Allentown, PA - 1940
In a box of random slides, there were a few stray examples that were particularly old - "1940" was written on the cardboard mounts, but there was no further info. If you look at this first scan, that tall monument at the end of the street seems like a pretty good clue. And it didn't take too long to figure out that it is the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which means that we are facing West on Hamilton Street. It's very cool to have a color photo of this street from 84 years ago!
Here's a screen-grab from Google Maps' "Street View". The building with the arches can still be seen to the right, as can the monument, which was unveiled October 19, 1899, on Allentown's Center Square at 7th and Hamilton streets, honors Union Army volunteers from Allentown and Lehigh Valley who were killed in defense of the Union during the American Civil War. The monument is topped by a statue representing the Goddess of Liberty. In 1957, the statue atop the monument was removed due to its state of disrepair and was replaced in 1964.
Our photographer did a 180º and took a picture looking East; there's the Americus Hotel to the left, another helpful landmark.
And another Street View!
17 comments:
"Our Town" with William Holden - at the Midway...with air conditioning; and "Pride and Prejudice" at the Colonial. I'm not sure if the Colonial had A/C - but I'd go there because I like "Pride and Prejudice," and there's a restaurant, a couple doors down. We can grab a quick bite, right before the show.
"39 Cents Speedy Dry Cleaning". The predecessor to One-Hour Martinizing. (What is "Martinizing" and why does it take one hour??)
"The Eastern Light Westinghouse Kitchen-Proved Refrigerator."
They don't make them like they used to. Did you know that refrigerators are now only made to last for 6 years?! That's what the sales people told us, the last time we had to purchase a new one.
Thanks, Major, for this trip back to 1940. I'm looking forward to the comments.
There's something... satisfying, not sure if that's the word I'm looking for, about seeing photos (especially color photos) of city streets from way back when. Maybe, comforting is the word. The color makes it all the more real, even though it was before my time, and I've never been there.
In the first pic, it looks like light blue, and white, were the clothing colors of the day. And look at all the people standing in the street! Where do they think they are? Disneyland?
It looks like at least some of the 1940s charm still remains of Allentown. Good for them.
Sue, "What is "Martinizing" and why does it take one hour??" Martin was the guy who dry cleaned your clothes. He was an elderly gentleman, not as fast as he used to be, so it takes him a whole hour to get the job done.
A nice vintage look at America, Major. Thanks.
Major-
Fun images. In the 1st one, Our Town (starring William Holden and Martha Scott) is playing at the Midway Theatre - that is "Healthfully Air Conditioned"-! And if you could clearly read the front of that banner - it says "Always 70° Cool". (Hopefully, it says 'something else' in the winter...)
The theatre opened on October 19, 1936, with The Texas Rangers, (starring Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie). Of particular interest, might be the following features of the theatre:
The Midway is the Only Theatre in Allentown with---
1. Western Electric MIRROPHONIC Sound System.
2. Carrier Air Conditioning.
3. Comfortable Seats. Big. Deep. Roomy. (but only 745 of 'em.)
4. "Hard-of-Hearing" Aid for Those with Impaired Hearing.
5. Latest Type Projection -- No More Eye Strain. GOod to know.
I also think the car on the right is a 1938 Dodge 4-door Sedan.
The 2nd image features the Colonial Theatre, showing Pride and Prejudice, (starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier). The theatre opened in 1920 and closed in 1982.
Thanks, Major.
@ Sue-
"I'm not sure if the Colonial had A/C".
According to a caption of a 1927 image of the Colonial Theatre "...it had just converted to Air Conditioning". That statement would smack in the face of the trumpeting from the opening features of the Midway Theatre, which opened in 1934 with Air Conditioning. And besides Carrier, I don't know what other American company was supplying that sort of commercial refrigeration equipment back then.
Now I want to see "Our Town" on a big screen, just so I can throw a pie at Bill Holden!
Thanks for the "today" shots, Major. Those are always appreciated. It's nice to see that a least of a few of the buildings are still standing. Too bad there aren't more that survived.
The “today” pictures look much better than I was expecting. I still prefer the older versions.
Thanks for the pics and the research, Major. These are fun excursions.
JG
Lou and Sue, I’m not sure how many places had AC in 1940 - my guess is “not many”, but I could be wrong. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go to the movies back in those days - just before the US got into WWII. I’ve never known what Martinizing is either, but my brother claims he loves the smell of Martinizing fluid. Oooookay. My mom’s refrigerator had an ice maker that stopped working, so we thought about getting a new fridge; the person at the store told us the same thing about how the machines are now designed to last such a short time. Obviously the thinking is, “If we sell fridges that last a long time, we won’t sell as many!”. Ugh. I’m using my grandmother’s refrigerator, which she bought in 1980. Probably not efficient, but it keeps chugging away.
JB, it is a real time warp seeing color photos from so long ago. I’ll bet color film and the processing were very expensive, and I guess 1940 was the tail end of the Great Depression? Granted, the color on these slides is a bit muted - was it always so, or has it faded over the decades? - so maybe there were more vibrant colors and they just don’t show up now.
Nanook, wow, amazing that they had AC in 1940. Sue knew it! With temps getting up to 107º today, a 70º theater sounds amazing. Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, that seems like an odd pairing. I wonder what the “Hard of Hearing” aid was? Headphones? A big ear trumpet? I think I’ve only seen Greer Garson in “Mrs. Miniver”, so I can never imagine her in any other movie.
Nanook, I know that Carrier had a pavilion at the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair, and they might have had one at the 1933 Chicago Fair, so maybe air conditioning was more common than I thought? I’ll bet it wasn’t cheap during those Depression years.
TokyoMagic!, anybody who would throw a pie at Bill Holden should be sentenced to death. It seems harsh, but that’s the way I feel.
JG, I know what you mean, maybe Allentown's long period of economic hardships actually saved some of those older buildings.
Major-
The 1939 World's Fair is extensively-mentioned in Carrier's literature, but anything prior [fair-wise] isn't mentioned - so suspect it wasn't there. Mechanical air conditioning was first utilized for manufacturing applications, with commercial uses following. From what I can find, in 1925 , the Rivoli Theatre in Times Square is the first motion picture theatre to install [mechanical] air conditioning; and within five years, 300 theaters in the US had air conditioning. I suspect that 'air conditioning' claim in 1927 at the Colonial Theatre may be flat-out wrong, or maybe was referring to air cooling - but you never know. (The theatre originally had seating for 2,200 folks). Another source indicates in 1937 the theatre installed new projection equipment and a new air conditioning system was put in place... It appears by 1940 at least, both venues were qualified to 'haul out the satin blue banner' with penguins or polar bears "dancing" on ice floes - or whatever the graphic was-!
I was going to mention that San Diego and Los Angeles had mechanical air conditioning in theaters ( both movie and stage) hotels and banks in the mid 1920’s. In 1869 the Cosmopolitan Hotel & Stage Depot had an ice maker ( ice making machines were in use in the USA as early as the 1850’s!!) a few days ago on the radio when we had ( are still having the heat wave ) the announcer says to thank ( I don’t remember his name ) for the invention of Building air conditioning and the date was in the 1800’s . Give our American ancestors more credit … they were probably smarter than we are!
The Cosmopolitan Hotel is ( restored) in San Diego’s Old Town state park …. If San Diego had a hotel with an ice making machine in 1869 there must have been hundreds of cities by then with hotels and restaurants with ice making machines . Don’t use Bonzana and Little House on the Prairie as an excuse for a education in history lol!
Ok … so 1902 ( July 17th !!!) is the debut of the Haviland - Carrier building air condition system which is the system we basically still use today. There were other mechanical systems in use prior to the Carrier system. AC became pretty much commonplace by 1960.
Bill Holden was born in the small town I live in. We even have a display dedicated to him in the town museum that was dedicated by Stefanie Powers, his last partner. Throwing a pie at that would be viewed rather dimly in these parts, TM!
Mike, ”Don’t use Bonzana and Little House on the Prairie as an excuse for an education in history lol!” I’m afraid all of my historical knowledge comes from TV series that were scored by David Rose.
Throwing a pie at that would be viewed rather dimly in these parts, TM!
Anonymous, I don't really want to throw a pie at him! It's just a reference to something that happened to him while playing himself, on a classic 1950s TV show!
TM!, I was “Anonymous” above (not sure how I accidentally logged out of Google). Thank you for the clarification. The thought of you throwing a pie at ur museum display made me positively ILL! ;-)
Oh dear, Chuck is feeling "positively ILL". What he needs is a large dose of Vitameatavegamin!
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