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.
A rare picture of an elderly David Robert Jones[1], having improved upon the psychokinetic testing device for another evil plot.
By the silken breast of Mogg’s mother, I miss “Fringe.”
Olivia Dunham uses her Cortexiphan-induced psychokinetic powers to defuse a biological bomb. Fringe, Season 1, Episode 14: “Ability”
In actuality, this 1928 photo, taken in Washington, DC is Charles Francis Jenkins (1867-1934), pictured here with what might be considered an early flat-panel video display, its 48-pixel-square grid composed of small neon lamps. Found at Shorpy.
[1] From Universe 39
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.
Interior retail stalls at Washington Market in New York City in 1917. New York Word-Telegram & Sun Newspaper Collection
While this is much larger and brighter, it still has the same feel of an indoor market I found in Toulouse, France in 1970:
Of course, such places still exist: here Quincy Market in Boston:
I’ve always loved spaces like this, and I think we need more of them.
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.
In this little-known photo, Fidel Castro sleds during a visit to Moscow in 1963.
This iconic photo taken in 1932 showed a group of construction workers nonchalantly enjoying lunch on a girder [1] high above New York. A bit of backstory on the photo can be found at The Reel Photo.
What is not often seen is what happened after that particular photo was taken, which is just what you might expect.
Nothing better than a good nap after lunch.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
[1] On that note:
An Irish labourer turns up at a building site and asks for employment. “Thick paddy,” thinks the foreman.
“Right ven, Paddy, fink we can hire you? Wot’s the difference between a joist and a girder ven, Paddy?”
“Sure and that’s easy,” replied the Irishman. “Joist wrote Ulysses, and Girder wrote Faust.”
Playing in the World Game 