December 7, 1941

Waiting To Enlist

Sunday afternoon on “a day that will live in infamy.” Volunteers for military service stretch around the block after the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor.

I’m unsure of which city this is. Probably not New York because on December 7 the temperature in New York reached a high of only 34 degrees and the men in this photograph are not dressed for that kind of cold.  I also do not recognize the building. Ideas?

4 thoughts on “December 7, 1941

    1. B.P.

      A good try but there were no area codes in 1941.

      We’ve looked at background clues and the original photo is not sharp enough to pick up anything substantial.

      The license plate on the closest car appears to be a New York plate.

      Two readers believe this is the Whitehall Street recruiting building. We have looked at 1941 photos of that building and this building above is not a match.

      The problem with the locale is that the temperature was too cold in New York on December 7 for people to be wearing short sleeve shirts or be without jackets. Either the date is wrong and this news photo is not from December 7 or it is not New York City. The temperature on December 8 was also cold. The high was 44 with a low of 25.

      Reply
  1. Richard Dost

    That is called Whitehall Street because it was on Whitehall St. I enlisted there in 1964 . About 1990 it was gutted and turned into a NY Health Club , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/realestate/10scapes.html?_r=0 , what a shame . I wound up working right near there at 104 Broad St in 1980 -2002 . The song Alice’s Restaurant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjKF7aQthcQ mentions it . I believe it was etched in stone near , or above the main door ” US ARMY Department of War ” The inside was a square dough nut shape where you could look down from all the floors . Hundreds of thousands of us took our oath there , and they made it into a sports club . I will never forgive them for that .

    Reply
  2. Terence Hodgson

    Think this may be the military building taking up a whole block of Broad through to Whitehall and two smaller streets, perhaps south or front st lower manhattan. I think its outline shows on the Robinson 1885 map of manhattan, online at WardMaps.

    Reply

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