Grave marker found by Allied troops on Kiska Island. Erected by members of the occupying Japanese army, who buried an American pilot who had crashed there. The text of the sign reads:
“Sleeping here, a brave air hero who lost youth and happiness for his mother land, July 25 – Nippon Army”
What looks like the packing crate for Robby the Robot is actually a diving suit invented by Chester E. Macduffee, seen here in 1911. The suit weighed 250 kilograms (550 lbs) and was successfully used at a depth of 213 feet in 1915 – because it was not watertight, it was equipped with a water pump that removed water from the leg sections. Very little is known about Macduffee himself; this website provides some additional information and more photos.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Herzog-Freidrichstraße and the Goldenes Dachl in Innsbruck. Stadtturm visible on the right. I’m dating the photo based on the look of the autos; I could be off by a few years.
Goldenes Dachl, Christmas 1976
Illuminated Stadtturm (city tower) at Christmastime in 1976.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
The bookshop of Mordecai Grossmark, around 1934, in New York City.
The New York City Municipal Archives just released a database of over 870,000 photos from its collection of more than 2.2 million images of New York throughout the 20th century. Their subjects include daily life, construction, crime, city business, aerial photographs, and more. Visit the selection below, or see 53 photos. Found at The Atlantic.
New York City, the Bowery. Photo by Berenice Abbott
Just spend a while looking at those prices. Now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculator, 30¢ in 1935 would be worth $5.09 today. Where could you get three large pork chops for that price? Certainly not even in my sleepy little town in southern Utah. No, I suspect the BLS has either not factored in the brutality of the depression, or its numbers are somewhat skewed in general.
♫ The Bow’ry, the Bow’ry!
They say such things,
And they do strange things
On the Bow’ry! The Bow’ry!
I’ll never go there anymore! ♫
by Charles H. Hoyt and Percy Gaunt
From the Broadway play A Trip to Chinatown (1891)
The Old Wolf has spoken.
In one of the more iconic images of the early 20th century, a faked photograph shows a blimp mooring at the top of the Empire State Building. The tower was originally designed with such moorings in mind, but the entire idea was a bust from the get-go.
Here’s the schematic showing how passengers would disembark from a transatlantic dirigible, take stairs down from the 103rd floor platform to the 102nd, and then the elevator to a processing station on the 86th floor. never mind that dirigibles had their passenger compartment in the center, and passengers would be required to navigate narrow passages to get to any potential nose exit.
The 103rd floor is largely a mechanical room, but it has a narrow door leading to the outside balcony:
If you’re a dignitary, there’s a chance you can get up there for a photo op – here former Buffalo Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Notice how low the balcony wall is, which is why the general public is not permitted.
As for why they never went ahead with the dirigible plan?
The US Navy, testing its airship the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), saw it rise to a near-vertical position, after her tail rose out-of-control while she was moored at the high mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1927.
Airships can only be moored by the nose at such masts, and severe updrafts from the Empire State Building would have whipped any dirigible around like a child’s balloon.
Well, at least they managed it somehow in “Fringe.”
Showing the alternate universe to the military
The Old Wolf has spoken.
A view of the famous boardwalk and beaches shortly before I was born.
A few years later, I was able to ride this attraction:
This was the Steeplechase, the main attraction of Steeplechase Park, which ceased operations in 1964. The entrance looked like this:
I remember it well. You sat on these metal horses, held on by only a bulky leather strap. Try building this today and you’d have 10,000 hungry lawyers looking for billable hours suing you for even thinking about it.
Steeplechase park was also the home of the famous Parachute Jump, originally built for the 1939 World’s Fair and later purchased and moved to the Coney Island area. I also remember riding this one. Despite some controversy over its actual decomission date, it appears that it closed in 1964 with the rest of Steeplechase Park.
The towers remains standing to this day.
Steeplechase Park was an amazing experience. It looked even more attractive in 1903:
Found at Shorpy
The Old Wolf has spoken.
No, not the one about the lady on the airplane and the guy with a cigar. That’s from about 1960. This one is about 600 years older than that.
Jiayuguan or Jiayu Pass is the first pass at the west end of the Great Wall of China, near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province. It has also been called “Jiayuguan Pass”; however, this form is tautological since “guan” means “pass” in Chinese. Along with Juyongguan and Shanhaiguan, it is one of the main passes of the Great Wall. Construction began sometime around 1372.
Among the passes on the Great Wall, Jiayuguan is the most intact surviving ancient military building. The pass is also known by the name the “First and Greatest Pass Under Heaven” (天下第一雄关), which is not to be confused with the “First Pass under Heaven” (天下第一关), a name for Shanhaiguan at the east end of the Great Wall near Qinhuangdao, Hebei.
There is a famous legend regarding the building of this amazing monument. I have heard two versions, so I present them both here:
Regardless of which legend has merit, the brick is there for all to see:
“The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
-Robert Louis Stevenson
The Old Wolf has spoken.
In this little-known photo, Fidel Castro sleds during a visit to Moscow in 1963.
Playing in the World Game 