that time. Thank you for this reality. Reality CheckI have a picture on my desk showing my mother during the depression. You can see her bones because at 5'7" she weighed 85 pounds...just from the simple lack of food. Each girl in the family had two dresses and each boy had two pairs of overalls - one to wear and one to wash. By "wash", I mean using a metal tub over an open fire. Mostly they went barefoot (in the Arizona desert) because if they had shoes, they were too valuable to wear everyday. In the picture my mother is looking directly at the camera and her expression is almost exactly the same as the look on the face of a shell shocked combat veteran. As I said, I keep this small black and white photo on my desk so that if I ever, ever have even a moment of thinking that I'm having a hard day I can look at my mother's face and get a reality check. Barefoot KidsMy parents grew up in the depression. When I was a kid (in the 60s) going outside barefoot was STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, reason being that in their minds if you weren't wearing shoes it was because you didn't have any, and therefore were poor, which they viewed as something to be ashamed of. Making doThe habits of the depression generation persisted into the better days of the '40s. I remember my mother repairing worn sheets by splitting them down the middle and sewing the good edges together to prolong their life. My dad brought home flour sacks from the restaurant where he worked. My mother made dish cloths and pillow cases from them. Some of the sacks were made from patterned material for dresses. The branding on the others washed out easily. To this day I an reluctant to discard clothing. ClothesMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. Mother of NineThank you so much for sharing this. I was born in 1977, but just hearing these stories helps me to realize that we are so spoiled and really puts things into perspective. Amen! Thanks, dalecaruso!I'm going to show this to my 7th grade students who LOVED the Newbery Medal-winning book "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse! Amazing...moving...thank you. The habits remained - for good or badMy parents grew up in the Depression. Members of their generation, roughly those born 1920-1935, often find it difficult to throw out anything "good". In my parents' case, I was left with stacks of thousands upon thousands of moldering magazines and newspapers, piles of old shingles, 2x4s, chunks of vinyl siding, and old cardboard; hundreds upon hundreds of doilies, knick-knacks, and figurines; and tons of worthless, useless plywood and cheap wood furniture. The cry was, "I might need it someday!" and "It'll be worth GOOD MONEY one day!" and "You're so wicked and wasteful and lazy to want to throw it out!". They were wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions. The figurines now go for five to ten cents each on eBay (and don't sell at that price); the shingles melted together into a big unusable pile; the 2x4s and cardboard rotted to dust; the doilies were attacked with mold; the magazines were destroyed by water and age; the furniture was rickety and undesirable in its shoddy construction and unattractive, unmarketable poor style. It all went away to the dump as useless, worthless, unrecyclable (because of the mold) garbage - and it cost over a thousand dollars to have it hauled away. And I'm not the only one. There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on. But we, the children, are not the ones hurt the most by this sickness. The older generation itself is harmed most of all. The mold and dust gathered by the things they've hoarded endangers their health. The sheer bulk of the hoard can endanger them in case of fire. And since they can't find what they've hoarded, they end up buying the same things over and over again, which reduces their ability to provide for themselves. No North American generation before this one has suffered from this level of hoarding, and I doubt any one after it will. Earlier generations didn't overbuy but also weren't afraid to discard; later generations might overbuy but likewise aren't afraid to recycle or discard. Re: Hoarders I would have to seriously question the sweeping and wide swath of the brush you painted this generation with. My parents lived through the depression and the dust bowl, as did my dads' 12 brothers and sisters. and the 5 siblings of my mothers' family. And not a hoarder among them. I am sure they used things longer and valued what they had more than we do, but I hardly consider this a "disorder". Now I am sure some did, but your statement to me really portrays this generation as unhealthy mentally, and I am just a little offended by it. Oh that we today were as mentally stable as they. And if "There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on", well then I would say, perhaps it is this weak-kneed generation, who need support groups because, "Oh No, Mamma kept things a Long Long time", are the ones who are unhealthy. You do this unbelievable generation a great disservice. Future Hoarders of America Unite!You know, I don't look at the faces of these little ones and concern myself with the idea that their biggest issue in their senior years is going to be that they held on to too much stuff instead of throwing it out. When your clothes are being held together with twine and your mother is wearing a cotton feed bag as a skirt, it's kind of easy to see how, in the future, when you're an old woman, you're probably going to hang on to every scrap and see its potential usefulness someday. It's amazing how differently our consumerist culture sees items today. How often I've longed to be able to hold onto a toaster that could work just fine if I had someone who could fix it for me. But instead, appliances today aren't meant to last for more than a few years and then off to dump with them. Our landfills are overcrowded with plasticized items that will never, ever decompose - plastic bags, water bottles, take out containers...the list is endless. I hate to politicize a picture but I can honestly see how having nothing more than the holey shirt on your back would make you take stock when one day you had tremendous bounty. We could learn a lot from these people and their troubles and how to see potential treasure in trash. Alive and wellPoverty can be because of chance or personal choices. Back in the times of the Depression it was heaped on people by powers out of their control. I see it today right here in Arkansas where I live and in my own neighborhood. I live in a small town of about 5600 and even in what is supposedly the world's most rich and powerful country people are lining up at the free food banks and food giveaways, receving government commodities and waiting in ine at the free medical clinic that is run by area churches and staffed with Doctors and Nurses who volunteer their time for free. Just walk into Walmart on the 1st of the month, they way some families are dressed would break your heart. But then you have the victims of bad personal choices. There is a single other in my neighborhood that recently lost her job because she failed a drug test. She has 3 children. Everyone in the neighborhood knows she sells her food stamps for alcohol. She would buy just enough (barely) food for them to get by and sell the rest If it were not for the kindness of neighbors her children would not have any decent clothes. She was just kicked out of what is very decent public housing where she was paying $16.00 a month rent because she had her alcoholic boyfriend living there with her. Her poor choices affected not only her children but many people in the neighborhood (who at their own expense would buy extra food so they could feed her children or spend money to buy clothes for them) who have tried to help her for years. In her children I see the NEXT generation of American poverty waiting to happen and it is so sad. HoardersMy parents are children of the Depression, too. And my father most definitely instilled in me the sense that one doesn't waste or discard anything useful. He has 2 barns and a shed filled with stuff, much of which I'll have to deal with after he's gone. But you know what? Virtually everything he has is valuable! His shed is filled with dishes and small appliances and the like, which has supplied many of his grandchildren when they went away to college or got their first apartment. He has one of nearly every tool known to man, and freely loans or gives them away. He paid cash for a brand new truck recently, using the proceeds from sale of scrap copper and iron he's been saving in the plum thicket. (He's never owed money on a car in my lifetime). He loves to give to others (it's nearly impossible to leave a visit empty-handed), and a lifetime of saving and storing means he has no shortage of things to give away. Because of my upbringing, it's very hard for me to discard anything that still has value, just because I don't need it any more. But I've learned from my dad - somebody needs that, so give it away! I understand that some hoarders are truly mentally ill. But to say that all Depression children who refuse to discard things that might be useful are "wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions" is absolute hogwash. The DepressionAnyone who says these photos are exaggerated or fake has never talked to someone who lived during that time. My mother lived on a farm during that period, and though she didn't have much that came from a store, they were able to eat and eat well. My father's family were poor tennant farmers on unproductive land and frequently had meals like "grease smeared on bread"....try to imagine that one. With several children, all but one had to quit school at 13 to earn a living. My husband's family has pictures of the children looking just like these - torn overalls and bare feet. Do some real research in your own family's past. Family HistoryMy father's family had a farm in southwest Nebraska during the Depression, so they were able to grow their own food and eat fairly well. My mother's paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister there, which was very rough since he was dependent on what the local community could pay, which wasn't much and people had an odd idea about what made a suitable gift. So instead of eggs and chickens, which Great-Grandpa would have taken in a heartbeat (he had 5 teenage sons!), people gave him things like fancy hankies, which he had no use for, and I found 50 years later still in the gift boxes. I know the Depression had a profound impact on my grandfather; he hated to throw anything away. When my mother cleaned out Grandpa's house in the late 80's she had to throw out dumpsters of metal pie plates, shopping bags, twine, bottles, newspapers, magazines and God knows what else. AgreedMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. I would have said this if you didn't. We had sneakers for gym class and gym class only. The picture, the video, the hoarding.Two things struck me about that picture: the caked on dirt on the mother's feet and the smile on the boy's face. Sure, I had heard the phrase "dressed in flour sacks." But, there's something about an image - seeing it. It hits home. The video, The Face of the Great Depression, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y from a previous comment. At first, honestly, I thought, "Can't the pictures move faster?" Then I looked, and listened, and let time stand still for a brief moment. By the end, I was crying. The license plate in the last photo was 1939. My mother would have been 13. NOW IT GET IT. Well, I'm beginning to. A second generation child on the South Side of Chicago, she always told stories of a her gang of kids distracting the cart owner so other kids could run by - stealing whatever vegetables they could grab. They would start little fires at the curb and roast them on a stick or boil them in a pot of water. She said that's why, as an adult, she hated boiled onions or potatoes. But, the stories she told, of washing out her underclothes each night, sleeping 4 to a bed, lard and bread sandwiches...I somehow cleaned up the images and made them all pretty. I left out what it smells like if you haven't had a bath. Or, what it must have felt like to really, really be hungry. Mom hoarded. Born in 1926 she left me the legacy of wall to wall, floor to ceiling piles of National Geographic magazines and "collectors" tins." "These will be worth something someday," she chided...and promised. They weren't. Well, some of it was valuable - more from memories of her than replacement cost. More than anything, I wish she could have culled her stuff so she had more room to live. Sure, it was a burden to empty. But it was easier for me to let go of her junk than it was for her to unload the fear of being "without." I can live with that. Everyday I understand and accept her more. One little photo... Can teach so much. The Great DepressionI've read the comments about this picture and echo the feelings of distress that people have had to exist under these conditions. We only have to look at some of the present day third world countries to see the same thing. Thank God that that level of poverty has never touched me. I was born in 1927 and raised, with my sister, in a single parent home. My Mother took in washing and ironing to make a living for us, and though we didn't have an abundance, we never went to bed hungry. She bought used adult clothes and cut them down to fit us (our sunday school and church clothes). No one told me that times were hard so I didn't know it until I was grown. The hobos (Hoover Tourists) used to get off the trains near our house and come to the door begging food. My Mother always made them a peanut butter sandwich. I spent my days in school or outside playing with my friends, I had a glorious childhood. It pains me to see today's children confined to the house, afraid to go outside alone, with only a TV or computer for a companion. So many children and young adults are overweight and under exercised. The Depression was hard on a lot of people but, as a child, I skated through it and wouldn't trade my childhood memories for being a child today. Where in SW Nebraska?Hello- A friend of mine introduced me to this website. I, too, am from southwest Nebraska. Where in SW Nebraska was your family originally from? MJ The DepressionI really liked reading all the comments. I intend to get the book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by Agee. I was born in 1921, the seventh child in a family of 10. My father died of TB in October 1929. Our church had a dinner after the service yesterday. I noticed some people not eating all the food they had put on their plates. I told them my clean plate was a reflection of living through the Depression, when at mealtime I would hand my plate to my mother with the words "All I can have. please." Every child in the family, when they were old enough, gave most of the money they earned to our mother. In the early 1930s our school clothes and shoes would be ordered by mail from Sears and sometime they would arrive days after school started. We lived in northwest Detroit and most of the kids had fathers with good jobs. In 1936 my oldest brother started to build a home near Mount Clemens, Michigan. A family pitched a tent in a field across the street from him and lived much like the family in this picture. My brother did not want me to visit them. I served in WW2, which I enjoyed because I had been working since I was 14 and it was nice to be free of responsibility. And seeing Europe was wonderful. I am a tourist at heart. Yes! Not getting killed and living into the Internet age is wonderful. Nebraska! With family now on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington we have been driving across this country about once a year. We like Nebraska and have been driving across that state on old U.S. 30, and find it much more enjoyable than I-80. Please try this some time. For those who don't believeRead "The Worst Hard Time" by Tim Egan. Never had heard of "dust pneumonia" until reading this. Also, a section of diary entries is just heartbreaking. Poverty and desolation on a scale unimaginable today. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Rural America)
Expert Truss Fitting: 1900
... Beck went on to design the logo for the 1905 Portland, Oregon Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. His father Augustus—who ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/26/2012 - 12:35pm -

"Main Street, Buffalo, N.Y., circa 1900." The merchants of Buffalo, aside from making that fine city a haven for the herniated, also offered a wide range of "deformity appliances." Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size. Fireproof indeed!The fireproof tiles on the roof of the Iroquois were a big selling point after the horrific fire that destroyed the Richmond Hotel, which stood on the same site until 1887. Mirror Writing?The reverse lettering above the motorman's head looks like the back of a glass sign that says SMOKING ENTRANCE REAR SEATS ONLY, whatever that means exactly. [The signs says "Smoking on three rear seats only." - Dave] Safe CityThat is one safety-conscious city. Note the pedestrian catcher mounted on the front of the trolley. Niagara Falls!!!!Niagara Falls! "Slowly I turned...step by step...inch by inch..." From the Three Stooges short "Gents Without Cents" Oh MyWhat a picture. This is definitely a downtown scene. I am curious about the rides to Lockport, Lewiston and Queenston. Are they entrance cities to Canada? Perhaps they are tourist destinations like Niagara Falls. This photo will take a while to gather it all and to understand Buffalo as a major U.S. city at the time. [Those cities were excursion destinations. - Dave] Shuffle off to Buffalo...So much detail to take in. Wonder what a "Deformity Appliance" is. [I am thinking something along the lines of a super-dangerous cake mixer. - Dave] Bustling BuffaloNothing is more depressing than seeing the once-bustling major city that is now Buffalo. Interesting that the streetcar was the main mode of public transportation, and yet the newer "metro" line (consisting of one short rail from HSBC to the University of Buffalo) has contributed to the death of downtown. Martha!And "I Love Lucy." Your neighbor the sign painterBesides the five (or six or seven) signs of his own, Mr. Scott seems to have painted all the other signs on that building. I wonder if he traded signs for trolly rides, cigars, or deformity appliances. Trolleys Then and NowThe open-seat single-truck trolleys seen in this picture (with smoking allowed in the three rear seats only) have long been absent from the City of Buffalo. The line is now the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's Buffalo Metro Rail light rail line. Interesting that the tracks on Main Street have survived, while those on Church Street, and all of the surrounding buildings, including the Iroquois Hotel, have all vanished. View Larger Map No heritage hereSo, is this was were the Main Street Mall now resides? Seems all these blocks were demolished. The Iroquois Hotel was torn down in 1940. The Perfect VignetteWhat a great photo! The "Signs" signs, the omnipresent hats, the fancy streetlight. I love the advertisement for the "tobacconist"--that would make a catchy little business card, I think. Some people are dentists, some are salespeople, and then there are the tobacconists. And I wonder what got thrown into the wires crossing the street? I also love the trolleys in the picture--somehow, my daily bus ride doesn't seem quite as cool as this. One question. What is the net in front for? I would guess it's for luggage or large packages? [The net would be for inattentive or careless pedestrians. - Dave] LockportLockport was and is a neat little city in NW central New York State where canal boats travel down a series of locks. It's fun to watch. The city is also the home of an American standard in every kitchen: Jell-O! Cars?Sign says "cars leave every 15 minutes"...I don't see any cars, it's 1900 (or so) What do they mean by "cars"? [Streetcars. - Dave] The GlobeSure would like to be able to see more detail on that globe painted on the left side - looks like the continents have been anthropomorphized into pinup gals. BuffaloCool! I stayed a night in Buffalo early last month. Had it still been standing, I would have chosen the Iroquois over the Holiday Inn for sure. Looks like a fun city, but you've never seen anything more depressing than Niagara Falls (the town) in winter. You Are HereIn response to the many requests seen in comments for a time machine: here you are. Absolutely fantastic picture. Pan-American ExpoThat's the logo for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, held in Buffalo -- where President McKinley was shot and later died. Trolly carsThey mean Trolly cars. [Or maybe trolley cars. ("Cars" = streetcars.) - Dave] Look out above!The top three floors of the Iroquois were "superadded" for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. In 1923, owner Ellsworth Statler opened another hotel, and the Iroquois became the Gerrans Office Building. The building with the tower was transformed into one of the earliest movie theaters, the Strand. Steve Miller Someplace near the crossroads of America Leroy not LockportLeroy is the home of Jell-O, not Lockport! Visit the jello museum in Leroy to learn more about the product invented by a man named Pearl. CSI: BuffaloNice Cigar Store Indian on the right. Oh that logo The Pan-American Exposition Company chose Raphael Beck's design from over 400 entries, awarded him $100. They copyrighted it as the official logo in 1899. At first the design was to be used only for "dignified purposes," but due to its popularity, the decision was made to license its use. The logo was soon available on souvenirs of every conceivable description and was plastered on "everything that didn't move and some things that did." Some unscrupulous vendors ignored the licensing process and sold unofficial souvenirs with the logo. Here is a plate and a watch souvenir (both official): Beck made sketches of President McKinley when the president toured the fair and made a speech there. After McKinley died Beck completed the painting titled "President McKinley Delivering His Last Great Speech at the Pan-American Exposition, Sept. 5, 1901." Beck went on to design the logo for the 1905 Portland, Oregon Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. His father Augustus—who designed the bas relief at the base of the Washington Monument—named his son after the famous painter Raphael. +122Below is the same view from September of 2022. (The Gallery, Buffalo NY, DPC, Streetcars)
Zines & Beans: 1938
... Paul Colgrove on November 6, 1938, moved to Bandon, Oregon where she spent the rest of her life, and had a daughter, Colleen. The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/12/2017 - 4:07pm -

November 1938. "Capitol Avenue storefronts, Omaha, Nebraska." Medium format negative by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Oyster stew!It's been forty years since I've made oyster stew! I'll bet mine was better, because I used oysters we picked up off the beach, at Dabob Bay, on Washington's Hood Canal the night before, and opened that day. In Nebraska, I'll bet they had to use canned! I'd even settle for canned right now, though! Hurry up!I don't know what that third car from the left is, with the 1-1813 license plate, but I want it and I want it now. I also want 45 cents worth of oyster stew, with some of them teeny little saltines and some Tabasco. And make sure that the oysters are the kind that grow in the ocean and not around Omaha, Nebraska, if you please. Top to BottomSam in 1616 and 1616½ has you covered from one end to the other. Spotted car1-1813 is a 1935 Oldsmobile top of the line sedan . Spotted Car1-1813 is a 1935 Oldsmobile L-35 touring car as seen here. No longer thereThe buildings have since been torn down. A Doubletree hotel sits in its place. Don't know if the restaurant serves oyster stew or not. FlawedThe adulation for that Oldsmobile would vanish quickly when one of its pistons blew --- - common problem for the 35s and 36s. Mine failed leaving Jackon Hole, Wyoming in 1948. Had to limp over the mountains and down into Salt Lake City where the second piston failed necessitating an engine tear-down in a parking lot. Before Parking LinesHave the feeling the 2nd car from the right, is going to be a little upset when it's time to back out. 1-1990 must have squeezed into that parking spot. Even after parking lines, he's probably still parking like that. Precursor?I favor the funky one fifth from the left, with the interesting back door. Anybody know what it is? Maybe it is my fondness for VW buses in my youth, but it looks intriguing. Travel Rule #1Don't order the seafood when the nearest ocean is 1000 miles away. Or do, but eat it with a side of Imodium. What Kind Of Oysters?As a son of The Land Of Pleasant Living I have always been leery when traveling of restaurants advertising oysters. If a restaurant isn't within 50 miles of a major oyster producing body of water I won't order them since my preference in oysters run to the Chincoteague style and not the Bull Durham variety. Precursor?The Funkymobile is a 28/29 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery. Very rare and desirable to the restorers and hot rodders alike. I'd choose it over all the cars in the lineup Rear door1929 Ford Sedan Delivery Current prices begin around $30,000 Oysters in Omaha? You betcha!Just a few blocks south of 1610 Capitol Ave (Now the Doubletree Hotel and First National Bank) lies a great seafood joint called appropriately 'Shucks' with a great oyster stew and all sorts of the succulent bivalves on the half shell - from both coasts, and even occasionally from the Choctawhatchee Bay in the Gulf. I've lived in Omaha for 31 years and vouch for the freshness of the seafood offerings here in our fair city. (Also has pretty good beefsteaks, as well!!!!) Can't say I've ever seen that 1935 Olds still around, though we like our classic cars here as well. Salty roads in the winter have been the ruin of many a fair classic, including my old '71 VW Westphaia. Shorpy and history.My son hooked me up to the Shorpy site years ago. Have just recently gotten the nerve to register and leave a comment. I really enjoy all the photos, the depression era by Dorothea Lange, And the photos of the old cars. Keep up the excellent work Dave. Shop to right?What is the shop between New Capitol Bar and Dean Lunch? I can only make out the word "Falstaff", and the objects in the window give few clues as to what they sell. [It's part of the New Capitol Bar; Falstaff is a brand of beer. -tterrace] Half-Seen Zine StoreA big bunch of people on FictionMags, an invitational Yahoo group I'm in, have been fascinated by the "zine" shop on the far left, and what the kid visible in the window is reading. Other images of magazines and especially newsstands here on Shorpy, for instance the recent 1938 Omaha newsstand, have been widely dissected. Falstaff BeerThe Falstaff brewery was south of downtown Omaha near 25th and Vinton Streets. Another Omaha local beer (also defunct) was Storz. Of course, there are numerous craft beers now brewed locally - and those have much more flavor than the old locals! Try 'Lucky Bucket' if you can find it. TrunkThe second car from the left is a 1932 Ford sedan with an aftermarket trunk mounted on an aftermarket support made by Kari-Keen or possibly Potter. Queued CarsFrom left to right: 1. 1937 Ford Tudor or Fordor (slant back) 2. 1932 Ford V8 with non-standard bumper 3. 1935 Oldsmobile L-35 4. 1936 Studebaker, likely a Dictator 5. 1929 Ford Model A Deluxe Delivery 6. 1936 Ford Deluxe Tudor Touring Sedan 7. 1933 Plymouth coupe (Business Coupe?) 8. 1937 DeSoto S3 Touring Sedan Note the partial reflections of the cars in the store windows. Bygone 'Zines DealersShortly before this photo was taken, the "Zines" store had been one of two news dealer stores of Charles C. Savage. This one, at 1618 Capitol Avenue, was being run by his daughter Hazel Lydia Savage. Two of her brothers both worked at the main family store at 1260 S. 16th in 1938. Hazel married Paul Colgrove on November 6, 1938, moved to Bandon, Oregon where she spent the rest of her life, and had a daughter, Colleen. The couple divorced in 1966. Hazel was born on September 12, 1917 in Omaha, and died January 15, 2011 in Bandon. After Hazel Savage, the store on Capitol Avenue became the business of Paul William Lehn. His last name can be partially seen in the window. He was born in Nebraska to George and Madeline Lehn in 1920. Less than a year after the photo was taken he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on June 19, 1941. After WWII he became an accountant, and he remained in Omaha at least through the late 1950s. He died on Chrismas Day, 1971 in Los Angeles, California, but he was buried back in Omaha. Re: Error in descriptionThe information that I provided in regard to the store is easily found in the Omaha city directories from 1936, 1938, and 1940. I have attached extracts that verify the information that was provided. Perhaps Hazel's daughter was simply just never told how her mother ran a news store prior to being married, and that her uncles also were clerks in their grandfather's store. Not a traceThe street was redone sometime in the 1950s. The Edward Zorinsky Federal Building was originally completed in 1958 as a home to the US Army Corps of Engineers. It's been modified a couple of times, most recently completed as a post-9/11 security and environmental retrofit in 2008. It is an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly and sustainable building. But I'd do anything to sit in Sam's Barber Shop shown in the original image and listen to the stories drift in and out with each customer. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Omaha)
And Come Out Swinging: 1897
Aboard the U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Shake hands." Note the tattoo art. Another look at the ... according to Marx. Enjoy while you can, boys The Oregon was about to get the news that the Maine was blown up near the coast at ... public and inspired popular songs like "The Race of the Oregon," by John James Meehan: Lights out! And a prow turned toward the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 11:43pm -

Aboard the U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Shake hands." Note the tattoo art. Another look at the boxing match first glimpsed here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart for the Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The tatsMaybe someone will recognize these as belonging to Great-Great-Grandpa. On the right forearmA sailor holding the Stars and Stripes. The first rule of fight clubis don't talk about fight club. "His name was Robert Paulson, His name was Robert Paulson" Just Guessin'That Lydia is a very close friend, according to Marx. Enjoy while you can, boysThe Oregon was about to get the news that the Maine was blown up near the coast at Havana, and would be called upon to go to her aid. She made a record-setting trip from San Francisco to just off the coast of Jupiter Inlet, Florida, in just 66 days. The voyage delighted the public and inspired popular songs like "The Race of the Oregon," by John James Meehan: Lights out! And a prow turned toward the South, And a canvas hiding each cannon's mouth And a ship like a silent ghost released Is seeking her sister ships in the East. When your boys shall ask what the guns are for, Then tell them the tale of the Spanish war, And the breathless millions that looked upon The matchless race of the Oregon. I do hope most of the boys pictured here made it through the impending skirmish. MuzzieMan, the guy in the middle is really well groomed considering his living conditions. This shot makes me want to grow a mustache and take up boxing. Well, maybe not the boxing part. Great photo! The ShipAmazing to see the underpinnings of what is apparently a brand-new ship, in 1897. The steel looks freshly constructed, welded, painted. It's cleaner than the men its carrying. Must have smelled pretty down there. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart, Sports)
Everything But War: 1941
September 1941. "Sign. Seaside, Oregon." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security ... in the middle I wonder if Mr. Lee, standing on a remote Oregon beach, realized he was in the midst of world conflicts. [His main ... construction of the Umatilla Ordnance Depot in Oregon, vast repository for bombs and munitions used in the war against Japan. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/16/2022 - 3:12pm -

September 1941. "Sign. Seaside, Oregon." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Cooler than I thoughtAccording to weather dot com, at 6:30 pm EST (11:30 pm local time) today, it was 46 degrees Fahrenheit in Hell. Not too bad considering the rep it has for being hot. Hell at HegraThe sign reflects a cruel irony. Nazi troops occupied Norway in April 1940 and stayed until the end of the war. The last effective military resistance, by volunteer soldiers, took place at the Battle of Hegra Fortress, April 15-May 5. The village of Hell is less than ten miles from the site of the battle. Man in the middleI wonder if Mr. Lee, standing on a remote Oregon beach, realized he was in the midst of world conflicts. [His main assignment in September 1941 was documenting construction of the Umatilla Ordnance Depot in Oregon, vast repository for bombs and munitions used in the war against Japan. - Dave] Paved the whole waySeaside could have sent them to Hell, Michigan instead - it's only 2,420 miles away. Directional signI wonder where the custom of posting these directions to far away places originated. It seems to be a 1940s thing. I remember the one in Honolulu which I fear is no longer there. I remember them from several movies made around that time. Re: Directional signIn the State of Maine, we have signs for places to go, and Presidents to meet. Film sizeWhat dimensions are they calling "medium format"? [3¼ x 4¼ - Dave] (The Gallery, Bizarre, Russell Lee, Small Towns, WW2)
Let's Do Launch: 1943
... years. It was one of two yards (the other in Portland, Oregon) constructed under the 1941 Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/01/2023 - 3:01pm -

May 1943. "Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Portraits of the workers who turn out 'Liberty' ship cargo transports, during lunch hour or on rest period." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size. Juan de la cruz is awesomeThe photo with "What is being said"? is different from the original "Let's Do Launch". Either Mr. de la Cruz has astounding Photoshop skills or it is the second in a series of pix. Either way it is a personality plus photo. [I added the photo to show what they were laughing at. - Dave] Short-lived but crucialThe Birmingham-Fairfield Shipyard existed for less than five years. It was one of two yards (the other in Portland, Oregon) constructed under the 1941 Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The emergency? Even though the U.S. was still officially neutral, it had to react to the severe losses of the British Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Baltimore yard built Liberty Ships, eventually 384 of them, along with LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) and Victory ships. What is being saidWould love to know what is causing all the smiles. What is the conversation. If I had the editing skills, I'd add balloons to each of people with, starting from right to left: "Say what?" "Can't be true!" "He really did that?" "Yup, I saw him -- " And then I run out of conversation. Someone else, with better imagination, can carry on. Dave - Thank you for adding it. Wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. It is as fun a photo as the original. Lots of smiles. And I really wish I could hear the comments! Brown bagsFrom what I can see, they all brown bag their lunch. I wonder why none of them has a black, domed top, metal lunchbox with a handle? [Because when a metal lunchbox falls on your head from 50 feet up, it hurts. - Dave] Point taken. The other observation I have is about the guy sitting fourth from the right, including the man sitting on the bottom step. I'm pretty sure he was a football lineman. He's a big guy and he's wearing what appears to be a varsity letter on his sweater. Waxed paperWhen I was a kid we didn't have plastic sandwich bags. A sandwich wrapped in wax paper worked just fine. At the lunch table, I could lay it flat for a clean place to lay my lunch out on. Occasionally, I'll still wrap a sandwich in wax paper. The S.S. John W. Brownwas assembled at the Baltimore shipyard in 1942, and is one of two surviving fully operational Liberty Ships preserved in the United States. It is docked in Baltimore, and open for tours and living history cruises. https://www.ssjohnwbrown.org/ Looks like Central CastingEach one of these guys looks like some character actor. Especially the fellow in the white sweater, I'm sure I've seen him in a Bowery Boys picture. Good bunch of guysThere's lots of nice body language in this shot. I especially like the fellow, lower center, leaning back into the legs of the guy behind him, who is gesturing with a touch to the shoulder. And, of course, they are of different races -- in a time that racial segregation was widely legal and widely practiced. VarietyThat's quite a collection of headgear. The man with the bill-less cap probably is wearing it backward, not because it was the style but possibly because he wears a welder's mask when he's working. Today you would probably see uniform OSHA-approved hard hats. And you wouldn't see any cable-knit sweaters. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, WW2)
They Are Blind to My Beauty: 1920
... something like this together for us. Mike J. Albany, Oregon Вот как бывает. Вот как бывает. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 12:07am -

Bathing beach beauty contest, 1920. Elizabeth Margaret Williams and Elizabeth Roache. View full size. National Photo Company. Geez, I'm happy that I'mGeez, I'm happy that I'm living today! Hooray for the French and Brazilian beaches! ;) The ol' switcheroo?I'm not sure, but I think someone may have reversed those signs... The bow"I knew this blankety-blank hair bow was a mistake!" Agree about the switcherooAlthough I can't say the left girl's suit is good, so maybe she was just holding the second trophy for the girl on the right. Scowl!Note the woman on the far right-she is thinking "And I wore my best suit today!" Scowl!"I am showing more knee than she is...and she still won." Hm.I think perhaps the hat on the "Most Beautiful Lady" is what's throwing her beauty off. :) If I was the woman who won "Most Beautiful Suit" I'd be inching away from the woman to the right. She looks very unhappy! [Well, yes. The lady on the right is the star of the picture, and the one we had in mind when wrote the headline.] I was guessin' that. :) Forgive me, I have a gift for stating the obvious. Turning pointI award a cup and sign to the lady on the right. The award is, of course, for the most interesting character. I wonder about her back story. She was considered a delicate beauty until that fateful day at the beach beauty contest in 1920... dah dah daaaaah. I want to know why the guyI want to know why the guy behind Beautiful Lady doesn't have a prize I want to knowI want to know what ethnic group the guy with the high top fade hair is? Slut?Did I read the word slut correctly? I am surprised she would accept the award being slut. I think they awarded her the award of being slut because the suit was too far high from the knees and low cut on the front. Back in 1920's it was taboo. The lady on the left passed with flying colors regardless how beautiful she was.. suit to the knees and up to her neck. Modesty ruled in that time. [The sign on the trophy says "Most Beautiful SUIT." 2008 is off to a great start! - Dave] ShorpyTo me, this is probably one of the best web sites I have ever come across. It is well thought out and put together in a very efficient way. I'm 63 yrs. old and enjoy every time-line represented. For me personally, I find it very educational because it is so real, not like most of the "stuff" we are all exposed to these days. The "comments" section is a very integral and necessary part of this presentation (the educational part). It gives me great comfort knowing that there still are "Americans" out there that feel as I do about our great country and there is somebody out there talented enough to put something like this together for us. Mike J. Albany, Oregon Вот как бывает.Вот как бывает. Поддашься минутной слабости, и спустя сто лет, кто-то будет помнить тебя вот такой: с ненавистью смотрящей на конкурентку, обошедшую тебя в конкурсе красоты Does anyone else see Ingrid Bergman?I don't think the hat was very flattering, but her face reminds me of a young Ingrid Bergman! Your caption is priceless! I wonder if the sour look had more to do with the fact that she had been struggling to hang on to her three-year-old son all day. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Pretty Girls, Swimming)
The Athletes: 1897
Circa 1897. "U.S.S. Oregon -- the athletes." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. ... Ore ... gone All that is left of the once mighty U.S.S. Oregon is her foremast. That resides in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland Oregon. Must be Sunday Dress uniforms and shined shoes. The thirteen ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:49pm -

Circa 1897. "U.S.S. Oregon -- the athletes." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. "I'm nota part of THIS group." Back in the DayWhen I joined the Navy in 1962 we were issued essentially the same uniform as pictured here. Insignia was a bit different and the blue hats with "U.S. Navy" ribbons were issued but never authorized to wear. Instead we wore the white "dixie cup" hats except at sea where blue baseball caps were standard. The pants on the thinner sailors were indeed bell bottomed. The chunkier sailors didn't have such a lean fit. Ore ... goneAll that is left of the once mighty U.S.S. Oregon is her foremast. That resides in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland Oregon. Must be SundayDress uniforms and shined shoes. The thirteen button trousers I wore in the 50's and 60's were much older in style than I knew. The trousers were not bell bottomed, they were bell shaped all the way. Great picture. So many questions and no answersShame we can't follow up and find out what happened to these guys during the rest of their lives. There is the guy on the far left, with his arms crossed, who is in frame, but not really part of the group. And there is the fellow next to him who didn't even bother to glare impatiently at the camera. All we can see are his legs. To the right of them is a guy who might even have had childhood memories of the Civil War. Was his father a veteran of it? And then there are the four teenagers who seem so young and alive. Did they go on to have families and die of old age, or were they victims of the flu epidemic later? I know they are all dead by now, but this photo makes them seem so alive. Except that we tend to no longer use black and white, it could have been taken yesterday. Listen up matestoday we learn the proper method of wearing a hat. Taking it on the chinTo judge from the bruise under his lip, it looks like the guy sitting crosslegged in front was in a recent bout. It's not a hatThe Navy doesn't wear hats, they wear covers. OuchJust looking at those boxing gloves makes my face hurt. I reckon todays photo would show our stranded sailor on the left being seated front row forward. The bruiseLooks more like Impetigo. We don't encounter it as much these days but I can recall it being one of the things they checked you for regularly at school (along with ringworm and lice) and can recall kids having gotten it. It's highly contagious and looks exactly like that. We were always warned "Don't put your moth on that! You'll get Impetigo!", usually for putting our mouth on the seat rails on the bus. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart, Sports)
The Salmon Kitchen: 1964
... We have one still in use at the local museum here in Bend, Oregon. A friend of mine and I just repaired it and adjusted the gas burners. ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 07/13/2019 - 11:53am -

Unless you happened to live in one of those fancy kitchen decor ads like you see over on Plan59.com, your 1964 kitchen might be like ours, a mixture of stuff from the 50s (1955 O'Keefe & Merritt gas range), 40s (sink, cabinets & fixtures from a 1946 remodel) and even the 30s (the copper tea kettle). A package of meat is defrosting on the griddle, which was always a little warm from its pilot light. My Kodachrome slide. View full size. Oh How I Wish That Was Mine!Be still my heart - I have a warm fuzzy place for pink kitchens and bathrooms. When my folks purchased their first home after a long while of rentals, the 4 bedroom Orange County (california) sprawling ranch-style had an exquisite pink wall mounted electric oven, pink electric counter top burners, and "boomerang print" pink and silver formica counter with glitter flecks. The best part - the pink sink. Oh how I cried when they remodeled in the mid-70's to a harvest gold monstrosity. Even then at 14 I knew I was born at the wrong time. Thanks tterrace for another beautiful memory!! The KitchenMy dad was a millwright at the local Alcoa plant and his hobby was woodworking and making furniture. In 1959 he decided that he would buy his first brand new car. Mom put her foot down declaring that her late forties kitchen would be remodeled before a new car ever came into the driveway. The very next day Dad went to Rogers and Company in downtown Knoxville and brought home a new 1960 Pontiac sedan. He parked it in the driveway and began tearing out the old kitchen. He told my older brother privately that he just couldn't walk away from the dare. I sold that house after Mom died in 2001. The appliances have all been replaced but the 1959 cabinetry is still intact. StoveThat is a beautiful stove! The stoveTo die for! Now, for two to three (or more) times the price you get half the stove. The kind of stove shown here was standard through the 40's and 50's (at least) and I miss it. They usually had 6 burners, a built-in griddle, a broiler (door on the left) and an oven. You can have the pink kitchen though. I still have one exactly like it, handles and all, except it's sort of cream color. Yuck. Our StoveThis one had four burners and a griddle, with a rotisserie in the oven. Mother loved rotisserie chicken. The motor eventually burned out, and could not be fixed. The chrome on the grill was well worn from years of flipping Sunday morning pancakes. -tt's big sister Now yer cookin' with gasAh, aluminum salt & pepper shakers - a classic kitchen staple. But what I really like is the partially painted drawer side. A little paint probably got splattered/brushed onto it by accident, so the painter decided to paint a bit more so it would look more "finished" when the drawer was opened. As long as you only open it a couple inches. Kitchen ItemsIn the We Had One of Those category, score one for the spoon rest hanging above the spice rack. Ours was identical. My guess for the item hanging from the rack is a match holder to light the pilot light on the stove. And the magenta, gold and silver items on the sink must be aluminum tumblers, a popular item in 50s-60s kitchens. Unbreakable! Across the Ocean...You'll be glad to know that kitchens didn't look much different here in Australia in that time. We had the metal tumblers (in the draining tray), the cabinets and drawers (painted the same too), the tea-towel hanging from the cabinet drawer, the spoon rest... this could have been my childhood kitchen. Only ours was painted a very fetching two tone of royal purple and lavender. Noice! Shaker VariationsI can't tell you how strange it is to have perfect strangers commenting on things that were familiar sights in my daily life nearly 50 years ago and whose images remain burned in my memory. Glad someone noticed the shakers; judging from their dents they'd seen meal preparation service since well before I was around. Now, how about that thing hanging from the rack they're on? I know, do you? Also, the magenta, gold and silver things in front of the cake cooling rack on the sink? Things that never fail to get a "Oh, yeah, we had those, too!" reaction from other 50s kids. The partially-painted drawer sides were intentional, I'm sure. I always thought it was rather clever. My father did the salmon paint job, and merely covered over the existing yellow from the original remodeler's work. All the drawers in the kitchen were like that. Can it be?Down in the righthand corner, with papers and magazines piled on it- can it be one of those chrome and enamel rolling tea carts? In pink? They were usually red. Or a pink step stool? I'd settle for that. We (or rather our grandmother) had the aluminum tumblers. They made the peculiar water in their town icy cold and drinkable. Froze your hands,too. The saucepan in the sink- the harbinger of harvest gold Things to Come... My other grandma's kitchen was a little more pink, from 1957 until they sold the house in the late '60s. Tumbler SweatThe lovely aluminum tumblers! My grandmother had a set and, because they sweated so much when holding iced drinks in summer, knit little socks/mittens to cover the bottom third of them. That meant, of course, that we then had to wash the socks or at least hang them to dry... AppearancesI have a hunch that if your mom knew that someday you were going to show the world her kitchen, she'd have done the dishes. She probably wants to give you a little swat right now, wherever she may be. Although these are not what my memories are made of, I still enjoy reading about others'. Refrigerator RemembranceThough I was born in the mid-1980s (way past the time of pink kitchens and more into an ugly brown carpet and dark wood time period), I love the ads of the beautiful bright 50s kitchens and this picture is almost as great! Tterrace, what kind of refrigerator did you have? My grandparents built their house in the late 1950s and had a GE wall-mounted refrigerator that I thought was the coolest thing when I was little--it, and their kitchen, went the turquoise route. They remodeled in 2006, and that refrigerator was still chugging along (though it leaked a bit). The electrician actually took it back to his shop and reinstalled it as a beer fridge--so its long life continues! I don't suppose they were ever very popular--you pretty much had to be remodeling to have room for one. I found a copy of the ad for one, and framed it for them as sort of a memorial to the greatest fridge ever. Kitchen appurtenancesThat is indeed a chrome and pink enamel rolling cart in the lower right, and I'm happy to say it's in my possession now. It held the toaster plus heaps of printed materials: Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney catalogs and magazines on the bottom shelf, more catalogs and magazines and a dictionary (my mother did crosswords) on the middle shelf, more magazines and newspapers on the top with the toaster. The crumpled thing on top of the pile is a homemade toaster cover or "cozy." The thing hanging from the spice rack with the shakers is a cake tester. For some reason, I always visualize my mother poking it into hot gingerbread. Yum. The colored anodized aluminum tumblers came with cottage cheese in them, that's how we got ours. Our refrigerator, bought the same time as the range in 1955, was a Kelvinator, one with a separate dedicated freezer compartment, which quickly converted my mother into a freezeraholic. Shortly thereafter we got a separate upright. Welcome homeNothing evokes the feeling of home like being in the kitchen, which is the real heart of a home, the workshop, Mom's domain and the family's refuge. I LOVE this warm, homey, lived-in kitchen, it feels like I've been there. The object hanging (like a wire) from the salt and pepper rack is, I believe, a cake tester, which was better than a toothpick because it was much longer and could be used for deep cakes, breads, etc. They usually were free from the Fuller Brush man or Jewel Tea or Tupperware, but you could also buy them for pennies. This fabulous photo captures forever a middle class family's central headquarters where it all happened: the loyal fellowship, petty arguments, shared home-cooked meals, loving encouragement, heartbreaking news, revealed disappointments, warm hospitality to visitors, where all emotions from mindless silliness to deep, heavy sadness was witnessed. If only these walls could talk. It is a wonderful photo and really took me back home. Thank you. My KitchenExcept for the salmon pink color and the vintage appliances, that could pass for my current kitchen. http://picasaweb.google.com/Schmthaus/OurKitchen Groovy kitchensMy kitchen, which was my parents', was remodeled in 1966 when I was 6 years old. The countertops are white with turquoise flecks, which match the turquoise stove top. The wall oven door was also once the same shade, but was replaced by a white door in the 1980s. I may be jaded, but I still think its a very timeless color scheme. Much nicer than avocado or brown. My Mammaw's Kitchen, circa 1962That's me, hiding... Let's Make a DealWe don't have O'Keefe and Merritt here on the East Coast. (Oddly enough our gas range growing up was an RCA.) But we're familiar with the O'Keefe name. They sure gave enough of them away on the quiz shows! I just put a bid on a house......and while one bathroom is green, the other is PINK...tile and everything! The kitchen is white (mercifully!), but I don't know how I'm going to live without a dishwasher. (Instead of "mad4books," I'll just be "mad.") Oh, and schmthaus, thanks for the pics of your kitchen. It kinda' reminded me of the Shorpy gem found at: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3201 Aluminum tumblersI've commented here about anodized aluminum tumblers before (in fact, Safari filled in the Subject for me after I typed "Alu"). We had the little "socks" too. I'd make a full blender's worth of chocolate shake, fill up a big glass to drink, then pour the rest into an aluminum tumblers and stick it into the freezer. The little sock came in really handy when holding onto that when I took it out later to eat with a spoon. You can find the tumblers on many shopping sites. We got some new ones a couple years ago. Good Bye O'Keefe & MerrittHad to replace my MIL's O'Keefe & Merritt stove/ove about a year ago. Tried to sell it but ended up just having the appliance store remove it when they delivered the new stove. Great old stoves and ovens, but we just couldn't get it repaired to keep the pilot light lit. Custard CupsThe clear glass dishes on the back right corner of the sink are custard or pudding cups. We had 'em, too. I like vanilla pudding. Dad likes chocolate and butterscotch. My sisters like chocolate. Everyone but me likes tapioca. Not really sure which my mother preferred. Dad might know. Or the elder of my sisters (both younger). She remembers things *everyone* else has forgot. That looks like a rugged wall-mounted hand cranked Swing-A-Way can opener at the far left. It was the best kind, because it was geared, and didn't depend on just friction to advance the can. I don't remember ever seeing the hand-held model like the Swing-A-Way I have now. There were hand-helds, but they were the friction variety. We moved a lot (Dad was a Methodist minister), and it just occurred to me that he would have had to find either studs or wood paneling to mount it every time we moved. And we had (perhaps Dad still does) a rolling cart very similar to the one on the right. Ours is white, and has a heavy power cable for the outlet mounted on the cart, so it can be used to move a toaster close to the table. Aluminum tumblers we only saw in the houses of others. Not sure why we didn't have them. (Ours were fairly heavy-duty clear plastic.) We kids were suitably awed by the jewel tones. I can't quite make out what those things are between the sink and the back left burner. Anyone? Salmon Kitchen thingsNice observations, Custard Cup poster, thanks. Things to the left of the back burner you were wondering about: the round ones sticking up are lids to cooking pots and pans in a rack mounted on the side of the sink cabinet. On the counter in front of the custard cups, the orange-colored blob is actually a lemon, or half a lemon to be exact. That's what Mother used to remove tarnish from copper items, like the bottoms of her Revereware and that hot water kettle there on the stove. In front of the lemon is the little decorative ceramic dish that's on the wall at the upper right in our living room photos here and here. Must be there to get washed. Those Cabinets!Our kitchen cabinets looked like that, down to the same silver handles on the door. Our house was built in 1951, so I guess it wasn't just 40s vintage. Pink!I also have a fondness for that 1950s pink. I recently purchased a 1956 home in Sacramento with the original pink bathroom in absolutely pristine condition. I'm so lucky the place didn't get remodeled with the gawdawful '70s or '80s decor! I know that sink!My maternal grandparents had that exact sink, with the sloping/fluted area on the left for draining dishwater and the soap holder sensibly positioned over the valves/spout. Theirs was always equipped with a green bar of Lava - an item perhaps also visible in your photo. O'Keefe RangeI have to comment about the O'Keefe & Merritt range in the photo. We have one still in use at the local museum here in Bend, Oregon. A friend of mine and I just repaired it and adjusted the gas burners. Still works great. I don't think you can improve some things. What is interesting is the Cadillac emblem on the top of the range! [As well as that "DeVille" script on the right. Click to embiggen. UPDATE: This is O'Keefe & Merritt's deluxe 40-inch DeVille model, "the Cadillac of ranges." Below, newspaper ad from January 1957. Was tterrace's stove the Starline-Wilshire with Grillevator broiler and Hi-Vue oven? - Dave] Merritt MemoriesWow, that museum piece O'Keefe & Merritt range fryejo posted nearly brought tears to my eyes - the knobs, exactly the same as ours. Odd that knobs stir such nostalgic emotions. Possibly it's because they were so much closer to eye level when we got it. The power plugs bring back another one: Mother had the electric waffle iron on the griddle; the top slipped out of her hand and fell back; sparks flew; the latch had welded itself to the griddle. UPDATE to Dave's Update: Ours didn't have a fancy-schmancy nameplate, a Hi-Vue oven viewer or a Grillevator (though it did have a rotisserie that didn't work for long), it might have been something of a rarity; at any rate, of the dozens of vintage O'Keefe & Merritt photos I've found online, the only ones that match its configuration - wrap-around chrome top, space-age square clock, straight chrome door handles and single oven window - are of this one here on Shorpy. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kitchens etc., tterrapix)
Vacation Time: 1969
... Marquis and headed from Raleigh up through Indiana, SD, WY Oregon down through LA and back east across the desert through AZ, NM, TX and ... 
 
Posted by Mvsman - 09/13/2011 - 10:36pm -

Leaving Walnut, CA for Wyoming and Nebraska in July 1969. I'm on the left, trying to look cool, going to start high school in the fall. Yikes, those socks! There's my Dad and Mom, who appeared in earlier pictures. They're showing some age progression. Both are in their early 40s here. My little brother was a surly bundle of anti-joy then, and he whined a lot through the whole trip. We packed up the '64 Chevelle wagon and left for the great unknown. As a surly teen, I read a lot of books along the way and grunted and moaned a lot. During the trip, we heard about the Charles Manson family murders in Los Angeles, and being only 30 or so miles away, I was really scared to come home. It all worked out ... thanks for looking and I look forward to your comments. View full size. Chilling NewsWe too were leaving for our vacation on our way from Diamond Bar (not too far from Walnut) to visit the grandparents in "Idyllic Larkspur" (near San Francisco) when we heard all about the Tate-LaBianca murders on the car radio. It definitely put a damper on the trip for us adults. With the three kids squabbling in the back of our VW van (Mom, she looked at me!), I don't know if they heard any of it or not. Our oldest kid was 9, the middle one 6, and the youngest 4. -- tterrace's sister Vacations in a wagonYou know, vacations just aren't vacations without a station wagon. Sorry, but an SUV just isn't the same thing. Folks across the street have a 1965 Rambler Classic Cross-Country; ours was a 1966. Did you have air-conditioning? Maybe that would have quelled the grumbling and moaning somewhat. I know that we welcomed the A/C in our Rambler after 10 years without it in our '56. But now, decades later, I'll occasionally switch mine off and roll down the windows when cruising along a rural road, and the breeze carrying the aromas of cut hay and other vegetation fills me with a warm, nostalgic glow. A great, era-defining shot, thanks! (Out of respect for your mother, I won't comment on her headgear - although I just did, didn't I?) West of the MidwestWyoming AND Nebraska? You are a lucky, lucky boy. One of our few vacations from our Indiana home was a trip to Iowa but since my dad was on some sort of a deadline* we didn't get to enjoy any of Illinois' diversions that must surely have existed along I-80, or so I dreamed. Departing from Walnut, CA, mvsman must have seen plenty of I-80 as well on his "Asphalt of America" tour. *Who has a deadline on a trip to Iowa? It was only 250 miles! FootwearYour shoes are in style about every 8 years or so. Just keep the shoes and wait for them to come back. Your dad's dark socks (with shorts), on the other hand ... Adler socksI bet they were Adler socks. I graduated from high school the year before and it was all the rage to wear Adler socks in colors that matched your shirt. Black socks with sandalsMy wife thinks I invented that look. I can't wait to show her that it's retro chic. Chevy Bel AirIt's either a 68 or 69, sitting in the other neighbor's garage - complete with trailer-light connector installed in the bumper. [It's a '68. - Dave] Love Your Mom's Hat!I think you looked quite cool for an "almost" high schooler! Your mom's hat is the best! I bet she's pinching your little brother. Or maybe that was just my mom! PurgatoryWe used our '69 Pontiac Catalina station wagon to put the gear in the middle and the whiny kids waaaay back on the rear-facing seat. Man, I loved that car! Meanwhile ...At the beginning of that very same month we were on our way back from Los Angeles in a white 1965 Impala wagon with no AC and a ton of camping equipment both on the roof and in the back. We stayed in Reno on the Fourth, hoping that the drunken manager of the KOA there wouldn't accidentally back over our tent. I was more or less inured to the lack of cool, even back in Maryland, and I think the only time we really noticed it on the trip was when it was over a hundred crossing the Mojave. The Impala was passed on to my great-uncle who drove it until it dropped sometime in the mid-1970s. By 1969 we had left short haircuts behind, which since I had thick glasses meant I looked totally dorky in a completely different way; my father, on the other hand, was well into leaving hair itself behind. I notice you're wearing the de rigueur cutoffs, which is pretty much what we wore when we weren't in jeans. TweaksDitch the socks and you'd fit in perfectly with today's Williamsburg hipsters. You were scared?I was terrified! I was 11 years old at the time of the Manson murders and lived only 20 miles away. In my 11 year old mind, I was convinced the murderers would find their way to my house and they were specifically go after me! Thanks for posting this. This photo captures the "feel" of L.A. suburbia of the era perfectly- just as I remembered it. To the Moon!I started high school in 1969, too. Did your trip start before or after the moon landing? Did your parents make you watch it on TV, even though you wanted to be out with your friends? That was a surly moment for ME for that reason. Don't worry -- the shades and the hair in your eyes make up for the socks. 1969Was not this the year of the PLAID ? Fun vacationNebraska? For a vacation? I drove through that state. Couldn't get out fast enough. I was only 3 in 1969, but lived in nearby Simi Valley, home of Spahn Ranch. What city was this taken?? Oh yeah, love your mom's hat. I have pics somewhere of my mom wearing the same thing. What were people thinking?? We went after the moon landingI actually watched it on my little black and white TV in my room. I was a space geek then (and now). Thanks! That Ramblerbelonged to the superintendent of our school district! He and my dad knew each other causally, to say hi to or wave at as the car went by. I don't recall if we had AC in that car. It had a small engine and was seriously underpowered for hills and mountains. Now, I'll try to did up slides of our earlier trips in my granddad's borrowed 1959 Chevy Nomad wagon! This was truly a luxury barge on wheels. This thing looked like it was 15 feet wide and 25 feet long (to my 8 year old eyes). I had the entire back area to myself and my comic books, as little bro wasn't on the scene yet. The Summer of '69Grew up in La Puente, not far from Walnut. My 1969 was the the summer of "Sugar, Sugar" and Man on the Moon. 41 years ago -- WOW Taz!When I saw your brother, the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil came to mind! Mom's "Hat"That's no hat, it's a curler-cover. A la Phyllis Diller. A different eraIn '69, my dad was making probably about $18K-$20K a year. My mom stayed home. Yet we took similar vacations, 2-3 weeks at a time. Now, my wife and I work like rented mules and can't afford to go anywhere. When station wagons ruled the roadEach summer, Dad would load up the gear in the suction-cup equipped, stamped steel Western-Auto roof carrier on top of the old '61 Ford Falcon wagon and off we'd go. Looking back, it truly took faith and fortitude to pile a family of five and enough gear to support a safari in that underpowered, unairconditioned two-door wagon and set off fron Louisville to the far reaches of the country (New York City, Washington D.C., Miami). I remember fighting with my brothers over the desirable real estate in the back of the wagon where you could stretch out (no seatbelts) and watch the miles of highway fade into the distance through the tailgate window! Wagon MemoriesOur 1957 Mercury Colony Park station wagon with the Turnpike Cruiser engine had a similarly slanted rear window. On our trip to California later that year, Pop decided to drive on through the final night to miss the desert heat, with us kids sleeping in the back. I discovered I could position myself to see the road ahead as a reflection in the rear window, while simultaneously looking through the glass to watch the clear Western skies for shooting stars. What can beat the cozy feeling of slipping off to sleep while rolling along the open road while Pop faithfully pilots the family bus through the dark? Sixty-NineAh, Summer of '69, my favorite year. Got my driver's license. Got my FCC Third Phone. Started work part time in a REAL radio station. My parents ran their own store so we couldn't take too many trips. I'm jealous of those of you who did. And yes, Nebraska was borrrring to ride across back then, but today it isn't bad -- there are several interesting attractions across the state and a nice Interstate to zip you through! FourteenI was 14 years old that summer of 1969 (living in Cocoa Beach, Florida). I can relate to the yellow socks. I had a few pair of those. The color of the socks were supposed to match the color of the shirt. It looks like those are a freshly cut-off pair of jeans. What's in your father's right shirt pocket? A lens cover, maybe? Who took the photo? I see the car in the garage across the street looks like a '68 Chevy Impala--round taillights. And the Rambler in the next drive looks very nice too. A little peek of the mountain is nice too. I've never been to that area so I have no conception of what it's like there. Great photo, thanks for sharing a piece of your childhood memory. Cartop carrierMan, I want one of those roof carriers. Looks like it holds a lot of stuff. Memories aboundOur vacations were exactly the same (even my dad's socks with sandals). We headed from our Fountain Valley Ca home like thieves in the night. Had to get across the desert before the heat killed the kids. Of course we had an aftermarket AC installed by Sears so the front seat was a chill zone (no kids allowed). Our vacations happened at breakneck speed but we saw everything and always ended our trips with a pass through Vegas for Dad & Grandma. Fun times! "The Box" - Rooftop CarrierOur family trips were always in a station wagon, and always with "the box" on top. Dad built and refined a series of boxes over the years. They were much larger and taller than the one in the picture. All our luggage, supplies etc went in "the box" leaving the wagon for the 6 of us. With the back seat folded down my brother and I could sleep in sleeping bags in the back. In the winter dad put brackets on the box sides and bungee-tied all our skis on. The station wagons themselves were amazing. Dad always bought the biggest engine offered (we needed it), a large v8. The last wagon had dual air conditioners, front and rear. And how about the rear doors on a wagon. The rear door folded down or opened from the side, and the window went up and down. SUVs, get serious, they have very little useful space. No fairI suspect one of the reasons the younger brother is looking so crabby is that he didn't get sunglasses like everybody else. It's no fun to squint all day. Tterrace is completely right, roadtrips just aren't the same without a big ol' station wagon. I loved sitting in the rear-facing seat when I was a kid. And I remember being fascinated by the tailgate that could open two ways: swinging from the left-side hinge or folding down like a pickup truck. Hi Pat QYour recollections are so evocative of those road trips from another time. Life seemed simpler, or is it just filtered through our nostalgia screen? Great Time To Be AliveSure brings back memories!! I started HS in '68. We went on many, many driving vacations to New Mexico, Colorado, OK, MO & many places near the Panhandle of Texas where I grew up!! Road trips now are usually to the coast or TX Hill Country, but still have a magic to them, leaving before the sun's up!! ChevelleLove the car. In high school, a wagon was an embarrassment. Now I wish I had one. VentipanesOur family of six and a dog would pile into our '63 Lincoln and while sitting in the driveway Dad would ask Mom, "Okay, where do you all want to go?" Then we would be off to Nova Scotia or Florida. There was no AC in either the Lincoln or the '63 Impala we had so we would drive the whole way with windows open in the summer heat. If you turned the vent windows all the way open so they were facing into the car they would generate a terrific amount of airflow into the cabin at highway speed. It was quite comfortable actually and 40+ years later I wish cars still had those vent windows. Lunar summerSeveral have mentioned the Apollo 11 landing. I have a similar tale. I was 7, just a little too young to understand the significance of the event. I remember my mother trying to keep me interested as she sat on the edge of her seat watching the coverage. Now I'm glad I remember that night, and get chills watching the video and Walter Cronkite taking off his glasses and saying "Whoo boy!" totally at a loss for words. That was an awesome summer! Oh yeah, we had a station wagon too. '69 Caprice Estate with fake wood paneling! Almost had the wagon...Our family was cursed to miss out on having station wagon vacations - first time in '65, we were supposed to be getting a red '62 Corvair wagon from my uncle who was going into the Air Force but he hit some black ice and rolled it while he was delivering it from back east (he was unhurt). Next in '66 we traded our rusted-out '56 Chevy for a beige '63 Dodge 440 eight-passenger wagon; I was looking forward riding in the third seat on our annual trip from Chicago to Paducah, but a lady in a '62 Continental hit it. We ended up with a maroon '65 Impala hardtop for the next several years' vacations, but at least it had AC! Our imitation wagonWe did not have a wagon so Dad cut a piece of plywood for the back seat of our 57 Mercury that gave us kids a full flat surface in the back seat. Holding it up were two coolers on the floor. On top Dad blew up two air mattresses, then they gave us "kiddy drugs" (gravol). They caught onto that after the first trip in which that back seat became a wrestling arena. Hi BarrydaleSugar Sugar is a favorite of mine to this day. The San Gabriel Valley has changed a lot since those days, eh? And the year beforeAnd the year prior to this photo my family, consisting of myself at 13, my sisters aged 10 and 4 (or 5) loaded up in a 2 door Marquis and headed from Raleigh up through Indiana, SD, WY Oregon down through LA and back east across the desert through AZ, NM, TX and driving one marathon from Texarkana to Anderson SC in one day, during the peace marches throughout the South that summer! I still remember passing the civil rights marchers for mile after mile on the roads through MS, AL and GA. The trip took two months.... and you think YOU heard whining from your brother? Sometimes things don't changeThe socks may be a little bit high, and shorts a bit short, but the way you are dressed is exactly the way many kids at my middle/high school dress now. Especially the ones going into high school, I'm just stunned by how similar you are. I could actually almost confuse you with my younger brother, who is so similar he even has blond hair. Right now I'm planning a road trip in my 1968 Ford Falcon for the spring, its a 4 door sedan and not a wagon. But it is a daily driver kind of car, not a show car, so I drive it in the same way your parents might have driven their car, not to show off, but just to get around. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids)
March on Washington: 1925
... sooo much power in local governments. In my home state of Oregon, they managed to swing the vote for governor away from the Catholic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 12:13pm -

"KKK parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, August 8, 1925." From the Washington Post's report: "Phantom-like hosts of the Ku Klux Klan spread their white robe over the nation's most historic thoroughfare yesterday in one of the greatest demonstrations this city has ever known. . . . Police estimated that there were 30,000-35,000 in the weird procession -- men, women and children of the Klan." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Well, why couldn't it happen today? As far as I know, the First Amendment is still in effect. Just because their views are reprehensible doesn't mean they can't express them. Granted, the public protest/confrontation would be intense. But that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. CreepyI guess I'm creeped out by the marchers (looks like they're holding hands & skipping) ... but what really astounds me is the CROWD! This was a big, although peaceful, event. The fact that they don't have their faces covered is surprising too. [The District of Columbia had an "anti-masking" law. - Dave] ProgressWe have made decent progress in these 84 years; still a ways to go, but we are on the right track! Things have changed a lot in 80 years.Imagine this now, especially given the recent inaugural parade. Well, nothing's perfect.This is a reminder to those of us who feel we were born 100 years too late that the "good old days" sometimes had their darker side. A scene like this on Pennsylvania Avenue simply could not happen today, and thankfully so. Of course, back then this would have offended a good many people as well, both black and white. KKKThe Klan had surprising power in the 20s for several reasons. Americans were increasingly xenophobic because of the "foreign entanglements" of WWI, resented new crops of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, and also resented advancements made during the "Great Migration" when African Americans moved North to work in war jobs. In addition, it was a pyramid scheme, as members would receive a kickback for signing up other Klansmen. They had their day until embezzlement and kidnap/rape charges afflicted some of their higher leadership. Good riddance. [The biggest bee in the Klan's bonnet at the time seems to have been the teaching of evolution in public schools. - Dave] FSFWell, now we have the Folsom Street Fair. Forgotten but not goneThe robes and hoods may be gone, but many of their judgments about social issues remain intact and in play in the back-and-forth of state ballot measures across the country. That is both the bright and dark side of Democracy. The Klan itself may have more or less gone away, but, as late as the mid-1980s, when I parked my rusty old pickup in the commercial district of a certain rednecky suburb east of San Diego, I would invariably find a business card on my windshield when I returned, inviting me to the monthly public orientation meeting of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. Evidently my beat-up Chevy 3/4 ton suggested to one of their supporters that I was probably "in the demo." And to this day, San Diego County (in the godless, liberal state of California) has the only museum in the country devoted to teaching "the science of Creationism." 'Coupla things ....I've scanned this photo to the best of my ability but cannot make out any black faces. This both does and doesn't surprise me; it just looks odd to see only white faces in that crowd. Secondly, I have to chuckle at all those big, white, "God-fearin'" men holding hands in public! I guess they weren't, as yet, hip to the looming, insidious "lavender menace" that would soon be arriving on the social scene to hand the KKK another lame raison d'etre. Other than that, what really caught my eye were all those beautiful buildings! Do any of them still exist? I'm afraid to look for myself. Constitutionally and legallyConstitutionally and legally it could happen, but the KKK is tiny and disorganized these days and they frankly couldn't get it done even if they managed to get a few hundred people to show up. Even if they did get something together, they would be massively outnumbered by counter-demonstrators. Kodak momentI see some of the spectators in the buildings have their Kodaks. We don't often see photography in Shorpy photos. Ooo Wee OooOoo Wee OO EE OOO Rum Ooo Wee OO EE OOO Rum The best thing about this picture:They're all dead now. HypocrisyHolding hands? Seems kinda Gay to me. I thought they was against that kinda thing. Women TooJudging by the shoes on the participants on the right, I'd say the parade had both men and women in it. It was a bit of a surprise as I had always assumed the KKK to be exclusively male. [Like a lot of fraternal organizations, the Klan had a Ladies' Auxiliary. - Dave] Weirded OutThis picture totally weirds me out. I can NOT imagine that many KKK members in one place. I read several studies on the KKK in the past and it still amazes me that they wielded sooo much power in local governments. In my home state of Oregon, they managed to swing the vote for governor away from the Catholic delegates. It is strange to think they had so much power and now are so fragmented (thank GOD). Horror pictureThis is the scariest picture on the site. Forget Frankenstein. These are the real monsters. "Innocently" partying and parading by day, lynching the true innocents after dark. But as far as them all being dead -- not so. There are plenty of people alive who were born before 1925. The parents in this photo may be dead, but the children are still with us. You can see those children watching their parents (and others in the parade) from the sidelines. And you can almost hear the chants, which were surely going on as they marched, that put their version of Christianity together with their concept of "the white race." I'll bet the sounds surrounding this parade were even more scary than the sight. So many white sheetsLooks like the laundries in Washington did a good business for a few days. Special Attention to Ladies The Occidental Restaurant, established 1906, is still serving diners. The following advertisement, circa 1923: Masked MenOne is reminded of any number of current marches by the likes of, say, Hamas. The Klan was a domestic terrorist organiztion with considerable political clout. That we survived this era should say something about the prospects of some new democracies in other parts. What, exactly, I'm not sure. Oh, wow!A national Crack-the-Whip convention! You can tell these guys are experienced players, as they are all wearing white, which, of course, can be bleached after a sullying, rousing match. One has to wonder how the dunce caps would hold up during a rigorous game of Red Rover. Occidental Restaurant"Famous for Food" -- As opposed to what? The tablecloths? Something I NoticedNear the corner, standing a bit forward from the fence, is a kid wearing a beanie with what looks like with the Star of David on it. It seems a bit extraordinary that a Jewish family would go to a parade like that, and if it's just someone's hat, well, I would think about what I was putting on my child if that was were we were going (or if it was the 20's). Other than that, there are just so many KKK people. They go back really far. It's shocking. Wow, what an intolerant group...I'm not referring to the photo, but the extreme hatred in the comments accompanying it. These venemous responses are far more frightening than an old photo of a legal, civil march, even if one disagrees with their philosophies. I'd be interested to see post-march photos as to how clean the area was left, as compared to the "tingly" feeling activity that occured this past January. Now that truly scary brainwashed mob (who left the area looking like a war zone), are something to truly fear. The overwhelming majority of those attending that truly frightening event epitomize the term "uncivil". One can only hope that in the 80+ years that follow, all those in attendance will surely be deceased, as well as their anti-American socialist and communist ideologies, so future generations can overcome the true nightmare of the cesspool that we are currently call America. [America is a "true nightmare of a cesspool"? Talk about extreme. Whutta nut. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
Oh, the Places I'll Go: 1939
... up the in-laws? [Especially if they're on the way to Oregon or Washington via one of the northern routes. - Dave] Lantern ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2008 - 1:07am -

June 1939. Migrant child in family car east of Fort Gibson. Muskogee County, Oklahoma. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee. PegasusThe Pegasus (winged horse) medallion is from Magnolia Oil Co., a Texas company that would later become Mobil Oil. There used to be a large red version of this logo on the top of one of the tallest building in Dallas in the 1950s-60s. PegasusThanks for the update, Rick. I obviously haven't been in downtown Dallas for several years. On closer inspection, it appears the medallion was cut or torn off of some sort of sign post. You can see the uneven stake below the horse. It was probably some sort of advertising thingamajig that this fellow used to create a "bumper sticker" on his truck. It is curious that a Texas truck headed west would be in Muskogee, OK...maybe taking the scenic route - or swinging through Oklahoma to pick up the in-laws? [Especially if they're on the way to Oregon or Washington via one of the northern routes. - Dave] LanternCould that kerosene lantern be the tail light? On the Road AgainIt's possible they were from East Texas and went north toward Tulsa to catch U.S. 66 before heading westward. Texas was long famous for its quality roads (even dinky Farm To Market roads were exemplary), but Route 66 provided more opportunities to eat, rest and repair the auto than found on other roads in Texas. [Or they could be heading up to catch the Lincoln Highway, main cross-country route to the Northwest. - Dave] Hoover Highway>> Or they could be heading up to catch the Lincoln Highway, main cross-country route to the Northwest. D'oh! Although in the part of Iowa where I used to live, it's called the Herbert Hoover Highway. PegasusThe Pegasus sign was still up in downtown Dallas (unlighted and non-rotating) until 1999, when the sign was finally taken down, rebuilt and put back up. The Magnolia hotel has been restored as well. The Kid in the CarIs the star of a Photoshop contest over at Fark. Check out the entries. SoconyI remember the name Socony-Mobil for the oil company. Where did that name arise from? [Socony = Standard Oil Company of New York. Wikipedia. - Dave] Magnolia Oil & Mobil OilThe Magnolia Petroleum Company was founded in 1911, consolidating operations of several smaller oil companies that had been operating in Texas since 1898. In 1931, Magnolia became an affiliate of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company. The Magnolia Petroleum Company merged with Socony Mobil Oil Company in 1959. I grew up in East Texas where Magnolia Oil signs were rusting by the 1960's. The Pegasus logo was (and apparently still is) a downtown Dallas landmark. See previous comments. [Dear Goober: Your comments would show up right away if you signed up for a user account, or logged in before posting. - Dave] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Farked, Kids, On the Road, Russell Lee)
101 Broadway Pharmacy: 1957
... W. McCorkle, born in Tygh Valley Precinct, Wasco County, Oregon on June 6, 1906 to farmer Rufus W. McCorkle and his wife Jessica L. ... they are all shown as living in Wapinitia, Wasco County, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Pharmacy ... 
 
Posted by Cazzorla - 06/29/2014 - 5:37pm -

I purchased this 8 x 10 print at the swap meet. On the back is printed: Mr. and Mrs. Cliff McCorkle, proprietors of the 101 Broadway Pharmacy, Richmond, Calif., getting an order ready for delivery. 5 November 1957. Photographer: Pfc. Barbara A. Warner, Sixth US Army Photo Lab, Presidio of San Francisco, Calif. Official US Army photograph. View full size. "Fling"?Somebody is going to have to convince me that it's really for feet. SquibbThey were an official ER Squibb Vitamin Headquarters. Having grown up next to the factory in Brooklyn, I recognize the 3 column logo. My color versionI've been getting into colorizing photos. If a product name was legible, I looked up references of old packaging on google to try to get the colors as accurate as possible. Some of the hair care products and lotions I had to fudge on it because I couldn't find them, but most of the other stuff is accurate. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think the color really adds to the photo. It was my intention to get it as accurate as possible. Check it out: https://www.shorpy.com/node/18065 ImpressedI am happy that this photo has been well received. I never thought that I'd get to see a color version, or a photo of the photographer! I have a few more pictures from this collection that I will share sometime. Divinity memoriesAs a kid growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s, divinity was home made candy. Sugar, eggs whites, corn syrup, vanilla, sugar and pecans combined to make a divine candy. I haven't visited Mississippi in 25 years, but today there is always the hope someone will bring divinity to a church supper. Maybe I should just make some tonight. Top GunkI can't see any in the photo, but I bet they carry Dapper Dan pomade. S&HAnd they give out Green Stamps. Sales no longer allowedNearly 50 years from the date on this picture, Richmond enacted an ordinance that prohibits the sale of tobacco products in establishments with pharmacies. You have to go to El Cerrito or Albany now for your nicotine fix. Why?A very odd subject for an official Army photograph. Since Letterman Army Hospital had a complete pharmacy and all military personnel stationed at the Presidio would have had access thereto, I'm left to wonder why this shot was taken. For Your HealthGet your Myadec vitamins here! Only $85.50 for the economy size! That amount equates to $723.86 in today's dollars! Gone but not forgotten, until now.Clove Life Savers I guess that flavor is not popular any longer, but I do remember purchasing them in the past but not really sure why? Coffee Time!Am I the last living human who remembers the taste of coffee-flavored candy? It was pretty good, actually. ...and is there ANYBODY who ever ate Clove Life-Savers? They musta sold okay, but yikes! Can't rememberthe last time I saw a package of"Clorets"! "Brusha, Brusha, BrushaWith the new Ipana." CloveI remember clove gum, but not the Life Savers. The thing that strikes me is the great variety of 1950s cigarettes in the back--Camels, Kents, Cavaliers, Pall Malls, Marlboros, L&Ms, and Herbert Tareytons. RepurposedAppears the address still exists, but the building is now a Planned Parenthood office. Divinity candyWhat was that? I don't remember them. If you eat it were you guaranteed to go to heaven or were they just sold to Priests? [Divinity. -tterrace] Clove Lifesavers and other flavorsI remember very well getting the Lifesavers Sweet Story Book every Christmas back in the 50s. It was a book-shaped box that opened and revealed 10 rolls of Lifesavers. They always included Clove, Wint-O-Green, Butter Rum and Butterscotch, 5-flavor, Orange, and others. Clove and Wint-O-Green were my favorites, and always saved until last. We were neighbors!I lived in Richmond in November 1957 (I was 4 at the time). I wonder if my folks ever shopped here? Shoot, maybe my mom was standing just off to the side when this picture was taken (she was always kinda shy). Tough TownAh, Richmond. I grew up just south of there, in Albany. Always a tough place: factories, warehouses, oil refinery. Best part of Richmond for me was that it was where we got on the Ferry to San Rafael on the way to Stinson Beach most Sundays. Looking for a certain productI was hoping to catch a glimpse of the cold and flu products near the vapor rubs, to find 4 way cold tablets. My mother swore by them for any signs of a cold coming on. Take the 4 way pill, get under a heavy blanket, and sweat the cold right out of you. And believe it not, they actually worked! Does anyone else remember them? Old Time products!Amazing how many of those items are still available and how many are gone. I was 11 years old when that picture was taken. If it didn't say where it was from it could have been from any Drugstore in America at that time. I know there was one across from the school I went to in Chicago at the time that had that same kind of goodie rack and one closer to my house same thing. Neighborhood pharmacy!I lived just a few blocks away from this pharmacy from birth to age 20! My folks undoubtedly knew the McCorkles! Very cool photo! Wint-O-Green memoriesAh! The counter candy stand of my youth. Separate comments here each touch on one part of the story, but marketing ad-speak nowadays has dropped the use of "breath-mints" as a catchall. Yes, all those packs of cigarettes often got sold with strong breath masking mints, candies and gum. Let me also make a nod toward the LifeSaver Sweet Story Book. At Christmas we each got one and could always identify it although wrapped. Opened last, its contents assisting in thoughtful appraisal of our acquired loot. We called Wint-O-Green "spark-in-the-dark." Chew some with your mouth open and lights out to understand why. Not in Kansas anymoreThe article below is from page 3 of the Sunday, December 30, 1956 issue of the The Salina Journal. By the time Barbara returned to Hays, Kansas in 1961 for her mother's funeral (her father had died in 1954), she was known as Mrs. Barbara Constantin of San Francisco. There was a particular smell and a particular coolnessthat hit you when you entered a drugstore of that era -- I can't describe it except that it was very clean smelling. Regardless of whether the store was a Rexall or a Walgreens or a local independent, the smell was the same -- very pleasant. I always associated it as a cross between the medicines that the druggists were compounding (always in white tunic like in the picture) and the soda fountain that was inevitably part of the store. There was also a coolness to drug stores when I was growing up (1950's). A lot of stores were still not air-conditioned at that time, especially if they were not a chain or franchise, but it seemed to me that drug stores always felt cool. When you sat at the fountain, the marble or the formica or tile of the counter was always cold to the touch. You go into a drugstore today and the smell and that coolness just isn't there. Have a cold?That Vicks Vapo Rub and Mentholatum were Moms favorites for a chest cold. First was the application to the chest just before going to bed so the vapors could work overnight. If that didn't work, the next step was to put a spoon or two of Vicks or Mentholatum in a large bowl, add hot water, and have me breath the vapors with a towel covering both my head and the bowl. It usually worked to clear out congestion. My High School Addiction --Wint-o-GreensAh LifeSavers. Through the early 60s. I went through roll after roll of that addictive goody. Cliff & Lola McCorkleOur pharmacist is Clifford W. McCorkle, born in Tygh Valley Precinct, Wasco County, Oregon on June 6, 1906 to farmer Rufus W. McCorkle and his wife Jessica L. McCorkle. He had two older brothers: Calvin, born in 1891, and Lester born in 1892. He was still living with his parents in 1920, but they are all shown as living in Wapinitia, Wasco County, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Pharmacy on June 3, 1929. The photo below is from his senior yearbook. The 1930 U.S. Census shows him living in Hillsboro City, Washington County, Oregon. He married at the age of 21, it shows him as a lodger in the home of John Kelley, but his wife is not listed with him. He is already working as a pharmacist in a drug store. In 1931 he is shown with his wife Lillian living at 297 E. 39th Street in Portland, Oregon. The 1940 U.S. Census shows that he was residing in San Francisco by 1935. In 1937 he was working at Birnbaum & Son Drugs at 757 Market Street, San Francisco, CA. He was living with his wife Lillian at 511 Leavenworth in San Francisco. In 1940 he was working as a pharmacist in a drug store in San Francisco, California, he was making $2,185 a year, and he was now divorced. His residence is at the Lyric Hotel. In 1955 he worked at Bellini's Bayside Pharmacy and his wife Lola is a clerk in the store. They resided in Oakland, California at the time. He died on January 10, 1972 still in Richmond, Contra Costa County, California. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Bell System: 1942
July 1942. "Oakridge, Oregon. Population 520. Town telephone switchboard." Medium format acetate ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/27/2022 - 5:14pm -

July 1942. "Oakridge, Oregon. Population 520. Town telephone switchboard." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Bells Are RingingIf you've seen a switchboard operator in action, it was probably in the movies -- most prominently, "Bells Are Ringing" (1960), starring the great Judy Holliday. PBXHome-built, from the look of it; neat and careful carpentry, but no frills. Thanks to Starrleo, this is not home-built, but W.E. The nice finger joinery on the cabniet should have been a clue... A massive array of 16 8 bells, with room for expansion (?) to serve 520 residents! (clapper's clappers between the bells and hits both when it rings, I suspect) I counted 34 subscribers, starting with City Hall, City Marshal ... Clark's Garage, along with Clark, Dale, Mrs. Cramer's got two, the Drug Store and the Highway Store; must be profitable! Samantha here (doesn't she look like Elizabeth?!?) might be all of 20, and probably bored witless, without a screen to be had ... I'll pay you later, Thelma!I find the NO CREDIT sign interesting. I would guess the town operator had some leeway somehow to give credit. Would only be on a pay phone I suppose? Also, interesting that there is cash in the drawer. Your call cannot be completed...anymore to #26. Burned in 2000. (which building had the phone ?? We may never know) A Nod to Bryant Pond, MaineBryant Pond had the last crank telephone system in America, finally surrendering to Touch-Tone phones in 1983. To call my friend in Bryant Pond, I had to dial O and explain to the Operator that I wanted to call Bryant Pond 33. Most Operators had no idea what I was talking about and needed to hunt down an old-timer to handle the job. Her name is operatorSince Oakridge was a small town, I looked in the 1940 census for anyone listing their occupation as operator for a telephone service (there are various operators for the railroad and lumber mill). No one showed up. Either our young switchboard technician wasn't working there in 1940, or she lived outside Oakridge. [Just because you can work a switchboard doesn't mean you'd list that as your occupation. - Dave] Point taken, but I'd list it before anything else. She's a young person on the cutting edge of technology. I've been on the cutting edge of technology only once, remember Lotus123? Ever since I just stand in Best Buy and stare at the sales associate, wondering what they're talking about. One man in Oakridge listed his occupation as proprietor of a fix-it shop. No, his name wasn't Emmett. Multi Tasking Job PositionI suspect that "Samantha's" job was more than just the phone operator. The "No Credit" and "Coca-Cola" signs behind her head in the adjacent room combined with the cash in the drawer make it appear to be some kind of a store. She was probably responsible for both the store operation as well as the phone operator duties. The tape on the one side of a double bell pair would have given that particular bell an early version of a what we now call a "Distinctive Ring Tone". Western Electric type 1012Is the make and type of this switchboard, made some 30 years before this photo was taken. Paid ExtraThe Grade School and High School are on a 2 party line, many other customers have more parties sharing their lines. See list at left edge of board. While that list shows 10 lines, the 10 position switchboard has only 8 pairs of bells installed. FlashThis link tells about message precedence on radio, etc., and ranks "Flash" messages at the top of the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_precedence The card instructs the operator to tell Long Distance "Army Flash", probably to expedite getting a connection. An example of such an important message in July 1942 might be "The Japs have landed"! From a conversation with my father, circa 1954"No, son, that's not why it's called 'Bell Telephone.'" Too many for meBack in the late 1960s, I tried to operate one of those multi-plugged PBX boards at the Cove Inn in Naples, Florida. The night clerk needed to go somewhere for an hour or so, and he gave me (a bellman) a cursory explanation of how the board worked and what I needed to do. I didn't do well and never tried it again. Not intuitive. Army Flash?Anyone want to 'splain the "Army Flash" sign at the bottom right? Army FlashThe "Army Flash" instruction card seems to relate to the Aircraft Warning Service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Warning_Service), where locally-organized volunteers were trained to spot enemy airplanes along the east and west coast. Per this account of legal testimony by one Mr. James Tully, in a 1945 NY Supreme Court Case (https://books.google.com/books?id=bBAMmaBa6LEC&lpg=RA6-PA457&ots=Vyogrc8...): "Q. Briefly, will you tell us … just what was the Airplane Warning Service was? A. Well, they had Posts located within about approximately eight miles of one another, and each post was supposed to take care of that eight mile area distance. You are supposed to see that far. As soon as a plane come into sight, you notice where it was going, the type plane it was, how many motors it had on it, and how many planes there were, whether one or more than one, and then you take off the telephone and you’d call the operator, say, ‘Army flash,’ and give your code number. They would hook you up with New York and you would tell the girl down there how many planes, how high they were, how far from your obgservation post and which way they were going and, that’s all." Hope somebody might have more info, or a personal recollection to share! SwitchboardingI ran a switchboard that size during 1970-71 while working my way through college. The board was at the front desk, mounted flush into a wall. All the wiring doodah was behind the wall, in a very small room, out in the open. There were wires hanging everywhere, and you had to be careful. I answered incoming calls and directed them to the right people. I also placed long-distance calls. It was a thankless job, and I left as soon as I could. I just Googled, and I see that the company went out of business in 1990. Well, that's fine with me. Army Flash The Army Flash card was instructions for handling military traffic. The card is specific to the local Army unit. (Technology, The Gallery, Pretty Girls, Russell Lee, Small Towns)
Sangria Seventies
... conversation at tterrace's table: October 5, 1973 - Oregon becomes the first state to decriminalize marijuana. October 9, 1973 - ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/22/2011 - 5:21pm -

If a single photo could capture 1970s Northern California culture, this might be it. The hair; the clothes; the round oak table; the funky old apartment with painted-over wainscoting; the giant bowl of sangria. I ought to know, I was there. In fact, there I am, at the left, at my brother's Santa Cruz place with his wife (lower left) and their friends in October 1973. My brother's Ektachrome slide. View full size. Autumn of LoveOh my. Do your parents know about this? Peace, ManIt's hard to believe all the changes we've been through since then -- but it still looks like a fun way to spend the evening. Where's the ashtray?I think it's missing a giant overflowing ashtray. Back then it seemed like EVERYONE smoked. Pine StreetWas this house located on Pine Street in east Santa Cruz? It looks like the kitchen in the house we moved into in 1978. The door would lead to the back porch/stoop area. Great photo! Groovy!Love the headband! I think the only thing missing in this picture is a bong. October 1973Seems like a long time ago – or just yesterday. On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt launched a military attack on Israel starting the Yom Kippur War. On October 16, 1973, OPEC cut production of oil and placed an embargo on shipments of crude oil to the West, with the United States and the Netherlands specifically targeted. As a result, oil prices rose to $3.65 per barrel – a year later it peaked over $12 per barrel. President Richard Nixon would sign the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act authorizing price, production, allocation and marketing controls on November 27, 1973. In the United States, the retail price of a gallon of gasoline rose from a national average of 38.5 cents in May 1973 to 55.1 cents in June 1974. I remember my grandfather hoarding gasoline – against all warnings and advice – at our small farm in East Texas. He had a couple 55-gallon drums in the barn, which he filled 5 gallons at a time from Earl’s Truck Stop on I-30. My mom was scared to death that the barn would explode and we were forbidden to go there. Other October, 1973 events, no doubt provoking dinner conversation at tterrace's table: October 5, 1973 - Oregon becomes the first state to decriminalize marijuana. October 9, 1973 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorce. October 10, 1973 - Spiro Agnew resigns as vice president of the United States after pleading nolo contendere to a count of tax-evasion. October 12, 1973 - President Nixon announces Gerald R. Ford as vice president. October 19, 1973 - At Watergate hearings, John Dean pleads guilty to his role in cover-up. Maybe on the radio in the kitchen - Billboard Top 10: 1. Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack 2. You're So Vain - Carly Simon 3. Touch Me In The Morning - Diana Ross 4. Sing – Carpenters 5. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder 6. Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips 7. Daniel - Elton John 8. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - Temptations 9. My Love - Paul McCartney & Wings 10. Yesterday Once More – Carpenters On SeabrightHere's the place, on Seabright Ave., in a 2011 Google street view: Corningware bowlsI find it interesting to see the four Corningware bowls with their matching lids on the table. We have had the exact same bowls for years and still find them great for food storage and reheating food. Punch bowlI have two of those punch bowls. It is a Anchor Hocking "Star of David" design. It came with a stand and matching cups. Billy Jack and Charles KrugAs W. C. Fields might have said if he was younger, "Aaaaah, yes, I remember well those days of Charles Krug wine." It was quite cheap in those days of Billy Jack movies, Indians taking over Alcatraz and my marriage in Santa Cruz. We were so "into it", the hippie wannabees we portrayed, the gypsy lifestyle, that when my kids look at our old pictures, especially those taken in and around the Grand Canyon, dressed in Indian headbands, turquoise beads and homespun Indian shirts, they comment "that is when Mom and Dad were Indians". It cracks me up every time, because we are now really very dull, very straight, sober as judges and hating old age, but we LOVE remembering, thanks to your fabulous photos. You are doing us old fogies a huge favor. That Mexican dinner looks delicioso. I lived in Hayward thenLooks just like similar gatherings at my home! Sangria & other stuffI have similar pix and lived in similar places, albeit in Ohio in the late 60's and early 70's. Someone commented on that everyone smoked in those days, and that was true. But we smoked more than tobacco, if you know what I mean and I think you do. 1973In 1973 I was serving as one of America's Last Draftees. Inducted in August 1972, the draft ended a few months later. For the remainder of my service they loudly proclaimed having an "all-volunteer" Army. I would have gladly been discharged to make it true, but viewed from today if I hadn't have been drafted I would have just worked another 2 years in the corporate world. I really like the tupperware serving dishes, had some of those a couple of years later when I returned to college. Those were the days . . .Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we'd choose We'd fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way B+C+T+AThat looks like an outtake from "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice." Not trying to be a wet blanket, but the 70's appear to be within the living memory of almost everyone here (myself included). As much as I like Tterrace's slides, do we really need to have such recent stuff as this (the 70's) on Shorpy? If I coulda I wouldado 1973-1974 all over again. Inspite of all the world affairs garbage, it was a wonderful year for this (in 1974, that is.. ) 14 yr old kid... Thanks for posting this... I personally dig the 60s and 70s stuff.... Peace out... Viral HistoryDear Wet Blanket (anonymous tipster), The fact that the 70's are within the living memory of most Shorpy devotees (Shorparians? Shorpiites?) is precisely why they should be included and interspersed with images from throughout the brief 160-year photographic record. Imagine the knowledge about many of the photos here that was lost because there was no reliable method of capturing personal accounts of the scenes and persons depicted. Often, hastily scribbled photographer’s notes or captions produced by a bureaucrat are all Dave and Team Shorpy have to go on…along with intuition and their own impressive historical knowledge. Someday, our historian grandchildren will study Shorpy as an excellent example of viral history and assimilate the witty anecdotes found here into their telling of our times. I say let the 70’s groove on… It is very easy to bypass images that don’t interest you on this web site…just keep scrolling until you find a clingy wet wool bathing suit or street urchin or choo choo train to ogle. Goober Pea End to the rantGood for you Gooberpea. Hope this is the end of the discussion about what should or should not appear on this site. How many times we have wondered what a particular picture was all about or when or where. Future generations won't be left quite as puzzled. You Go Goober PeaI'm with Goober Pea. I love 70's photos. These could've been my older siblings. I was only a kid and what the mind remembers is vague, so seeing a moment like this brings a lot back. Besides, what's the ratio we're talking anyway? 50-1? Anyone have a shot of the movie theater lines going around the block when Jaws opened the summer of 1975? 70's Child Somewhere within spitting distnceHa! I was a student at UCSC when this picture was made. I lived on Barson Street, I think. Thanks Seabright & Murray! 1973!The corner of Seabright & Murray had no residences on it, only shops. Yet that's where we all seemed to say we lived. When the buses stopped running (remember crazed Ed the bus driver?) that's where we'd tell someone picking us up hitchhiking where we were headed. I lived three houses in from the corner, behind the laundromat. Oh, I'll never forget the night Nixon resigned -- people were dancing in the streets of Santa Cruz! Ahh Memories! Boy does that picture bring back the memories. I graduated high school in 1973 so that looks like countless parties i went to then. I know it's fashionable now to dump on the decade "me decade" and all that but I had a blast then. Cruising in my Trans Am, chasing girls, hanging with my buddies, what a time. And we moved to Santa Cruz in 1980We moved to La Selva Beach just after my sister was born. My mother was always so lovely - I'm happy to be told I look just like her. I wish she would grow her hair out again like she used to have. This is me standing behind her in Santa Cruz. CorningwareAnd the very popular 70s Corningware!! Do they even make that anymore or is it just a garage sale treasure or a "find" on E-bay! Corningware Cornflower Blue still very much available The Corningware in tterrace's picture is in the 'Cornflower Blue' pattern is still very much available. According to the Wikipedia article here, production was stopped in 2000, but restarted again in 2009. I know it's readily available in the US either in the parent company World Kitchen stores in outlet malls, or in department stores, or Amazon. Great!You forgot the guacamole, Tupperware, Corning ware, etc., very 70s! And those curtains! Especially in California for the guac, if my husband wasn’t originally from Mexico, I would’ve never known about guacamole in 1973 in NYC! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
A Quiet Night: 1977
... at it." My neighborhood? No, not really--I am in Oregon. However, our neighbors have that exact same model Pinto, down to the ... 
 
Posted by rizzman1953 - 05/04/2012 - 10:17pm -

Medford, Mass., circa 1977. Marion Street about 2 a.m. around the corner from my house. It was fall and the leaves were just turning over a Pinto wagon with fake wood paneling. I took this for a class at the New England School of Photography. The exposure was about a minute with a 4x5 view camera. The wind hardly moved. It was a truly beautiful timeless moment. View full size. Those Big Treesare long gone now. Great work.Enjoyed that take. Pinto wagon being turned overI bet the police were not amused. Another Great ContributionThanks rizzman1953 for another great photo. ThanksGreat shot! Oh yesI love this. If I could climb into that photo, I would. Mighty good work, indeed.The street looks so peaceful. Pinto SquireRizzman, this photo, and the previous We're the Nuts: 1970s, are fantastic both for their technical expertise as well as for genuinely capturing the feeling of an era and place. Before even reading the caption, I sensed this photo was New England - In my experience, multifamily houses with two-story screened porches are a Northeast phenomena. This architecture could be from Boston, Providence or New Haven and I am hardly surprised to read it is Medford. My grandparents owned a similar house and the second-story front screened porch was my favorite place to play, as well as my grandfather's favorite place to smoke a stogie. A Pinto Squire wagon with faux wood-grain siding - what could be more emblematic of the 70s? Love this shotReally nice! This makes me want to dig out some of my 4x5 negs that I shot back in the early 70's. Still have the camera too. Sometimes I hear it calling to me from the closet saying, "take me out tonight," but just as I reach for the case it adds, "and get me a digital back while you're at it." My neighborhood?No, not really--I am in Oregon. However, our neighbors have that exact same model Pinto, down to the "genuine faux wood" on the sides! Great Lighting and MoodWithout the automobiles, this image could just as well have been taken months ago in any older northeastern neighborhood. Which speaks of the image quality of the photo. But the cars help to date this photo precisely. This was a time that in retrospect was much simpler, though it didn't seem so at the time. Good-Eye!Wow, interesting photos, Rizzman. You've got a good-eye...please keep them coming. Hope you're documenting this Century for the 'Shorpy-Type' viewers of the future. Disco InfernoMy friend had a Pinto back in the late 1970s. She had a bumper-sticker on it that said "INFLAMMABLE". Fantastic shotThe tone of the leaves in the trees almost make it look as if they were photographed with B&W Infrared film. I was bummedwhen looking at this photo, and your previous one, not to see the link for "Buy Fine-Art Print"! DoppelgängerI grew up in a section of Queens, NYC named Woodhaven - and it was. Your shot perfectly captures the tone of curfew-dodging walks home from Forest Park, hand in hand, the utter stillness of those nights on which we didn't even speak loudly out of respect for those in bed. Her name was Christine. Feel the peace and quietIt goes without saying that this magnificent photo depicts the cool serenity of a New England autumn night with everyone asleep except for perhaps a lone dog barking at the sound of the photographer. Tomorrow must be trash day as most residents remembered to put their garbage on the curb for early pickup. I wonder if the mattress and box spring left for disposal came from the Texas Mattress Co. we saw just last week (Nah! It would be 38 years old, not to mention the long commute). I can't stop looking.This photograph is Literature. Not To Be Corny -- But I Got WeepyLike another poster, I was raised in Queens -- Middle Village, New York. I grew up in the 1970s and, like many teenagers in quiet towns, loved to take long walks at night. That photo could have been taken during one of my wanderings. Something about the quiet, and the quality of light, the sense of awareness in a sleeping town. It's a very evocative photo, not just because of my deeply personal reasons for loving it. I'm also deeply appreciative of your previous, gas station photo. For some reason, there has not been a nostalgia for the 70s as evinced for that of the 30s through the 60s -- even the 80s! However, there was a quality to the 70s, perhaps a sense of the nation collectively catching its breath after the turbulent 60s, that was quite special. A perfect compositionI lived in a neighborhood like this in New Haven in the 70s. Like so many others, I find this photo releases a flood of memories. Beautiful work. Right out of an early Spielberg movieThe 1970s was a good time to be a kid. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
The Lumberjack Song: 1918
... Starting in 1917 the Army sent 10,000 soldiers to Oregon and Washington logging camps to cut timber as part of an effort to ... bureau" that sent 10,000 men to the lumber camps of Oregon and Washington, cutting timber in an effort to harvest 10 million ... WW1 the Army used soldiers to log spruce forests along the Oregon coast for logs and poles. Maybe these guys were doing the same in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/21/2009 - 3:36am -

April 17, 1918. Army Signal Corps music-makers in a logging camp bunkhouse at Hoquiam, Washington. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Starting in 1917 the Army sent 10,000 soldiers to Oregon and Washington logging camps to cut timber as part of an effort to harvest 10 million board-feet of spruce a month for aircraft construction. Something missing?I see a ukulele. And I see an accordion. But ... no banjo?? I wanted to be a lumberjackThat's not a ukulele- it hasThat's not a ukulele- it has 8 strings. 8 stringsIt is a tenor ukulele, that's why it has 8 strings I'm a LumberjackI'm a Lumberjack, I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day ... Army LumberjacksThis was indeed a logging camp. In 1917 the Army Signal Corps established a "spruce-speeding bureau" that sent 10,000 men to the lumber camps of Oregon and Washington, cutting timber in an effort to harvest 10 million board-feet of spruce a month for aircraft construction. Yes, this is a ukulele, someYes, this is a ukulele, some have "double" strings, like a twelve string guitar this is a ukuleleyes, this a 8 strings uke, like some guitars have twelve That is logging camp housingThe boots under the bunk are genuine calk boots (otherwise referred to as "cork boots". A common accessory of a feller (I'll always say faller). The pants and suspenders hanging above the stove would have been "tin pants". Heavy canvas that was somewhat waterproofed. On cleanliness... this actually looks pretty clean, I've seen photos of much worse. Not A Logging CampThis is not a logging camp, these guys are soldiers in a log barracks in an Army camp. They're wearing army uniforms or parts thereof and are are too neatly groomed to be any lumberjacks I've ever known. The clincher is the US Army Signal Corps emblem in the LH corner, this was an official picture. [It was indeed a logging camp. - Dave] Guy on bunk showing his stripesLook at the full view and the Sgt's stripes of the guy reading on the bunk are clearly visible, as is his cover sitting on a shelf just behind him. Logging SoldiersI could believe the "logging camp" caption. During WW1 the Army used soldiers to log spruce forests along the Oregon coast for logs and poles. Maybe these guys were doing the same in Hoquiam, Wa. Maybe? Maybe not. Logging campIf this was an actual military barracks these guys would be doing pushups till sunrise for being such slobs! It looks more like a frathouse dorm. Tenor ukuleleA tenor uke can have 8 strings, you hold down 2 strings at a time. it's basically 4 stringed, except that each 2 strings are tuned the same and are held together. (it makes the uke have a louder sound) The stringed instrumentis a mandolinetto, tuned and played like a mandolin but with a figure-8 guitar/ukulele shape. (The Gallery, Curiosities, G.G. Bain, Mining, Music)
Open House: 1900
Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Oregon quarterdeck." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, ... stuff, though. I love this site. A sad end USS Oregon ended her days as a "dynamite" barge during World War II. Her duty was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/03/2012 - 4:07pm -

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Oregon quarterdeck." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Fiddly DetailJust as a point of interest, the rifle the Marine guard is carrying is the little-known Lee-Navy M1895. I'd like to go backand square that Marine away. Wrinkled trousers and sloppy manual of arms just doesn't cut it. His forearm should be parallel to the deck and his heels together. Seriously, I see a lot of things in these old photos that would not be acceptable in the modern military. Great stuff, though. I love this site. A sad endUSS Oregon ended her days as a "dynamite" barge during World War II. Her duty was to store and deliver high explosives during Pacific invasions. Quarterdeck?Sorry, but that's obviously the forecastle. Note the secured anchor behind the windlass. The quarterdeck is at the other end of the ship. Massive anchor!How many sailors does it take to pick up that anchor and throw it cover the side? Or is there a crane, or is it merely for display? MarineHis hair is also way too long! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Mass. Mess: 1900
... These two ships and the third in the class, The USS Oregon also seen in the past on Shorpy) I am sure the fare was the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 6:46pm -

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Massachusetts crew at mess." Watermelon -- yay! 8x10 inch glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Mustache?Are mustaches a requirement for sailors at the turn of the century? All of the men in the front seem to have them. Hats Off to You!Is the hat in the top foreground hanging there, or was it thrown there, or (I hope) was the sailor was so surprised by the flash that it flew there?!? These sailors would faintif they could have a meal on board any of today's US Navy vessels. re: ToastLooks like he is holding up a piece of hardtack, a staple of the navy going back to the Revolution. Simply a hard biscuit made of flour and water (Civil War soldiers called them Army Bread, wormcastles (because when they got moist they would get infested with insects) and tooth-breakers) You can buy some here from a company that's made it since 1801: http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/store.html MarkTwo thoughts; that is a lot of asbestos, and the sailors of 100 years ago were a lot older than today's lot. Comments add so much!I love the discussions of things like this. The input from others, added to the information in the photo, teaches and gives us so much more of a feel for the experiences of people who lived before we were born. As far as the bread, it may well be hardtack but I hope, for the sake of the men, that it was toast! I've seen Andrew Zimmern eat a salad made with hard-tack that didn't look too bad, but it was soaked for a long time and had lots of things added to it. Just a plain piece of it would have fallen in the category of things one only eats to keep his belly from growling. Those older sailors, who had probably had some teeth pulled by that time, must have had an especially hard time eating it! William Christen, I love your pictures! Maybe he wanted some jamThe dark-skinned diner over the standing-in-front-guy's right shoulder is holding up what appears to be a piece of toast. Curious. Comments?Were the comments intentionally removed from the bottom of the full-sized image, or is my browser acting up again? If it was intentional, let me go on record as disliking it. I now have to click two places and toggle back and forth to see both. Yuck! [Click on the full-size image to see the comments. - Dave] Toast and JamEndless Summer has better eyes than I do! On the blow up, it certainly does look like a piece of toast. I hope it didn't have weevils in it. My dad spent time aboard ship in the 1940s and said the bread often had weevils in it, but they ate it anyway. They couldn't keep it out of the flour, and it added protein. It looks like maybe this kind of toaster was used. It is a non-electric model, so I assume they heated it on a stove top. My first thoughtWow, dozens of men in a small steel room surrounded by machinery. That must have been LOUD in there. Then I realized that this was taken long before deodorant was commonly used and it must have been RANK in there! All those hooksI'm wondering if this area was also the crew's bunk space as well as mess. By the looks of them (each numbered, by the way) I'd think each hook would be a place to hang a hammock, or one half of the hammock, anyway. Maybe also a convenient place to hang a hat while having a bite to eat. "Toast"That looks like a piece of ship's biscuit, or hardtack. One may wonder why he's displaying it so proudly. The name is Bond, James BondThe guy second from the left with the pipe behind him is the spittin image of Sean Connery Smellin' Like a Rose.Dear Truck5man, Precisely because all those men lived in such intimate surroundings, hygiene was, and still is, an item of pride in the U.S. Navy. The only RANK here was denoted by uniform markings. Any sailor who got sloppy about his cleanliness would probably be given an involuntary scrub-down, fore and aft, by his shipmates with a stiff brush and lye soap. The only exception was a pre-nuke, pre-diesel ship at sea. If water could not be distilled fast enough, the priority was always drinking water first, boiler water second and bath water a distant third. Of course there was always sea-water and a bucket. Re: Comments?I was originally as disconcerted by the new format as was Edvado, but now I'm clicking on the small picture to see the comments and when I get to the top I click on the small picture again to see the full size picture. It's not as comfortable as before, but it works. Thanks Dave for the continuing good work! Format ChangeWhat works for me is center-clicking on the small image to open up comments in a second tab, then center-clicking the small image in the second tab to get the full size image on a third tab. Then it's just a matter of switching tabs to view details or read comments about the image. I didn't like it at first, but being able to read comments and look at details without having to scroll up and down from one to the other is an improvement. I suppose we could do that before, but with the comments included under the full sized image it never occurred to me to try. In 1917In 1917 grandfather was a Chief Commissary Steward on the USS Indiana, a sister ship of the USS Massachusetts. These two ships and the third in the class, The USS Oregon also seen in the past on Shorpy) I am sure the fare was the same--perhaps no hardtack. Some of the faces might have younger as the Navy had a maximum age limit by then First image: Cooks and bakers on the USS Indiana (1917). Second image: food prep in the USS Indiana galley. Watermelon ??Spent three years aboard ship in the Navy back in the 60's. Never ever did I see a watermelon cross our mess deck! Apples and citrus fruits galore but no watermelon. Still not as good. I agree with Edvado. The old system was better. One click to see the full size photo AND the comments, and more importantly, one click to get back to the front page. Now it takes two clicks each way and it's easy to get lost so it takes several clicks to get untangled. The full size photos do load faster however. [Actually there's less clicking now, if you count scrolling as clicking. - Dave] On a Macbook or other Apple products, two fingers stroking the screen or pad scroll you around with no clicks at all. This was much nicer on the old scheme. Mess Misc.Compared to today's Navy, these fellows look so old but there obviously were many more lifers then...old tars. The sailors on the left side of the photo look like they're still waiting for their food while the other guys are digging in. Not Rank There      Side note to "Truck5man" and "codebasher" in the Navy the officers have rank and enlisted men have ratings.      Now hear this! Stand down, turn to and make your Groucho Marx type jokes about rank officers. The old NavyBare feet on the mess deck is not allowed, but there they are. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Intimations of Autumn: 1952
... until 1954. There was a State Attorney General elected in Oregon named Thornton in 1952, but the last four letters of the last name on ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2014 - 12:10pm -

        UPDATE: Shorpy member SteamBoomer has correctly identified the location as Eureka Springs, Arkansas. See the Comments for details. "7 Oct. 1952 -- Entrance to ______  _______." Who can tell us where we are in this latest installment of Minnesota Kodachromes? (Hint: not Minnesota.) 35mm color slide by Hubert Tuttle, on the road with wife Grace. View full size. If only we could see a little farther leftFrom the trees and the rocky terrain my best guess is that this is somewhere in Upstate New York or northern New England. What makes the guessing game especially tantalizing is the sign partly visible at far left. Someone named Horton or Morton or Norton was running for state attorney general in the 1952 election. Here's hoping Wikipedia has enough detail ... [Edit: as another person helpfully noted, this could not be Upstate New York or northern New England in October. I should have known that.] [Further edit: the suggestion of Florida is an intriguing one, and there are some areas north of Orlando that might be hilly enough, but the rocky outcroppings at the right wouldn't be found in the Sunshine State.] Highway signDown the road a piece we see what looks like a shield-shaped US Highway number sign with an auxiliary above. The latter could be "NORTH," "SOUTH," "ALT(ernate)" etc. My guess is "alternate," specifically the earlier main route, based on the narrowness and the 1920s-1930s-era cement pavement, and since bypassed by a wider, straighter roadway. Of course, this only narrows the location down to the entire United States. There's something about the nearest trees at the right that says California live oaks to me, but I can't quite make out the leaf shape. Too green?I think it may be too green for the photo to have been taken in New England in October. Farther south, I think. I would be tempted to say, "entrance to Blue Ridge Parkway" if there were three spaces. California? Near a polo field?Judging from the trees (is that a madrone on the near left?) I would say coastal California. It's a bit lush to be Southern California. My guess would be near Santa Cruz. The sign with the horse icon on the left looks to me like a sign for polo grounds, rather than horse riding or racing. The area around the Polo Grounds Park in Aptos looks similar, but I couldn't find a road that matched that topography. Maybe not so far awayIt's 1952 and these are our friends whose previous photos have always been in southern Minnesota. Not Minnesota? OK, how about western Wisconsin, someplace between the Twin Cities and Eau Claire? I'm going with California, somewhere.The trees on the right look like Madrone or large Manzanita. There are some pines floating around in the trees as well as what could be a tallish live oak. The cut bank of dirt looks like the kind where I grew up. I'm going with North Central California. No idea as to the entrance. Process of EliminationIf the election poster is for state Attorney General, then California can't be the state. Pat Brown was elected in 1950 and didn't run again until 1954. There was a State Attorney General elected in Oregon named Thornton in 1952, but the last four letters of the last name on the poster are definitely "RTON". [Interesting, but knowing who got elected doesn't help you much if the guy on the poster lost. - Dave] US 12Looking from the rocks and trees, could they be on US-12 south of Baraboo, WI on their way to Devil's Lake State Park? Wonder SpotLake Delton, Wisconsin, just south of the Wisconsin Dells. Trees suggest not CaliforniaI'm pretty sure I see post oak, black oak and shortleaf pine. I could be wrong, but I'm going to go out "on a limb" and say its the entrance to "The Ozarks". ArkansasHwy 7 outside Hot Springs. Entrance To ...North Dakota! Florida?Forgive me if this a stupid suggestion (I'm a Brit and have visted parts of the US but not Florida). Someone named L.Grady Burton stood for Attorney General in Florida in 1948*. If elections are every 4 years he may have stood again in 1952. Does this help? *Daytona Beach Morning Journal - May 21, 1948. Folger Stable and Wunderlich ParkI think we are on what is now SR 84 North, Woodside Road, Redwood City, San Mateo County, California. The election poster seems to be for Atherton. The entrance to the left is for the Folger Stable, where one could hire a horse and take the equestrian trails through Wunderlich Park. Glib Bartonran for Attorney General in Arkansas in 1952, so I'm going to cast my vote for Arkansas, as well. [Ahem. CLIB Barton. - Dave] Route 120 in CaliforniaThere are ponderosa pine, digger pine, madrone and black oak (I believe) in the picture, all native to California. I'm going with Route 120 on the way to Yosemite Park out of Groveland, CA. 3500 foot elevation because everything is still green in October. Let's go to Hot Springs (Ark.)Looks a lot like an Arkansas highway, plus the sign with the racehorse on it indicates they are on the way to Hot Springs which has a major thoroughbred race track and is on Highway 7. Route 120 in CaliforniaBased on the vegetation (the near pines are Ponderosa pine and there are a couple of digger pine along the horizon), the madrone near the electric pole of the near left. I guess it to be somewhere around Groveland, CA on the road to Yosemite Park. Hot Springs to WinYes, it must be Hot Springs. Hot Springs has had a horse track since 1905, Oaklawn Park. [You're not even Warm. - Dave] Play SafeElect Clib Barton your Attorney General. Agree with MbillardAs you suggested Dave, find the one who lost the election. Glib Barton fits the bill. As for the fill in the blanks, how about "Ozark Mountains"? [Not quite. And Clib wasn't Glib. - Dave] My vote - not CaliforniaTwo things I see, both road-related: 1. California's two auto clubs (and the Division of Highways beginning in 1948) were in charge of road signage and paid meticulous attention to detail in doing so. That yellow diamond sign would've been mounted to a post painted yellow to match with black at the base. 2. If this is indeed a US highway, there would likely be white striping down the center of the roadway, even if it wasn't quite wide enough for two full lanes. Reading the hintsWarm Springs, Georgia? It's on my mind. Warm Springs?Going by your hints, is it Warm Springs, Georgia? [Getting colder. Brrr! - Dave] Strange if CaliforniaThe foliage definitely looks like California, but if that is a US Highway sign whose back we see things are a bit odd. My memory was, and checking the online 1952 highway map verified, that there were relatively few US Highways in California in 1952, none were designated Alternate, and all were relatively main roads. (Except for good old US 395 to Alturas, which had sections listed as oiled dirt or oiled gravel.) If it was a state or county road it's unlikely but possible that a stretch that long would not have a distance marker (we called them "paddle signs" in the rally game) showing. Nifty puzzle. OuachitaCould it be Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas? They hit Iowa on the way home from the trip.I was going to guess Iowa, due to this article which places them in Iowa not very long after this photo was taken: [I suspect Iowa was on both both legs of their trip! - Dave] Entrance to Eureka SpringsHubert and Grace have turned north off US Hwy 62 onto Arkansas Hwy 23. The photo was taken somewhere around GPS coordinates 36.394231,-93.742166. [Now that's what I call specific. And correct! How did you figure it out? - Dave] I simply had a Eureka moment! View Larger Map Eureka!SteamBoomer seems to have nailed it. The irony for me is that I was originally convinced that this was one of the roads in the state I grew up in, California. Instead, it turns out to be in the one town in Arkansas that also figured in my childhood. I spent a few summers in Eureka Springs staying with relatives. I remember the beautiful buildings and houses of the town well, but I'd forgotten the wild look of the countryside around it. Eureka Springs, 1904Family outing, 110 years ago: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3276 (Minnesota Kodachromes)
Round Two: 1897
Aboard the warship U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Second round." Our third look at this nighttime boxing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 11:42pm -

Aboard the warship U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Second round." Our third look at this nighttime boxing match. 8x10 glass negative by E.H. Hart. View full size. These Boots Were Made for WatchingI wonder what is the story about the guy with the boots. Re: CookieCan't be. No ciggie with an inch of ashes hanging over the guy below him. Cf. Camp Swampy. Down goes Frazier!!If radio had been invented by 1897, I would have loved to have heard the great sportscaster Clem McCarthy call this fight. No one did boxing or horse racing better than Clem. CookieI just bet this guy was the ship's cook -- looks like he belongs over a pot of boiling potatoes somehow. At least if every military cook in every war movie ever made is an accurate guide. The eye of the tigerThat's the way the fighters seem to look at each other. I wonder who won. Who's Next?That guy whose face is right in the middle of the two fighters. I remember him from a recent Shorpy post. He still looks ready to get into the ring. By the way, my money would be on the boxer on the right, if I was willing to wager. He seems to have a little better defensive stance. The fighter on the left just left his face wide open. Staged?Could photography freeze the motion of something happening as fast as a boxing match in this period? At night in low light conditions? I'm starting to develop a bit of skepticism on whether we're really seeing what we think we're seeing in this one. Maybe this was a staged "tableau" where the fighters and audience were all told not to move for a minute for the photographer. [I think you mean "posed." Most flash photos of the eras were time exposures; you can tell how much the various sailors were moving by how blurred they are. - Dave] (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart, Sports)
Fight Night: 1897
Aboard the U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Waiting for the gong." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 12:35am -

Aboard the U.S.S. Oregon circa 1897. "Waiting for the gong." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. RefreshmentI see the guy on the right has beer bottle for his 'water'. There seems to be an awful lot of blood on the floor and half the crowd are in the ring. Great photo! What are you lookin at?What a great shot, with these two glaring at each other just waiting for the bell. The guy on the right seems like he might have a height and reach advantage, but my money's on the guy on the left, who seems like he's got the Mike Tyson-like advantage. This Could Get UglyOne of the fighters and one at least of the spectators seems to have been drinking -- this was before all US Navy ships became "dry" in June 1914. I should hope there are several Chief Petty Officers in the front row to keep the spectators under control in this very crowded "ring." I was wondering where on board a turn of the century battleship there could possibly be a two deck high room with a partial "mezzanine" when, looking more carefully, I realized that the objects at the top center are the keels of lifeboats! The space is outdoors, on one side of the superstructure at main deck level, and the stairway leads up to the 01 level, or "boat deck". These matches were called "Smokers"Very popular up until last 25 years. A Smoker would be held as part of a day off where the best boxer would be discovered on the crew, who in turn would represent the boat in inter-ship smokers. No place to hide!Pretty small ring they have there -- no running away in this fight! I love this series of shots of real life of sailors on board these pre-WWI ships. These guys seem Russian!Amazing pic. In my mind, I use to picture the past like a tale, all contaminated with crappy unrealistic hollywood images. But this site gave me a chance to SEE what the past was like. Pretty much like today. And yet, I get fascinated when I look at it. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, E.H. Hart, Sports)
King of the Road: 1963
... it for us during our car camping trips around the state of Oregon during the 60's. He still has the red Coleman cooler also. That ... 
 
Posted by delworthio - 12/23/2008 - 4:33pm -

This is how you pull over for a family meal during a road trip. It's the early 60's and the family is off to visit Canada. Kodachrome slide. That camp stove used white gas. View full size. PumpedI too fondly remember the rectangular hand-pumped Coleman stoves with the fuel vessel hanging off the front and the stamped metal wind-breakers: simple yet reliable. (I currently use the backpacker descendant that looks like a moon lander: it has never let me down even in the coldest weather). Growing up we mostly used our full size Coleman for camping but I can identify with the comments regarding use for the roadside midday lunch break. If it were my family we would probably be stopping for lunch at one of the many scenic rest stops along the old national road as it crosses the mountains in western Maryland. Oh the MemoriesWow this photo brings back memories of my dad heating chicken and dumplings in the can and assembling bologna sandwiches on white bread with mustard for many a roadside dining experience on our yearly family vacations. He branded it "clean food" in his campaign to convince my brother and me that it was the best thing ever. This was in the 1980s - I guess it was a tradition he carried on from his own childhood vacations. I doubt the tradition will carry on with this generation since I'm much more likely to just GPS the location of every Starbucks along the way. A Tent SituationMy wife, daughter and I camp two or three times a summer at state parks, and we regularly leave all our cooking stuff on the table (including our old drab-green Sears-branded Coleman stove), our clothes and such in the tent (we do lock up the valuables in the car, though). We'll go out for multi-hour hikes, or even drive into whatever town we're near, and when we come back usually the only trace of visitors is muddy raccoon prints on the table. Alas, we do all our cooking when we get there, though. My version of this scene would be ordering sammiches at Subway. Coleman Camp StoveSitting in my father's garage is that very same green camp stove (ca. 1961) still in the original box. I can remember my mother cooking on it for us during our car camping trips around the state of Oregon during the 60's. He still has the red Coleman cooler also. That stove brings back memoriesWe cooked on one of those for a whole year while hand-building our geodesic dome house in 1971 and waiting for the power company to install underground power. The stove used expensive gallon cans of Coleman fuel. There was a gas station in town that sold white gas (naphtha) for cheap, but it had impurities that clogged the stove. So we had to go back to the $4/gallon stuff. Doing it rightTraveling in style means camping with a chrome percolator. InterestingThe idea of stopping on the side of the road to cook from a Coleman stove is a novel idea in this culture and would now be considered really weird. The roadside picnic area where this was taken is probably now a McDonald's. I'm 37 years old and although I've been camping several times we've never stopped enroute for a picnic. It's obvious the older generation was not as prone to be discouraged by a little hard work and inconvenience and didn't mind taking some extra time if it meant doing something important. Our family van on a long trip is packed to the brim with junk, mostly stuff we don't even need - DVD players, cellphone cords, GPS units, boxes of clothes for the in-laws, huge suitcases, etc, etc. Then it's on the interstate - no time to stop except quickly for fast food. What a refreshing change it would be to recreate a trip like the one pictured here on the backroads of America. Where in Canada?Being as how I'm in Prince George, BC, and this scene could be practically anywhere but in the mountains or on the prairies. By the way, I looooooves Shorpy! Coleman StoveAh! A good old "green monster" coleman stove. My Scout troop still uses identical ones to this day, a testament to their being indestructable. We only changed the tanks to newer red ones a few years ago. You know it was a great design as you can still buy the same stove today, it has a few very minor improvements but for all intents is the same stove they made 50 years ago. ColemanI still have my Dad's two burner Coleman, 55 years old, works like a charm Don't miss the Tupperware!Another iconic item of the 50s and 60s is behind the stove -- Tupperware! Road FoodMy girlfriend & I usually stop and make sandwiches at least once on a vacation trip. Not as extravagant as firing up a stove for a hot meal, but it's a nice break from fast food and a chance to unwind. What impresses me is that the stove also has its own stand. No stooping down to the ground for him. No man who takes a chrome percolator on a road trip should stoop. Background to dramaBlissfully unaware of the drama playing out behind them: on the left, a speeding Corvair; on the right, unsuspecting, a pair of pedestrians precariously perched on the shoulder. What will the next few seconds bring? Sudden terror, or just a request to pass the mustard? PercolatorIt appears to be an electric perc. How did he make it work way out there? Dad cooking.Dad is doing the cooking just as I did for our family when on camping trips. My children loved the camping life as we traveled and still have wonderful memories of it. My kids, now 56, 62 and 65, still talk about my Rabbit Ear Pancakes. In the late 1940s we could leave our stove and cooler on the table, the sleeping bags in the tent at the campsite and they would still be there when we got home from a movie in town. Times have changed. Camping 40's and 50's StyleYou've hit on a passion of mine! I fondly remember many road trips while growing up. We used the same stove. For those interested, you should check out 40's and 50's style Teardrop trailers. I am just completing one now. We are taking a week long Florida trip starting tomorrow and will spend our time in State Parks sleeping in our teardrop. Mine can be seen here: http://home.earthlink.net/~tony.cooper/TDProj/album.htm Many varieties including originals can be seen here: http://pages.prodigy.net/rfs2growup/mystry07.htm Talk about living nostalgia! [I grew up in Florida! For a few summers in the mid-1960s we'd haul the family Avion up from Miami to Juniper Springs, in the Ocala National Forest. You should check it out if it's not too cold. - Dave] Sault Ste. MarieI failed to mention that on the slide this was phonetically written: "Soo St. Marie, breakfast." The trip was from our home in Northern Indiana and up through Michigan. I'll post the other slide with Mom doing the cooking (includes tailfin of their car!). Maybe that one will show us the percolator better. I'll have to ask Mom if she remembers where they would plug that in. My wife and I do the cooking like this while camping at Bonnaroo, but not while on the road. We don't have this stove but use the modern equivalent and use her dad's old Coleman camp oven, which is basically a metal box that sits on top of the grill and bakes. It has a temperature gauge on the door so you adjust the flame accordingly. Perfect for biscuits to go with the bacon and sausage gravy. Or Naan to go with our Indian MRE's. Road foodMy Texas Bride told me that when her family traveled her dad would buy a loaf of bread, a pound of bologna and a quart of milk. So one day while traveling up to Valentine, Nebraska, we were in the town of Thedford and I bought a loaf of bread, half-pound of bologna and a quart of chocolate milk and went to the park for lunch. I loved it. She did not! About theft of camp gear, we ran into a case of this in Yellowstone Park and Sinks Canyon State Park in Wyoming. Sad that this happens but happen it does. Great stove!We use those guys in WW2 reenacting. Nothing perks you up in the morning like Tim from the 5th Armored brewing up a pot of tea on that thing! I've been looking for one of the "pocket stoves." eBay? eOuch!! I'd like to just say, for the record, that roadside cooking is still alive and well. This summer I took a 10 day driving trip to Wyoming with very little cash. Well, I should say what cash we had was eaten up by gas!! We started out with a few camping meals, jam and jerky. Along the way we would pick up bread and fruits. Finally after 5 days I said "enough" and demanded a hot meal. We got a small "disposable" grill from K-Mart and cooked up dinner on the side of the road by the bison preserve. It could have been torture, trying to shield that thing from the wind at 1 in the morning, but watching planes come over the Tetons lit up by the full moon made things romantic and magical. Maybe in 50 years, those shots will show up on Shorpy! Roadside foodI remember stopping along side the road in Utah, Nevada, Colorado and many other states on our road trips. We had NO money, so we stopped at local stores and bought bologna, bread, chips and fruit. I still remember this after all these years. A trip to fast food would have been long forgotten. A side-of-the-road picnic? It's is branded indelibly in my brain!!! They're everywhereAhhh, the ubiquitous ol' Coleman stove. I think Lewis and Clark had one too. Juniper SpringsJuniper Springs will not be too cold to visit at about 83F, today at least. I may just take the 29 mile drive out there to see if any other Shorpies are there! But back to the Coleman stove -- they can also be quite dangerous or upsetting. I once got one as the #1 Christmas present for a previous spouse. Wrong move. GuessCan't say exactly why, but if I had to guess I'd put them somewhere in Northern Minnesota. Something about that dwelling in the background looks Range-Finnish. I would love to do a family vacation like this someday. Sad to say, but who has the time for a leisurely Americana road trip? Guess it's time you have to make. Our trips to CanadaWe did exactly the same thing on our trips to Canada to visit my aunt. I remember the food tasted wonderful. Manifold menuI'm still surprised to find that people eat out 3 meals a day while traveling. No wonder so many are so deep in debt, so addicted to credit cards. It's easy enough to find a rest area or city park to eat lunch. The TV tells us that the world is dangerous, but I've found most places are fairly friendly. At worst, they just leave you alone. I still have the green Coleman stove, but I never did like the darn things. We have a small propane stove that doubles as a heater. We don't spend every night in a motel when we travel, either. A tent packs up pretty easy in the car. Now, for true road-food, you take a piece of meat, some cut-up potatoes, onions, and carrots, a little oil, salt and pepper, wrap it up in foil, and lay it on your engine to cook while you drive. When you get hungry, you have a hot meal ready to go. Or is that just an intermountain western US concept? Great photo -- looks like a fun trip. Road trip!I'm 23 and plenty of my friends go on road trips and we rarely stop for fast food. When we got to our major destination this summer, we cooked a 12 pound turkey over a fire. It was magical and cooked perfectly. I think I might be in the minority here, but when I have kids, we're totally road tripping and cooking for ourselves. CookingMy buddy used to do that on backpacking trips. Before starting up the hill he would stop and buy meat and vegs and had a little spice kit in his backpack. We'd build a fire once camp was set up and he'd wrap everything in foil and through it in the coals! I must say it was very da kine!!! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Travel & Vacation)
Oxydol: 1942
... see my mom cursing that wringer washer. I grew up in rural Oregon in the 1950s. Saturday was washday and I was assigned to help my mother. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2009 - 7:24am -

March 1942. Phoenix, Arizona. "Washday at the FSA Camelback Farms." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Soapstone WashtubWhen I was a kid in the 40's, we had one of these dual tubs in our basement. The water faucet and soap dish were the same also. They probably weighed 300-400 pounds. Three years ago, my wife and I had our kitchen counters made frome this stone. It weighs 20 pounds per square foot. Cute but not too brightWe had a tub ringer washer in the back yard under a pole shed in the early 50's. I of course being a 4 or 5 year old boy was fascinated by it .Mom would leave it unattended once in a while and I would take advantage by seeing what I could put through the rollers (mostly blades of grass, weeds, and I tried a cat once. The cat was not amused and scratched me up pretty bad before he made his escape). Several times I caught my arm in the rollers.I would start screaming and she would come running out and hit the release and pull me free. Wish I could tell you it only happened once. Wringer Pain!My grandmother used to roll her big tub washer out on the big front porch to do the laundry. Like Fanhead, I loved to put things through the wringer too -- and got caught at least once. I still remember how much that hurt -- some 60 years ago! How did we all manage to live through machines like this? Soapstone or concrete?The house I grew up in had a double sink like those in the picture (and I can remember the wringer washer too). Ours though was concrete and when it (and the wringer washer) got replaced, we knocked out the center partition, buried it in the back yard, and had a beautiful goldfish and lily pond for all of the years we lived there. Oxydol in actionIf you want to see Oxydol in action, there's a fantastic film from the Prelinger Archive. You'll note that this woman is much prettier than the actress housewife in the film. Washday workoutWho needs aerobics classes. No wonder that generation was thinner -- from real work. Ironer LadyMy mother had an electric mangle. It cut down on the ironing (for seven children and a college prof husband). She was very careful to not just turn it off but unplug it and stow the cord away when she was done. Little pitchers have prying fingers. Thanks, FanheadI had forgotten about the quick release on the wringer, but I can't say I ever got caught. However, I do remember my mother had a washing machine on the back porch powered by a gasoline motor -- probably late 1940s. About the same time, my uncle owned a dry cleaning business. There were some awesome and frightful machines in there as well. Washday TalesSmall brown bottle of Clorox bleach on shelf behind the lady. I grew up with every Monday being washday. ALL DAY. First load was delicate whites, then regular whites, followed by colored clothes, with Daddy's overalls last. Rugs were *dead last.* Two best tales: before I knew the washing pecking order, I once let my 1960s madras shirt ("guaranteed to bleed") share the washer with Daddy's overalls. For about three weeks, Dad had pale pink striped Big Smith overalls . . . One day, toward the end of the washing cycle, Daddy asked if I would wash the gunny sacks he used on his fishing trips. Let them wash for about a half hour and then put them through the wringer into the rinse tub. The last one would NOT go through the wringer -- it took about three or four tries of raising up the wringers to accommodate it. When I threw the sacks over the fence to dry, a small bullhead fell out -- with a distinct curve to it! My mother had one of these tooIn the early 70s. I remember that when we finally got a real washing machine (and given my dad's talent at frittering away money on worthless doodads, that was an event), Mom dragged the wringer washer into the back yard and smashed it up with a hammer so that nobody would ever be forced to use it again. She hated that thing with the fire of a thousand suns. I remember her taking two jobs so that we could afford modern appliances, and my dad whining all the while that "the old stuff is good enough and you're just being picky." Of course he never did a load of laundry or washed a dish in his life. Trapped in my own mindsetMy first thought on seeing this was, "Wow. That's a LOT of pasta!" Modern TechnologyLooks like there is an "EASY" button on the front of the roller section, wonder why she is not using it? [That could be truer than you think. Easy was an early manufacturer of washing machines. The round tub in the foreground might be an example of the Easy SpinDrier. - Dave] Those Sinks!We also had those same double sinks in our farmhouse "utility room." Long after my mother got a modern washer the sinks were still put to good use. Even though I was barely tall enough to reach into the sinks, it was my job each day to stand on a wooden stool near the sink and wash the dozens of metal pieces (some with sharp edges) that made up the attachments to the motorized cream separator. The big sinks were used to soak my dad's greasy clothes, to wash the dog, and the most fun of all was that my brother and I got to use the sinks simultaneously for our baths. I remember the sinks had washboard ridges in the slanted walls. Speaking of the fire of a thousand sunsYou all are going on about the washing, but my first thought was "Ugh, living in Phoenix before air conditioning." Even with A/C it's pretty unbearable-- it's supposed to be 114 this weekend. Those poor, poor people. (And don't believe that "but it's a dry heat" nonsense -- so's an oven) Soap FlakesAnybody remember the Oxydol competitor back then that my mom bought called Lux? There used to be an hour-long broadcast Sunday nights from Hollywood, "Lux Radio Theater," that featured big-name movie stars. It was always a fight because it finished late and we couldn't listen 'cause Monday morning came by early for school. Oxydol taught me to read.According to my mother, the big O on the Oxydol box caught my attention when I was about 3 years old. She explained how that big round thing stood for the letter O, and how each of the other things stood for other parts of the word. From then on I started looking at other packages and learning more letters and words. Wringers, sticks and Oxydol!That box of Oxydol brings back memories of my childhood! I can still see my mom cursing that wringer washer. I grew up in rural Oregon in the 1950s. Saturday was washday and I was assigned to help my mother. To this day I can still see her with a stick forcing things through the wringer and her telling me how dangerous it was. She would cuss like a sailor, and sometimes had a cigerette hanging from her lips. In the meantime I would run outside so she couldn't see me laugh until it hurt. Precious memories! Amos n' OxyThe commercial power of Oxydol was demonstrated by its being the sponsor of the long-running No. 1 radio program of the era, "Amos n' Andy." Haircut the hard way My stepmother got her waist-length hair caught in the electric wringer as a child. Ripped a big patch of scalp right off of her head. She said it was so traumatic that she cut her hair short after that and never wore it long again. About Lux soap: When I told a friend of mine that I was going to name my daughter Lucy, she asked me what the name meant, and when I said that it was from the Latin for "light" -- lux -- she decided that Lux would be a great name for a girl and lobbied very hard to get me to use it. I told her that anyone over a certain age who met my child would think "soap flakes," which was not exactly the effect I was hoping for. I guess I could have named her sister Palm Olive! Wringer washerMy Mother got her arm caught in one of these at around this time in the early 40's. As she's gotten older, the residual effects of this have become more visible. You can actually see where her little arm was flattened out. Kind of runs a chill up your spine to be honest. I love the Oxydol packaging btw. Through the wringerI worked for Maytag in Newton, Iowa. We produced millions of wringer washers but they didn't look quite as primitive as this one. We built them with electric or gasoline motors so they could be used out where electricity hadn't reached yet. Seems so long ago. Our parents for the most part worked much harder than we do. That type of wringer was a luxury for them. Thanks for the memories. Generic ever sinceMy late grandmother had generic terms for most things -- any cooler was a Frigidaire, and any laundry product was Oxydol! My mother's handMy mother ran her hand through the wringer back some time in the 50s. She started to panic. Fortunately, my grandmother was there, and she calmly ran the wringer backwards to get Mother's hand out. But she still has a white spot covering the back of her hand. Tubs bring back memoriesWe lived on our grandparents' farm in the late 50s. They had a utility porch with tubs like this. There was always a bar of Lava soap in the soap dish, which Grandpa used to wash up, when he came in for dinner. My sister and I always begged to be able to take our baths in the stone tubs (actually, I probably did, since she was barely old enough to talk at the time.) Once in a while, our request was granted. I vaguely remember a wringer washer on the porch, too, but I wasn't allowed out there when it was in use. (The Gallery, Russell Lee)
Streetcar to the Sky: 1913
... was shot at three outside locations: the Columbia River in Oregon, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, both near San Bernardino. But of those two ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 1:37pm -

Mount Lowe, California, circa 1913. "Electric car at Ye Alpine Tavern, Mount Lowe Railway." This Swiss-style chalet in the San Gabriel Mountains was the upper terminus (elev. 5,000 feet) of an 1890s scenic and incline railway that started in Altadena, with streetcar connections all the way to the main terminal at the Pacific Electric Building in Los Angeles. The railway and associated resorts, including the 70-room Echo Mountain House, were gradually obliterated by fire and flood until, by 1940, nothing was left. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Can't be all that greatThis young lady doesn't seem too thrilled by the experience. And what's the streak in the background? Gauze curtains, smoke? A ghost? [It's a flutterby. - Dave] Mount Lowe videoI first became interested in researching Mount Lowe after discovering a photo, of a lady standing near some oak trees, labeled "On Mt. Lowe" in my late Aunt Mary's album. (This is the same Aunt Mary featured in my brother tterrace's photos.) There were cousins in Los Angeles, and Aunt Mary apparently went by train to visit them often. It would have been in this era. Anyway, my searches have found many links to info about the mountain and the railway. Here is a video from an old film clip. Shows amazing history.Although obvious, it seems incredible to see the flag only having 48 stars! Very interesting. Born Too LateHardly a soul can still be alive who rode the Mount Lowe Railway, especially in its golden age. It must have been a magical trip. The links tell the main story; other sites show open cars stopping to let riders admire the fields of poppies adorning the open plains in the spring. California mountains in the summer can be somewhat parched, but still refreshing compared to the warm stagnant air of the basin. The Tavern evidently preserved as many oaks as possible, with their small crackly leaves and hard acorns. Regrettably the enterprise never really covered its costs and succumbed to a series of disasters before I was born. It was a rather long trip, taking several hours each way. I, like many, regret the passing of the trolley cars, but old timetables show that it took well over two hours even to run the 50-some miles from central LA to Huntington Beach, and the tracks could never achieve the coverage of even a mediocre bus service. My StarsIt all depends on your perspective. With my little hand over my heart, I pledged allegiance to a 48-star flag on many a morning in grade school. I'm not used to the newfangled 50-star flag yet. Stars and StripesI also remember saluting the 48 star flag. Lets not get too upset about this, had this picture been taken 2 years earlier, in 1911, we would have seen a 46 star flag and 4 years before that, in 1907, old glory showed 45. I was always a good history student but grammar and punctuation were a problem, mainly because of run-on sentences. "Sunrise"Funny this is posted today! I happened to catch part of a silent movie recently on TCM called "Sunrise" and wanted to see the rest of the film. I got it from Netflix and watched it yesterday. There is a scene where Janet Gaynor is running from George O'Brien and hops something that looks just like this going through the woods and up into the mountain. I'll bet it was this trolley line. Oh, and I would highly recommend the movie - it was great and I usually don't like silent movies. Very Peaceful.Oh, I would love to have been there. Just looking at pic relaxes me. A boring place perhapsbut I bet the ride getting there would have been a blast! I thought of "Sunrise" as wellGenerally in Silent Film circles known as one of the best silent films ever made. When I saw this picture I immediately thought of that movie. I thought at the time it was unusual to have a trolley in the woods like that. Understanding the budget of a 1927 movie, I figured they would not have built that trolley and track just for the film. Just wondering if it really was the same trolley from the movie. Does the right of way still exist?Just wondering. Sort of reminds me of the trolley to Glen Echo Park in Maryland, although more dramatic. Trolleys are making a comeback. That's nice, but they are pretty useless. Mount Lowe rail trailFor hikers: http://www.mtlowe.net/MtLoweTrail.htm I camped thereAs a Boy Scout growing up in nearby La Canada Flintridge, we used to hike to the top of Mount Lowe and camp at the ruins of the old hotel. The view of Los Angeles at night was spectacular! When a fire damaged the trail to the top, my Eagle Scout project involved rebuilding the upper portion. We lugged a wheelbarrow and all the tools up to the top to complete the job. Fond memories! Thanks. The Great Circular BridgePlease post some views from the "high" side, a favorite of the postcard makers- lots of air below the car. Another favorite was taken from the opposite side of the canyon at the bottom of the incline, plus apparently group shots were taken of each incline carload an sold s souvenirs to the passengers- I'm told this is available today at amusement parks where the water toboggan plummets near the finish and most passengers are screaming. [and apparently young jaded women lift their shirts] Civil War aeronautThaddeus Lowe, who incorporated the railway and is the mountain's namesake, had been a balloonist during the Civil War as an observer for the Union. His daughter, whose name I'd have to look up, lived into the latter part of the 20th century. She was an accomplished aviator and is recorded in recent history in "The Right Stuff" as proprietor of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, the bar that stood near the end of the original runways at Muroc/Edwards AFB. Then she was known by her married name Pancho Barnes, and it may have been one of her rental horses that broke Chuck Yeager's rib the evening before he flew the X1 to Mach 1. SunriseBrookeDisAstor mentioned the movie Sunrise. I own the DVD of Sunrise, which is a remarkable film and I remember the scene where Janet Gaynor takes the trolley running through the woods to go into the city. According to IMDB, the film was shot at three outside locations: the Columbia River in Oregon, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, both near San Bernardino. But of those two locations, only Lake Arrowhead had a Pacific Electric line nearby. So not the Mount Lowe Line, but somewhere similar. Raise a glass to Mount LoweThere's some Mount Lowe Railway memorabilia at a little bar in Altadena called the Rancho, on Lake Avenue. Bare Naked BulbLove the light bulb in the trees, so simple yet so definitive. A campground nowDid an overnighter there with the Boy Scouts recently. The old right of way makes for an easy grade. I tried to replicate the location of the historical photo. Mine is the blue tent. Dandy http://dan-d-sparks.blogspot.com Great hikeI grew up in Sierra Madre in the 1950s early '60s. The roadbed of the railway was one of my favorite hikes, even found some spikes on occasion. The river rock foundations were still there at the hotel; a great place to camp for the night and a rad view. I still fantasize of time traveling back and taking the rail trip to Mount Lowe. Present Day FunicularsIt's a shame this streetcar line is long gone, but there are still some very spectacular funicular style rail trips available. I would be very remiss if I didn't mention the Lookout Mountain Incline in my old home town of Chattanooga. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Streetcars)
Co-op Gas: 1941
... few years later. [*Unless you live in New Jersey or Oregon. - Dave] Tires I remember when they came spiral-wrapped in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/13/2020 - 8:31pm -

August 1941. "Cooperative gas station in Minneapolis, Minnesota." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Co-Op Doo-WopThis photo has a very 1950s look to it. I suppose life, fashion, architecture and design in particular, took a break during the '40s while all efforts focused on WWII. Sometimes I wonder how different the 1950s would have been if the war had never taken place. I only know of co-ops in New York CityI thought co-ops were member owned apartments in the Big Apple. Well, they are. I didn't know about other co-op ventures, like this service station. By the way, if you look by the left shoulder of the attendant, you'll see Walker Mufflers for sale. I did a search on Walker exhaust and muffler systems, and by golly, they are still in business. The things you find out here -- Neon TowerI'd love to see a night photo of this Moderne gas station, since the tower has lots of neon tubing on it. There is some neon around the overhang as well. Canada has lots of Co-op gas stations, particularly on the Prairies and in the West. Here is a list of Co-op stations on Vancouver Island, with the Canadian term "gas bar" used. Fill it Up?Just think, most people under 40 or so have never had a person come out and fill up their tank at the gas station.* I remember the first time I had to do it myself. It was down south in 1976. We ended up with self-serve up north where I lived a few years later. [*Unless you live in New Jersey or Oregon. - Dave] TiresI remember when they came spiral-wrapped in brown paper. August 1941Four more months that pile of tires will be just a memory. All the rubber for the war effort among a host of other sacrifices by Americans and their families. Co-OpedThere was a Co-Op gas station in my home town in central Ohio in the 1950s and '60s. It was part of the Farm Bureau agricultural supplies center, which was run as a cooperative with local farmers. CO-OP ragtopWow! All the way from Virginia in a 1941 Buick convertible (rag top). Probably not many convertibles in Minneapolis due to the short top down season and long northern winters. Pre-war good times. Red River Co-opThe full name of the Co-op gas stations and supermarkets in Manitoba is Red River Co-op. Photos below are of Winnipeg, my hometown. The Virginian brideA plausible candidate for the driver of the car in the Minneapolis gas station in August 1941 with Virginia plates is photographer Post Wolcott. Before the war and rationing FSA photographers drove more than they hopped trains. We know Marion Post had wed Leon Oliver Wolcott by August because her colleague John Vachon reported the news to his wife Penny in a June 27, 1941 letter. Her groom was a deputy director of a section of the Department of Agriculture, and in her 1965 oral history she explained that her marriage came with two children and a farm. Her Smithsonian bio places the farm in Virginia. Before August 1941 was over, her car had reached grain elevators in Minot, North Dakota, dude ranchers in Birney, Montana and a farm family in Laredo, and main street in Sheridan, Wyoming. Massachusetts has a local option Attendant required to fill tank in the next town over. Yeah, it's weird. Since only the folks who live there are inexperienced at filling their own tanks. The rest of us come from places where we're trusted to manage on our own. It's a "safety" thing, I guess, like the stickers requiring you to turn off your cellphone while filling, which seem to have disappeared. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, M.P. Wolcott, Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Pacific Highway
... dated 1928 showing the Pacific Highway on the Calif.-Oregon border. Most likely Interstate 5 now. Looks like it's slow going on that ... place the location about 4 0r 5 miles south of Brookings, Oregon pacific highway It's not the pacific coast highway, anyway I ... 
 
Posted by kevhum - 07/02/2007 - 10:59pm -

This is a postcard dated 1928 showing the Pacific Highway on the Calif.-Oregon border. Most likely Interstate 5 now. Looks like it's slow going on that gravel. No 65 mph on this road. Photo LocationIf the photo was taken on the Pacific Highway would that not now be Highway 101 on the coast? I-5 is some distance inland. That would place the location about 4 0r 5 miles south of Brookings, Oregon pacific highwayIt's not the pacific coast highway, anyway I don't think all the signs are readadle at the resolution that the photo is posted at but one of them says Siskiyou county. Pacific HighwayWikipedia article on the Pacific Highway. Speaking of resolution, Kev, when you save your scans as jpegs you should choose "large file size" or "high image quality." Often this is shown as numerical scale from 1 (low quality) to 12 (high quality). All of your jpegs have a quality level of 3, which is why they are kind of fuzzy and pixelated. Re: Pacific HighwayNobody said this was the Pacific Coast Highway. It's the Pacific Highway, a completely different route. Oops.Pardon my conclusion jumping. Pacific Highway, it is, and that would make it Highway 99. Don Hall Yreka, CA Please post a higher resolution image.It's definitely not the Pacific Coast highway if it says Siskiyou County. Looks like it might be the border of old Highway 99, although the vegetation doesn't look quite right. Would love to see a higher resolution picture so I can check out the details. Don Hall Yreka, CA Pacific HighwayThe old stage coach road is still visible as it crosses old Hwy 99 and I-5. This picture is probably that same road. I'll bet that sign next to the car tells you a list of things you aren't allowed to do or possess in California. US 99Looks to me like Jefferson Road, Old UD 99, that runs to the east of I-5 / SR 99. LocationThis may be the location where this photo was taken. It's on the Pacific Highway/Route 5 on the border of Oregon and California. The hills in the background look the same in both photos. The California/Oregon stateline sign is in approximately the same place as in the old photo. You can't see it in this new photo but it's on the right side, just out of the frame. Sign and DateThe sign to the right of the auto reads: "Visiting Motorists / the California State Automobile Assn. / Is At Your Service / Non-Resident Registration Certificates / Required by State Law. Tourist Map, General / Road Information and Digest of the State / Traffic Laws Supplied Without Charge." I can only read the top line of the sign the auto is partly obscuring: "Non-Resident Motorists." The earliest postmark I've found on this postcard is July 1926. When the photo was taken the road was indeed gravel on the California side, but the Jackson County, Oregon segment had been paved for ten years. You can see the end of the pavement in the foreground. Another crossingThis is near the town of Hornbrook California. My father was traveling through this area in 1923 and his Model T burned out a clutch. He had the clutches replaced in Hornbrook. I am attaching a photo of where he crossed the state line and am not sure where it was. I know it must have been near here, or possibly down river near Happy Camp. He said he had to back up some hills in reverse to get to Hornbrook. The boarded-up garage was still there in 1970 when we drove through there. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
428 San Francisco Portland 275
U.S. 99 in Josephine County, Oregon. August 1939. Sign in service station window advertising for hop pickers ... a Charles Eide born in 1920 and died 2001 in Lebanon, Oregon. Which is not far from the old Route 99. Up near Corvallis. Maybe the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 8:14pm -

U.S. 99 in Josephine County, Oregon. August 1939. Sign in service station window advertising for hop pickers three weeks before opening season. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. What city is this? [Answer: Grants Pass] SFO-PDXI believe in the Full-Size I can make out the words "City of Grants Pass" on the base of the street lamp. This would make sense as 99 (not a US highway anymore) passes through the city and the mileage makes sense. Grants PassBingo. It says BUILT BY GRANTS PASS IRON AND STEEL. Good work! I agree with the commenterI agree with the commenter below. I can't read the lightpost base, but it's about 70 miles to Roseburg and 30 miles to Medford from Grants Pass, and I-5 was built along the old Highway 99 in that part of the state. The Portland distance is probably less right, since I-5 and 99 split north of Eugene. The San Francisco route probably took the old HIghway 101 down the coast rather than 99, which would explain the extra mileage I didn't expect. The inland route ought to be 375-385 miles, not the 435 miles the sign says. Highway 135, which connects Grants Pass to Crescent City, would've been pretty new then. Chet EideFor what it's worth, a death records search shows a Charles Eide born in 1920 and died 2001 in Lebanon, Oregon. Which is not far from the old Route 99. Up near Corvallis. Maybe the son of Chet? Definitely Grants PassThe movie poster says "Rogue" and a quick Google search shows the Rogue Theatre is still a going concern in Grants Pass. Another clue... would be the sign that says GRANTS PASS BAKERY. Doy. (Not legible in the full size jpeg but I should have looked a little closer at the hi-res tiff.) Grants PassI should have read through the other comments before I started digging for info. :) Grants PassOur son just emailed this link to me. The City Market in the picture was owned by my Grandfather. My Uncle that worked there is still living. He is an active 97 year old that refuses to grow old. If someone goes to the Wayside Inn at Alamo Lake, Arizona, he has many stories of the Grants Pass area, life in general, and a "few" biased opinions. I can still recall playing in the building during the early 1950's, while my Dad worked there. Lebanon and CorvallisLebanon is well east of old hwy 99E, almost to the foothills of the Cascades. Corvallis is on the west side of the Willamette valley on old hwy 99W HighwaysIt is Hwy 199 the connects Grants Pass with Crescent City California. I've driven it many times. The mileage is probably as near correct as any of the mileage signs in those days. The freeways shortened travel considerably. During WWII the highway over Mt. Sexton, just north of Grants Pass was rebuilt, almost to today's freeway standards because the army convoys couldn't handle the hairpin curves. I think the same thing happened to the Siskiyou pass. Prior to the freeway the highway passed through 32 towns between Portland and Medford using old 99E, a few less if you went 99W. Prior to construction of 505 in California you had to go clear into Sacramento to get to San Francisco. I've driven all of these highways many times. Tarzan Movie Poster in WindowFor those interested in such things: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032007/ Grants PassThis is Sixth Street looking down G Street. All the shops still have businesses in them. The structure on the right is not there anymore. That corner has a small building for the Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, On the Road)
Society of Friends: 1939
... the entrance to the dugout. Dead Ox Flat, Malheur County, Oregon. View full size. Photo: Dorothea Lange. Dugout Why is the ... of a tornado. I don't think they have too many of those in Oregon, though. Society of Friends Society of Friends is the formal name ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 2:21pm -

October 1939. "All the members of the congregation. Friends church (Quaker)." Mrs. Wardlow and Mrs. Hull are over to the left of the entrance to the dugout. Dead Ox Flat, Malheur County, Oregon. View full size. Photo: Dorothea Lange. DugoutWhy is the church underground? The FacilitiesCheck out those outhouses! I can never see an outhouse without thinking of the spiders and creepy crawlies that lurk inside, waiting to drop down some unsuspecting victim's blouse. Twister ProtectionClearly one can see the advantage of that in the event of a tornado. I don't think they have too many of those in Oregon, though. Society of FriendsSociety of Friends is the formal name of the Quaker religion. Most of these people, Mrs. Wardlow and Mrs. Hull included, lived in dugout structures similar to the church. Mrs. Hull!She's lovely. Seems strange that folksSeems strange that folks would go down below to go to church as opposed to going up to church. I'm just kidding I think I saw a show aboutI think I saw a show about that town on The History Channel or PBS - or rather about the man who made all of those photographs. I can't recall why the town was made that way though. ["The man who made all of those photographs" was a lady named Dorothea Lange. - Dave] Ancestors in this PhotoSix of my ancestors are in this photo. They misspelled our last name as Wardlow, it's Wardlaw. Both of my fathers grandparents are pictured here as well as my great aunt and uncle. My father's father's parents (great-grandparents) Everett and Eva Wardlaw are on the left. She is the short lady with white hat and coat. Her husband is directly behind her. My father's mother's parents (again my great-grandparents) are the second couple from the right, Truman and Esther White. She is wearing the long black coat holding the Bible. Their son (my grandmother's brother) Leroy White is just right of the door. His sister (my grandmother's sister) is the lady wearing the black coat on the far left. My grandparents are not in this picture. My father was raised in this area of Oregon and we still have family there. This picture is in a collection in the Library of Congress. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Rural America)
Survivor: 1972
... and the blue is a shade darker. I would wager it is an Oregon truck. The tracing of rust along the bottom of the door is another clue. ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:06pm -

The old General Store in Raymond, California. My sister-in-law sits on the steps while I pose proudly with my brand-new 1972 Datsun 1200 - still with its paper plates. The building dates from 1890 and is still there today - so is the tree. Risking life and limb, my brother crossed bustling Raymond Road to take this Kodachrome with my Konica Autoreflex T. View full size. Magnet pictureI was too young then (and 6000 miles away) but that picture somehow acts to me like a magnet : somewhere hot and sunny in the California of the '70s ... I would like to go there, back in time and in that place. I envy you tterrace ... I would have loved to grow up in California in the '70s and '80s. Then and NowThanks tterrace for all the pictures you have shared that remind me of my youth. This pictures cries out for a "Then and Now" follow up entry. DatsunMy first new car was a 1976 Datsun B-210. It rusted away in 1979. Well ain't you somethin?How lucky you were to be so young (about 25) and have a brand new "just out" Datsun 1200. I had to wait 'til I was 50 yrs. old to get a showroom fresh spankin' new car, you lucky young whippersnapper. Hope you remember the good feeling and high self-esteem you felt being young, good-lookin', single and rich. Any chance you know where that car is now? My first car was a '51 USED Ford Crown Vic (totaled by an insurance company in a flood) which I bought after the flood for $50 in 1956. It overheated constantly and I had to carry gallons of water to cool the radiator at all times, not exactly a "chick magnet." I still like "whitewalls" and sleek design from the fifties. This is a thoughtful photo, great contrast between the very old, decrepit building and the bright, shiny new car. Whitewalls, wire wheels --Tres sporty. Shiny sidesThe Odd Fellows Hall in Plymouth, CA, has the same odd-looking textured metal siding. What is that stuff called, anyway? It's a strange finishing material, in my opinion - shiny and fake-looking. It makes me happy that this store is not only still in existence, it's been "upgraded" with a new porch that looks appropriate to the age and style of the building. Capri 1983Great photo tterrace! This is me, age 20, proudly posing with my '77 Mark 2 Ford Capri near Reading, England and very similar looking cars they are too. It was a real babe magnet. (Well, in my memory it was.) How It Looks TodayA quick Google search led me to these two pics, here and here. The first pic's date is unknown to me but the second is from mid-2009. [You can also click on the link tterrace put in the caption. - Dave] Jingle BellI can hear the old fashioned bell above the door ding-a-linging every time someone goes in or out. It sure brings back a lot of memories North Street GangIn tterrace's link, the North Street gang has left their bicycles on the ground and gone inside, perhaps for something cold? And note the satellite dish on the roof of today's old general store. At the MoviesWasn't this in "Dirty Larry and Crazy Mary"? Ahead of her time?Looks like your sister-in-law was taking a moment to text something on her cell phone. Everybody loves RaymondI'm betting not everybody loved riding in that cramped backseat all the way there and back. Merry OldsmobileI bet the 1959 Oldsmobile in the lot to the right is gone by now. [That's a Pontiac. - Dave] Lucky youMy first car was a 74 Chevy Vega wagon, my car rusted faster than yours. The siding is tin panels, the aluminum siding of its day, came raw and you painted it, usually with zinc paint. Used to see gobs of it around here, most on old commercial buildings just like this, many farm machinery dealers. Great memoriesTterrace, I always enjoy your photos. They trigger so many memories for me. Most of my four brothers-in-law had Datsun B210s later in the 70s. Thank you for the photographic record of our (collective) past (even tho I'm an East Coaster). My DatsunYes, Dave, that was a spiffy-looking little car, my first. Those aren't wire wheels, though, just standard-issue wheel covers that sort of looked like it from a distance. At the time it was the lowest-priced car in the USA; I paid a few bucks under $2000 exclusive of tax & fees. Handled well, even more so when I got radial tires (downside: no whitewalls) a few years later. Datsun liked to ballyhoo it as a "mini-musclecar," but believe me, a 240Z it was not. The back seat wasn't all that uncomfortable, and if your legs got cramped after a while and you forwent the seat belts, you could stretch out sideways for a break. The poor thing was never the same after I blew the head gasket, and ten years later I was in Toyota Corolla. This wasn't a long trip; it's just 26 road miles from Chowchilla, where my brother had been briefly teaching at the high school. Later that year (and four years before the Chowchilla school bus kidnapping) they moved to Santa Cruz, where my Datsun occasionally made guest appearances. Not aging wellI have to say I liked the General Store better before it started catering to tourists, as is obvious by it's "new" old look. In other words, it looked better in 1972. So did I, come to think of it. Sigh. The WaltonsI will bet the inside of this store has the same atmosphere as Ike Godsey's General Store in the TV series "The Waltons." I would also bet that there was/is a Post Office in the store depicted in tterrace's image. Blue license plates, Chowchilla and country storesIn 1972 I was in grade school a little bit north in Merced after being stateside for a year. California had switched from black/yellow plates I wanna say around that time altho my memory may be off by a few years. At the end of the decade I would be dating my now ex-wife who had family in Chowchilla, my ex-mominlaw drove the same school bus route as the kidnapping one when she worked for the school district. Back then any major intersection or dusty valley town had a small store, cold drinks, some tables and maybe a pool table and juke box. Blue Plate SpecialThe license plate on the '55 Chevy pickup (or is it a '56?) is not a California plate. The name of the state is on the bottom rather than the top, and the blue is a shade darker. I would wager it is an Oregon truck. The tracing of rust along the bottom of the door is another clue. I used to have an Autoreflex T! My dad bought it new, and gave it to me when I was 18. I'm still kicking myself for leaving it in the overhead bin of a plane four years later. I forget which newer Konica I replaced it with, since I still had compatible lenses. I still have it, too. Somewhere. One Adam 12I can just see Malloy and Reed stopping here to help someone after some bad guys pulled a 415 (robbery). Also, I wannnnt that Chevy truck! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Stores & Markets, tterrapix)
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