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New York circa 1912. "Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street." At left, the East Coast outlet of California's Cawston Ostrich Farm. 5x7 inch glass negative. View full size.
No sirree, not me. Those two gents in the upper left working
on the sign need hazardous duty pay.
The vehicle in the middle of the street heading away from the photographer appears to have a police officer and a Good Humor man in back. Any ideas as to what the vehicle would be used as? Paddy wagon, ambulance or ice cream truck?
[The white suits on New York's streets in photos from this era are generally sweepers with the Department of Sanitation. - Dave]
In this speed-corrected early movie with sound added of New York City in 1911, it's amazing how these first people in human history to have access to self-propelled vehicles seem to have so quickly adapted to them without benefit of any rules or traffic lights, both pedestrians and drivers--it's almost like we had some kind of hard-wired affinity for the advent of the automobile. Of course, skill sets in other areas no doubt helped.
I wonder how many pedestrians were lost on the streets of New York in 1912?
Still standing!
As long as you like Black.
I know we've always stayed to the right in the US when traveling down a road, but I wonder when the driving position within the vehicle shifted to the left side? All the drivers in the photo are sitting on the right hand side of their vehicles.
[There was a gradual transition from a mix of left- and right-hand drive cars. By 1920 they were almost all LHD. - Dave]
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