At the turn-of-the century, New York City had over a million horses serving the public. That situation was greatly affected by the arrival of automobiles. By the 1920s there were few horse drawn carriages still transporting people to their destinations. Along with the subway and buses, the taxi / auto industry had taken the horse’s place.
So what did these early taxi cabs look like? Below are some examples.
Skating Star & Actor Who Are Romancing
Beverly Hills, CA – Sonja Henie, famous figure skating star, at present working in pictures in Hollywood, and Tyrone Power actor, do a little billing and cooing at the Tropics Cafe, here. Photo: International News Photos February 7 , 1937.
Tyrone Power was Sonja Henie’s co-star in Thin Ice with production of the film running from May through July 1937. It’s the story of a hotel ski instructor who falls in love with a man who goes skiing every morning.
Sonja Henie was born on April 8, 1912. The Norwegian three-time Gold medal Olympic skater Continue reading
In the 1970s practically every apartment building had an incinerator to burn its trash. New York City’s sky had a constant haze of air pollution from a variety of smog producing outlets.
So it may be surprising to realize that New York did have concerns about air pollution in the 1930s. This photograph with the news slug explains:
An Electric Locomotive Draws The Record-Breaking Coast To Coast Train
New York – A scene on the Park Avenue elevated tracks in New York, showing the Union Pacific “Bullet Train” being drawn by an electric locomotive into Grand Central Terminal at the end of the 56-hour, 57-minute record breaking journey from Los Angeles. The locomotive was attached at Harmon, New York to conform with the law which prohibits a coal or oil burning engine o go through New York. The stream line train is an oil burner. photo: International News 10-25-1934
Union Pacific’s Continue reading
A not very festive scene at City Hall. As the news slug explains: Continue reading
Joan Blondell (left) plays Mary Keaton and Bette Davis is Ruth Westcott in the1932 film Three On A Match.
The story is about three women (Ann Dvorak completes the trio) who attend high school together and how their lives intertwine when they meet again years later. Three on a match is a superstition – don’t light three cigarettes from one match, otherwise you will have bad luck. As you might figure out from the movie’s title, bad luck does ensue.
This unusual production still taken at Santa Monica beach has the co-stars standing on a platform with a large microphone. Continue reading
Buoys And Girls – In New War On Drowning
New York – These lucky buoys are embracing the quartet of pretty maidens who assisted at the tests of a new life preserver at the Park Central Hotel pool today (Tuesday.) The device is said to be of one third the weight and three times the buoyancy of the present cork life vests. The belts are the invention of Jesse W. Reno, well known engineer who also invented the modern escalator or moving stairway. The girls are, left to right: Dorothy Day, Pat Hughes, Prudence Edgar and Sherry Pelham. photo: International News Photos 5-3-1932
As this old news photo confirms, getting publicity for a product usually works when you have pretty women pose with it.
Engineer Jesse Wilford Reno has an extremely short biography on Wikipedia. Reno’s entry says he invented the escalator and claims it was first installed at the Iron Pier at Coney Island in 1891.
But when Reno died at the age of 85, his obituary Continue reading
Charles Hanson Towne (1877-1949) was a prolific author, poet and editor of such prestigious magazines as Smart Set, Delineator, McClure’s, Designer, and Harper’s Bazaar.
As an urbane New Yorker, Towne’s hobnobbing with celebrities in literature, stage, politics and society was de riguer. His acquaintances also gave him access to juicy gossip.
In the second of Towne’s memoirs (he wrote three), This New York Of Mine, Cosmopolitan (1931), he relates an apocryphal story which occurred at the turn-of-the-century that Towne claims is true.
There are no names attached to the tale. But if the facts are correct an online detective could figure out Continue reading
These two news press photographs of the Yankees star catcher Bill Dickey were released one day apart in late September 1938. The photos were almost certainly taken the same day.
The stadium appears to be Chicago’s Comiskey Park where the Yankees played the White Sox the previous week, September 20-22.
The first news Continue reading
This photograph by Percy Loomis Sperr shows the Ninth Avenue El looking north from the west side of 23rd Street.
We can see the entire corner from 23rd to 24th Street has been cleared in preparation for the construction of the London Terrace apartment complex. London Terrace has 14 buildings stretching from Ninth to Tenth Avenues. Continue reading
Parke, Davis and Company, manufacturing chemists, Detroit, Michigan. Packaging of pills and tablets on a conveyor belt May 1943 photo Arthur Siegel
We ran this list below a few years ago, but are showing it again considering all the talk of bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
The controversy over tariffs to correct a trade imbalance has its proponents and its critics. One of the goals for the United States is to be more self-reliant by bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Continue reading
