Church women, c. 1920s

16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. I visited the church about 10 years ago, on assignment for a magazine. This picture was for sale at the church, a souvenir of the church's long role in the community.

Yesterday was an historic anniversary, and today we celebrate International Women's Day. 

The 16th Street Baptist Church was the site of a horrific bombing in 1963 that took the lives of four girls. 

Winter, 1919

Found at JunkBrooklyn in Williamsburg last summer.

Girl, Unafraid c. 1890

238 Humboldt Street, ca. 1915

The address is scrawled on the back. Date is a wild guess. 238 Humboldt Street is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The brick building is long gone; Google street view shows a newer development. 

These boys are something else. Old photographs usually show children with dour looks, perhaps from having to pose for so long. This picture is alive with personality, and one can imagine the boys running off to their street games as soon as the photographer was done.

Dressing up for Coney Island

I'm always amazed at how people once dressed up for places like the amusement park at Coney Island, in the years before sportswear became the default choice for everyday wear. I remember as a child wearing a nice dress for an airplane trip. Now you can count on people wearing shorts and flip flops to Coney Island, on a plane or even at the theater. Theater is my my personal last stand. I still get dressed for a Broadway show. I'm not talking fancy. Just nice.

The folks in this picture are wearing suits, hats and one woman has a nice fur collar. So perhaps this was not yet summer, or maybe it was an evening out. Just by the way they're dressed you can sense the anticipation and expectations they had for the evening. It was clearly date night, and chances are the night started elsewhere.  Did they end up on the Staten Island Ferry? I hope so--that would be a classic New York night out for couples.

This bar is clearly a faux setting; click on the picture to see just how cheap the bar backdrop is. I always get a kick out of these pasteboard settings. I first posted this picture nearly three years ago; it was the first thing I thought of when considering the dressing up theme. The back is marked "Butch & Icki & his goils friend's." That's the Brooklyn I know and love.

You can see how others dress up this theme over at Sepia Saturday; click below.

Santa and Me, c. 1960

I was a ragamuffin, pulling on the thread of my knit cap. This was most likely the Santa at Macy's Herald Square, where we always shopped for clothing and toys. I was probably asking for a Tiny Tears doll and the CandyLand game. I tell you this was a great Santa, he's exactly how I imagined him as a child. You can see I was thrilled--shy, but thrilled! I'm surprised the photo (faded as it is) survived in its folder.

Find more Christmas cheer at Sepia Saturday by clicking the logo below:

Streetcars, 34th St., N.Y.C., c. 1890s

Here's the second sepia photo of a New York City street scene with streetcars (click to view larger image). Last Sunday it was 23rd St.

Today's photo is an older and darker print; the main purpose as you can see from the drawing in the top right corner was to sell billboard advertising. The photo looks north from Broadway, and off in the distance you can see the old New York Times building (with flag hand-drawn on a mast) and beyond that the distinctive roof of the Hotel Astor can be discerned, although the picture fades out even more at that point.   

Check out The Daily Postcard's Streetcar Sunday post today for a beautiful black and white shot of streetcars in Brisbane Australia.

Streetcars on 23rd St., N.Y.C, 1913

I found this photo more than 20 years ago in an old book store. Could have been Ruby's downtown, near City Hall. The first thing I ever collected was old New York City scenes, mostly postcards. I found two of these prints, measuring roughly 7 x 10.5 inches. The Metropolitan Tower is still there, and the building on the left looks like the old Toy Building, but I'm not sure. Streets and landmarks are labeled at the bottom, perhaps as part of a survey for a new building in the area.

When I first purchased this photo, I assumed the Rice Leaders of the World Assn. were rice importers. Wrong! Turns out it was a good business group. I found this item from a Google search, what else:

A Tribute to Business Character, by Elwood E. Rice. Published by Rice Leaders of the World Association, 1930. This small, very beautifully printed book commemorates an award given to Fred and George Gruen at the Cincinnati Club, to honor them for their "business character." To belong to the Rice Leaders of the World, a business had to be financially secure and must have conducted all of its affairs in an ethical manner. Among the companies certified by Rice, Gruen was singled out for this special award (the first of its kind) on the 10th anniversary of their acceptance into the organization. The book contains speeches by Dr. Rice, Fred Gruen and George Gruen. Fred's comments elsewhere in the site, about his philosophy behind the guild theme, are from his speech here. This volume is in the Rare Books department of the Cincinnati Public Library.

That's the Gruen watch company.

And to read further about the Rice philosophy, click here. Here's a quote from the Rice creed: "A moral obligation is never denied by those who practice integrity in business." Hmm, would that mean a world with no hostile takeovers, no leveraged buyouts? No foreclosures? No layoffs, no furloughs, no pay cuts...? Certainly no Bernie Madoff.

We should all live so long.

Thanks to The Daily Postcard for her inspiration, Streetcar Sunday.

Three Friends, c. 1907

This photo was in the $1 bin at a flea market this summer. The lady in the middle has nailed the Fluffy Ruffles look, with plumed hat and puffed-shoulders on her mid-length walking jacket.