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- Office Xmas Party: 1925
- ... Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel. These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy ... Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -
![ It's two Fridays before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 98 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.
December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Leer Kings"That Guy" looks like he could be the son of the older leering man directly to the right of him. I shall call them Denis Leery Jr. and Denis Leery Sr. The two men with them are obviously Christopher Walken as The Continental, and a young Franz Mesmer.
Just a little creepy....Some of the looks on their faces, wouldn't you love to know what they were thinking!
Debauchery 2.0Four years after behaving scandalously at the Krazy Kat, our bohemian friends find themselves slogging away at desk jobs in the boring adult world. Just WAIT until the Christmas party, though!
The oil canOf course the bear and the cabin weren't mentioned -- everyone knows the best part of the party is getting well-oiled!
Thank you. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your server.
H.P. Lovecraft?Could it be? Standing in front of the "Go Go" guy, half hidden? Maybe Franz Kafka, instead? This would be the guy who takes an extra-long time in the lav in order to scratch unseemly things onto the stall partitions. Every office has one of these guys and in this office, its either him or else its the nearly invisible guy standing across from him on the other side of the tree. Also, the girl on the far left, standing in front of the door, is unforgivably cute. I'll bet she's told a lot of these guys "NO" and that's why she's way over there.
The Power Bloc ...Have you happened to notice how Big Boss Man - the guy holding that little stubby cigar - is surrounded by thugly-type guys? This is the power bloc for this office. The guys up on the top left are all from a different Department and are wary of Big Boss Man's thugs. There is a little bit of cross-pollenation, however. The first guy standing on the table at the right is shooting a bemused glance in the direction of his bud in that other Department. He's the shorter, unjacketed guy with the full frontal grin and the eyebrows in serious need of plucking. To them, this is all a goof. They hang out together and keep each other informed as to who says what about whom, which of the girls are doable and what the scuttlebutt is coming down from the top. There's more here but I don't want to get censored.
A Story in every faceThis photo can inspire everyone to write a novel because there is indeed a colorful character with his own personal bio in every set of eyes. The bald guy with the candle on his head particularly stands out as one who has a complex persona but so does everybody else in the picture. Some appear depressed, some look beat up, some seem desperate. Make up your own scenarios. Personally, I used to look forward to the office parties when the most unexpected facets of co-workers' personalities would be revealed, giving us the rest of the year to talk about that until the next one. Stuffy old lady accountants and spinsters turned out to shock us the most when relaxed by a "touch of the grape". Lots of fun, too bad they have mostly been eliminated. Thank you for this blast from the past.
[That's a "GO-GO" traffic signal on Mr. Complex Persona's noggin. - Dave]
WiredCould it be that they tapped the power for the Christmas tree lights from the ceiling fixture?
What a mod hairdo!The brunette peeking from behind the desk (right above the black purse) has such a 1960's hairstyle!
Fat ChanceThe corpulent boss, stogie in hand, actually thinks that removing his glasses improves his appearance. He also seems to be playing footsie with the marcel-waved cutie who inexplicably has an oil can in front of her.
A KnockoutThe woman with the pearl necklace sitting at the very corner of the desk is a knockout! She looks like a present-day actress whose name escapes me. The guy standing up and glaring into the lens at the extreme top right of the photo may very well be the Antichrist. His stare gives me chills. The guy behind him looks like an "evil character" straight out of Central Casting. This is a great photo.
Thought BubblesIt would take me all day to write out thought bubbles for what I imagine is going through all those heads, but the lady at dead center seems to be thinking, "What was IN that punch? Did they repeal Prohibition and nobody told me?"
The "dark lady" downstage right is thinking, "I hope they snap that picture before I freeze to death down here on the bare floorboards. You would think the electric company would have better heaters in its own offices, but old man Pennyfarthing won't even spring for a rug to keep the draft out."
Western Electric (Shock Therapy)Great pic. And I'm sure there are as many stories as people in this one. But let's admit that the lady sitting on the floor on the left has to have the most interesting one. There is a haunted, post-experimental-therapy look to her that immediately reminded me of the psych-ward scenes in "Changeling."
Where's the copier?Ahhh, the days before every office had a copier, and every office had some joker trying to get the temp to sit on it!
Re: Fat ChanceWait -- so the oil can is worth noting, but not the bear statuette or the small house?
Western ElectricWestern Electric was the manufacturing and distribution arm of American Telephone and Telegraph. I suppose that this office in Washington was one of their distribution points. At any rate one interesting thing about the photo is the decided separation of men and women as though they might have come from different sections of the business. I also note that the ladies are sitting on a pretty rough floor, which is something I would have thought they would have avoided in those clothes. As to the glasses, I suspect that the photographer cautioned them that the flash might reflect from the lenses, assuming that I can assert that there was flash. Who knows, maybe there's a window somewhere.
That Office GirlI find her the most intriguing face in the picture. She looks almost out of place in this setting... her face is striking. Her expression says that she's part of a back story going on around the office that no one knows about.
Wow. I'm falling in love with a woman who's long long dead. How sad is that?
GiftedJudging by the peculiar items in the shot I'm thinking they exchanged white elephant gifts at the party. I got a big stuffed fish at our last party. I would have preferred the oil can.
This is so great!A bevy of attractive females here but I'm partial to the blond girl standing at the far left of the photo.
Wowzer!
Also, standing next to Boss Stogie on his left: ladies and gentlemen ... Mr. Joaquin Phoenix.
The Black WidowQuick somebody, get the story on the raven-haired woman sitting in front of the desk.
She looks like she ate her young; perhaps she has a few "missing" husbands buried in her dirt-floor basement.
I get the very distinct impression that if you crossed her, you ended up joining the silent majority long before your time.
Dark LadyWell.....the woman at bottom left certainly catches the eye. Something of a femme fatale, I think. Not generally popular with the more strait-laced ladies, like the woman two to her right who's giving her a very frosty look. The younger woman though, above and slightly to the left, is more sympathetic.
Since it's not uncommon here on Shorpy for unflattering comments to be directed at the olden-days womenfolk, let me be the first to say what a grim bunch the men are. I'll make an exception for the guy under the tree.
Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas PartyThe oil can on the foreground floor is absolutely precious. There can be no rational explanation for it. Then again, one tends to get oiled at the office party.
The hot babe is standing, far left, if not the girl sitting left, in pearls by the purse on the desk corner.
The fat guy with the cigar has his conjoined twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other? Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling us why that guy is holding the little horsey?
"Hey, Griselda. Spin my copter. If it says 'STOP - STOP', you are not mine. If it says 'Go - GO', oh you kid!"
Most riveting photo ever.I've been a lurker on Shorpy for months, but this photo has prompted me to register and comment. I've been coming back to this picture every day since it was posted, showing it to everyone I know.
What strikes me is that though there are several vintage-type characters here, there are also quite a few very contemporary looking people as well. This photograph represents such a vibrant living moment in the lives of these people. Some of them look like they could speak to you right from the picture. And, oh what a story they could tell!
This photo takes first place from my previous Shorpy favourite, They Shall Remain Nameless.
(But it's so close... check it out if you missed it.)
Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there ...
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen......hair! I think that's my favorite part of this picture. There's such a great group of hairstyles among the women. A few of those girls were pretty darn good with the curling iron, or whatever they used. I wonder if they're more glammed up than usual for the big party. For some reason, the hairstyles are more striking to me than in other pictures. Anyway, fascinating as always.
P.S. I think the guy that bdgbill thinks looks like the antichrist is actually kind of a hottie. I'm going to go on the assumption that he didn't look that intense all the time. If he did...well, I could see bdgbill's point then.
Now I KnowMy father worked for Western Electric. The money wasn't very good, so I never figured out why he stayed there. Guess this answers the question.
IN and OUTI noticed the IN basket on the desk to the far right, but where's the OUT basket? I sometimes wonder why I have an OUT basket on my desk at work - it's always less full than the IN one.
The woman sitting on the floor to the far left bears a striking resemblance to the Italian actress Ana Magnani (The Rose Tattoo).
Dramatis PersonaeMona, the woman on floor, far left (one of the few without the Marcel wave), is probably a Suffragist or at least politically active. Maybe she's trying to organize these party animals into a union and all they want to do is balance traffic signals on their heads and be wildly social.
Don't mess with these guys!The boss from Hades has what looks like a goose egg on his forehead and the coatless guy on his right has a black eye and cuts on the nose and eyebrow: maybe the partying started the night before. Looks like a smoking hot curling iron was de rigueur for any well-coifed lady.
That guyOf the four guys standing in the upper right, the guy who is on the left side, closest to the tree -- which girl is he leering at?
Western ElectricIf you flip the picture around, you can sort of read the door sign. I can make out:
504
[Western Elec]tric Com[pany].
[INCORP]ORATED
[?]ION DEPARTMENT
I wonder what the missing part is. Administration?
Office TensionThis must have been just after Phyllis spilled the beans about Dwight and Angela. Poor Andy!
The Power Bloc, continuedThe balding gent just over Boss Stogie's left shoulder-- the real power in the office, he certainly looks confident that his recent appointment to regional director will lead to greater things. Boss Stogie's son, Junior (with the candy cane), was on the fast track to becoming a junior partner until he was befriended by Harold from the mailroom (his hand on Junior's shoulder), which displeased Boss to no end.
UndercoverIsn't anyone going to ask why the woman in the middle is wearing a hat with a Police badge? Is this a costume xmas party? Could she possibly be a real cop??
My GirlSay what you want about the woman on the floor or the blonde with the pearl necklace, but my heart belongs to the woman standing fourth from the left, middle row. She reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
The henchman second from the right at the top has a menacing Snidely Whiplash quality about him. You just know he slipped a mickey into someone's drink.
Re: Western ElectricYou know you're a Shorpy addict when you "get" Anonymous Tipster's reference to the photographer's use of flash (or WAS there a window somewhere?!). Nice shot, A.T.!
Twins or Sisters?Study the features of the young woman directly in front of the door - then look at the one just to the right of (and looking directly at) "blondie with the pearls". Eyes, hair, smile, shape of face, body build: if they are not twins then they must at least be sisters. It is uncanny!
Christmas BackstoryYes, the young lady at the lower left leaning against the desk has the most interesting backstory in the room. Thanks to the passage of time we'll never know what was behind her haunted expression beyond that the woman giving her the evil eye must have had something to do with it.
Dave continues to put these evocative photos up knowing our emotions will never be satisfied!!
Meanwhile, notice the vintage Chia Pet resting on the scales in the "shipping department" (the desk along the left side). The girl in the fake police hat is looking longingly at it. Chia bunny? Chia elf?
The guy in front of the Christmas tree holding the toy, "I got a PONY!"
Keep them in their place.I, too, wonder why all the women are sitting on the floor in their silk satin dresses with fur collars. Surely there were some men who would have been glad to give up their places for them (and to sit amongst the women!)
How did they get Xmas light strings in 1925?I thought people used small candles until the '60s. How did they happen to have these string lights? Great pic of us back then.
[The 1960s being, I guess, when covered wagons brought in the first supplies of wired Christmas lights. - Dave]
I spy...Second woman in the third row...Frida Kahlo, at her day job.
SpellbindingI cannot stop looking at this picture. So much to see. The Al Capone looking guy is mesmerizing. The guy at top, second from right gives me the creeps.
1920'sI'm kind of young so maybe I'm missing something, but did pretty women not have to hold jobs in the 1920's? This office is worse than the one I work in, I didn't think that was possible.
Re: 1920sI'm kind of young too, but I disagree with you. I think this office has quite a collection of lovely women (and some not-as-lovely ones too, just like today). Sometimes, it's hard to look past the hairstyles and the clothes. If you are young (20-something? younger?), you've really only seen one ideal of beauty--you've missed a lot of the different fashions and hairdos of the rest of the 20th century. You also underestimate what modern makeup does for women. There are so many more varieties of it today than there were then, and it's generally of higher quality and easier to use than in the past. If you took one of the women in this picture, say, the girl with pearls sitting next to the desk and plunked her down in 2008 to get a makeover, her hair would be longer, probably highlighted and dyed, and aided by daily washing and a host of conditioners. Then, add some good moisturizer, foundation, and concealer, as well as a lash curler, mascara, and a healthy helping of eye liner, and I'm guessing you'd think her quite the fox.
Conversely, take the most attractive woman you know now, and put her in short hair and marcel waves, take away her hair dye and most of her makeup, and I'm guessing she'd look quite similar to the ladies in this photo. Even something as simple as the shape of plucked eyebrows really change the look of someone, and with the change in aesthetics, it's sometimes hard to get past the fashion to see beauty.
It works with the men too--you'd probably look a lot different with a side part and a pompadour!
That's right . . .. . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy
Las Vegas
That's my desk!I have a desk that's identical to the one on the left. I had guessed it was 1940's vintage. It's nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker?Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still climbing. That's a lot of forensic partyologists! I wonder if even Dave knew what he had pulled out of the hat with this one?
[I am shocked. Shocked! - Dave]
re: Xmas light strings LOL! Dave, a lot of your comments (like this one) crack me up! Are you a comedian in real life? Merry Christmas!
[Please folks, no applause. Just throw money. - Dave]
Hotness quantificationI count 20 women in that picture; most of them you can see no more than their face and hair, and two you can't even see all of that.
Out of the 18 you have a good facial shot of, I'd put 3 of them at 8.5-9.5 on the scale... three of them are SMOKING hot. I'd put another 4 at the 7-8.5 mark, meaning serious cuties, and at least three of the others are a 6 -7.
Where I work we have 100 women in my office; I'd put exactly three in the 8.5-9.5 scale, and another 10 in th 7-8.5 scale; of the rest, probably only a smattering are really in the 5+ range.
So, I have to know ... where do you work that the women are so attractive? Playboy Enterprises?
Taking into account the differences in style, these women were, mostly, very attractive, and even a couple of the less attractive weren't awful.
The Men of Western ElectricIn the interest of gender equality, I got to wondering about the relative charms of the office boys. I found three who tickled my fancy.
1. The tall smiling fellow whose head is sticking up behind and to the right of Police Woman. His face is open and honest, he's smiling with his twinkly dark eyes as well as his mouth, and although his ears are a bit prominent there's a lovely overall symmetry to his face. I'll call him Dimples.
2. The one man who has the sense to sit down with the ladies. He's a bit older, but I love his soft wavy hair. There's a certain aristocratic but slightly sad angle to his tired half-smile that puts me in mind of a young Prince Philip. I'll call him Phil.
3. OK, here's the hotness - the brash, cocky young sheik peeking out confidently between the heads of Boss Stogie Pennyfarthing and his wan shirtsleeved assistant. He's got the eyes of Frank Sinatra and the hair of Jack Kennedy. I don't know what he looks like from the neck down, but from the Arrow collar up he's all, "How YOU doin'?" I'll call him Frankie.
In summary: Were I one of the office flappers, I would ride in Frankie's Studebaker, nurse a secret unrequited crush on Phil, and take Dimples home to meet Mother.
Rogues' GalleryI can't stop staring at the chilly filly down by the leftern desk. She looks like three out of every five women I've ever fallen for. It's the eyes. As to the resemblance to Ana Magnani, she might be of Italian descent.
I am also like the older gentleman in the upper right. Mr. Leery Senior, was it? Right between Charlie Sheen (or Leery Jr.), Snidely Whiplash, and Mr. Deer-in-the-headlights. What a jovial sort. And a snappy dresser, as well. Conversely, the startled fellow's vest is well off-center and makes him look like he couldn't decide which part of him was the front. Or maybe he was taking a nap under a desk just before the photo op and somebody had to drag him out.
Funny how a photograph will turn Bob & Lisa from the office into Dick Tracy characters once you let your imagination do the walking. Thanks to all you for sharing your insights.
You were linkedA local blogger from Beaumont's newspaper linked your site today. I will be forever gratful! Nevermind I got absolutely nothing done today and instead pored over your site at length. This is truly an awesome site!
This Won't DoOne chubby gal. One chubby guy.
As an official with the State of California, I say that this does not pass muster. There was hiring discrimination here. Walk into any State office and you'll see what I mean. Not to mention the plethora of Caucasians.
The chubby gal is next to sheet music. Wonder what this melba toast group was singing?
They're all dead nowJust think ... they all had their youth, their lives, their personalities, and now they are all turned into worm food. Just a happy thought for Christmas.
No, wait a minute. . . okay, I've changed my mind. Now I like Miss Lookingaway, sitting in the lower left. Definitely. She's the one.
Foy
Las Vegas
Oil Can GalThe siren sitting with the oil can is undressing me with her eyes. I'll ignore the fact she is 112 years of age, and let her.
[Guess that explains the oil can. - Dave]
Houdini?The guy on the left side, just above and to the right of the P.D. hat girl....did Houdini make a special appearance? In any event, he's got a mean set of eyebrows.
And you are correct, Stinky, the girl on the far left by the door is surely a looker!
Lost in the crowdNobody seems to have spotted Hugh Grant peeking out between Stogie Boss and Bald Guy.
Famous facesTo keep Hugh Grant company, fellow British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is peeking out from behind Shirtsleeves.
He is not a crookOh, my gosh. There's Richard Nixon on the upper right (with face partially hidden) just below old boss and crooked-vest guys.
Roxie & Co.I love this picture, and all the comments! Here's my .02:
*Girl with the oil can doesn't want to undress you, she's too in love with herself. You can see it in her eyes; she's a Roxie Hart if I ever saw one. "Eat your heart out, Sophie Tucker."
*I swear I graduated with the girl who has her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She's the one who organizes all our class reunions.
*If I were one of those girls, I'd probably want to date the guy sitting on the desk, right hand side. However, I have a feeling he'd want to "just be friends." So,
*I'd have to go for the one behind Ol' Pennyfarthing. No, not that one, the bald one. Handsome features and sense enough to not put some ridiculous piece of fur on his head.
*Girl leering at our castoff looks like one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Drucilla, I believe.
Office HottieI think the guy looking over the RIGHT shoulder of chubby-stogie dude is hot. There's something about the eyes that grab me. And the hint of a smile.
British InvasionNot only Hugh and Rowan - isn't that the actress/singer Patsy Kensit on the left, standing in front of the office door?
Can't Get Over This PhotoI can't get over this picture. It's my favorite one on Shorpy, which is saying a LOT. And, it has nothing to do with my collection of high-end Western Electric phones from 1905-1939.
The woman in front, referred to as the "Black Widow," I can't look at her enough. She surely would get a large kick out of the ruckus she would caused in 2008, unless it bored her as also being commonplace in her own time. The woman over her left shoulder has movie star looks.
They are on the fifth floor, and I wish I could see the name on the glass door. Then again, the woman obscuring it may be the one to take home to meet the family, so she can stay.
The finish on the floor is badly worn, as contrasted by the part under the desk. These fellas were habitually hustling to and fro, and with the feminine charms represented here, it's no wonder. Office romances must have been all there rage therein.
I have been hoping the Farkers would be all over this one, except they love to specialize in the one-person quirk shots. I could place the Black Widow in countless situations...
Is this the only picture you have on this stunning group?
[Afraid so. - Dave]
If onlyTterrance had taken this photo! We would know all about it, mystery solved.
I thinkthe mysterious suicidal communist was probably a cleaning lady whom the photographer sort of forced to be in the picture and she's embarrassed to be photographed in shabby clothes and feels naturally out place amongst the staff with whom she's always been subservient.
She reminds me of Camille Claudel on her way to the madhouse.
50 Little IndiansThis photo looks like a cast of characters who would end up in an Agatha Christie mystery....and I'm pretty sure I know who did it!
The Officethis picture reminds me of the TV show The Office. Jim is sitting on the desk in the right corner. Pam is all the way to the left in the back row. Michael is the guy with his hand on Jim's shoulder although he should be the bossman with the cigar. Stanley is the guy between the man holding the horse and the man with the cigar. Creed is Mr Leery. Kevin is holding the horse. Dwight is the only guy in glasses. Kelly is the bobbed woman behind the desk with the permanent smile on her face. Meredith is the creepy woman off alone... she's just waiting for her next drink of alcohol. Andy Bernard is the guy to the right in the back with the striped tie. I couldn't decide who Angela was. Ryan is the deer in headlights next to Andy. Phyllis is in the satiny dress to the right. Oscar is right by the right hand edge.
Man I love this picture.
AngelaAngela's sitting on the floor with that big lace collar, giving the stink-eye to Meredith.
Naughty NaughtySome young lady has just done something naughty off screen left. The Leery Boys approve, the Black Widow and Stink Eye don't, and the young lady behind Stink Eye is too drunk to comprehend.
Also, is the bald man by the Christmas tree wearing a traffic signal on his head, set to "Go?"
Somewhere in this crowd must be Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet and Prof. Plum.
My favorite pictureI and my co-worker check this site at least three times a day. He has never been on the Internet and when he passes by he will invariably ask "Anything new?" Which I know to mean "Anything new on Shorpy?" This Christmas Office Party is our favorite. We both live in Maryland and have seen many of the areas displayed in these pictures. When we scan the Office picture and see the "mob boss" guy with the stogie and the gun in his pants, he does a great Al Capone voice. I hope my posting this comment will bring new fans to
this amazing photo.
Merry Christmas everyone!have a great holiday and prosperous New Year.
Oh Christmas Twig! Oh Christmas Twig!Considering it is 1925 and an urban area they probably had a hard time locating a showpiece Christmas tree. Probably the best they could do was this poor little immortalized twig.
Timeless peopleEver notice how nearly every photo of a large group, from about 1900 on, contains at least one person who looks like he/she could have been photographed in just about any decade, or just the other day? The lady by the desk behind the pretty girl with the pearls looks like a teacher at my kids' school! There is nothing about her teeth, hairstyle, makeup, etc., that gives away the fact that she was photographed in 1925 except, of course, for most of the other people in it.
The Timeless DeskI'm still using the exact same desk as the one in the photo; my wife purchased it from McGill university when they replaced the professors' desks in the mid 1960s.
Oh what funAdolf (second from right at very top) has quite the leer going on. Peter Sellers could imitate him well. Mystery Lady could have been even more beautiful. I imagine her long hair flowing and her prominent features brought out even more with an expert's touch.
What is Stogie Man carrying, besides his eyeglasses? I also wonder who took this photo. It obviously took some arranging, with the piling up of people.
Excellent, almost spellbinding picture! I come here about six times a day just to visit it. I wonder who lived the longest, and what year they all died and how? Yes, I'm a morbid one.
Office A-Go-GoThe gent at the back is, indeed wearing the miniature street signal (it has 4 arms to the signal so not a railway signal) on his head. Firstly, the only thing behind him is a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, certainly nothing that the signal could be perched on. And, secondly, if it was sitting on something, it would not be sitting at the angle it is.
Then and Now I'm wondering -- in today's world there is usually at least one person at an office party of that size who gets a little too inebriated and winds up making photocopies of their nether parts for distribution to all. Was there a way to do the same thing using a mimeograph machine or whatever other copying technology existed in 1925? Would the tipsy individual first have to draw their naughty bits on some special copy medium? Our grandparents sure had a lot of hardships to deal with.
At First Glanceand in the zoomed out view, I thought the gent at the far right might be the office troublemaker and that the folks wrapped him up in Christmas lights for his just deserts. Alas and alack, when you go in for a closer look, it's simply the ravages of time taking their toll on the negative.
[This batch of plates has water damage along one side. - Dave]
The Lady of the Deskjust wandered in from the Sergei Eisenstein film that was shooting on the set next door. She's on a break between takes of the Odessa Steps sequence.
RE: Oh GreatIf CBS could give us Rudolph, Shorpy can give us Western Electric.
2010 InterpretationsThis year, I think the Black Widow has pretty much just had it with that place.
Stink-Eye isn't looking at the Black Widow. She's disapproving of something messy on the front of the desk.
I can't find Don Draper Nor Joan Holloway, but this sure conjures up thoughts of Mad Men, 45 years earlier. I burst out laughing when my eyes scanned to the guy in the back with the stop and go-go item on his head! Maybe THAT is the flavor of the evening? More GO than STOP? This is the roaring 20s after all and these are certainly modern women..
Yes, this picture and your readers' comments may be my very favorites to date!
Some Like It Hot The mademoiselle standing in front of the woman wearing the Policeman's hat could have been Billy Wilder's inspiration for his casting Jack Lemmon in drag.
Another WorldThese people are denizens of another universe that, no matter how many photographs we study or books we read, we will never fully understand because we didn't live in it and never will.
These are people who knew how to navigate themselves in the distant world of 1925. All of these people were born at the beginning of the last century and were brought up by people from the 19th century.
If a modern young person were to be suddenly transported here without preparation he would find it completely disorienting and possibly quite frightening, because of so many technological and cultural and social differences between now and then.
Deja vuI loved this picture.
But the lass in front of the desk, looking stage right, is memorable. I think I've seen this picture before.
Then I noticed the dates of the previous comments. 2208? Surely two years cannot have gone by so quickly.
[To say nothing of the 198 after that! - Dave]
SteamyThere are some SERIOUS sexual crosscurrents and hot vibes in this picture! Amazing!
Slow on the uptakeI'm pretty sure Mr. Semaphore head isn't actually wearing that thing on his head; it's behind him. What is alarming is the second head growing out of his chest. The heads seem to be in agreement to lurk.
Oh great!Shorpy is doing reruns for the holidays.
Kidding.
Merry Christmas.
Uh-Oh TannenbaumThat's the most bedraggled Christmas tree I've ever seen. It has more tinsel than needles.
An unflattering portraitMy god, this is by far the ugliest group photo I've ever seen! Both girls and guys look like winners from the Walmart Ugly Photo Contest.
Kimono-wearing parrot?With a bouffant, no less? Over there, on the scale!!
The gal with the candy cane, to our left of the much-ballyhooed oil can chick, seems to be presaging late '60s hairstyles.
And yes, the balding dude in the rear with the traffic semaphore on his head wins the covert group-photo clown award in spades.
Sad to SaySo many hotties, so many dorks.
Season's GreetingsHope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, from Walter and all his friends in this, my favorite Shorpy picture.
General Electric Crime FamilyOk, a lot of the men look like mafiosi with the big-lips guy in front being the capo. The two guys at the right, top, are hit men.
Western Electrical FireI can't believe, in 90+ comments on this remarkable photo, that not one person pointed out the extension cord running from the ceiling light fixture to the tree. I think the answer to the comment about how and when these folks died is: a few minutes after this photo was taken, in a horrible electrical fire.
It would be a chore, but could someone pleasecolorize this!
BeautyI love the woman sitting on the floor next to the desk looking away. At first glance you think; boy she looks tired, and then you look again and you see how beautiful she really is. She is just stunning. I also find it interesting with the commentary just how similar our comments in the office were to the ones posted on this site. We too made up stories about these folks. I love this photo. Thanks for sharing it.
I never tire of looking at this one.Always noticing something new, frinstance,
The object on the scale, seems to have some heft to it based on how far the scale dial has moved, maybe a cast iron toy?
The young fellow on the far right, Candy Cane in his right hand but whats on his left hand? Looks like it's slipped inside of something, a toy holster maybe?
Completion All this tableau requires (perhaps) to make it complete, is a large paper bag on the floor stuffed with goodies, including the obligatory pair of turkey-feet protruding upward in a festive fashion.
Best of the Season to All in the Shorpyverse Continuum!
Secrets never revealedThere is no question that many secret alliances and not-always discreet hook-ups probably took place during and after this festive celebration 86 years ago. Luckily for those involved, there were no surveillance cameras, cell phone cameras, tape recorders, security guards, texting devices or other pesky snooping devices that could cause the merrymakers a permanent record (and deep lifetime regret) of their missteps. They were the roaring 20's when people gathered their rosebuds where they may and parties were for having the best time you could have. I'm betting many of these revelers took their sweet and sordid memories of that night to their graves.
Another Shorpy Party!I love this photo and we're going to test the limits of the reply counter. Merry Christmas everyone and have a grand new year!
Lord Almighty!!!It's the butler in the pantry!!!
I have never, ever seen so many guilty people in one photograph.
Unbelievable that it was not staged. But it obviously wasn't.
Wow!!!
My hat!How did she get it?
"Pure horse, Danno. Book 'em."Having just spotted the drug paraphernalia on the left - the scale, the packaging materials, the kimono-wearing parrot - our undercover coppette in mid-pack has whipped out her official police hat and ignoring the cries of "that baggy's not mine!" is about ready to haul the whole gang downtown. A bust like this baby was sure to bump her upstairs and away from all these dreary office parties.
Up to no good?The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?
Cost of that treeCould not have been more then a dollar in 2011 money
Must have been last minute!!!
The ion DepartmentA quick flip of the door confirms we are in room 504 of the ion Department.
FestivusIts good to see this one again. I just keep looking at the people and see more than a few that would have been great company. I hope everyone, viewers, commenters, Dave and webmaster Ken has a great Holiday Season in the company of friends and loved ones.
She apparently had a good time with my grandpa.As she is my grandma!
"The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?"
3rd rowfrom the top 3rd from the left. I'm in love.
Oh wait.
Party HeartyOoooo -- Roaring twenties office party, bathtub gin. Oooooo -- I think I just threw up in my throat a little bit.
Shorpy Christmas cardIf Dave would produce an annual Shorpy Christmas card I would buy a few boxes, and I'm sure others would as well. Cards with this photo would be seen in every business cubicle in the country and quite a few places around the globe. It says Merry Xmas for me.
So much to read into This picture is as familiar to longtime readers of this blog as our own family photos and as evergreen as that Christmas Tree was before it was cut down. One can imagine so much here, for example that as soon as the photographer finishes with his duties, the Volstead Act will be violated by most of the people in this room (there are a few who look as if they might disapprove), and the usual office party shenanigans will occur, some of which might have consequences in the months to follow even if they all swear that what happens at the Office Party stays at the Office Party.
Al JolsonIs that Al Jolson in front of the "Traffic signal" bald guy? He's peering out just a bit from behind the guy with the vest and holding his glasses. 1925, the timeline is right. :)
Iconic StatusThis photo has taken on a level of immortality that few others can hope to achieve. A Photograph for the ages that will always be appreciated and admired. A Tradition is born! Thanks to Dave and all that visit here; hopefully someday your office pictures will be shown here and we can all marvel at how far we've come in so short a time.
Tiny Tim said it best so I shan't repeat it but that is my wish for one and all.
Thank you, DaveI hope this re-posting will bring new fans. Merry Xmas,everyone!
Why the oil canThose three objects in front - Maybe just spur-of-the-moment party silliness?
Another year olderI just love this photo. There's so much to analyze. Saw it last year for the first time. Here we all are, another year older. That would include those in the picture, in a macabre sort of way.
Best Christmas Party EverFirst, Dave, you have cured my holiday depression. I found this during a post-Xmas hangover and there are no words. I was instantly addicted to your site. Thank you.
Second, if there is anyone out there with connections to the BAU I would like you to seriously consider imposing yourself on that relationship and get them on it. I'm dying for a more complete story. You must be too if you're reading this. You know who you are. Pick up that phone and give him/her a call.
Not Al JolsonWade in NW Florida: if he looks like anybody of that period, it would most likely be Eddie Cantor, not Al Jolson.
The other 13I have just spent an extremely enjoyable hour reading all the comments reaching back to 2008. Of the 47 people in the photo, 34 have been commented on. So what about the other 13? Six guys in the upper left have been ignored, plus seven gals in the pack. The most prominent of the abandoned baker's dozen are, to my mind, the two women standing side by side, closest to the tree. Both have bead necklaces: one tucked in, one on the outside. They seem neither hot nor cold, neither suicidal nor drunk. The two of them actually look (dare I say?) like really nice people.
NOW it's the holiday season.....when Shorpy breaks out this holiday classic! I wonder what pop-culture figures of the past year will be likened to our hard-partying crew?
The face that could sink a thousand shipsThe guy holding the cigar, oh man I want to punch his face!
Every yearEvery year when I look at this, I think the same thing: do all those dames hate Desk Woman for the same reason, or different ones?
Lots of single women in that officeNo wedding rings on almost all of them. Perhaps a woman worked until she got married, or at least until she had children - and then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for these ladies to go from office life, with its daily human contact and pleasures (such as this office party) to a few rooms, kitchen and nursery figuring predominantly. My grandmother still reminisced proudly about her work as a lawyer's assistant in the 1920s, way back before she got married, had three children, and spent most of her time in the top floor of a Boston triple-decker for the next 20 years.
Colorized Version Hidden in Plain SightCheck out https://www.shorpy.com/node/11937 for colorized version in Colorized Photos by members. Dave, do I get a prize for finding it?
Talk About Your Lonely HeartsThis could be the Sgt. Pepper album just before The Beatles stepped into the shot
Par-TAY!I totally wanna party with this crew. I've always loved the Roaring-Twenties era, and the show Boardwalk Empire is doing a great job with the fashions and the music. I think Nucky Thompson needs to sprinkle a little Xmas cheer on this group. Volstead Act be damned!
Young bald guyEvery time I see this, my eyes go to the young, very handsome man who is looking over the shoulder of the rather portly guy on the right side of the photo. Balding men didn't have many options, then, like they do now, but I rather doubt that the premature balding kept all the young ladies away from him!
I wonder which of these men were veterans of WWI?
At the Ion Department Christmas Party . . .That exotic woman sitting in front of the desk in the lower left STILL seems distracted by something just out of camera, and the woman in front of her is still watching her carefully.
It's a wonderful photo worth our annual holiday attention!
--Jim
Naughty or Nice?This oft-repeated photo is starting to remind me of the traditional holiday tune by Eric Cartman (of South Park fame) singing about the Swiss Colony Beef Log; irreverent but fun.
What's printed on that document?Dave, can you zoom in on the piece of paper being held by the guy kneeling in the center, right in front of the tree? It's almost as if he's trying to show it to the camera. Thanks!
-------------------------------------
Just a something something
TO WISH
You and Yours
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Division Four Office
1925
Worth a second or third look There are some half dozen ladies in this photo. Like the one right behind the corner of the desk, with the chevron shapes on her dress and the one directly in front of the door on the left that are definitely worth seeing again.
Merry Christmas Shorpyites!
Is there anybody out there?Surely one of these people in the photo has a living relative (great grandkids, grandkids, etc) that might be able to shed some light on this photo.
2%Of the 47 people in the photo, only one is wearing glasses. Did the Ion Department require perfect vision of its workers?
My cueI don't even start listening to Christmas music until I see this picture reheated. It's a classic.
The Girl with the Curl -- and the candy cane. There once was a girl
with a pretty little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good
She was very, very good
and when she was bad
she was even better!
Re 2%The cigar smoker on the right in the three-button suit and the gent on his right both are holding eyeglasses, all the more to ratchet up their smashing good looks. Well, maybe just looks.
What's Left To Say?Besides their clothes and hair dos, two things that I’m glad have changed: The way Christmas trees look and protective coating for hardwood floors. And I’m guessing they had a White Elephant gift exchange, thus the whimsical gifts.
Raise your glassesI'm sure one of our more knowledgeable posters might know better, but I wonder if glasses were removed to prevent unwanted flash effects?
Could it be?I've looked at this photo for three Decembers now, and I just noticed that the girl sitting behind the girl with the striped blouse, and how much she looks like she could be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother.
Party TimeThe office parties and associated grab bags were created to give us all a chance to regift.
Allow me now to wish all of our Shorpy viewers, creators and commenters a very happy Holiday season. Let us all be well, prosper and keep returning to this wonderful site.
Love this photo....Like so many of you, I love it when this photo is trotted out! We are so drawn to it and love imagining what this party must have been like, the silly little gifts, the party girls, and those who just wanted it to all be over with so they could get back to work.
Each year I am struck by the lady behind the one in the striped blouse. She looks like she could have been in my high school annual from 1970. Yes, I dated myself there! Her hair style looks like it could have been from the 1970's, unlike her co-workers with their many finger waves. Keep posting this one, Dave....truly a classic!
An Evocative PhotographThe romance of old photographs is especially powerful in a picture like this. Studying the faces of what we assume are long departed strangers, we can't help speculating about the nature of their inner lives and how things turned out for them. Who ended up married to someone who made them happy or miserable? Which one(s) got ahead and who descended into poverty? Who died young - and so on?
With hindsight we know that only a few years after that Christmas party in 1925, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Then World War II winnowed out a great many - how did this group of individuals make out through all those difficult times? There are many such questions which occur to the curious.
This is an extraordinarily evocative photograph. The transience of everything is plain to see in this picture if you notice such things.
This photois what prompted me to make an account on Shorpy. The first thing that jumped out at me was, is that a man in drag standing with his hand on the young lady's shoulder? The lady in question looks a bit like Drew Barrymore.
I noticed the indentations between the eyes of many of the men, and realized that they did take their glasses off for the photo, to minimize glare. No featherweight lenses in those days!
Tales from the Jazz AgeI'd like to take a crack at imagining who some of these people could be --
Oil Can Girl (seated at bottom, center) - Never turns down a chance to cut a rug at a speke. Very generous with the contents of her hip flask, which in a pinch can supply fuel for her sometime-boyfriend’s Hupmobile.
Desk Girl (seated at bottom, left) - Staring intently at a winged, two-horned leopard and wondering if she should jump up and scream at everybody to run for their lives.
Lace Collar Girl (two left from Oil Can Girl) - Wondering why Desk Girl is staring so intently at the office kitty-cat.
Time Warp Girl - (immediately above Desk Girl) - Up until a few weeks ago was a liberal arts major at an Ivy League university in the year 1969, then stumbled through a time portal into 1925. Decided to stay and get a job because, well, things are a lot less crazy here.
Starlet Girl - (above and to the right of Time Warp Girl) - Avid reader of Photoplay, Picture-Play, Screenland, Movie Weekly, Movie Mirror, and lots more. Passionately believes that her good looks could bring her fame in Hollywood, if only she could manage to stop tossing money away on magazines and save up for the train fare.
Hat Girl (immediately above Starlet Girl) - Took a few slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, now having trouble remembering her name.
Trashed Girl (immediately to the right of Hat Girl) - Took even more slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, but still conscious enough to realize that if she stops leaning on the girl below her, she’ll tumble to the floor.
Handsome Guy (standing in the back, left side, farthest left) - All the office girls have swooned over him at one time or another. Been engaged six times, but it always breaks off when he tells his bride-to-be that his mother will be living with them.
New Pretty Girl - (third from left, standing) - Just started work this past month. Soon to be Handsome Guy’s next ex-fiancee.
Wow, this is way too long already. Anyway, you get the idea. This is fun!
White Elephant Gift ExchangeI going with a White Elephant Gift Exchange for an Office Christmas Party. It explains the goofy gifts and the attire. Some of the exchanged presents still have tags on them.
No one seems to have noticedbut the shy guy in front of GO GO is none other than Irving Berlin, on a guided tour of the Western Electric facility and already evidencing the reclusiveness of his later years. At uppermost left, we have the mustachioed miscreant looking disdainfully at those beneath him, which is everyone. And finally, we have Grishkin at lowermost right left, a handsome woman whose lean and hungry look hath a troubled aspect not customarily associated with holiday gatherings (apart from those with family members present). She seems to have wandered in from one of those Russian plays that Ira Gershwin makes reference to.
All of which can only mean one thing - it's Christmas time here at Shorpy's. Greetings and salutations to all!
Times they don't changeThe women definitely place this picture in time by their clothes and hair. The men, especially the back row, center in photo, remind me of my father's photos of the late 1950's. It's all quite timeless.
Hey, long time listener, first time caller!I wonder if camp Pierce Brosnan (top row, far left) found the Ion Deptartment accepting of his flamboyant wonderfulness.
Festive DressThe bald gentleman in the back has the best holiday hat I have ever seen, the festive Go Go hat atop his bald head.
We need those names!The spectacular Massafornian colorized image should have some labels for the people in it.
So, here we go.
(Gimp and Python/PIL scripts did the job)
Thanks for the MemoriesThank you for publishing this picture again this year. It just doesn't seem right to not have these wonderful people wishing all of us a Merry Christmas. I wish all of the Shorpy readers and the Admins a Merry Christmas also.
Merry Christmas!I'm a faithful reader of Shorpy, have been for over 10 years now, since I joined up. Every year, I always look forward to the Shorpy Office Xmas Party picture. I don't know what it is; maybe it's the continuity of it. We know every year we'll see it, and every year we'll get to talk about new fictions we've created for the people therein. It's such great fun.
Re Office StoriesNice commentary! You really bring life to this party.
Glad for TradIt's truly a fun Shorpy-looker tradition to view this pic large and spend an hour time traveling and reading the comments. Hope everybody had a Groovy Solstice yesterday. Happy Holidays!
Hair dressersWho did the hair styles back then, terrible......
Sic transit ursusI love the Shorpy Christmas party! This guy still startled me when I spied him on the floor, despite the fact that I commented on him FIVE YEARS AGO.
Dean NorrisAh, it wouldn't be Christmas without this delight from Shorpy!
The guy behind the big boss's left shoulder looks like a sightly younger version of actor Dean Norris. According to IMDB, Dean Norris was born in 1962 or 1963, but if this post on Shorpy is any guide, he's at least 100 years old. Is he pretending to be younger than he really is? And what's the secret of looking so young?
Cheers!Thanks for posting again, this is one of my favourite pictures on Shorpy. Some odd Barnets going on with some of the women though...I'd love to know if there was a gramophone at this party and if so, what the playlist was.
Tradition I can almost hear Tevya, singing the song in "Fiddler On The Roof", but not quite. It is of course the Holiday Season, office parties and good will to men and of course women. It is time for us Shorpy Junkies to wish each other the best of the season. Good health, prosperity and peace to all. Thanks to our Hosts Dave and Ken and to our interlocutor terrace for their grand efforts.
G-manI had to do ctrl-f for all three pages, and I'm amazed that no one to date has identified J. Edgar Hoover standing in the front row, cigar butt in hand, between vest-and-watch chain guy and three-piece suit guy. I can't believe I didn't notice him when I first commented three years ago.
Time for a Shorpy Xmas party!I think we are overdue to have one where we all meet and discuss THIS picture (because with 150 comments, we clearly have a lot on our minds about this W.E. holiday soiree).
Merry Christmas ShorpyitesMerry Christmas to one and all, fans of the photos posted in Shorpy. Thanks to Dave and everyone who helps out with the site.
I hope the new year is good to all and everyone will be back next Christmas to view Xmas Party.
I've been a member for 3 years, 2 days and anonymous for several before that I think.
What's with the oil can?I understand the Teddy Bear and little house in the front of the photo. But what is the significance of the Christmas Oil Can?
[Yet another beloved Christmas legend inspired by this photo. -tterrace]
Do they know?The standing gal, 3rd from the left, and the kneeling gal (center and one row back) both have the same necklace on (7 little cascading chains ending in a pearl). I think that the boss-man, J. Edgar Hoover (on the right with the cigar), is having an affair with both of these gals and he gave them both the same necklace. He thinks it's really funny and smiles when he sees them together; his own little private joke! I wonder if the gals know and are just playing him for whatever they can get? We will never know for sure.
Modern Woman+89
One must wonder if oiling the bear will make the Yuletide bright?
Thanks again!This is now my official notification that the Xmas season has begun. The Office Party re-post.
Threadbare BoughsNow I know where Charlie Brown got his tree. Merry Christmas everyone!
Hours and hoursI, like so many others here, have spent hours with this image. I'm always drawn back to the woman in the lower left. She's always struck me as the office outcast trying to get out of the picture. The woman to the right of her, with the lace collar, looks like her boss giving her the stink eye for not participating.
Roaring Twenties!Thanks for this flash-back, Shorpy!
Love the very mysterious Lady on the left...
and still dislike that pompous guy with the cigar.
Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets, moose... and a hippo gnu year!
I have to askDoes "Office Xmas Party" have the largest amount of comments?
[That record might be held by Our Lady of Lourdes School. Another much-commented post was The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
FinallyShorpy's annual "Office Xmas Party" has arrived! There's my guy standing in the back row, far left still waiting for me. Swoon.
Happy Holidays, Shorpyites!
And thank you, Dave, for all that you do.
Re 2%, and Raise your glassesI think glasses were considered unattractive. I remember lots of members of this generation (my grandparents') or the next who would whip off their glasses whenever someone raised a camera.
Tough Day At The Office?The best part about these office parties are the grab bags. It's always the best way to regift. Other than that, I hope Dave, Ken, tterace and all our outstanding commentators and readers have a wonderful holiday and a healthy prosperous New Year.
Must have been a heck of a partyAll the way in the back is a tall bald man with a traffic signal on his head! That's better than a lampshade. The body language between the woman on the far left and the woman to her right who is glaring at her is really very sad. You wonder what sort of ugliness was going on behind the scenes. The lady looks like she's been crying a bit. Who knows. It's fascinating to see such a candid photo none the less.
An oilcan!Now I know the perfect gift to get for all my co-workers. Merry Christmas Shorpy nation.
I look forward to these people each yearThey've become familiar yet remain interesting. As I said years ago, we're testing the counter on this one.
Merry Christmas fellow Shorpyites and wish a grand New Year!
It was ninety years ago today ...... and the photo never ceases to give.
The fun is overOkay, we had our Christmas celebration, now everyone back to your desks and let's finish out the day at 5:00.
The lucky onesDue to the magic of photography, this happy group has been celebrating now for ninety years. If you enlarge the picture and study their faces and demeanors, you may get some insight into their characters and personalities in 1925. After seeing this photo for many Christmases on Shorpy, I almost feel that I know some of them as well I know my own friends. Merry Christmas to all, especially the Shorpy staff.
What are we missing?Great photo, been seeing it for years now, but I always wonder what else was going on? People are looking left, right, straight, up, down. What was going on out of frame? That lady in lower left looks ready to bolt, especially with the other lady looking on concernedly. If this was a Halloween photo, the massacre would be about to begin.
I've been ill, and maybe delirious...
Spooky Lady of Christmas PastI remain endlessly curious regarding the woman with her back to the desk.
Spooky and haunting, amid all the fascinating characters in this classic shot, she is The One.
Department Name for Room 504Western Electric Company
Installation Department
5th Floor
1319 F Street
Washington DC
(From the 1925 Washington City Directory)
This department installed Central Office equipment (testboards, operator switchboards, signaling equipment, etc) supporting both local and long distance telephone service.
Google street view has an office building that looks old enough to be our Christmas Office party location. Perhaps another Shorpyite can add the street view for us.
[It was built in 1913. Interestingly enough, it's just one building away from Harris & Ewing, another source of many Shorpy photos. -tterrace]
Merry Christmas, George BabbittThe guy on the right, in front, with the grand forehead, holding the stogie, reminds me of Sinclair Lewis's protagonist in "Babbitt" (1922):
"He was the modern business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His head suddenly appeared not babyish but weighty, and you noted his heavy, blunt nose, his straight mouth and thick, long upper lip, his chin overfleshy but strong; with respect you beheld him put on the rest of his uniform as a Solid Citizen."
Room 504Flip the photo horizontally, and you will see that we are on the 5th floor. Who can guess the "department" we are in?
Now it is Christmastime for sureI couldn't truly celebrate Christmas without seeing this picture again. It must be after Thanksgiving or Shorpy would not have posted it. Any comments I could make about this picture would only be a pale response to all the previous comments. It just makes me try to think what an office Christmas party like this must have been compared to a modern day party. I look forward to this picture every year for some crazy reason.
294408That's how many people have called up this photo. Over a quarter million! And this isn't YouTube. What an amazing picture. What an amazing site. Merry Christmas to all my Shorpy comrades and a huge thank-you to Dave and tterrace for all they do to bring this amazingness to us every day.
YuletideI heard Springsteen singing about Santa on my way to work, and now I see this. It is truly Christmastime now.
Oh, Beautiful Lady in the Lower Left......let me unwrap that bear for you, before your nearby friend gets more worried that you're not having any fun.
DoppelgangerThe young woman framed in the door on the left looks remarkably like today's woman who was a business partner of mine.
Nothing but the best at Shorpy!!Thanks for this expected post!
Never noticed this beforeThe men's jackets have creases running the length of the arms. I wonder if this was a customary thing for "the office" or typical treatment "of the times" for pressing? Perhaps this treatment was typical only of a worsted fabric?
P. D. Police Dept.I keep being intrigued by the one and only joker in the crowd, our lady with the "P.D. Police ...." hat. There must be another word after "Police," I suppose it is just "Dept."
Marching In PlaceSeeing this picture so many times tells me that I'm growing older but these celebrants have become ageless. Along with that piece of wisdom allow me to add my Seasonal Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah Past and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all. Of course we are all in the debt of Dave,Ken and tterrace (who may or may not be on the Payroll) for their addictive posts, explanations and comment rebuttals.
From NYC, where the Christmas Eve Fahrenheit is forecasted at 72º.
Mel
[tterrace is salaried, deals in a service and is bigger than a bread box. -John Charles Daly]
Life of the partyMy best guess for "life of the party" status goes to the lady in front with elf buckles on her shoes. I love this image- there so much detail and depth of relational perspective.
Afterlife Office PartyThis photograph has become a holiday tradition for me, as anticipated as my Christmas eve tradition of baking cookies, wrapping gifts and gently placing a dish towel under Uncle Trouble's chin so he doesn't drool on his good shirt after passing out on the couch.
Scanning the full-screen photo, I wonder if a small corner of the afterlife might be populated by tenants doomed to spend eternity at a perpetual office Christmas party for some workplace sin like stealing lunches from the office fridge, pilfering office supplies, or failing to replace paper or toner in the printer. I can picture Dickensian clarks with ink-stained fingers forever mingling over paper-cupped eggnog with 60's swinging secretaries, Old Kingdom robed Egyptian scribes trimming the tree with bored mid-level Qing Dynasty bureaucrats, and that impenetrable knot of young IT guys and gals speaking in that techno-babble, side-eyeing the boss, forever giggling.
I imagine the mirthless rounds of the eternal white elephant gift exchange: the Take Me to the River-singing fish going round and round and round the conference table ad infinitum. I can see the everlasting greasy pile of stale taquitos, timeless sips from the bottle of booze hidden in the file cabinet, Starbucks Christmas Jazz CD playing in an endless loop -- the horror.
Goober Pea
UpdatedUsing John J's sleuthing on the location of this office, I recently ventured there to see if any resemblance to the photo remains. I got as far as the only door in the hall on that floor. Nothing appeared to remain.
Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!TimeAndAgainPhoto, that's a great job of investigating one of our Shorpy.com favorites, but I'm convinced that if you'll just badge your way into that office, you'll find a fellow in there with a traffic signal on his head.
I hope so, anyway.
Re: Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!Jim Page - I had to badge my way past security and up the elevator before I was stopped by the secured door.
Those were the daysI really do miss the office Christmas parties from my working years which gave us an opportunity to meet, greet and schmooze with people we hadn't seen in 20 minutes. Merry Christmas to all, rejoice and be glad.
Every Year and I am Still Captivated But I Don't Know WhyThanks Dave, I'm still enjoying this for some reason I don't understand, and I'm still curious about the front and center oil can.
SNL Time Traveler?That person standing directly to the left of the tree is either a time-traveling, cross-dressing Pete Davidson from SNL or his Great Grandmother worked at Western Electric Group in 1925!
Shorpy - I look forward to this picture every year and am a regular viewer of your site. Even have a couple of large prints on my walls at home, with another coming soon!
Thanks for this site - it's one of the pleasures of my day!
Yuletide.I love seeing this picture every year. As do my co-workers. Thank you.
I have seen this picture for six (I believe) years nowBut today, today there is a new face, one I instantly recognize, that I would swear was not there in any previous year.
I once found my wife's doppleganger (Trackless Trolley) in one of these pictures. Today, I find my youngest daughter, Cecilia (16); she's poking her face out between the 2nd and 3rd fully visible women on the left side of the photo (their right) from the tree.
Ok, it's spooky Dave.... but I'm starting to believe someone has a time travel machine, and everyone but me in my family is using it.
P.D. clocheWonder what she's hiding under that hat?
It's timeThis picture (and the myriad comments) are so entertaining, I sometimes search for it when I'm feeling low, even in July! I especially love Oil Can Sally's come hither look.
I amost know these peopleMy Great-Great Grand uncle was Dan Richardson, a senior accountant for Western Electric in the New England/Northeast US area. He certainly visited Washington D. C. during his time with Western Electric, and would have met and worked with one or more of the people in this photo.
Odd to think I could, via relatives, have been introduced to these people.
This is my first ChristmasI see 26 men, 21 women and hundreds of possibilities.
Oh My GoodnessI had no idea it was so close to Christmas. We really need to finish the baking...
Old Friends From The OfficeAre like warm Gluehwein to heat the cold heart at Christmas.
Merry Christmas my Shorpyite friends and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially Dave who keeps all of us in memories. [updated]
Phyllis Diller"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
QuorumThis picture puts the "mass" back in Christmas.
Sturdy DesksI guess the nine guys head and shoulders above everyone else are standing on two or three of these desks. Curious as anyone about the office relationships and the lady sitting in front of the desk. My eighth year of wondering and guessing about this picture.
The scraggly looking treein the picture most probably was bought with donations from some of the people in this picture.
Older Shorpyites will no doubt remember the single set of lights on the tree. The lighting "outfit" was an inexpensive 8 light series set, with C-6 miniature based bulbs. When a bulb burned out, it was time to hunt for it with a good one...unscrewing every bulb in the set until it was found.
I remember helping my grandmother do just that. For some reason, the C-6 series set was always at the top of the tree. Grandma would get up on a stool, with me holding the good bulb, and switching it one by one until the set lit.
Wonderful times. Timeless memories.
What Are They ThinkingI've enjoyed this picture year after year, and like many who had suffered through office parties, I often thought what goes through their minds.
Click to enlarge.
Lady in the foregroundI've also wondered (several years in a row) about the lady with her back to the desk. The thing that really stands out to me, is her hair. As far as I can tell, she has her hair swept back in a bun, which is clearly very old-fashioned compared to all the bobbed and shingled ladies in the office.
I know this is a bit far-fetched but her clothes and hair suggest to me that she wasn't an office worker, as they give the impression of having less money to spend on herself. I wondered if maybe she was the office cleaner/ tea lady who was called in to be part of the photo?
It could explain why she seems a bit distant from all the others in the group.
It's here! It's here!The Shorpy Christmas Cheer office party picture is here! Smack dab in the middle of Prohibition, the gang at Western Electric make merry with two or three hundred stories or thoughts about what the heck was going on in their heads!
My favorite is the seductress "oil can" Sally with her bathtub-gin induced come-hither gaze!
Merry Christmas!
#UsTooI bet if those girls had a voice today there would be some explaining to do.
Night Before ChristmasWhen what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a company Christmas calendar, the same as last year.
Season's GreetingsThis is simply the greatest captured moment in the history of office photography!
Nothing puts me in the spirit like --this pic, a glass of egg nog and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on a loop! Merry Christmas all!!
The distant gazeAs fun as it is, I think we're way overthinking the motives of the 5 or so "looking away" women. Yes, even the comment-generating pair of the sultry one in the lower left corner and the one sitting to her left who appears to be staring her down. It was evidently fashionable for many decades for women to "look into the distance" for a portrait photograph, and I think that's all they're doing here. My theory is that this practice started as a way to prevent the "zombie eyes" effect of the exposure capturing the blink after the flash. My mother always did it, even when I implored her to look at my camera with everyone else.
That GirlIn the middle front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
[Nursery rhyme by Longfellow. - Dave]
Every yearI feel sorrier than the year before for the one sitting on the floor with her back to the desk. She looks like she is just waiting for the party to be over so she can throw herself out the window.
Reminds me of "The Office"I can find the whole cast from Dunder-Mifflin -- Michael, Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute, Stanley, Kevin, Angela, and Phyllis.
Let's danceHey, did anyone remember to bring their Lasses White albums?
ClaireThis pretty gal looks exactly like my wife. I just printed out the image and am going to show her tonight.
Work or PleasureIs the machine on the desk at the right (above the In Box) a record player brought in? A radio? Or is it merely some office device like maybe a phone-related routing/switchboard machine?
Also, wingtips apparently were in style.
Sure SignOf the Season: this picture on Shorpy (Thanks, Dave) and "A Christmas Carol" on TCM. All the best to all wherever ye might be!
Ghosts of Christmas pastIt really is curious that we can scrutinize a picture like this every year and each time we notice something different that we did not notice before. This year, while observing enlarged close-ups of these people's faces, I see resemblances to many of my own acquaintances, friends and public figures and one can almost even determine the personality and attitude of each person. I think the young lady standing on the extreme left, second row, closest to the door, looks like a younger Martha Stewart. I also know that these happy holiday office parties are quickly disappearing due to the current lawsuits involving harassment, etc. so the people of my generation (old fossils) can move into the history books with them and just remember how it "used to be" and know it will never be again.
This festive group gets a prime spot in that chapter and exemplifies what it was like, for better or for worse. Party on kids, 'til the end of time.
The BossThe one sure thing about this photo is who the boss is, probably flanked by his second in command to his right.
Ion Dept. XmasI have followed this wonderful Xmas photo for years but have never commented, till now. I always wondered what I might say, since so much has been said. But what really made me start this year -- the thing I’d never really noticed before – the new thing! – is that guy (head) craning behind the Xmas tree. Compared with all the other people, he’s really only half there, penciled in, lacking in the vibrancy and heft of every other person. So I guess my comment is: Merry Xmas, Ion Tree guy! (And Merry Xmas to all my Shorpy sisters and brothers, and of course to our all-puissant but beneficent overlords, Dave and tterrace, who make this daily joy available to us all.)
[Or maybe Ion Guy is just tinseled in. - Dave]
Was the Electric Company a Communist Front?Psychodramas? How about it looks like Alger Hiss and Whitiker Chambers’ cousins were exchanging Christmas gifts in Washington in 1925. Alger’s stands to the left and Whitiker’s to the right—significant? Whitiker’s cousin looks like someone socked him on the forehead and Alger’s has a smile on his face.
[Ahem. Whittaker, not "Whitiker." - Dave]
That Temptress!All these folks saying they see something new each year -- nuts. I first laid eyes on the beauty behind the oil can, what -- a decade ago now? And she has had me in her spell ever since. It is now officially Christmas season for me.
I'm busy here!You Shorpyites who fantasize about folks from over 90 years ago -- How strange you are.
And all your blather is distracting me from my mission of saving the saintly Love of My Life whose shoulder had been latched onto by the Evil Witch with no opposable thumb ...
I must complete this pesky time machine before Christmas.
Holiday RomanceI see that its time to renew my holiday romance. Every year I fall in love with the young lady the farthest to the left. Brings warmth to my heart, of course, I don't dare tell my wife.
Season's Greetings!I look forward to this picture every year. I like that it's been a running thing here for so long, because I see it as a way to bind all us Shorpyites together. No matter where we live, how old we are, what we're doing in our lives, we can all stop here and comment on this picture, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. Thank you, Dave, for providing that for us.
I wish all of you that read this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2019 be the year you've been waiting for.
Hip FlasksEven the Bear won't tell, but, I am sure the oil can will.
1925! Prohibition! Almost every woman had one and, I am sure, that there may be a few here.
Maybe, that's why Gladys sitting with the Bear and oil can, is smiling knowingly?
Even the person who introduced Prohibition had a still in his basement.
"It was 93 years ago today" Happy Christmas, John! Happy Christmas, Yoko!...Esther, Mary, Eugenia, Mabel, Nellie, Ida, Clara, Edith, Winifred, Maude, Violet, Gladys, Daisy,Doris, Agatha, Gertrude, Elspeth, Velma, Thelma, Myrna, Hortence...
The LevelingTo paraphrase William Makepeace Thackeray "It was in the reign of President Calvin Coolidge, that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."
Most popular galMy favorite - Oil Can Sally - has three gag gifts displayed. That probably makes her the most popular woman in the office. In addition, her provocative smile suggests a hangover was in her future!
Still GOGO after all these yearsI love the bald guy just visible in the back row with the traffic signal "ballanced" perfectly on the top of his head. Very steady!
It sounds crazy... but I swear the bear moved a bit since last year.
That old gang is back!The Christmas Party Picture is back! I'd actually forgotten about it, so a quick check of Shorpy was the most welcome way to end my Friday. The week to come will reveal new snarks about these buddies of ours, and I look forward to that. Thank you, Shorpy!
Those EyesThe beauty sitting against the desk gets me every year. She looks exhausted.
My Favorite TraditionI don't post a lot of comments, but I check the site every day to see what's new and to read what *other* people have said. This is probably one of my favorite posts on this site because it's great to go back through the years of comments and read people's observations about the image, maybe see if someone has come up with something new. I hope we keep seeing this picture on the Friday before Christmas until the heat death of the universe. It would be a lovely constant.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Shorpy. I hope it's filled with love, contentment, and joy.
If you like this photo ...You loved the Shorpy.com postcard you just received!!!
When mine came in the mail, my wife said, "Do you know those people?"
OF COURSE I DO!!!
Find the BossI just love the way he stands there holding his cigar. You can almost hear him barking out orders in a very Edward G. Robinson-ish voice.
This reminds me of --That photo in "The Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel. These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy traditionEvery year when I see the office party pic, my eyes always wind up gazing into the sideways glance of that beauty in front of the desk.
I cant help imagining what the conversations of the day were, who brought a flask full of illegal libations, was jazz coming from a tube type radio, did everyone get a little Christmas bonus (it was the roaring 20's mind you), and who has a crush on who?
Dave, thanks for all you do. Shorpy is a constant in my day.
Be well everyone!
I guessed the right number of buttons in the jarMerry Christmas!
The Shorpy Ion Dept.A crazy thought occurred to me this year with respect to this beloved standard photograph: what if it were not the Ion Dept. from 1925 but the Shorpy regular contributors from 2019? Which one is Dave? Where is tterrace? And what about so many of the devoted Shorpsters (in no special order) – Jim Page, fanhead, TheGeezer, PhotoFan, Baxado, BethF, TimeAndAgainPhoto, Vintagetvs, OTY, Solo, Jeb70, switzarch, DaveA, JennyPennifer, rhhardin, pennsylvaniaproud, JohnHoward, kines, loujudson, lindab, Jano, StefanJ, jimmylee42, Hayslip, rivlax, Mattie, joemanning, Born40YearsTooLate, GarandFan, mountainrev, perpster, Dbell, Doubleclutchin, Root 66, KathyRo, archfan, GlenJay, alexinv, karenfryxell, Gooberpea, Angus J, 510Russ, Michael R, Brett, BillyB, bobzyerunkl, Alex, jsmakbkr, Marchbanks, Commishbob, Jimmy Longshanks, DoninVa, mgolden, Alonzo, Dag, Juan de la cruz, bobstothfang, Ice gang, Rute Boye, Vonderbees, Ad Orientem, MacKenzie Kavanaugh, JazzDad, Maniak Productions, EvenSteven, Doghouse Riley, John.Debold, Sewickley, Paul A, and jd taylor. And let’s not forget some of the people we haven’t seen for a while: stanton_square, aenthal, Mr Mel. (My apologies to those I have not listed.) Best of the season to you all, my fellow Shorpsters!
Who's WhoDavid K - Dave runs the joint, so he's the three piece with the cigar. TTerrace is his major player on this site, so he is the guy looking over Dave's left shoulder. Now we just need someone to post a picture with numbers, and we label them.
Maligayang Pasko all.
Re:Shorpy Ion Dept@davidk, I'm the one peeking from behind the Christmas tree.
I hope everyone in the Shorpy pantheon enjoys all the holidays!
Postcards From The EdgeWhen I got mine, I literally jumped for joy seeing the people that I love and cherish so much. Now I can look at them anytime throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
And, thank you to DAVIDK for the mention.
[@davidk, I would be the guy with the object upon his head]
Our own office partyI love seeing this photo every year and thanks to davidk for the guest book entries of our office. Top of the season everyone!
Still HereEvery time I see this picture I think that these people could have been my mom or dad.The time and ages represented are almost perfect. It reminds me of aunts and uncles and family friends who are long gone although I will never forget them. I just turned 80 years old this past July and can remember a lot of people who would have been right at home in this picture. Thank you davidk for including me in your list of people who have liked this picture in the past and a big Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace for maintaining the site.
This one never gets oldHow is it that an old picture never gets old? Every year, I always notice something new that I hadn't noticed before. This year it's the guy with the beard, hiding behind the tree.
Also, the woman just above and just to the left of the woman in the striped blouse (her left, that is) - could that be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother? I see a definite resemblance.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love itI love this photo. The expressions, the faces. Some of the women are quite attractive. The man with his hand draped across the shoulder of another man is interesting.
Office desk sultry beautyI wonder why the dark hair beauty is staring off to the side? Was she jilted? Was she sick of the many advances by the suited men, or despondent that the one she wanted got away. Why does the women in the RBG collar stare at her? Does she know what happened?
I love the captions from another commenter.
Michael ScottIf Michael Scott were the manager of this office, I wonder if he would have said (as he did 85 years later on the TV show), "Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for these people and they freak-out. Well happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame."
Merry Christmas, Shorpy! And for the record, I don't consider this a lame birthday party, and I doubt Jesus would, either.
Bal MasqueNinety-five years later, if there even would be a party! With an added suspense -- what does Hermione look like, under that mask?
Socially DistantWould they have believed it had someone told them that in 95 years their photograph would be the highlight of 2020 for a group of remote observers?
Merry and BrightThis photo has become the official kickoff of the holidays for me.
Best wishes to all the Shorpy regulars and particularly those who keep this place running.
Neither here nor thereEach year my attention is drawn immediately to the three beauties at the bottom left of the photo: sultry beauty far left floor level, looking off to her right at someone/something off camera; the lady to that lady's left who seems to be watching her with deliberate intent; exquisite beauty just behind the desk corner, beheld with what appears to be fond regard by the lady just behind her to her left; and wholesome beauty smiling behind exquisite beauty, being kept tabs on by the lady in the Police Department helmet.
I do eventually get past these women, to study the remainder of visages and postures and wonder about the other long-dead revelers of both genders, but it is these six who take up most of my time each year as I wonder what might have been the complexities of the various relationships. And as always, I hope each one in the photo had a Merry Christmas that year and many years after. I know that the likelihood is slim to none that all lived long and were carefree throughout, but that's still what I wish for in this suspended moment that so many have celebrated for so long, thanks to Shorpy.
So a Merry Christmas to beloved Shorpy and its erudite, esteemed company of gazers no less fascinating than any who attended Office Xmas Party: 1925.
Thanks Again Dave and Merry ChristmasThanks again Dave, I've been waiting for it. Obviously, we all love this yearly Christmas "surprise". I enjoy everyone's take on this party I missed awhile back.
Questions, questionsEvery year I wonder.
What is that thing on the postal scale? A misplaced elf? A misshapen magus?
Why is that woman with the oil can looking at me? Am I safe?
And why is the Christmas tree so scrawny?
Merry Christmas Dave!And to all the crew at Shorpy! Thanks for the memories and keeping some of us sane in 2020!
What I want for ChristmasI don't care what it is, I want one.
[Update, thanks to all the gizmo identifiers. I love tape dispensers! Now I really want it!]
Nothing stops this partyOh, thank goodness the Shorpy party is still on! It's the only event the pandemic cannot cancel!
Judging youDon't know what got into her holiday spirit. Not too pleased with someone.
Re: tterrace What I want for ChristmasIt's a gummed tape dispenser, similar to this one:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-ornate-cast-iron-...
She of the averted gazeI know that we enjoy interpreting what is in - or not in - this photograph each year. However, eight people, including "she of the averted gaze" are looking in that direction, suggesting something was going on while the picture was taken, sufficient to distract. A further basis for interpretation and speculation, perhaps? Merry Christmas.
Only one bow tieAmong all those Windsor knots on the gents, third on upper right. In group after group they are always in the minority, even until today.
Going to a Go-GoNothing says Christmas like a Go-Go party hat.
That machineMay be a gummed tape applicator.
National Package Sealer model #206
Do they know?Do you think the two women wearing the exact same necklace (dripping pearls) suspect that it might have come from the same man? Are the pearls from the handsome young gentleman with the pen sticking out of his pocket? Is this an early version of "The Bachelor" that we are witnessing? Which one will he choose?
Austerity Christmas?From the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to the lack of any visible food or drinks (except for a few candy canes) to the blank, unimpressed looks on some faces, it looks like an Austerity Christmas in Anytown this year.
Well, Merry Christmas TermiteYou can probably still find one somewhere. It's an automatic wetter and cutter for wide, brown packing tape. You just mash down on the handle and it shoots out a measured length of wet sticky tape and cuts it when you release. There is a messy water reservoir up front. I used one in a shipping department in 1974.
Buddha Bear!Puts in his once a year appearance.
Merry Christmas to Dave & Ken & tterrace and all the naughty boys & girls at Shorpy!
Nice $-value todayThat horse that guy in front of Christmas tree is holding. All with bit of wear and patina collected in 95 years.
Another yearWe all get another year older and they stay the same.
Five groupsPart of the endless fun with this photo is deciding which part of it to center as the embiggened image on my screen. I fluctuate between the five main Ion Dept. groups: on the left, the ladies on the floor, the ladies standing, and the men standing above them, and on the right, the lower men and the upper men. (If I had to distinguish a special sub-group, it would be solo guy behind the tree and the fellow on the very far right who hovers between the upper and lower groups.) Once I have the group du jour embiggened, I focus on the individual characters. As we who have been doing this for years well know, that’s when the fun begins.
Might I take this opportunity to offer the best of the season to Dave and Ken and tterrace and all my fellow Shorpsters. In this extraordinary year of greater screen time than ever before, I find that my Shorpy screen time is even more intense and valuable, if such a thing is actually possible. Bless Shorpy, and bless you all.
Elbow to elbowEvery year I have a different response to this photograph, depending on general mood and the state of the world. This year, I truly envy those people. They get to stand together in a bunch, breathing one another’s air, touching each other casually, sharing food and drink, simply going in to work at an office. They all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Happy holidays to all the people who create and enjoy this wonderful website that gives me joy and perspective on a daily basis.
Re: Elbow to elbowI must concur. Having spent nine months wearing a mask, practically bathing in hand sanitizer every time I touch anything, and staying as far removed from people I don't live with as humanly possible, I'm jealous of these long-dead coworkers for being able to crowd together, enjoying one another's company in person, rather than over Zoom or FaceTime.
It's been a bad, bad year, there's no denying that, but Shorpy has been a bright spot in my day since January, much as I'm sure it's been for the rest of you. Happy Holidays to all the Shorpyites out there — may you find some contentment and peace in the face of all this tragedy and come out the other side hale and hearty.
That Time of Year AgainThrough the miracle of photography and our friends at Shorpy, we are able to visit this party again.
A Vintage CrumpleAfter all these annual viewings I finally noticed what looks like a lone crumpled piece of paper at lower right. We'll never know what was on it. Maybe a dig at one of these people? Or love note? Ah, the mysteries!
Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at once!Every year I wonder about the dark-haired smiling young woman third from the front, beside the desk. With her modern-looking bob, she looks like a Time Traveler, so that's what I've named her. (Not far away are The Maniac, Da Boss, and The Very Secret Lovers.) This photo, along with its subjects, never gets old, and I hope the Holiday Spirit that originally inspired it never does either. Happiest of Holidays to everybody who produces and sees Shorpy, and a New Year of peace, love, courage, and good health to all.
12 Years of ChristmasMerry Christmas Shorpy. Thanks for the memories.
[This is Shorpy's 14th Christmas! - Dave]
PerspectiveThey all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Thanks, jdtaylor--I'm sure I'm not the only one who needed that perspective today.
Happy holidays to Dave and all the Shorpyites. This site has been a great distraction lately!
Time to Move OnI vote that next year you post the 1926 photo. Some of the lingering issues must have been resolved by then.
The X-mas Party Presents!And here you may have a look on how Christmas looked 100 years ago in the U.K. (including a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater).
Mysterious machineNow that the gummed tape dispenser has been identified, I hope someone will be able to reveal the secret of the machine on the desk behind the in-box. A perforator or a mimeograph machine perhaps?
[It's called a typewriter. - Dave]
Dead ringer, etc.At the very back and far left - the attractive woman 3 in - I have a friend who looks exactly like her but with a more modern hair style, but identical facial features. How eerie!
Something tells me that Oil Can Mary's wicked smile indicates that she is already planning what flapper attire she will wear at the local speakeasy that night. Her future toast might be: "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!" Published in 1920. Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I often wonder what became of all these people. It is my hope that they all lived long, happy, prosperous lives but alas, as we know, life can be more complicated than that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you ghosts of Christmas past!
The only Christmas party I'll go to.Merry Christmas to Dave and the Shorpy Crew, as well as my fellow Shorpy followers. It appears that I've been around for 12.5 of the 14 years of Shorpy.com, though it seems like yesterday and DoninVa no longer lives in Va. There's always something to be found in a Shorpy photo: the young woman framed in the glass of the door is the doppelganger for someone I once worked with. Cheers!
Newcomer To The PartyAfter viewing Shorpy for some years now, I finally decided to join this party; I'm in awe of the many observations, and for now, am unable to come up with any new angles on this fascinating photo. I do want to say that the comments of jd taylor and BethF most definitely struck a chord with me; I, too, envy those in the photo, survivors of even greater trouble, coming as it did following The Great War. Hope to see you all back at the party next year, and a few other places along the way. May you all find peace and hopefully some joy this Christmas.
A Merry Christmas to You All!It's been a rough few years for me (family deaths, health issues), and my Internet usage dropped off considerably. I may have stopped commenting, but I never stopped reading, and I've looked forward to this photo every year for a long, long time. I'm glad that for all the things in flux in this world, the Shorpy Office Xmas Party remains the same.
I wish you and yours the very merriest and happiest of holiday seasons. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. :-D
EerieWhy the rush?
[??? - Dave]
MassafornianWhat a great comment, thank you. I’ve never colorized, and I use Photoshop for barely 10% of what it can do, but I truly appreciated your insight into the process. More amazing is that you’ve named them all. Gosh, I’d love to know who the others are, in addition to Mary, Bobbie, Lulu, and Lila. And how honest to share with us your faves, Mary and Bobbie, made legit by your wife asking. I agree about Lila: trouble. Also the lady with the marcel wave in the purple dress and blue coat with fur fringe behind the bear and oilcan and house: you might think of her in off moments but you could never make it work. (What’s her name?) Thanks for explaining about Remini because I wondered how their teeth and various other features were so brilliant and precise. And don’t worry about the rouging: it raised the temperature on the whole event (and not just on the ladies – it’s perfect for that guy third from the left in the upper right, the older fellow with the red tie, who’s had too much to drink or is about to have a stroke or both). One more thing: I’d never really noticed that unsightly blotch on the forehead of the boss with the cigar – you did it full, gross justice. Again, great job, and thanks, man!
I'd like to be the first this yearSurely, it's not too soon for this Yuletide Jewel ...
The Oilcan Need an explanation for the purpose of the oil can at the party.
[It's not a party unless everyone is well-lubricated. - Dave]
Now the season is complete!I look forward to revisiting this every year. Thank you!
- Ken
Colorized versionI've been working off and on to colorize this wonderful image throughout the year. Here's the result. You can also find it here in high resolution:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.jpg
Merry Christmas!
[Bravo! - Dave]
Amazing colorization!@ Massafornian -- thanks so much for that epic job. It adds so much to an already incredible image. (Judging by your username, I suspect we are compatriots -- I was born in Massachusetts and live in California.)
Merry and BrightWith retirement, our lives have been simpler here so the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier. But it isn't *really* the season until the annual Shorpy office party. Happy Holidays to Dave and the regular contributors that make this place special.
BTW...it's kind of odd that I get older but none of the partygoers ever seem to. Must be something in the eggnog.
As We Seek Normalcy, This Pic Provides it!The last two pandemic driven years, makes most of us seek glimpses of normalcy. Having this Christmas tradition each year, having a peek into the office Christmas party, gives a moment of that peace. Knowing these, and their children, and their grandchildren...made it through the Great Depression, WWll, the Cold War, etc., etc., still, a moment frozen in time, gives a certain reassurance, that everything is going to be ok!
Merry Christmas, office party, as well as all the Shorpy members that crash the party each year!
Bravo, indeedWell done on the colorization, Massafornian. It adds a level of vibrancy to an already-lively photo of an intriguing bunch of people. I’m also surprised at some of the effects, for example the oft-commented-upon woman in the lower left, sitting against the desk, craning her neck for a beady glare offstage – the rouge on her cheeks and the lipstick blunt the ultra-crazy impression and make her look, dare I say, somewhat fetching. Thank you for your addition to this seasonal favourite. And best of the season to my fellow Shorpsters and to the toilers in the digital mines who bring us this much-loved website.
Everybody's back in the officeNobody's working from home and the party is ON! Happy holidays!
WFHAs we head into Covid Christmas #2, it again strikes me that these folks would have no idea what working from home would even mean. (Taking in sewing?) Here they are, in joyous proximity one to the other, while we are still asked to distance, mask up, etc. Their mingled exhalations, their casual touches, the humid density of their gathering – how I envy them. Well, we come here to dream and fantasize, don’t we? Happy holidays to my fellow dreamers and observers and to the hard-working trio who bring us the stuff that dreams are made of.
Up to good or no goodI am incredulous that I have never really noticed the girl at the far left of the photo, just in front of the door -- the last of the women. She is concealing something. Knowledge or intent, benevolent or nefarious ... no matter. Keep a weather eye on that one.
Egad! New versions!Shorpy Patreon members have been treated to a short, elegant--well, creepy--music video in Ken-Burns-goes-Edward Gorey style. And now a colorized photo with costumes straight out of Technicolor heaven. And in 2021 they all sneaked in to party on Saturday!
Old FriendsI've seen this picture so many times over the years at Christmas time on Shorpy that the faces have become like familiar old friends. I'm of the opinion that Christmas will never be the same for me unless I get to see this photo at least once during the Christmas season.
Girl At The Far LeftNo one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”
Time For A Rhyme...or TwoIt's Christmas Party time again, so back to yesteryear,
To faces from so long ago, we now hold somewhat dear
They lived through their pandemic, and now we've had our own
For some, it was an ordeal; of much more time alone,
Yet, gazing at these faces here shows us things will improve,
And then to next year's gala even more will gladly move!
A Merry Christmas to you all, here at this special time
I thank you all so very much for bearing with my rhymes,
May next year's party be the one our current trial's behind us
But our friends from 1925 will be there to remind us ...
A very special thanks to Massafornian for the superb colorization!
A bit more on the colorizationThe colorization was done by hand, for about an hour most every morning, when I had the spare time while listening to podcasts. I started in early January and completed it around April. I am sure that most Shorpians know that colorization is tedious, mostly due to the need to mask objects and details as much as possible, to distinguish them from other objects. (The Christmas tree with its fir needles and tinsel was a bit of a job). Automated colorization just doesn’t compare in quality to doing it by hand.
Each person is a smart layer in Photoshop that in turn contains many layers of isolated bits to colorize. The fun part was choosing the colors of people’s attire. Hopefully what I chose is close enough to what this cast of characters might’ve actually worn in 1925, but I won’t claim any historical research was performed for color accuracy.
I could easily spend the same amount of time on this image again, by further masking textures and smaller objects, and separating their colors. If anyone wants the original layered PSD to do more magic, you can have it here:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.2021.psd.zi...
You have exactly one year to post the next refinement!
You might notice in the high resolution version that the faces are oddly higher resolution than the surrounding parts of the image. This is a bit of AI deployed on the faces, called Remini. Google it to learn more, but in a nutshell, Remini analyzes a face that is low resolution or blurry and magically reconstructs it in high resolution by drawing from a huge library of face components. Remini reassembles face components onto a map based on the original image. The process is hit-or-miss as far as how it can interpret low-quality image data. It was fun to apply it to this image one face at a time and integrate the rendered AI faces back into the master image.
I feel that I know all these characters in the photo intimately, having spent a lot of time on each one of them. I’ve given them all first names to distinguish the Photoshop layer names. My wife asks me which lady I might’ve fancied back in the day, and I think it’s a tie between ‘Mary’ (the blonde in front of the ‘504’ door wearing purple) and ‘Bobbie’ (third-to-the-right of ‘Lulu’, (the pixie by the desk), with brown hair, a green coat and blue dress, looking directly into the camera). Those two have nice, approachable personalities. I’m intrigued by ‘Lila’ (the mysterious lady on the floor in front of the desk), but she’s perhaps too brooding for 1925 Me to take on; and ‘Lulu’ is far too racy and trendy for my sensibilities.
I was born in 1963, so I imagined a lot of these people from 1925 as being my many older relatives who were a huge part of my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. My grandmother was born in 1890 and her gaggle of five sisters had birth years that ranged between 1885 and 1902. Though elderly, they were all alive and vibrant for most of my childhood, and greatly influenced me.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this time of year when Dave publishes this wonderful photo, to submit my contribution. I think this version turned out pretty nice.
@ Born Too Late - my geographical fate is the opposite of yours: I started out in the Alameda, California and moved to Massachusetts some 20 years ago. Massachusetts is really a great place to live—weather be damned!
@ DavidK - Yes, ‘Lila’ did indeed turn out to be beautified by the AI software, Remini. In retrospect I think I got carried away with rouging people’s cheeks, but without it, the skin tones just seemed too flat.
Cheers,
—Massafornian
HUAAgreed, davidk ... most likely she's a downright dollbaby but there is a definite glint in her eye and you must admit she has a secret or two or ten. Maybe she's even got something on some of the other girls.
Not nefariousI’ve had my eye on that woman on the far left in front of the ION window for years, JennyPennifer. She has a touch of high color, and I really like that ringlet that has broken loose by her right eye. She seems mild yet ready for fun. Not naughty.
At this rateI'm thinking that by the 2025 centenary we should be ready for an animatronic enlivening of this ongoing party.
Cast of charactersAbsolutely outstanding job of colorization, Massafornian!
It really brings out details that were easy to overlook.
I see the Serbian Anarchist, peering out just to the right of the Big Boss with the cigar, and wonder what he's planning. And the guy hiding just below the life of the party, with the STOP/GO headgear - he looks like he's hiding something, for sure.
But is the Big Boss truly the Man? My money is on the distinguished looking silver haired gent at the top right, overlooking the affair with a cautious gaze ...
And, who really *is* the mustachioed guy to his left, glaring at the photographer?
Is he worried about this photo getting out? Does he appear on a Wanted poster??
Merry Thank YouBecause it's never Christmas until the Office Party and new Office Party Comments.
Office Stories@ DavidK - If you have Photoshop, try downloading the PSD and you’ll see their names in the layers palette. The oilcan lady I named ‘Janelle’ because she looks like my cousin who has that name. I believe ‘Janelle’ to be the well-regarded office trickster.
The aging lush in the top-right standing group of men is named ‘Redd’. Me thinks he’s barely evading his mortality this fine evening, and perhaps is about to fall off of whatever he’s perched upon, to be carried out to a waiting cab, muttering something about his childhood pet dog, Wilberforce. After his early departure his hip flask was found on the floor, where he fell. No one knows what happened to it, or its contents.
The leader of the pack is named ‘Boss’, for obvious reasons. My wife thinks that perhaps he has a familial connection to ‘Bertha’, the large lady in the red dress. Boss’s blotch is an expanding skin growth. By 1945, it will have grown over his face, poor fellow. Unfortunately, the portly Boss died of a heart attack in 1946 while un-crating his new supply of Consuegra cigars and munching on a donut.
I note in this photo that there is no evidence of food or drink, save the candy canes. So while we have conjectured on this post about the state of inebriation these people might be in, strong drink seems unlikely at this event, particularly in the age of prohibition these people find themselves in. (Redd is the exception, having brought his own supply of spirits.) The food might be in another part of the room, but the lack of it has me thinking that this event was a relatively brief gathering after work.
‘Lulu’, the office pixie, is only 19 years old. She is Boss’s niece. This makes her somewhat problematic for all concerned in the office, and something of a political figure. She’s not exactly incompetent at her job, but the office matriarch, ‘Ursula’ (sitting on the floor in the green dress) was grudgingly forced to hire her. Lulu got married to a Studebaker salesman in 1928, moved to Pasadena in 1930, and had 4 children. She died in 1988 in a car accident.
The thing about the brooding ‘Lila’ that no one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million dollars in property and bonds. She moved to the Upper East Side in 1936, but never married. She lived to the age of 103, dying in 1998.
Here's a closeup of Lila:
Go-GoIs that something hanging from the wall or sitting on the man's head as a prank? Has it ever been commented on before? Though not shown, there has to be a portable Victrola and stack of jazz records somewhere for when the party gets hot! This was the height of the Charleston era and there are plenty of flappers present!
A White Elephant In The RoomMay explain the oil can, the Honey Bear, and all the other strange gifts.
I don't know how long the White Elephant Gift party has been around, but my wife and I just had one at our house.
That is one thing that I have been looking at all these years on Shorpy (the crazy gifts), and now realize the crazy gifts could be from the White Elephant in the room.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my Shorpyite brothers and sisters.
(Thanks archfan. Good to know that it is still around after all these years)
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Re: Go-GoVictrolaJazz asks if the mini traffic signal on the head of the man at the back, to the right of the tree, has been commented on before. Yes! Many times over the years, in fact. This would provide a fine opportunity to review the long and enjoyable string of comments where you will find the following: Going to a Go-Go (12/12/2020), Still GOGO after all these years (12/20/2019), Festive Dress (12/19/2015), Must have been a heck of a party (12/23/2014), No one seems to have noticed (12/14/2012), Office A-Go-Go (12/25/2010), Slow on the uptake (12/24/2010), Kimono-wearing parrot? (12/23/2010), I can’t find Don Draper (12/23/2010), Naughty Naughty (04/21/2009), Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas Party (12/15/2008), Dramatis Personae (12/15/2008), and, finally, A Story in every face (12/15/2008) which includes a Dave link to a Shorpy post with a real GO-GO traffic signal in it.
Time travel?Either Johnny Depp was the original Doctor Who time travelling as a woman or his mother was working Working for Western Electric that Christmas
A white elephant party?I hadn't thought of that and now I'm disappointed. For years I have been daydreaming about the oil can lady, the one with the unnervingly lascivious direct look.
Then I remember she'd be old enough to be my grandmother. Jeepers.
Grateful Holiday pome These people, alas, are all now dust.
But we on Shorpy surely must
visit them once more.
Cheer to all on Shorpy!
Sad or Stimulating, or a bit of both?Having been recently retired, with no more company Christmas parties to attend, I am faced with a conundrum.
Is it sad that the 1925 Christmas Party on Shorpy is now the Office Party I look forward to the most, or is it tantalizing that the faces and actions of these folks, now long gone, give all of us smiles nearly a century later?
Let this serve as a reminder to treat every moment as if that moment is also "frozen in time"!
Merry Christmas, Dave, and the entire Shorpy family!
MomObviously, this is another photo in the Shorpy Hall of Fame inaugural class, but the best thing about it for me is that it was likely taken when my mom was just a newborn, having come into this world on December 17, 1925. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Heavenly 97th Birthday to my mom!
My how time fliesSeems like it was just a month or two ago when last Christmas flew by with this pic.
NobodyHas changed much from last year. Remarkable.
Gag Gifts?I look forward to this party every year, and I notice something new each December. It's occurred to me that everyone in the photo is holding some kind of small gift, and all of them look like "white elephants": a toy horse, an oil can, a little bear, a toy policeman's hat—perhaps it was a "Secret Santa" kind of gag gift swap, and each gift was appropriately unique to the receiver. The photograph makes every one of these people forever young, and I always wonder what happened to each one of them: all those life stories that we'll never know. (I hope they all got a Christmas bonus!) Happiest of Holidays—and a Happy, Healthy New Year—to every Shorpyite.
The finer detailsI’ve chosen to focus on some of the smaller, obscure points this year in my investigation of this beloved photo. The woman in the bobby hat towards the left? Go south to the hand of the woman in front of her, the hand on the shoulder of the woman in the light-colored dress: that hand looks disembodied and is therefore creepy. Person who looks most Photoshopped in? The woman to the immediate left of that hand, staring right into your soul. Stuff like that. The picture is positively filthy with wacky, kooky, scary little things.
Sober thoughtFourteen years of beautiful fascination. Wonder if some folks who commented earlier, by now "are with the people on the photo" too?
Go-Go indeedI just wanted to second the man at the back, being bald myself. Go Go, folks.
Christmas TreesIf nothing else, we have made great advances in Christmas tree technology.
Every year they look a bit youngerMeanwhile, every year I look less like my father and more like my grandfather.
Love the ones you're withThanks for the labor of love and commerce Shorpy is. Years ago this photo evoked for me speculations about what may have divided these office mates. Now what comes out of this photo is the love that is possible if only ... with enough time and enough patience and enough "having lived through" being absent from one another we arrive at a finality of cherishing "in spite of" or even "because of" the uniqueness we bring.
The big read 1925I wonder how many of them were concealing new books in their purses, briefcases, or desk drawers. It was an era of readers, and 1925 was a banner year. Here are some of the newly-printed titles waiting for them in bookstores:
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, In Our Time
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Dreiser, An American Tragedy
Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Cather, The Professor’s House
Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Milne, a Winnie the Pooh story at Christmas
Kafka, The Trial (if you read German)
Proust, Albertine Disparue (if you read French—though some of them may still be working through the 1922 translation of Swann’s Way).
By December, early subscribers could have accumulated ten months of the new “New Yorker.”
But let’s hope that they still had a few years to be blissfully unaware of Mein Kampf, published in Germany in July.
There's one in every office. Frank is holding up an equipment assignment sheet while calling (vainly) for the frivolity to end and a return to work. He will not succeed.
Group AnalysisObviously far too long a comment, but Shorpy is so inspirational. Still had fun thinking and writing, as well as viewing picture again.
I was wondering about the woman at the far left. She is showing a sideways glance, and nobody else in the picture has a sideways glance. A sideways glance can be a powerful indication of attention to a subject, like romantic attention or professional attention or just surprise, but in any case something out of the ordinary. Like here, it seems different, just that one woman.
Trying to analyze a sideways glance, there is the face angle (determined by the nose angle) and the eyes angle. For a sideways glance like this, the eyes are directly pointed at the subject, but the face is pointed elsewhere. Using a reasonably limited choice of angles (0, 15, 30, 45) and expressing angles as "eyes angle / face angle" (eyes come first, most expressive), then this mystery woman with the sideways glance could be a 0/30.
Directly below her on the floor is a 45/0 woman, and her eyes angle is the extreme opposite. Seems absolute difference between the two angles can show degree of interest or attention, not the amount of either angle. With any 45/0 difference then attention seems to be very much elsewhere. The 30/45 woman to her right apparently has her attention directed to the same subject, but not to the same degree, more a casual interest, just a difference of 15 between her angles.
And the next woman above is a 30/30, also looking in that direction, but no difference between her angles, no indication of interest or attention, just looking.
Also just looking, but now at the camera, are all the 0/0 men and women, no differences, the largest group. They seem to be posing conventionally for the picture, and there is no apparent sign of interest or attention (other than to the camera). The exact pose varies by individual, some are smiling more than others, but they are all 0/0's. Some 0/0's may be simple conformists, and others may be nonconformists bored stiff (they can still smile, for the camera), but you can't probably tell which is which from the picture.
The big boss on the right is a 0/0, and the men in line with him are mostly 0/0's too, diligently following his traditional example. Above him are three 45/45's, you may not be able to tell about attention or interest from a 45/45, no difference there, in that way like a 0/0. However they are definitely not posing for the camera in any conventional way, not following the big boss example, and probably not in line to succeed him. His successor would probably be a 0/0 closest to him.
We could also consider tilt angle of the head as a variable, but that's more difficult to determine, because it varies with perspective, further away or closer to the camera. Also could consider extent of smiles, but that also difficult to determine. Eyes angle and face angle (nose angle) should be easier.
These angle measurements are probably useful only in a posed office photo, like this one. In a family photo 0/0's can be visibly full of emotion. And in real life anyone can look at you straight on, a 0/0, with amazement or fury or love or anything else. So angles won't help much in real life, although a sideways glance can still show interest and then create reciprocal interest, even mutual interest.
Mistletoe and High Voltage for all the women!I love how the ladies' hair has that "Bride of Frankenstein" look ... creepy yet sexy. It reminds me to get the yule log out.
ZoomThat was a quick year.
Another Year Gone ByBeen seeing this annually for a long time now, am I the first to comment ?? Anyways all these souls, their troubles and happy days are behind them and now are just dust in the wind … enjoy yourselves as we will be dust too! Merry Christmas
My Newest Favorite Christmas Tradition!I have gotten to the point of looking so forward to this party each year, it has indeed become one of my favorite Christmas traditions! LOL
For most of those attending the party, they are indeed, "living life!" That is so valuable, the ability to live life. On a personal note, I am learning that this year, having lost my precious wife in March, to Dementia. As iamjanicemarie well noted, all of these, are now just "dust in the wind."
Which makes me wonder, in what order did they pass? Did some in the picture in 1925 not survive till the party in 1926? Who was the last to go, and in what year? In the hundreds of comments, some pointing out actual things, others just speculating ... we can learn one lesson.
Live Life Fully Every Day. Who knows, a hundred years from now, you may still be having an effect on someone who you never even met!
Merry Christmas, Shorpy family!
What's up with the gals?Are they wearing kryptonite jewelry?
Old friendsI never get tired of this party and these coworkers. The job, yeah, I'm sick of it, but the people make it all worthwhile. I feel like I've known them forever.
Welcome Back, Dear 1925 Office Party Friends. . . and all Shorpy friends, too!
I look forward to seeing this wonderful photo every year. These folks never age, unlike the rest of us. I find this reassuring: life goes on, as it did for the office partiers whose lives continued through the Depression, WWII, and possibly even on to the 1990s. I always wonder who they were and what happened to them.
Here's to a Happy Holiday season and a peaceful 2024.
Seems Like Old TimesNice to see familiar faces, even though I never met them. However much they aged after this photograph, we'll never know, so just once each year, it's 1925 again.
StableThis firm has a very stable workforce. Every year, it's the same folks in the Christmas photo.
Macabre variationAlthough certainly macabre, I do like the door that iamjanicemarie tentatively opened and that HarahanTim swung fully open. In what order did these people pass? The annual response to this photo has definitely taken a curious turn, but I’m glad to chime in.
First to go, I believe, was Boss Man with the cigar, the very next morning, in the wee hours. He’s clearly in bad physical shape, a massive coronary waiting to happen. And it wasn’t the fault of one of those young ladies sitting on the floor that it happened in her bed. It was a different time when office and sexual politics were vile, and everyone was drunk.
Last to go was Heather on the far left in back, framed by the glass of the door. She’s only 23 in the photo, and she lived right into the next century, dying at 102 in 2004. She had moved back to Ohio, and on her last day was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even one of her great-great-grandchildren. They all loved her very much.
It's finally Christmas ...... when this bunch show up. I checked; they're all there. Proceed to celebrate. Merry Christmas, everyone xoxo
In the officeIt's hard to imagine this bunch "working from home". The dynamic would be lost with a "Zoom" holiday party.
Fire ExtinguisherJust behind the gentleman with the "GO" signal on his head it looks like there is a classic soda/acid fire extinguisher that I noticed for the first time today. Conveniently located next to what appears to be a rather combustible tree. Season's Greetings to Dave, tterrace and the whole Shorpy gang.
Well, having had time to ponderabout these folk for a good decade since discovering Shorpy, I have come to a tentative yet preliminary assessment.
The only woman with no apparent makeup and yet the most beautiful features is the lady sitting on the floor at bottom left. Really in a class of her own in this crowd with those almond eyes and high cheekbones, yet with hair and dressed a bit out of date, but still sporting brand new shoes judging by their soles. How they got her to sit on the dirty floor for the pic is beyond me.
In any case, the photographer has just given her a huge suggestive wink, and she's snapped her head to the right in response, looking faintly amused / bemused, no doubt used to the unwanted male gaze. The woman second to her left is staring at her, annoyed that Gloria (for that is her name) has caught the roving eye of the photographer instead of her -- the body language is obvious. The flapper two to the left of Ms Envious is giving the photographer a bit of a come-on with her lopsided grin -- she has sussed out his game.
Mr Fatlips the boss is terminally near-sighted but for photos and thus posterity takes his glasses off when posing, as one can see. What he looks like with them on is a subject for a horror movie.
The rest of the crowd barring a few are to a greater or lesser degree tipsy on smuggled-in booze, it being Temperance Time, er, prohibited drinkees time in America
I'll have an update in future when other things become more clear to me from my favorite Shorpy image.
Merry Xmas to all!
Finger WavesThe blond and brunette whose backs are against the door and doorjamb, respectively, look modern. The other modern looking girl is two rows in front of them, also a brunette. These three look timeless. The other women either still have long hair wrapped up some way or they have those awful finger waves that look like ridges in their hair. None of the girls that have finger waves have benefitted from that style. It does not flatter any face shape, it just looks weird and kind of Bride of Frankensteinish.
The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why.
Holiday Party Fun (2023)Dear Shorpy folks and friends of the site.
This year I used this very photo to make a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game at our work Christmas party.
Each of the participants had 20 minutes to spot all 19 differences. I used Photoshop and AI to make the changes to the photo and we all had so much fun with it.
If you would like me to post that image here, you may have fun too! Let me know Dave!
Also, we have some new friends that might be joining us on this site as they were fascinated by all the expressions of this 1925 party. I did inform them of the site and URL.
Merry Christmas everyone
What is on the hand of the number 2 guy next to the boss?There is something on his pointer finger and thumb. Could these be some type of grippers for leaving through papers? Could it be he was working until they forced him to come get his picture taken? He is clearly annoyed to be there. Maybe he is plotting to have the boss removed so he can be in charge?
Half a MillionI expect that the number of reads for Office Xmas Party will pass 500,000 shortly. Is this a record number of reads for a Shorpy photo?
[Office Xmas Party holds the No. 2 spot. Shorpy's most popular post is ... Lady in the Water, with over 640,000 reads. And at No. 3 is The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Merry Christmas to all Shorpians!May your holidays be merry and bright. A special Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace who keep this very special website going. And to all pictured from that office party held nearly 100 years ago, a Merry Heavenly Christmas to all!
ONE MORE TIMEAfter passing this photo around for everyone to look and laugh at, it was probably hung on the wall for a time, then taken to someone's home and put away in a chest and forgotten ... perhaps copies were made.
But how would these people feel if they knew that almost a half million people have studied it?
Also those desks have been in their current positions for a very long time, the floor below them new and pristine.
[This was not a casual snapshot -- the National Photo Company was primarily a news service. Its photographs appeared in newspapers, advertisements and publicity material. This particular image might have been used for Western Electric's in-house newsletter or a company Christmas card. - Dave]
Thank ya Dave for clearing that up.
Meet some of the boys ...Introducing ...
Charles S. Barker, District Superintendent: "With the right personnel and a good organization, you can do anything in telephony"
E.N. Searles, Division Superintendent
J.E. Grant, R.D. Dick, and...
Walter W. Lodding, Division Accountant
... with an invitation to Christmas at the Loddings':
This image was featured in the December 1926 issue of the Western Electric News with the title: "YOUTH AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" and caption: "Santa Claus did right by this little lad the son of W.W. Lodding of the Installation Division 11 Headquarters"
Looking daggers?Susanhumeston wondered, "The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why."
I have always been intrigued by that interaction. Pretty much come to the conclusion that three of the ladies were diverted by something off set to the left. One (Charlotte) clearly annoyed, one (Lila) merely taking it in, and one (Gwen) mildly amused.
NamesMarkJo - nice job finding the real names!
I'm fascinated by the different names and nicknames in all the posts. Then I scroll to 12/23/21; alex_shorpy did a great job labeling everyone. Or go further back to 12/22/19 and see davidk's comment.
I also don't look at these folks as having turned into dust. Every year they come alive in the imaginations of many readers.
Maligayang Pasko to all.
Well, what else?Say, we don't view the full size for a micro-study. What we see is the "pyramid" of working stiffs that retracted into one side of the office against the forceful advance of upper management group. Sharp diagonal dividing line was disturbed somewhat at the bottom, by the lady and gent behind her.
There he is!Every year I look forward to seeing dear old Mr. Hilter at the top of the picture looking so skeptical!
"Mildred, what did you do with my flask"?This party was during the TEETH of prohibition too! The REAL fun will come later.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, Natl Photo, The Office)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/32246u.thumbnail.jpg "Office Xmas Party: 1925")
- The Raleigh: 1911
- The Raleigh Hotel at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington circa 1911. National ...
[1964. Although it has a near twin in the Willard Hotel, designed by the same architect. - Dave]
WTTG - Westinghouse ... The WTTG studios were on the top floors of the Raleigh hotel, broadcasting on Channel 5 in the metro area. I recall that around 1962 ... Posted by Dave - 09/04/2024 - 4:03pm -
![The Raleigh Hotel at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington circa 1911. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Air-conditioned!1930s postcard view of the Raleigh and its lobby:
Ka-boomI can't remember when it was demolished, but I'm sure it was before my time.
[1964. Although it has a near twin in the Willard Hotel, designed by the same architect. - Dave]
WTTG - Westinghouse BroadcastingThe WTTG studios were on the top floors of the Raleigh hotel, broadcasting on Channel 5 in the metro area. I recall that around 1962 I went with a group of other kids who had a muscular dystrophy carnival to the Bill Gormley Show to present the donation. Bill showed a Three Stooges episode and some cartoons during afternoons. While waiting to go on, we were next to the set of Captain Tugg's "Channel Queen." This was the pilot's house of a tugboat and Popeye cartoons were presented during that half-hour, after-school program.
Frank R. Scheer
Railway Mail Service Library
Raleigh HaberdasherRaleigh Haberdasher, or Raleigh's as we used to call it, began as a shop inside the hotel back in 1911. Just one of the many local emporia that were distinctively Washington, D.C. Does anyone remember Woody's (Woodward & Lothrop), The Hecht Co., Lewis & Thomas Saltz, Lansburgh's, Kann's, Jellef's, Julius Garfinkel and Britches of Georgetown? I hardly recognize downtown D.C. these days, so much has changed. For the better, I'm sure.
[The Raleigh Haberdasher opened in 1911 at 1109 Pennsylvania Avenue, two doors down from the hotel. - Dave]
The LansburgerI remember all of the establishments you mention. I also remember that the Raleigh Hotel had an indoor swimming pool on one of the higher level floors. I recall F Street as a glittering heart of shopping in the late 1940s early 1950's. A womens' clothing store named Jellef's stands out particularly for me because it had fascinating concave display windows that gave the impression that one could reach in and examine the items that had been set out. My father and uncles had a shoe store on 14th Street and my mother and I would take the bus and trolley there from Southwest Washington, where we lived. She would take me to lunch at Lansburgh's where something called "The Lansburger" was served.
Raleigh Haberdasher clothingI bought a pristine Raleigh Haberdasher women's suit at a rummage sale. I'm a collector of vintage jewelry, hats, clothing, & purses and I would like to determine the approximate age of the suit. Can someone give me information about the Raleigh Haberdasher store so I might determine the approximate date. I would also like information about Raleigh Haberdasher (if there is such a person). Thanks. My e-mail is gregory3@frontiernet.net
[A haberdasher is a seller of clothing -- it's not someone's last name. Raleigh was the name of the hotel the store was in. Did you read the "Raleigh Haberdasher" comment below? - Dave]
The elegance of Raleigh'sMy father, who was the best-dressed man I ever knew, purchased his clothes at Raleigh's and Thomas Saltz. My husband, who is from Massachusetts, is the second-best-dressed man I ever knew, so in the early years of our marriage, I introduced him to Raleigh's. Whenever we visited my hometown, my husband would shop there. We were devastated when Raleigh's Connecticut Avenue store closed and became a Filene's basement (good heavens!). Where are the elegant gentlemen of yesteryear?
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/31798u.thumbnail.jpg "The Raleigh: 1911")
- The Piney Hotel: 1941
- September 1941. "Hotel in Big Piney, Wyoming." Last glimpsed here . Medium format acetate ... the cranky guy but somebody is emerging to the left of the hotel building in a dark hat. The pickup is already there.
[You missed a ...
They did not oversell their product The Piney Hotel, Café, & Bar were a good place to stop; just read their sign.
Not ... Posted by Dave - 04/16/2021 - 1:56pm -
![September 1941. "Hotel in Big Piney, Wyoming." Last glimpsed here. Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
GM Territory"Five out of Five"
From left to right: 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe, 1938 Chevy Half Ton, 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe Coupe, 1929 Pontiac Coupe, 1940 or 1941? Chevy Master Deluxe.
"No hats allowed in bar"Was it a thing during the depression to leave one's hat outside a bar?
Or, was it just so windy that men's hats randomly blew off their heads and landed on benches and cars?
Wrong HatThis one is just before the one with the cranky guy. The hat on the bench is the same, but the dog is still on his way (he's in front of the car near the cafe door). Don't see the cranky guy but somebody is emerging to the left of the hotel building in a dark hat. The pickup is already there.
[You missed a hat. Cranky Guy is standing next to the dog. - Dave]
Yup--I see it now ...
Quick exitAsk for our special suite with Express Checkout.
They did not oversell their productThe Piney Hotel, Café, & Bar were a good place to stop; just read their sign.
Not a great place.
Not the best place.
Not the only place (although I suspect it may have been).
Just a good place ... plus it's right in front of you.
I wouldn't change it.
New Frontier Hardware & HotelA slightly different name and appearance today:
Camp Big PineyThere's a sign for Camp Big Piney outside the hotel. The camp was run by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was a spike or satellite camp for Camp Fremont, one of the first CCC camps. When this photo was taken in September, 1941, the camp was starting to close down for the winter. It didn't reopen in 1942 - many of the CCC recruits joined the armed forces. It looks bleak:
The Hotel TaleAccording to "Wyoming Tales and Trails", The hotel was constructed by Franklin Daniel Chapel (1873-1942). Chapel moved to Big Piney about 1912 and purchased the "Bucket of Blood" saloon from Floyd Norris, he then constructed the hotel. As can be seen from the attached photo and from second floor door, the hotel originally had a second floor porch which wrapped partially about the building.
The building to the left of the hotel with the BAR sign was the "Bucket of Blood," commonly called the "Bucket." The hotel was famous for its mountain trout.
The hotel, the Bucket, the city hall and jail all burned in August 1948. Several occupants of rooms on the second floor of the hotel were rescued by stockman and rodeo cowboy Ross Meeks.
Watch That First Step"Hey, who removed the balcony?", asked the man from his hospital bed.
See if You Can Guess— after taking a nice long look at it, why the Big Piney Hotel only lasted a few more years after this photo was taken. I'll wait.
(The Gallery, Dogs, Frontier Life, M.P. Wolcott)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-8c15894a.thumbnail.jpg "The Piney Hotel: 1941")
- Hotel Astor: 1909
- New York circa 1909. "Hotel Astor, Times Square." Note the elaborate roof garden. 8x10 inch glass ... New York Times, 1920:
Down near Times Square the Hotel Astor Roof Garden and Belvedere Restaurant make it possible for the ... http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON023.htm
Hotel Astor Roof Garden Are there pictures of the Roof Garden? What is the ... Posted by Dave - 07/18/2012 - 3:40pm -
![New York circa 1909. "Hotel Astor, Times Square." Note the elaborate roof garden. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Shades of greatnessAnother great building from the golden age of window awnings!
I had nothing to lose at the Astorback in '57, when I was a new immigrant with a couple of bucks in my pocket, nursing a 15 cent draft beer at the bar. It was where I went to get away from the cheap rooming house on 36th Street. Ten years later, when they tore it down, that little beer was something with an olive in it and I spent more than two bucks tipping my doorman at the place where I still live. I was sorry to see my old hangout turn to dust.
Reach for the starsNew York Times, 1920:
Down near Times Square the Hotel Astor Roof Garden and Belvedere Restaurant make it possible for the wayfarer to leave the torrid stretches of Seventh Avenue and in a few moments find himself in a real garden surrounded by flowers.
There is the open-air dancing floor and the restaurant is conspicuous for dangling ferns and trailing vines. A unique feature of the restaurant is the gabled-glass roof over which flows a miniature Niagara.
Taxis of the Marne?I'm not aware that Renault automobiles were sold in America that early, but look at that taxi stand. There's a remarkable resemblance to the cabs that saved Paris in 1914.
[The Renault Taxicab Company was incorporated in New York in 1907 and operated out of the Renault garage. - Dave]
Thermos: The BottleAnd here I haven't even seen the film yet.
Have you heard that Mimsy StarrJust got pinched in the Astor bar?
Cole wasn't writing about the roof garden, but I've always loved that line.
Additional pictures & story of the Astorhttp://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON023.htm
Hotel Astor Roof GardenAre there pictures of the Roof Garden? What is the building that replaced this hotel when it was torn down?
Xesús Cociña Souto (Santiago de Compostela, Galiza, Spain)
[Click here. - Dave]
Per NightI wonder what the rates were in 1909.
Fiat: made in USAFiat automobiles were"home made" upriver 75 miles in a beautiful art deco factory. The building became Western Printing home of all the Dell comic books you may have read long ago. All gone now. A Staples has since been built on the site.
[Upriver from Times Square? Everyone into the canoe! - Dave]
Good one! Yup, better than "up the river" some thirty miles (give or take).
6-6-66, 5-5-55Back on June 6, 1966, at 6:06 p.m., a group that had last met on May 5, 1955, at 5:55 p.m. gathered once again as planned at the Astor Bar to savor the moment. On September 9, 1999, at 9:09 a.m., at 9th Avenue and 19th Street, we had planned to meet again, but fate intervened and the venue was changed to the Deer Park Hotel in Newark, Delaware, close to the setting of our first gathering. Talk about having a life-long obsession with numbers on the calendar!
The ClockUnder the Astor Hotel's clock was where Robert Walker and Judy Garland agreed to meet in the 1945 movie "The Clock."
How deep?Nobody else has commented on this yet, but was it built 10-windows deep and later expanded by six more windows? Some of the pictures on the NY Architecture page seem to confirm that it started life more shallow.
[You might be looking at a picture of the Knickerbocker Hotel, which seems to be on that page by mistake. But yes, the Hotel Astor was enlarged by six windows at the back in 1908-1909. - Dave]
Bigger AstorIt is easy to see the approximately 60% addition to the hotel looking down 45th street. Looks like 6 rows of windows newer looking than the rest of the hotel.
Golden RenaultThat 35-45 HP Renault Chassis would be $187,532.95 today's money.
I want a room on the top floor with the railingor a room with a flagpole sticking out the window
MTV TRL at 1APThe Astor was replaced by a skyscraper initially known as the W.T. Grant Building, now known as 1 Astor Plaza. Viacom is a primary tenant, and one of the Viacom cable channels (MTV) has broadcast from one of the lower-level studios. Total Request Live (or TRL), which introduced the world to Carson Daly, was one of those shows. That ain't working, that's the way they do it.
Rare style nowadaysThere are not that many Beaux-Arts buildings left. The Willard Hotel in D.C. is one of them and narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in the '80s. One of these days I am going to stay in a room that has one of those beautiful huge round windows!
(The Gallery, DPC, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a25766a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Astor: 1909")
- Hotel Flanders: 1905
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Hotel Flanders." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
No Mo' Hotel The hotel, at 15th and Walnut, was demolished long ago, as has much of ... Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 8:50pm -
![Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Hotel Flanders." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
No Mo' HotelThe hotel, at 15th and Walnut, was demolished long ago, as has much of old Center City. The Union League Building, the Second Empire style building seen behind the hotel, still stands, at least.
Miss DimondI wonder what she was selling? Dresses, millinery, possibly foretelling the future? Also the plaque to the left of her window shows a Cross on what could be a coffin, I'm pretty sure that was part of the architectural ornamentation. I tried Googling the image but couldn't find an exact match.
12th & Spruce!Still there!
http://www.alexanderinn.com
[The skinny building at 12th and Spruce is not the same as the one in our photo. - Dave]
Bank of AmericaJust another modern building at the location. It looks as thought the building next to the old Flanders on Walnut is still in place, but with its front drastically altered. Not in the street view, the old Victorian - I think it's a Victorian - with the gabled roof, on 15th is, thankfully, still present.
No Trace LeftWow, what a photo. I used to work in a building at the southwest corner of 15th and Walnut (the current home of Stephen Starr's Butcher & Singer, which is the former home of Striped Bass, as seen in the "The Sixth Sense." From what I can gather, the Hotel Flanders used to be on the southeast corner of 15th and Walnut, with the main entrance on 15th.
Later known asThe Hi-Diddley-Hotel Flanders.
Here's the Skinny - Nine stories tall and no wider than a two car garage - I'm surprised a strong wind didn't knock it over!
Hotel FlandersA review from many years ago rated it as "okely-dokely."
As always...A tip pf the Hatlo hat to Shorpy. The architecture of this era was so richly detailed - you could spend 8-10 minutes examining that photo. At the same time you could imagine how incredibly expensive it would be to maintain, if it had been preserved. All that ornate masonry, in a freeze/thaw climate zone. Fuggetaboutit - there are not enough tuck-pointers in existence to keep such a structure in good form.
However, just down the block215 (South) Walnut is still there, now an Applebee's.
Victorian Down the StreetBelow is a shot of the Victorian that Downer mentions in a previous post. You can see it peeking out further down the street past the Flanders. Neat building!
From head to toeChiropody, Manicuring and Hair Dressing - that about covers it all.
Not The Union League BuildingThat's not The Union League Building behind the hotel. It was, at the time, the 5th District Police Station.
+108Below is the same view from October of 2013.
(The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a22464a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Flanders: 1905")
- Hotel Henry: 1908
- ... yet. Anybody have a picture?
More than a mere hotel "Upon a commanding site in the very heart of Pittsburgh, that glowing ... steel, stone and terra cotta, and bears the title of the Hotel Henry. Monumental, though unpretentious, in the solidity of its exterior ... Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 4:37pm -
- Grand Hotel: 1900
- ... inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.
The hotel has checked out But the building behind it remains.
Those ... "City Beautiful" Movement At the time this hotel was built, there was something called the "City Beautiful" movement, ... Posted by Dave - 06/22/2015 - 10:54am -
- Elephant Walk: 1920
- ... Grantham Bain Collection. In the background: The Cort Hotel, probably at 301 West 48th Street and Eighth Avenue. Is it still there? ... people.
301 West 48th It sure looks like the Cort Hotel building is still standing . It's the building on the Northwest corner ... Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 6:21pm -
![April 24, 1920. New York City. "Overalls Circus Parade." View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. In the background: The Cort Hotel, probably at 301 West 48th Street and Eighth Avenue. Is it still there?
ElephantI wonder if an elephant ever got fed up during one of these parades and just started whacking people.
301 West 48thIt sure looks like the Cort Hotel building is still standing. It's the building on the Northwest corner with the green awning on the side. The architectural details seem to match.
Notice how all theNotice how all the spectators have their shoes hanging over the edge of the curb.
Cort HotelThe buildings on both ends of the block are still there, and one of the smaller buildings in between. Incidentally, the Cort Hotel building is a block down from the building "Where Elsie Met Her End," the photo posted on 3 July.
dress codelook at those ladies and gentleman.. no jeans, tee shirts, or sneakers.. classy people. Has anyone but me noticed that the world is in a slow and steady decline??
Take two sips!For those of you playing the Shorpy Drinking Game™ at home, it's time to take two sips!
• Disparagement of dress today vs. yesteryear = one sip
• World in decline = one sip
Cort HotelStill standing and still making news (1991)!
Drinking GameMay I suggest?
"It's Photoshopped!" = three sips
"There was no color film in the old days" = four sips
[I'd be on the floor all day long! - Dave]
ElephantsGreat to watch them in New York.
Yes, it's still thereThe hotel is definitely still there, though it's an apartment building now -- I live there. Single room occupancies with the bathrooms down the hall. Just like hotels used to be.
CORT HOTELSHORPY is truly amazing. Had searched previously for any remnants on the Cort Hotel w/o results. Altered my search entry and lo and behold this bizarre photo appears. I'd been searching for a while for info or image of the original hotel as my Grandfather lived here in the 30's along with my Dad before he himself entered the service. Gramps was a professional waiter working at the Paradise Cabaret at that time. Gramps' sister shipped him an Irish wren but the bird eventually escaped out the 48th Street window which of course saddened him. They eventually lived at 933 Eighth Avenue where the pawnbrokers used to be until a few short years ago. Wonder if John Cort of Cort Theatre fame owned the hotel or if it was simply named after it? Just a beautiful image of the Cort which never would have been taken but for the parade that day in 1920. Will be showing to my Dad, born in 1921 in Manhattanville and who'd become one of New York's finest. A different time. A different New York. And SHORPY, filling an important role in the history of NYC and its people.
(The Gallery, Animals, G.G. Bain, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/30324u.thumbnail.jpg "Elephant Walk: 1920")
- Vanderbilt Hotel: 1913
- New York circa 1913. "Vanderbilt Hotel, Park Avenue at 34th Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Hotel with a pedigree From its 1913 completion until it was converted to apartments in 1965, the Vanderbilt Hotel was one of the city's most fashionable in the early 20th Century. Singer ... Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 1:17pm -
- Hotel Franciscan: 1943
- February 1943. "Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Hotel Franciscan on Central Avenue." Medium format acetate negative by John ... View full size.
It stood only 47 years The Hotel Franciscan was only 19 years old when John Collier took his photograph. ... Posted by Dave - 07/29/2024 - 9:59pm -
- Red Owl Supermarket
- ... linked with the city and its subsequent progress." The hotel, then the oldest building in town, is now gone. The Dakota Cafe building ... "renovated" into a hardware store.
Harlan Packard Hotel Googling turns up references to a number of (outdated, unfortunately) ... Posted by 4allofyou - 09/20/2011 - 1:41am -
![I received a lot of negatives from people in the U.S. This negative came together with a lot from New Orleans. I don't know the place. In the background I can see the Red Owl Supermarket. View full size.
Redfield, South DakotaAccording to a 1951 article in the Huronite and Daily Plainsman by the mayor of Redfield, Harlan P. Packard was one of the town's "first two bona fide settlers." He lured the State School and Home for the Feeble Minded (now called the South Dakota Developmental Center) to greater Redfield. "It is his name that is most indelibly linked with the city and its subsequent progress." The hotel, then the oldest building in town, is now gone. The Dakota Cafe building seems to remain, "renovated" into a hardware store.
Harlan Packard HotelGoogling turns up references to a number of (outdated, unfortunately) eBay listings for a postcard showing a Harlan Packard Hotel in Redfield, South Dakota, plus a listing in the Hotel & Motel Redbook for 1968 indicating an establishment by that name at the corner of 6th Avenue and Main in that city. Also, in the photo, note what is pretty surely the Dakota Cafe on the corner, and Redfield had one of those.
Harlan Packard HotelHow did you manage to find these answers because I couldn't.
[Google Books search. - Dave]
Dakota CafeThanks for your help, this is how the building looks today.
View Larger Map
Signal LightThe light on top of the Harlan Packard Hotel was the police signal. If you needed the police, you would call the telephone operator, and she would turn it on, and then you could call the telephone office to find out what the problem was. This method was used until the early 1960s.
Richard Gallup
Redfield, SD
Harlan Packard HotelThe Harlan Packard Hotel was my grandfather's. From the early 1930's until he died in the 1970's. My grandmother would run the desk (the old cable plug in types on the switchboard (remember Lily Tomlin's character from Laugh In?), and my father ran his shoeshine service in the lobby. As a kid I had the greatest pleasure possible -- free soda pop from the bar, and read as many comics as I could at one time.
Attached to the Hotel around the corner was the Prairie Lounge, one of two watering holes in the town.
Pheasant hunting was one of the major economic engines, with hunting parties from all over the US, often staying with farmers in the area - the original bed and breakfasts? - if not staying at the Harlan Packard.
Also important is the cafe next door. All the farmers within a very large radius chose to come to town every Thursday to get groceries, supplies, and a great deal of socialization. My treat was a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy at the cafe -- no ice cream or other desserts, excepting perhaps a piece of pie -- and no comfort good could possibly have been better.
This was a small town of ~ 1200 when I was a boy, and it really hasn't changed a lot since except for new building facades, and of course, newer vehicles.
If you still have this photo, I would be interested in obtaining it. I don't hold much hope you do, since the last posting from you was in 2009.
What a wonderful picture and the memories it sparked.
Paul Blackburn
Phoenix AZ 85048
pablackburn@cox.net
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Eateries & Bars)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/img025_0.thumbnail.jpg "Red Owl Supermarket")
- Hotel Dixie: 1950
- ... York's 43rd Street, just off Times Square, circa 1950. "Hotel Dixie -- 700 rooms, each with bath and radio." Not to mention their own bus depot. Now the somewhat infamous Hotel Carter. 4x5 negative by James M. Fox. View full size.
That ... Posted by Dave - 02/03/2015 - 10:16am -
- Hotel Zeiger: 1957
- August 13, 1957. "Hotel Zeiger. Ellenville, New York. General lobby." Join us in the Jubilee Room ... Corp. in the aftermath of a bank collapse that saw the hotel's owners indicted for embezzlement. It reopened as the Eldorado.
It's always fun time at the Hotel Zeiger The slogan must be true, since everyone in the postcard ... Posted by Dave - 02/16/2013 - 3:40pm -
- Hotel Wisdom: 1942
- ...
Rooms to let, 50 cents No phone no food no pets ... Hotel Wisdom
Phone line Horse sneakers!
Hotel wisdom Don't walk barefoot on the carpet, and sanitize the remote.
... Posted by Dave - 11/03/2023 - 7:48pm -
![August 1942. "Big Hole Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana. Buildings on the main street of Wisdom, Montana, trading center for the Big Hole Valley. This is cattle country." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Battle Of The Big HoleAs American settlers moved west and justified westward expansion as the nation's Manifest Destiny, the Nez Perce had no alternative except to share their ancestral lands.
Eventually, Americans' interest in the land's riches and cultural conflicts between the settlers and the Nez Perce led to a series of bloody battles. One of the many battles, the Battle of the Big Hole in Wisdom, Montana changed the outcome of the Nez Perce War of 1877.
Montana: Big Hole National Battlefield
Last Saturday night ...Paul Bunyan decided to play horseshoes on Main Street and missed.
Rooms to let, 50 centsNo phone no food no pets ... Hotel Wisdom
Phone line Horse sneakers!
Hotel wisdomDon't walk barefoot on the carpet, and sanitize the remote.
Russell Lee and John VachonBoth Russell Lee and John Vachon spent a lot of time in the region in the late 1930s and early '40s. In fall 1942, perhaps they were traveling together, as both have images of Wisdom in the archive.
Quoting Mary Murphy (Montana State professor):
Vachon drove his Plymouth into Beaverhead County in the spring of 1942 with the assignment of photographing stock raising. After several days, he wrote to FSA Director Roy Stryker that he had found “the purest most undiluted West I've ever seen.” (Source: her presentation)
Another interesting tidbit about how Vachon described his drives through the county:
From Butte, Montana, in March 1942 he wrote [to his wife Penny] of “regretting a very abject and cowardly performance about 3:00 this afternoon.” Vachon is reproaching himself for fearing to drive the road from Wise River to Wisdom, which is “one lane bumpy full of puddles holes heavy snow and cliff hanging.” It really rankles when the attendant at the Wise River gas station tells him, 'The mail stage makes it every day'.” (Source: Big Sky Journal)
LIQWhen the boys leave the bar with snootful, it's forgotten that what goes up must come down. And the nearest hospital is (probably at least) 50 miles away.
Measure twice.The carpenter placed the hotel windows symmetrically. The sign painter missed.
Wisdom = Having InsuranceIt seems almost unnecessary to ask, doesn't it? (05/21/60)
Despite what might seem like daunting odds, Fetty's rebuilt, and seems to still be in business. The hotel, however, seems to have checked out.
A tossupWhat's with the horseshoe up on the power lines?
The town that Coke forgotThere's a Chesterfield's ad at the liquor store (the largest of the four buildings shown); but I do not see a Drink Coca-Cola sign, usually a standard feature in 1940s main street photos.
The distances to the nearest towns in either direction reminds me of the saying -- it's not the end of the world ... but you can see it from there.
At some point that horseshoe is going to be an UN-lucky horseshoe for someone.
Lean on me1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe 4-Door Sedan.
Makes me wonder how many times the Chevy completed
the aforementioned fearsome trek from Wise River to Wisdom.
(The Gallery, Russell Lee, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-8d08251a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Wisdom: 1942")
- Ghost Hotel: 1905
- "Hotel St. George, Brooklyn, circa 1905." Plus a ghost or two in this time exposure of the hotel's Clark Street facades. This Brooklyn Heights landmark, which by the 1930s was New York's largest hotel, with 2,632 rooms in a complex of buildings spread over a block, started ... Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:34pm -
!["Hotel St. George, Brooklyn, circa 1905." Plus a ghost or two in this time exposure of the hotel's Clark Street facades. This Brooklyn Heights landmark, which by the 1930s was New York's largest hotel, with 2,632 rooms in a complex of buildings spread over a block, started with the 10-story dark brick structure, completed in 1885. After more than a century, it was destroyed by fire in 1995. The adjoining white building with the flagpoles, designed by Montrose Morris in the 1890s, still stands. Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.
Hotel St. George: 1954In 1954 I stayed with my parents at the Hotel St. George the night of July 30-31 after returning from two years in the UK as a USAF dependent. I might even have the room number in a crude diary from the time.
We sort of aborted our first full meal back in the U.S. in one of its dining rooms in favor of a walk down and across the street to the east to some burger joint to sit on stools at the counter!
I got a US Road Atlas from its lobby bookstore for the impending seven-day cross-country road trip to the SF Bay Area. I also got one those automated photos done in a booth there, but it's far too poor to even think about scanning.
One of the postcards obtained there (click image for details):
I've another one showing their famous 120-foot indoor salt-water swimming pool. It all certainly went into a fast decline by just a few decades later.
SwimmingI remember going to the St George in the 1950s to swim. They had an enormous swimming pool in the basement. It was a coed attraction for young college kids and singles. It probably didn't cost more than a couple bucks for admission and suit rentals.
Back in '62Back in 1962, I was a student at the RCA Institutes in lower Manhattan. I worked at the GE building at 570 Lexington Avenue, so I took the 7th Avenue IRT to the school after work. Boy, was I tired. One night I fell asleep and ended up going under the river. I woke, panicked and got off at the first stop in Brooklyn. It was the St. George Hotel. I was amazed that a hotel had its own subway stop, so to speak. Those were the days!
Saltwater PoolsI've never heard of a salt-water swimming pool ... was that common in the past?
[Lots of hotels, resorts and even private homes have saltwater swimming pools. - Dave]
A Dim MemoryI remember staying there for one night in the early 1950's with my family. My only recollection is of the swimming pool.
The St. George Swimming PoolCan you scan your postcard showing a view of the pool and put it up here at Shorpy? In 1961 I was living on West 12th Street in Manhattan as a fledgling employee of Union Carbide, and went by subway over to the Saint George in Brooklyn to swim in that great pool. My other visits to Brooklyn back then were to the Cypress Hills Cemetery to visit the graves of my paternal Wilson grandparents who lived on Madison Street in Bed-Stuy at the turn of the 20th Century. I had commissioned a stonecarver to complete a gravestone inscription for my grandmother. In that effort, I got the birth and death years and month correct for her, but missed the days of the month in each case by a few.
St. George salt-water poolLinen postcard. Click to enlarge.
THE ST. GEORGE SWIMMING POOL, located in the Hotel St. George, Clark St., Brooklyn, the largest in New York (120' x 40'), was constructed at a cost of $1,263,000. Crystal clear pure natural artesian salt water is used. Swim and gym suits, showers, steam rooms, battery of sun lamps, and air-conditioned gymnasium are included in the admission charge! 4 minutes from Wall St., 15 from Times Sq.; Clark St. Station of 7th Ave. I.R.T. Subway in hotel.
I only had a quick peek at it in 1954. The main reason that my parents and I were there was because my father had stayed at the St. George in August 1951 on his way to England on the USNS Gen. Maurice Rose.](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a13110u.thumbnail.jpg "Ghost Hotel: 1905")
- Murphy's Hotel: 1905
- ... Richmond, Virginia, circa 1905. "Broad Street -- Murphy's Hotel." Last seen here . 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... View full size.
Col. John Murphy All about the hotel.
+106 Below is the same view from April of 2011.
Started as ... Posted by Dave - 08/04/2018 - 4:59pm -
- Hotel Astor: 1909
- New York, 1909. "Hotel Astor, Times Square." Points of interest include the galleon lodged in the hotel facade, as well as a sign on the building next door advertising the fifth ... - Dave]
Hudson-Fulton Celebration Banquet The Hotel Astor is all dressed up for the official banquet of the Hudson-Fulton ... Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 3:18pm -
![New York, 1909. "Hotel Astor, Times Square." Points of interest include the galleon lodged in the hotel facade, as well as a sign on the building next door advertising the fifth Vanderbilt Cup auto race. View full size.
Richest man on the TitanicI believe this primo piece of real estate was owned by the family of John Jacob Astor IV who perished in the sinking of that ship just three years after this picture was taken.
On the WagonLots fascinating here from the cops who just seem to stand in the middle of the street to the oil stains on it, and the people going about their daily rush, but what keeps drawing me in is the sturdy horse wagon with the big S on its side.
It is so big and rustic compared to the cars behind it. Its wheels are thicker and stronger looking too. And it seems to be filled with people. But it does not look like it was intended as a coach.
[Those are horse stains. - Dave]
Hudson-Fulton Celebration BanquetThe Hotel Astor is all dressed up for the official banquet of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, held on September 29, 1909, which inaugurated the hotel's vast new banquet hall, the biggest in the city. More than 2,000 attended the banquet, including the official representatives of thirty-five countries. The guests all received copies of this sterling silver commemorative medal.
Astor roofLooks like the Washington Square arch landed on the Astor's roof.
About fifty years after this photo was taken, I drank many a 15¢ glass of draught beer in the Astor Bar (on the near corner).
'S' WagonThat's not just any S on that wagon, but the famous Singer Sewing Machine S logo (you can sort-of make out the words on it). Though as to why it's on the wagon, I cannot tell you.
[Not the Singer logo. Note the absence of serifs, graphic and the different text. The S belongs to the Sicilian Asphalt Paving Co.]
Mother Always Said"She's as dressed up as Mrs Astor's Horse" - I suppose a better statement would be "She's as dressed up as Mr Astor's Hotel"
Sailing vessel through wall?I am curious to know the story behind the mock sailing vessel above the main entrance.
[Undoubtedly a decoration for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration banquet.]
Hotel AstorIs this fine hotel still standing?
[Demolished 1968. Now the site of the One Astor Plaza office tower.]
Not so garish at nightThe garishness of the fake foliage garland was probably not so noticeable in the evening when the thousands of lightbulbs hidden within turned on. A Wikipedia page for the Hudson-Fulton event says that Mr. Edison's incandescent bulbs were deployed by the hundred thousands to light up NYC for the celebration.
My question is, what would the proper term be for the uppermost windows - the circular porthole windows on the mansard roof. Is there a more appropriate term than clerestory?
[Dormer windows.]
Star lightWith the statehood of Oklahoma in 1907, the US flag grew to 46 stars in July, 1908 yet here in 1909, the Astor still seems to be flying the 45-star flag.
Roof Top GardenI wonder if there was a roof top garden serving as a restaurant with the arch serving as a decoration of some sort?
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, NYC, Streetcars)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_4a19545a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Astor: 1909")
- Nantasket Beach: 1905
- ... people relaxing and enjoying themselves though.
Great Hotel I know nothing about the hotel resort on the hill but if it's like any of the other hotels we've seen ... Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 7:43pm -
![Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, circa 1905. "Atlantic House and surf bathers." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
I love the beach scenes butAll I can think of is the uncomfortable ride home with sand in my bathing suits. I can't imagine the level of discomfort these people felt. I do love seeing people relaxing and enjoying themselves though.
Great HotelI know nothing about the hotel resort on the hill but if it's like any of the other hotels we've seen pictures on Shorpy of, I can guess it was probably destroyed in a fiery disaster.
Surf NantasketFifty or so years after this photo was taken, Boston's iconic DJ Arnie Ginsburg would be hosting record hops at the Surf Nantasket. Arnie's now retired to the coast of Maine. Boston folks still remember Arnie at the Surf Nantasket.
Atlantic HouseThe name of the hotel is in the caption -- Atlantic House. And yes, it burned to the ground, in January 1927. It was built in 1877 by John Damon and later enlarged to about 175 rooms. Most of the site is now occupied by the Atlantic Hill Condominiums.
Looks Like SandDefinitely sand on the left. Possibly Easter Sunday.
1879 EngravingAtlantic House on the left. Click to enlarge.
Skinny Dipper!Well, can't tell for sure; maybe that kid has on shorts, but considering the usual attire of the period, even that'd be pretty darn skinny!
[He is shockingly shirtless. Avert your gaze, ladies. - Dave]
My New WallpaperI think this might be my favorite beach shot to date. There's so much to love. The grand hotel, the beach houses, the Edwardian attire, the couple holding hands in the surf, the little kids wading.
Great Hotel DestroyedIn the late 19th century, The Atlantic House was the most famous summer hotel in New England due to its many and varied notable guests. Sarah Bernhardt, Wallis Simpson, President William McKinley and opera star Enrico Caruso, who gave two performances here, all enjoyed the fine accommodations the Atlantic House offered. Conveniences for guests included stairs directly to the beach and bath houses directly on the beach. The 175 room hotel burned to the ground during a blizzard on January 7, 1927.
I was just at this beachI was just at this beach last weekend. Aside from the attire and the buildings, it looks much the same. It's known for its dramatic variation between high and low tides. At low tide (depicted here) the beach is at least a quarter-mile wide; at high tide everyone is crowded up against the seawall just beyond the right edge of the frame here. On the other side of that (and the main road) would have been the famous Paragon Park.
Sea Bathing Absolutely Safe
How to See Boston: A Trustworthy Guide Book, 1895.
Boston Harbor
Nantasket Beach is reached from Hull by the steamboat crossing Hingham Bay and ascending the serpentine Weir River; or by a railway, running along the sea-bounds. It is a fine expanse of gray sand, several miles long, between the ocean and the harbor, beaten by a light surf, and affording opportunity for safe bathing. Above the high-tide line are groups of hotels, restaurants, chowder-houses, and bathing-houses, where Anglo-Saxon-Celtic-Latin-Slav Boston sends tens of thousands of her citizens on torrid summer days. It is a grand place for "a good time" in a democratic way.
United States Investor, June 28, 1913.
Atlantic House
Nantasket Beach, Mass.
One Hour from Boston by Boat or Train.
Rates: $5 per day and upwards
One Hundred Feet Above Sea Level.
Sea Bathing Absolutely Safe.
Address Linfield D. Damon, Manager
CanoeWonder how the canoe would handle the small surf? Interesting choice of seaside watercraft.
The Shorpy Curse!Another Grand Building destroyed by fire!
(The Gallery, DPC, Swimming)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a12853a.thumbnail.jpg "Nantasket Beach: 1905")
- Spray Beer: 1908
- Niagara Falls, New York, circa 1908. "Imperial Hotel." Where the thirsty traveler could partake of the evocatively named Spray ... We have one example here . - Dave]
House (er, hotel) of cards The perspective of this photo makes me dizzy. It looks like ... Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 11:19am -
![Niagara Falls, New York, circa 1908. "Imperial Hotel." Where the thirsty traveler could partake of the evocatively named Spray Beer. Around the corner was a Temperance House, whose amenities might have included a milk bar. At left, a political banner advertises the Democratic presidential ticket of William Jennings Bryan and John Kern. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
The DSLR equivalentCould you replicate this photo with a modern DSLR? You would need a stack of ND filters in order to drag the shutter enough to blur the walkers in what looks to be bright sun. They would have to be very expensive ND filters to get that tack sharp resolution.
I'm not even sure there is a lens available for a 35mm camera that would give you that wide of an angle without an extreme fisheye effect. The photographer is standing across the street from a 6 story building, and not only get the entire building in the shot but we can see halfway down the block as well. Amazing!
[Size-wise, you're comparing apples to olives. The digital analogue to images made with an 8x10 view camera would be taken with a medium- or large-format camera (Hasselblad, Phase One, Better Light) with a digital back. We have one example here. - Dave]
House (er, hotel) of cardsThe perspective of this photo makes me dizzy. It looks like the walls are about to fall outward.
"Do you work here?"Having worked with the public and had people ask me "Do you work here?" while I am standing behind the cash, wearing a tacky polyester uniform with a large name-tag with the name of the store, I know that with multiple signs stating "Hotel Imperial" in every nook and cranny, people would STILL ask "Is this the Hotel Imperial?"
My favourite "Do you work here?" story: I was standing with a number of other employees, all of us wearing our bright red and white polyester uniform pant-suits, with our company name tags, all holding price-guns and a woman came up and asked "Do you work here?"
Without missing a beat I said to her "No. Sorry. We are a club which goes from store to store repricing merchandise. This is our club outfit."
The woman looked at us with confusion and said "Ummm... Oh... Sorry..." and wandered off.
Are you sure this is the Hotel Imperial? I see the name "Hotel Imperial" seven times, eight if you count the unseen side of the entryway on the right side of the building.
Hotel VertigoThe upper facade of the hotel seems to be angling outward in a rather unsettling manner. But as the top of the telegraph pole on the right appears to have the same problem, I trust the hotel is in fact quite normal and the issue instead has to do with the photographer's perspective.
[The pole does have a pronounced curve, but the hotel is exactly vertical. The tilt-shift lenses used in these view cameras do create a distinctive exaggerated geometry, however. - Dave]
ArtistryAnother primo example of extraordinary masonry. Beauty is in the details----to paraphrase another artist.
That Refreshing SpraySpray Beer was apparently (and appropriately) a Niagara region institution!
That interesting mailboxI had no idea that our current round top US Mail box was only a 20th century creation. Would love to see more shots of this earlier incarnation, and get an idea of when these were actually made. When did the ones we now know begin?
Tilty ShiftyLooks to me like the photographer didn't pull off the tilt-shift quite right.
LocationDoes anyone know which streets we see in this picture?
[Falls and Second. - Dave]
I walk a beatDoes anyone see the local cop on the corner? He was sure to know everyone on his patrol!
Said the man with the pipe"Hurry up and take the picture, Sonny! I ain't got all day you know."
re: Interesting mailboxThat's a design I don't recall seeing before. The more familiar one, still in use today, can be seen as early as 1906 in a photo from the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum:
BrickworkThe brickwork on the Imperial Hotel is fantastic. It's incredible the workmanship that was put into those old buildings. It's too bad that so many of them are gone now. I doubt that kind of work could be duplicated today.
Spray BeerSomething you do when you have a mouthful of your favorite brew and someone tells a really funny joke.
(The Gallery, DPC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a23129a.thumbnail.jpg "Spray Beer: 1908")
- Turkish Trophies: 1910
- ... Elks Monument and Wayne County Building." Far right, the Hotel Pontchartrain. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Ferry tales ... to the new. So much more lively and real.
Dyslexia Hotel Usually Shorpy hotels burn. But here, we have the Burns Hotel.
... Posted by Dave - 12/02/2022 - 5:58pm -
![Detroit circa 1910. "Campus Martius -- Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Elks Monument and Wayne County Building." Far right, the Hotel Pontchartrain. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Ferry talesWow! - wethinks - wouldn't it be swell if the truly ginormous D.M. Ferry warehouse was still around ?? Well we're (sort of) in luck: it (sort of) is.
The "sort of" part being, sadly, that the westernmost building in the complex (above) - the back of which we see in the main picture, isn't the part that's still around.
Oh deerI can find the Soldiers and Sailors monument on googmaps, but looks like the arch thing with Bambi's mom and dad on top is no longer with us?
Comparing 1910 to 2022, seems like I always prefer the old to the new. So much more lively and real.
Dyslexia Hotel Usually Shorpy hotels burn. But here, we have the Burns Hotel.
Hello, Dolly?This looks a lot like the still photo that opens the film version of Hello, Dolly. Is it?
[That was New York on a Hollywood backlot -- a still that morphs into live action. - Dave]
Interurban StreetcarAt the bottom right is an interurban streetcar that would have travelled to any number of Michigan locations, and even Toledo, Ohio. The interurban system was extensive, covering over 500 miles of track. This car looked quite deluxe compared to the city cars -- in railway car style, it even has an open rear platform.
Hotel PontchartrainThere are better photographs of the Hotel Pontchartrain. But I'm taking this opportunity to share what I found.
There was a good article with photographs in the January 1908 Architects' and Builders' Magazine, when the Pontchartrain was new. The architect, George D. Mason described the mechanics, features, and decor of the hotel. He wrote the hotel was designed anticipating four stories might be added later. In April 1908, an ad said rates were $2 per day and up.
In 1913 five stories were added, and a review in The Architectural Review included exterior and interior photographs, plus floor plans. Here is the basement.
Arch RivalThe arch was a temporary build celebrating the 1910 convention of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The inscription is the Elks' motto: "The fault of our brothers we write upon the sand. Their virtues upon tablets of love and memory." There was another, larger arch at the other end of downtown; the Elks must have brought a lot of business.
Rajah CoffeeOkay, let’s do the math: 23 cents per pound, or two and a quarter pounds for 50 cents, which is 22.22 cents per pound. Which is such a bargain?
You've got a long way to go yet babyAlthough it would be another 19 years or so before the Edward Bernays ‘Torches of Freedom’ campaign kicked in, it appears as if some of the tobacco companies had already taken such initiatives as early as 1910, if not earlier. True, the Turkish Trophies cigarette billboard does not show the woman actually smoking, but in my mind the connection is clear.
(Panoramas, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-4a25865a2.thumbnail.jpg "Turkish Trophies: 1910")
- Two-Bit Hotel: 1921
- New York, July 5, 1921. "Lanier Hotel -- Rooms 25 cents." From the clues provided in the photo, who can ... of prices: At the turn of the twentieth century, a 25¢ hotel, with private room and clean sheets, was the top of the line; the more ... of communicable disease and lice.
That Is a Cheap Hotel Even in today's debased currency, that would be only $3.25 (I'm ... Posted by Dave - 11/05/2012 - 12:11pm -
![New York, July 5, 1921. "Lanier Hotel -- Rooms 25 cents." From the clues provided in the photo, who can pinpoint the location of this fleabag hostelry? 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
10 cent PilsPils is short for Pilsner, your basic light lager beer. How can beer be served during Prohibition? Is "Pils" a local shorthand for near-beer? Today Pils is a common beer style in Germany and elsewhere. Could 1921 off by a year or so?
[You've never heard of Prohibition beer? Below, a pilsener ad from 1925. - Dave]
A Male WorldFrom the nomination to add "The Bowery Historic District" to the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service:
[T]he entertainment district degenerated over the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, and saloons and beer dives proliferated, the Bowery attracted legions of rootless individuals, often afflicted with mental illness and addiction. In 1863-4, the songwriter Stephen Foster lived in a lodging house at 15 Bowery. He reportedly spent much of his time in the back of grocery at Chrystie & Hester Streets, composing songs mostly written for minstrel shows. A tragic figure, Foster’s alcoholism has been implicated in his death: found unconscious on the floor of the lodging house in mid-January, 1864, he died two days later at Bellevue Hospital. By 1890, it was estimated that 9,000 homeless men, many of them alcoholics or gambling addicts, found lodging on the Bowery and Park Row. Bowery flophouses were a male world.
A range of accommodations was available at a range of prices: At the turn of the twentieth century, a 25¢ hotel, with private room and clean sheets, was the top of the line; the more populated 15¢ lodging house might “provide little wooden cubicles about four feet by seven” and offer you dirty sheets; a 10¢ might be one of the “cheapest and most undesirable places lodg[ing] the men in dormitories; 7¢ could get you a squalid hammock in a windowless subcellar (as exposed by reformer Jacob Riis); and for 5¢, the literal flophouse offered no more than a person-sized spot to flop on a wooden floor, and a veritable guarantee of communicable disease and lice.
That Is a Cheap HotelEven in today's debased currency, that would be only $3.25 (I'm assuming per day.)
It does make you wonder what extras you get for the additional nickel, though. A private room instead of a shared one?
PricesMeals were cheap because they saved money not having to print menus. What do you get with a 25¢ room that you don't with the 20¢? A bed? Door? Valet service?
Price DifferentialThe 20-cent rooms faced onto the air shaft through which the aroma (stench?) of frying kidneys was vented.
Above the opened windowsare faded letters that read WINDSOR VAUDEVILLE.
Far from My Old Kentucky Home!This was a flophouse even then -- 15 Bowery. Steven Foster lived here, and in 1864 was taken from here to die at Bellevue Hospital.
Now Confucius Plaza Apartments - Chinatown!
Four Star AccommodationsFor all that money I hope they offer free Wi-Fi.
I'll take the sirloin, thank youIt is cheaper than the pig's feet!
Windsor VaudevilleFrom Musicals101.com
Windsor
The Bowery
Located across the street from the landmark Bowery Theatre, this less prestigious house is best remembered as a home for the Yiddish theatre in the 1890s and early 1900s. David Kessler and Jacob Adler starred in numerous productions here. Musicals101 is seeking more information on this theatre, and will post it when available.
Lanier Hotel, colorized.I had a go at a colorized version.
(The Gallery, Dogs, Eateries & Bars, G.G. Bain, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_32649u.thumbnail.jpg "Two-Bit Hotel: 1921")
- White House Hotel: 1912
- October 15, 1912. "White House Hotel." The building at 156 Canal Street, New York, where John F. Schrank lived ...
So I assume that he didn't mere live at the White House Hotel, he owned and operated the hotel and the tavern.
[Not quite. Schrank rented a $2 room at the White ... Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 8:31pm -
![October 15, 1912. "White House Hotel." The building at 156 Canal Street, New York, where John F. Schrank lived prior to his attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt the day before. Bain Collection glass negative. View full size.
John F. Schrank, landlordAccording to the ever-trustworthy Wikipedia: "His parents died soon after, and Schrank came to work for his uncle, a New York tavern owner and landlord. Upon their deaths, Schrank's aunt and uncle left him these valuable properties, from which it was expected he could live a quiet and peaceful life."
So I assume that he didn't mere live at the White House Hotel, he owned and operated the hotel and the tavern.
[Not quite. Schrank rented a $2 room at the White House. The tenement he inherited was at 433 East 81st Street; the saloon he ran was at 370 East 10th Street. - Dave]
My kind of placeI like a hotel where you enter through the bar.
It all fits.This looks like exactly the kind of place an early 20th century assassin would hole up in!
Hotel entranceThere's a separate doorway to the left of the bar with "Hotel Entrance" lettered on the glass above it. A similar one on the right is the entrance to the sign shop.
I could be wrong, but this looks like the Jewish part of town.
Canal StreetI don't think it was a a Jewish neighborhood but a commercial street and many of the merchants were Jewish. Today it's Chinatown, Jake.
Hmm.I wonder what sort of business N. Shapiro was in.
The White HouseThe replication of the Presidential Seal on the top of the building is interesting. Pretty fancy for that neighborhood. But then, it is The White House.
Canal Street To-DayChinatown, indeed!
View Larger Map
Architectural LossesThe contribution by the Anonymous Tipster of "Canal Street Today" strikes a sad note in my heart to see the architectural loss of the facade of the old White House Hotel. While the neighboring buildings have mostly retained their character (cornice and windows), the facade of the White House Hotel has been stripped to complete sterile bareness. Undoubtedly, this reflects the priorities of the renovations over the years: the original opulent Second Empire styling would certainly have been expensive to maintain. Nonetheless, the Now-Then comparison is a worthy example of the need for historical preservation districts, IMHO.
Slice of heavenWow, a real slice of Americana!
+97Below is the identical view from May of 2009. Many of these buildings' neighbors were razed for the Manhattan Bridge, which begins one block to the east.
(The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/10876u.thumbnail.jpg "White House Hotel: 1912")
- Hotel Dyckman: 1910
- Minneapolis circa 1910. " Hotel Dyckman and Sixth Street." Opened in 1910; demolished in 1979. 8x10 ...
Fireproof or not Word on the street is that the Hotel Dyckman was the first building in Minneapolis to be demolished by ... James Lileks on his site referred to the Dyckman as the "Hotel of Lies", for the creativity that went into the postcards promoting this ... Posted by Dave - 11/10/2022 - 4:16pm -
![Minneapolis circa 1910. "Hotel Dyckman and Sixth Street." Opened in 1910; demolished in 1979. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
My Kind Of TownMy father was born in Minneapolis a year after this picture was taken. Interesting to see what the city looked like when he was young. I came along 43 years after this shot, and by 1967 when I was 14 the city had changed a lot! I worked at Giovanni's pizza on 6th and Hennepin then, and one of my jobs was delivering pizzas to strippers at Augie's and the Copper Squirrel. Quite the education for a 14 year old. The only business name I recognize in this picture is the partial view of the Grain Belt Beer ad on the side of the building. The beer is still brewed in Minnesota by the August Schell Brewing company. The original brewery in Minneapolis has been long shuttered.
Fireproof or notWord on the street is that the Hotel Dyckman was the first building in Minneapolis to be demolished by implosion.
There she stands ... and liesThe Minneapolis-based humorist James Lileks on his site referred to the Dyckman as the "Hotel of Lies", for the creativity that went into the postcards promoting this place, with sections being either added-on, or deleted, sometimes both, at the same time (see below)
[The postcard is an accurate representation -- the hotel was enlarged with a four-story, 100-room addition that opened in 1914, and again in 1915. - Dave]
He was referring specifically to the streamlined appearance and omission of the back half of the building. Admittedly there can be a thin line between false advertising and artistic license, so the critique may seem picayunish, but I guess it's hard to find a lot to laugh about in the midst of a long gray Twin Cities winter.
[At some point in the 1930s or '40s, the roof and lower floors were "streamlined." - Dave]
TimingI wondered what the horse was doing inside the building site until I realized it happened to be passing the gap in the hoarding just as the photo was being taken.
Idle curiosityThe hotel is a straightforward and progressive design, free of architectural tomfoolery, doo-daddery and jimcrackery. But of course there needs to be a nice cornice. No frosting, no cake.
Surely there is a reason for the six story portion vs. the ten story portion.
Likewise, for the bricked up fourth through sixth floor window openings on the side of a new building. The side elevation also reveals reinforced concrete construction, possibly the Julius Kahn patented system. There appears to be a sort of security mesh on the third story (and possibly some fourth story) windows. It also looks like there are window screens on all of the guest room windows. This was probably not common in 1910.
Rubel's Furniture padded the lease to get a second floor display window, breaking the architectural continuity of the lower floors.
The condition of the lobby entrance tells me that the hotel is still under construction, but the store front businesses (bar one) look to have been there for a while.
Down it goes!In Sept 1979 I was wandering in downtown Minneapolis and happened to capture this shot of the Dyckman's demise.
From leader to obsolete The Hotel Dyckman opened on May 3, 1910, so was likely brand new when this photo was taken. The hotel was designed by the Minneapolis firm Long, Lamoreaux & Long for New York millionaire businessman John Andrus, whose wife's maiden name was Dyckman. The hotel was not featured in any architecture magazine I found, so no floor plan and only two photos of the main dining room in ads by Schick-Johnson Co., the company who installed the Circassian Walnut paneling. The are some really impressive descriptions of the lobby, but no photograph.
Apparently, the hotel got off to a rough start. Before construction, an experienced hotel operator named Mr. Collins leased the hotel from John Andrus with the lease payments based on the value of the real estate plus cost of construction. The estimated cost was $400,000 but the final bill turned out to be $600,000. Among other luxuries, this was the first hotel in Minneapolis where each of the 175 guest rooms had its own, private bath. Mr. Collins struggled to make the lease payments for three years, but eventually lost his investment.
In 1913 Mr. Tremain signed a 20-year lease for the Dyckman. He did well enough to expand the hotel by adding 82 rooms in 1914 and 44 more rooms in 1915.
As it did many of these grand hotels, changing tastes resulted in lost revenue ... and hotels tried to keep up. Compare the 1910 exterior photo with the one in the link Dave provided. The photo of the lobby has none of the features described in 1910, except maybe the mural. By the time the Chateau De Paris restaurant opened, the Circassian Walnut paneling was gone. As Mr. Collins experienced, the Hotel Dyckman eventually became a nonviable operation.
Here is 27 South 6th Street today. Swing to the left to see the building Jimmy Longshanks referenced.
Bold TalkClaiming your structure to be absolutely fireproof just two years before it was declared about Titanic that “God himself could not sink this ship!”? Talk about tempting fate.
Across 6th StreetThe picture of the Dyckman was likely taken from the construction site of the Plymouth building at 12 South 6th Street. It was completed in 1911 and remains today as an Embassy Suites hotel.
"Room With Bath for a Dollar and a Half"Announcing the newer, bigger Dyckman. Click to enlarge.
(The Gallery, DPC, Horses, Minneapolis-St. Paul)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-4a23558a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Dyckman: 1910")
- West Hotel: 1905
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, circa 1905. "West Hotel." Busy both architecturally and commercially. 8x10 inch glass negative, ... as a call to arms to save the city from itself.
West Hotel - 1927 Here's a picture of the hotel in 1927, looking a bit darker ... Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 6:00pm -
![Minneapolis, Minnesota, circa 1905. "West Hotel." Busy both architecturally and commercially. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
Mass transit then and nowCould the young couple standing under the arched overhang be waiting for Jesse Ventura's light rail?
Prof. HillMight have seen that Billard sign as a call to arms to save the city from itself.
West Hotel - 1927Here's a picture of the hotel in 1927, looking a bit darker than it is in the above photograph. Most likely due to lighting.
[It would also be due to soot. Masonry buildings turn black after years of exposure to coal smoke. - Dave]
Things Go BetterFred C Weinhold had himself a great spot for his Drug Store, right out on the street in front of the West Hotel and more than likely with an entrance to the shop from inside the hotel itself. He was also supported by the Coca-Cola Company, in their infinite advertising wisdom, with a sign right at the entrance to the store.
Before the blazeA 1900 tourist guide described the West as fireproof, but January 10, 1906, showed otherwise. That morning, a fire that began in the bottom of an elevator shaft spread upward, generating toxic smoke, and eventually flames that ran through the top floors. Ten died, several by leaping or falling to their deaths from those many ledges. But the structure remained intact, and within months the hotel was again hosting major national conventions.
The loss of this beauty can't be blamed on urban renewal. It was demolished in 1940, at the choice of its owner, Philadelphia Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co.
FireproofThe term "fireproof" was originally used by insurance companies simply to denote that a building was of masonry/steel frame construction, and the shell of the building could therefore not burn down. Hotel owners were quick to seize upon the term and use it in their advertising, but the practice more or less stopped after the "fireproof" Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta burned on December 7, 1946, killing 119.
(The Gallery, DPC, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Streetcars)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a12297a.thumbnail.jpg "West Hotel: 1905")
- Hotel Cadillac: 1899
- Detroit circa 1899. "Hotel Cadillac, Washington Boulevard." At left, the base of an electric arc ... Google just wanted to find me a car.
The O.C. Both hotel and car were named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit.
Book 'em The Hotel Cadillac may have been the top hotel in Detroit - every president ... Posted by Dave - 04/03/2019 - 10:22am -
![Detroit circa 1899. "Hotel Cadillac, Washington Boulevard." At left, the base of an electric arc lamp, part of the city's "moonlight tower" municipal lighting system. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.
Chicken or Egg?Cadillac (auto) was Trademarked in 1902, according to wikipedia. If this is 1899, what exactly IS a "Cadillac"?
[Not what, but who. - Dave]
Took about an hour, but I did find out. Google just wanted to find me a car.
The O.C.Both hotel and car were named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit.
Book 'emThe Hotel Cadillac may have been the top hotel in Detroit - every president between Benjamin Harrison and William Howard Taft stayed there. By the teens, though, newer hotels took over, including the Statler and Tuller.
Between 1923 and 1925, the Book brothers replaced the Hotel Cadillac with the Book Cadillac Hotel. The Book Cadillac was a great improvement in size and amenities - each room even had its own water closet! The Book Cadillac fell into ruin in the 1990s, and only escaped demolition because of the expense. After extensive renovation, it reopened in 2008.
Cadillac to Book Cadillac to Westin Book CadillacThe Book Brothers bought the above hotel and replaced it with the Book Cadillac, here, in 1923. It's now known as the Westin Book Cadillac and is one of the high end places to stay in downtown Detroit, with Michael Symon's Roast as THE place to dine.
(The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-4a03662a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Cadillac: 1899")
- Grand Hotel: 1890s
- ... St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1890s. "The Ponce de Leon Hotel, rear view." With this post, Shorpy is entering vacation mode for a week, ... View Larger Map
Smoking Why would a hotel need a giant smokestack (if indeed it belongs to the hotel?).
... Posted by Dave - 05/26/2013 - 1:27pm -
![St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1890s. "The Ponce de Leon Hotel, rear view." With this post, Shorpy is entering vacation mode for a week, having packed his bindle and hopped a freight for the wide open spaces. While he's gone we'll try to make do with just a post or two every day. View full size.
House in the lower leftThe house in the lower left (36 Sevilla) is off the market -- it houses the Flagler Business Office.
DroolingI want that house in the lower left corner. Great picture - so much to look at!!
Quiet MorningThe photo must have been taken early in the morning, possibly on a Sunday. Except for the horse and buggy and one man, near the corner of the property, lower right. It was 1890, so no automobiles yet, however the street shows "emissions" from a major source of motive power at the time.
Spooky Guy in the road at the bottomHappens with a long exposure. Thanks for this one. It's stunning.
Have FunBon Voyage!
It's not the heat, it's the humidityIs Shorpy perhaps vacationing in Florida?
[Colorado! Tonight, coming to you from Room 103 at the Courtyard by Marriott. - Dave]
An amazing view!What strikes the most in this spectacular view is the total emptiness of Anastasia Island, the barrier island (now filled with subdivisions) off in the distance beyond the Matanzas River. You see clear out to the St. Augustine Lighthouse!
Please hurry back.....withdrawal has already set in!
Any chance of floor plansAny chance of floor plans for those fabulous buildings? It has so many interesting shapes, and the few rooms we've seen are so beautiful, there must be hidden treasures throughout the place.
Flagler CollegeSeems like a wonderful campus. The website has a bunch of pics and a bit of the history of the place.
Drooling...With the current Florida real estate market, who knows! You might be able to get a sweet deal!
[Busted by Google Street View! The 1890 glass negative had a piece of tape covering the second-floor windows, so I cut and pasted a single window to cover the hole. - Dave]
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SmokingWhy would a hotel need a giant smokestack (if indeed it belongs to the hotel?).
[Powerhouse, incinerator, boiler plant -- take your pick. - Dave]
It is grand.I would say that hotel was named appropriately. Does anyone know it it is still there?
[The former Ponce de Leon Hotel is now Flagler College. - Dave]
Hotel SmokestackHotel needed lots of hot water, usually supplied by a coal-fired boiler. The largest hot water application was probably the laundry, which typically operated around the clock. The kitchen also used a fair amount. Domestic hot water (distributed to taps in guest rooms) was also significant.
Not bad p-shoppingKinda makes me wonder what other bends in the fabric of time have gone unrecognized... ;)
ClarityWhat a fantastic picture - and are they huge flocks of birds in the sky? superb.
POVI have lived in St. Augustine off and on for the past 20 years, and graduated from Flagler College (the Ponce De Leon hotel, pictured, is the main campus hub). This image seems to have been taken from atop the Flagler Memorial Church - which was constructed in this time period to memorialize Henry Flagler's daughter. At the time, it's dome would have made it the tallest building in town. This pic is a great find, I've never seen one from this angle.The "field" in the lower right of the image is now the site of the college library.
(The Gallery, DPC, Florida, W.H. Jackson)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a03451a.thumbnail.jpg "Grand Hotel: 1890s")
- Hotel Duval: 1910
- Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1910. "Hotel Duval." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. ... cigar store and buy a couple of Havanas, then over to the Hotel Duval for a cup of coffee on the balcony while reading your newspaper and ... Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 9:54pm -
![Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1910. "Hotel Duval." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
A bunch of rightiesI know early cars could be either right or left hand drive, but if there were no caption to this photo I'd think we were in the British Commonwealth somewhere -- all the cars pictured have right-hand drive.
Hangin'Men just don't hang out on streetcorners the way they used to.
Great DayIt looks like a great day to be in Jacksonville. Sun is shining, grab a hometown paper from the newsie on the corner, pop over to the cigar store and buy a couple of Havanas, then over to the Hotel Duval for a cup of coffee on the balcony while reading your newspaper and enjoying the sea breeze. What's not to like? Later, take a little stroll down to the bar/saloon of the hotel and enjoy a cold refreshing glass of Piels Beer and plan out the rest of the days activities. Times haven't really changed.
"Oldest Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida"Wonderful looking hotel.
Those were the dayswhen policeman hung about on corners (see bottom left).
Clear Havana CigarsNone of those opaque cigars. If it's not clear, it's not here.
[Or were they "nuclear"? - Dave]
CharmingIt's hard to believe this was Jacksonville. It looks like it belongs in the Old West.
Hogan StreetI think this may have been at the corner of West Bay and Hogan Streets. As with all of Jacksonville, there is nothing old left. When you visit it's as if the city was completely built from scratch in 1960. If you want any history, they keep it in St. Augustine.
Newsstand slogan"Papers from you name it" -- That's pretty good service!
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Florida, Jacksonville)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a24089a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Duval: 1910")
- Hotel Harrington: 1917
- Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Hotel Harrington, 11th and E Sts. N.W." National Photo Company Collection glass ... It shows its age in many places, but is still a great hotel bargain within walking distance of all the monuments and museums. It has ... on the southwest corner across the street from the hotel. Similarly, the "modern" pay phone on the east side appears in the same ... Posted by Dave - 11/06/2013 - 12:22pm -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Hotel Harrington, 11th and E Sts. N.W." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Still there and with the same name![Ironically not still there: The Perpetual Building Association building. - Dave]
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Still a great placeI took the family there a couple of years ago to see the Washington sights. It shows its age in many places, but is still a great hotel bargain within walking distance of all the monuments and museums. It has an incredible spiral staircase fire escape inside as well.
Harrington MinutiaeInteresting to note that there's still a fire hydrant-- same location-- on the southwest corner across the street from the hotel. Similarly, the "modern" pay phone on the east side appears in the same spot as the police call box in the 1917 image.
Home of the Pink Elephant RoomSpent many a night there in the early 1960s as an Air Force officer on TDY. The first floor bar was called the "Pink Elephant Room" and it was said that if you were an Air Force officer and walked in for a drink at least one person you knew would be there. Per diem then was $16 a day. A room at the Harrington was $11, breakfast in the basement cafeteria was six bits, and you loaded up at lunch in the Pentagon cafeteria. That left enough for a shot of really vile bar scotch in the PEO. Then off to bed, on the top floor just under the elevator motors.
Our Honeymoon Hotel 40 Years AgoKathleen and I stayed here on our honeymoon in 1973. The Pink Elephant Lounge was still there, though we never ventured inside. (It's since been replaced by the Hemingwayesque Harry's Bar.) The Harrington made it possible for a young couple without a lot of money to have a honeymoon in the nation's capital. And the fresh blueberries in the cafeteria were wonderful!
P.S. We're still happily married.
June, 1977I stayed here in June of 1977 with 200 other "Junior Safety Patrol" 12 year olds. We arrived on about seven Trailways buses for a one week stay and the hotel has probably never been the same since.
I remember our group getting some very ugly looks from the folks who were staying there and I'm sure we deserved it. One memorable incident involved a wino getting pelted with wet toilet paper from a 5th floor window and the D.C. Police going door to door, trying to locate the culprits.
Fresh air fiends?The trees don't have leaves and the pedestrians are wearing overcoats, giving the impression of winter. Yet there are numerous open windows in these buildings.
[It's what you do when your room is overheated. -Dave]
Also GoneAlso gone from the neighborhood, to the left of the hotel, is Judd & Detweiler, printers, where they used to make National Geographic.
TeeVee at the TopThe penthouse of the Hotel Harrington was home to Washington's first TV station, W3XWT, which took the air in 1945 under the guidance of Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. of Du Mont Labs. Dr. Goldsmith would be rewarded by the use of his initials for the station's final call sign, WTTG-TV.
Short clip about the birth of the capital's first TV station:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyA0Cod-r9k
Shave and a HaircutBetween 1973 to 1976 I worked for United Press International at the National Press Building about 3 blocks from the Harrington. There was a barbershop on the ground level where I used to go for a haircut and a shave. That was my treat to myself on the odd occasion. Always loved the hot towels on the face and the feel of a really good shave. Sure can't get that anymore at a barbershop.
+98Below is the same view from May of 2015.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_32530u.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Harrington: 1917")
- Capital Hotel: 1920
- Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Old Capital Hotel, 3rd and Pennsylvania N.W." When the place was torn down in 1926, the ... from "Capital" to "Capitol." Originally the St. Charles Hotel, it had a colorful (at times appalling) history going back to 1813. ... Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 4:57pm -
- OKC: 1942
- ... chain? I was surprised to see a lodging named Fidelity Hotel. I guess it was the owner's way of letting the public know there would ... ways to that new Hilton ... they're bound to fail.
The hotel and everything in the photo is gone. This section of West California ... Posted by Dave - 01/12/2024 - 12:51pm -
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