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Rockaway Bungalows: 1910
... The yards are super. The yards are super. Send the kids down to the beach to bring back sea shells to decorate with! Talk about a ... since we had a hot water heater. It was a great place for kids to grow up. Every day my sister and I would open the window with the sun ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 3:56am -

Vacation bungalow colony at Rockaway, Queens, c. 1910. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection. Note "front yards" of sand decorated with seashells. Sand in QueensI wonder if any of the buildings are still standing. Since they are tract of small bungalows, I wonder what company supplied that lot for workers to live in. Sand in...Queens?! Wow. [Never heard of Rockaway Beach? - Dave] BungalowsWere these for living or vacation rentals? They sure are cute. Does anyone know how far from the water they were? Rockaway[Never heard of Rockaway Beach? - Dave] Well I've heard of Rockaway Beach here in Oregon. :) Re: BungalowsThe were seasonal at first. More info at the Beachside Bungalow Preservation Association: By the 1920s, Rockaway Beach was the poor man's Riviera. It had a six-mile long boardwalk lined with amusements, and thousands flocked to the beach every summer weekend. Many families rented tents for the entire season, while those a little more affluent rented small bungalows. The concept of the bungalow in America was well established by this time as they were built for summer communities on both coasts. The plans could be purchased from catalogues and were designed in numerous styles. This last remaining bungalow colony was built by Richard Bainbridge in the 1920s. The one and a half story houses all have front porches and pitched roofs. The design and style vary from street to street. Some of the bungalows are in a Spanish Revival style of stucco with wood trim and green the roofs, and others are in an English Tudor of brick. Lacking heat, they were closed for the winter months. The lanes leading to the beach have permanent easements for common access. As development pressures change the Rockaways, this small district has become endangered. But it would be appropriate to preserve and restore this remnant of past summer amusements. The yards are super.The yards are super. Send the kids down to the beach to bring back sea shells to decorate with! Talk about a family project. Rockaway BungalowsI'm pretty sure these are not there anymore. In fact Rockaway Beach today is quite run-down. If you take the A Train out there, these must have been between the tracks and the water, where there are now streets with no houses. Only weeds. Sadly, most of theseSadly, most of these bungalows are gone, as Doug points out above. There are only a few left, and they face demolition by developers who want to turn the Rockaways into yet another bland housing development. These were vacation homes for folks in Manhattan and the other boros, not company houses for factory workers. How close were they to the beach? How does less than a city block sound? In the Rockaways, as at Coney, Manhattan, Brighton, and other New York City beaches, the streets are set up perpendicular to the beach and are only a few blocks long. The last block actually ends at the boardwalk. Across the boardwalk is the beach. The Ramones were from the Rockaways. Beach 29th streetMy family rented a bungalow on Beach 29th street until I was around 12 years old. As soon as school was over, my parents would pack up a van and off we went until Labor Day. It was the most amazing summers of my life. No locks on doors, showers in the backyard, fireworks Wednesday nights. My parents belonged to a group called FROGS- Far Rockaway Ocean Goers. The Bungalow owners, Mr. and Mrs. Herman, would let my Dad come before the season to fish. The last time I was there was about 36 years ago. It was so sad to see the destruction of these amazing bungalows. Ours was white and green, and all the furniture inside was painted a sticky tacky gray. My Grandma and Nana lived a few blocks up in a rooming house. It was very sad to watch as these homes burned to the ground. Such a day-gone-by era. Beach 29th StreetHi! I am very curious exactly where on 29th Street the bungalow was. I lived on 29th just off Seagirt Blvd. It was a year 'round dwelling. The area was VERY crowded during the summer and VERY empty from after Labor Day until Memorial Day. Do you have any pictures from there? I would love to see them! Thanks, Marc Far Rockaway refugee now living in Bayside, NY Rockaway BungalowsThere was nothing better than spending the summer in Rockaway. Most of your family members rented bungalows in the court. Everyone was out every night. The beach was just a few steps away. Fathers came out only for the weekends, even if you lived in Queens... Beach 107 StreetMy aunts, grandmother and uncle would whisk us away to Rockaway the minute school closed for the summer. We would stop at Weiss's for fish and chips, then drive over the old Cross Bay Boulevard bridge and see the top of the roller coaster and the ocean beyond. In a few minutes we would be at our bungelow in Highland Court, the second one in. We thought we had arrived since we had a hot water heater. It was a great place for kids to grow up. Every day my sister and I would open the window with the sun shining down on us. We would get into our bathing suits and run to the beach, riding the waves until we were dragged out by our relatives. Beach 106 StreetBetween 1951 and 1958 or so I stayed with my good friend Donald Sullivan and his family in bungalows on Beach 106 Street. I don't remember the court name - if it had one. I do seem to remember Highland Court but this was centuries ago and memory may play tricks. Sand in QueensA similar group of bungalows still exists in the Breezy Point Coop and Roxbury in Queens. Many have been expanded and converted to year round use now, though some are still used only for the season. They refer to Breezy Point and Roxbury as the "Irish Riviera" due to the strong Irish presence. B. 29th bungalowsI know EXACTLY where you were. My grandmother too had a bungalow, about 5-6 before the boardwalk ramp. They were on the left side, because on the right side was a parking lot or a building (I can't remember it exactly). But up the block was two hotels - the Regency and another one. They were both owned by the same people - Mr. and Mrs. Hecht, german/lithuanian-jewish folks. If you remember, there was a wooden bridge that connected the two buildings, and the courtyard was shared by the two. The showers were both underneath the front of the buildings behind the, lattice and then common showers/bathrooms in the hallways. There was one public phone on each floor and a television on each floor. When my grandmother could no longer stay in the bungalow (either they were sold, torn down or condemned), she went into the Regency Hotel. She was in the basement which was very cool in the summer. They dodn't need air conditioning. The last party of the season was Mardi Gras. My grandmother, being on the heavy side, loved to wear blackface makeup and put her hair up with a tied kerchief - she was "Aunt Jemima." I only wish I had a place like 29th street to bring up my children in the summers. We ended up renting cabanas in Atlantic Beach from when they were little, then moved to Atlantic Beach, but retained memberships at the beach club. We can't get the sand out of our shoes! Belle Harbor's Bungalows I was searching for a picture of Weiss's Restaurant and stumbled across this site. I found one taken before the war, but was hoping to find one more recently, like late 1950s or early 60s. Looking at the group of bungalows, there were similar ones along the beach 2 rows deep at B129th Street in Belle Harbor, Rockaway. They looked very similar to the ones in the pics if memory serves. I was there last year and although they still occupy the same footprint, most have either been completely reconstructed or torn down and replaced with more modern ones. I recall every summer going to the beach and seeking out the "city" kids here for a few weeks. We made lots of new friends every summer. Then there were the bungalows out on RockyPoint/BreezyPoint. My mother spent her childhood summers, probably right there in that picture. Her parents owned their own bungalow. I have a picture of it from around 1941. Mom's 83 and I'll have to print this off and show it to her. Maple Court, Beach 28th st.I've been searching for info on Far Rockaway. I've been strolling down memory lane thinking about my wonderful summers there. My family rented, and we stayed for a total of five summers. The last two were in Maple Court, which, I believe, was on beach 26th or 28th Street. Before that we were in B Court and A Court on 28th. I agree with the posters who spoke of these summers as paradise! I felt truly free there. And yes, nothing was locked up. There was no schedule to keep. Just pure fun. My last summer there was in 1969. I remember this because of the moon landing. We returned home from the fireworks display on the beach and watched it on TV. My grandparents owned a fruit store on the main street, and they stayed at a wonderful hotel called the Manor. My happiest memories from my childhood are from Far Rockaway. Maple Court bungalowMy family purchased a bungalow at 29 Maple Court in 1969 when I was 9 years old. I too had the greatest memories there. We took so much for granted thinking everyone lived as we did. Now I realize how lucky we were back then. Being able to stroll down the street to the boardwalk, watching the fireworks Wednesday nights, and winning prizes at the arcade games are fond memories. Do you remember the pizza shop on the corner? Because the bungalows were so small and cozy, to this day I prefer smaller spaces. Thanks for letting me relive those memories for just a short time. The EmbassyWe stayed in the Embassy on 29th Street (right next to the ramp to the beach). Many of my friends were in the bungalow courts between 28th and 29th. We stopped going in 1967 but those were the best times -- those summers were magical. My husband and I went back in 1998. There is a school where the Embassy used to be and nothing much else. I went down to the beach and I cried. Who were your grandparents?Carolyn, my parents owned the Manor at 2400 Seagirt Blvd (beach 24st). My last summer on Rockaway Beach was 1967 just before I entered the Army. My parents and I moved to South Florida shortly there after. I was 6 miles from the DMZ in Vietnam when we landed on the moon. Fruit storeCarolyn, if memory serves (pretty fuzzy by now), your grandparents were the Lebowitzes. The fruit store was on Edgemere Avenue just off Beach 24 next to Willy's Market. If I am right, I am amazed. The EmbassyMy family had a bungalow on B29th Street on "the ramp" from the 1950s until around 1970. I got thrown out of the Embassy by the owner because we didn't live there. I bought ice cream at the candy store under the porch of the hotel. I saw the school, it was a bummer. I remember Lenny's, skee ball, Jerry's knishes, Sally & Larry's pizza, movies on the boardwalk, Dugan the baker, softball games, basketball in the parking lot. I used to sell lemonade to the ball players on hot days. Memories ... I remember a girl named Cherie or Sherry. She had a boyfriend, Arnie. I used to hang out with Arnie's brother Marvin. lmc2222@aol.com Far RockawayI also have childhood reminiscences of Far Rockaway. My family lived in a small bungalow rented for a group of Russians in 1970s (yep, I am Russian, living in Moscow now). I was 3 or 4 years old at that time, so I do not remember much. What I know is that these are one of the brightest memories of my early childhood. My pa said the house was really small. I do not know what street it was on, or if it still exists. What matters are the snapshots of my memory: me sitting on a porch on a rocking chair, and the arches of the porches, of the same form and shape, go all the way down to the ocean. Me playing in sand, building garages for toy trucks, with other children running from waves that seemed - wow - so really huge. And above all and around all, the salty smell of Atlantic, which is different from any other seaside smell. Great pity the place is devastated today. Hope that everyone who has ever had good times in Far Rock keeps his own memory snapshots of the place, where it looks as it really should. Fruit StorePeter, you have an incredible memory! My grandparents were the Leibowitzes. That's such a specific memory. Did you know them personally? I would love to hear about any memories you have of them or the store. Were you a child at the time? The EmbassyCheri, I can understand your crying. I went back many years ago and was also upset to see the area so demolished. At that time, it seemed the only bungalow left standing belonged to a lady we were all so afraid of on Maple court. She seemed to hate kids (probably we just annoyed her mercilessly!). But going back as an adult, I saw her situation quite differently. The bungalow was all she had, and so she stayed there while everything around her seemed to be destroyed. Maple Court BungalowLillian, we must have known each other since we were there at the same time, and we were around the same age. I was in the first bungalow on the right, facing the main street. You might remember the pile of junk in front of the house (left by the owner, which we were waiting for them to take away!) Where in the court were you? I remember a girl named Elena, and a boy everybody had a crush on named Eddie. The ManorWow... your parents owned the Manor! What an interesting and exciting experience that must have been. If I recall correctly, there were an eccentric bunch of characters staying there. Carolyn! What a great happening!Hi Carolyn, Glad you found me on Facebook. Your ability to put me together with my earlier Shorpy post was remarkable, so I am posting this for the benefit of "Shorpy page readers." Your recollections and mine from the 1960's certainly attest to how great having the internet and pages like Shorpy's are. (Shorpy..thank you!) The fact that I remembered your grandparents is somewhat unique cause I can't remember anyone else's grandparents from way back then, other then mine. I must have really liked them and was destined to cross your path again. I remember sitting and talking with them on porch of the Manor in one of those green rocking chairs. They were "grandparent" types, had a European accent like most grandparents back then, and easy to be comfortable with. Just to put things into focus, I am now 63. That was back when I was 16 or 17 and younger, but your grandparents returned to the Manor for quite a few summers in the 1960s. How could I have remembered your grandparents' name? I too am amazed and flabbergasted. Memories of Far RockawayYes, this website is truly wonderful for allowing us to stroll down memory lane and recall the sights, smells and feel of Far Rockaway... and what an extra treat for me to find someone who actually knew my grandparents. Thank you Shorpy's for allowing us this exchange of information and memories... and thank you Peter for your kindness and your very sharp memory! Far RockawayMy sister directed me to this site. We stayed in the Jefferson Hotel, right between Beach 29th and 30th, next to the Frontenac. My good friend Faye's grandparents, the Kratkas, owned the Embassy and both Faye and I worked the concession stand which her parents ran. The memories of the boardwalk are still strong. Not only did we have the luxury of a fantastic beach at our doorstep, we also had nighttime fun. Cruising up and down the boardwalk -- eating pizza at Sally & Larry's, or Takee Cup (originally called Tuckee Cup until the owners got disgusted of painting out the alternate name it always received over the winter months) and listening to Eddie, with his ever-present songbook, sing requests. All added up to good, clean fun. I left in 1968, went back from time to time, but haven't been back in years. Unfortunately, you can see enough from Google Earth. My two auntsMy father's two aunts had a bungalow in Rockaway Beach in the late 50's early 60's. It had flowered wallpaper and a musty smell, but it was the most interesting home I have ever been in. I was allowed to leave and explore without my mother's glare. I cannot tell you what food we ate there. I have no memory of meals which is odd. I do remember being bitten by my aunt's dog, which scared me for a long time. I think their names were Bernice and Ruth Cohan. If you have any thing to share please do. thanks, Mary Donaldson neversynvr@aol.com Twin HousesThe houses with the bridge were known as "the twin houses", possibly the Claremore & Edgewater, both owned by the Hechts. I spent the happiest summers of my life there! Like Cheri, I've wanted to return, but haven't as I know how sad it would be. Better to revisit in memory, sometimes in dreams. I probably know Cheri (from Arnie & the Joey days) and Les rings a bell, as does singing Eddie... Marcy Sand in my shoes on Beach 107thMy mother's family went to Beach 107th in the summers of 1917 through 1929. After the Depression hit they couldn't afford it. I still have photos of that period. In 1951 our family went down to the Rockaways and rented a bungalow for the season. The courts I remember were Almeida and Holmenhurst. My dad came only for the weekends, arriving Friday evening. The first thing he did was put on his trunks and head for the beach with me. When he hit the ocean you could see all his cares and worries leave. At night the parents would gather on the porches and play cards, drink a Tom Collins or have a beer and just have a good time. As a 10-year-old I wondered what was so much fun doing this every weekend. It occurred to me many years ago that boy, did they have it made. Sitting on a porch with a nice summer drink, a cool ocean breeze along with good friends to talk with and play cards with. Life was so laid-back and simple then. Does anyone remember the doughnut shop Brindle's or the bakery Dudie's? What about Nat's Ice cream shop, where you could get a walk-away sundae. Bill's Deli had the best salads and cold cuts. Wonderful summers that will always keep me warm in the winters of my aging mind. Beach 28th Street & A B and C CourtsI too remember the pizzaria on the corner of Beach 28th street. I remember my friends Randy, Shmealy, Risa, Brenda and Jody. I don't remember Shmealy's given name, but I remember he was hyperactive and a lot of fun. Made up a song from the commercials of the time for Halo Shampoo. "Halo Sham-poo poo, Ha-a-lo! Jodi's mom didn't want me hanging around Jody because I blinked my eyes too much. Oh well. HEY: Jody from Beach 29th street who wrote a post here on 11/12/2007 - I wonder if you're the Jody I remember!? I hung around with Risa a lot. I still have a photo of us and my dog Suzie on the porch of my Bungalow. I once disappeared into the Courts of Beach 28th street while walking my dog. I ended up talking to a boy for 2 hours, not knowing my parents had called the police and had an all-out search for me. My father finally found me. I was the talk of the town that day! I hope someone remembers these people or IS one of these people, or remembers the lost girl incident and would like to contact me at orangechickens2@aol.com. It would be wonderful to hear from you!! Anyone remember dogball?My dad wrote about playing dogball on the beach at 110th Street on his blog at willhoppe.com. I'm going to show him all of your comments later tonight. The BungalowsI was born in Far Rockaway in 1942. I lived there for 16 summers. My dad owned a small grocery on B 28th street. It was the best time of my life. Maple Court faced 28th. To me it was a very exotic place. The renters/owners vacationed there, my dad was a workman. We lived in roominghouses with a bath on the floor. One year I begged my dad to live in Maple Court and we got a small apartment in the back of a bungalow there. The bungalows were the BEST. Rockaway native from HammelsBorn in Rockaway in 1941 at Rockway Beach Hospital. Went to PS 44, JHS 198, Class of '59 from Far Rock. Worked as a locker boy at Roche's Beach Club in Far Rockaway. For two summers I worked in Rockaway Playland. I lived on 90th, where my parents rented out the bungalow in the back of our house every summer. My father at the end of his years as a waiter worked in Weiss's dining room, and the Breakers restaurant on 116th Street. I met my wife in 1965 at McNulty's on 108th Street. She was from Woodhaven and Breezy Point. We got married in '68. I am writing this on the back deck as we are still enjoying the summer weather here at Breezy. We both still have sand in our shoes. Our 1940s summersA group of Bronx families spent the summers of the early '40s in a few bungalows. Sundays the working fathers would appear for a community breakfast. We celebrated V-J Day with a parade on the boardwalk. Takee Cup was a part of our diet. A noodle cup to be eaten after the chow mein was devoured. The ultimate hand held food treat. Beach 25th StreetI grew up in Far Rockaway in the 1960s and 70s. We lived in the Bronx and rented every summer on Beach 32nd Street (now two big apartment buildings -- Seaview Towers). When I was 9 or 10, we moved to Beach 25th year-round. The summers were great -- we didn't wear shoes most of the time. Every Friday night, "Bingo Al" held a game in the court behind the bungalows, between 25th and 26th. One summmer he had a "Chinese auction" and dressed up in an oriental robe and Fu Manchu mustache and beard. Many of the residents got seltzer water delivered in bottles at their back porch. They would gather in the evenings out in front of the bungalows and talk and joke. I would lie in my bed, with my ear pressed against the window screen, trying to listen, and also trying to stay cool -- no air conditioning. Sol "The Cantor" Gerb would play his little electric organ as people sipped their drinks, chatted or played cards. It was like a different world from the rest of New York. I read where one commenter talked about the bungalows rented for the Russians. This was on Beach 24th Street. They worked at the United Nations and rented a block of bungalows. Every Monday morning passenger vans would show up to take them to work at the UN. We played with the Russian kids. They were a good bunch. I stayed over at one of their bungalows and we had crepes for breakfast. I had no idea what crepes were! I learned to play chess, as the Russians were crazy about it. I recall one time when members of the Jewish Defense League blew up a small BMW belonging to one of the Russians. The news came out and I was in the background, behind the reporter. A sad time for Far Rockaway. One of the amazing things was the backgrounds of the bungalow residents -- former concentration camp prisoners, Russians, Irish, Jews, some Italians and Greeks, but we all got along so well. A great place to grow up! At the FrontenacMy family spent summers at the Frontenac from the late 40s until 1957. When I describe it to my daughter, I have to confess it was really more like a boardinghouse. My mother, father and I shared a room that was also the kitchen. Bathroom on the floor, showers were out back for when you came back from the beach. It was great community. Juke box for dancing, card room for gin and mah jongg and the television on the porch. I loved Jerry's cherry cheese knishes. I remember the movie theater on the boardwalk in the 30's (it could barely be called indoors) I bought the News and Mirror off the delivery trucks for 2 or 3 cents and sold them for a nickel. My parents would pay the guy who ran the first aid station under the boardwalk to hold our beach chairs overnight so we wouldn't have to "schlep" them back and forth. We played softball on the blacktop parking lot on 29th street right off the boardwalk. My wife, who I did not know then, stayed with a friend's family in a bungalow on 29th street. I think her best memory was playing Fascination. Best summers everI used to stay at my grandmother's bungalow on B 28th st. in the mid to late 60s. Those were the very best summers ever! Walking just a few yards to the boardwalk and beach, pizza from the store on the corner, hanging with Howie and the crowd there. Playing Fascination for a dime, huge french fries in those cone cups. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Howie Young I'd love to get in touch with him. My email is belongtoyou@hotmail.com Hugh McNulty Hotel, Rockaway BeachI am trying to learn about Hugh McNulty's Hotel. I am not sure what street it was on, but there was also a bar in it. Hugh was my mum's uncle and her father came to stay with him and work for him. The time period may have been 1924-1930. I know the hotel was still in operation in 1953, as my grandmother visited him at that time. Any help is appreciated. libtech50@comcast.net Edgemere memoriesMy family lived many places in the Edgemere section of Far Rockaway (I don't know the exact boundaries of Edgemere, if there were any), but my memories centered on Beach 48th Way and Beach 48th Street. Fantastic place to spend the summers and escape the hell of the South Bronx. I had wonderful Jewish friends and I worried that they would go to hell because they weren't Catholic. Now I laugh as such perverted theology, but back then it was serious stuff. I loved the beach, the ocean, the starts, the jetties, playing every group game known to humans, going over the the "bay side" to play softball with the "project people" -- those who lived beyond the marshes and spent the winter there. No doubt about it, the best part of my childhood was Rockaway. Too bad it was taken away from us and to my knowledge, still is just a bunch of sand with no houses where we used to live, right near the boardwalk. Beach 48th Way, RockawayIn the early 1960s there were two brothers that were lifeguards when my family was there, Dennis and Tom Fulton. Anyone remember them? Also there was a man named Warren who would feed pigeons at the end of the block every day. My parents would rent a bungalow in the summer months to get us out of Brooklyn for awhile. Great memories. Rockaway, a kid's dreamI remember growing up in Rockaway. We had two boarding houses on Beach 114th Street. When my mom was a kid, Carroll O'Connor, his mom and brother Frank stayed with them. He returned to see my parents back in the mid-eighties and I received one of his last e-mails before he died. I worked my way bartending at Fitzgerald's on Beach 108th and Sullivan's on Beach 116th (1967-1970). You could leave the house at 7 years old, walk to the beach without crossing the street and never had to worry one bit. The neighbors looked out for everone's children. Great memories and thanks to Shorpy for an incredible site. Brilliant job! Cohen's CourtThe picture above is very much how I remember the bungalow court where my parents rented in the summers of the early 1950s. I think my mom said it was Cohen's Court. Ours was at the end of the court on the left. I don't remember too much, I was really little. But I think there was a center row of garden where parents hid treats for us to hunt. I remember a corner candy store we kids could walk to and my mom confiscating a tube of plastic bubbles I bought. I guess she thought the fumes would get me high or something. There was a little girl across the court who would stand on her porch in a towel and flash us once in a while. And I have a memory of being on the beach with my parents, I in the sand and my mom in a beach chair, and my dad taking me into the water. I went back with my parents in the early 60s because they were thinking about renting it again. But it was so musty and dirty and ramshackle that they decided against it. I had a girl friend with me and I have to say I was embarrassed about the way the place looked and smelled. Too bad, that bungalow was a great summer getaway for a working class family from Brooklyn. Elisa on B 29thWas your grandma named Bessie? I lived in the Claremar, one of the twin houses, and I remember her. Did you have a brother too? My sister, parents, grandmother and baby brother and I all lived in two rooms in the basement. I remember Crazy Eddie and his huge black book of songs. Tina and Elise ... Elliot ... Donna ... Jackie ... smiling in memory! Palace HotelThe last place my family stayed at for quite a few years was the Palace Hotel on Beach 30th Street right near the boardwalk. Those were the days my friend. All the arcades and food places on the boardwalk, Cinderella Playland for the little kiddies, the Good Humor man , Ralph was his name. Life was simple. No internet, cell phones or video games yet we had great times and wonderful memories. We played board games and cards and rode our bikes. The guys played baseball in the parking lot adjacent to the Palace Hotel. The team was a mix of every race and ethnicity and everyone managed to get along and looked forward to playing together the next Summer. The beach was the best. Dads could go to work and come back every day rather than only on weekends as they do in the Catskills. Such a shame that this no longer exists. The last summer I went there for a few weekends was in 1976. The JeffersonMy grandparents rented a place in the Jefferson for many years. I have great memories of the place, the back stair cases, the porch, and the beach just a short walk away. Does anyone have relatives who stayed there? Rockaway summersI spent virtually every summer till the age of 22 in Rockaway. We stayed on Beach 49th till they knocked them down, then kept moving to the 20's. Best time of my life. My family was unique -- Italians in the Jewish neighborhood and we came in from Jersey! My mom grew up in Brooklyn and her family started coming in the '40s! Wish I could connect with friends from back then. If I sound familiar please let me know. You would be in your mid to late 50s now. Rockaway Beach Bungalows on PBSI received a message, last night, from my girlfriend who stated that "The Bungalows of Rockaway" was on PBS @ 8PM. I started watching at 8:30 and to my surprise I could not stop watching. I was born at Rockaway Beach Hospital and I am a lifer. I never lived in a Bungalow but I have always wanted to purchase one. I was taken aback by the fact that there were at least 6,000 bungalows and now there are approximately 300 (big difference). I also found out in this documentary that there is hope that the bungalows can be landmarked and I hope that it happens. The bungalows are a unique attraction to this area and I hope that the 300 remaining can be preserved. Elisa on B. 29th Street - the hotelsTo Anonymous Tipster on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 3:15am - YES! My grandmother was Bessie. I do remember your family - your grandmother, parents and the little ones. Your mom wore glasses and had blonde hair. She always wore her hair pulled back and up on her head, curlers in the evening. Also, Harry and Dottie lived in a large room in the corner of the basement of the hotel. I have 3 brothers and one sister. My Aunt Rose and Uncle Leo used to come to the hotel as well to visit with Grandma Bessie. Please e-mail me @ medmalnursing@msn.com Sally's Pizza and the Lemon & Orange Ice StandI spent the best summers of my life on Beach 28th Street. Coming from a Bronx apartment, it felt like our own private house. Our own family doctor came out to Rockaway every summer and stayed on Beach 24th Street. I now wonder what happened to his patients during July and August. How come nobody has mentioned Sally's pizza, on the boardwalk around 32nd Street? You couldn't forget Sally-- with her bleached blond hair, tight pants, and backless highheels. Near Sally's was the fresh lemon and orange ice stand with the fruit stacked against the wall. The ices even contained pits. No artificial coloring or corn syrup in those ices. Grandmother's bungalowsMy grandmother owned 10 bungalows on the beach on 35th Street from the 1930s thru the 1950s. They were the ones nearest the water. I loved going to help her get them ready each spring and clean them up each fall. Playing on that wonderful empty beach at those times of year with no one else in sight. We lived in Far Rockaway at 856 Central Ave., so going to the bungalows was not a long trip. Great memories. Mom's RivieraMy mother loved Rockaway so much that we called it "Mother's Riviera." She couldn't have cared less about the beautiful beaches across the ocean in France or Italy, for Rockaway Beach was her greatest joy. We spent many summers in a bungalow court on 109th Street and my grandmother and her sisters also spent their youthful summer days in Rockaway Beach. So our family goes back generations loving Rockaway. Every Memorial Day the court always had a party to celebrate the beginning of summer and the courtyard inhabitants were usually Irish. The courtyard came alive with Irish songs and jigs and reels. Of course, the people of the courtyard always chipped in for a big keg of beer. It was repeated on Labor Day as we all said our goodbyes to our neighbors and to our beloved Rockaway Beach. Saturday nights in Rockaway were spent at the closest Irish bar and some nights the local boys slept under the boardwalk after having a wild time. They always managed to get themselves together for Sunday Mass or otherwise they would get holy hell from their families. Sands of TimeI spent every summer in the Rockaway bungalows from the fifties until the mid eighties when we were forced to leave because of the deteriorating situation. I was a child on Beach 49th and remember George's candy store where you could get a walkaway sundae for 50 cents. Sue, I remember the Fulton brothers, who were lifeguards. Handsome devils, had a crush on Tom when I was 14. Times were safe. There were a thousand kids to play with. We went from 49th, 40th 39th, 38th, 26th and finally 25th Street with my own kids trying to hold on to that wonderful way of life. Unfortunately it disappeared. Some of the best days of our liveswere spent on Beach 25th. When I was 12 (1936) until I was 17, we stayed every summer at my grandmother's at Beach 66th Street. Those were glorious days on the beach. The boardwalk at night was wonderful, too. We played pinball, and games of skill for 5 cents to collect prizes. Bottled soda and ice cream were 5 cents then, too. We used to run up to the boardwalk to eat the delicious knishes. My summers at Far Rockaway were the most unforgettable of my growing up. Tuna fish and bologna sandwiches on a roll never tasted as good as it did at the waterfront. In 1961, when I was married with children, we rented a bungalow on Beach 25th and loved it! It was a rainy summer and we spent a lot of time in Far Rockaway shopping, eating and going to the movies. Every sunny day, however, we quickly rushed to the beach to enjoy it with family and friends. The Jefferson, Beach 30thI stayed with Grandma and Grandpa every summer for years in a small room at ground level. Grandpa would take me to the beach in the morning, then off to the stores on 24th Street. The back patio was for dancing on Saturday night and the concession inside had bingo. The porch! As I grew up to teenager, I met Ronnie Schenkman and family on the second or third floor (used the back staircase). I don't remember where Eleanor stayed. Crazy Eddie and his songs. Hal and his girl of the night. Warm nights and days. Very sexy! As a working girl I still took the RR to Far Rockaway, then the bus to Edgemere. Took my children to visit Grandma when it was becoming sad looking. Then went to the area years later and found a burnt shell with a wicked fence surrounding it. Took pics and had a good cry. We are all lucky that we were able to experience the wonderful warm sun and sultry nights. Belle Harbor BungalowsI think the two rows of Belle Harbor bungalows on Beach 129th to which another person referred were probably the Ocean Promenade Apartments. I have very happy memories of living there in the mid-i950s in the winter. Beach at 37th streetWhat a trip to see all of the these comments. I grew up and lived year round on Beach 37th until 1950, when we moved to Bayside. Takee Cup was a treat as well as the movie theater on the boardwalk, Italian ices and of course the arcade. For a penny you could get great photos of famous cowboys and movie stars. Rockaway in 1958My family spent the summer in Rockaway in 1958. Most of our friends were in the court, but we were outside it on the main street. I don't remember the street, but I suspect it was around Beach 45th, as the El was right on the corner. We had a bungalow with a porch. I was climbing on the outside of it, fell when I saw a neighbor's dog that I wanted to play with, and broke my wrist on broken concrete. Today, one would sue the owner. Back then, we just made do. Later that same summer, I ran across the street to get Italian ices from the local candy store, but looked the wrong way crossing the one-way street and almost got hit by a car. I didn't think that much of it, but the woman driving was hysterical. I also remember a movie theatre on the Boardwalk. In those days, an 8-year-old (me) could feel safe walking the boardwalk without an adult present. The back of the theater opened up at night so you could sit outside. I saw "The Colossus of New York" there, an incredibly bad "monster" movie. Most of the bungalows in the Rockaways were destroyed by Hurricane Donna in 1960. So-called "urban renewal" took care of the rest. Now some sections of the Rockaways, especially those facing the ocean, are filled with expensive new condos. The Jefferson 1950s I stayed at the Jefferson in the 1950s. It was far far away from the Bronx. Our father worked two, sometimes three jobs, so my brother and I could escape the Bronx and spend each summer --the whole summer-- in Rockaway. Dad took the train to work every day. We turned brown by July 4th; skinny brown kids always running, scheming, cunningly evading the watchful eyes of Jewish mothers. We played softball in the parking lot by the beach in the early mornings before the cars showed up. We played kick the can in the street, ring-o-lerio (sp?), off the stoop. And then there were the long long days on the beach, hopping on hot sand from blanket to shore, waiting the magic 45 minutes to go in the water after eating lim and sandy salami sandwiches, early versions of body-surfing, acting like we couldn't hear our mothers calling that it was time to come in from the water. Crawling into the cool dark sand under the boardwalk. Some kid named Howie always had a piece of fruit in hand, juice dribbling down his chin. And then there was a kid whose own family called him "Fat Jackie" -- at least that's how I remember it. Once in a while we were treated to Takee cups or lemon Italian ices, and chocolate egg creams. Always sneaking off with so much watermelon that your belly ached, and sand -- always sand -- in your bed. Jumping off the wooden steps to the beach, higher and higher, until you dared to jump from the railings along the boardwalk. I think it was Friday nights we would go to the boardwalk to watch the fireworks display from Playland. Flying kites over the surf when the weather cooled, and sneaking out to the Boardwalk to watch, awestruck, huge summer storms -- was it hurricane Carol? Evenings with men playing pinochle, women playing mah jongg. Ping Pong, hide & seek around the Jefferson. Costume parties with fat hairy men wearing grass skirts and coconut shell brassieres, and mothers with painted mustaches and sideburns, wearing huge hipster hats, chewing cold cigars. Then, dreaded September, back to school and insanely diving under your desk to practice for the upcoming atomic war, or wondering whether you were one of the kids who got the fake Polio vaccine. But somehow, during those summers at the Jefferson, there was nothing to fear. Nothing at all. Beach 45thDoes anyone remember Scott Whitehill or Laird Whitehill? If so, please e-mail me at scott@scottwhitehill.com Moe's Grocery Store on Beach 28thBarbara posted a comment earlier about her dad owning a grocery store on Beach 28th Street. The name of the grocery store was Moe's, and they carried lots of things for a small store. I lived in bungalows on Beach 28th and Beach 29th Street. These were the most memorable times of my life. I only wish that I could go back and see and relive these wonderful times. Beach 49thMy family and many of my relatives owned bungalows on Beach 49th and Beach 48th Street. We spent every summer there until the city condemned the properties. My father brought one of the first surfboards there in the early 60s. I have many fond memories of the beach and the friends I made. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Travel & Vacation)
Our Gang: 1916
... bunch. Second from the left, not counting the little kids. Present arms! I'd venture a guess thats a Daisy one-pump BB gun ... Daisy was in business at that time. Uh-oh These kids creep me out. They could be capable of murder and abuse! Roll Your Own ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/06/2010 - 6:08am -

June 27, 1916. Springfield, Massachusetts. "Street gang, corner Margaret and Water streets -- 4:30 p.m." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Knickers, and rifles, and guns -- Oh my!It's pretty hard to look tough in a pair of knickers. You try it! Well done, boys. One Chewer in the bunch.Second from the left, not counting the little kids. Present arms!I'd venture a guess thats a Daisy one-pump BB gun that fellow to the left is sporting, presuming Daisy was in business at that time. Uh-ohThese kids creep me out. They could be capable of murder and abuse! Roll Your OwnThis is definitely a pouch and paper crowd. When America Was GreatKids, cigarettes and guns. All was well. Standards of dressInteresting that in those days even street-corner gangsters wore ties! Some things never changeAdd about 150 tattoos, 50-odd piercings, spray-on jeans for the girls, and pull the boys' pants down around their knees ... make the rifle an Uzi and make the soundtrack a cacophonous mixture of hiphop and metal, and ... voila! You've got now. What was sad then is still sad today. Ominous BunchI fear they didn't amount to much in adulthood. This is another Shorpy masterpiece. Armed & DangerousLooks like Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall with the East Side Kids! At least that's not an AK47 as you see in gangland today Go Shorpy! Times have changed.1916 Gangstas! Street ToughsMargaret Street today runs from Main Street just a couple of hundred yards or so down toward the Connecticut River, where it dead-ends at Interstate 91. I have a hunch Water Street may have run parallel to the River back in 1916, decades before the land along the waterfront was taken for the purpose of constructing the highway that now runs from Vermont all the way to New Haven. The Springfield waterfront in the 19-teens was probably teeming with streetwise little roughnecks like these fellows. The first wave of..Mad Men--but without the scotch. Fast forward ten years and they'll probably be running it though, and with a tommy gun instead of a rifle. Love this picture! Calling Prof. HillWith five of those boys wearing identical newsboy caps, a.k.a. Gatsby hats, do you suppose that represents the "gang colors"? The Gatsby Hat Gang? Note also: BB guns and 10¢ a pack cigarettes. "Oh, we got trouble!!" ATF Back when Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was a convenience store, not a Gummint Agency Tough Looking BunchI imagine Hine took this picture and then started running. Where's Leo Gorcey?Early version of the Bowery Boys modeling the latest Hart, Schaffner and Marx fashions while enjoying those Royal Nestors. Tough?The Cornett boys could kick 'em all up and down the block. Daisy Model 25The gun is a Daisy Model 25 BB rifle. For more on its history check out Page 18 of Daisy Air Rifles and BB Guns: The First 100 Years. *sigh* I still remember my first Daisy. 1916 KidsI love reading comments from people. These kids were just your average-type kid back then. Everyone smoked (no health issues yet) and all the kids carried BB guns, even to school. It was a much different time back then. I can remember my grandfather telling me he started smoking at the age of 9. Not a household nameThis was 23 years before the "Daisy Red Ryder" gun made the company a household name in 1939. But, Daisy had been making rifles since 1882. When I was a kid I had a Daisy pump gun that could be shot 60 times without reloading. There were several boys in the neighborhood that had BB guns. It's a wonder that we made it to adulthood with both eyes intact. The DaisyI did a quick check, and the pump Daisy was introduced in 1914. Pictures on Daisy site confirm memory; that is almost certainly a Daisy pump. That young hoodlum is armed and ready to shoot his eye out! He's the only one with what was likely a pretty high end toy for the day...I bet he allowed the others to plink at pigeons in exchange for cigarettes! Uneeda Biscuit!Whether you know it or not. ChangesThis is in the South End of Springfield. There are still gangs hanging out there today, but smoking something completely different now. The building is still there (I think)This is a Street View at the corner of Margaret and Main. If you look closely at the bottom right of the window. You can see a round metal plate in the pavement. This position correlates with the vent pipe seen in the original photo. The corner entrance has been closed and altered and the entrance is now on Main Street. View Larger Map Pretty well dressed gangWhat impresses me is that for the most part these kids are neatly and properly dressed -- I think the tough guy in the middle is playing to the crowd & most probably has his necktie in his pocket- he'll spruce up before going home to Mother. Could be my fatherDad was a 4-year-old living on Margaret Street in 1916. They do make them like they used toFor those of you who want your very own Daisy Number 25, the company recently reissued it. Tough looking gangNo, Hine didn't start running after taking this picture, he took another one a few minutes later (or before?). Look for the differences: Springfield StoryHow much you wanna bet they couldn't dance as well as the Sharks or even da Jets? My First GunMy first gun was a Red Ryder lever action BB gun. I didn't grow up with dolls, I grew up with guns. Margaret Street & East Columbus AveMy Aunty Pat(Pasqualina) grew up on Margaret street, and her husband(Nicola Buoniconti, we called him "Uncle Slim") took over her father's bakery(Mercolino's) after he retired. That's my grandfatherThe smoker is my grandfather, Arnold Martinelli I am pretty sure of it. He lived at 123 Water Street during this time. He came from Italy in 1906. He would be about 12 in this picture. He was a tough guy and occasionally a wise guy. He grew up to invent the injection mold process for making plastic wares such as food storage containers and drinking glasses. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine)
The Joyners: 1956
... with these folks but I'm black so...I guess not. Kids' thought balloon Escape. Escape. ESCAAAPE. Product Placement ... families that ate together were much stronger, and the kids are less likely to do drugs and get into trouble. My family (wife and four ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/24/2008 - 4:27am -

July 1956. Greenville, North Carolina. "Segregationist tobacco sharecropper Marshall Joyner and family bowing heads in prayer before dinner." Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White, Life photo archive. View full size. YummyMmm, turnip greens. Potato salad. And I bet anything that's some good sweet tea by god. I'd love to share dinner with these folks but I'm black so...I guess not. Kids' thought balloonEscape. Escape. ESCAAAPE. Product PlacementA-1 steak sauce and French's Worcestershire sauce still readily recognizable. THAT'S where I got it from!!I guess this is where my North Carolina-bred dad got the idea that EVERYTHING needed to have A-1 Sauce slathered over it. I had to leave home to get away from THAT notion. Did you folks konw that steaks actually had a flavor of their own?? Weird, huh? Sorry, family flashbacks today. Life in the SouthIf one examines the Life editorials, articles and irate letters from the magazine's Southern readers during that era it's easy to conclude that its reporters and photographers were very often strongly resented whenever they appeared in that region. More than once they were accused of posing as doing a "sympathetic" story only to have it appear in print as quite otherwise. Margaret Bourke-WhiteI've been lost in Bourke-White's photographs since the Life archive went up four days ago. Her images on Google present a staggering, sprawling document of the Depression, WWII, and the birth of the Post-War era, not just in the US but around the globe. I do believe you have found the only assignment on which she used color. [She took some color photos in South Africa. It's hard to say without a bit of digging. The number of results returned for any query seems to be limited to 200. In any case we'll be seeing more of her work from this assignment. - Dave] The labelI wonder what the context was that the "segregationist" label was significant. It's as if some rare species has been captured on film. [Margaret Bourke-White took hundreds of photos contrasting the lives of what seem to be two white families and their black counterparts for this 1956 assignment on segregation in the South. Probably just about any white family she picked would have fit the bill. I don't imagine there were many pro-integration white North Carolina tobacco farmers in 1956. - Dave] Curtains With NostalgiaI summered many many times in the early 1960's in Craven County and know this scene well. I *was* that kid with the thought balloon mentioned below. Anyone notice the vaguely nostalgic room and interior pastiches done in 50's cartoon style on the cloth for the window curtains? Odd retro yet non-retro approach to nostalgia. Mom's control of the scene is very evident. She even matches the canister set. Almost All the Colors of the RainbowGoodness, the colors just ...shriek at you. The sky and fields outside the window even are so bright. It's like a Technicolor life. (As long as the colors aren't too brown.) The good sideWell this is not the norm today. Most families never eat together at the same time. There was a study done that showed that families that ate together were much stronger, and the kids are less likely to do drugs and get into trouble. My family (wife and four children) still eat together and (gasp) pray before our meals. On the TableDo my eyes deceive me, or is that pickled okra and hush puppies? And bacon? But who ever heard of eating greens without buttermilk? 1956The armed services were desegregated in 1952 and then the major struggle for integration really begun. In 1956, the writing was on the wall. What exactly were they praying for? [The usual things, I'd imagine. - Dave] The Way We WereThis amazing photo pretty much captures the essence of an American family in the 50's, regardless of their geographic locale or politics. Most middle class families were very much united in this way, eating meals together, praying together, sharing jobs -- as obviously Dad worked hard, Mom took care of all the domestic chores, the kids were good students, clean-cut and had chores, and God was acknowledged, regardless of which God they worshiped. Aside from the derogatory word "segregationist" every creed, race or religion definitely had prejudices, it was a factor just evolving into integration. If we throw out the label, this depicted an idyllic family scene. If only families could have preserved this "all for one, one for all" togetherness, most youngsters would be so much happier today. I am amazed at how so many of our current generation's kids really feel as though nobody cares about them and feel they don't fit in anywhere. We are all products of the values instilled in us while we were kids. These kids had security. They also had good healthy food, lots of vegetables and accountability. [There's nothing necessarily derogatory about the word "segregationist." It describes people who favor segregation of the races. - Dave] 1956 ReduxActually Truman ordered the desgregation of the armed forces in 1948, with the last "colored" unit being ended in 1951 or 1952. Brown v. Board of Education was 1954, but Little Rock didn't happen until 1957. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955 and didn't end officially until December 1956. The writing may have been on the wall, but the struggle was only just beginning, and people like Marshall Joyner probably still thought they could win. Re: 1956They're obviously praying for the missing buttermilk. Also, I'm pretty sure that people who worship a god still acknowledge that god even as we speak. My grandadparents' house.I'm only 31 years old. But this was the way I grew up in rural Tennessee. Both grandparents had smallish houses in a semi-rural area. The kitchens was where you ate, the walls and trim were coated with extremely shiny, oil-based paint, and all the appliances were of the chrome and white porcelain enamel variety, complete with 1950's emblems. One was a scary looking roaster device. The cabinets were all honey colored plywood. To this day, I haven't had Southern food done right compared to Grandmother's. I live in California now and there's a few places that claim to have "true Southern cooking." Not so. Typical meals at Grandmother's included various overcooked vegetables soaked in butter. Carrots, green beans cooked with bacon bits and onions, extremely tender roast beef cooked with potatoes and broth, as well as large quantities of canned things like homemade pickles, beets, and jelly. For dessert it was banana ("nanner") pudding. The yard was similar: little concrete critters like a donkey pulling a cart as well as several whitewashed tractor tires for planters. Pretty cool idea as they were indestructible and could be hit by the 60's era Sears riding mower that I still actually have. I agree, sitting down at the table is something you don't see a lot anymore. I'm not sure if children were necessarily happier though. My grandparents were strict people. Stern might be a better word. No work on Sundays since it was the Sabbath. That, and if I cussed (which was hard to avoid since Granddad cussed profusely), I got a nice "whuppin." Segregate the Condiments!They've got the salt and pepper cozied right up to the sugar bowl and the A-1 and Worcestershire sauce. Greenville is the seat of Pitt County, which voted 54% to 46% to integrate the White House a couple of weeks ago. Wonder how the Joyner kids (now in their 60's) voted? I spy something red.Can anybody guess what Ma's favorite color might be? Red countertops, red dress, red seat backs, red canisters, red salt and pepper shakers, red over the paper towel holder, red accents on the curtains, red stripes on Junior (which I bet Ma picked out the fabric that she then sewed up into that shirt) and I think something's red in the sink. SegregationistThe term is indeed derogatory. It connotes a decidedly low view of fellow mankind while self-aggrandizing his own superiority. I doubt I'd want to break bread with any segregationist. I prefer not to tolerate the intolerant. Takes too much energy best devoted to other endeavors. [You're confusing "derogatory" with "condemnable" or "something we disapprove of." Derogatory would be something like "redneck cracker." - Dave] Margaret's Little Joke?What a great name for segregationists - the Joyners! Surely Margaret and her team had a jolly sense of humour... Segregation is the context.Segregation is the theme of the article for which this picture was originally taken - its context. If the article had been about Catholicism or Socialism, the title would have been "Catholic family" or "Socialist family." And they thought Blacks were inhumanThere is no amount of white-washing you can do to present people like this as anything other than ignorant, insufferable humans. Just because they are praying does not absolve them from the misery and suffering they propagated. I love the South dearly, but there are still a lot of people down there just like this. [If you were a white person in South Carolina in 1956, you'd probably think just like these people did. This is generally the kind of comment I zap right away. Moral judgment, retroactive righteous indignation -- so tedious. And if you really were around back then fighting the good fight down South, I congratulate you on your superior moral virtue. But you've already done that. - Dave] I Didn't Think This WayYou are wrong, Dave. Not everybody thought the way this man did, in that place, at that time. [I didn't say everyone thought that way. I said the odds are that if you were white, you'd be a segregationist. - Dave] Re: The Way We WereI guess I'm too simplistic, but when I looked at that picture, I did not see anything negative, though I'm sure that just as any other time in our history there is much to be mentioned about the period that can be seen as negative. What I saw was much of what was mentioned in The Way We Were post. I saw a family sitting together for dinner, praying (even in their own imperfection -- just like us! hey!) and this all brought back many wonderful memories of times such as these. Were we perfect? Was the world perfect? Heck no! But, compared to the way things are today, it makes me long for a time such as this again. Family. Where did it go? I love seeing your pictures! Takes me back to some better days, as far as I'm concerned. A Different TimeThe segregationist context aside - and it was indefensible - this photo shows what I miss about this time, when I was 4. These people are not wealthy, not even really middle-class, yet their house has been upgraded as much as possible, given its cheap construction (evidenced by the matchboard walls). A carpenter has built kitchen cabinets that emulate the expensive ones seen in magazines of the time, and a Formica countertop and a drop-in sink add sanitary features the house wouldn't have had when new. The table setting is modest, with oilcloth for a tablecloth, but the dishes are 1956-fashionable, with all the silverware matching and laid according to Emily Post. Mrs. Joyner has raided the nearest Woolworth's to add fashion to her kitchen with her red Lustro-Ware canisters and some curtains she probably made herself, considering how well they fit the window. The women have permanents that were very possibly done at home; everyone is clean and pressed. We are well rid of segregation, but I wish we could get the simple dignity of homes like this back. Why was " segregationist" neededWhy was "segregationist" needed in the picture? These types of words are usually added to cause and stir debate and alot of anger. We really know nothing about this family, at least I do not. What facts do we know about them that would make them any different then any other white middle class family living during that time in that part of the nation? I feel the word is used to demonize these people, when in truth, have they committed a proven crime? Can they defend themselves against your accusations? It also allows atheists another reason to mock God. These sort of debates usually turn into God bashing and hatred towards those who choose to pray and beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ. Plenty of people of all races could be called segregationists, then and today. [The caption dates from 1956. The word was used because the photo was taken to illustrate a magazine article on segregation. Hello? - Dave] Eat up before the bombs fallIt is easy to view the family scene here as representative of good times long gone -- the family gathered around the dinner table saying grace at a table heaped with home-cooked food, rather than a present-day scene of Mom and Dad sitting down to microwave dinners while the kids head out the door to do whatever they do when they're out of sight of mom and dad. Let us bear in mind that behind the Ozzie and Harriet scenes like these, the 1950s (as I saw them as a kid about the age of the boy in the photo) were an era of stress and uncertainty - changing racial attitudes and aspirations that would have been unsettling for this Southern family of the mid-fifties, and the omnipresent fear that the evident prosperity of the time would vanish in multiple atomic fireballs resulting from nuclear war with the Soviet Union. I know that thought was eating at my consciousness each time I sat down to a hot, home-cooked meal. The past is not a paradise folks - it's just another imperfect world with different imperfections. Justin TimeThat's Justin Timberlake's dad at the end of the table, on the verge of tears, praying for a talented son, to take him away from all of this. MemoriesI'm sure at that time, there was segregation on everyones mind everywhere in the US. Yes we did live a simple life then, before media became dominate in our lives. I was stationed at Gunter AFB, Montgomery, Ala for 3 mos in the summer of 1955 and back to Maxwell AFB, Montgomery in 1958. Blacks and whites did not mingle then, segregation was in full swing. I had a friend of a different color then myself and we wouldn't dare drive off base together. I like things the way they are today, we could have shared downtown Montgomery or even the Mardi Gras together. My wife and I were married on base, he came to the wedding but could not visit us off base. (Kitchens etc., LIFE, Margaret Bourke-White)
The Kids 1952
The Tyler kids about twenty years later... Marjorie (Tyler) Craven, Harriet (Tyler) ... 
 
Posted by k2 - 08/25/2008 - 9:07pm -

The Tyler kids about twenty years later... Marjorie (Tyler) Craven, Harriet (Tyler) Miller, their father, F. Harold Tyler, their mother, Florence (Carpenter) Tyler, Ruby (Carriker) Tyler, and her husband, Albert Tyler. Those little guys in the front? That's me, staring into space, and my cousin Mike Tyler, shrugging off his mom's hands. Steve Miller Someplace near the crossroads of America (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Duluth: 1905
... every photo on here interesting. Here we see a bunch of kids playing around the freight cars. The days before Thomas the Tank Engine! ... is all, how different we are today. Hey you kids! Look at all the little boys running around! Plus the barefoot kid on ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 7:04pm -

Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1905. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Familiar facadesMany of the buildings in this photo still exist. The large stone building in the upper left is the old Central High School, now the Central Administration Building for the ISD. It was built in the 1890s. I wonder if the Pickwick sign is a company associated with the operators of the Old Saloon at the original Fitgers Brewery. This turned into the Pickwick restaurant, which is still in operation. One of the train cars is a Fitgers Beer reefer. Railyard playgroundI find the variety of people and animals hanging around the railyard in almost every photo on here interesting. Here we see a bunch of kids playing around the freight cars. The days before Thomas the Tank Engine! The other day it was free range chickens! Just interesting is all, how different we are today. Hey you kids!Look at all the little boys running around! Plus the barefoot kid on top of the boxcar and his friend down below. Doesn't seem prudent but I bet it was fun. Ol' swaybackSeriously overload gondola car, on our far left. So many still aroundMany of the companies and products seen on signs in this picture are still around after more than 100 years. Armour Foods, Quaker Oats, Coca-Cola, Duluth Paper, both Pabst and Hamm's beer, National Biscuit (Nabisco), probably others. Must be JulyNo snow and the water isn't ice. School TimeThe Old Central High School with its two wings and clock tower was, and remains, a very imposing building. Duluth TodayAs a Duluth resident,I greatly enjoyed this photo! Many of the buildings in the photo are still around - notably the tall-spired one in the left-center. That's the former Central High School. Duluth is undergoing a renaissance today and appreciation of the old buildings, the spectacular setting on Lake Superior and the rugged hills has never been greater! I love living there! Old downtownLooks to be a shot across Main Street in what is today's old downtown section. Houses are built all the way to the top of the bluff today. Note the boatsNot only trains but boats here. A lot to see. American Plan! It's so cool to see this outdated term on a hotel sign. FloatingSeems like the photographer must be situated somewhere on the waterfront. Any ideas on his vantage point? [Many of the Detroit Publishing city views were taken from water towers. - Dave] Duluth & Iron Range R.R.The reporting marks on what appear to be early hopper cars and the much abused gondola are for the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad (predecessor of the current Duluth Missabe & Iron Range). Presumably the ore cars are hauling ore from the Soudan Mine, which makes me wonder if some idiot filled a gondola with iron ore. Probably not though. My guess is that it's an old car filled with stone, coal or clinker. Lake AvenueThe bridge crossing the tracks appears to be South Lake Avenue. The tracks have since been replaced by I-35. The stone building to the left with the clock tower is the (still standing) historic Central High School. Can you spot the cannon?What a great photo, so much going on. I'll keep coming back to this one. Thanks to all who provided the local updates and building identification. Is the cannon still there? AwesomeThanks once again for a picture of my local area. Like others said some of these buildings are still around. Amazing to see this area when it was a real working class place rather than the tourist area it has become. Thanks again Shorpy About face, perhaps?It would be wonderful if, before climbing down, the 1905 photographer had also turned his camera in the opposite direction (east), to capture the sparkling new Aerial Lift Bridge over the just-renovated Duluth Ship Canal. [This photo is part of a six-frame panoramic view. There's a photo of the bridge here. - Dave] FunnyI'm hoping the lumber sash and door place sold better stuff than what was on the building. RecyclingThe cannon was sold as scrap iron in 1942 and was melted down and used during World War II. Because there was so much protest over the sale of the cannon, a flag pole was erected in 1949 on the spot where the cannon stood. Details here. Boy of the North CountryWhere was Bob Dylan born 36 years later? Saved the BestCentral High School Building is fantastic. You could get lost in the details and beauty of this Architecture. Sorry about the cannon, but the Building survives! Railroad NutBecause I am a nut about railroad history, I just love those old railroad cars. Love these Duluth photos!Its hard to believe my grandpa was 16 years old and living in Duluth when these photos were taken. Maybe he's one of those kids playing by the tracks A lonely survivorWho would have guessed that the Tremont, along with its ghost sign, was a survivor? We can fix ol' swaybackThat old gon could be straightened out by adjusting the turnbuckles under the car. Those cars had truss rods supporting them. If it's not too far gone a big wrench and a level will fix it. So Much to See I have one of these panoramas framed in my home. Everytime I look at it I see something new. The tram, the Central Tower, and down by the Steam Plant, which used to be the place to stay away from (bowery area). Wouldn't the photographer be shocked to see Canal Park today! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Duluth, Railroads)
Little White Schoolhouse: 1900
... View full size. The ears Most of these kids must be related. Something there is But something there was not was ... intimidated Unlike some of today's smart-aleck, sassy kids, these youngsters seem to be very strictly disciplined, no "out-of-bounds" ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/20/2016 - 12:23pm -

From the same circa 1900 batch of 5x8 glass negatives as Little Boy Blue we bring you more sullen moppets than you can shake a stick at. Which the tot in the middle is holding. Now, smile for your great-great grandchildren. View full size. The earsMost of these kids must be related. Something there isBut something there was not was a shortage of rocks for wall building -- it must be New England. Easily intimidatedUnlike some of today's smart-aleck, sassy kids, these youngsters seem to be very strictly disciplined, no "out-of-bounds" behavior (as Montessori called it) and they have extremely serious expressions, the whole lot of them. Also I can't help but notice how most have old faces and we can almost see exactly what they will look like as adults, especially the boys standing in the back row, toward the left. I bet if Miss Schoolmarm had to send home a bad report, there would be hell to pay. Must've Had CableDon't see any antennas on the roof. One of these things is not like the others,The girl in the dark dress with the polka dots, a city girl among country kids. What a century these kids were going to see.A number of the boys may have fought in World War I. Then there was the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. A number would have been around for the first moon landing. I hope everyone in the picture ended up living good, happy lives. SadlyWhile they are living at the beginning of a marvelous century, the boys are the right age, born around 1894-1896, to almost surely see service in the Great War. [Statistically speaking, probably not. Around one-quarter of American males aged 18 to 31 were in military service during the conflict. And only half of those served overseas. So the odds would be around 1 in 8. - Dave] Re: One of these things is not like the othersPolka-dot pupil is likely the only adolescent in the bunch (except perhaps for the girl upper right, beside Teacher). This might account for her mature demeanor and elegant composure. The other little girl beside Teacher, all in white, looks like Bernard Burch in his later years (https://www.shorpy.com/node/20074). A motley crewseemingly cowering under the beady eye of the teacher. Serious BusinessGetting photopraphed was serious business at the time. Dead serious highly official pretty expensive business. Plus, it took serious effort from both photographer and subjects. The subjects had to stand still at the right moment, else the photograph would have been spoiled. I submit - Exhibit A - Mr. Double Turtleneck, and - Exhibit B - Mr. Checkered Bibs Over Striped Shirt both seem to have been very close to the line. Those glass plates were expensive if bought, and laborious to make if home-made by the photographer. [The 5x8 dry plate this image was exposed on, at $1.25 a dozen, cost 10 cents in 1895. So, not very expensive. - Dave] Woe to the kid who ruined the shot. With the mores of the times that would likely have been a matter of "physical contact" consequences rather than "no bisquit". What does not quite compute is the fact that they seem to be reasonably well dressed, which would match the momentous gravity of this event, but that quite a few are barefoot all the same. One-room schoolThese kids - about twenty-five of them at a rough count - were probably all in one classroom with one teacher, seen in the photo. Even though discipline was different, it must have been a tough job. School teachers were universally young and unmarried, and few had much experience. Ruffles and FlourishesThe mothers of some of those boys must have REALLY wanted girls, based on their wardrobe choices. Or they had older daughters and just handed down the ruffled shirts out of necessity. Sunday bestIf their moms knew it was class picture day, they sent the kids to school in their best clothes. It looks like that's the case here. Their pinafores are spotless. i agree the girl in the back row in the dark blouse looks like she's better off than the other kids. The older boy on the far left and the girl on the far right look pretty formidable. I bet the younger kids stayed out of their way. Our Gang & the BeaverLooks like a young Jackie Cooper on the back row and Jerry Mathers in the front. BarefootIt's difficult to imagine but my wife has told about her days in lower Minn going to the one room school house. The rented farm house where they lived was near a large lake. During the cold parts of winter dad drove across the lake to work to save many miles. Other times my wife, her two older brothers, older sister, and younger brother, often walked barefoot across the muddy fields. Once at school they washed their shoes and feet at the outside pump and placed the shoes on the porch to dry. So I'm guessing many school days were barefoot days. A preschool sister and brother were still at home. Another brother would come later. A little coal dust here, a little coal dust there and Lewis Wickes Hines could have taken this photograph. These kids look miserable and I don't see anything romantic here. Tell that teacher we want Toto back. Mix and matchI agree that many of these kids must be siblings and cousins, given the similar prominent brows and sticky-outy ears. Clothing-wise, most of the girls are dressed almost identically, except for the oldest girl in the back row, whereas there's a surprising amount of variety in what the boys are wearing--everything from overalls to ruffled shirts to a sailor suit. Creative PhotographerThe typical school photo of this vintage has the kids standing in stiff lines in front of the school building. Someone was thinking out of the box when they set this shot up. It's a nice pose using the rocks and the oblique view of the school in the background. Skin head, but with reasonThe young lad in the back row left seems to have all of his hair shorn away. Without claiming to be any expert on juvenile hair fashions of the era, he may have been a victim of an old-time treatment for head lice. In the early 1900s, my grandmother (and her sister, and several others as well) were playfully sharing around a hat while enjoying recess from school, and all came home with lice. Her mother shaved my grandmother's head bare, and washed down her scalp with kerosene. She said was the accepted way to deal with it at the time, so one supposes the same held for the unfortunate rest of that group. She admitted that yes, it took time for her hair to grow back, but she swears it did away with the pesky lice. Teacher in TrainingThe boys wearing ruffles is the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" look that was very popular (with mothers, not so much with little boys) at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. You can see it again in the 1899 photo #20473 and photo 20679, just before this one. And the way the girl in polka dots has her hair pinned up like the teacher, while the girls in pinafores do not, suggests she may be a teacher in training rather than one of that school's pupils. It was not at all uncommon to be out in the world working by age 15. The "everyone has to go to college" to qualify for a job, is a post WW2 phenomenon. Apprenticeships were the way one often got jobs in 1900 and before. Plus, teachers often were quite young because some districts would no longer employ women if they were married. I can not understand why, but it made sense to people in the 19th century. One Roomed SchoolAs I have mentioned before, my Mother-in-law was a schoolteacher in a one roomed school in Kentucky. If I remember correctly, she had 18 students and she always remarked how well behaved they all were. In fact she was 18 at the time (about the age of this young lady) and taught 1st grade through 8th (I do believe that is correct. Have to ask the wife and make a correction if not). Either way, that is where she met her future husband. He was 10 and she was 18, and 10 years later they married. Stayed that way for 50 years. They passed away within a year of each other. She, then he. Bit of a soap opera, but there you are. Ad astra per aspera--To the stars through difficulties. My mother was of this generation. As a child one of her duties was to clean the oil lamp chimneys, but she lived to watch man walk on the moon. (The Gallery, Education, Schools, Kids)
War Kitchen: 1941
... o'clock snack for Junior wouldn't have been out of place. Kids' stomachs are smaller than adults are, and their metabolism is generally higher. (The Gallery, Alfred Palmer, Kids, Kitchens etc., WW2) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/21/2022 - 10:31pm -

July 1941. "War housing. Mrs. B.J. Rogan and her small son, Bernie, in the kitchen of the Rogans' new war home at the Franklin Terrace housing project in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rogan is a drill press operator at a nearby plant which is working three shifts on war contracts. The Rogans pay about twenty percent of their income for rent." Medium format acetate negative by Alfred Palmer for the U.S. Office for Emergency Management. View full size. Light bulb in the trash canThat used to be a familiar sight, as manufacturers held to highly inefficient--thus highly profitable--incandescent bulbs long after alternatives were possible. It took an act of Congress (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) to phase out incandescent bulbs that typically lasted 750-1000 hours, as opposed to today's LED bulbs which won't need replacing for 25,000 hours. That CoffeepotWas my worst enemy after visiting my father-in-law's house for the first time for an overnight stay and being asked by my wife to "make coffee." Of course I had no idea how to make coffee in that kind of pot. We had only been married a year and I had been in the US for the same. Needless to say, I greeted everyone to breakfast with the best coffee sludge a newbie could make. Still thereThe Franklin Terrace apartments are now called the John E. Horan Garden Apartments. The old kitchen was tiny but charming; now, not so much. https://www.hace.org/housing-info/hace-rental-properties/john-e-horan-ga... https://www.hace.org/about-us/revitalization/ Snack TimeIt's about 2 pm according to the clock on the wall. I am just wondering what he did to get a snack at 2 pm. When I was his age, I didn't dare ask for a snack that soon after lunch. I usually waited until about 3 pm. Chances were 50/50. If if got to be 4 pm - it was too late - 'dinner is soon'. There's a busted light bulb in the trash bin. I wonder what wattage it was. Looks peaceful to meEverything spic and span and in its place while Mrs. Rogan whips up something tasty for her family, but I'm sure it reflects accurately on the home front during wartime. Those Servel gas refrigerators always seemed to produce a faint odor, but they did work using a science I never understood of how to make cool with a gas flame. Between 1955 and 1960 with I was in Boy Scouts, we'd spend Memorial Day weekend at a deer lease in the Hill Country of Texas between Kerrville and Medina. The first thing our Scoutmaster did upon entering the asbestos sided cabin was light the Servel refrigerator and that odor lingered throughout the weekend, but we had a lot of fun. [Fun fact: Servel is a contraction of "Serving Electricity." - Dave] Movin' on upIt's new, nice, clean, and not an attic nor a small travel trailer still on wheels. I couldn't find the Rogan family in the 1940 Census, but did find this description of their living arrangement progress: "Defense housing, Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Rogan and their small son, Bernie, at home in the living room of their new defense home in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rogan is a drill press operator at the nearby General Electric Company plant. He earns $42.50 a week, and pays about twenty percent of his income for rent. Before moving into a newly constructed defense home at the Franklin Terrace housing project, he lived in a remodeled attic, and then a trailer. For the latter he paid 6 dollars a week, including all utilities." I'm pretty sure the B. stands for Bernard. The Franklin Terrace housing project is now the John E. Horan Garden Apartments. Horan was/is the director of the Erie Housing Authority. These units are now public housing. PercolatorI suggest Baxado ought to retry the percolator for making coffee. I still have my parents' percolator which is used extensively on camping trips. Makes a great cup of coffee, but be careful of the grounds! Encyclopedias, The seat of knowledge Loco ...... motive on the table. 1941, huh?Since The U.S. didn't enter the war until December, why was this family living in "war housing?" [Yes, huh. Some googling might provide enlightenment. Keywords: Lend-Lease, Battle of Britain. - Dave] Found 'em Bernard J. Rogan, Sr., wife Lenore, and son Bernard Jr. are in the 1940 census, living in Washington DC, where Bernard Sr. is an insurance agent. All 3 were born in Pennsylvania. In 1948 they are living at 2130b Gladstone Ct., Erie PA. Occupation was listed as "Tool Rpr". In 1950, they are back in Washington DC, where Senior is manager of a service station. Lenore works for the Federal Power Commission. Senior died in about 1983. Lenore died in 1992. Junior died in 2016. Let there be (free) light."Light bulb in the trash can" reminded me that here in Detroit (and I assume other cities) the Edison Co. would exchange light bulbs (burned out for new) at no charge. That went on for years until some local store owner sued Edison for restraint of trade because he wanted to sell more lightbulbs. And won! What a yutz. Monday ... is laundry day. And this kitchen appears to have a combination kitchen sink and deep laundry tub. If Mrs. Rogan was lucky she would have an electric wringer washer, otherwise it would be the old washboard. It would lean against the angled portion of the laundry tub. My 1928 house still has its original double concrete laundry tubs. There were also refrigerators that operated on kerosene. Re: Snack Time by Soda_PopGiven his age, the social conventions of the time regarding raising children, etc., it's highly likely that Junior had a relatively early lunch - between 11:30 and noon, followed by a nap. Upon rising from said nap, he could have had a regular snack, followed by playtime in the yard all afternoon. Dad may have been at work until 3 or 3:30, and walked home by 4. Dinner may not have been until 5, so a 2 o'clock snack for Junior wouldn't have been out of place. Kids' stomachs are smaller than adults are, and their metabolism is generally higher. (The Gallery, Alfred Palmer, Kids, Kitchens etc., WW2)
To Herr With Love: 1942
... at the bottom of the pile. Too Heavy I'm sure those kids didn't pick up all the scrap metal on display. That radiator, leaning on ... sentiment is great. Down with Hitler Some of the kids are giving the reverse peace sign as Churchill did in '41. Wonder if ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/03/2023 - 2:02pm -

October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Schoolchildren on a pile of scrap which they gathered during the salvage campaign." Photo by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size. Home AloneI see Macaulay Culkin made an appearance at the bottom of the pile. Too HeavyI'm sure those kids didn't pick up all the scrap metal on display. That radiator, leaning on the stove over to the right, would be weighing several hundreds of pounds. The stove wouldn't exactly be a lightweight either. [That was nothing compared to the trouble they had driving the truck. - Dave] The Spellingof Mussolini is a little off, but the sentiment is great. Down with HitlerSome of the kids are giving the reverse peace sign as Churchill did in '41. Wonder if they knew. The Good Old Days*sigh* I pine for the old days when people knew how to be impromptu and unfettered by the burden of what could and what might happen. Look at all these kids perched upon a pile of unstabilized, sharp and jagged-edged junk. All flashing a patriotic V for Victory sign to boot. Here we are 81 years later and you'd never be able to recreate this photo. There would be barricades, orange cones and danger tape all around the perimeter. Anyone allowed near the junk would be wearing thick clothing, steal-toed boots, face & eye protection, hard hats, gloves and flashing the V for Victory symbol would be followed by a pink slip for offending someone. *sigh* [Do "steal-toed" boots belong to someone else? - Dave] A bounty of bedspringsWhich, like box springs today, is not something I think people threw out that often. Maybe these kids convinced their parents it was better on their backs to go without bedsprings? And maybe they asked after the fact. [Or they're from car seats, sofas, etc. - Dave] Jog on!The reverse V-for-Victory sign actually would earn a few pink slips. But in this case I don't think anybody will complain about giving Hitler the middle finger. (The Gallery, Kids, Patriotic, Russell Lee, WW2)
Hey Kids: 1942
... for 1¢. Throw in some chemistry experiments for the older kids and apparently Lincoln Log pieces. I recognize the foil covered chocolate ... is sorted into. (The Gallery, D.C., John Collier, Kids, Stores & Markets) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/01/2022 - 11:13am -

This uncaptioned but intriguing entry from among the many photos taken by John Collier in and around Washington in January 1942 has his Speed Graphic pointed down through the top of a well-worn display case bearing a bounty of candy (Troopers, anyone?), chemistry sets (Porter "Chemcraft") and a miscellany of small toys. 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size. I count Troopers from ten countriesThe list is mostly Europe, as follows: China, England, Ethiopia -- the only African country, France, Italy, Russia -- shouldn't that be USSR?, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey, United States -- the only country in Western Hemisphere. I'm guessing each country had an associated flavor. I hope Scotland's was butterscotch and not haggis. I cannot find this candy on the Internet. Artificial Flavors, Chemistry and Lincoln Logs?What a strange combination of kid stuff. The pipes and bombs look like they are wax and full of the hyper-sweet syrup I bought in tiny wax Coke bottles as a kid for 1¢. Throw in some chemistry experiments for the older kids and apparently Lincoln Log pieces. I recognize the foil covered chocolate coins, but I have no idea what the little soldiers on the top right contained, however the flavoring and coloring was "artificial." God knows what that was in 1942. Penny CandyThey still had those watermelon slices (somewhat smaller) when I was a kid. I found them somewhat confusing because they were coconut flavored. TroopersI found a listing on eBay for an unopened set of 8 out of the 10. A little pricey to buy them and open one to see the contents, but this info was included: The American Mint Corporation, located at 114 East 13th Street, New York, was a short lived company that produced a series of candy containers depicting soldiers from around the world. The packaging wrappers were 2 9/16 inches tall and made of cardboard. There were four series of soldiers produced from around 1938 until about 1945: DOUGHBOY, MINUTE MAN, TROOPER, YANKS. The original set consisted of 20 different designs (nations) and was labeled the Doughboys: Afghanistan, Arabia, Austria, French Foreign Legion, Greece, England, Russia, Italy, France, United States, India, Poland, Turkey, Scotland, Ethiopia, Zulu Warrior, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan. Twenty countries were chosen with the obvious exception of Germany. Japan was included with the first series of 20 Doughboys until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. American Mint elected to keep the graphics the same in the following year, but merely changed the country's name to China. Therefore, a total of 21 countries were actually represented with the release of the first three series. The second series manufactured in 1942 were titled Minute Man. The number of countries represented was cut to only 10: England, United States, Sweden, Ethiopia, Scotland, Russia, China, Italy, Turkey and France. This series, like the Doughboys, included a coupon inside each container redeemable for a toy prize. Sometime in 1943 the Troopers were released. The redeemable coupon was now printed on the label (probably to save the cost of materials and labor). That meant that in order to redeem your coupon for a toy prize, you had to destroy the soldier. As a result, very few Troopers survived. Finally, the scarcest series of soldiers was released at or near the end of WWII consisting of all Americans (patriotism was running high following the war). The soldiers' pictures became more lifelike, with smaller heads and less cartoonish in appearance. A total of 10 designs labeled Yanks, in an American Eagle cartouche, again with a redeemable coupon printed on the label, were released. And, once again, that design led to most of the soldiers being destroyed in order to remove the coupon. The American soldiers, Yanks, were as follows: Nurse (the only female in any series), Marine, Military Police, Parachutist, Infantryman, Pursuit Pilot, Ski Trooper, Army Officer, Admiral and Gob (slang term for a sailor). To complete a set of the American Mint soldiers you would need 20 Doughboys, 10 Minute Men, 10 Troopers and 10 Yanks (50 soldiers, 31 different designs). Also, there were fruit flavored varieties within some of the soldier groups: Assorted Fruit, Lime, Cherry and so on, further complicating the ability to classify every type produced. Puzzling Evidence"Nichrome wire [to the left of the Chemcraft package] can be used as an alternative to platinum wire for flame testing by coloring the non-luminous part of a flame to detect cations such as sodium, potassium, copper, calcium, etc." Cations are positively charged ions with fewer electrons than protons. [Puzzling? "Evidence"?? It's part of the chemistry set. - Dave] Now a "collectible"Apparently the "Troopers" were made by the American Mint Co. and some of the empty containers are listed here and there on the internet, sometimes for a couple of hundred dollars each. Troopers on eBayCurrent eBay auctions here and here. And some more over at Goldin Auctions. Cobwebs on the Candy!Nope, just scratched up glass. I love the boxes everything is sorted into. (The Gallery, D.C., John Collier, Kids, Stores & Markets)
Rural Mother: 1936
... at my mother's face and get a reality check. Barefoot Kids My parents grew up in the depression. When I was a kid (in the 60s) ... Side of Chicago, she always told stories of a her gang of kids distracting the cart owner so other kids could run by - stealing whatever ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 07/05/2009 - 2:29am -

March 1936. "Mother and baby of family of nine living in field on U.S. Route 70 near the Tennessee River." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. SonsRose, And notice that the boy you mention (the one on our right) is the only one wearing shoes. It looks like he's standing on maybe his father's feet--there's somebody else standing off the camera edge. But imagine: The clothes that they're wearing might've been their only clothes! Just to reiterate: there was no choice of what they could wear from day to day. What they have on now was all they (might've) had for possibly months at a time. "How do I get to the Susquehanna Hat Company?" What happened to them?While it's certainly disheartening to see that kind of abject poverty, the family probably fared better over the next decade. The TVA started bringing electricity to that area around the time of this photo and Tennessee had a pretty robust wartime economy. The draft board generally didn't take men with nine children so the father would have been around to find steady work. So however bad it may have been you can at least be confident it got better. And yet the boy is smilingAnd yet the boy is smiling :) Mother of povertyThis photo made cry. What more clear image of poverty in America could there be? A flour sack for a skirt and a safety pin holding a tattered sweater. I ache for her children and wonder what happened to this family. One bright spot is the boy smiling to his sister while holding her toe. Tatters...They may be poor material wise with their tatters and rags on their back, but they are rich in their love for each other. Mother of povertyThis is the worst case of poverty I have ever seen that wasn't from the third world, but look at them they are together, even able to smile, by far this picture is the best example of "the great depression". fakeThe picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. ["That era," the mid-1930s, when photography was 100 years old, saw some of the best photographs ever made - the work of Ansel Adams, for example. And of course a few minutes of Googling will show this to be a well-known Depression-era image in the Library of Congress archives. Comments like these are a good opportunity to point out that the farther back you go, the better and sharper the pictures get, because the recording media were bigger. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. - Dave] Re: No exaggeration"And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch." YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT ! No exaggerationIn addition to reading "Let us Now Praise Famous Men," check out the photos of Jacob Riis and read "How the Other Half Lives." Yes, muckrakers, but they were not making up the poverty they found and photographed. When people who were doing *well* had only 2 or 3 sets of clothing, there just wasn't as much "extra" around to give to the poor. Using flour sacks and sugar sacks was incredibly common - so common that it is a trope in literature of the time. Even solidly middle-class families "turned" collars and facings on their clothing when it wore to holes, to use the other side, and every family had a rag bag in which they saved *every* scrap of old clothing for other purposes. I guess in this day of cheap clothes made by slave laborers in poison-filled factories in China, its hard to believe anyone treated clothes as so precious that they were saved and worn until they were in this state, huh? And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch. Rural mother 1936Oh how I wish I could take the doubting thomases back with me to the North East of Scotland during the time that this stunning photograph was taken. I am glad that it has been brought up to watchable standard by digital magic or whatever. I can still remember my grandfather filling his boots with straw to keep the cold/wet out before going out to the field to plough or cut corn with a scythe. He also used the very same material to wipe his bottom. Granny had a grain sack for a skirt and wore clogs. My favourite time of day was when she put the 'hen's pot' out to cool. I invariably ate the potatoes and haven't tasted better since. Money-wise it was a very poor time but life had a richness difficult to achieve these days. Re: Fake>> The picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake. We get a lot of comments like this, I guess from younger people, or people who have never been to a museum. They don't realize that the farther back you go, the better and sharper professionally taken photographs get, because the recording media were much, much larger. An 8-by-10 glass plate negative is 80 times as large as a 35mm film frame, or the image sensor in a digital camera. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. Also a lot of comments from people who seem to think color photography started around 1960. Poverty exaggerationOk, this photo is an example of early photo-journalism. The family could very well have been homeless and living in a lean-to or a wooden box on top of a truck chassis- during the summer, anyway. But the depiction of poverty is exaggerated- think about it- if someone steered the photographer toward the family, then others in the community knew they were there. There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes. These rags were put on to evoke sympathy for the plights of many during the depression. Don't get me wrong - shock value was probably needed to raise support for many valuable social programs that came about because of the depression. But how long could a family dress like that and not receive donations from others, no matter how bad off the community was. [Most of these migrants, refugees from the Dust Bowl farms of the Great Plains, were not especially welcome in the communities where they dropped anchor, and people often did whatever they could to get them to leave. You might want to read up a little more on the Great Depression. A good start would be "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee with photos by Walker Evans. Or "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. - Dave] Not an exaggeration"There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes." My mother was a teenager during those years and remembered how so many people were driven to desperation. Her comment was "there was always someone trying to cheat you." Two or three years into the Depression the do-gooders began to run out of sympathy and "used clothes." And after five more years of no improvement they began to fear things would never turn around and that they would end up in the same circumstances. There were just too many newly poor people and not enough people with excess resources to balance things out. BenIf anyone was ever interested in trying to achieve that kind of detail today, I'd highly suggest buying an old used medium format camera and using some 120 roll film. I have a couple of Yashica TLR's which were considered substandard in the 50's and 60's, but their quality still makes a 35 SLR look like a cheap point and shoot. It's not the camera that makes the pictures better, but the larger negative available in 120 film. Not only do you get more detail, but the color depth is far more realistic. ClothesMy Gramma has saved some clothes that her mother made from flour sacks. She also has some made from linen and wool they spun and wove themselves, when they were more prosperous. She lived in a house with a dirt floor and didn't wear shoes in the summer. The Face of the Great DepressionThank you Mr. Caruso. I echo the response from Dave....We read in history books about the Great Depression and over the years, in our mind it is simply a swirl of facts and figures, of almost dispassionate removal that was the reality. While it has been said that hindsight is 20/20, I think it can also be argued that hindsight, especially from such a distance can be sterile becoming almost become an illusion, an event without a substance. Hopefully this will once again place it into a reality ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y Dale Oh My GoshI'm 15 years of age and I had no idea that the Great Depression was that bad. This picture really oppened my eyes to the extreme conditions at that time. Thank you for this reality. Reality CheckI have a picture on my desk showing my mother during the depression. You can see her bones because at 5'7" she weighed 85 pounds...just from the simple lack of food. Each girl in the family had two dresses and each boy had two pairs of overalls - one to wear and one to wash. By "wash", I mean using a metal tub over an open fire. Mostly they went barefoot (in the Arizona desert) because if they had shoes, they were too valuable to wear everyday. In the picture my mother is looking directly at the camera and her expression is almost exactly the same as the look on the face of a shell shocked combat veteran. As I said, I keep this small black and white photo on my desk so that if I ever, ever have even a moment of thinking that I'm having a hard day I can look at my mother's face and get a reality check. Barefoot KidsMy parents grew up in the depression. When I was a kid (in the 60s) going outside barefoot was STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, reason being that in their minds if you weren't wearing shoes it was because you didn't have any, and therefore were poor, which they viewed as something to be ashamed of. Making doThe habits of the depression generation persisted into the better days of the '40s. I remember my mother repairing worn sheets by splitting them down the middle and sewing the good edges together to prolong their life. My dad brought home flour sacks from the restaurant where he worked. My mother made dish cloths and pillow cases from them. Some of the sacks were made from patterned material for dresses. The branding on the others washed out easily. To this day I an reluctant to discard clothing. ClothesMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. Mother of NineThank you so much for sharing this. I was born in 1977, but just hearing these stories helps me to realize that we are so spoiled and really puts things into perspective. Amen! Thanks, dalecaruso!I'm going to show this to my 7th grade students who LOVED the Newbery Medal-winning book "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse! Amazing...moving...thank you. The habits remained - for good or badMy parents grew up in the Depression. Members of their generation, roughly those born 1920-1935, often find it difficult to throw out anything "good". In my parents' case, I was left with stacks of thousands upon thousands of moldering magazines and newspapers, piles of old shingles, 2x4s, chunks of vinyl siding, and old cardboard; hundreds upon hundreds of doilies, knick-knacks, and figurines; and tons of worthless, useless plywood and cheap wood furniture. The cry was, "I might need it someday!" and "It'll be worth GOOD MONEY one day!" and "You're so wicked and wasteful and lazy to want to throw it out!". They were wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions. The figurines now go for five to ten cents each on eBay (and don't sell at that price); the shingles melted together into a big unusable pile; the 2x4s and cardboard rotted to dust; the doilies were attacked with mold; the magazines were destroyed by water and age; the furniture was rickety and undesirable in its shoddy construction and unattractive, unmarketable poor style. It all went away to the dump as useless, worthless, unrecyclable (because of the mold) garbage - and it cost over a thousand dollars to have it hauled away. And I'm not the only one. There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on. But we, the children, are not the ones hurt the most by this sickness. The older generation itself is harmed most of all. The mold and dust gathered by the things they've hoarded endangers their health. The sheer bulk of the hoard can endanger them in case of fire. And since they can't find what they've hoarded, they end up buying the same things over and over again, which reduces their ability to provide for themselves. No North American generation before this one has suffered from this level of hoarding, and I doubt any one after it will. Earlier generations didn't overbuy but also weren't afraid to discard; later generations might overbuy but likewise aren't afraid to recycle or discard. Re: Hoarders I would have to seriously question the sweeping and wide swath of the brush you painted this generation with. My parents lived through the depression and the dust bowl, as did my dads' 12 brothers and sisters. and the 5 siblings of my mothers' family. And not a hoarder among them. I am sure they used things longer and valued what they had more than we do, but I hardly consider this a "disorder". Now I am sure some did, but your statement to me really portrays this generation as unhealthy mentally, and I am just a little offended by it. Oh that we today were as mentally stable as they. And if "There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on", well then I would say, perhaps it is this weak-kneed generation, who need support groups because, "Oh No, Mamma kept things a Long Long time", are the ones who are unhealthy. You do this unbelievable generation a great disservice. Future Hoarders of America Unite!You know, I don't look at the faces of these little ones and concern myself with the idea that their biggest issue in their senior years is going to be that they held on to too much stuff instead of throwing it out. When your clothes are being held together with twine and your mother is wearing a cotton feed bag as a skirt, it's kind of easy to see how, in the future, when you're an old woman, you're probably going to hang on to every scrap and see its potential usefulness someday. It's amazing how differently our consumerist culture sees items today. How often I've longed to be able to hold onto a toaster that could work just fine if I had someone who could fix it for me. But instead, appliances today aren't meant to last for more than a few years and then off to dump with them. Our landfills are overcrowded with plasticized items that will never, ever decompose - plastic bags, water bottles, take out containers...the list is endless. I hate to politicize a picture but I can honestly see how having nothing more than the holey shirt on your back would make you take stock when one day you had tremendous bounty. We could learn a lot from these people and their troubles and how to see potential treasure in trash. Alive and wellPoverty can be because of chance or personal choices. Back in the times of the Depression it was heaped on people by powers out of their control. I see it today right here in Arkansas where I live and in my own neighborhood. I live in a small town of about 5600 and even in what is supposedly the world's most rich and powerful country people are lining up at the free food banks and food giveaways, receving government commodities and waiting in ine at the free medical clinic that is run by area churches and staffed with Doctors and Nurses who volunteer their time for free. Just walk into Walmart on the 1st of the month, they way some families are dressed would break your heart. But then you have the victims of bad personal choices. There is a single other in my neighborhood that recently lost her job because she failed a drug test. She has 3 children. Everyone in the neighborhood knows she sells her food stamps for alcohol. She would buy just enough (barely) food for them to get by and sell the rest If it were not for the kindness of neighbors her children would not have any decent clothes. She was just kicked out of what is very decent public housing where she was paying $16.00 a month rent because she had her alcoholic boyfriend living there with her. Her poor choices affected not only her children but many people in the neighborhood (who at their own expense would buy extra food so they could feed her children or spend money to buy clothes for them) who have tried to help her for years. In her children I see the NEXT generation of American poverty waiting to happen and it is so sad. HoardersMy parents are children of the Depression, too. And my father most definitely instilled in me the sense that one doesn't waste or discard anything useful. He has 2 barns and a shed filled with stuff, much of which I'll have to deal with after he's gone. But you know what? Virtually everything he has is valuable! His shed is filled with dishes and small appliances and the like, which has supplied many of his grandchildren when they went away to college or got their first apartment. He has one of nearly every tool known to man, and freely loans or gives them away. He paid cash for a brand new truck recently, using the proceeds from sale of scrap copper and iron he's been saving in the plum thicket. (He's never owed money on a car in my lifetime). He loves to give to others (it's nearly impossible to leave a visit empty-handed), and a lifetime of saving and storing means he has no shortage of things to give away. Because of my upbringing, it's very hard for me to discard anything that still has value, just because I don't need it any more. But I've learned from my dad - somebody needs that, so give it away! I understand that some hoarders are truly mentally ill. But to say that all Depression children who refuse to discard things that might be useful are "wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions" is absolute hogwash. The DepressionAnyone who says these photos are exaggerated or fake has never talked to someone who lived during that time. My mother lived on a farm during that period, and though she didn't have much that came from a store, they were able to eat and eat well. My father's family were poor tennant farmers on unproductive land and frequently had meals like "grease smeared on bread"....try to imagine that one. With several children, all but one had to quit school at 13 to earn a living. My husband's family has pictures of the children looking just like these - torn overalls and bare feet. Do some real research in your own family's past. Family HistoryMy father's family had a farm in southwest Nebraska during the Depression, so they were able to grow their own food and eat fairly well. My mother's paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister there, which was very rough since he was dependent on what the local community could pay, which wasn't much and people had an odd idea about what made a suitable gift. So instead of eggs and chickens, which Great-Grandpa would have taken in a heartbeat (he had 5 teenage sons!), people gave him things like fancy hankies, which he had no use for, and I found 50 years later still in the gift boxes. I know the Depression had a profound impact on my grandfather; he hated to throw anything away. When my mother cleaned out Grandpa's house in the late 80's she had to throw out dumpsters of metal pie plates, shopping bags, twine, bottles, newspapers, magazines and God knows what else. AgreedMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either. I would have said this if you didn't. We had sneakers for gym class and gym class only. The picture, the video, the hoarding.Two things struck me about that picture: the caked on dirt on the mother's feet and the smile on the boy's face. Sure, I had heard the phrase "dressed in flour sacks." But, there's something about an image - seeing it. It hits home. The video, The Face of the Great Depression, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y from a previous comment. At first, honestly, I thought, "Can't the pictures move faster?" Then I looked, and listened, and let time stand still for a brief moment. By the end, I was crying. The license plate in the last photo was 1939. My mother would have been 13. NOW IT GET IT. Well, I'm beginning to. A second generation child on the South Side of Chicago, she always told stories of a her gang of kids distracting the cart owner so other kids could run by - stealing whatever vegetables they could grab. They would start little fires at the curb and roast them on a stick or boil them in a pot of water. She said that's why, as an adult, she hated boiled onions or potatoes. But, the stories she told, of washing out her underclothes each night, sleeping 4 to a bed, lard and bread sandwiches...I somehow cleaned up the images and made them all pretty. I left out what it smells like if you haven't had a bath. Or, what it must have felt like to really, really be hungry. Mom hoarded. Born in 1926 she left me the legacy of wall to wall, floor to ceiling piles of National Geographic magazines and "collectors" tins." "These will be worth something someday," she chided...and promised. They weren't. Well, some of it was valuable - more from memories of her than replacement cost. More than anything, I wish she could have culled her stuff so she had more room to live. Sure, it was a burden to empty. But it was easier for me to let go of her junk than it was for her to unload the fear of being "without." I can live with that. Everyday I understand and accept her more. One little photo... Can teach so much. The Great DepressionI've read the comments about this picture and echo the feelings of distress that people have had to exist under these conditions. We only have to look at some of the present day third world countries to see the same thing. Thank God that that level of poverty has never touched me. I was born in 1927 and raised, with my sister, in a single parent home. My Mother took in washing and ironing to make a living for us, and though we didn't have an abundance, we never went to bed hungry. She bought used adult clothes and cut them down to fit us (our sunday school and church clothes). No one told me that times were hard so I didn't know it until I was grown. The hobos (Hoover Tourists) used to get off the trains near our house and come to the door begging food. My Mother always made them a peanut butter sandwich. I spent my days in school or outside playing with my friends, I had a glorious childhood. It pains me to see today's children confined to the house, afraid to go outside alone, with only a TV or computer for a companion. So many children and young adults are overweight and under exercised. The Depression was hard on a lot of people but, as a child, I skated through it and wouldn't trade my childhood memories for being a child today. Where in SW Nebraska?Hello- A friend of mine introduced me to this website. I, too, am from southwest Nebraska. Where in SW Nebraska was your family originally from? MJ The DepressionI really liked reading all the comments. I intend to get the book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by Agee. I was born in 1921, the seventh child in a family of 10. My father died of TB in October 1929. Our church had a dinner after the service yesterday. I noticed some people not eating all the food they had put on their plates. I told them my clean plate was a reflection of living through the Depression, when at mealtime I would hand my plate to my mother with the words "All I can have. please." Every child in the family, when they were old enough, gave most of the money they earned to our mother. In the early 1930s our school clothes and shoes would be ordered by mail from Sears and sometime they would arrive days after school started. We lived in northwest Detroit and most of the kids had fathers with good jobs. In 1936 my oldest brother started to build a home near Mount Clemens, Michigan. A family pitched a tent in a field across the street from him and lived much like the family in this picture. My brother did not want me to visit them. I served in WW2, which I enjoyed because I had been working since I was 14 and it was nice to be free of responsibility. And seeing Europe was wonderful. I am a tourist at heart. Yes! Not getting killed and living into the Internet age is wonderful. Nebraska! With family now on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington we have been driving across this country about once a year. We like Nebraska and have been driving across that state on old U.S. 30, and find it much more enjoyable than I-80. Please try this some time. For those who don't believeRead "The Worst Hard Time" by Tim Egan. Never had heard of "dust pneumonia" until reading this. Also, a section of diary entries is just heartbreaking. Poverty and desolation on a scale unimaginable today. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Rural America)
Karl the Karrot: 1955
... of a pair of Keds, one of the sponsors of the daily kids' show "Fireman Frank" broadcast by KRON-TV in San Francisco during the ... Fireman, a roly-poly avuncular gent more in the style of a kids' TV host, dropped dead. Lemont's humor appealed as much to adults as well ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/22/2011 - 4:52pm -

This button was a promotional piece about 1-3/4" in diameter, given out by shoe stores on the purchase of a pair of Keds, one of the sponsors of the daily kids' show "Fireman Frank" broadcast by KRON-TV in San Francisco during the mid-50s. Fireman Frank was George Lemont, a hip SF deejay who stepped into the role after the original Fireman, a roly-poly avuncular gent more in the style of a kids' TV host, dropped dead. Lemont's humor appealed as much to adults as well as kids; you could hear the studio crew guffawing off-camera at things that went over our heads. Between cartoons, Lemont brought out his cast of puppets, including robot Dynamo Dudley, the beret-wearing, bop-talking Scat the Cat and best of all, Karl the Karrot. Karl, as you can see, was a sort of proto-beatnik, literally a carrot with a pair of shades. His dialog consisted entirely of "blubble-lubble-lubble" while he thrashed about, chlorophyl topknot flailing. At home, we were all in convulsions on the floor. Original Fireman FrankI remember watching the jolly chubby Fireman Frank. One day he was gone. I wondered what happen to him. Does anyone know his name? Fireman Frank FanThis is cool. I loved afternoons and Saturdays with Fireman Frank on the tube. It killed me how Fireman Frank broke himself up waving around a limp Karl the Karrot - where Karl would stare out blankly, bobbling up and down as Frank tried to contain his hysterics below while snorting in a vain attempt to conceal his own amusement. Fireman FrankHey, my cousin, best friend and I were on that show. We just loved it. When he interviewed the peanut galery (that was on Firman Frank I think) He asked my cousin, who had swiped her mom's hat to wear there, to show her profile so that the audience could see her hat. She of course did not know what that meant, so she took it off and gave it to him. It was funny to me because when she got home she got into trouble for taking the hat. I of course was happy she had gotten scolded as she was a very pretty girl and was always the center of attention. I was just a messy little tomboy that just went along for the ride. Thanks for the memories. Local live kid showsmust have been a national staple. In Texas, we had Mr. Peppermint in Fort Worth, Uncle Jay and his sidekick Packer Jack, an old prospector, in Austin and Cap'n Jack (I think) in San Antonio. Even tiny KCEN in Temple had their own guy, who could draw a picture from a kid's scrawl. We went for my brother's birthday, ca. 1959/1960. Local Kids ShowsThe Lincoln, Nebraska area had Sheriff Bill and Silent Orv (who was silent because they'd have to pay him more if he spoke). Later on, I learned television directing on the last live "Romper Room" in the country - never knew what might happen with a roomful of pre-schoolers on live TV. Fireman Frank FanTo add to the Fireman Frank archive: Dynamo Dudley's mother (or mother-in-law) was a can of nails that would be grabbed and rattled whenever it seemed necessary. Yahoo! At Last...he's alive!!!I have vivid memories of Karl the Karrot...one of my all time favorite TV characters. I have been asking people "Do you ever remember watching a show in the 50's with Karl the Karrot who just bobbled his head around and went...blblblblblblblbl blblblblb blblbl?" No one remembered and I was beginning to think I'd made it up! Thank you for bringing Karl (and that cool button) back to me...I shall forward this page to the zillion people who thought I was just having another acid flash!! Holy Karrot juice!Never thought I'd find a person who had seen that show. I remember the carrot losing his "vigor" over the week and being pretty limp on Friday to be revitalized on Monday. I have the button also. (After 50-some years) Fireman FrankI was on Fireman Frank with the greatest young comedienne of her time, Westlake Stephie, age 7. It was a fun show. Fireman Frank againWatched it everyday it with on. The thing I remember most was, Fireman Frank said "we don't like Lima beans," and I still don't like them. Rhode Island RedI, too, loved Fireman Frank. Wasn't Rhode Island Red one of his characters, too? The limp Karl the Karrot, wobbling around by Friday afternoon, was something we all looked forward to. Thanks for bringing back these wonderful memories. Too bad there aren't any witty kids' shows today. And I think the Peanut Gallery was Howdy Doody (with Buffalo Bob Smith) and not part of Fireman Frank. Karlotta Karrot During those years of childhood in San Francisco there were truly great kids' shows. Fireman Frank was without question the best. I remember Karl's girlfriend Karlotta, who spoke in the same type of oogle pattern that Karl used. By the way does anybody remember during Christmas time when Happy Holly of the Whitehouse department store called Santa? Love Karl the KarrotKids' shows in the '50s were great. I loved Fireman Frank and Karl the Karrot. My absolute favorite though was the Banana Man on Captain Kangaroo! Banana ManI never saw Karl the Karrot (we had The Old Rebel and Cowboy Fred and Captain Five at various times), but The Banana Man was my absolute, all-time favorite too. If you never saw his act, it's hard to imagine what it was like. Here is a website, somewhat disorganized, with a lot of info: http://facweb.furman.edu/~rbryson/BananaMan/index.html The "Sam Levine" and "History" links are the best, but it's all interesting (to absolute fans anyway). Py-O-My was the sponsorI remember having to put up with Frank while babysitting my little sister after school before the folks got home (I was a teenager then) and the sponsor for a while was Py-O-My (kind of like Betty Crocker) dessert and pudding mix. Rumor was that the original Fireman Frank partook too much of Py-O-My and dropped dead of blocked arteries. I remember a couple of guys in our neighborhood and I set up a FF-like puppet show one summer to earn money to buy Superman and other comics by charging a nickel to the little kids who wanted to watch. One guy's older sister made a "Scat the Cat"-type sock puppet while I had fun cutting and pasting pieces of cardboard together to make a Dynamo Dudley. I remember one kid's mom getting upset because he has swiped the only two carrots in the house to make Karl (In those days two carrots went into the stew). We made enough to make our local grocer happy to sell those horrible old comic books. Fond RekollektionsI remember the Karl the Karrot episode where he had a fight with Rocky Mashed Potato. I loved Scat the Cat,with his band-aid on one of his cheeks. Rhode Island Red the giant rooster puppet, with a wing that would pop up like it was pointing while he said, "He went thataway!" then break into a silly laugh while his head went up & down. Wish someone can find the name of the original Fireman Frank...just for memories and recognition for him. Fireman Frank ShowThat was a great show; a classic 50's kids show. Can't forget Skipper Sedley who became "Sir Sedley" for whatever reason. Also "Mayor Art"; "Bozo The Clown"; "Captain Satellite" and on a national level, "Howdy Doody" and "The Micky Mouse Club" These were all basically afternoon and Saturday shows. The essential 50's morning children's show was of course, "Captain Kangaroo" with the classic serial Cartoon "Tom Terrific".. Frank and Karl! Oh yeah!Great memories. Loved Fireman Frank and Karl too. I remember Karl getting more wilted every day. And I do remember Happy Holly at Xmas time. This is the first time I have heard anyone else mention Happy. Those were great days for kids' shows. I had the TV pretty much to myself as my parents and older sisters had not acquired the habit of watching very much. I have been trying to find video snips of some of those old shows but they are rare. Loved Fireman Frank!Fireman Frank used to show "The Little Rascals" as well as cartoons. Plus he demonstrated how to make chocolate milk with Bosco. His puppets were hilarious. Scat the Cat had been in fights and had a rough voice. I think robot Dynamo Dudley talked in gibberish like Karl the Karrot. I had a Dynamo Dudley Club Card at one time. The funniest puppet was Rhode Island Red, the rooster. My mother would come into the room and laugh. I would love to see photos or kinescopes of that show. Where is this stuff? THE DAY KARL "DIED" !The "Fireman Frank Show" with Lemont was the best kids program ever and Karl The Karrot was special. Karl was a real carrot and noticably "age" or wilt every day due to the hot studio lights. I clearly remember Karl breaking off in Lemont's hand during their dialogue and Lemont saying something like: "Ah kids; Karl is hurt but will be back like new soon. And of course Karl returned as a fresh new carrot for the next show. I'll never forget the shock of Karl's "accident" and "relief" at seeing him back better than ever for the next show! My kids thought I was making this story up when shared during their youth. Thanks for the super comments. Fireman FrankSeveral commenters have asked about the first Fireman Frank, the one who George Lemont took over from. I just came across a post on a forum from someone who remembers, and the guy's name was apparently Frank Smith. So now we also know where the Frank came from. Fireman Frank 1955-57Coming to the SF Bay Area and getting our first TV in April 1955 I only recall the latter (thin) Fireman Frank (with his weekday nightly KRON show after the early evening news and a longer one on Saturday afternoons with a drawing contest that I submitted to a few times). Captain Fortune had an early Sat morn one on KPIX, with the stock intro showing a bunch of kids running up to a large Victorian-looking house on a hill. One of CF's standard features was to have one of the guests make some scrawl on a large drawing pad and then ask him to turn it into a specific item. KPIX also had a late afternoon (pre-news) Deputy Dave featuring, of course, western films (vs cartoons). It seemed like that they all had Bosco as a sponsor (using a milk carton that had its brand obscured). He once had a contest for an (outboard) power boat - awarded for the best name for it. An acquaintance of my father won with "DD5" for Deputy Dave (Channel) 5! The arrival of the Mickey Mouse Club on ABC (KGO) in October 1955 provided some stiff competition for some of these locally-originated afternoon kid shows. The San Antonio show mentioned earlier was Captain Gus on KENS in the afternoons http://www.dmd52.net/blast.html feauring mostly Popeye and Three Stooges fare, at least during the few seasons of its 2-decade + run that it had my attention. Before Fireman FrankGeorge Lemont was to kids as Don Sherwood was to the adults. I remember his predecessor, Frank Smith, but George had a show before Fireman Frank. He was called Uncle George and would draw caricatures and cartoon pictures. He used clever cross-hatch shading on his drawings and would call them "the downtown treatment." I loved his puppets, but he reached a new height with the introduction of Karl the Karrot! Great days of kids' TV back then: Kris Kuts (the felt shapes), Deputy Dave Allen, Captain Fortune (Who's that knocking on my barrel?), Mayor Art, Crusader Rabbit (voice done by a lady from Petaluma, I'm told)and Captain Satellite (I remember seeing his first telecast on that NEW channel, KTVU). Del Courtney and Tony Petucci (Ralph Manza), Sandy (The moon belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free) Spellman, Fran O'Brien, Sherwood's minions, Bobby Troop, George Cerutti, Julie London, and Ronnie Schell. Great times. Rad CarrotThat is a mighty rad carrot with a hairy nose and wild hair. No wonder why he had some major kid appeal. The 50's Bay Area Christmas While reminiscing about Fireman Frank and Captain Fortune, each Christmas, I always recall with grand fondness those early television trips to the North Pole escorted by the magic elf, Happy Hollie. "Happy Hollie calling Santa Claus at the North Pole... come in, Santa!" I believe it was brought to you by either "The White House", or "City of Paris". You could always be assured there'd be one commercial by "Mission Pac"... fruit packages for mail delivery to east coast friends. "No gift so bright, so gay, so right, send a Mission Pac on its way" Fireman FrankI'm so happy to learn there are others that have fond memories of Fireman Frank / Uncle George! Remember how he'd have the puppets refer to him as "skinny-in-the pit"? I would crack up when he'd tell the kids to be sure to send in for his one-way yoyo while just dropping a stringless yoyo. The lady who voiced Crusader RabbitHer name was Lucille Bliss, and she also did Smurfette. But legendary to me is the fact she waited tables on the side, and a deejay from KSAN recognized her voice, and asked her to come into the station and record the doomsday alerts. "This is a test - this is only a test. In the event of an actual alert, " etc. In the voice of Crusader Rabbit! This included (I assume) the real kiss your butt goodbye warning, in the event of nuclear war! Man- would I love to hear a copy of this. Jay Ward with Art Alexander created the Rabbit here in Berkeley, eventually moving to LA for production. You can read all about it in The Moose That Roared, by Keith Scott. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Curiosities, tterrapix)
Trade You for an iPod: 1979
... full size. Ripping a CD --- 1,411 kbps > > my kids laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for ... to have the reel-to-reel deck from our old living room! My kids are mp3 only, they think me a dinosaur, and laugh when I tell them they ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 06/30/2010 - 12:43am -

It's a sobering thought that this accumulation of consumer audio gear, though approaching high-end levels but not all that esoteric for the period, may look as archaic to present-day eyes as those examples of enormous, steampunk-like telephone and radio contraptions we've see here on Shorpy. Maybe if it was all black enamel rather than brushed aluminum it wouldn't look so old-hat, er, I mean retro. Of all this stuff all I have left is the turntable; a visiting friend recently took out his cell phone and snapped a photo of it in action, then emailed it to his daughter. He said she'd never seen a record playing. Lest anyone think that some form of perverse, fetishistic self-absorbtion inspired this as well as Beam Me Up, I took these photos as a status update for a fellow audio and video enthusiast friend who had moved out of state sometime previously. A Kodachrome slide which, in keeping with the theme of nostalgic technological obsolescence, was processed by Fotomat. View full size. Ripping a CD --- 1,411 kbps>> my kids laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality Top Geezer, if you're ripping a CD, for best audio quality you should simply copy the native .WAV files off the disc, which is 1411 kbps. There's a setting in iTunes to let you do this. I can't let go eitherI still have most of my LPs, though I did sell all I could part with when I moved from California. Still Have my Linn Axis Turntable, My Wharfedale Diamond speakers from 1983 are barely broken in, but my NAD receiver bit the dust just last week. All this is up in the library along with my Nikon FE and my Rolleicord Twin-lens reflex. I think I'll go cry now. Jewel case #1When did you get your first CD player, and what was the first CD you ever bought? What did you think. tterrace: An Audio OdysseySome curiosity has been expressed, so here goes: I got into reel tapes because of what I hated about LPs, primarily tracking-induced distortion, particularly inner-groove toward the disc center, the grab-bag aspect of pressing quality, and of course the ticks, pops and inexorable deterioration. I got out of reel tapes because of what I hated about them: hiss and inconvenience. Hiss* was mostly taken care of by Dolby encoding, but that came during the format's final death throes and then new releases totally dried up with the advent of the CD. My first was in 1985, and I have to say I haven't missed in the slightest all the things I hated about tapes and vinyl. Tapes all went when I moved into a place too small to house them. LPs lingered because I missed the window of disposal opportunity when they still had some value, plus I was lazy. What I've kept have either nostalgia value - what was around the house when I was a kid, and some of my own first purchases c.1962 - or things not yet on CD, plus the aforementioned quads. I have to admit that I retain a certain fondness for the ritualistic aspects of playing physical media, but were it not for inertia - physical as well as mental, both undoubtedly age-related - I'd probably jump whole hog into hard disc storage, computer-controlled access and data-stream acquisition. And I'm not totally ruling out the possibility of getting there yet. *Desire to suppress tape his was the main reason I chose the Phase Linear 4000 preamp with its auto-correlator noise reduction circuitry. It kind of worked, but not transparently; I could hear the hiss pumping in and out. But it also had an SQ quad decoder that I eventually took advantage of when it was discovered that the audio tracks of some recent films on laserdisc and videocassette carried, unbilled, Dolby Stereo matrix surround encoding. By adding another small amp and two more speakers in back I amazed friends with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark in surround sound well before it became a home theater mainstay. BTW: my advice is to use the Apple Lossless Encoder when importing to iTunes if you want maximum quality. Like FLAC, it's a non-lossy compression scheme, so there's no quality difference vs. the CD original, and you use less hard disc space. The past is the future which is nowHa! I still have my Pioneer PL-400 turntable, the same one I've been spinning on for the past 30+ years. Would love to have a tube amp, but honestly I can't beat the convenience of my early 90s Sony digital receiver. Eight functions/inputs, of which I use seven. To wit: phono [for the PL-400]; AM-FM tuner [built-in]; CD [Kenwood CD player - I don't even use it anymore]; DAT [Tascam TC-222 - has in/out so I can burn directly from vinyl to CD - and what I use to play CDs]; cassette tape [again, Tascam TC-222], video 1 [Sony DVD/SACD player - US region only]; video 2 [cheapo all-region DVD player]; and video three [MacBook or iPod]. My dad was an engineer for Motorola, and a ham radio and audio geek so I come by it honestly [thanks, Dad!] What I would give to have the reel-to-reel deck from our old living room! My kids are mp3 only, they think me a dinosaur, and laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality. "It doesn't matter!" they say. I've worked in the independent record biz for 25+ years, and yes, it DOES matter. And only a house full of vinyl to show for it. The weirdest thing to me is the cassette revival these days. And some are doing it right, producing beautiful sounding reel-to-reel cassettes - metal reels, chrome tape, screwed plastic shells. Anyhow....not bragging or anything, just wanted to share. What a great photo and post! Thank you! Re: RippageThanx, Anonymous Tipster. I've looked in the preferences on my MacBook and found the import settings for WAV files, but I'm stalled there. What next? Also, the whole system comes out through Bose 2.2 monitors set into the corners of my plaster-walled living room. Turns the whole thing into one giant speakerbox. My friends are always amazed at how the vinyl sounds, esp live recordings. Once again, thanx to Dad. He gave me the monitors for my 25th birthday many, many years ago. How I miss him. [Anonymous Tipster notes that this is a setting in iTunes. So open iTunes. Preferences > General > Import Settings. Choose "Import using WAV Encoder." - Dave] My roommate had the "good stuff"We still listen to my Pioneer SX-780 receiver and my wife's Yamaha CR-420 receiver (both mid-70s) every day... mostly to NPR radio. The Pioneer also has my HDTV audio running through it in the living room. (I'm too broke for surround-sound, yet.) And with the help of an Apple Airport next to the computer in the other room and an Airport Extreme next to the Pioneer, we can stream our iTunes library all over the house. I can't argue with the true audiophiles here... the highest fidelity is lost on me these days (I'm wearing hearing aids, now). But ya can't beat the convenience factor of iTunes and a classic iPod for the sheer volume of songs you can have at your immediate access, not to mention building playlists or randomizing them--and it's all portable! But back to the past... As for turntable cartridges, my old roommate and I were always partial to the Stanton 681-EEE. We used those at the album-rock radio station where I DJ'ed (1975-78); they were practically industry-standard. They would set you back a couple of bucks, and maybe they were better than the turntable we had them in at home. But they made everything sound really great. It was my roommate, though, who had the Good Stuff. Top-of-the-line Pioneer gear, separate amp and tuner and a Teac 3340S R2R that used 10-inch reels. My tape deck was one of those unusual, slant-faced Sony TC-377 decks. Between the radio station and my roommate and all my friends "in the biz", I always had access to really great gear. Sadly, it usually wasn't mine. But I still have a ton of vinyl. Gimme that Old (High) School AudioYou know what I really, really, really miss about old-school electronic gear? Functions that had dedicated control switches or knobs, rather than being buried down several layers within one of an array of menus. Also, instantaneous response to switching or adjustments rather than digitalus interruptus, now made worse by HDMI wait-for-a-handshake. Dave: you are my hero. Very nice!I come from a long line of audiophiles, so even though I was only born in 1974, that all looks very familiar. Our setup was very similar, but we also had an 8-track. My current stereo setup has a fine-quality Dual record player I inherited from my grandfather. Just this morning, my 6-year-old daughter did a convincing boogie to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. She will totally grow up knowing the sound you hear when the needle first hits the vinyl, what we call the "crisp." And I have to agree with an earlier poster -- that totally looks like a modern photograph. How strange! StyliShure V15 Type V replacement stylus (Swiss) on eBay. [A few years ago I went to the local Circuit City (remember those?) and said I needed a new needle for my record player. The kid gave me a look like I'd asked where they kept the Victrola cranks. Finally the manager found one "in back." - Dave] MagnavoxWe were Magnavox Dealers for many years. They had one great feature, they were price-fixed. It was one of the few lines we carried that allowed us a full markup. Magnavox didn't have to police the sales pricing, we dealers ratted each other out if they were discounting. Now Magnavox is just another has-been brand (like Bell & Howell, Westinghouse or Sylvania) that can be licensed to put on any product. It shows up every once in a while on a promotional brand LCD TV or compact stereo system. Incidentally, tterrace, too bad you didn't live in Manhattan, you would have been one hell of a good customer. Love this stuffI started collecting vinyl in the mid to late 90s. It never really went away but now it's really picked up. There is hardly a major label release that isn't offered on vinyl. They are also reissuing classics as fast as the presses can make them. I bought my neighbor a turntable last year. He's now a more avid collector than I am. The real trick is keeping the vinyl clean at all times. I made a vacuum cleaning machine out of an old turntable. It does a fantastic job reviving dirty records. After they are cleaned, I slide them into a new anti-static inner sleeve. I use an anti-static brush to remove dust before each play. That removes a huge amount of surface noise. Cleaning the stylus is also important. To me, it's hard to beat the magic of a vacuum tube amplifier. I built my stereo amp from a kit about 9 years ago. You can build almost anything yourself with the kits being offered today. I build copies of classic vacuum tube guitar amps as well. I basically supply friends in local bands with free amps since I don't play guitar. It's a great hobby and soldering is a useful skill. There is just something about vinyl and do-it-yourself audio that gets you involved with the music. It makes it so much more personal. Those were the daysI used to have some stuff like that, and JBL L-100 speakers. Nowadays all that sound is still around, just smaller and in the car instead of the living room. Age vs. DolbyI don't have to worry about Dolby hiss anymore because my tinnitus is bad enough to where I hear the hiss in a silent room. I never went through a proper audiophile period mostly because I didn't have the money, but also because I never had a place where I could really put it to use until it was a bit too late. I still have my turntable but, like everyone else's, it needs a new cartridge; and the place where the stereo sits now has way too springy a floor (you can skip a CD by treading too heavily, much less an LP). These days the stereo spends most of its time being the sound system for the DVD player. My father went through his audiophile period in the fifties, and for a long time his system consisted of a tube amp whose provenance I do not recall, a massive transcription turntable and tone arm, and a home-built Altec cabinet with a 36 in. speaker (it was the '50s-- what's a crossover?). The speaker magnet weighed something like twenty pounds; the whole thing was the size of an end table. His hearing has gotten much worse than mine so he has been spared further temptation. Weird but trueAddendum - my PL-400 has two speeds - 45 and 33. What do you get when you add them together? 78. If I hold the speed button halfway down between 45 and 33, it spins at 78 rpm! I use a C-clamp to hold the button between the two and spin my 78s and have burned many of them to CD to rip into my MacBook. My 78s are now portable on my iPod. How cool is that? Phase Linear and Infinity Mon IIasBack in the mid seventies I was a service teck at a HI FI shop, We were dealers for PL and Infinity. PL was the first high-power company out there. I fixed lots of 400s (200s 200b 700s and Series 2, too). The larger Infinity speakers needed lots of power to drive. The 400 was up to it, but the crossovers in the Infinitys were very hard on the amps. The PL "turn-on thump" wasn't very compatible with the speakers. The auto-correlator in the preamp took away lots of hiss and noise, but also took away the soundstage. Plenty of tricks out there to "sweeten" up the sound of the 400, but not too many lived long enough. ELO ("Lucky Man") and Supertramp ("Crime of the Century") helped us sell lots of PL and Infinitys! I still own a pair of Mon IIas, have a few friends that still have theirs. Mon Jrs too! On another note, it was common to find audio nuts who were also camera crazy! Never seen a record playing??Tterrace, I hope your friend's daughter catches up with the times. Vinyl is in style again. Just today I went shopping with some friends and we bought a total of 35 LPs. It's smelling mighty technical in hereWAV? On a Mac? Phf. (AIFF is the native uncompressed format on Mac.) If you don't have space concerns, use Apple Lossless format, which is about half the size of AIFF or WAV. But really, 320 mp3 or AAC should be more than good enough for kids listening on an iPod. Considering how all the pop stuff these days (if that's what they're into) is so compressed (aurally, not bitwise) and saturated, it already sounds bad on the CD, so why waste the space ripping it at a high bit rate? [Lots of us (yours truly among them) are moving their CD collections onto hard drives or dedicated music servers. The .wav format has several advantages. - Dave] The most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation (LPCM) format. The standard audio file format for CDs is LPCM-encoded, containing two channels of 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits per sample. Since LPCM uses an uncompressed storage method which keeps all the samples of an audio track, professional users or audio experts may use the WAV format for maximum audio quality. WAV audio can also be edited and manipulated with relative ease using software. AIFF is also PCM in its uncompressed forms. And since "top geezer" specifically mentioned he's using a Mac, it only makes sense to use a format that was made for and will work better on a Mac. That'd be AIFF or Apple Lossless if he wants something without the [possible] audible colorings of mp3, AAC, or compressed WAV. Zero historyI recently finished reading the galley of the new William Gibson book, "Zero History." As with several of his earlier books (and about half of Pixar's films), it concerns itself with the relationship between humans and the things we create. We make clothes and stereos and computers, but then we define ourselves by these things as well, so which is really central -- us, or our things? Zero History raised an interesting point about patina, in that some things become more valuable if they show signs of use and others are more valuable if they are mint in box. A stereo system, I think, would fall into the latter category. Anyway, that's an eye-catching setup. Thanks as always for sharing. Questions, questionsRetro-audiophile lust! 1. Brands and model numbers please. 2. Where's your Elcaset deck? Ray GunI also have a nifty little anti-static-electron-spewing sparky gun, pictured to the right side of your "record player". http://www.tweakshop.com/Zerostat.html I BetBet your turntable plays 78s and 16s as well as 45s and 33s. I have a cheap Garrard changer of about the same vintage that does all four... which came in rather handy when I started picking up 78s at the local Symphony's book and music sale a few years ago. Oh, OKNever had an Elcaset deck, nor 8-track. I do still have a MiniDisc deck, though. Shelf-by-shelf going down: Technics SL-1300 direct-drive turntable w/Shure V15 Type V cartridge; ZeroStat and Discwasher. Phase Linear 4000 preamp; 10-band graphic equalizer whose details escape me for the nonce. Concord outboard Dolby unit atop Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck. Kenwood KX-1030 cassette deck. Phase Linear 400 power amp. Not shown: Infinity Monitors with the easy-to-blow-out Walsh tweeters. Somebody tell me how to get a replacement stylus for the V15 Type V. FashionsInteresting though that you -- the clothes and hair -- would fit in just fine today. Men's clothes haven't changed much in 30 years. Sure there's newer styles, such as the stupid "falling down pants" with underwear hanging out and such, but the newer styles haven't replaced the old standbys. We tend to think of fashions of the past lasting for a long time, but if you look at any 30 year time period in the pictures on Shorpy you'll see that the fashions change drastically. All in all, the picture looks like it could have been a picture of vintage equipment taken yesterday. Living it old schoolThe system here in my studio: Pioneer RT-909 open reel (10") Pioneer RT-707 open reel (7") Pioneer PL-530 turntable Pioneer CT-F1000 cassette deck Pioneer SX-727 receiver Elac/Miracord 10-H (turntable for 78s) Tascam 106 mixer Tascam 112 cassette deck Sharp MD-R3 cd/minidisc Kenwood KR-A4040 reciever TEAC X-3 Mk II open reel (7") TEAC X-10R open reel (10") Otari MX-5050 (open reel (10") KLH Model Six speakers Infinity RS-2000 speakers iPod 60gig (first generation) Let me do some mind reading.The Fotomat you took your film to was in the parking lot of Co-op shopping center in Corte Madera. Your stereo equipment was bought at Pacific Stereo in San Rafael. Or was it that high end place down at the Strawberry Shopping Center? All very cool looking stuff. I have just broken into my old gear I bought back around 1975 at P.S. I'm currently listening to some old LPs that were my grandmother's. It's fun, and they do sound better than CDs. As far as the stylus goes, check around online. There is quite a bit of interest and information about this hobby. Reel to reelI remember when "logic" was advertised as a technological breakthrough. I'm old. Call me old schoolAll I need is a vintage Voice of Music turntable to fit in my restored 1950 Magnavox cabinet model 477P radio/record player. It never had the TV option installed so I put in an inexpensive small TV from Wally World, the cable box and wireless gear. www.tvhistory.tv/1950-Magnavox-Brochure3.JPG I have the Contemporary in mahogany. Mice had been living on the original turntable. Construction of the cabinet is first rate. Sorry for drooling into your gearI always liked those Pioneer reel-to-reel decks, but still lust for a Teac. Nice Phase Linear stuff there. That's maybe an MXR EQ? Tiny, stiff sliders with rubber "knobs"? And a slide-out shelf for the turntable? But I think the real star here is the cabinet on the right with the neato doors. Jogging the tterrace memory banksThank you sjmills, that was indeed an MXR equalizer, and exactly as you described it. I eventually connected it with mega-long cables so I could fiddle with it endlessly while sitting in my acoustic sweet spot. What's under the turntable is actually an Acousti-mount, a spring-footed platform designed to minimize low-frequency feedback from the speakers. I still use it. The outfit that made it, Netronics Research & Development, is still in business I see. The smaller cabinet at right was actually my first audio equipment cabinet; my folks got it for me c.1964. It was originally designed as a piece of bedroom furniture, and was solid wood, unlike the later composition-board larger one. And rgraham, that's where the Fotomat was, and some gear did come from Pacific Stereo in SR, but the Phase Linears were beyond them; they came from some higher-end Marin place I've forgotten about. The turntable plays only plays at 33 & 45. My online searches for replacement Shure V-15 styli usually only turn up outrageously expensive new old stock or alleged compatibles whose descriptions give me the willies. Just within the past couple months my LP collection has shrunk from around 18 down to 4 linear feet. Tape squealWow, I was born the year this was taken, and when I was growing up we had one of those cassette players on the second-from-the-bottom shelf. At least, it looks very similar to what I remember. I hated it, though, in its later years while playing tapes it would randomly emit an extremely high-pitched, screeching, squealing noise. My parents couldn't hear it so one night when my dad put in a tape and it started squealing, he didn't believe that there was any and just thought I was covering my ears and begging for it to be turned off because I hated the music, until my brother came downstairs and asked what that screeching noise was. Gonna have to show this to the husbandHe will genuflect, then get a certain far-away look in his eyes. Shelli Is that a static gun?Just bellow his right hand in the background.... a static gun for zapping away the snap-crackle-pop static before placing the vinyl record on the turntable. That WAS state of the art! High School Hi-FiI will confess to still having my high-school stereo. Akai tape deck, Pioneer amp and tuner from 1977-78. The last of which I have duplicated (triplicated? Thanks, eBay) for Shorpy headquarters. Also some Sony ES series DAT decks and CD players. Acoustic Research speakers. Squirreled away in a closet, my dad's 1961 Fisher amp and tuner (vacuum tubes). Sold on eBay: Dad's early 1960s Empire Troubadour turntable. (Regrets, I've had a few.) AnalogueryNo way would I trade old analog gear for an iPod. Any good audiophile will take vinyl or a good analog source over the compressed, squashed and mastered with no dynamics file formats that iPods handle. I'm convinced that audio (recording techniques and gear) peaked in the '70s and '80s. While we have some pretty impressive gear available in this day and age, I've got some vintage gear that sounds pretty good yet and is arguably better than some more clinical sounding stuff made today. Vinyl is back as well. Local record stores are now stocking more and more vinyl. Consumer electronic shows are full of brand new turntables and phono preamps. I would love to have that Phase Linear stuff in my audio racks! Great shot. We've come a long way.But wasn't all that stuff cool? I happen to love the before MTV days when listening to tunes was a great way to relax and reflect. I think music was better too, but then I'm showing my age! I've got that same turntable.When I dug it out of the closet a few years back and needed a tune-up, I discovered I lived just a few blocks from what may be the last store of its kind. He'll have your stylus. No website and he deals in cash only -- pretty much the same set-up for the last 60 years. J and S Phonograph Needles 1028 NE 65th St Seattle WA 98115 (206) 524-2933 His LordshipI cannot read the text, or clearly recognize the person, on whatever is located to the right of the reel to reel unit but, the person looks a little bit like Lord Buckley. Heavy Metal n Hot WaxI still have about 500 pounds of old Ampex and Marantz gear, and over a thousand vintage and new vinyl sides. Sold that stuff in the 70s and worked for a recording studio in the 80s. Always a trip to give the old tunes a spin on the old gear. With DBX decoding some of those old discs can give CDs a run for the money as far as dynamic range goes. But to say any of that sounds better than current gear is wishful thinking (remember the dreaded inside track on a vinyl LP?). Most any reasonably good, digitally sourced 5.1 setup with modern speakers will blow it away. Those were the daysThis brings back memories of dorm rooms in 1978. First thing unpacked at the beginning of the year was the stereo equipment. Last thing packed at the end of the year was the stereo equipment. Love the brushed denim jeans. I only had them in blue. Back in the DayNothing could beat the sound that jumped off the turntable the first time a brand new LP was played. Electrifying! No tuner?Ah, the days of audio purity. Am I missing the tuner, or were you a holdout for the best-quality sound, no FM need apply? Great to see that stack of equipment. I'm still using my Sony STC-7000 tuner-preamp from 1975; it doesn't have all the controls of your Phase Linear, but just handling it takes me back to the good old days. Tx for the pic! R2RI grew up in a household like this, and the reel-to-reel was my father's pride and joy. But can anyone name the recording propped up next to it? It looks like Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra, except for the unbuttoned collar. Vinyl's FinalI've never been without a turntable. Currently, I have a Rega Planar 3 with a Pickering XV15-1200E cartridge. Bought my first LP in 1956 and I'm still buying new ones. My receiver/amp is a Fisher 500B, a vacuum tube gem. My speakers are highly efficient Klipsch 5.5s, which are great sounding "monkey coffins." I've a Panasonic CD player and Pioneer Cassette deck for playback of those obsolete formats. Further audio responseNext to the reel deck is the box for a London/Ampex pre-recorded tape, conductor Antal Dorati on the cover; can't remember other details. No tuner, as FM audio had too many compromises for my taste. I had a receiver in the video setup for FM simulcasts (remember them?), plus I ran the regular TV audio through it to a pair of small AR bookshelf speakers. In defense of the iPod (which I use for portable listening - Sennheiser PX-100 headphones, wonderful - and did you know Dr. Sennheiser died just last month?), it can handle uncompressed audio files just fine, plus Apple's lossless compressed format, so you're not restricted to mp3s or AAC. For what I use it for, AAC is perfectly OK, and to be honest, my ears aren't what they used to be anyway. Still, for serious listening I plop down in the living room and put on a CD or SACD, or some of my remaining vinyl. Among other LPs I saved all the matrixed Quad (SQ and QS format) which Dolby ProLogic II does a reasonable job of decoding. Finally, thanks to everybody for the hints about the Shure stylus replacements, I'll check those out. Snobs!You guys and your fancy stereos. Here's mine from back in the 70s. Tuner and speakers were Pioneer I think. No idea about the turntable. Don't ya love the rabbit ears and the cord leading to the swag lamp? And of course the whole thing sat on a "cabinet" made of bricks and boards. Is that you, Arturo?Perhaps the 7-track box cover is showing Arturo Toscanini conducting a Casual Friday concert? Never saw it comingSo the future is here already? This story is both sad and frightening. Now I can't sleep without the lights on. Two-and-a-half questions: Didn't your PL 400 get a little toasty under that shelf, pushed up against the side? Did you have LPs up on the top shelf like that in October of '89? And, if so, did they stay there? That is (was) some nice gear. I'm tearing up just a little. DoratiThe tape is a 1975 recording of Antal Dorati conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in three works by Tchaikovsky. I knew I had it on LP at one time, but I had to resort to ebay to identify it. Vinyl livesWe still have a couple hundred LPs stored carefully in the garage (don't worry, they're safe from damage!). A few years ago, we had a yard sale and had the garage open but roped off. I had one guy nearly foaming at the mouth when he saw our collection. I nearly had to physically restrain him from going in and grabbing everything! We also have an turntable that's about two years old. No, it's not top of the line, but my teenage sons LOVE the silly thing and DS#2 just bought a NEW Metallica LP! He plays the *&$%## thing when he's doing the dishes. I sound like my mom: "Turn that racket down!" The PlattersThere were around 2½ million vinyl albums sold last year in the United States, which would account for 1.3 percent of music track sales. So basically it's a novelty format, like dial telephones. IncredibleMy father had everything you have in this picture, and it brings back some incredible memories I had as a child of the 70's. 1970's Man Cave!This guy had it going on. Reel too realSold off the last of my old stereo gear (nothing too impressive) at this year's neighborhood garage sale, but I've got that same Pioneer deck sitting next to me right now. Recent craigslist purchase, necessary to digitize some of my "historic" airchecks I've been lugging around for the last 40 years. Funny, I wasn't nearly as good as I remember but it is nice to have a piece of gear I always wanted! Hi-Fi FarkAs night follows day, so Farkification follows tterrace. Not to mention j-walkblog. Love the systemReally nice system. We have seven Telefunken consoles of different sizes and styles that we really enjoy. Nothing sounds as nice as vinyl played through those 11 tubes, and the quality of a stereo that cost the price of a new VW back in 1958 is as good as you'd expect. Enjoy these "artifacts," since they (in my opinion) outperform even a new high-end Bose, Kenwood or other system. Vinyl, Shellac, and Garage Sales Rock!I got back into vinyl (and shellac) about 5 years ago. There was a tiny hole-in-the-wall used high-end audio shop in my area where I got a gently used Technics 1200 series TT for $250. Got a 30+year-old Sure V15III cart and new stylus for a lot of money, about $175! I haven't looked back 3,000 LPs later, and if you've had a garage sale in SW Michigan, you've probably seen my happy face at some point! :-) Love having the artifacts in my basement, and love making MP3s out of them even more for portability. Living in the present does indeed rock sometimes. I can't remember the last time I purchased a CD... (Sadly, Bill's Sound Center closed when they demolished the whole place for a snazzy Main St. Pub.) Nostalgia never goes awayI'm not a technophile, but I know what I like...I'm going to go into the living room right now and fire up some Louis Prima on my old Benjamin Miracord turntable! Recovering Open Reel FanaticBack in the late '70s through sometime in the early '80s you could still get current-issue prerecorded open-reel tapes. Probably very few folks were paying attention, but YES for a SINGLE PENNY you could get a dozen of them when starting your brand-new membership with ... (shudder) Columbia House. It wasn't long before they stopped offering open-reel for all their titles, but the ones in the advertisements were available in any format, and I still have the ones I got early on, and some of the automatic monthly selections. (Damn they are heavy, too. Like a box of iron filings.) Somewhere around here I have Steely Dan and ELO albums on open-reel tape. It became hard finding things I wanted to listen to, though, so I had to finish out my membership agreement by getting some LPs, and that's about the time I started to realize the things from the club looked OK but were made of inferior materials and did not always sound quite right. But of course I was about fifteen years old and it was an educational experience. It took me a few more years to get over my fascination with open reel decks, but I still have two corroding in the garage. Anyone remembertape deck specs for "wow and flutter"? Vinyl - jazz and bluesI still have the bulk of my jazz and blues vinyl collection, though I did unload some of it. Had to buy a new amp last month to play them after my old one gave up after at least 25 year service. Got a Cambridge Topaz AM1, not very pricey but does the job. Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk rule! Am I actually this old?This was stuff I longed for in the '70s, but never managed to afford. To me it still feels semi-contemporary and definitely impressive. BTW, is the very concept of high fidelity now as out of date as this old hi-fi equipment? Judging from the execrable audio I've heard coming out of a series of cell phones I've owned over the last decade, I'm beginning to think that the basic ability to notice audio distortion may have been lost as interest in hi-fi was lost. Reel-to-reel had an advantageOne could copy whole albums, and the length was for hours. In the late 80's, I knew some serious audiophiles who had Carver CD players, Nakamichi cassette players, and reel-to-reel players, on which they'd store hours of jazz music. Turntable MemoryMy buddy and I have been mobile DJ's for close to 30 years. Back in the days of lugging three large boxes of LP's and 4 heavy boxes of 45's, sometimes up flights of stairs, and index cards for looking up song location, we had two QRK turntables we got from the radio station where my friend worked. One evening we were on the upper level of a hall with a very spungy floor. We didn't realize how much the floor would move until we started a polka and the dance floor filled with people. A few moments later the record skipped and we realized that we were bouncing, a lot. We grabbed a few quarters out of our pockets and put them on the tone arm, and then both of us pressed down with all our might to keep our stand from moving. We were very, very afraid to play anything uptempo. I still have a turntable, a bunch of vinyl, and a Teac open reel deck. I'm converting some shows I did many years ago to digital. (ShorpyBlog, Technology, Member Gallery, Farked, tterrapix)
Dead End: 1905
... (note the extremely short haircuts on a couple of these kids), no mud. That's why I love this site: it's like getting a glimpse ... to one of his charges. It's entertainment for the kids and it's a responsibility for him. His affect says, "Aw crap, this sucks." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 5:26pm -

Circa 1905. "The close of a career in New York." Photo by Byron. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Not ready for a poke.You really want to wait a day or so, until the legs on top are lifted skyward, before poking the horse with a stick. Grew up in cattle country, and had the chance to do so as a kid. Great photo, this one, for showing what life was like. Also enjoyed the Little Italy 1900 view posted today (or was that yesterday?). Urban ArchaeologyWho'll be the first to figure out what street this is? The smellI would not last very long in the olden days. Gag. Future GlueFascinating photo. Apparently this was a very common sight. NYC had men with wagons in place to pick up carcasses and bring them to rendering plants, many of which were located next to Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn. I hear that bones are still occasionally found! Nowadayshe'd be plastered with tickets. For Jack FinneyIf I could dedicate a photograph from this site, I'd dedicate this one to Jack Finney, author of "The Third Level," "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime" and the novel "Time and Again," among dozens of stories all focused on the notion that any normal, healthy, sane person would want to flee the oppression of modern life and escape to the healthier and more beautiful world of 1905. Which, in Finney's mind, apparently consisted entirely of men in straw boaters, women in leg-o'-mutton sleeves, and band concerts in the park on summer evenings. There are no dead half-starved horses in Finney's world, no ragged children, no shaved heads to get rid of the lice (note the extremely short haircuts on a couple of these kids), no mud. That's why I love this site: it's like getting a glimpse into the past, unfiltered by the wishful thinking of modern filmmakers or fictionalists. Google Street ViewBefore too many people post Google Street Views of 527 West 125th Street (the address noted in the excellent comment below), two observations. 1. 527 West 125th Street is the address of the dairy (photo below), not of the rundown stable whose entrance is shown in the dead-horse photo. Dairy and stable not necessarily same street address! 2. Please DO NOT make a screen grab of a Google Street View and then upload the screen grab here or elsewhere. If you want to show a Google Street View in the comments box, all you need to do is copy and paste the Google "embed" code, which is super-easy. Thank you and good day. Stop right there boyo!Don't you dare poke that animal with that stick. McDermott-Bunger DairyThe McDermott-Bunger sign is a clue. The company built a new dairy at 527 West 125th Street in 1903 (NY Times), so the delivery stable was probably not too far away. Beginning in the 1860s, factories producing lumber, paint, beer, dye and other materials cropped up on the far western end of Manhattan Valley, around what is now West 125th Street, with its direct connections to the rail line along the Hudson River and the ferry. While I am loath to beat a dead horse, I speculate this photo was shot in that area. In the movies from that eraI always wondered why even really poor people were always clean and had good teeth. Also thought it was strange that there were never any dead horses in the streets--except the ones shot in gun battles. West Side DairyThere was another McDermott-Bunger facility at 525-27 West 38th Street. I think the older boy cares.Though horse death was a regular part of life in the dairy delivery business I'm sure people did get attached to some of the animals. When the time came a horse had to be gotten out of the property and out to the street where the carcus could be picked up. I'm thinking the boy with shoes and a hat works in the stable and has been tasked with waiting for the pickup. I'm also thinking he is not too happy with the task nor what has happened to one of his charges. It's entertainment for the kids and it's a responsibility for him. His affect says, "Aw crap, this sucks." "Mind your horse for you, Mister?"The kid in the flat cap looks a bit guilty to me. The Knackers TruckGetting a dead horse up off the street was hard work. Here is a photo of one being winched into what looks like an early Daimler municipal knacker's truck somewhere in Germany. Another note re: Jack FinneyAnother note re: Jack Finney and his wonderful book, "Time and Again", as posted by Cactus Wren. I've read it at least three times over the years, and it would be a book that I'd want to have with me to read once again, if marooned on a desert island. We tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New YorkWell, a few of us, anyways. Others, not so much. Dave, some of the photos you find astonish me. They have changed me. This is one of the saddest ever. Looks LikeThe Yellow Kids of Hogan's Alley Look at the old facesThese kids had such old looking faces...this was the most depressing photo yet...interesting, but depressing! I could have lived the rest of my lifewithout seeing this photo. Why oh why did I click on this email this morning? Ok, I'm a woman who loves animals, babies, children etc. I'm no member of Peta and I eat meat but this picture is heartbreaking. To see a magnificent animal like the horse lying in a ditch looking starved and unkempt just makes me want to cry. I wish I could go back to that time and whip that owner for abusing that horse the way he did. This just makes me even more thankful for our modern ASPCA. I hope this horse is in horse heaven now galloping over the hills and valleys of heaven and eating all the oats he desires. Please don't reply about all the other misfortunate beings that existed then. I'm not really interested. Any architectural historians out there?The clapboard house next to the dairy looks considerably older than the brick structures elsewhere on the street. Any clues as to its potential age? It looks fairly rattletrap when this photo was taken. Is this a Saturday or in the summertime - or are all these boys playing truant? And I bet none of them wash their hands before eating. You can do better, DaveJesus, man - don't we see enough death and violence in modern media? You can actually select the pics you post, right? [Boo-hooey. - Dave] For Cactus WrenNot to get in an argument with you, but I recently read "Time and Again," a work of FICTION, which was written in 1970. I didn't get the idea from reading it that 1882 was such a fabulous and glorious time to live in. In fact, there's a part in the book where the main character Simon Morley is riding in a taxi and discussing with the driver the poverty he and his family live with constantly. If people really want to know how the "Other Half" lived, they ought to read Jacob Reis. Look at their facesI see an obvious resigned sadness in each little boy's face over the demise of the equine as though, even at their tender ages, they accept the sorrowful but inevitable finality of death. Even the kid that has spotted the photographer wears an undermask of mourning. (Yeah, I am one of those morose drinkers who cries in my beer). The poor horse was a good animal, he didn't deserve this. He served his master well, worked his carcass off and this is how it all ends up. Where is the justice? Great Photo Dave!Not sure what everyone's gripe is about you posting this photo. As a history buff, I am thankful that such photos are available to view. They give us a peek into history, and the way things were. A great photoSure it's depressing, but it's as real as the pictures of death taken by Mathew Brady during the Civil War. When I was a kid in New York, circa 1944 to 1948, there were still a number of horses drawing vendors' carts. Vegetables, rags, and a knife sharpener were the ones I remember. I also remember a traditional organ grinder with a monkey, and guys building skyscrapers tossing red hot rivets through the air. This way to the Egress.The comments regarding the "depressing" subject remind me of a comment left at the Children's Museum at a certain major Canadian institution when I worked there. "You should only put up pictures of pretty things like flowers and butterflies instead of the Satanic things you have" (which were, amongst other things, costumes from other countries and an inflatable igloo). I, for one, am glad that no punches are pulled, here. Life isn't always flowers and butterflies. Cost of HorsepowerThe fate of horses worked to death, and elimination of their droppings from the street, were big reasons why automobiles were looked on as a great advancement. By comparison, automotive smoke and oil drips seem minor. On PhotographersAn eloquent, honest, even wrenching photo. And it has inspired a range of emotions. This is what the best photography does - beyond the merely documentary. Thanks for unearthing and posting this. Thanks, DavePut me in the category of readers who appreciate photos like these. The great thing about so many of these historical photos is that they show the dirty fingernails and the sweat-soaked clothes of past times, not just picture-postcard views of town and country. When thousands of horses pulled thousands of carts, wagons, and carriages through cities every day of the week, some horses obviously died. Let's not be so meek and prim that we complain about seeing photos that depict everyday reality. If you're too fragile to view these photos, maybe the problem is with you, rather than the truth portrayed in the photos. And Shefindsu, what makes you think any cruelty was involved in this horse's death? The horse doesn't look "starved and unkempt" to me. He just looks dead. Geez, people, get a grip. Losing the rose-tinted glassesI've been enjoying the photographs on Shorpy.com for over the year now. During that time, I noticed a certain tendency of some commentators to shake heads at our present while nostalgically looking at pictures of men and women of the past century. I hope this photo will serve as a sharp reminder of how primitive and brutal life could be in a average Western metropolis, barely a century ago. Mind you, I don't think present times are anywhere close to utopia. But comparing the place I live in today with the way it was a hundred years ago... I'd say I'm better off then my grand-grandparents. Blogging a dead horseThis was a common sight in any big city at the time. Just because this horse is on the street waiting to be picked up does not necessarily mean that the animal died from abuse. I wrote an article last year about the history of carriage horses in New York, and in the course of my research I found numerous pictures just like this (and none of the horses in the pictures looked "healthy," probably because they were, you know, dead). Freak accidents, disease, and simple wear and tear from years of pulling carriages on the city streets are just a few of the things that could send a horse to an early grave. Although it may seem sad, horses in this era were still considered a means to an end, and their usefulness was determined by how much they could work. I'm sure that there were owners that mourned the death of a cherished animal, but truthfully people around the turn of the century were generally a bit more realistic about the inevitability of death than we are today. Horses still need disposalI worked for the National Park Service for many years and we had mounted patrol rangers who rode the back country trails. I vividly remember the card we kept in the Rolodex file for a "dead horse removal" service. Never had to call on them, thank god. Our horses were loved and cared for like no others (a small army of volunteers assisted in feeding and currying) but they were still animals that might fall victim to sickness or injury. Yes, not 125thGreetings -- just discovered this fantastic site. Amazing stuff. Kudos to webmaster Dave. Adding to what's probably already been confirmed, a friend on 126th Street notes that while the photo of the dairy (comments, 1/21, 9:06) is definitely West 125th (Manhattan Ave, as it was called around the time that pic was taken), the picture of the dead horse does not look like West 125th. There is no place on West 125th that has that kind of perspective, straight to the vanishing point. It could possibly be East 125th, or, much more likely, someplace well downtown from there. Thanks for this pictureA sad photograph, but an interesting one that shows something about history that we don't ordinarily think about much. That's what I like about this site: old photographs show us the forgotten details. For me the most telling thing is that the kids are more interested in the camera than they are in the horse. It's not that the kids are particularly inhumane, but for them a dead horse isn't all that unusual. A camera is. And is that so bad, for children to focus on the new? I'm sad for the horse, but let's not forget the kids. They're vibrant, alive, interested in new things around them and in each other, even in the face of death and their own poverty. There's hope here. The kidsI agree that this is a sad picture, but alas, it is real life. The horse does not look that well fed, but perhaps it is because it was ill, not starved. What I really find interesting is how many kids are just sort of running around on their own - no supervision, no shoes, and that one little guy on the sidewalk by himself looks no more than 3 or 4. That's Life (& Death)I am new to this site but must comment on this picture. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s. There was a livery stable on Dean Street where peddlers stored their wagons and boarded their horses. Occasionally a horse would die and wind up in the street just like this. The owner of the stable would cover it with a blanket (presumably to keep the flies off) until the Department of Sanitation (around the block on Pacific Street) could pick it up. I remember one instance where we kids watched as the dead horse was winched onto a flatbed truck and hauled away. Horses (even the most loved and well-cared for) die, as do all living things eventually. The horse in the photo may well have been 25 to 30 years old. Possible Location ...I have been spent a little while trying to solve the puzzle of where the location of this picture was and I may have found it. Not only was the McDermott-Bunger Dairy located at 527 West 125th Street in NYC, but they also had an additional location at 525-531 West 38th Street in NYC. I have found several references to this, including one in a November 1902 issue of the Jefferson County Journal (of Adams, NY.) Unfortunately, when I looked at the location on Google maps, I found an open space that is an overpass for one of the entrance/exit ramps to the Lincoln Tunnel. Additionally, there are no old buildings that are identifiable on the block. (The Gallery, Bizarre, DPC, Horses, Kids, NYC)
Carr Fork Canyon: 1942
... Copperton, Utah. Here are a few photos, and us as little kids. Love these old photos I heard a lot about Bingham Canyon growing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/29/2023 - 7:29pm -

November 1942. "Bingham Copper Mine, Utah. Carr Fork Canyon as seen from the 'G' Bridge." Kodachrome by Andreas Feininger for the office of War Information. View full size. shorpy.com SponsorshipGood to see that shorpy.com was already sponsoring all those copper digs and the bridges which spanned the area. Impressive advertising. :) Shorpy's bridgeHe was a regular little industrialist, that kid. Carr Fork Canyon: 1942wow! In a strange way, it's almost beautiful. carr fork canyonthis is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. carr fork canyonBeautiful photo Just a great picture.Just a great picture. PhotographerThose who follow photography recognize Andreas Feininger as one of the premier photographers of the era... It is Andreas's sense of composition and exposure that makes this arresting image... You can be sure that he climbed all over that slope in freezing weather carrying a heavy 4x5 camera and tripod, looking for 'the' shot... denny - old photographer Bingham Canyon MineI used to work there. It is an open pit mine and as you can imagine it has grown quite a bit since this photo was taken. The mine just celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2004. It still holds the record for the largest man made excavation. That entire canyon is now part of the open pit and no longer exists. I have a CD with about 500 photos of this particular mine on it. Steam shovels steam engines and all. I lived here in the 1950sMy family of 12 were born and grew up here. Our neighborhood was called "Dinkeyville" and it was a wonderful enchanted hometown. In the winter we went sledding in those canyons -- in the summertime we went exploring and hiking and playing with our friends. They have a reunion in August for all who want to share photos and memories, at Copperton Park on August 21 in Copperton, Utah. Here are a few photos, and us as little kids. Love these old photosI heard a lot about Bingham Canyon growing up. My mother was Athena Spetsas, a daughter of a Greek immigrant. It's nice to see pictures to go with the stories I have heard, especially since most of the area has now been mined out. A Fiddly NoteThat "View of Bingham's main street in 1946" in the comment below must be from a bit later; there are a several late '40s-early '50s cars in it, and the light car facing us in the center of the picture has a 1955 Ford-ish air about it, although it's hard to be sure. So cold!What a great rendition of a cool winter morning. I shiver just looking at it! (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Andreas Feininger, Mining)
Break Time: 1909
... minutes, I might be more likely to submit a resume. Kids these days If I had kids today, I'd be decorating the walls with pictures like this. When the kids ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/21/2009 - 1:32am -

January 1909. Augusta, Georgia. "Noon Hour. Workers in Enterprise Cotton Mill. The wheels are kept running through noon hour (which is only 40 minutes) so employees may be tempted to put in part of this time at machine if they wish." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Temptation"In this hardscrabble life I live, I only get 40 minutes in a long hard day to relax and eat my lunch, but the wheels are running! I can't get enough of that wheel! I must man the wheel!" I don't get it. I am impressed by the sheer size of the bouffant the girl on the right is sporting. Her hair, when out of its holster, must have been very long and luxurious. Noon HourThe Enterprise Cotton Mill must employ some sort of evil sorcery to make the noon hour equal only 40 minutes. Now if they could ADD on 20 extra minutes, I might be more likely to submit a resume. Kids these daysIf I had kids today, I'd be decorating the walls with pictures like this. When the kids whined about chores I'd tap the pictures and remind them how lucky they are. Lunch time?Ha! Very interesting, since in 2009 it is now politically incorrect to take a lunch break when there is work to be done. Even now, my lunch is at my elbow and my fingers are on the keyboard. I was tempted! I take lunch breaks every day!>> It's politically incorrect to take a lunch break when there is work to be done How is that? I don't think it has anything to do with PC but more with having to tackle more work because of layoffs of co-workers. As with PC? If my co-worker doesn't like me enjoying my lunch break, too bad for him or her. I could not care less what anyone thinks. If someone feels it is PC, then I would suggest a therapist to overcome the sense of feeling inadequate as a pushover at work. It's all how you see life. The real lesson hereThe hardest thing for today's young people to "get" about these photos might be that, as Lewis Hine frequently noted, these kids chose work over a free education. IronicI'm from Augusta and now Enterprise Mills is upscale loft-style apartments. Family TreeI'm from the section of Augusta that is called Harrisburg. It was mainly a mill town. Many of my ancestors, Great Grandfather, Grandfather and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins were working the Augusta mills at that time. My Great Grandfather started at 11 years old. Now we don't even have an active mill in Augusta. (The Gallery, Factories, Lewis Hine)
The Peelers: 1912
... Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Kids now How many kids in this day and age would stand with Mom in the kitchen and help her peel ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/28/2012 - 10:16pm -

Circa 1912. "Neighborhood House kitchen." Our third look at this Washington, D.C., settlement house. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Kids nowHow many kids in this day and age would stand with Mom in the kitchen and help her peel potatoes? There may be a few, but I just don't think it's expected like it once was of children. Back then every member of the household pitched in--in fact, the reason to have children was to have extra help around the house and farm. That said, I agree with the others that a paring knife (and a lesson on how to cut it not in her hands, but on a cutting board) is imperitive. I get nervous watching her-- years notwithstanding. Nameless thingThat is a pot scrubber made of interlocking rings like chain mail. Kind of like the stainless steel scrung pads that look like a bunch of lathe chips that are used now. Be careful, you could lose a finger!Look at the size of that knife that girl is using! Yikes! Name that nameless thingAnyone know what this is? Hanging on wall to right of gas lamp. Been thereI've been in that room so often it isn't funny--not that exact room, but rooms with the same molding, bad plaster and flue. Even the cabinets are familiar. Some colleges only remodel every hundred years or so. ThingI'll bet it's a trivet that has some broken links. It is next to the stove. Hot pot?Perhaps it's a hasty trivet or a hot pot holder. Like a medieval oven mitt. Name for the nameless thingIt is a chain-link pot scrubber. TrivetThis possibly could be a wooden ball trivet. I remember my mother had one similar to this. Hanging on the wallThat is an old fashioned pot scrubber - long before Chore Boy scrubbers were invented. Pot ScrubberThat ringed device in question is listed on page 1178 of the 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. It is called a steel ring pot scrubber. A Google search of "metal pot scrubber" brings up pictures and E-bay listings. Pot scrubberI think it's a pot scrubber, like this. Here's another one. The Nameless ThingLooks a lot like what my grandmother used for scrubbing cast iron. Old school, you couldn't use soap to clean the pan because it would take off the 'seasoning', rendering it liable to rust (and no longer non-stick). But if you had crusty stuff you needed something to scrub it with, hence the chainmail-like scrubber. Modern dish soaps are not as harsh as the old time ones, and so it's less harmful to the seasoning of the pan to occasionally give it a scrub with some dish soap. DreamcatcherOr a string of dried cherries. Before we had green nylon scrubbers This was a kind of pot scrubber for cleaning off cast iron pots and pans. Most I've seen had a more rigid handle, which would be helpful for cleaning off that fried-on crust. Re: Name that nameless thingThat's obviously a chainmail pot holder/dream catcher. Other detailsNow that we've got THAT settled, there are a number of other neat details here. First and foremost, it always makes me a little nuts to see the great old American tradition of pealing off the most nutritious part of the potato and tossing it out. I mean I LOVE smashed potatoes, but the skins are really where it's at, nutritionally. Next, hmmm, I see we're working by gaslight. And I dig the looped towel on the door, designed to allow folks to share the filth. And does the dish in the cupboard say "Pure Ice Cream"? And how about the tin of Old Dutch Cleanser on the back shelf? Finally, the more of these pics I see, the more I realize that our female ancestors spent a HECK of a lot of time sifting flour! Nameless Thing's NameIt's a pot scrubber! They were metal chain links used when washing dishes to scrub pots and pans. YikesSomebody give the girl in the back left a paring knife. That thingHmmm...maybe some sort of potholder, for handling hot dishes? Had oven mitts been invented yet? ThingyThat is a little goody that is made of metal rings. It was used to clean cast iron pans before SOS came into the picture. PotscrubberI'm pretty sure it's a pot scrubber- forerunner of brillo pads. Thing hanging on the wall.To the best of my knowledge this was a pot scrubber. Pressed metalEmbossed metal ceilings were all the rage back at the turn of the LAST century. they were reasonably easy to put up. They came in 1 by 2 foot sections and nailed directly to the lath-work that was attached to the joists. At 10 to 15 cents a square foot, the cost was reasonable too. Today Embossed ceilings are making a come back. The big difference is that they now cost anywhere from $15 to $25 a square foot. My first apartment had an embossed metal ceiling, and if you turned the valve on the fittings in the hallway, gas still came out of them. This was in 1972! Oven Mitt?Seems to be a collection of interlocking rings. Maybe something you put under a pan to isolate it from the stove top for simmering? Or a scrubber, or fireproof grabber for the stovepipe damper?? Kitchen cleanupI believe that is a chain-mail pot scrubber. My sister collects kitchen items and has something that looks very much like this. It was made of heavy wire links and was a precursor to Brillo pads. You just soak the dirty pan or skillet in soapy water and swish this around in the pan to dislodge any cooked on particles. The TrivetMy wife identified it immediately as a trivet. Having it handy by the stove makes sense. Paring knives neededI shudder to think of giving a carving knife to a child to peel potatoes. I wonder if she made it out of childhood with a fingers intact? Pot chainThe piece of chain mail hanging on the wall is called a pot cleaner, pot chain, or wire ring dish cloth. They sold for 5-7 cents in 1900 and were used to scrape the crud out of the bottom of cast iron pots, pans, and skillets. It's a vivid symbol of how far kitchen work has come in 100 years. Kitchen HelpersIt's a pot scrubber. Pot scrubberThe thing on the wall is a chain-mail type scrubber for cleaning stuck food from pots and pans. Nowadays there is the scrubber that looks like a long string of stainless steel turned on a lathe and bunched in a ball. Old ScrubberThat is part of a pot scrubber. There should be a metal handle attached. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Kitchens etc.)
Shacktown Kids: 1939
... Dale (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2011 - 9:56pm -

August 1939. Yakima Valley, Washington. Shacktown community, mostly families from Kansas and Missouri. This family has five children, oldest in third grade. Rent $7 per month, no plumbing. Husband earns Work Projects Administration wages, $44 per month. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. An interesting comparisonThat figure of $44 per month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation calculator ... converts to just over $152 per week in 2007 dollars. This calculator is a nifty little tool http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Dale (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)
Saplings: 1925
... windup... (The Gallery, Bicycles, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2023 - 7:52pm -

December 1925. Washington, D.C. "W.W. Lodding (tree & son)." Scion of Walter W. Lodding, of Office Xmas Party fame. 4x5 inch glass negative, National Photo Company. View full size. Fatherland ExpressThat little 0-gauge clockwork train has already covered quite a distance -- all the way from Germany, to be precise. It's been made by Bing, a major German toymaker back then. It's not completely surprising that Mr. Lodding decided to buy a Bing train instead of one manufactured by Lionel, Ives or American Flyer -- after all, Lodding is a German name. Not far from the tree, in two sensesThis charming boy is growing up to look just like his father. The boy’s futureI wonder what the future held for this boy? I’m guessing his direction may have changed 16 years after this photo was taken. We’ll probably never know, but it’s interesting to reflect. [More like 15 years. - Dave] Formidable-looking Dad ... ... darling little boy. That sweet smile warms my heart. Now I want to know how his life unfolded. Happy Holidays, Shorpsters! The Ears Ahead.Toys now -- he was 3 here (but like his father, looked older) -- girls later. In between (1943) was the WWII service wondered about (below). He became a Mason, and -- in contrast to his peripatetic childhood (New York, DC, Atlanta, Chicago) -- seems to have spent the rest of his life in Illinois.(He died in 1982, outliving his mother by just nine years). Ham and Sam on HandBehind the trike's left wheel I think I spy Ham & Sam the Minstrel Team tin windup... (The Gallery, Bicycles, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo)
Vermont Mill Boys: 1910
... Kids The boy third from the left appears to be rolling a cigarette ... and ... all day? [The farther back in time you go, the more kids (and people in general) you'll find without shoes. - Dave] ... looks worn out and old beyond his years. Many of the kids who worked in the mills of upper New York state and Vermont were kids of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:04pm -

August 1910. Every one of these was working in the cotton mill at North Pownal, Vermont, and they were running a small force. Dave Noel, 14; Theodore Momeady, 15, working three years. Albert Sylvester, 16, working one year; Eugene Willett, 13, working one year; Arthur Noel, 15, working one year; P. Tetro, 15, working one year; T. King, 14, working one year. Clarence Noel, 11, working one year. View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. Mill BoysNot sure what Hine meant by these boys "running a small force." At least he didn't say they lived in filthy tenement flats with untidy kitchens and beer-swilling fathers. You can tell by the lint on their clothes what the air was like inside the mill. I've been inside one. The noise of all the looms clattering away is deafening. The workers wore earplugs. [Hine is saying the mill was "running a small force," i.e. work was slack, not many employees. - Dave] Vermont Mill BoysThis is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. The first child laborer I researched was Addie Card, a girl who was photographed at this mill, probably on the same day. You can see the whole story of the search for Addie at http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/addiesearch1.html KidsThe boy third from the left appears to be rolling a cigarette ... and how could they work barefoot all day? [The farther back in time you go, the more kids (and people in general) you'll find without shoes. - Dave] Haunting...I have to admit that the look on the face of the middle boy (the short one) is absolutely haunting. He looks worn out and old beyond his years. Many of the kids who worked in the mills of upper New York state and Vermont were kids of expatriates from here (Montreal) looking for jobs. Dave Noel, Theodore Momeady, Albert Sylvester (Sylvestre), Eugene Willett (Willette), Arthur Noel, P. Tetro (Thétreault) and Clarence Noel are all French Canadian names (some like Sylvester and Willett are Americanized). Pat Noel family of PownalThe Phillip and Rosa Noel family of Pownal (per the 1910 census) have children Lilian age 16, Arthur 15, David 8, Clarence 11, Nelson 8, and Mabel 5. The parents had 7 children so one has died. They are listed as born in Massachusetts and French Canada with all the previous generations born in Canada. The dad is a foreman at the cotton factory and the children include 2 spoolers -- but these are the two oldest. The four younger children are listed as unemployed. ShoelessMy father in law and his brother (both born around 1925 in Oregon) got shoes for Christmas more than one year. That meant going to school barefoot until then, as they'd grown out of last year's shoes by summer. North PownalOur family lives in one of the foreman houses on Route 346, sold by the Berkshire Spinning Mill to Arthur Smith right before the mill was turned into a tannery. My daughter is doing a research project on the spinning mill. Her focus is the daughter of Arthur Smith; her name was Naomi. Wondering if you can provide any more on North Pownal between 1880 and 1930? Vermont Mill BoysI have been down Route 346 and by the mill. My grandfather James Daughton married Vitaline Bechard in 1901 at St. Joachim RC Church in Readsboro, Vermont. They both worked in that mill. One of Vitaline's sister married a Tetro. Could be the boy P. Tetro as shown in the picture. Both families moved to Adams, Massachusetts, and worked at Berkshire Fine Spinning until they died. Their kids worked there too. What an existence working in the mills. My mother worked there at 14. I would be interested in any info you might have on the North Pownal Mill and North Pownal in general during that time. Thanks, Dan Harrington Vermont Mill BoysThis is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. My comment below, dated 1-31-08 included a link to my story of Addie Card, who was also photographed at this mill. That link has changed. It is now: http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2014/11/26/addie-card-search-for-an-ame... (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Moxie Kids: 1904
... man (hands on hips) to the far left who is thinking "Darn kids, get them dang goats out of here!" The young Irish Boy, leaning on the ... You want me to wear a tie? Look mister, I work with kids and goats all day. Coney Island Railroad?! Intrigued by "The L.A. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:43pm -

New York circa 1904. "The goat carriages, Coney Island." Similar to this image posted here last year, except this one shows the Moxie sign. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. MoxieAs some have surmised Moxie is a soda. It is still available in New england. It took its name from Lake Moxie in Maine. It tastes something like a cross of Dr. Pepper and root beer. MOXIE was greatI have an advertising sign with Ted Williams endorsing Moxie, if that doesn't prove it's great, I don't know what could. Oh the Joy, the thrill!They just couldn't look any happier to be there! So what was Moxie anyhow, a brand of Castor Oil? ExpressionismSome classic faces in this photo. There is the man (hands on hips) to the far left who is thinking "Darn kids, get them dang goats out of here!" The young Irish Boy, leaning on the left most cart, with his friend, who for the moment is looking elsewhere and NOT at the camera. The two young men who are leaning on the cart in the middle seem to be in charge as they look to be the oldest ones in the bunch. I see that the little girl in the middle cart is still trying to get herself settled as well. The two lads in the cart on the far right are interesting as well One is well behaved and sits looking straight ahead, holding the reigns, while the other one eyes the photographer suspiciously, probably wondering if he is going to take a third picture. Lastly, why are those two women on the far right wearing pizzas on their heads? You want me to wear a tie?Look mister, I work with kids and goats all day. Coney Island Railroad?!Intrigued by "The L.A. Thompson Scenic RY. Co." sign, I did a little checking and found it was s switchback railway invented by LA Marcus Adna Thompson (1848 - 1919). It was the first gravity powered roller coaster in the United States. He built the very successful ride at Coney Island in 1884 based on the Mauch Chunk Switchback in Pennsylvania. In 1887 he built a rolling scenery railway on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City that is said to be the forerunner to Space Mountain in Disneyland. He also sold his patented automatic car coupler invention to railroad car manufacturer George Pullman. "Full of Moxie"Did not know the word moxie came from the name of a soda. Usually heard the word used to describe someone who seemed to have a lot of nerve or as some say "fire and brimstone." (The Gallery, Coney Island, DPC, Kids)
Eureka: 1900
... Dogs" meets "Bull Durham." Couldn't be more perfect. Kids! I love the two little kids behind the four men in the foreground. One of them is wearing a huge hat! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/30/2020 - 2:09pm -

Eureka, Colorado, circa 1900. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Change in WeatherI looks sunny now, but in 1888 this area (including nearby Animas Forks) got 25 feet of snow over a 26-day period. I guess this helps explain why most of the population left during the winter! Satellite DishImagine my shock at seeing the satellite dish on the roof of one of the buildings! Oh, wait a minute...........it's only a windmill. SpectacularWhat a find. This picture is worth a few hundred thousand words. Thanks for bringing it to life, Dave. Yeeee-Haaaa!On New Year's Eve I was just over the hill from Eureka in Silverton, where the "wild west" mentality hasn't been gentrified out of the townsfolk....yet. At the stroke of midnight a small rowdy crowd tumbled out of a saloon and someone hollered "yeeee-haaaa" and fired a pistol in the air to ring in 2010. Hoping these places don't change too much ... [Silverton is one of my favorite Western towns, along with its bigger neighbor Ouray. A jeep trail called the Alpine Loop connects them, with ghost towns (including Eureka) and ore mills along the way. - Dave] WowStunning location. You wouldn't wanna be accusing these boys of cheatin' at poker now would ya. Some have it, some don'tThis photo illustrates what the French mean by "je ne sais quoi." Whatever it was, William Henry Jackson had it. Sofa SizeMy life would be complete if I could have this blown up huge, along with the Longacre Square 1904 post from today, and hang them facing each other in the same room. It's "Reservoir Dogs" meets "Bull Durham." Couldn't be more perfect. Kids!I love the two little kids behind the four men in the foreground. One of them is wearing a huge hat! CinemaScopeWith this picture we can appreciate how faithful the Hollywood set designers were in portraying pioneer towns in those iconic shoot 'em ups directed by John Ford and others. This looks like the movie set in Old Tucson where they shot many westerns. ArchitectureDoes anyone know the architectural term for facades that obscure the pitch of the roof from the front. Is it decorative or does it have a function? ["False fronts." They turn any shack into an edifice. - Dave] All goneNo remnants appear to exist today: A 'tighter' shot by way of comparing the mountains in the two, but I think it still shows at least some portion of where the structures used to stand. Below: remains of the Sunnyside Mill. A dandy?The dandy in the front left with the crease in his pants looks like a bearded Clint Eastwood! I don't know if I would call him that to his face. But where are all the horses at the hitching posts? RefreshingA welcome break from the DC and NY cityscapes. Tarnation!Will you look at the slope behind the town on the right. That's just screaming avalanche territory. Just behind the tents in the right background, there's a possible sign of an old avalanche washing up across the valley and into the trees on the other side. Still, if it's around today, it managed to survive and most of these mountain mining camps seemed to burn down more often than being buried. Awesome!What an amazing photo! Draw, PardnerIf this group of four were packing guns one would think they were heading for the OK Corral. CinemaScopizationWe've had plenty of colorization around here, but John McLaren's comment has inspired me to format this scene to the actual CinemaScope aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Left to right: Lee Van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, Thomas Mitchell, Gary Cooper. Zero horse townAt first I was thrown by the lack of horses on the wagons, being conditioned to your photos of NYC etc. with dozens of horses hitched up. Then I realized that you don't need a horse to get across town, as those gents in the foreground are demonstrating. And those hills are just waiting for some ski lifts full of rich tourists. The negativeWhere do you start with proclaiming this image to be otherworldly? I just can't get over the tonal range of Jackson's negatives. He pulled off this same sort of light to dark ratio in a series that Shorpy published from Mexican railroads. And then in the swamps of Florida. I just don't get it and believe me folks, this isn't about Photoshop. [It is, to a certain extent. All of these images are adjusted using the Shadows & Highlights filter in CS4. It's what brings out detail in overexposed areas (clouds) as well as in the shadows. Below: unadjusted. - Dave]
30 Rock: 1933
... of modernity, and one can easily imagine a couple of kids from Cleveland named Siegel and Shuster seeing this and making it a model ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:22pm -

New York. December 5, 1933. "Rockefeller Center and RCA Building from 515 Madison Avenue." Digital image recovered from released emulsion layer of the original 5x7 acetate negative. Gottscho-Schleisner photo. View full size. City of the godsIn 1933, my father was a seven-year-old living up Lick Branch Hollow in the Ozark Mountains. He would read books by kerosene light in the evenings. His family kept butter and milk (and Uncle Linus' hooch) in the cold spring-fed creek outside their house. It's astonishing to think he could have boarded a train and eventually arrived in this city of the gods, only a thousand miles away. Sign of the CrossThe double bar cross was the emblem used by the National Tuberculosis Association. Wonder if the lights were part of the campaign to fight TB. Gotta love those whitewalls!On the convertible by the front door. Double O's. Looks like it's ready to go somewhere in a hurry. Released emulsion layer?Dave, can you explain the technology of this image? How does an emulsion layer get released from a negative? [This is a process used on deteriorating acetate transparencies and negatives when they've begun to shrink. The negative is placed in a chemical solution that separates the emulsion from the film base. The released emulsion layer (the pellicle) is then placed in another solution to "relax," or unwarp, it. It's kind of like disappearing your body so that only the skin is left. More here. - Dave] Amazing viewThe shot is incredible! It looks almost surreal. I love it! Awesome scan job.I only wish I could see an even higher res version. Great work bringing this one back to life. WowI just can't believe how beautiful this shot is. Looks like the view from my New York Penthouse sitting there drinking martinis and listening to that new "jazz" music. High DramaThis marvelous building, reaching for the sky as if erupting from the ground, combines amazing delicacy, impressive size, and a feeling it is built for the ages to admire. SO much more breathtaking than today's typical glass box, although you need a view like this to really appreciate the classical lines and artful massing. A nice complement to the gothic cathedral in the foreground - a true temple of commerce! Churchly And Corporate SpiresThat's St. Patrick's Cathedral on the lower left, probably the only building from the 19th century left on Fifth Avenue, except for the Chancery House that's attached to it. Both styles of architecture are very dramatic. When I was a small child, at Christmas, my family would go to the Christmas Pageant at Radio City Music Hall every year, and then attend Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's. Ever since, I've never been able to separate religion from showbiz. Possibly because they really are the same thing. Take a peekThis picture makes me want to get out the binoculars and look in the windows. "Don't get much better"This image is a about as close to textbook perfect BW as you will find. It contains the complete range of grays from what looks like solid black in a few places to solid white in the highlights. The camera was level and the focus was dead on. As a photographer, I am envious. Old shooter Reaching New HeightsThe skyscraper is 30 Rockefeller Plaza before the RCA and current GE neon signage. Not that it wasn't famous before, but the TV show "30 Rock" has made it an even more iconic. Another claim is the gigantic Christmas tree on the Plaza, between the building and the skating rink, that when illuminated kicks off the Holiday Season in NYC. Hugh FerrissThis is like the photographic equivalent of one of Hugh Ferriss' architectural drawings, coincidentally of roughly the same era. MagicThe quality of this incredible photo captures the magic that New York City always longs for but seldom delivers. King Kong might have had a chance...had he chosen 30 Rock instead. OKLo mismo digo. Gracias. American Express BuildingThat hole in the ground, I believe, bacame the American Express Building. If you come out of the subway at the Rockefeller Center stop, and come up on the escalator in that building, you get an incredible view of St Pat's from below, with the spectacular statue of Atlas in the foreground as well. Very cool. Other noteworthy background details here include the Hotel Edison, and the old NY Times Building, at Times Square, before they went and utterly ruined it in the 60's by stripping all the detail off the skeleton. And check the skylights on the roof of what I think is the Cartier store, in the foreground! Send this to Christopher NolanHere's the art direction for the next Batman sequel. SpectacularWhat a wonderful, wonderful image! I love coming to Shorpy because you never know what Dave will come up with next. Thanks so much! The GreatestDave, this has to be one of the greatest photos you have posted. I work around the corner, and can look out my window at 30 Rock from 6th Avenue... my building wasn't built until 1973. Thank you. Time stoppedIs it 2:25am or 5:10am? Can you spot the clock? What Gets MeLooking at this photo - and it looks spectacular on my new monitor - is the sky. It has a sort of foggy twilight quality that is difficult to put into words but which emphasizes the the "star" of the photo - the RCA Building - and its nearby consorts or supporting cast over the buildings in the background which seem to fad into the mist. The building seems like the height of modernity, and one can easily imagine a couple of kids from Cleveland named Siegel and Shuster seeing this and making it a model for the cities of the doomed planet Krypton. Very neat picture...Can you give us an idea of what it looked like before it was restored? [There's an example here. - Dave] StunnedWhat a totally wonderful image, Sat here slack jawed at the incredible detail and the superb composition. I am amazedThe detail in the spires at St. Paul's Patrick's is fantastic. The amount of work that went into that building must have been enormous. I am very grateful not to have been on the crew detailed to put the crosses atop the spires! The Future Is NowInteresting that this photograph looks into a future in which many of the same buildings are still with us. At far left midground is the tower of Raymond Hood's American Standard Building. Next to it, with the illuminated sign on top, is the New Yorker Hotel (now Sun Myung Moon's) where Nikola Tesla spent the last ten years of his life. At center is the N.Y. Times Building with its flagpole convenient for deploying the New Year's Eve ball. And last, but not least, the Paramount Building topped by a globe and illuminated clock which is about as close to the Hudsucker Building as could hope to be seen. Of these four only the appearance Times Building has changed to any extent. A wonderful slice of time. TremendousTwo of my favorite photos on Shorpy consist of those like this one, showing the immense power of a huge city, even in the depths of the Depression, and those of small towns, especially when patriotic holidays were still celebrated. Samuel H. GottschoI'd never heard of him, but one look at this photo and I'm instantly a fan. This image is nothing short of spectacular. Ethereal, PowerfulThere have been many photos on this site that have impressed and pleased me, but this one is one of my favorites. Absolute magic. It's the quintessence of the power and style of 1930s design. Time machineI admire NY photos of the 1950s. And now I see that many of the buildings in NY I admire already were erected in early 1930s! What a discovery. What a shot. The Singularity of the MomentThis is an amazing photograph. As one earlier contributor observed, the pure technical aspects of the black and white composition are fabulous. The spread of detailed gray shadows and whites make this photo almost magical. It has the qualities of an Ansel Adams zone photograph that makes his work so arresting. But what really makes this photograph dramatic is what it reveals about New York City in 1933. A vision of the future of large cities, bustling twenty four hours a day and electrified. Today visions such as these can be seen on any continent in any large city. It has become the norm. But in 1933 there were only two places in the world that looked like this: New York City and Chicago. One can vicariously put oneself into the shoes of some kid from rural America or from Europe setting on Manhattan Island and seeing visions such as these for the first time. I can only guess it had the same effect as it had on 14th-century peasants in France, visiting Paris for the first time and entering the nave of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Beautifully put!I'm sure Samuel Gottscho would have been very gratified to know thoughtful and eloquent people like Bob H would be appreciating his work in the 21st century. PenthouseIs the Garden Patio still across the street from the skylights? I am in love with this photographExquisite doesn't even begin to describe it. In Your Mind's EyeYou can smell and feel the air and hear the traffic. It may be calm now...I have a feeling that all hell is about to break loose -- this picture was taken the day Prohibition was repealed. I worked hereI worked here in the 1960s for the "Tonight" show unit as as a production assistant for Dick Carson, brother of Johnny Carson. An attractive, dark-haired woman named Barbara Walters was working at the "Today" show at the same time. She is about 10 years older than I am. I also worked with the News department for a time. I was in the elevator with David Brinkley coming back from lunch when I learned that President Kennedy had been shot. We stayed up all Friday night and most of Saturday assembling film footage for a retrospective of JFK's life. When we weren't editing, we were visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral to light candles with others in the crowd. That's an absolutely amazing photo. I'm going to link this to other New Yorkers and broadcasters who might be interested. Thanks for all your work. Cordially, Ellen Kimball Portland, OR http://ellenkimball.blogspot.com 30 RockIs the excavated area where the skating rink is? I've been there once and it is very magical. Right across the street from the "Today" studio. Tipster's PhotoStunning, but in a different way than Gottscho's. It helps when the subject is beautiful. 30 Rock 09 Here's the view today made with a 4x5 view camera, farther back seen through the St. Patrick's spires and somewhat higher than the 1933 photo. Lots more buildings now. I was doing an interior architectural shoot, and went out on the terrace of a wedding-cake building on Madison Avenue. It was after midnight. Not much wind. Strangely quiet. As an architectural photographer I have great admiration for these Gottscho pictures. 30 Rock in Living ColorThat's a lovely photo, and it's nice to see the perspective so close to that of the original. Design Continuum of Bertram GoodhueThe proximity of St. Patrick's Cathedral to the newly constructed tower by Raymond Hood brought to mind two "bookends" to the unfulfilled career of Bertram Goodhue. During his early apprenticeship he undoubtedly worked on the St. Patrick's Cathedral, in Renwick's office, which greatly influenced his early career and success. The tower (30 Roc) represents what might have been...rather what should have been the end result of Goodhue's tragically shortened career (ending in 1924). Hood's career, which began to emerge after Goodhue's death is far better known, but is greatly in his debt. Hood's 1922 Tribune Tower clearly displays this link, as a practitioner of the neo-gothic style. Much of Hood's gothic detail is a through-back to design ideas that by 1922, Goodhue had already left behind. Goodhue was by this time already synthesizing elements of european modernism into an new original american idiom. Goodhue's last major projects were already working out the language of the modern/deco skyscraper; (the Nebraska State capital and Los Angles Public Library the best examples.) Goodhue's unique career was the crucible where concepts of romantic imagery of the Gothic, the sublime juxtapositions of minimal ornament on architectonic massing was being forged with modern construction technology. A close study of his career and work will show that not only Hood, but other notable architects of the era built upon the rigorous and expansive explorations that Goodhue was beginning to fuse at the end of his life. *It is also curious to me that Hugh Ferris is credited with so much of these innovative design ideas; no doubt he was a super talented delineator, his freelance services were utilized by many architects of the time including Goodhue. Some of his famous massing studies (sketches) owe much to Goodhue's late work. Amazing Execution and RestorationI agree with "Don't get much Better" ! This is as good as it can get for B&W. The exposure is so right-on and this in 1933!! Is this a "night" shot.. there is a lot of ambient light. Simply Amazing. I want it! Rock RinkThe not-yet-built skating rink is in front of the building. The empty space became 630 Fifth Avenue, where a statue of Atlas stands. Vanderbilt Triple PalaceA long time since this was posted, but I am surprised no one recognized the southern half of the iconic, brownstone-clad Vanderbilt Triple Palaces in the foreground (640 Fifth Avenue), just opposite the lower edge of the excavated building site. The northern half, with two residences, had been sold, demolished & replaced a long time ago, but the southern half stood until 1947 (Grace Wilson Vanderbilt continued entertaining in her usual style until WWII). The entrance vestibule to the three residences featured a nine foot tall Russian malachite vase, once given by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia to Nicholas Demidoff, now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of dozen blocks north on Fifth. (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)
Point and Shoot: 1925
... be no stray cats or dogs left in that neighborhood. Fewer kids, too, for that matter. No faux fur I'd venture a guess the fur is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:44pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Girls' rifle team of Drexel Institute." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. By 1926The administration had decided that showing the twin-bill of "Annie, Get Your Gun" and "The Story of Lizzie Borden" was not a great idea. Ready on the Rightto wipe out the rest of the team! Looks like the fuse is VERY short! Take cover, Men!"The Great Man Hunt" of 1925 is about to begin! The Charlie Manson stare!Third from the left. Look out for her; she's on a mission. Not a particularly friendly looking bunch of gals. If you run into them on the street, smile, nod your head and KEEP WALKING! Quoting Dusty Bottoms"Looks like someone's been down here with the ugly stick." In today's PC worldYou don't often meet a woman who's shot her own wardrobe! Firearm Safety...The second girl from the left has the bolt on her rifle closed. Not safe unless you're in a position to fire the thing. Not Necessarily Unsafe......but not as safe as it could be. I have a bolt action rifle with very similar bolts, and if the safety lever is in the "safe" position you not only can't fire the gun but can't work the bolt either to load a round. Still, the preferred method is to have the bolt open (as most of them are) when the weapons are displayed in this manner. One might argue that they are not all pointed in a safe direction either (which you do always, even if the bolt is open and there are no rounds in the magazine). A couple of the ladies appear to have their rifles pointed right at their heads. She won't take "no" for an answer.Before computer dating, it was not uncommon for the less attractive ladies to go out and bag a husband. She needed to be a good shot as not to render him impotant or feable minded. Duct Tape?My gunnery sergeant would not have been happy with the material condition of No. 3's weapon. SlinglessInteresting, none of these rifles have slings. OriginalThe Original Broad Street Bullies. Bolting AwayYou noticed the bolt on her rifle? What about the bolts in her neck??? Alaska huntress?This photo can open up many snarky comments but I have to ask if any of them ended up in Alaska, maybe hunting from an aeroplane? And then there were six....I think, like the haircut, it's a plea for help! Homeland SecurityNow this is what we need for protection -- Attitude and Beauty! The posseThere were soon to be no stray cats or dogs left in that neighborhood. Fewer kids, too, for that matter. No faux furI'd venture a guess the fur is real, kinda makes me think girlfriend on the far right is the spoiled one. Funny --There are no men in this photograph! Types Seems to be four different rifles. Rifle TypesOnly type I recognize is the two M1903 Springfield rifles - second and third from the left. Man KillersThe two towards the right seem to be either Remington rolling blocks or some variant on the Sharps rifle. Including the '03 Springfields, we are talking a minimum of .30 caliber. None of these gals seem to be toting the traditional .22 caliber rifles used in competition. We're talking deer -- or, ulp! man-killing -- weaponry! No Slings, but No Slouches EitherThe condition and variety of their rifles notwithstanding, it appears that the squad had a very good record. Drexel fielded noteworthy rifle teams all throught the '30's and '40's at least. I could not find this particular photo, but there were many articles, often with photos, about the girls' team at about this time. A selection follows. Philadelphia Girls Becoming Marksmen "The girl students of the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia have organized a rife team and, under the instruction of Lieut. J. P. Lyons, U.S.A., military instructor at the Institution, are rapidly becoming expert marksmen." Rock Valley Bee, 21 January 1921. Good Rifle Teams at Drexel College "Drexel Institute, of Philadelphia, had two wonderful rifle shooting teams the past indoor season - one of boys, the other of girls. So good was the girls' team that Capt. J. P. Lyons, the instructor, said: ‘I would like to match the girls against any boys' rifle team in the country.' When the instructor talks that way the girls must be counted on as real shots. They were. They didn't lose a match. Next season, it is more than likely that the girls will be eligible to try for the university team. Drexel won 16 of its 18 matches, lost 1 and tied 1 - with Yale. In five of its matches Drexel made perfect scores." Washington Post, 18 June 1922. Fair Warning [photo caption] "Girls' rifle team of Drexel Institute defeated a picked sharpshooter squad of Philadelphia police in a match." Hammond, Indiana, Times, 25 February 1926. .22 x 6The rifles are all .22s, the Springfields are either M1922 or M2 .22 caliber training rifles. The single shots that one commenter thought was a rolling block are in fact Winchester .22 caliber "Winder" muskets built on the Winchester model 1885 action (the one on the far right is a "low wall" action. The fact that these are all .22s does little to take away from the level of marksmanship these women may have had and in fact all of the rifles are of extremely high quality. They Had the Vote......so what else could they be coming for??? The Importance of ImpotenceApart from the spelling, my other quibble with Vernon's comment is that a well-aimed rifle shot is not the only thing about these women that may render a man impotent or feeble-minded. TaggedThe girls #2 and #3 from the left each have a tag hanging from their coats - anyone know what that would be for? Styles of the 20'sMy mother, married in 1922, hated the hair and clothes styles so much that she destroyed the one photo that was taken to commemorate the day. I can assure you she remained stylish to her dying day but not according to whatever everyone else was wearing. I regret that so many of us tend to follow the current trend instead of thinking for ourselves. Permanent RecordHairstyles of the era really did nothing for them, did they. M*A*S*HIs this where Klinger went through basic training? Chicks with gunsHey, you know what they say. An armed society is a polite society. Betcha nobody whistled or cat-called at any girl around the Drexel campus. Drexel Womens Rifle Team The Ladies ream was still going strong when I was at Drexel in the late 1950's/early 60's. The tape on the rifle in the middle is to improve the grip of the forestock, not to hold the rifle together. They were still using the M2's when I was there. From an owner of two of these riflesFrom the left: 1 and 5. Obviously Springfields from the bolt throw (and barrel band sights), although my M22 MII does have a finger-grove stock. 2 and 3. Winchester Model 52 (early type with the folding ladder rear sight). Don't hassle me - I just took mine out of the gun safe to compare! The Springfields don't have the button clip release - it is a latch at the forward edge of the clip. Also, the chamber is WAY too short to be a .22 mod of an '06 action. 4 and 6. Both Winchester 1885 falling blocks - No. 6 a "Low Wall" Winder (all in .22 short). (Fortunately the lady's hose provide a good enough background to see the dropped rear of the action.) I have a 1885 "High Wall" in .22LR that is a musket stock, but I'd bet money this is a true Winder. On the far right...... Bob Dylan? Re: On the Far Right...I'm thinking Keith Richards. Shot the coat myselfThe one on the far right must be their instructor or adviser. Not only is she a decade older than the other people in this picture, she looks mean enough to have shot and skinned the animals for her coat all by herself. I suspect the tags on the coats might be an access pass to the shooting range (same idea as a ski lift ticket). You wouldn't want just anybody wandering into a place where there was live ammunition. You would need a way to tell at a glance, and from a distance, who belonged and who did not. They probably all have them, just those two are pinned where you can see them in the photo. The others may not have pinned theirs on yet for the day, or already taken them off for next time. A rule of thumb. Or head.As a high school teacher in Colorado in the early 1950s, I was the faculty leader of the rifle club. A standard rule of safety was don't point your gun at your head! Drexel must have had a new team of shooters each year. TapedActually, the tape would have been used to improve grip. Not to hold the rifle together. Note that the barrel band is intact. Let's hear it for the girlsI'm surprised there's so much negativity about these young ladies. When I saw the one on the far right, my first thought was, "Leopard coat? There's a woman who's not afraid of putting some drama in her style." I'll bet she listened to jazz and could make her own bathtub gin. Those old rifles...Only one of the "what rifles are they?" comments is accurate. To start with, all rifle competition has always been done using .22 caliber weapons. A very few national matches are held using higher caliber but .22 is the norm, believe me. The short stock rifles are obviously the special .22 version of the '03 Springfield, and the rolling/drop block "Martinis" are Winder muskets, based on the 1885 action. A friend of mine once owned a custom 1885 action that was chambered, believe it or not, for the old .218 Bee cartridge. The identification of the very early Winchester 52 is also interesting as the 52 is arguably defined as the best, at least American, target rifle ever made. The classic 52 story has a young guy asking an oldtimer what's so special about the 52. The old guy thinks for a few seconds then replies, "Son, there's .22s and there's 52s!" IDing the rifles [And speaking of sheer idiocy ... - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
Crafty Kids: 1930
... ended in February of 1930. (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/21/2015 - 1:14pm -

Circa 1930. "No caption (President Hoover with boys and girls at White House)." Who can help us fill in the blanks? National Photo Co. View full size. Social DivisionAnyone else notice the racial segregation here? We have a winner!My vote goes to the kid who built the galley. Curious...Dead center is Benjamin Button. The Young American Society of......Homemade Toys Makers. Or: ...Remarkably Odd Hat Wearers. Yard sale!1600 Penna Ave. Sat 10 - 4 No early birds. We all stand together- separately This looks like a national home handicrafts competition. Building things for yourself was a valued skill 100 years ago. The magazines of the era were full of articles that taught readers to build toys, tools, furniture and much more. The young man on the right is holding a trophy. I wonder if he won it for the steel truss bridge at his feet? It's not surprising to see the young blacks on one side and Caucasian on the other. It is pleasing see that they were included. Thank you Mr. Hoover!Say what we will about his economic policies, Herbert Hoover was the first president since TR to invite persons of color to the White House socially. And unlike Roosevelt who did it only once and wilted under ferocious criticism from segregationists, Hoover did this repeatedly. President Herbert Hoover effectively ended the social color barrier at the White House. Robert Downey Jror is it Senior, in the center nattily dressed holding an airplane Erector SetLooks like some kind of competition to challenge these youngsters' ingenuity. The young man to President Hoover's right has a nice looking monoplane. However it looks like the young man on the far right may have taken the prize for his Erector Set bridge and perhaps the young lady with the dollhouse furniture shared a first with him. Although that Spanish galeon or Viking ship is a true work of art if built from scratch. Child welfareHerbert Hoover was instrumental in supporting child health and protection during the depression. A conference was held in November of that year promoting this effort. The clothing looks like it could be during cool/cold weather, most of the people are wearing heavy coats. I'm thinking this could be a photo op held in support of this conference. Herbert HooverThe Herbert Hoover Girls and Boys Club?? Orphanage GroupHoover was an orphan at age ten perhaps this group is from an orphanage. This was still the timewhen children dressed like mini-adults. Woodworking CompetitionThe Department of Commerce sponsored a nationwide woodworking competition for children up to the age of 17. Each state would be broken up into regions. Regional winners would then be judged against each other to crown a state winner. Each of the state winners won a trip to DC to meet the President. Described in this article article from 1929, the contest supposedly ended in February of 1930. (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo)
Jet-Age Kids: 1958
Way back in 1958 the Clark kids were visiting the California Air National Guard Base at Van Nuys. View ... 
 
Posted by dclark26 - 10/12/2012 - 3:20pm -

Way back in 1958 the Clark kids were visiting the California Air National Guard Base at Van Nuys. View full size. The wild oneI get the impression that Junior was the kind who required the full force of two big sisters and a jet fighter to be kept in check. F-86This looks like an F-86 Sabre, common in Air Guard units of the era. I can't see the nose well enough to tell if it's a F-86D/K/L variant. Nice.Nice photo of a local landmark. Not all F-86H models have 2 guns on each sideThe F-86H-5-NH has 2 guns per side as shown in this photo. So does the F-86H-10-NH. But the F-86H-1-NH has 3 per side. F-86?Not sure it is an F-86. The F-86 had six 50 cal guns, not 4. And the wing seems to be further back than on an F-86. But I can not think of another plane it could be. F-86HIf I am correct it' is of the F-86H variant. You can see the model number right above the serial number. 473 of that model were built and also was capable of carrying nuclear weapons and had a low altitude bombing system on board as well (LABS). Looks like junior was doing his F-86 fly-by roar. Jeff F-86HThat is an F-86H, the last Sabre variant before the radome-equipped, rocket-carrying, gunless F-86D. Four 20mm cannons in place of the earlier Korean-war Sabre's six 50-calibre machine guns. F-86HFolks, this is an F-86H. The -H was the last model of the F-86 Sabrejet series as delivered to the U.S. Air Force. It had four 20mm cannon instead of the six .50 cal Browning machine guns that were installed in earlier models. The F-86H served briefly in active USAF service (1953 'till about 1957), after which they soldiered on with some Air National Guard units as late as 1971. More info and many photos are just a google search away. Four Gun SabresThe F-86H (-5 and -10, the final versions of the F-86) had four M-39 20mm cannon. I believe those were the only ones that did. It is definitely an F-86F-86H-5-NH, to be exact. Serial Number is 52-5749, making it part of the first batch of 86-H5s built at North American's Columbus, OH plant. It's an "H"This is a North American F-86H, of which 475 copies were made, the last H rolled off the assembly line in 1955. I don't know why there are only two openings for the guns since the production models had three per side. The H, you sayThe upcoming Shorpy Olympics will pit the Car Identifiers against the Plane Spotters. F-86H-5-NH for sureItsa_me_Mario has it right. A great site for checking military aircraft serial numbers is http://www.joebaugher.com/ If you follow his links to 1952 Air Force serial numbers you'll see "52-5729/5753 - North American F-86H-5-NH Sabre". He doesn't list the ultimate disposition of this particular aircraft, but several with serial numbers near it were converted to drones (QF-86H). One source says the Navy acquired QF-86Hs for missile tests at China Lake California (one or two valleys over from Death Valley) in the late fifties and sixties. So this one may have wound up on the receiving end of tests of the Navy's formidable Sidewinder heat-seeking air-to-air missile, developed at China Lake. Case where everyone is rightfrom http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2299 "TECHNICAL NOTES: Armament: Four M-39 20mm cannon (Blocks 5 and 10; last 360 aircraft built) or six .50-cal. machine guns (Block 1; 113 aircraft built); " Dress spotterI don't know anything about planes, but I think I had one of these dresses in 1958. It was blue and purple plaid cotton, from the Sears on Main St. in Santa Ana, CA. Does this ring a bell with anyone? R.C.A.F. SabresCanada built Sabres from 1950-1958, they were called CL-13 there were 1,815 built, 6 versions(marks) and were originally planned from the F-86A. Thirteen other countries flew the F-86, most passed down. The oldest girlLooks to be the same age as my mom in '58, which was 12. Dress Spotter 2I'm sure it is red, white, blue and it was sold at Macy's for $8.99. It has a 1/2 inch hem and buttoned in the back. The $10.51 model had a zipper. Van Nuys ANG TodayJust an empty lot adjacent to the Van Nuys airport. The barracks and administrative buildings were torn down about a year ago. View Larger Map (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Pony Island: 1904
... Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Um, kids, do you not like ponies? What's with the grim expressions here? Every ... hate being on a pony -- not what I'd expect from little kids ... Or are they just not reacting well to being photographed? The Good ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/20/2012 - 7:15pm -

New York circa 1904. "The ponies, Coney Island." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Um, kids, do you not like ponies?What's with the grim expressions here? Every last one of them looks like they hate being on a pony -- not what I'd expect from little kids ... Or are they just not reacting well to being photographed? The Good Ol' Days?Wow! Not a smile to be seen in the whole crowd. Must be a lilliputian funeral procession. No grinning in public!My old English grandmother taught me that. She thought that people who did were idiots. She was VERY English middle class. She was born in 1904. Work Will Set You Free?Shorpy and his workmates look happier than these kids. The attitude of society at that time was that children were just small adults and no one was interested in children being carefree and happy. Even the ponies aren't too happy. Stay golden pony boy.Maybe the pony riders were getting blown raspberries from the peanut gallery. Goin' down down downI think the kids have such dour expressions because they were told that if they got out of hand they'd be forced to work in The Great Coal Mine. You'd be unhappy tooIf you had to go back to work in The Great Coal Mine. A rumble?This seems like more than normal stoicism. Half the pony kids as well as the two older boys in back are glowering at something or someone to the left of the cameraman. And the boy in the dark suit to the very left is looking pretty angry too. A dispute or argument over something happened here right before the picture was taken. If you think we're having fun nowwait until we go down into the Coal Mine. It would be decadesbefore little Timmy Dorfmann, standing front center, would benefit from the fledgling science of psychotherapy. A caper in the worksThese two are planning something. Mama's boyMy best guess is that the boy in stripes, holding his mother's hand, was beat up often by the ruffians riding the ponies. Adventures In Coal MiningThat sounds like a fun attraction. Edward VIIIIs that a scowling Prince of Wales standing at the extreme left? That's no "Mama's Boy"Look closely and you’ll see there is a smaller child behind the boy in the horrible, pin-striped, matching short-pant and shirt outfit. And I'm sure he'd box your ears for calling him a mama's boy! Goat CartsCheck out the goat-pulled wagons to the right! I believe pony rides are long gone from Coney Island now. Say Cheese! With the relatively slow film, and a bunch of kids being held up for a, no doubt, publicity photo, what with the increasingly annoyed lens-man growling 'Hold still, you little buggers, and you lot, clear out of frame!', I'm surprised the photographer didn't have a stampede on his hands! [By this time, photographic emulsions - in this case on a glass plate, not film - were sensitive enough to permit exposure times of a fraction of a second in sunlight. Note the lack of motion blur where you'd otherwise expect it, for example, the ponies' heads. - tterrace] (The Gallery, Coney Island, DPC, Horses, Kids)
Dog Funeral: 1921
... with its childless power couples and their 4 legged "kids" and the boom-boom 1920's. So glad to see this! Truly man's best ... here in Tennessee. I think they must like it. Not kids, but friends Pets are loving, loyal, and would die for you. They ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/12/2009 - 11:47am -

October 7, 1921. "Dog funeral." Aspen Hill Cemetery, final resting place for one Boots Snook, "dear old pal" of Mrs. Selma Snook of Washington. Today's funeral is for the recently departed Buster. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size. Born a Dog, Lived a GentlemanI imagine many women can attest to the the opposite occurrence as well: "Born a Gentleman, Lived a Dog." 50 Washington Lovers of Animal Pay Tribute At Last Resting Place of Their Departed Pets In a wonderland Valhalla for pooches, "World Day for Animals" was celebrated in quiet fashion by a group of 50 Washington dog lovers yesterday. A mellow October sunlight flooded Aspen Hill Cemetery, where lie 2,700 "prominent" dogs, at peace with the world at last, far from the threat of onrushing automobiles, and presumably gnawing meaty bones as they growl in endless sleep. ... Owners of deceased pets haven't gotten around to holding religious services yet at burials, although Mrs. Selma Snook, of this city, has had formal burials with children acting as pallbearers for her five dogs, one of which, Buster, has this inscription on his monument: "Born a dog, lived a gentleman." Washington Post, Oct 5, 1936 Saying GoodbyeLooks like Mrs. Snook is comforting a relative or pal of the late Boots. Funny how dogs and their owners so often resemble each other. Mrs. Snook and the principal mourner have the same hair, although Mrs. Snook has tamed hers with a net. Discretionary incomeIt's nice to see that people squandered money on useless items for their pets 90 years ago too. I wonder if they were regretting spending money on a granite memorial for a dog eight years later in 1929 when "Black Thursday" rolled around. This is an interesting parallel between our consumption based society of the late 20th century with its childless power couples and their 4 legged "kids" and the boom-boom 1920's. So glad to see this!Truly man's best friends, treated with the honor they deserve. While I can't afford such elaborate stones, all my pets are buried with dignity. Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn has quite a few dog graves and a horse one as well! Mrs. Snook, to Boots II"If you don't stop chewing on the davenport you're next." And is that Aretha Franklin's hat? Hey!Discretionary income....if they earned it, they can spend it anyway THEY please. Maybe they should throw it down the entitlement rat hole. Sour grapes"Useless," "squandered," "regretting" -- I doubt these folks had ANY regrets about giving their pet a lavish burial. Would you rather spending be regulated? Hope you have a nice view from your porch, cranky old man. Boots HillAll dogs go to heaven. The date of the photographThe date of the photograph was October but the date on the tombstone says Boots died in April. Looks like a new grave so I was wondering what old Boots was doing between April and October. [Try reading the caption again. This is not Boots' funeral. - Dave] Marginal MemorialsIn 1921 the marginal tax rate for US taxpayers in the bottom bracket (taxable incomes up to $4,000) was 4%. The marginal rate for the top bracket (taxable incomes above $1 million) was 73%. By contrast, for tax year 2008 the lowest marginal rate is 10% for taxpayers with $16,050 taxable income, and the top rate is 35% for taxable incomes over $357,700. If Mrs. Snook was lucky enough to be a top-bracket type of gal with a million dollar income, she could take her $270,000 after-tax income and build a grand monument to ol' Boots. Today, any Leona Helmsley-ish dog lover would have $650,000 left after taxes on the same million dollars to take care of her pets' needs. Goober Pea It's my moneyAll of my pets have been buried at my parents' farm, joining their pets and some that belonged to my siblings. I don't regret the money spent at the vet, or for their food, or toys. Still taking petsThe Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery is still taking burials, though it has been buffeted about a bit recently from some changes of management. Note the spelling, BTW: for whatever reason, the official spelling is "Aspin", though "Aspen" seems to get used as often. It is now being run by the Montgomery County Humane Society. For a while it was run by PETA, which explains some of the curious memorials listed in the Find-a-grave listings. FISHcrimination!Why is it that dogs, cats, birds, even hamsters get solemn farewells with respectful burials but FISH just get flushed down the toilet? Aspin Hill lives onThe cemetery is still there. I used to belong to St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church, right next door, when PETA owned it. Here's an article on all the tumult of its recent past. http://www.mchumane.org/aspinhillpetcemetery.shtml No FoolingI thought that maybe it was April 1 when I read the article about Aspen Hill Cemetery and Mr. J. C. Crist! That aside, I hope that the cemetery plot, the headstones and the funeral rites helped Ms. Snook deal with the loss of what MUST have been beloved pets. Could the money involved have been spent on hungry children, homeless pets, animal medical research, or a host of other worthy causes? Yes, but the choice was hers, and anyone who doesn't like it can deal with it by increasing their own contributions to worthy causes of their choice. Boy in the middle"Why wasn't I born a dog?" GratefulI cherish the time with, and have never regretted the money spent on my furry friends. I could not afford a place like the pet cemetery in Columbia, Tennessee, but there's a tiny fenced-in graveyard with a little wood marker for each of my lost friends. It overlooks the Piney River here in Tennessee. I think they must like it. Not kids, but friendsPets are loving, loyal, and would die for you. They deserve to be given a decent rest at the end of their lives. Or would you rather they were just thrown in the garbage? My parents held funerals for our two turtles and one goldfish that passed on when we were very small. The little creatures were buried in the yard, in small jewelry boxes. I don't spend much on my cat and when she goes, she will have a simple, good sendoff. I hope that's a long time ahead. There is a pet cemetery very like this one near me, and I'm amazed at how long some of the animals lived. They obviously brought a lot of happiness to their humans. Four-legged kidsDogs and cats don't get drunk when they're 13 and come home pregnant and strung out on meth (OK, animals with roaming privileges still come home pregnant, but at least you can simply give away their unwanted offspring without any red tape). And they don't forget about or ignore you when you've grown old and useless. We're not that fancyBut our departed pets are all buried on our property, with pretty stones for markers. Our life is blessedly child-free and our pets are family and treated as such during and after their lives. No Glue FactoryAn old farmer down here, a distant relative, buried all of his horses and mules and put up markers for some of them. He kept this up through the 50's or early 60's. That's a lot of digging. Sleeps with the fishesFor my fish, I always say a few respectful words before giving them the big flush. Besides, this method of disposal does use water, their natural element. We used to name them too, but when you have 90 neon Tetras, the attrition rate is just too great to keep up! Touch a nerve?Wow, look at all the comments from people defending their right to spend their money how they want. It's your money, do with it as you wish. Dogs are wonderful animals, but as much as they love you they are entirely dependent on you and can do nothing to support you in your old age. I hope the person comparing a dog to a 13 year old child coming home drunk never ever has to take care of a child. If you have a child behaving in that fashion, it is your fault. Ask Notwhat your dog can do for you, ask what you can do for your dog. Aspin HillThis is one of the oldest pet cemeteries in the nation. I did volunteer clean-up work there in the summer of 2002. There are still plots available, but some of the older areas are overgrown. It's near the intersection of Connecticut and Georgia avenues. The Snook plotI live just down the road from the Aspen Hill pet cemetery, and I visited it today. I found the Snook plot. It's still there, although it was quite overgrown. What I'm assuming to be Buster's headstone, the one to the right of Boots, has since toppled onto its face and has grown over with weeds. The current state of the plot. You can make out the supports for the corners of the plot. The third grave from the right is Boots. Also in the Snook plot are: Trixie Snook Born July 5 1913 Died July 12, 1922 Finest Friends I ever had sleeping side by side, I love and miss you all --Mrs. S. Snook" http://tinyurl.com/Trixie-Snook Snowball Snook Born April 18 1908 Died July 8, 1922 Dear beloved pet. True, Faithful unto death Loved her dearly. http://tinyurl.com/Snowball-Snook Not a good year for the Snook Family. More on Aspen Hill Pet CemeteryI keep a fairly detailed and reasonably "up to the minute" pages on the Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery. Right now, not much is happening with it, though the County has condemned almost the entire property, and unless the Humane Society -- which is incredibly strapped for cash -- can bring it up to code by March, the County may just seize the property, which is most excellently located for use by the Developers who so vastly fund elections in this County. It's sad, it's the last little slice of pre-urban Maryland in this part of the County. More on Aspen Hill, in general, may be found at http://www.aspenhillnet.net Regards, Old Aspen Hill EmployeeI worked after school and summers for the Aspen Hill Pet Cemetery when I was in high school. It was very well kept then, and a interesting and attractive place to visit. Although I moved away from the area many years ago I have periodically returned. It is sad to see how the majority of the grounds have become overgrown and poorly maintained. The people who owned and operated it then are both buried in the cemetery along with several other humans. Several police dogs who died in the line of duty are buried there, and were put to rest with full honors and gun salutes. The "HOOVER" monument marks pets of one time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. There are dozens of cats buried at the "TIMMONS" monument. There is a section for birds. Several horses are burried there. Normally we hand dug the graves. For the horses the adjacent human cemetery did the digging with power equipment. Because of the location there has long been a chance/risk of the land being re-purposed for business. I you want to see the place I wouldn't wait too long. A little more SnookHere's some more information and more pictures of Mrs Snook's dog funerals and Aspin Hill https://petcemeterystories.net/2018/05/31/aspin-hill-cemetery-for-pet-an... (The Gallery, Dogs, Natl Photo)
Modern Family: 1936
... to smile. You gotta love the resiliency of children. Kids Kids will be kids. Nice to see them smiling and happy about getting their ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 1:39pm -

July 1936. "Family of migratory fruit workers. Yakima, Washington." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Happy with her shoes!It looks like the young girl in the white blouse is wearing a pair of shoes that will take her a couple of years to grow into. None the less, she and her barefooted brother are still able to smile. You gotta love the resiliency of children. KidsKids will be kids. Nice to see them smiling and happy about getting their picture taken. They're dressed, clean and (probably) well fed enough to be able to experience some lightheartedness amid the obvious poverty. It's not always about material wealth. I've seen worse off on shorpy.com. NutritionLooks like these kids got their milk. 2 tins of powdered milk, 1 of malted milk, and 1 of cocoa. The only good thing about thisJudging by all the debris and trash waiting to be picked up, at least the cat won't have to worry where the next mouse is coming from. Think about itNext time you're feeling low, had a crappy day at work, or the satellite TV went out. Pull this photo up and look at it. DilemmaHeartbreaking view of a family in trouble, even with the children smiling. Living in a tent pitched on debris strewn lot, the father pondering a his situation. His eyeglasses missing an earpiece just accentuate the poverty. The scene won't change for a few years until the war time economy kicks in. DependentsIs the father merely pensive, or is he feeling the weight of his uncertain future and the responsibility of caring for his young family? I call this:The Resilience of Youth and the Burden of Maturity. Modern TimesNot to be sarcastic, but nowadays we call this recreation. Fun for some maybeKids can see many things as an adventure, but Dad's expression and body language says it all. Malcolm TentTheir lodging appears to have been manufactured by The Enterprise Tent and Awning Co. of North Yakima. In the Library of Congress I found a 1908 reference to the firm. Hark, a FarkFarked again! A mop ? As sad as this picture is I have to wonder what you use a mop for when you live in a tent (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Farked, Kids, Kitchens etc.)
Bring the Kids: 1917
... bowl haircuts! I wonder what happened to all of those kids? 19 and Counting Rev 0.9 Hub Cap Heaven In case anyone is ... not clipped, on! (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, San Francisco, W. Stanley) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/28/2014 - 7:57am -

San Francisco circa 1917. "Jordan touring car with children." Did we lose a few back there when we hit that bump? Better do a head count. 6.5x8.5 inch glass negative originally from the Wyland Stanley collection. View full size. School Bus 1.0They certainly have come a long way since the 1910s! Golden Gate Park. This photo seems to have been taken on an outing to Golden Gate Park. This looks like the Bison enclosure. (We always erroneously called them buffalo.) On the blow up of the photo you can see a bison in the far right middle. The herd or their descendants are still there today. Cute-mobileThis has to be about my favorite Shorpy image of all time.... I could look at those faces- misceivous or innocent, forever. Those bows! Those bowl haircuts! I wonder what happened to all of those kids? 19 and CountingRev 0.9 Hub Cap HeavenIn case anyone is confused by the name "HOUK" on the hub covers of a Jordan touring car; that is the name of the wire wheels' maker, George W. Houk, who held the American rights to the highly prized Rudge-Whitworth wire wheels, an English development. Houk almost single-handedly popularized the fashionable wire wheels over the wooden "artillery" wheels that dominated the market before this era. Some manufacturers, such as the Stanley Steam Carriage, pictured here, offered the Houk wire wheels with their own name on the hub covers, but they were also sold "after market" and as an extra option by dealers. The Film"Cheaper by the Dozen" with Clifton Webb comes to mind. This seems to have a slight overflow. Isn't Jordan the car that had that wonderful Advert with the line "Somewhere west of Laramie". Drive wherever you want!With Houk "Quik-Change" wire wheels from Buffalo, NY. you can change a flat toot sweet! Hefty AccessoriesThose ginormous hair bows really need to come back into fashion. Make and ModelThis particular 10-louvered Jordan seems to be either a "Suburban Seven" or "Sport Marine." UPDATE: Our latest scan reveals it to be the "Seven-Passenger Luxury Car." Hefty hair bowsThey still are in fashion, in some places! Here's a photo of one of our daughters, at the time we adopted her from Russia in 1999. All the little girls wore them when they dressed up. BTW, they were tied in place, not pinned on! They can be TIED on, too!D-bell's reminder that hair bows used to be tied on reminded me getting my granddaughter ready for school, one day. I cut a length of wide ribbon and tied it around her ponytail. She was amazed that they could be TIED, and not clipped, on! (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, San Francisco, W. Stanley)
Up the Incline: 1905
... pier remains today too. What do you think these kids are doing? I don't know if I like the center of gravity on ... to see~~fascinating! I enjoyed all the comments. Kids being kids I think the kids at the lower left are playing hide & ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 2:40pm -

Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1905. "Up the hill by trolley." On one of the city's famous incline railways. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size. Cinci RiderSpot the freeloader riding on the wheelset below the horse's head. Whoa BessieIt would not be cool to have a horse freak out on that thing. Great backlightingI love the silhouettes of the people. looks like a lot of women about and about with their "going out" hats on. Great Photo!Really shows just how clever this incline railway was. I wonder what it added to the cost of a trolley ride? GHFWGThat building beyond the incline has to be the Edward Gorey Home for Wayward Girls. Bessie Should be FineFortunately the inclines were very quiet, with a steam engine at the top to drive it. Since the weight of the descending platform counterbalanced the ascending one, it didn't even have to be particularly powerful. That's an old McMicken Hall on the right, one of the University of Cincinnati's first buildings. While this is about a mile from campus, and that building is gone, I believe UC still owns that property. Clifton Avenue is on the left, and the pier in the hillside remains. It even still has one of those steel straps. The iron trolley pole to the right of the pier remains today too. What do you thinkthese kids are doing? I don't knowif I like the center of gravity on that sucker. Re: Whoa BessieIt would not be cool to have a horse freak out on that thing. That was my first thought too. My wife had a horse who would get onto the trolley even if it was on fire - if it had already done the hill the old fashioned way. Bellevue InclineThis is the Bellevue incline, which passes over the Clifton Avenue Price Hill InclineAt first I had a bit of trouble determining which of Cincinnati's inclines I was looking at. The hill in the background was the confusing part. When I realized that the view is looking north at the Price Hill incline it all became clear. The background hill has not resembled that hill since before I was born in 1944. Back in the 1930's when they built Union Terminal, the large train terminal they needed a lot of flat ground to accommodate the multitude of tracks for the station and fright trains. To get the fill material to level this large area they stole the top of the hill visible in the background of this picture and transported it to the area where the track system was laid. This "thievery" resulted in the hill being stripped of foliage as well as the fill material and it just had a bare knob of rock and thus became known as bald knob. Back in the 50s the name was quite appropriate. The top of the knob is now occupied by WXIX-TV's transmitter and TV tower and also a Time-Warner cable head end as well as some industrial park buildings. The knob characteristic is somewhat diminished now. Packed ~N~ Stacked This is one cool contraption, but for some reason it makes me laugh, He He! I guess it reminds me of some sort of Dr. Seuss thing on stilts! But that old building on the right has to be one of the creepiest I have ever seen. UC Medical CollegeYes, the UC Medical college was located in the building next to the incline. This is right up from McMicken in what used to be referred to as the Mohawk area. Supposedly, medical students liked to frighten passengers on the incline by waving body parts in the windows as they the incline escalated past. Keep in mind that at this time the City of Cincinnati was blanketed in black coal smoke (you can even see the haze in some of these old photos) and the inclines provided a nice respite from the grimy and smoggy conditions of the city. At the top of each incline was a tavern (in this case it was the Highland House) and they all served alcohol. Except for Price Hill's hilltop tavern. Alcohol-free, it was referred to as "Buttermilk Hill." Bellevue InclineThis is indeed the Bellevue Incline, but it doesn't pass over Clifton Avenue -- you might be confusing Clifton with Ravine. It began at the end of Elm Street on McMicken. The brewery district was right under the incline. Tunnels were dug into the hillside to keep the lager cool. This was part of a tour that I used to give for Architreks. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohhamilt/picsinclines.html Cincinnati & Clifton Inclined Plane RailroadHere you can see where was the "Cincinnati & Clifton Inclined Plane Railroad" also called "Bellevue Incline"... I draw it in red, you can see it was passing over the actual W Clifton Avenue. I don't know the old name of this way. http://www.funimag.com/temp/Bellevue.jpg To OhioThe incline went only as far as Ohio Avenue. It did not cross Clifton. Bellevue Incline History 1876-1926 From Cincinnati History of the Inclines, compiled by Bob O'Brien. Officially, the Bellevue Incline was the Cincinnati & Clifton Inclined Plane Railroad, which was built at the head of Elm Street at McMicken Avenue in 1876 and went to Ohio Avenue. The ornate Bellevue House beckoned the city dwellers and visitors to ascend the incline and see the view from the vantage of the veranda. It lasted until 1926. Just bought a great postcardpostmarked 1906 showing this incline. Never heard of this unique form of transportation. Am familiar with Mt. Washington incline in Pittsburgh, but the Cincinnati incline was truly bizarre but wonderful to see~~fascinating! I enjoyed all the comments. Kids being kidsI think the kids at the lower left are playing hide & seek, or something similar. Just being kids. (The Gallery, Cincinnati Photos, DPC, Railroads, Streetcars)
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