01-19-09
A CHRISTMAS VISIT
to the1920's
A classic '20s storefront! This is the Sport Mart at 1303 F St. N.W.,
Dec. 1923 in Washington D.C.
Here you see a portion of the Lionel "Early Period" line as it was between 1919
and 1924 - as they were displayed and sold in their Day. Lionel began
transitioning to a whole new line and look of trains in 1924. "0" gauge trains
in the foreground - one Standard Gauge set in the rear. And just look at all the
other great toys in this window!
That's no cap-gun in the center, either!
Another storefront, same era. That's Lionel's largest 0 gauge train set prior to 1924,
but missing one car.
Notice the odd-looking early Christmas lights strung across the top of the
window with the exhaust-tip bulbs. These are either carbon filament or the very
earliest of the tungsten types, putting this picture earlier than the one above. This
is also in Washington DC - photo dated 1921.
This is the Dickey family of Washington, D.C. in 1923. Mr. Dickey was a prominent
attorney.
Hauck Family. No other information available.
The Dickey family again - 1921.
1921. Remember Santa in space ships in the '50s? This is a publicity shot for a TB
drive. Before we had penecillin, TB was the AIDS of Pre WW II days. Terribly contagious,
you could pick it up from a pay phone or at the movies. Drives went on incessantly.
The Dickey family again - 1929.
That wind-up tin ship on the floor is to die for with collectors. They fetch prices beyond
those of the rarest old trains today because guess what? They were meant to float on
water and most have long since rusted out or were sunk! - but true works of beauty in their
day.
All hand-soldered, hand-painted construction.
There are early 1920s lights on the tree, a pair of Lionel cars with what looks an Ives
engine but no tender, so it couldn't have been coupled to those cars. A
MARVELOUSLY crafted putz with working waterway, waterwheel and fountain -
- but as you see -
- no cardboard houses.
George Barkhausen family.
Dated 1924. "1,000 Toys in One."
Scrutinize the kids. Some seem to have dirty faces, but really their cheeks are chapped
by the cold outside and the dry hot air of steam heat indoors. A common problem in
those days that was taken as normal. This is Macy's in New York - 1925.
Christmas in the Postal Dead-Letter Office. Also 1925.
An Oldsmobile dealership in 1921 - down the chimney and out!
Speaking of Christmas windows .. Saks Fifth Avenue, Dec 1920.
Sorry, PETA:
Those were very different times.
Here's a fun Christmas party ..Volunteers of America - 1925.
Unidentified family - 1921.
Their facial expressions seem as dead as that poor tree. Scarcely a needle
left on it.
Christmas 1921 for the James J. Davis family of Washington DC. The boy seems mystified
as to why that big Pullman car floor toy won't fit on the American Flyer "O" gauge track.
A rather modest Christmas for the U.S. Secretary of Labor under Harding, Coolidge, and
Hoover, wouldn't you say?
Dorsey family "Best Christmas Ever" -1922
A modest, but very tidy putz dated 1928 with a Lionel #253 engine pulling two "Classic
Period" 610 cars.... and for the first time - a couple of very small Japanese cardboard
houses! And don't you love the little "penny-toy" cars and trucks? Some of those could
even have been Cracker Jack prizes. I can remember getting neat little metal toys from
Cracker Jacks in the 40s. The prizes must have been even better in the '20s.
Those street lights are very simple bent and straight metal tubes on metal dish
bases that came in sets of 8, as they were really a C-6 light-string in disguise. They
were very inexpensive compared with the fancy Lionel and Ives train accessories and are
still often found. Some say they were "Noma," but i don't
know.
Dec 16,1923: Don Manuel Tellez -"Charge de Affairs" of Mexico - and family. The little
girl is "Emily."
Did i say the "first Japanese cardboard houses" in the previous photo? What are these
little houses all over the Tellez's putz? Gosh, i wish the quality were better!
Not much Christmas showing, but this picture is dated Dec. 1921, Washington
DC - a house built in 1876. Can you imagine the interior of such a place, of having
Christmas in it?
Better yet -
Halloween!
The negative is damaged,
but I just had to include it.
