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Friday, March 27, 2015

1907 AND 1921: THE ARCADE BILLIARD PARLOR

To a hopeless romantic such as I, visions of dark walnut paneling and deep maroon Victorian wallpaper would be part of the ambiance that would be found in this Victorian pool hall. The ad has been extracted from my "BUSINESSES-TRENTON" folder and superimposed on this splendid photo of the first block of East State Street. Note that the photo is dated 1921 and the ad from 1907.

2 comments:

SJBill said...

Lewis Wickes Hine was a turn-of-the-19th/20th-century sociologist and photographer that made his reputation documenting child labor. Two of his famous images were taken at the mentioned Arcade Bowling Alleys in Trenton.

http://lewishinephotographs.com/search/luceneapi_node/trenton%2C%20N.J.

Before anyone hyperventilates, I worked as a pinboy at Heil's Recreation Center (on Whittaker Street in the Burg) without having working papers. We made dimes per hour of hard work, and we all felt good afterwards. Almost Sixty years later, I'm still working and enjoying it.

Personally, I think all kids could benefit from having a menial job, whether it be farm work, helping their fathers with their work. Work made this county great. Not working is a whole lot easier however it may have just may have the opposite effect.

Michael said...

Tom:
As mentioned previously, I worked as a pin setter at the Arcade Bowling Alley along with my best friend and now brother in law Joe Bastecki. We worked our rear ends off but the fruits of our labor got a great tomatoe pie at Zotto's right around the corner on So. Warren
The bowling alley was named after the "shopping Arcade" under the bowling alley. You can see the entrance in this photo.

Regards
Mike Kuzma