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August 1941. "A street corner in Burlington, Vermont." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
We were in Burlington two weeks ago. We stayed at an Airbnb that was just five houses down North Street (toward the lake) from this house. This area is the south part of the Old North End. It used to be a lot rougher than it is now. I was a prison guard in the late 1980s in nearby St. Albans, and half the inmates at that time were from the North End of Burlington. No longer. Burlington is a great town; big enough to be interesting but small enough to feel safe.
The coolest thing about this picture is the lady sitting in the sun
on the side porch, with her planter box of flowers, enjoying her newspaper.
I'll bet there's a baby carriage without wheels somewhere.
I notice this old Crouse-Hinds traffic signal has Stop-Walk-Go lenses rather than the more typical Stop-Caution-Go. It was an early attempt to provide some pedestrian indications without additional signals and cost. There's a little info here http://www.kbrhorse.net/signals/ch_dt_4-way01.html though the arrangement is different.
Is WALK written on the middle lens of the traffic light? Probably a reasonable explanation and I'm sure it made sense then, but I'd probably have looked both ways and run.
Wow, what an interesting building on the corner.
It looks like in the old picture, from the step-down entrance on the "ground floor" that someone actually started a restaurant in the basement of what looks like an pre-existing house.
Normally you'd expect some kind of hill or slope to necessitate a raised first and second floor in a home, but none exists here.
Neat to see that the house still remains, that the paint has been stripped off the brick which suggests a major renovation, and the "basement" appears to have continued service as maybe a rental unit. Looks like the neighborhood has been gentrified.
Excellent picture, Dave.
Are those singing telegraph cables overhead?
Another classic title by Dave.
I don't always haunt greasy spoons, but when I do, I haunt Limoge's Grill.
The man on the corner could be my grandfather Peter Hall. It looks just like him, and he always wore that kind of hat. He also smoked a pipe or a cigar. However, by 1941, I believe he had pulled up stakes and moved to Maine, unless he just happened to be back in Vermont for a visit or for business.
Mostly the same with a lot less character.
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