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Baywatch: 1908
Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1908. "Hotel Westminster." Equipped with a bevy of bay windows as well as the de ... Take a month of Sundays. A little off the top This hotel was famously subjected to some trimming after it was found to exceed ... decoration at the top was beautiful. Ironically, after the hotel was demolished, the John Hancock tower was built on that site -- it's 60 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 8:08pm -

Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1908. "Hotel Westminster." Equipped with a bevy of bay windows as well as the de rigueur roof garden restaurant. View full size. EgadHow would you like to have been the draughtsman who had to delineate those elevations? Geeeesh, so much junk to draw. Take a month of Sundays. A little off the topThis hotel was famously subjected to some trimming after it was found to exceed the maximum height for buildings in the Back Bay (this was in Copley Square, you can see part of Trinity Church on the left). Which is too bad -- the decoration at the top was beautiful. Ironically, after the hotel was demolished, the John Hancock tower was built on that site -- it's 60 stories high. Future Site of the John Hancock TowerThis hotel sat at the southeast corner of Copley Square, where I.M. Pei's John Hancock Tower (the one that was bedeviled by falling window panes) now stands. That's a corner of the porch of Trinity Church (H. H. Richardson, 1872-1877) at the left. Simply hideousStill, this does demonstrate that, at least once-upon-a-time, there existed some city fathers who actually stuck to their guns on city height ordinances. These days, far too many turn a blind eye to developers who ignore zoning laws and, needless to say, height restrictions simply don't exist, it seems. I hope someone is able to locate a photo of what it looked like before the top was sheared off. It is difficult to imagine the building being LESS hideous. TimelessFashions change after five years, automobiles after ten, buildings and signage after twenty. Yet the humble fire hydrant remains always in style. Must have been one heck of a saleDown at "Statuary R Us" - I count 47 between the first, second and top floors, and that's just the ones that can be seen in this view! May be this was the building that inspired Howard Roark in "The Fountainhead." That has to beOne of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. Seriously. I think it's an eyesore. It's surrender to the ordinaryBut at least Trinity Church is still there. Mansard ManiaThere was a very interesting article in the NY Times about the trend of mansard roofs. +105Below is the same view from May of 2013. (The Gallery, Boston, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC)
Poughkeepsie: 1906
... Flag Co., and who hasn't dreamed of a honeymoon at the Hotel Wimpelberg! Poughkeepsie: Comic book center of the universe My ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/21/2013 - 11:10am -

Circa 1906. "Main Street. Poughkeepsie, New York." Behold the Queen City of the Hudson. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Get Lost! Up in Poughkeepsie!Coming from the Midwest but having lived in the Poughkeepsie area for a few years there were two things I found mildly amusing. One the town of Fishkill, just south of Poughkeepsie. Apparently "kill" means "creek" in Dutch, but to a Midwesterner, it sounds like a toxic waste dump site. The other was the expression "Up in Poughkeepsie." I heard this several times when I was there and asked what it meant. It sounds like "Hey, where are we? I have no idea! We must be up in Poughkeepsie." Apparently the Midwestern equivalent is "B.F.E." or out in the middle of nowhere. It means to get lost -- really lost. I guess this originated from the fact that Poughkeepsie is the last stop north on the New York Metro Lines. Watching television over the years, it hit home that this definition must have been in use for a long time. If you watch just about any program depicting the mafia in or around New York City, whenever they are hiding out from the law, it's always up in Poughkeepsie. Post-MortI never understood why the name Mortimer went out of style, but this is an interesting street scene with lots to look at! $1.50 Per DayI trust that includes HBO and free WiFi. Mortimer C. DrakeLooks like Mortimer C. Drake's place has closed up shop. He was probably related to the large Drake clan, who were rivermen from the village of New Hamburg, just downriver a few miles from Pokip. I'm curious about whether the Luckey-Platt department store was in Pokip back in those days. It doesn't appear to be in this photo. Wires in all directionsThis is a good example of near chaos in the routing and stringing of lines. That is, the early 20th century's lines of commerce -- the electric lines, telephone lines, telegraph lines, and trolley lines that make modern life possible. In the distance, the lines almost black out the sky. It's a characteristic of our cities of that era that is both ugly and beautiful at the same time. In front of the IndianThe guy in the Smokey Bear hat blinks in relief after a whole block of trying not to look like he's checking out the young lady he just passed. Wooden IndianI looked to the right and swore that was Kaw-liga, but, alas, the store across the street isn't an antique store. The best and the latestConsidering the Mortimer Drake building, here is an excerpt from "The Historic Wallkill and Hudson River Valleys": "Not to the 'Queen City' [Poughkeepsie] alone is our trade confined, but from all directions on both sides of the Hudson River our customers come. Those who seek the best and latest of the dry goods and costuming creations, realize that this store offers an unequaled stock at the fairest of prices." Ah, Good Old PoughkeepsieI grew up here in the late 1940s and '50s. This view is looking west from half a block east of Market Street. Past Market, Main takes a slight turn and begins a long steep downgrade to the Hudson River, where the trolleys picked up passengers at the New York Central Station and at the shoreline met the Hudson Day-Liners -- lovely ships. My Dad told me of a particular incident during a very icy day on Main Street. One trolley, heading down the hill, began slipping on the ice and rapidly gaining speed. No sand or brakes made any difference as it was totally out of control. Knowing they were heading for a very bad end, the motorman turned to the passengers and announced loudly: "Next stop, Hudson River!" Finkels TimeI sure could go for a Finkels pure malt beer about now, especially after maintaining all those wires! I really dig seeing all those glass insulators in use. And as an old billboard painter, I can appreciate all those signs and such without one single, solitary vinyl letter! Signs of the timesInteresting signs -- the Pokeepsie Flag Co., and who hasn't dreamed of a honeymoon at the Hotel Wimpelberg! Poughkeepsie: Comic book center of the universeMy familiarity with Poughkeepsie, which otherwise would have been any one of thousands of towns located thousands of miles away from me that I never heard of, dates back to when I was a kid and saw that it was apparently the source of many of my favorite comic books, the ones with legends indicating that they came from "K.K. Publications" in that city. I envisioned a magic realm of artists pouring out stories of Uncle $crooge and Donald Duck. Actually, the firm was a subsidiary of Western Printing and Lithographing (another being Dell Comics) who had a printing plant in the city. I must have learned the pronunciation early on, as I've always thought of it as Puh-KIP-see. Western Printingtterrace is correct. Western Printing was located here just to the north in an absolutely gorgeous art deco factory building originally built to construct Fiat automobiles. As I said: gorgeous. Imagine my horror upon visiting my home town after a long absence a few years back and finding it had been demolished for yet another mall. Po-kip-see was an indian word meaning: the reed covered lodge near the little water place. When I was in grade school our class was taken down to Route 9 to watch Gene Autry arrive in the convertible as he was on his way to Western Printing where his comic books were printed. He was drunk as a skunk and falling out of the Caddy! Ahhhhh, the memories. Boston Candy KitchenI've run into quite a few towns and cities which had a "Boston Candy Kitchen" or a "Boston Candy Palace" or similar. I can't quite grasp the significance, aside from the fact that there were several confection companies there (Bakers, Lowney, Crane, and others). They generally had one other thing in common- most were run by Greek immigrants. My grandfather's dreamTo come to America and open a little "Going Out of Business" store! The Trolley TracksI'm positive I've been on Main Street on more then one occasion. I figured out the geography prior to reading any information about it and knew it would take you to the Hudson River if you kept heading west down (or is that up) Main Street. Next time I visit Poughkeepsie I am going to see if there are any signs of the trolley tracks. I live 40 miles north across the river in the Village of Catskill. They paved over the tracks that ran up and down our Main Street. For some reason they never pulled the tracks up and no matter how many times they repave those tracks reappear. Obviously steel and asphalt are not friends. The bumps can be quite annoying when passing over with even the best of our modern automobiles. Luckey-PlattLuckey-Platt (Luckey's as we called it) was around in those days but the Luckey-Platt building did not go up until the 1920s. The building would have been about a half-block behind where the cameraman is standing. Popeye Doyle wants to knowif you ever picked your toes on a pier in Poughkeepsie? (The Gallery, DPC, Stores & Markets)
Robo-Vac: 1959
... KGB. I rememeber Bob Hope joking that at the Moscow hotel where he was staying, the TV was watching him ! Inspiration for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/12/2014 - 12:29pm -

1959. "Anne Anderson in Whirlpool 'Miracle Kitchen of the Future,' a display at the American National Exhibition in Moscow." Kodachrome by Bob Lerner for the Look magazine article "What the Russians Will See." View full size. Now THAT'S industrial design!I would buy a robo-vac that looked like that. It looks like something that was sent out of a Martian lander in the original War of the Worlds Yeah, but it's missing a cat.And just try getting anyone to watch your 8mm movie of the cat riding it in 1959! "Roomba Prototype" in CyrillicWonder how many Russians left the exhibit thinking American housewives cleaned their all midcentury modern kitchens in red lipstick, heels and pearls? Roomba 1.0Wonder what the battery life was on that thing? Isn't this the placewhere Vice President Richard Nixon had his famous "Kitchen Debate" with Nikita Khruschchev on July 24, 1959? [That was the Kitchen of the Present, not Whirlpool's "Miracle" future model. - Dave] There It Goes!That darned robovac is about to suck the Shorpy watermark right off the corner of the image!!! No Future in Fins?It's got all the right styling cues, but they apparently decided that the future would not include fins on the Robovac, the only thing that I can see missing. The future...only took a whileWell it is one of the few things predicted in the late 50's and early 60's that actually came truth. The Roomba and iRobot products are proof of that it just took nearly 50+ years to be realized. Still great picture! Russia, 1959In 1959, I'll bet the cucumbers were wired for sound for the KGB. I rememeber Bob Hope joking that at the Moscow hotel where he was staying, the TV was watching him! Inspiration for the DeLorean DMC-12?Stylistically, that is. Oh my God, it's Trudy!That woman is the exact model for Trudy in Mad Men! And she did dress like that for a relaxing day at home, I think. Like the traditional futuristic world's fair type of display, it took about 40 years for a self-propelled vaccum to become a "consumer product" - I wonder just how well that pretty little thing sucked? No Progress? None!Somehow they haven't really make much progress with auto appliances since 1959. I'm still waiting for Hired Girl and Flexible Frank hitting the stores, as envisaged by R. A. Heinlein in his 1956 novel "The Door Into Summer". After all, I do see Drafting Dan's cousins every day at work. Why contractors get grey.Okay, lady, when you decide on a color for the cabinetry, give us a call. TodayIt's body would be all black plastic with no embellishments or concessions to beauty. An interesting exercise in perspective is to realize this is 54 years ago, yet everything looks very up to date in comparison to today, including the way the lady is dressed. However, 54 years from 1959 was 1905 and a kitchen of that day and time would still be in the wood stove era and the lady completely covered from her neck to her feet with not one similarity between then and 1959. The same principle applies to the automobiles of the eras with the 1905 car still barely more than a rudimentary puddle jumper while a '59 model is an all-steel, stylish vehicle that can have a powerful V-8, automatic transmission and most important of all air-conditioning, very similar to today's cars. There seems to have been a tremendous advancement in progress up to the 50's, then things kind of leveled out with the changes being simply variations on the same themes. Here, Astro!She looks just like she would if she were calling her dog or cat. They got one thing right.The Vacuum is in Harvest Gold, in another ten years that would become very popular, along with avocado green. Personally I like the colors of the late 50's, especially the Salmon and Aqua used in the cabinets here. (Technology, The Gallery, Kitchens etc., LOOK)
Cakes to Go: 1938
... the delicacies from (left to right) Theophile Homberger, Hotel Hamilton; Eddie Weber, Shoreham Hotel; Joseph Cattaneo, Hotel Washington; Fritz Meissner, Hay-Adams; Abraham ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/12/2016 - 2:17pm -

October 4, 1938. "Cakes for sky riders. Air travelers leaving Washington Airport during National Air Travel Week, Oct. 2 through 9, are being given a special treat. Cakes baked from their favorite recipes are being put aboard each plane by chefs of the leading hotels in the Capital. Marjorie McKinnon, Eastern Airline hostess, is pictured receiving the delicacies from (left to right) Theophile Homberger, Hotel Hamilton; Eddie Weber, Shoreham Hotel; Joseph Cattaneo, Hotel Washington; Fritz Meissner, Hay-Adams; Abraham Grob, Wardman Park; Joseph Tucci, Raleigh; Jacques Haerringer, Shoreham; Otto Merz, Willard." View full size. Today's Fondant vs. Buttercream frostingGive me classic buttercream frosting every time! Today bakers like the smooth and architectural look of fondant over a thin layer of buttercream or ganache. These highly decorated cakes look scrumptious! Royal icing or the Crisco type icing is used in supermarkets and is cheaper nowadays. I noticed that highly decorated buttercream cakes from real bakeries disappeared around the early 1970's...any baking historians out there? Hard to believeIt took less that 80 years to turn air travellers from welcomed guests to annoying baggage. No room for passengers?DC3's aren't big enough to carry passengers, their baggage and all those cakes. Never mind the chefs. Cakes On A Plane!Somebody had to say it. Showing myself out now. BestBest in flight catering ever although some of the passengers may have put on a bit too much weight on this trip. Those windowsSquare turned out to be a bad shape for airplane windows. Cracks in the fuselage tend to start in the corners. Where do I get tickets for that airline???Or is that maybe just for first class? And coach has to put up with wrapped industrialized oversweet cupcakes? On the fondant vs. buttercream theme (I particularly second the ganache motion), it might just be that the fondant may actually be worse for your health than the buttercream. And calories don't vary all that much anyway. The dose makes the poison. 50/504 out of 8 pastry chefs preferred pencil moustaches in 1938 Enough Cake For AllForget today's cellophane package with six peanuts in it. DC3's had 28 passenger seats. Divide all those cakes by 28 and ... Square Windows OK on the DC-3...Square windows are OK on the venerable DC-3 since it is not pressurized. They have logged many hours of "Square Window Time" in the air. However, square windows are taboo on pressurized aircraft due to the stresses from many pressurization cycles. You can read about it here on this De Havilland Comet link. Second SecondActually TPAT, they (at least some of them) did, as seen in this photo. Just a SecondI believe that's a DC-2, not a DC-3. I don't think the access panel just behind the EAL logo was on the DC-3. Looks like a DC-3The fin atop the fuselage suggests it's a DC-3. Looks like some DC-3s had a hatch aft of the passenger door https://www.shorpy.com/node/15740 DC-3s always? had 21 seats in the US in the 1930s. All first class-- coach class hadn't been invented. North Central DC-3 diagramThis web page describes the DC-3s used by North Central Airline in the early 1960s. The diagram shows the baggage door and the arrangement of 27 seats. DC-2It’s a DC-2 in the picture, and not a DC-3. Eastern Airlines owned both types. Seen from the side, the most apparent difference is the lack of a fillet between the top of the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer. DC-3s had these, but DC-2s didn’t. Less apparent was the width of the fuselage, which in DC-2s was 5’6” inside (about the width of a car) and allowed for only 14 passengers: one seat on either side of the aisle. The fuselage was widened to 8’0” and deepened on DC-3s, giving more passenger capacity. There were still 7 rows of seats (count the windows) but 2+1 or 2+2, giving 21 standard-width or 28 very narrow bus-like (and scarcely first class) seats. Anyone interested in why the tail fillet was added to the DC-3 should read Ernest K. Gann’s Fate is the Hunter. The DC-2 had some potentially (and actually) lethal vices, and was not as forgiving of mishandling by the pilot as the DC-3. Here is a better view of the filletless tail of a DC-2. DC-3 me thinksHey ProfATSF, I'm going to challenge your conclusion this is a DC-2. I goosed the contrast of the original photo and am pretty sure I see a fillet extending to almost the passenger door. (Circled on the attached.) It's an easy detail to miss since the fillet blends into the background on the original print. [Your graphic wasn't attached, so I made one. -tterrace] Thanks tterrace. Seems I flubbed the select-attach procedure. (The Gallery, Aviation, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
Frigidaire: 1926
... this industrial exposition were more likely restaurant and hotel owners. - Dave] "Royal Pudding!" "Rich Rich Rich in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:23pm -

Washington, D.C., 1926. "Industrial Exposition, Frigidaire." A chilling display at Washington Auditorium. National Photo glass negative. View full size. Doesn't look very "corporate."The obvious damage to the negative doesn't help, but the shabby look of the building, the worn and weathered looking signs, along with the dingy look to the whole scene makes it look pretty low-rent for a subsidiary of GM. The General had owned Frigidaire for some years by the time this was shot. Lots of interesting things to look at, though. The frosty signs are neat, and do look like something a GM division would supply. DismalThat is an extremely dour array of appliances. Fascination I'd sure like to climb into the Wayback machine and go to this showroom. Early refrigeration systems interest me. 1926 was before DuPont's introduction of Freon. In 1930, General Motors (owner of Frigidaire) and DuPont formed the Kinetic Chemical Company to produce Freon. It would take about 80 more years for science to condemn Freon as an environmental evil. I wonder how often they defrosted those icy displays? Frigidaire became a generic nameI remember when regardless of the brand of refrigerator you owned whether it be a Crosley, Admiral, or Westinghouse, it was always referred to as a "frigidaire" since it was one of the earliest and most dominant brands. It's the same with "Jello" and "Kleenex". They were first so their brands became the generic name for their type of product. Is Royal pudding even made anymore? Cool!I love the coolant tube demos covered in frost! I also need that center four-door white enamel number.That would be fantastic in my kitchen. A Brrr-illiant Idea!Back in the Forties we had a Frigidare refrigerator. It even had a light inside which came on as the door was opened. A miracle to children, some of whom could still remember when homes were lit by oil lamps. Our "Fridge" was a newer postwar version than the models shown in yet another fascinating photo from Mr. Dave. The motor and compressor, by then, were a single enclosed rotary unit that hummed away happily until well into the Sixties. Like all mechanical cooling devices of the era, it was a real chore to defrost with pans of water dripping as you moved them to the sink with melt from the iceberg above. We were fortunate to have a Fridge, as many still had ice delivered in block to their Ice Boxes, this ice delivery lasting into the Fifties. (The pantry in our home had a drain in the floor expressly for the melt from an icebox; my father had the washing machine installed there to use the drain.) The new Fridge stood proudly in the kitchen, next to the gas stove still lit by wooden "Strike Anywhere" matches from their holder handy by. The block ice for ice boxes came by truck when bread and milk still arrived in wagons behind horses. Coal and coke for heating and hot water, by then, came by truck, but some districts still had horse wagons for bag coal, wood and kindling. We had a fireplace set up for coal burning, but it was never used. Note the clever advertising displays to the right, showing the motor and belt-driven reciprocating compressor and the cooling unit above in a pyramid-like rack. The belt-drive compressor versions were noisier and went clunk-clunk-clunk, their motor and compressor often situated on top of the cooling compartment to access the belt and for cooler operation. The Brilliant Idea is the word Frigidare written in frost on a cold pipe just to the right of the column in the photo. A Brilliant concept, and housewives could see and touch the cooling action, possibly clinching a sale? [The potential customers at this industrial exposition were more likely restaurant and hotel owners. - Dave] "Royal Pudding!""Rich Rich Rich in Flavor, Smooth Smooth Smooth as Silk, More Food Energy than Sweet Fresh Milk!" (I also haven't seen that on grocery shelves in many years.) KineticAfter Kinetic Chemical Company did well with Freon, they changed their name to Kinetic Freon Company, and then later to just KFC. Ironic, but today cold chicken stays edible only because we have modern refrigeration. The compressor on the rightis larger than the engine in my Corolla. Free he die reeis how Hispanics pronounce the brand name Frigidaire when they mention a refrigerator. In many Spanish speaking countries, this is what a refrigerator is called by. Something's missingWhere are the potted palm trees? It seems like every trade show booth in the 1920s had some. Did the Frigidaire people forget to order them? Too cool!So this might have been the inside of the Delco-Light showroom that I incorrectly associated with 32-volt rural generators. [The location is Washington Auditorium at 19th Street and New York Avenue. The Industrial Exposition, held March 4-13, was hosted by the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. - Dave] From what I have read, this is about one year before domestic refrigeration hit the tipping point, where the entire middle class either had it or was on their way to getting it. Kind of like I-Pods a couple of years ago. I've never seen a showroom photo from this era. I find the open evaporator coils very fascinating. They would have been impressive at the time, all of those small ice crystals you could touch. A generation later, this wouldn't have been a selling point. By 1956, automatic defrost was the new thing. People were tired of defrosting, and visible frost would have been a big turnoff! And yes, the flip side of the Freon comment is the refrigerants in use before Freon. Methyl formate and sulphur dioxide were the choices. Both of these were highly toxic. If inhaled, the gases reacted with water to form strong acids that would burn the lungs. Thomas Midgely, the inventor of Freon, made a public demonstration of inhaling the gas and then blowing out a candle, so well known was the hazard of the earlier refrigerants. Note that these Frigidaires have belt-driven compressors. That means a shaft seal that can leak. The GE Monitor Top, which hit mass production in 1927, was the first to have a completely sealed compressor, with the motor immersed in the refrigerant. These cannot leak unless pierced, and all refrigerators today use this design. DefrostingThey defrosted the same way my mother did in the 1950s. You shut it off and left the door open (if it was not already open). You put in pots of hot water to hasten the melting. You put old towels on the floor to catch runoff. You became impatient at the mess and day job and you chipped at the frost on the coils. Then if you punctured a coil and the freon began escaping, you cried. Then your husband bought a new one. Yes, there is a brand of pudding marked "Royal" but who knows if it is the same Royal, or where it is manufactured. This photo looks like sub-basement storage, a "long after the affair has ended" type of deal. The wicker chairs are where the workmen sit to eat lunch and play a few games of rummy. Of course the moldy negative may be leading me in the direction too. Interesting photo. I like it. So ColdThat even the glass negative got frostbite. It sure looks worn out for being so newA little history on the Washington Auditorium. This is one place I had no idea ever existed until now. Frigid AirThe name Frigidaire was so entrenched in my mind a as refrigerator and corporation that it never even occurred to me until about 3-4 years ago that it stood for "frigid air." That was one of those "DOH!" moments. RefrigeratorAs said, some people refer to refrigerators as "fridigdaires." Our next door neighbors had a Kelvinator brand refrigerator which was always referred to as the "kelvinator." My family bought a new house in 1932. Would you believe a new house at the depths of the Depression? Well, we had several incomes -- my mother and father, aunt and uncle, grandmother and her unmarried sister all lived there with me as the only child. The house had out first electric refrigerator -- a GE with the sealed cooling coils on top. No more putting a sigh out for the ice man -- 15 lb or 30 lb. [So Mom missed the iceman's visits, did she? - Dave] What I like most ....is the price tag on the chair! From a former Frigidaire dealerAn educated guess, 25 percent of our Frost Free (as opposed to Self-Defrost) refrigerator/freezer sales came because someone poked a hole in the refrigerator coils with an ice pick or screwdriver whilst trying to manually defrost the unit. (Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
Rooms With a View: 1912
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1912. "Hotel Pontchartrain, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument." Along with the Flatiron ... find a thing about it! The only things I find are about a hotel in New Orleans, and one in Detroit which was built in the 1920s. I'm ... know why we can't do that here! [This short-lived hotel, whose main deficiency was a dearth of private bathrooms, was demolished ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 6:09pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1912. "Hotel Pontchartrain, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument." Along with the Flatiron building in New York, "The Pontch" was one of Detroit Publishing's favorite architectural subjects. View full size. ShadesWhy the selective positioning of window shades on some windows and not others? More permanent residents or offices? Given a choiceI think I would rather stay at the Metropole where all the windows have awnings. Is this building still there?I've looked and can't find a thing about it! The only things I find are about a hotel in New Orleans, and one in Detroit which was built in the 1920s. I'm afraid this elegant structure is another of those that 20th century American mod freaks have destroyed. One of the things I loved best about Europe is that they rarely demolish anything. They build everything extremely well and then just keep using it. There are buildings that were there many years before Columbus that are still in use today. The insides are remodeled, but the exterior stays the same. When we were there, in the 80s, there was a lot of scrubbing of old buildings going on, to remove soot buildup from centuries of heating with coal. They came out as good as new! I don't know why we can't do that here! [This short-lived hotel, whose main deficiency was a dearth of private bathrooms, was demolished in 1920 and replaced by a bank. Its history can be traced right here on Shorpy, in both the photo captions and the comments. - Dave] (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Billy Sunday Tabernacle: 1918
... of Billy Sunday... Well, probably not, but I love the hotel name. Photographer's Vantage Point The photographer's vantage ... Well, you can stay there, but I'm booking a room at the Hotel Wilmat, they have 'ROOMS' (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/28/2012 - 6:38pm -

January 1918. Washington, D.C. "Billy Sunday tabernacle." A temporary meeting hall built near Union Station for a three-month series of revival meetings held by the famous evangelist. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Streetcars!According to an article in The Post this week, streetcars are about to return to DC after a 50-year absence. There it is!The honest to god, original Tourist Motel! And to think, it all started because of Billy Sunday... Well, probably not, but I love the hotel name. Photographer's Vantage PointThe photographer's vantage point seems to be from an upper level window or the roof at the SE corner of the Union Station building. The view is looking south with First Street NE extending in the distance towards the Library of Congress dome. What a weird structureAnd it looks like someone's been snowboarding off the roof. Not seen in this photois a temporary wall of separation between church and state. Switch TowerCan anybody identify the function of the elevated tower at the front left of the photo? I'm guessing that it might house the controls for the switches on the trolley car tracks. That might also explain the semaphore like device sticking out of the roof. [That "semaphore" is a street sign on the lamppost near the horse. The switch tower is described in the comments under this photo. - Dave] Popular EvangelistBilly Sunday, born in poverty and raised in an orphanage, was a magnetic personality who, after playing professional baseball in the 1880s, became one of the most popular Bible-thumping evangelists of his time. He was a large cog in the wheel that foisted Prohibition on America. Unlike many of his peers, before and since, Billy seems not to have had feet of clay. Outfielder Billy SundayHow many knew that, in his 20s, the legendary Rev. Billy Sunday (1862-1935) spent 8 years as a big league outfielder with Chicago, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the National League? Could it have been his .248 career batting average that inspired him to give up his baseball career for a higher calling? Out-of-townerAnybody know what that big dome-y structure up on the hill is? (You can have them ring me at my rooms in The Tourist.) IncendiaryI'll bet the D.C. fire marshal held his breath for 3 months. The Ghostly Horse And WagonThe horse and wagon to the extreme right look like true ghosts to me. They're very faint and I can see what looks like the entire curb behind them. They do cast shadows so I'm not calling on the supernatural to explain it yet. I've never seen such large moving objects look so ghostly with such sharp outlines. As an aside, there is an almost invisible bicyclist who is also casting a shadow midway between the trolleys. Clean snow!By the number of wheel tracks in the snow, you can tell it's been on the ground awhile. With that in mind, it's nice to see WHITE snow. Those were the days of clean air. [The air of 1918 was considerably dirtier than it is now. Coal soot. - Dave] Who was the evangelist ?Billy Graham is the only one named Billy that I ever knew but he was born in 1918 so not likely to have preached the same year. Which "Billy" was speaking here ?? [Billy Sunday. Like it says in the title and the caption. - Dave] Thanks Dave, I thought it meant that it was on a Sunday and since it is a tabernacle it is normal to think that. But thanks for answering. [Aha! You're welcome. - Dave] Urban and Spiritual RenewalDuring the early-century maneuvering over how to memorialize Lincoln, one of the sites considered was this general area, which was a slum between Capitol Hill and Union Station. The Lincoln Memorial was going to go up elsewhere, but it appears that a way was found to clear out the slums and simultaneously promote righteousness. Eloquent, at times Washington Post, May 25, 1889 Billy Sunday as a Revivalist Billy Sunday, the clever right-fielder of the Pittsburg club, doffed his baseball uniform and made his first appearance in this city in the role of a revivalist, at the Central Union Mission last night. The hall was pretty well filled, and a great many came in while he was speaking. None of the members of either the Pittsburg or Washington clubs were present. After a service of song and a prayer by Mr. Sunday, he selected a text from the first chapter of John, fourth and fifth verses. The short sermon which followed was replete with interest, forcibly and, at times, eloquently given. He closed with a short prayer. Washington Post, Nov 6, 1917 Ground is Broken for Tabernacle Ground was broken in front of the Union Station plaza yesterday for the tabernacle which is to house the Billy Sunday revival here in January. The actual turning of the sod was performed by John C. Letts, chairman of the Sunday campaign committee. Post-master M.O. Chance presided. The ceremony took place under one of the big Union Station flags at 12:15 o'clock p.m. in the presence of several hundred people who stood with bared heads until the exercises were completed. The Rev. Charles Wood, pastor of the Church of the Covenant, and the Rev. James Gordon, of the First Congregational Church, delivered the prayers. Dr. James E. Walker, representing Billy Sunday, in his address said that Sunday comes to Washington to preach the simple word of God. "Not Mr. Sunday, but Washington is on trial," he concluded. The permit to erect the tabernacle bears the signatures of Champ Clark, Vice President Marshall, and Supt. E.H. Woods, of the Capitol. Another Billy Sunday referenceChicago, Chicago that toddling town Chicago, Chicago I will show you around - I love it Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago The town that Billy Sunday could not shut down BrrrThe winter of 1917-18 was one of the coldest and snowiest of the 20th century. Many cold records were set that remain unbroken 90 years later. http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=637 Room at the TouristWell, you can stay there, but I'm booking a room at the Hotel Wilmat, they have 'ROOMS' (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Railroads, Streetcars)
Radio School: 1920
... of 14th. The large building on the far left is the Willard Hotel. All the buildings here have been replaced a couple of times--currently the J.W. Marriott Hotel dominates this end of the block. Shorpy previously brought us a scene of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 9:37pm -

Washington, D.C., 1920. "National Radio School, Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Republic of Chop SueyCan anyone make out the flag flying under Old Glory on top of the Chinese & American restaurant? Doubling upTwo Chinese restaurants in one block! One of them a walkup. And either two cigar stores, or one cigar store and a distributor. Plus ca changeSo back then people paid to take "radio" classes like today they pay to take "computer" classes? You Street?I know that I Street in Washington is sometimes called "Eye Street," is "You Street" for U Street another common usage? Never heard of it before. Some nice details...- The guy cleaning windows on the 7th floor of the building on the far left. In all the Shorpy cityscapes I've looked at this is the first window cleaner. - Two guys in hats peeping over the roof parapet of the Radio School. - A man working in the Washington Post who is enjoying an open window. Looks like an editor from one of the 1930s newspaper films. The window he is sitting at has some nice architectural details and an unusual angled design. - The Washington Post appears to share premises with the Cincinnati Enquirer. - Nice devilish gargoyle and tessellations at the top of the Post building. Does it still exist? - The parked car on the far left seems to have the letters CHEW on the trunk. I wonder what that meant. ["Don't Stay Behind -- CHEW Peper (something) Leaf." Tobacco salesman's car at the cigar store. - Dave] Thanks, Shorpy for 15 minutes of interesting observation of another world. Look, up there!Who are the two men in hats on the roof of the Radio School building and what are they doing? The guys on the roofPretty sure these hats belong to Stan and Oliver. All goneThis row--even though some establishments sport Pennsylvania Avenue addresses--is actually on E Street, just east of 14th. The large building on the far left is the Willard Hotel. All the buildings here have been replaced a couple of times--currently the J.W. Marriott Hotel dominates this end of the block. Shorpy previously brought us a scene of a large crowd gathered to watch results from the big game at this same location in 1912. [Before Pershing Park was built out in the 1930s, this block (lower right in the Baist map) was fronted by Pennsylvania Avenue. E Street is just to the right. - Dave] View Larger Map Re: Look, up there!Why, it's Barney and Gomer making sure the streets are safe from organized crime! City of Chinese RestaurantsOne little known fact about 1920s Washington is that every other building back then housed a Chinese restaurant. Radio RepairI think a lot of the classes focused on how a radio worked and how to repair them. In one of the antique radio repair books I read, the author recalled his father's studies in one of these schools. He later went on to become a radio operator on board a ship for a while. If I remember right, the book was Fixing Up Nice Old Radios. [I think the focus was basically "getting into radio" from a technical and procedural standpoint, as Plus ca Change noted below. It was like the Web 15 years ago -- an emerging medium that was the Next Big Thing, and people wanted a foot in the door. This was just before the emergence of commercial radio as a mass entertainment medium, back when audio broadcasts were something geeky baseball fans listened to on headphone crystal sets, and the airwaves were thought of more in terms of wireless telegraphy and telephony, as a means of point-to-point communication, with an emphasis on maritime and military uses. - Dave] Horse Apples!Need I say more? National Radio Institute?I believe the National Radio School eventually become the National Radio Institute, who trained thousands of radio and television repairmen by correspondence until the 1990's. Washington Post ManNewspapers have more than just writers and editors. Plus, note that the window says "The Washington Post Business Office." Hence the man you can see in the window may be working in the circulation or advertising department, typing out bills, correcting invoices, or calculating how many papers are needed for that night's run based on subscription and street sales demand. Learn WirelessCanton Pagoda, 1343 E St. D. Loughran, 1347 Pa. Ave. Oriental Restaurant. 1347 Pa. Ave. Kronheim went into the liquor businessThe Milton S. Kronheim Company was a wine and spirits distributor in D.C. until going out of business in the late 1990s. Perhaps the clothing business is what they did during Prohibition, or else once Repeal came in 1933, they decided to go into the alcohol beverage business. +90Below is the identical view taken in April of 2010. One can still get Chinese food by walking through the doors facing Pennsylvania Avenue, but it's a bit longer walk - the food court in the Metro Shops complex on F Street (the next street north) is accessible through this frontage. (Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)
Gray Gardens: 1911
Atlantic City circa 1911. "Hotel Strand." And a vista of manicured monochrome greenery. 8x10 inch glass ... "Hey Charlie, I lined up a couple of hoers back at the hotel." Replace your divots! Looks like the ghosted gent on the left is ... Atlantic City Hilton. Fireproof Fun in the Sun This hotel was at Pennsylvania Avenue (now Danny Thomas Blvd) on the Boardwalk, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 7:40pm -

Atlantic City circa 1911. "Hotel Strand." And a vista of manicured monochrome greenery. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. And it's dang hardto grow grass on the beach. Completely misunderstood"Hey Charlie, I lined up a couple of hoers back at the hotel." Replace your divots!Looks like the ghosted gent on the left is swinging away. I wonder what their task is here, surely not a path, maybe a garden area. The gents in the distance behind the hedge may have clippers in their hands. The Saratoga looks like a bow tie affair. The Strand at the BoardwalkThe Strand at the Boardwalk and Boston Avenue was bought by Steve Wynn for $8.5 million and torn down. In 1980 he built Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino at a cost of $140 million. It closed in 1987 and is now Atlantic City Hilton. Fireproof Fun in the SunThis hotel was at Pennsylvania Avenue (now Danny Thomas Blvd) on the Boardwalk, right at the famed Steel Pier. The hotel claimed to have a fireproof garage and baths supplied with running saltwater, similar to the saltwater pool at New Jersey's Palisades Amusement Park high atop the Palisades north of New York City. "The Hotel Strand is a modern, fireproof building, constructed of steel, brick and granite, and having a capacity of about 350 guests. It is situated directly on the oceanfront of Pennsylvania Avenue, the most prominent and widest thoroughfare of Atlantic City. The dinning-room is so constructed that a full view of the ocean may be had from every table. The bedrooms are so arranged that a suite of two or three with a private bath and parlor communicating can be secured." -NY Times, January 4, 1903 However, the fireproof boast caught fire fifty years later: "Mrs. Esther Schoenthal, 63, is the first of four persons to be rescued by firemen after being trapped on the 7th floor ledge of the blazing Hotel Strand at Atlantic City. Two other guests and a maid were trapped on the ledge for more than an hour as smoke boiled about them during the million dollar fire." -AP, April 1, 1953 It was eventually knocked down, and today the Trump Taj Mahal. (The Gallery, Atlantic City, DPC)
Popemobile: 1905
... The Willard Looks like the newly built Willard Hotel (completed 1904) in the background. I guess this photo was taken as our ... NW near the northwest corner of 15th and E. The Willard Hotel is in the background as are the smaller buildings that used to be where ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:32pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1905. "Women in Pope-Waverley electric runabout." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Who killed the electric car?The first time around, it might have been Charles Kettering. Well-to-do women favored electric cars because they didn't require a crank start, as did internal-combustion engines of the day. Cranking could require quite a bit of upper body strength, and occasionally the engine would backfire and the crank would hit you in the head. A few people were killed this way. Most society ladies never had a need to drive very far, so battery range was not an issue. The first electric starter was designed by Kettering for the 1912 Cadillac. By 1930 it had become universal, and electric cars faded away. [Another reason ladies liked electrics was no shifting, no clutch. - Dave] Interesting driving companionThat kid looks like a cross between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum in Alice & Wonderland. Is that a flying saucer on her head? And check out the driver's netting! Her head is practically shrink-wrapped. Most of all I covet her gorgeous leather gloves. The car, at warp speed of about 15 mph, I'll bet that was quite a thrill. Zoom-zoom with 3 hpThe 1905 Pope-Waverley two-passenger runabout sold for $1,100. A single electric motor at the rear produced 3 hp. The car used 30 batteries. The WillardLooks like the newly built Willard Hotel (completed 1904) in the background. I guess this photo was taken as our motorists were driving on the Mall. No windshield requiredThat netting keeps the bugs out of your teeth, dontcha know. Clincher tiresNote the writing on the front rubber: "Goodrich Clincher Vehicle Tire." These were held to the rim with four "clinchers." One problem with these skinny tires is that if the air pressure drops under 60 psi or so, the rim can start spinning inside the tire, ripping the valve off. Probably one of the reasons the back tires are solid rubber. Driving companionIf that little girl was in the movies she would be cast as the insufferable rich girl who is mean to poor Shirley Temple until she finally gets her comeuppance in the end. I would say "just deserts" but it looks like she's already had them. Near Pennsylvania AveThe scene appears to have been photographed on E Street NW near the northwest corner of 15th and E. The Willard Hotel is in the background as are the smaller buildings that used to be where Pershing Park is now located. Pope-Waverly StanhopeThere appears to be some confusion in the historical record on the proper spelling of Waverly. Waverley? This post also taught me new auto terminology: Stanhope. Washington Post, Jul 10, 1904 We have just received a carload of Pope-Waverly Electric Automobiles including: Stanhopes, Physicians' Road Wagons, Road Wagons, and last season's Model Waverly Road Wagon. Immediate Delivery of: Pope-Hartford, Pope-Tribune, Pope-Toledo, and Cadillac Model B Automobiles. Pope Manufacturing Co., Washington Branch, 817-819 14th St. Washington Post, Sep 25, 1904 Pope Automobile: Pope-Waverly Station Wagon. This Electric Wagon is admirably adapted for shopping, calling, station, and family use. It is elegantly upholstered and as easy to operate as an electric runabout - $2,000. Pope Manufacturing Co., Washington Branch, 817-819 Fourteenth St. Multi-Valves ?What is this valve-like thing? 4 on each front wheel. None in back. [They're tire clamps -- retainers that hold the tire to the wheel. - Dave] Fender FactsCommon at the time, this vehicle has patent leather fenders - 2 layers of leather sewn over a wire frame. The stitching is what looks like pinstriping. Ray Bradbury's Green MachineLike a scene from "Dandelion Wine." Jackie McHuskyWomen indeed! The one on the left is still shaking down the other kids for their lunch money. O. M. G.And they say that the kids of today are a little "plump"! I bet she was a bully too. Getaway CarI didn't know bank robbers used stocking masks that long ago! Big-otrySince no one else is, I'll come to the defense of the child. I find the snarky comments about her size every bit as offensive as the ones about the Cornetts. Apparently it's OK to ridicule overweight people, but not the poor, rural ones. Shame. That Poor KidShe could be a poster child for our times. But look at how amazing their clothing appears! Someone spent a ton of time ironing those creases perfectly. Now that's a lost art. Another InterpretationI don't think that girl is overweight. I think she's just ham-faced. She'd make a wonderful talking head on any of the cable news networks. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
Royal Poinciana: 1900
Florida circa 1900. "Hotel Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach." Shown here is the merest sliver of Henry Flagler's gigantic hotel, at one time the largest wood-frame structure in the world. Detroit ... The long-gone Royal Poinciana was the kind of grand resort hotel that Billy Wilder had in mind for the locale of "Some Like It Hot," but ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 4:53pm -

Florida circa 1900. "Hotel Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach." Shown here is the merest sliver of Henry Flagler's gigantic hotel, at one time the largest wood-frame structure in the world. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Very impressiveAs a retired carpenter, I'll say that the milled material depicted in this photo is amazing for the period. The first floor concrete base is surprisingly left exposed, but one could suppose they did not have the elaborate methods we employ in modern construction to connect sheathing to concrete. All in all, most impressive given the lack of modern equipment. What a painting nightmare it must have been given the moist climate. Sho' NuffYup, the same palm trees they grow back east. Look at the size of that thing!It was gigantic. Such a shame it was torn down. Well RazedIt's amazing that this huge wooden structure never burned but instead was torn down in 1934. West Coast Body DoubleThe long-gone Royal Poinciana was the kind of grand resort hotel that Billy Wilder had in mind for the locale of "Some Like It Hot," but by 1958, Palm Beach was so redeveloped that it could no longer play itself as it had been in the 1920s. But the 1888 Hotel del Coronado was just 120 miles south of Hollywood, and the largest surviving wood frame hotel on the West Coast. This 1958 production still of Marilyn Monroe and her make-up man Whitey Snyder shows the family resemblance between the two hotels. Royal legacyThe Royal Poinciana was directly west of the current Breakers on the lake side of Palm Beach. The Breakers burned twice and almost took the Poinciana with it. The current Breakers was completed in 1926. More than 500 local homes were built from pieces of the Royal Poinciana including a large church made from bricks from the chimneys. (The Gallery, DPC, Florida, Travel & Vacation)
On the Avenue: 1912
... onion dome at the corner is the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It was demolished and moved to Park Avenue. The Empire State Building ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/17/2022 - 10:26am -

New York circa 1912. "Fifth Avenue south from Thirty-Sixth Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade. I'll be all in clover and when they look you over, I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade. On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us, And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure. Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet, And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter Parade. "Smile and show your dimple"A little-known fact about Irving Berlin's famous song "Easter Parade" is that those are not the melody's original words. The tune was composed in 1917 as "Smile and Show Your Dimple" to cheer the girls whose boyfriends had gone off to fight World War I. Berlin revised it in 1933 with the Easter lyrics for the Broadway musical revue "As Thousands Cheer." Their great granddaughters will wear torn jeansFifth Avenue divides the numbered streets into east and west addresses. If you're looking south down Fifth Avenue and standing on this side of Fifth you're on East 36th Street, not West. To the immediate left, these beautifully outfitted ladies are strolling past 381 and 383 Fifth Ave; two buildings that appear to be one. "On The Avenue Of Golden Dreams"Curbed is a 1912 Pierce-Arrow Model 36 Vestibule Town Car, the chauffeur alertly trying to catch an early glimpse of his returning employer. Even the hack pony couldn't resist a sideways glance in the direction of the magnificent horseless carriage. "Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it." https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21223/lot/518/?category=list Steering wheels?Are the steering wheels on the right side? Or is this image reversed? [Is that license plate reversed? The signs on the storefronts? - Dave] Double visionViewers will note at least one -- the other is obscured -- of the double deck buses the Avenue was known for. Assuredly one of the first city bus lines in the U.S. But even the most knowledgeable will be hard pressed to identify the builder (and not just because it's mostly hidden): the Fifth Avenue Coach Co. were DIYers. Word of the Day"And you'll find that you're   in the rotogravure." I was just thinking about that line this morning. Is there anyone who didn't first encounter the word "rotogravure" in this song? A "few" changes ...Remarkable to me is the fact the building on the west side of the street, with the arches, still stands. A bit farther down is a building with columns and a flag flying from its roof. That building still stands though it no longer has columns and is now taller having undergone massive reconstruction, The building that follows it, with the onion dome at the corner is the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It was demolished and moved to Park Avenue. The Empire State Building now stands on the site, and was constructed in thirteen months including the time taken to demolish the old Waldorf. A bit past the Waldorf, a flag flies from the approximate location of a new tower about to be built that will be almost as high as the ESB. +96Below is the same view from November of 2008. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, NYC)
Red Sox-Giants: 1912
... indoor version. A couple of scenes are set in a hotel ballroom that's being used (in 1919, the last season before the first ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 4:31am -

October 1912. Washington, D.C. "Baseball, Professional. Electric scoreboard." A close-up of the "baseball game reproducer" from the previous post showing results of the 1912 World Series between New York and Boston to crowds on a Washington street. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Game 4This, specifically was Game 4, played on Friday, October 11. Harry Hooper had just reached on a single, and any moment now Steve Yerkes will reach on a bunt misplayed New York's catcher Chief Meyers. Boston would go on to win the game 3-1, and the World Series 4-3-1 (yes, there was a tie; game 2 was called in the 11th on account of darkness). Nationals vs. OpponentsI love this. Love the design of the scoreboard, with the two different (hand-written?) fonts for the players' names, the light-up figures on the field, and the bell (right?) to be rung... when there's a hit, maybe? I also love the idea of a huge crowd "watching" the game this way. How much fun must it have been to be there! The Mighty OzIgnore the man behind the scoreboard! Old SmokeyIt's great to See Smokey Joe Wood up there. His was a short career, but he was said to have been one of the best! TV Off! Use Your Imagination!Like Grandma Rose used to say, "TV off! Use your imagination!" I still "watch" baseball in this manner (at work when I'm not investing company time on Shorpy.com), through MLB.com's Gameday. It's still a decent way to "see" a ballgame! Hmmm....Notice that it is "the World's Series"? [Which is what people called it. - Dave] An Early Version of MLB's GamedayThe technology changed but the design remains the same: Fenway's InauguralThe 1912 season was also the first for the Red Sox in their new home - Fenway Park. The World's SeriesIt was called that because people still remembered that it was started by the New York World newspaper. In 1903 they set up the first championship series between the league champion of the established National League and the champions of the upstart American League (founded in 1901). The National League refused to compete in 1904 but came back in 1905. The series has been running ever since (well with the exception of the strike season of 1994). The series might be the last remembrance of the New York World even if most people aren't aware of it ("Why do they call it the World Series when only American teams play in it? The Japanese should be in it!") Every city - maybe every newspaper - had one of these Electric Scoreboards, at least for the World's Series. I've seen a lot of references to them in the newspapers from the 1910s and '20s but this is the first time I've really seen what one looks like. [According to the Baseball Hall of Fame and various "urban legend" authorities, the World Series has nothing to do with the New York World. - Dave] Baseball Game ReproducerWashington Post Apr 20, 1910 Fans Impressed With New Baseball Game Reproducer Thousands of excited fans stood for nearly two hours yesterday afternoon watching the Post's new electric baseball game reproducer, as it realistically reeled off play after play of the Nationals' last game of the double-header with Boston. It was the unanimous opinion of the crowd that it was the finest exhibition of electrical scoreboard work that has ever been witnessed in this city, the only regret being the defeat of McAleer's men in the ninth inning. Up to the fatal ninth, it looked as if the Nationals, with Johnson in the box, had the contest safely tucked away, and it was interesting to note the change of expressions on the faces as Stahl, the first man up, went out. Four green lights sent the next batsmen to first on balls, and then the big bell told of two singles and a double, and before the contest was over Boston had sent three runners over the plate, and the game was won. The board, which will reproduce every game the Nationals play away from hone, is a great improvement over the one which The Post used last season. It is arranged to accommodate an unusually large crowd, and instead of one board as heretofore two will be in operation at the same time, the boards being set at an angle that it will be almost impossible for any on in the crowd to miss a play. The lights indicating the various plays are so brilliant that they can be seen from the District building, and this alone is a big advantage to the crowd, especially those who are in the rear. It is pitched just far enough from the street so that every play is visible, and the play is recorded on the board a fraction of a second after it is completed on the ground where the game is played. Not the New York WorldApparently that origin of the name is actually untrue: http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp Board game?I have a vague recollection of a board game set up similar to this that was at my grandmother's house when I was a child. Given that my grandparents' generation would've been about 5 - 10 years old in 1912, I assume the game was based directly on these pre-radio electric scoreboards. By rolling dice or selecting cards (as I recall), you could play out a game by highlighting various positions and changing the players' names. Unfortunately, I was never much of a baseball fan, so it was all lost on me. Any of the baseball collectors here know what I'm talking about? I wouldn't begin to know how to google it. ComplicatedI'd love to see how they controlled that thing! Are the lights, or did someone put up cardboard or something behind the cutouts? [It looks to be boy-powered. Or at least boy-operated. - Dave] Baseball in another ageI read about these gadgets in Cait Murphy's "Crazy '08," an account of the 1908 pro baseball season and World Series. It's great to see a close-up, detailed photo of one of them. Baseball ReproducerTo see one of these in action I recommend watching "Eight Men Out" to see a hand-operated indoor version. A couple of scenes are set in a hotel ballroom that's being used (in 1919, the last season before the first games broadcast on radio) to translate pitch-by-pitch telegraph messages into graphics on a smaller board that looks very much like the outdoor board above. A man dressed like a headwaiter uses wooden dowel or pointer to move a "player" figure up a slot that representing the basepath. Of course there are at least 600 reasons to watch "Eight Men Out." Game 7It is actually Game 7. When looking at the lineup in the picture, Devore is playing RF. In the three games with the same pitching matchups, Devore plays RF in Game 7 only -- and LF in the others. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Sports)
Ghosts of New Orleans: 1906
... far left is part of a historic building, the old St. Louis Hotel, opened as a grand hotel in 1835, for a time also known as the Royal Hotel, served as the State ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 12:56pm -

New Orleans circa 1906. "Chartres Street." Furnished Rooms and spectral pedestrians. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. VantageThis view is taken from just northeast of St. Louis Street, looking toward Jackson Square. Two major monuments alongside the Square are visible in very foreshortened perspective: first the mansard-roofed Cabildo (Gilberto Guillemard, architect, built 1795-1801; mansard roof added 1847) and then the towers of St. Louis Cathedral (as rebuilt according to the plans of J. N. B. de Pouilly c. 1850). St. Louis CathedralThat's the St. Louis Cathedral in the distance. Built in 1850 as an expansion to the 1789 structure. It was slightly damaged during Hurricane Katrina, but like all things in New Orleans, it too managed to weather the storm. Arched Doors and a Distant ChurchOnly arched doorways and a distant church lets you know that it's the same street today. So much, yet so little has changed. View Larger Map Furnished indeedBit of a crude wrought iron railing design above "Furnished Rooms." Love it. Repurposed doorI like how the door in the archway on the left has been repurposed - quite the patchwork, but secure? Chartres StreetChartres Street in the French Quarter has New Orleans' highest concentration of surviving Colonial era architecture, but the block this photo focuses on is unfortunately not one of those which has remained largely intact. The arch at far left is part of a historic building, the old St. Louis Hotel, opened as a grand hotel in 1835, for a time also known as the Royal Hotel, served as the State Capitol building for a time in the 1870s, and by the time this photo was taken can be seen to have fallen on hard times. By 1914 the owners were sited by the city for the decayed state of the building which was a breeding ground for rats. The following year it was badly damaged by the Great Hurricane of 1915 and subsequently demolished -- except for the set of granite arches on the Chartres Street side including the one seen here. It is now incorporated into the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel building. The rest of the buildings on this side of the block are gone except the last one on the corner, which has lost its wrought iron work. For decades the area between the older buildings was part of the complex of local tv station WDSU; now it's parking garages. The opposite side of this block of Chartres fortunately fared better; I believe all but one are still there. While the "crude wrought iron railing" is gone, since 1950 visitors can see the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum here. (The Gallery, DPC, New Orleans)
Xanadu: 1897
... at an unseen window on the back of the current Casa Monica Hotel). St. Augustine is an amazing little place with the most fascinating ... churches and Flagler's house in St. Augustine. The Cordova Hotel was not built by Flagler, but he bought it a few years after it opened. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 7:57pm -

St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1897. "The Ponce de Leon, Alcazar and Cordova hotels." Glass negative by William Henry Jackson. View full size. In Xanadu"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree, where Alph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea." I stayed here last summer and my room was right over there (pointing at an unseen window on the back of the current Casa Monica Hotel). St. Augustine is an amazing little place with the most fascinating history and architecture, but these three gigantic buildings command the attention of the whole town. You just have to see it for yourself to know what I mean. Check out the lightning rods on the leftNo comment Interesting to me for aInteresting to me for a couple of reasons. I'm from the West and we usually associate Jackson with Western Landscapes. So it's interesting to see pix from the East. Also, I understand that these were hotels built by th Atlantic Coast Line Rail in order to build up the area and hence business for rail. I remember when I was a child in the fifties dreaming of exotic places that Florida was one of the LEAST populated states in America! Gargoles?I like the decorative spouts which I think were used to drain rainwater from the open second floor veranda. They also came in handy for pouring molten lead upon attacking Seminoles. Flagler's Florida East Coast RailwayThe Ponce de Leon and Alcazar Hotels were built by Henry M. Flagler, the founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, the first rail line to reach Palm Beach, Miami, and eventually Key West. He employed the fledgling architecture firm of Carrere and Hastings (designers of the New York Public Library) to design both hotels, as well as two churches and Flagler's house in St. Augustine. The Cordova Hotel was not built by Flagler, but he bought it a few years after it opened. Long tentacles of the rail octopusMany of the streets in my city were named for railroad barons, including Flagler. Two Major Reasons for Florida's Population Increase after WWII-Mosquito Control -Air Conditioning In the last year, though, Florida's population has decreased slightly, presumably due to the recession. (Orange County--Orlando--was originally Mosquito County.) Ponce De Leon is now Flagler CollegeThe Ponce De Leon hotel today is Flagler College. It still looks remarkably the same. Judging by the photo angle, it was taken from the open-air arches outside the 4th or 5th story circular ballroom. I graduated from Flagler College in 1981, and my dorm was was on the third floor, about the same place as where the photo was taken. One day while exploring, several of us tried to make our way up to the ballroom (it was closed off those years, rumor had it that the floor was full of zodiac signs), but we couldn't get past a locked metal gate at the top of the elevator shaft. The once opulent hotel rooms were our dorms. At the time I was in school, each room still had a fireplace with carved cherubs on the mantle, but all the fireplaces were closed off. (would you trust a college student with a fireplace?) Our dining hall was the hotel's dining room, with hand-carved chairs (more cherubs), a gilded ceiling (since restored) and Tiffany glass windows. It's quite a place. It also has (had?) what we were told was the first poured concrete in-ground pool in the country. We students used it between classes and on weekends. Yes, those are gargoyles on the drain pipes, that was the name of our college newspaper. The fountain in the court yard doubled as a way to aerate the water, which otherwise smelled of sulfur. The Ponce was quite the place for the swells to stay during winter until Flagler built his railroad farther south and built other hotels. (The Gallery, DPC, Florida, W.H. Jackson)
Fast Woman: 1908
... in the background? [The big building is the Willard Hotel. - Dave] AH-OOGA. Where do I get me one of them horns? ... this photo. Thanks to Dave's identification, the Willard Hotel is located at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, DC. Just down the road from the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:24pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1908. "Maycliffe, R., Miss." The Broadway ingenue Ruth Maycliffe. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. 1907 OaklandYou can see part of the last name on the radiator. Here's a picture for reference. Not identical, but a lot of the details are strikingly similar, like the horn, running lights and headlights. Backwards DriverJudging by the tire tracks is looks like the car was reversed into position for this shot. Where was she?Can anyone identify the location and the buildings in the background? [The big building is the Willard Hotel. - Dave] AH-OOGA.Where do I get me one of them horns? Multiple Air Valves?I am no car expert, and have no idea what kind of a car this is. BUT, I notice that the tires seems to have a whole lot of air valves, if that's what they are, whereas today's tires have only one per tire. Does anyone know why? [Those are rim clamps. See the comments here. - Dave] LocationFor the individual curious about the location of this photo. Thanks to Dave's identification, the Willard Hotel is located at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, DC. Just down the road from the White House. It's a MarylandMiss Maycliffe's car was a rarity even when this picture was taken. It is a 1908 Maryland Roadster as manufactured by the Sinclair-Scott Company of Baltimore, a company far better known for their apple peelers and food canning machines. The Maryland started out in 1905 as the Ariel, made by the Ariel Motor Car Company of Boston (not connected with the Ariel Motor Company in England or its New York partner The Ariel Company). Sinclair-Scott had ventured into the manufacture of car parts a few years earlier and Ariel became one of their customers—in fact Sinclair-Scott was soon not only producing most of the car, but assembling it as well. There were few sales of the $2,500 tonneau however, and Ariel was unable to make good on their debts. Sinclair-Scott acquired the rights to the vehicle in 1907 (Ariel Motor Car Company was officially dissolved that same year), gave it a bit of a face lift—the oval radiator was given a sleeker redesign—and renamed it the Maryland Car. They next added a 6-passenger limousine and a 2, 3, or 4-passenger roadster to the lineup while retaining the dash and Briscoe oval radiator on all three models. The Briscoe Mfg. Co. badge can be seen at the top of Miss Maycliffe's radiator. Sinclair-Scott also carried on the Ariel tradition of equipping each vehicle with a tool box, a Nonpareil brand horn (used by 2/3 of American automobile manufacturers) and a full set of Atwood lamps (2 oil side lamps and 2 acetylene head lamps). The new models were a vast sales improvement over the Ariels—albeit still fairly low volume when compared to the best-sellers of the day—and for 1908 the only changes made were some body refinements and to the finish. Given the low production volume, it is possible that the roadster Miss Maycliffe purchased was the very one used for the promotional photographs appearing in national magazines (above). Even with the increased volume, the vehicles were never profitable enough for Sinclair-Scott and in 1910 they discontinued the Maryland Car line. I am unaware of any Ariels or Marylands in existence today—making them both extinct cars. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
Mabel and Daisy: 1897
... and Mabel LaLime of Malone spent the weekend at Hacketts Hotel as a guest of their sister Miss Jennie who works as a stenographer in the ... 
 
Posted by drawsing - 01/14/2015 - 8:29pm -

In 1960 my father, working for the USDA on Long Island, New York, was looking through a dump one day and found this fat packet of old film negatives. He brought them home with him and kept them in a box. They are 3.5 inches square, probably taken with a Kodak No. 2 "Bullet" camera. Some had writing on their paper sleeves, and it is from this that I determined the place and time. Most of the images appear to be from Malone, New York. This one was labeled "Mabel and Daisy on the street." View full size. Smiling towards the futureLittle did they know 118 years later we would be smiling back at them! Main Street just west of Elm, looking eastNice iPhone cases they're carrying. Full of funThey look full of fun these two nicely dressed ladies captured on film. I wonder which is which; I plump for Daisy being on the right! Look, they're smiling!What a rare sight from this period compared to other Shorpy photos. I think their attire is lovely. Another fine messI know it's a tad disrepectful, but the one on the right looks like Stan Laurel in drag. MaloneVillage of Malone, Town of Malone, Franklin County. Pritnyar to Canada, this bucolic locale gave to Rutherford Hayes his vice-president and to the rest of us, the founder of Gibson guitars. Zoom inCould those phone-like items be visiting card cases? Does anyone else see what seems to be the word "Polio" on that flyer/handout that the woman on the right is holding? On the paper, there seems to be an image of a man with a woman leaning toward him from the right. I can't read what's in the circle but just under the shadow of the holder's hand it sure looks like POLIO. Let there be light!Nice Edison bulb in the shop window! Sapolio?It was a popular soap in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the magazine she's holding may contain an ad. "Polio"Almost certainly an ad for "Sapolio", a popular hand soap of the day. Here's a link to a brief explanation. More pleaseI just love this photo! Isn't it great Isn't it great to enjoy photographs such as this with people like you viewers! Thanks for Posting ThisI look forward to more images from the stack of old negatives your father saved from the trash heap. That Wilder boyMalone, New York, was also home to Almanzo Wilder, of Little House book fame. Laura Ingalls Wilder told her husband's story in "Farmer Boy." My great grandparents lived in Malone in 1897My great grandparents, Frank and May Montgomery, lived in Malone in 1897. My grandfather lived in Malone until 1917. My great uncle, Garth (who wrote the Chiquita Banana Song), was born in Malone in 1914. I'd love to see all the photos if possible, to see if anyone looks familiar! SistersI would say they look like sisters and yes, I would guess Daisy is the gal on the right. I too, love this photo -- what a great story. Yes, more please.Well where does one start? I agree totally with the sentiment expressed in the other comments. Makes one think it was just yesterday, superb natural photo. Mabel and Daisy La LimeI have found a notice in an old Malone newspaper called the Malone Palladium, you can find it online, announcing that Misses Daisy and Mabel LaLime of Malone spent the weekend at Hacketts Hotel as a guest of their sister Miss Jennie who works as a stenographer in the offices of the NNYRR the North New York Rail Road Company. The article is dated May 20 1897 Their father appears to have been a Eusebe LaLime, possibly Canadian, and here's a link to a patent he took out regarding railway equipment. http://www.google.com/patents/US362221 From the Malone Farmer (newspaper) 1905:- Miss Jessie Beach, Miss Eva Ridge way, Miss Mabel LaLime, Miss Ida MeKerraeher and L. E. Sweet have entered C. E. Costlow1s stenographic school, to take courses in shorthand and typewriting. Mabel married a Harold Laurence and was living in Malone on the 1940 Census and another sister Jennie married a James J McGrail and lived in Crafton, Pennsylvania. Great detective work!I was hoping this would happen when I posted this photo. Thanks to everyone for finding all this information. I looked up Daisy Lalime and it looks like she married someone with a last name of Swinston. I even found a picture of their daughter as an elderly woman. PollyannaLooks like the movie Pollyanna and they are going shoping for a store-bought dress - from a real store!!! DelightfulAn utterly charming view. I love the clothing. M.E. HowardThis site has a picture of what might be that block at Mabel and Daisy are standing on. You can see the power line pole with the cross bucks on it behind them. The names in the image are hard to read, but the text on that page says that M.E. Howard is a "subject". The page says 1910 for the year. Small worldI'll have to show this to my ex-husband. He was Malone born and raised. Would love to see more photos of MaloneI have lived near Malone since mid 1970's. Malone has a small 'House of History' here that is repository of much of the local historical records (along with the county courthouse - Franklin County, NY). I am sure that the House of History would love to see the photos your father found in 1960, as I would. Please post more! Malone was very active in railroading in 1800's into mid 1900's, as well as the being the site of the Dutch Shultz (notable rumrunner of the 1930's)tax evasion trial - the trial was moved from Manhattan to Malone - Shultz was acquitted!!! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Fountain House: 1899
... about Mount Clemens and this particular Bath House/ Hotel may be found here. View Larger Map Let's go ... Spa Town Doppelganger The architecture of this hotel reminds me very much of the former Orkney Springs Hotel in Orkney ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 4:36pm -

Macomb County, Michigan, circa 1899. "Fountain House, Mount Clemens." Bath houses and mineral springs were the draw in this 19th-century spa town. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A brief history of Mt. Clemens, "Bath City"http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=79 Ghosts!I see two! One is obvious, the other one's hiding. You can still get a roomBut in decidedly less swanky surroundings. More information about Mount Clemens and this particular Bath House/ Hotel may be found here. View Larger Map Let's go Bathers! Mt. Clemens' days as a bathing resort may be long over, but there is still one notable remnant of that era in the town's history. The Mt. Clemens High School Battling Bathers! In the treeI don't see the ghost that is hiding, but if you look up into the middle of the tree you see wires. One of them looks like it has snapped and coiled. Three "ghosts"I see the girl behind the tree in front of the house to the left, and the man waking on the sidewalk on the right. Those can be explained by lens and timeing, but how in the world did that lady get to sit sidesaddle up on top of that telephone pole in that huge tree? Spa Town Doppelganger The architecture of this hotel reminds me very much of the former Orkney Springs Hotel in Orkney Springs, Virginia in the Shenandoah mountains. The hotel was built starting in the 1850s, and is said to have served as a temporary hospital during the Civil War. Orkney Springs was a fashionable summer resort from the late 19th century to the 1920s, with seven purportedly healing springs. The former hotel, which is the largest wooden structure in Virginia, was bought by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in 1979, and is now part of the diocesan retreat center Shrine Mont. I went to six years of summer camp at Shrine Mont, and a favorite prank to play on first-year campers was to tell them that the red waters of the chalybeate (iron-bearing) spring tasted like Kool-Aid (they tasted like licking an iron pipe, of course!). (The Gallery, DPC)
Speed Racer: 1920
... info on where this building was/is? [Wardman Park Hotel at Connecticut Avenue and Woodley Road. - Dave] Gran Turismo XX ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 10:32pm -

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Donnie Moore in Duesenberg." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. HoodDont know if I would be wanting to sit behind that hood.Car doesnt really look up to going fast.. SpeedRacing cars of this period had huge in-line aero type engines and were capable of high speeds. The main problem in attaining this, was the dirt roads of the time. Without fenders over the wheels, flying dirt and stones were a major hazard to the drivers. Drive Slow, My Foot!This Doozy was a powerful machine. I wonder what the building in back was...looks very modern for a 1920s "skyscraper". Any info on where this building was/is? [Wardman Park Hotel at Connecticut Avenue and Woodley Road. - Dave] Gran Turismo XXThat car was meant to race. The hinges on the hood are set on the side so it won't fly up into the face of the driver. This is not a pampered track racer, that spare tire indicates longer races through the countryside. Add in the quick change lugs and the wire wheels and you're ready to race on the dirt. Donnie Moore: Southern title holder The Washington Post, July 31, 1918 Auto and Motorcycle races will beheld at Benning Saturday afternoon for the benefit of the Camp Meigs athletic fund. Many racing drivers and factory experts have been brought to Washington by the war, and the entry list will contain the names of many well-known pilots. "Krazy Horse" Verrill, the circular dirt track champion; Donnie Moore, the Southern title holder; Shaffer, Denham, Harley, Cooksey, Spindler, Zimmerman and Parkhurst are among those who will compete. Eight events have been listed, the feature being a 10-mile race for a purse of $500 between Moore and Denham. Another special will be a 5-mile race for women and five young ladies who rode in the event in Baltimore on July 4 have entered. All men in uniform will be admitted free and the charge to others will be 50 cents. A real DoozyThis is one of the cars that established the Duesenberg legend. It was hot stuff all through the twenties. Also the origin of the slang term "doozy." http://www.duesenberg-racing.com/historyauto.htm ErrataDave My fingers must have gotten carried away while typing. The size of the purse quoted in the Washington Post account was $500, not $5000 also, on a more minor point, it should be "factory workers" not "factor workers" [Fixed, thanks. And as I like to remind people, if you register as a Shorpy user and log in to leave comments, you can go back and edit them at any time. Hint, hint. - Dave] A word from the Partnership of English Majors...It's "Drive Slowly." Geez. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
Old Ohio: 1905
... Landmarks include the Arcade Building at right, Hollenden Hotel and newspaper offices of the Cleveland Plain Dealer . 8x10 inch dry ... The Hollenden My parents and I stayed at the Hollenden Hotel in the summer of 1953. They were delegates to the Brotherhood of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/11/2017 - 3:31pm -

Circa 1905. "Superior Avenue, Cleveland." Landmarks include the Arcade Building at right, Hollenden Hotel and newspaper offices of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I'm not sure what he's doingbut it don't look too healthy. [Washing windows. -tterrace] The HollendenMy parents and I stayed at the Hollenden Hotel in the summer of 1953. They were delegates to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers convention held in Cleveland. It was a neat place for a 13 year old mischievous boy to explore. I cozied up to a couple of the elevator operator gals and they let me run the elevator. Whoo-hoo. Happy Birthday Cleveland Plain Dealer !January 7th marked the 175th year of publication. Well done! The Arcade is still there as a major hotel (on the right) but all the rest has been 'renewed.' +111Below is the same view from July of 2016. Still looking goodThe hotel is now a Hiatt. There is a Marriott on the Prospect-Euclid side of the Arcade. Many of the rooms at the Marriott still have the stained glass from the old Colonial Hotel. My son goes to school in Cleveland and we enjoy staying downtown and seeing all of the revitalization. Faded DreamsWonderful Dream Soda: "There's sunshine in every sip". St. Peter's Church... is visible waaay in the background. It's still there (at E. 17th and Superior), only now the tall steeple is gone. The Arcade (large archway at right) is a gorgeous (and, sadly, quite empty) Victorian-era, glass-roofed structure. It's one of the earliest examples of a shopping mall in America. (The Gallery, Cleveland, DPC, Streetcars)
Aerial Omaha: 1938
... Furthermore, in that aerial photo I can clearly see the Hotel Fontenelle a few blocks to the west at 1806 Douglas and I can positively ... [You are correct about the location (my first guess, the Hotel Fontenelle, is on the wrong block). Which means our vantage point is the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2017 - 9:05pm -

        UPDATE: Our vantage point for this view north along 14th Street is the Woodmen of the World tower at 1323 Farnam. November 1938. "Omaha, Nebraska." Gateway to the West. Medium format negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. FansAnyone aware of what the contraption is on top of the building on the left. I see fan units. Was this an air conditioning system? If so it is very narrow. Three Corner TavernsInteresting to note the small corner taverns in the Omaha photographs: in the “Omaha Suds” image, in the Theodore's Place image, and the Oaks Tavern in this image. Three corner taverns, each about the same size and height, although some more decorated than the other. I wonder how many others existed? Across the street is the Paris Bar and Billiards. Oaks and Paris advertised together. What Depression?For a small city during the worst of the later Depression years, this photo portrays an impressive proportion of late model vehicles. As opposed to the trucks, the great majority of the cars seen here are within 3 or 4 years of age if not newer -- a mix probably not excelled in most U.S. localities today. Brand new Ford TudorThe car almost directly in front of the "Nebraska" is a new 1938 Standard Ford V8. I've had one of these since the late 1970's. Once considered the ugly duckling of the 30's by almost everyone is now kinda good looking. Kinda. Scorch marksSo what was the commercial establishment that burned at the corner of 14th and Capitol? Whatever it might have been, the fire appears to have thoroughly gutted the place. Pay no attentionI'm assuming that this picture was taken from an airplane, so it's interesting that none of the many people on the street are looking up at the photographer. It seems like an airplane flying low over the downtown area would attract a lot of attention! [The photo was taken from the Woodmen of the World building at 1323 Farnam Street. - Dave] Gateway to the WestJust a minute, that nickname belongs to my native city, Winnipeg, Manitoba. But wait, Wikipedia points out that it also refers to no fewer than 6 cities in the US (Fargo, Fort Wayne, Omaha, St. Louis and the Gateway Arch, Kansas City, Pittsburgh) and one whole state (Oklahoma, although particularly Tulsa). Location, Location, Location?I believe this photo was taken from a building on the southeast corner of 14th and Farnam. In an aerial photo from the early 1950s I can see a tall building located at that corner. Furthermore, in that aerial photo I can clearly see the Hotel Fontenelle a few blocks to the west at 1806 Douglas and I can positively identify the fronts of the buildings in the 1300 block of Douglas where Palace Billiards and the Oaks Bar were. [You are correct about the location (my first guess, the Hotel Fontenelle, is on the wrong block). Which means our vantage point is the 19-story Woodmen of the World headquarters, at the time of its completion in 1912 the tallest building between Chicago and the West Coast. - Dave] No Apartments AvailableThe three story brick building being demolished was an apartment building offered for sale in January 1937. Directly across the street from it was the “Hummel Auto Shed” and the Omaha World Herald delivery truck garage and parking lot and the vacant space diagonally across the street was the site of the Jefferson Hotel, demolished in 1935. Win some, lose someBetween the Oaks Bar and the Nebraska theater is a campaign office with banners for 19938 candidacies of (James T.) English for (Douglas) County Attorney, and (Frank) McGrath for (Douglas County) Clerk of Court. English won, and later became a state-court judge. McGrath, an incumbent mired in scandals, lost. (The Gallery, John Vachon, Omaha, Railroads)
Cheyenne Joe's: 1903
... commercial exhibitor of a motion picture at his Trocadero Hotel in 1893. Wacke's hotel, a stalwart from Coney's early years located along a strip of cabarets ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:48pm -

New York circa 1903. "Coney Island -- the Bowery." Decisions, decisions. Wacke's Trocadero or Cheyenne Joe's? Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Do Not ResuscitateSome fashions should never be revived. I am talking about the fellow on the far right, facing away from us. He has a V gap in his waistband, just above his rump. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed that, but I hope no designer thinks it again! Re: Do Not Resuscitate@aenthal: While I share your dislike of that v-cut in the waistband of the gentleman's pants, I'm not so sure I agree with your observation that it's "just above his rump." Those are some mighty high-waisted pants! I'd say that gap is more like just above the L1 or L2 vertebra. Other choicesBallantine's Export or Genuine Wurzbüger Draught He Coulda Been a Contender"Rumour had it the challenger was so determined to prevail, he planned to load his gloves with Plaster of Paris. “Let him do it,” said Jeffries. “I’ll flatten him anyway.” "It came in the eighth round. After several blistering exchanges, Fitzsimmons inexplicably paused, lowered his guard, and spoke to Jeffries, taunting him. The champion’s response was a hard right to the belly followed by a thunderous left hook that put Fitzsimmons on the floor and ended the fight." from http://www.bestboxingblog.com/?p=687 Don't Overlook Flynn's... and Ballantine! They made a pretty good ale up through the 1970s: green bottle, great with hamburgers. From the Dutch "bouwerij" meaning "farm"The idea that Coney Island would have a theme area based on a famously seedy street in a nearby borough cracked me up; it was a short leap (for me, anyway) to visions of Disneyland installing a pre-Disney 42nd Street populated with street walkers and hustlers dressed as Disney characters. Pooh? Bambi? Lady & The Tramp? The 7 Dwarfs? It's a natural. But the truth about Brooklyn's Bowery is merely very interesting... http://www.thevirtualdimemuseum.com/2009/11/coney-island-bowery.html Wacke's TrocaderoFree Movies With Beer Coney Island theater proprietor Herman Wacke, no stranger to the moving image, is touted by some as the first commercial exhibitor of a motion picture at his Trocadero Hotel in 1893. Wacke's hotel, a stalwart from Coney's early years located along a strip of cabarets and beerhalls affectionately called the Bowery, was nearly destroyed in the fire that consumed Steeplechase in 1907. In 1912, Wacke fanned a few new flames. He began showing films for free in the saloon as a way to entice people to come in and purchase food and beer. Wacke's was probably the best known of many along the Bowery to exhibit films in this fashion. But the proprietor didn't have a license to do so, and during one particular sting, Wacke was arrested -- "charged with conducting a free show in connection with his bar" -- and fined $5. Not a huge sum of money for a successful saloon owner, and Wacke went willingly, becoming a test case for a law that many certainly thought was rigid and overly meddling. The Bowrey Boys - New York City History Cinnamon Rolls & BeerAnd there on the left you can get your fresh cinnamon rolls to go with your Export Lager Hot Crisis Vaffles 3 for 5 cents?The curlicue tool held by the woman in the booth on the left intrigued me. I stretched and skewed the sign on the front of her stand, but I still cannot make sense of it. [HOT CRISPS WAFFLES / 3 for 5¢ - Dave] Love this picture!Wonderful, evocative detail. Please, somebody colorize this one for us! Get a RoomCould that couple actually be holding hands in public? It's shameless is what it is. Ballantine'sBefore I read the comments, coincidentally, I did the same as JeffK, but with the sign over the street on the left. Ballantine's Export Beer was well advertised! 3 Balls 5¢Are they for a throwing or bowling game? I can't imagine they're talking whiskey at that price. Cheyenne Joe's Cowboy TavernFrom The Summary - Published weekly by and for inmates of the New York State Reformatory at Elmira. The Summary, July 4, 1908. Coney Island: The World's Greatest Play Ground As it is To-Day. … Cheyenne Joe's Tavern is free and once inside a long bar is visible. On one end sits a cowboy with two six-shooters protruding from this belt while he plays a violin. Another cowboy acts as waiter while a third tends bar. A group of these typical westerners are around a table and in the corner of the cabin stands a pony restlessly. The floor is sprinkled with sawdust and newspaper is made to supply wall paper. … Personal Time MachineThis is what I love about Shorpy. Whenever I want to go to a different time and place, I just come here, find a wonderful picture like this, click on "View Full Size," step into the picture and go for a fascinating visit. Oh the hats! I believe when we stopped wearing hats, it was the beginning of the fall of civilization. Great PhotoThis is a perfect amusement park photo from the turn of the 20th century. I wish I could time travel back to 1903. I’ve often wondered how many of these amusement park scenes are set up by the photographer. The couple walking towards the camera could be models. People are in just the right places. I’m sure they spent a lot of time setting up for the perfect shot. Belly Up To The Bar Boys. I'm BuyingQuite a few always wax nostalgic when an idyllic tree lined residence street with an little girl is shown and wish that they could go back to that peaceful scene. Not me. This is where I'm taking the Time Machine and a hundred dollars. A sports bar, German beer on draught, Ballentine Ale, cinnamon buns, good 5¢ cigars, hot crisped waffles 3 for 5¢, chops, a cowboy bar with sawdust on the floor plus a pony, cowboy waiters, cowboy entertainers, an Oriental shop with 10 ¢ large ????, and last but not least an Irish Hotel Bar. Since I am of Irish/German ancestry, a known beer drinker, and an occasional cigar smoker I would have been right at home here and would have spent the day slipping in and out of the various establishments announcing each time, "Drinks on me, boys and may ye be dead an hour before the devil knows it." Ah wouldn't it have been a glorious day filled with oompah bands and Irish reels, good food, cold beer, and possibly meeting relatives from Strokestown, County Roscommon Ireland or Dusseldorf Germany?" (The Gallery, Coney Island, DPC)
Pie Town Garage: 1940
... when Russell Lee came there, he took a room in the "hotel." He hung sheets and blankets over the windows in his room where he ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/14/2009 - 3:27am -

Filling station and garage at Pie Town, New Mexico. Photograph by Russell Lee. September 1940. View full size. "Original owner sold pies, hence the name 'Pie Town.'" Wikipedia says that person was Clyde Norman, who started a dehydrated apple business there in the 1920s. Pie Town hosts a Pie Festival in the fall; photographer Lee took dozens of pictures of the 1940 rodeo and barbecue, which we'll be posting. Here we can see details of the the 1940 fair, and that gas was 21 cents a gallon. (Goodbye everyone, I'm moving to Pie Town - Dave) inflation21 cents in 1940 is the equivalent of $3.05 today. gas wasn't really that cheap. Pie TownWhen you get there, be sure to check out the apple, pine nut & green chile pie -- it rules! Pie TownI will! What can you tell us about Pie Town? Is that the originalIs that the original picture? It seems the color are stranges. Like an afterward colored photo. ColorYes, original. Kodachrome transparency. Pie Town was a very colorful place. Pie TownI remember reading in Place Names of New Mexico that when a postal inspector came to establish a post office it was up to Norman to pick an official name. He wanted the place to be called Pie Town. When the postal inspector suggested something more traditional . . . maybe even name the place Norman after himself, legend has it that Norman said: "It's going to be Pie Town or you can take your post office and go to hell." Pie TownGood for Clyde. It's certainly a better name than Dehydrated Apple Town. Who doesn't love delicious pie? There was an interesting article about Pie Town photographer Russell Lee a couple of years ago in Smithsonian magazine, called Savoring Pie Town. Pie TownWe were really bummed one day when we got to Pie Town, there wasn't any place there to buy pies... oh well. A Remembrance of Things PastryIt's a cruel thing to be anticipating pie and then encounter a pie-denial situation. I would've been all set for pie. Delicious pie. Blueberry. Apple. Cherry. They're all good. I think it was actually 20 cents ...If you look closely, the gas was 14 cents, the taxes were 6 cents-- a whopping 43% of the price -- making the price 20 cents... [20 or 21? - see comment below] Standard Oil Credit CardsThe round sign between the two gas pumps appears to say "Standard Oil Credit Cards Good Here". I did not realize that credit cards existed in 1940. Not too much before my time but I sure don't remember them. Must be because we were too poor to have one or too smart! 21 centsIf you look even closer you'll see that 21 cents is correct. The price per gallon is 14 and 9/10 cents - Dave Pie TownThe green chili, pinon (pine nut) and apple pie is served at the Daily Pie Cafe. www.dailypie.com. They are closed on Sun and Mon, and open until 3pm the rest of the week, so get there early. It's well worth the trip. Pie TownThanks Dave--The pictures I have are some personal family pictures and the photos done by Russell Lee, which I see you have access to. Incidentally, when Russell Lee came there, he took a room in the "hotel." He hung sheets and blankets over the windows in his room where he developed his own photos. My Dad said Russell didn't want people to know what he was doing, and was so 'secretive' that they all thought he was a German spy! Great pictures!Pie Town is one of the many and strange places along highway 60 running through New Mexico and Arizona. I'd always wondered about how it got its name. Thanks! Pie Town GarageAll the buildings in Pie Town were red, white and blue. Even the public privy (toilet) was red white and blue! It was a small building, divided in half, with an outside door to both sides. It sat on a little hill, so it didn't need to have a pit dug for it. The ladies half was a 3 or 4-holer as I recall, and always had several Sears Roebuck catalogs handy! (I was never in the men's side!) It was a few yards from the "Motel" that had 4 or 5 small one-room cabins, and it served as the bathroom for all!! It seems the town needed paint, and Standard Oil said they would donate it if the town painted in their colors--hence the red white and blue. This garage building burned sometime in the early or middle 40's. Pie Town was a good place to grow up. KR [Thanks very much for sharing, KR! And if you have any old Pie Town photos we'd love to see them. - Dave] Standard Oil & Pie TownBecause of the story about the sponsoring of Pie Town's painting by Standard Oil, I realised the gasoline brand should be Standard Oil. After some investigation I found the logo on a 1940 Idaho roadmap: [It seems the link is broken after so many years, but I found a neon version of it] Pie TownBest 20 years of my life were in Pie Town. The weather was great when we were kids. Always had snow in the winter. We would take the bus 22 miles to school. My grandparents had a cafe and gas station in the early 1960's. Best pie ever. I live in Memphis now, going on 22 years. My dad & uncle Pete went to school north of town in Tres Lagunas in a log building, about seven miles away, in the 1940's. Prices still going upAs of the end of 2010, the original 0.149 per gallon (plus 6 cent tax) would translate into $2.26 per gallon (plus 97 cents tax) for a grand total of $3.23 per gallon. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Pie Town, Russell Lee)
Great Northern: 1905
... part of 1906, met Henrietta B__ in front of the St. James Hotel in Duluth, Minnesota. Goldstein approached the girl and said: ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 6:51pm -

We're making up for the Duluthlessness of the past few days with this ultra-detailed circa 1905 view of the Zenith City. Detroit Publishing. View full size. Ideal Beer Hall.As if there could be a bad beer hall. Go-togethersPaine and Nixon. I ExcelI see that the Thompson Produce Co. is a proud purveyor of the "IXL" brand of foods. Originally an Australian fruit and jam company, IXL was later bought out by Smuckers, and then by Coca Cola. Evidently the brand name was a play on the owner's personal motto of "'I excel in everything I do'. IXL? OU812! I love the detail in this oneWhat strikes me is that there's so much commercial activity in relation to the number of residences. Was the main residential area behind the photographer? [Only if you're a fish. - Dave] Todas las casitas iguales. Todas mirando para el mismo sitio.Es impactante la persistencia de un módulo específico de edificación y la consistente orientación de casi todas las fachadas. Otra cuestión, este trozo, ¡parece un barco fluvial! Gracias Shorpy. These are great!I live in the Twin Cities and get up to Duluth every couple of years. Many of the old buildings are still there, so it would be fun to find a current panorama of the city and make some comparisons. The ones I can find are shot from up high out toward the harbor. Superior SlabsThe slabs in the railcar would have been locally quarried Wisconsin brownstone, which was in vogue at the time. There were a number of brownstone quarries operating along the Lake Superior shore. Variety of rolling stockNot many railcars are visible in this picture, but there's quite a variety: regular boxcars, coal cars, refrigerator cars, flat cars carrying logs, flat cars carrying what look like cut stone slabs, and even a livestock car. Deja vu all over againThe swaybacked coal car returns. This time one of the kids has jumped on top of the coal. The other is on the roof of the boxcar. Well, Professor Harold Hill's on hand...Is that a brass band walking along the tracks, front and center? Looks like the 2 lead walkers are carrying baritones or euphoniums. And further along to the left is a man carrying what might be a tuba. Re: Well, Professor Harold Hill's on hand...A lot of organizations had brass bands in the 1890s, so I wonder if this is someone returning from "Northern Pacific Brass Band" practice. But I don't see enough instruments to make up the full band, so maybe this guy retreated to the rail yards to practice, where any bad noises would be drowned out by the trains (kinda like when my brother was learning bagpipes and he was banished to the basement to practice.) Horse on the roofIs that a horse on the roof of the Minnesota Candy Kitchen? [It's on the street. - Dave] A trip to the candy storeExcerpts From "Panders and Their White Slaves" By Clifford Griffith Roe, 1910, pages 29 & 30: The case of the girl from Duluth, Minnesota, which I recalled during the trial of Panzy Williams, came to the notice of the courts December 15, 1906...Morris Goldstein, alias Leroy Devoe, in the latter part of 1906, met Henrietta B__ in front of the St. James Hotel in Duluth, Minnesota. Goldstein approached the girl and said: "Good-evening. Where are you going?" The girl told him that she was going home. He answered: "Well, can't I talk to you a little?" The girl said, "I don't know you." He then explained that he was the manager of a play and would like to get some more girls for his company... He made an appointment to meet her on the second night after that at Second Avenue and Superior Street, near the Roller Rink. The rest of the story I quote in the girl's own words. "I met him that night at the appointed place and he walked home with me. On the way home he talked about the play and asked me if I had ever had any experience. He said nothing out of the way that night and I then made an appointment to meet him the next Saturday night at the Minnesota Candy Kitchen at six-thirty p.m. I had told my folks that I was to meet the manager of a play before I left home Saturday..." PuzzlingI would love to see a puzzle made out of this picture. It would be intense. Pile DriverThey must have run out of pilings for the pile driver as I see no smoke or steam coming from the hoisting engine. Nice Duplex pump beside the hoisting engine. Groceries Wholesale & ConsumerWere those windows punched out after the sign was there, or...? I can't come up with another explanation for the placement of that sign. A nice townOh how I hate driving up that hill in the winter. Coming down it in the spring, summer, and fall is another story, though. Driving down you get a great view of the lake and will often see boats. During the shipping season you see a lot of bulk carriers, which we usually just call ore boats, even though they sometimes carry other things. They're thousand-footers that look dwarfed by the vastness of the water, but so big for a lake all at the same time. Northern Minnesota, especially along Lake Superior, is such a beautiful part of the country and I feel blessed to live here! Directions to DuluthFor those who've wondered at there being no people around, and how gritty everything looks, you're looking at the south end of a city facing north. In downtown Duluth the streets go east and west, and the avenues go up and down the hill. In the six photos of the panorama on Shorpy (so far I've found four), west is to the left and east is to the right. The viaduct in the far right of "Duluth 1905" is Lake Avenue, which is the starting point for the numbering of avenues. The Union RR Depot at the left edge of "Duluth Cont." (just left of the "SELZ" sign) is on Fifth Avenue West and Michigan Street. The row of buildings between the two face Michigan Street, but you are looking at the backs. One block up the hill is Superior Street, the main drag of downtown. That's where all the people are. I'm another RR fan, fascinated at the rolling stock. Coal was the principal heating fuel and it was everywhere. When in doubt presume a gondola is filled with coal. Like so many other cities, Duluth had its industry concentrated at water's edge for transportation. After Ike's Interstate Highway system developed, the city needed to spend many years cleaning up the coal dust on the waterfront for the tourism industry. Ideal Beer HallI have a puff piece newspaper article on the opening of the Ideal Beer Hall. They carried "Bud." It was supposed to be a classy place. My g-grandfather's brother had a sleazy saloon downtown, but it was on the avenue and can't be seen. Drat. It's probably too long to post here. I'll find a place to post it and get you a link. (The Gallery, DPC, Duluth, Railroads)
Toledo Panorama: 1909
... Snowflake Laundry In the distance, behind the Jefferson Hotel and in the upper center area of the photo, we can see the Holmes ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 4:46pm -

Circa 1909. "Toledo, Ohio, waterfront on Maumee River." Humongous 40,000-pixel-wide panorama made from five 8x10 glass negatives, downsized here to a still-hefty 11,000 pixels. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Even MoreCharles Fletcher signs, just like in the Brooklyn Bridge picture of a few days ago. The guy was everywhere. Holy Toledo!Another Fletcher's Castoria sign!! Great picture! Road NamesT&OC was the Toledo & Ohio Central, a railroad originating in the West Virginia coal fields that ran northwest from Charleston up to Columbus and thence to Toledo. At this time it was still independent, but was later absorbed into the New York Central system. Hocking Valley collected coal on network of feeder lines in southeast Ohio, assembled the cars at a main yard in Columbus and ran them up their main to Toledo. C&O absorbed the HV in 1925, a strategic move that gave the C&O an outlet in the lucrative lakes coal trade. Kanawha & Michigan was a short line in West Virginia. WOW Factor = 10.Now THAT'S a Picture. Worth every minute (hour?) it took to do the merge. Peter Piper Picked a Passel of PixelsMy mouse is tired after studying this pic. I will come back to this one and find some more stuff to look up. Already found that there is still a Hocking Valley Railway. Located in Southeast Ohio, it is a scenic railway offering rides on restored cars. New York Central territoryLooking at the coal cars in the foreground, Toledo & Ohio Central, Zanesville & Western and Kanawha & Michigan eventually became part of NYC System. Hocking Valley Ry. became part of Chesapeake & Ohio. In the tall structure in front left, a K&M car is about to be turned over to empty its contents. The middle foreground finds an immaculate T&OC switch engine with no lack of work, going about its duties. PaintAccording to Google Maps, the Acme Quality Paint Store no longer exists at 420 Summit Street. Where should I buy my paint? Holmes Snowflake LaundryIn the distance, behind the Jefferson Hotel and in the upper center area of the photo, we can see the Holmes Snowflake Laundry building. See below for a different view. The Holmes Snowflake Building was the first Toledo location for the Champion Spark Plug Company, attracted to the city by the Willys Overland Company. Willys agreed to buy spark plugs from Robert and Frank Stranahan, if they would relocate their company to Toledo (ca. 1910). Louisa May Alcott'sLyttle Weeman Saddlery & Hardware. Jay C. MorseThought I had seen this ship before. Sure enough, one of the plates from this set is here. [That's a different plate. -Dave] At least the smokestack is still thereSeveral weeks ago we had lunch at a restaurant along the river with the same great view of the river. This view fills in the details that I imagined. AdsI wonder if the early marketing folks at Coca-Cola were influenced by Fletcher's Castoria ads. The logos are similar in style and the signs are everywhere. [I think Spencerian script was generally in vogue. - Dave] About that Hand SapolioI see by my desktop copy of "Once Famous Brands Now Forgotten" (I made that up) Hand Sapolio was the Ivory of its day, possibly the most famous soap there was around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, I just checked in Volumes 27 and 28 of Nursing World for 1901, and found on page 391: “Hand Sapolio equals a mild Turkish bath in many of its advantages. It demands no extreme or heat or cold, but removes all scurf (sic), casts off the constantly dying outer skin, and gives the inner skin…..” Well, you get the idea. Here's a typical ad: Two-Masted TubsThose are interesting vessels on the river's far side, just left of panorama center. They look like they must have engines on board; I wonder if they ever got under sail using those masts, or were they formerly sailing barges that got converted? (Panoramas, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads, Toledo)
New Magnolia: 1906
... Magnolia, Massachusetts." Completed in 1891, this resort hotel near Gloucester was destroyed by fire in 1907. 8x10 inch dry plate glass ... hotels staff. Toilet Arrangements I grew up in a hotel that was built in 1906. Very few of our rooms had direct toilet access, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/15/2018 - 1:47pm -

1906. "The New Magnolia, Magnolia, Massachusetts." Completed in 1891, this resort hotel near Gloucester was destroyed by fire in 1907. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A familiar fateIsn't it amazing how many of the grand old hotels built around this time were eventually destroyed by fire, and usually in a relatively short time after they were constructed? Toilet inquirySerious question to Shorphites: What were the toilet arrangements in fine old hotels like this. Did rooms have their own "Victorian bathrooms," or were there several communal ones on each floor? Or were private baths limited to the expensive suites? Re: Toilet Inquirey Prior to the Great War most English language travel guides tended to classify hotels as being First class, Second class or Third class, much like accommodations on ocean liners. By the turn of the twentieth century it was generally expected that hotels of the Second Class would have indoor plumbing. And hotels of the First Class were expected to have a large percentage of their rooms equipped with en-suite bath and water-closet facilities. Third class establishments were hit and miss in terms of their sanitary facilities, with some still using old fashioned chamber pots collected by the hotels staff. Toilet ArrangementsI grew up in a hotel that was built in 1906. Very few of our rooms had direct toilet access, even in the 1960s when my parents ran the hotel. Every room had a sink and a mirror. Rooms that didn't include a toilet rented for $5 a night. Every floor had a public bathroom that people who rented those rooms used. The second floor bathroom included a shower, the only one available to guests in the hotel. (Even our apartment, created from several adjoining rooms, only had a bathtub.) A room with semiprivate access to a toilet and sometimes a bathtub rented for $7 a night. The bathroom was situated between two hotel rooms, with a door on either side. You had to make sure the other door was locked when you were using it. Now, our hotel wasn't the fanciest - it had been built to service railroad passengers. Maybe a bigger, fancier place such as the Magnolia had better toilet access. But that was how our hotel was designed. After we moved out in the early 1970s, the place was torn down. It's a parking lot now, but I will never forget growing up there. (The Gallery, DPC)
Haute Cuisine: 1920
... Terrace This is the Sky Terrace rooftop restaurant of Hotel Washington at 515 15th Street NW. Elvis famously stayed in Suite 506 a ... It's being completely refurbished and will reopen as a "W" Hotel. That rooftop restaurant had a stunning view. Many movies scenes have ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 4:48pm -

"No caption." Rooftop dining somewhere near the Washington Monument circa 1920. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. DoppelgangersTwo tables back: John Goodman as Linda Tripp (facing camera) Three tables back: Eleanor Roosevelt (facing northwest) Four tables back: Will Rogers (facing southeast) Five tables back: Mr. and Mrs. Claus Roof Dining RoomI love the placement of the skylight in the foreground of this photo: to me, it suggests that the rooftop dining was added as an afterthought after the building was already constructed. It also emphasizes to the diners that they are indeed on a roof. The term "Sky Terrace" was not used until the late 1940s. Below, advertisements from 1928 and 1951. The 1951 ad reminds me of the Jetsons. Most dangerous hatThe lady on the far right wins the prize. More DoppelgangersTable one: Bill Maher. Table two: Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Planet. Table five: Papa Hemingway (or maybe Burl Ives), Gertrude Stein, Warren G. Harding and the back of Calvin Coolidge's head. Behind that: Shecky Green, Forrest Gump, Ru Paul, Ron Paul, the guy from Goodfellas, and Oliver Stone. Watch your head!Food fights at this establishment would be detrimental to pedestrians on the sidewalk below. Sky TerraceThis is the Sky Terrace rooftop restaurant of Hotel Washington at 515 15th Street NW. Elvis famously stayed in Suite 506 a few times and it became a shrine. It's being completely refurbished and will reopen as a "W" Hotel. That rooftop restaurant had a stunning view. Many movies scenes have been shot there. LocationWhat makes you think this is near the Washington Monument? Drinks?ca. 1920, so prohibition is in force since it's definitely not before January 16. There appears to be a bottle with a logo that looks like Budweiser on the second table from the right. I doubt it is, but wonder what that bottle held. Also, what is the dark liquid in the glasses? There are ice cubes, so it's some kind of cola, perhaps. Or iced tea? [Beer-brewing did not end with Prohibition -- most of the major brands remained on the market with a lower alcohol content. Below, a Budwesier ad from 1922 in the Washington Post. - Dave] Flying FedorasWith a little breeze, the hats on the hatrack are going flying. At least they didn't hang them on the column next to the railing! The Luminaries!Don't forget Buddy Ebsen and Bing Crosby at the front table. And that's even Paul Sorvino, looking right at us, in the very back. Goodman, in his cups, has taken Monica's hat and turned the brim up in swashbuckler style as Monica snapped the picture. There's a ton of celebrity up on that roof! Doric InfluenceDo notice the Doric hat rack at the back left. Wow, heavy duty for those few straw hats. Great PlaceI stayed there on a trip to D.C. in the Fall of 2007. Every evening found me at that rooftop bar enjoying the view and spending way to much on martinis. All the President's MenThere is a scene in the movie "All the President's Men" that was shot here on the roof restaurant of the Washington Hotel. The Carl Bernstein character is having lunch with a girl he's charmingly trying to get information from. (The Gallery, D.C., Eateries & Bars, Harris + Ewing)
Looking up California: 1906
... Sansome Street." At the top of the hill is the Fairmont Hotel, seen in yesterday's post. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. ... Cathedral on the right at Grant Avenue and the Fairmont Hotel on the right at the top of the hill. They are the only buildings in this ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 4:33pm -

San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906. "Looking up California Street from Sansome Street." At the top of the hill is the Fairmont Hotel, seen in yesterday's post. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Prelinger Archive MoviesThere's something heartening about the fact that people could, and did, rebuild after the quake and fires. They didn't hole up and defend their bunker or flee for the countryside. The built a beautiful city over the ruins. It wasn't easy or smooth; there was plenty of corruption and incompetence. But they *did* it. A number of years back I saw a bird's-eye view of down town post-quake San Francisco, snapped from a tethered balloon. The place looked . . . nuked. A sea of rubble around the ferry building. The wonderful Prelinger Archive has a number of movies taken in San Francisco before and after the quake. They are wonderful, and eerie. About that Market Street trafficIf you watch carefully, you'll see that some of the cars that pass by and in front of the camera appear more than once. The one with license plate 4867 does so at least five times, for example. You'll see it and at least a couple others passing, making u-turns, then overtaking the trolley again several times. Another with a boy riding the back bumper appears at least twice. Rick Prelinger features a restored version of the film, without the frame jumping, in his periodic "Lost Landscapes of San Francisco" presentations. In one, Chapter 12 here he says it's his understanding that the photographer arranged with some of his friends to zip around like that to add extra excitement to the film. Shock and AweWhat a stunning photograph. A still-worrying crack in the building on the left. SurvivorThis is the same view today looking west on California Street from Battery Street taken is September of 2009. The large building on the left in the 1906 photograph (which looks like it has a little hut on the top) is the Merchants Exchange Building which still stands and can be seen in the current view as well. A stark lesson...In the wisdom of a) not building with excessive ornamental masonry cantilevered over the street, and b) studying seismology. Shake and bakeThis is an amazing picture of the tragic event that shook and burned San Francisco. Makes me wonder how all of these dressed up folks lived and got around after all of the devastation. Extra RailsGreat photo. You can just make out the tower of Old Saint Mary's Cathedral on the right at Grant Avenue and the Fairmont Hotel on the right at the top of the hill. They are the only buildings in this view that still survive. Note that there are slots and narrow gauge rails for the California Street Cable Railroad, and an outer set of gantlet rails for a franchise-holding horsecar line that ran from Kearny to Drumm. Michael Houlihan drove the single car. Here is a 1906 article from the San Francisco Call, published in the building we were admiring yesterday, about that operation: http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/cchoulihan.html#top A bit tidier todayView Larger Map There's just been a major disaster!Where's my suit? Exodus to OaklandWikipedia has a long description of the quake, fire and aftermath. Hundreds of thousands of people apparently lived in Oakland and Berkeley for a couple years until the city rebuilt. The building code was made stricter for a while, but was relaxed quite a bit after contractors complained that it was too much work to build earthquake-resistant buildings. They made the codes very lenient until the 1950s. Market Street 1905This film was shot less than a year before the quake. Look for the group of kids halfway through running alongside the trolley and grabbing onto passing cars. And speaking of cars, the controlled chaos of the road packed with horses, wagons, streetcars, and autos is fascinating to watch. [It is indeed. The camera is filming from a streetcar as it travels toward the Ferry Building clock tower. I was surprised at the number of autos cutting in front of it. Mr. 4867 makes several appearances.- Dave] Post-ApocalypticMost displaced City residents lived in tents provided by the Army in places like Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. How did they get around? Shoe leather. Took weeks to get public transit going again. Looking down on CaliforniaThe panoramic view of San Francisco after the quake taken from a 'Captive Airship' by photographer George R. Lawrence can be found here. It's worth downloading the giant size. Ghosts of 1906When I find an image of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire I look for the site where the image was made and then go there to take a photograph of the site today. I then composit the two images to create an image with both the damaged and rebuilt structures. (The Gallery, DPC, Fires, Floods etc., San Francisco)
Jewel: 1939
1939. "St. James Hotel, Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. Building dates to circa 1840. Now market ... Wishes come true Success! Open for business. The hotel was restored in 1997 and is open for business. Supposedly haunted. ... Flip-flop First the Brantley Hotel from 1837 until after the Civil War, then St. James Hotel until 1892, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2014 - 2:26am -

1939. "St. James Hotel, Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. Building dates to circa 1840. Now market warehouse. Three story brick masonry, two story porch, ornamental iron work." Photo by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size. Great to SeeThat this handsome building has been able to survive despite the many changes. Bravo for not tearing it down just because it's "old"So many beautiful buildings we see here have met the wrecking ball long before we get to see them and it's just sad. Wishes come trueSuccess! Open for business.The hotel was restored in 1997 and is open for business. Supposedly haunted. http://historicstjameshotel.com/history.html Flip-flopFirst the Brantley Hotel from 1837 until after the Civil War, then St. James Hotel until 1892, then a warehouse, now St. James Hotel again since 1997. It's located at 1200 Water Avenue in Selma. Absolutely BeautifulIt's so great the porch is still there. I think that's the most beautiful cast iron work I've ever seen! Excellent!Nice to see an old, beautiful building brought back to life rather than bulldozed into history. (The Gallery, F.B. Johnston, Stores & Markets)
Red Means Go: 1943
... on the left and Tribune on the right. Intercontinental Hotel (which used to be Masonic Temple) behind the Trib. Location You've ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/21/2017 - 9:58pm -

April 1943. "Trucks unloading at the inbound freight house of the Illinois Central Railroad, South Water Street freight terminal, Chicago." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. Buildings ID'dThe Tribune Tower, Wrigley Building and Masonic temple (now the Intercontinental Hotal). I think the photo is taken from the location of the current Illinois Center. Wrigley Building on the leftWrigley Building on the left and Tribune on the right. Intercontinental Hotel (which used to be Masonic Temple) behind the Trib. LocationYou've got the location down. That's because the Illinois Center used to be the terminus of the Illinois Central. For years, it was a big empty lot (and it is still only now being developed) and it was referred to as the "Illinois Central Air Rights". air rightsThis section of (once) empty land is owned by IL Central RR. At the beginning of the skyscraper boom, the land became extremely valuable. The RR held on to the land ownership but sold the rights above the land (air rights) to developers that would later build the now familiar skyline. The skycrapers now in this area are privately owned, but the land on which they sit is still owned by the RR. more?What is the far center and the brick on the right? I.C. is no moreActually the I.C. was bought by the Canadian National a few years back, so the land is owned by them I guess :) FakeObvious Photoshop. No color film in old days. Re: Obvious PhotoshopI'd be interested to know what kind of "journalist" thinks color film didn't exist in the 1940s. Hope you're not a photographer - you'd need to quit and go back to school. (This is, by the way, one of our most frequent uninformed comments.) - Dave Color photography?I'm sure this has been posted before, but to anyone who doesn't think color photography existed before 1960: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/ Or how about WWI battle photographs: http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/ (warning, last I checked there were a few graphic pictures in the WWI shots) I'm amazed people think we had color movies in the 1930's (Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz) but no color photography in the 1940's. ["Journalist" was disputing the existence of color film, not color photography. - Dave] ...and I quote:Although color photography was around prior to 1903, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, patented the process in 1903 and developed the first color film in 1907. Building XDoes anyone know the name of the smaller gray building between the Wrigley and Tribune? Re: Building XAnswering my own question, it's the Music Corporation of America Building. At first I could not locate a picture. After deducing the location to be 430 North Michigan Avenue I ran across a description of it at Emporis.com -- "one of the narrowest skyscrapers in the country with a depth of only 25 feet from Michigan Avenue to its backside. The art deco design gave strong vertical emphasis to the center of the Michigan Avenue facade with continuous limestone piers rising to 3 projecting fins in front of a set-back upper floor." It was replaced in 1963 by the Realtor Building. Later I found a picture of it in John W. Stamper's book "North Michigan Avenue." If anyone is curious as to why I wanted to know this it is because I construct models of scenes from railroads of the past. My particular interest is the Illinois Central. I am identifying the buildings in Jack Delano's photographs and incorporating them into a model of the Chicago, Grant Park and the Streeterville buildings I can identify from the photos. Single-axle trailers -- look dinky and frail compared to what's on the road today. The red zone is for...If that is in fact the Inbound Freight House, then it seems to me that those trucks should be loading, not unloading, since that facility would have handled arriving shipments, not departing. But, given the absence of any visible human activity; not a single truck tractor anywhere; the decrepit condition of the trailers and their ownership by a single carrier (Dixon)... I'm wondering if even as early as 1943 the volume of LCL freight moving by rail had dropped off to the point that the ICRR had consolidated its Inbound and Outbound LCL operations into one facility, and leased out the excess warehouse space to the Dixon truck line, and that most if not all of those ancient trailers were semi-retired to stationary service. Mandel Building The dark brick building on the far right is the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. Warehouse Building, later known as the Mandel Building. It was designed by the famous Chicago architecture firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White and built in 1926, hard on the north bank of the Chicago River. Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett was a wholesale hardware concern. In 1946 the building was sold to the Mandel Brothers Department Store. I remember it as the "temporary" home of the main branch of the Chicago Public Library from 1975 through the late 1980s, while the present Harold Washington Library was being debated, planned, and finally built. It was torn down in 1989, two years before the new library building was finished. For many years the Mandel Building was quite prominent in the Chicago cityscape, because it could be seen easily from North Michigan Avenue, where there was a largely empty space directly across from the Wrigley Building. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
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