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Thursday, February 21, 2013

1940: NORTH BROAD STREET LOOKING SOUTH

There's the Castanea Dairy Co. on the left of this photo, and a delightful view looking down toward State and Broad Street. The Capitol Theatre can be seen in the distance.

THIS PHOTO WAS PREVIOUSLY POSTED BACK IN JUNE 2012. THANKS TO RAY PASKIEWICZ FOR ADVISING ME. I AM RE-POSTING THE COMMENTS WHICH ACCOMPANIED THE JUNE POST:

rayfromvillapark said...

Hi Tom, Another tremendous photo, that brings back personal memories for me. Back in 1960, I started a new job, in the Engineering Department of Public Service Electric. Our office was in the middle of the block on Warren St, North of Perry St. There was an alley between Warren and Broad, just across from the Borden Castanea restaurant. Every day for six years, a group of us would take our morning break and walk over to that restaurant for coffee and a pastry. I wish I could remember the waitress's name. She was there all those years and was very friendly; service with a smile. You are close on the date. It is at least 1949. To the right, ahead of the La Salle, which is pulling away from the curb, there is a 1941 Studebaker and ahead of that car, is a 1949 Ford. Look closely at the tail light and the gas cap, below it. Only year of that style Ford, with the older gas cap. The following year, they had a flip up door, with a hidden gas cap. That's the newest car I can see. By the way, the old Chevy, heading south is a 1938 model.Very neat picture. rayfromvillapark
Anonymous said...
Ray:

I too remember that Alley well.
It was Cobblestone paved, and ran next to Tut Petranto's "beauty supplies" In qoutes because those who knew Tut, knew the real business he was in. The alley came out on Warren St, wher Russ Pertanto ( Tut's nephew) had his optomotrist office.

In front of the Battle Monument, was the Sunoco Station that sat in the middle of the park of the monument. which had the Canal feeder runniing in front of it.
And who could forget peering into th E.L.Kerns modern Bottleing plant watching all those exotic flavors being pumped into the bottles with ELK head on it.
Red Cream was our family favorite, followed by the Ginger Ale.

Regards

Mike Kuzma
Anonymous said...
Tom, though it was pretty much the year I was born in I'll agree on the dates of the cars. The Chevy Sedan Delivery and Plymouth appear to be 1948 and 1949. Our family did not have a car till about later 50's so I was a bit behind. Still remember the first car Mom had, it was a 1960 turquoise and white Corvair and no they did not spin like the Ford film and Motor Trend (also owned by Ford) said unless you got off the gas in the middle of a turn, and ran the wrong tire pressures; same as the 911 Porsche or any rear engine. Ford was poor engineering but great in the "Propaganda Department". PS .. to this day Ralph Nader has never even had a drivers license nor legally driven a car. Guess who funded "Unsafe at any speed"? Sadly, the damage was done, and GM gave up instead of fighting. Meanwhile, the Mustang that was on a Falcon platform won the battle. Carroll Shelby just passed away last week, a great racer and engineer, he gave us the only Mustang to handle well in addition to the classic Cobras.

Ed Millerick
rayfromvillapark said...
Hi Tom, Upon further study of this photograph, I am confirming that this photo is from 1949. 1948 and 1950 New Jersey license plates are straw colored, with Black numbers and letters. 1949 plates are Black, with off White numbers.
The car that I thought was pulling away from the curb is actually terribly parked (try leaving your car like today), there is no driver. Also, I said it was a 1940 La Salle Series 52, but in reality, it is a 1940 Cadillac Series 62. I didn't notice the free standing headlight, and the parking light mounted on the fender. Both cars used the same body. For the record, the Sedan Delivery to the left, behind the Chevy panel truck, is a 1946 Chevy model, which used a lot of the passenger car components. The more you study these photos, full blown in size, the more you see! Incredible. rayfromvillapark

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