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1916. "Brooklyn Daily Eagle." The newspaper's Washington bureau at 608 14th Street N.W. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Can we get a close up of the eyeball sign? I can't make out what it says around the eyeball.
["Geo. A. Baker." - Dave]
Do you think the sign along the bottom of the window of the optical business may advertise photographic services? Is this a sideline of the optical business or of the newspaper (could fit either)?
[The sign says "photographic supplies." - Dave]
So it wasn't just anyone doing hat cleaning and blocking. It was Steve Diamond!
Among the many distinguished names associated with the Brooklyn Eagle was Walt Whitman, editor from 1846 to 1848. This was years before Leaves of Grass.
I guess you have to wait in your skivvies while they press 'em.
I would guess that it may have been a foreign surname that was painted over to anglicize it to Victoria. The weird spacing of the I and A may indicate the I was carved out of an L or something?
In Houston there was a bar called the Velvet Elvis that featured a cheesy painting on velvet from Mexico of the King. His estate sued and the court ruled in its favor. The bar rearranged the letters to the extent possible and it is now called the Velvet Melvin.
The Brooklyn Public Library has digitized the 1841-1902 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Fascinating reading!
I wonder if you could get you hat cleaned and blocked at Victoria's? I don't think their signs mention it.
That seems probable; the spacing between the I and A is big enough for the horizontal line on a capital L, which has since been removed/hidden.
[That looks like an E under the O. Which would rule out Victrola. - Dave]
I believe it first said "Victrola."
Does the lower lettering on the optician's door really say "Krypton Lenses"?
Also, I can't quiet make out the lettering on the sign above the Tait's sign -- "Hunt's Men's ___"?
[The signs are for the Hunt's News Bureau and Kryptok Lenses. - Dave]
Is that one of those fortune telling machines below the Tait & Co. sign?
Holy Kiss of Flesh, I see an eyeball light hanging over the door.
I was just thinking the other day how hard it was getting to be to find a good hat blocker.
The "Victoria Hatters" sign seems to have been changed--in both instances--as though someone was correcting a misspelling, or maybe a previous name. I can make out another letter beneath the "O"in the bigger sign. I wonder what the story is behind that?
I can buy some insurance; sell my house; advertise in the newspaper; get my hat blocked, my suit pressed, and my shoes shined, and my glasses fixed; and cap the day off with a nice roast at La Parisienne. Who needs the mall?
Glasses exactly like those of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's are in the window. Also, what fun it would be to read the menu of La Parisienne to see the prices.
Another great shot full of period details. That's a 1915 or 1916 Ford on the right. I wonder where that eagle figure is today? And I love those (cast iron?) steps. Lots of "collectibles" like the signs and the thermometer, too. Wonderful things.
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