Cycling In 1955

The focus on this photo, dated "1955" is a bit shaky, but I love the old style bike,  the price was right, so I had to have it.

I got my first bicycle ten years after this picture was taken.  I desperately wanted a Schwinn.  My father, who always had an eye for a bargain,  got me a very heavy, chromed behemoth of a Huffy instead.  The house we lived in had a basement garage that was kept open all summer to help with the heat.  One day, someone walked through the open garage door, into the basement and took the Huffy.  My parents were very, very angry.  But they weren't angry with the thief.  They were angry with me.  A couple of months after the Huffy was stolen, my father showed up on one of his occasional visits, climbed into the back of his pickup truck and tossed out an old, used bike as a replacement.  It was an English made Raleigh, far lighter than the Huffy,  with a three speed Sturmy-Archer hub.

I grew up in a river valley in western Pennsylvania, and the Huffy was far too heavy to get up the hill and out of town.  The Raleigh, lighter and with gears,  didn't have that problem.  I've been an avid cyclist ever since.  The best bike isn't the newest or shiniest, it's that one that's ridden.  The Huffy, because of it's weight, had a tendency to stay in the basement, the Raleigh,  well worn, was always on the go.  I even rode it in winter, in the snow.

Bikes From the Early Days of the New Found Photography

It's time for another visit to the lightly visited early days of The New Found Photography.  So why this image?  Very simple, I went out on my bike this morning and was hit by a car.  I spent a rather unpleasant day at a local hospital and got some good news.  It's going to hurt, a lot, and I'm going to be pretty stiff for a week or so, but nothing broken, nothing torn, nothing permanent.  Except for the bike.

So drivers....You can't loop around a cyclist and make a sharp right turn right in front of them.  You can't make a sharp  left turn in front of a cyclist.  That's what happened to me.  A driver got an opening in traffic and scooted through the gap, and that's where I was.  Drivers, you need to give at least two feet to a cyclist, better yet three, when passing.  Please, don't kill a cyclist.  It's not nice.

How Green Are We

Expressed as  grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per passenger kilometer traveled (What ever that means) a bicycle's carbon footprint is rated at 21, an electric bike, 22, a bus 101, and an automobile 271.  So, get out the bike, get it all tuned up, put on the helmet (If so inclined.) and shave those legs (If so inclined) and hit the road.  Figures from the European Cyclists Union.

The Woman, Her Bike, and the Mysterious Stranger

Who is the man of mystery, and why is he handing the woman his card?

A Girl and Her Trike

Did you know....The tricycle was originally designed and built for women. It was thought to be both immoral and undignified for women to ride bicycles, but the trike would allow a woman to join the cycling craze while keeping her legs covered. Women preferred bicycles.

Vacations and Reunions

I've noticed a strange conceit in many people from the sixties generation and younger that we are the first generations of Americans who have travelled. Forget the wars that have been fought in the twentieth century, travel has always been something we've done. All prints from the same estate. The two women on the bicycles is labeled, "Bermuda 1925" The water front picture with the single sail boat, "Dock Nassau, Bahamas July 1936" Note the building signed Kelly's Lumber Yard. I doubt that water front property in the Bahamas is cheap enough now to allow for a lumber yard. I'd be very surprised that this site isn't now occupied by a luxury hotel. The guys in the row boats, "Nassau, Bahamas. July 1936" Note the one man swimming. The photo of the couple, shipboard, "Aug. 1927" Not the life preservers, identifying the ship as the John A. Topping, registered in Fairport. The ship's superstructure, "Aft in our headquarters S.S. Managua July 1936" The squarish building with the steamer in the background, "The oldest town in Bermuda, St. George July 1936" The government building is labeled, "Capitol of Havana, Cuba July 1936" It seems to modeled after the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The row boats all clustered together on a lake, "Liberty N.Y. 1926" No Caribbean getaway in 26. A;ll of the farm pictures are labeled, "Lookout, Pa. 1926" It looks like a probable family reunion to me. My guess is that the couple who took these trips were a generation or two away from the farm.

A Bicycle Photo From a Pocket Kodak

This very small picture, it measures 1 1/2x 1 5/8 inches, was taken with a Pocket Kodak camera. The Pocket Kodak was manufactured from 1895 to 1900. The camera used 120 film and made a negative with an image area of 1 1/2x 2 inches. Kodak did the printing and mounted it on a card with the Pocket Kodak name embossed on the card. I didn't' scan the card, since it was pretty badly damaged, but enough of it was left to clearly make out the Pocket Kodak mark. For more info on the Pocket Kodak, go to www.boxcameras.com/pocketkod.html

Very Old Bicycles

As a cyclist, I do love pictures with bicycles. Vermont is written on the back, but it's a recent label, so it shouldn't be viewed as accurate. Let's guess that the photographer is the owner of the bike in the foreground.

More Girls on Bikes

My guess would be that these photos are from the forties or fifties. Two girls riding their balloon tire bikes. The photographer put himself in a good position for a nice action shot.

Group Photo With Bicycle

I don't know why, but I get a feeling that this picture is from Europe. I think American kids from the fifties or sixties, the two most likely decades for this image, wouldn't have been caught dead in those shorts.

Small Woman, Big Bike

If you're a bicycle fan, you've got to love this picture. This bike is way too big for the rider. From the thirties, I'd guess.

Zoot Suits and Bicycles

I've got a lot of bicycle pictures in the collection and this is one of my favorites. I don't know whether or not these guys are wearing zoot suits or not. I'm just not that much of a fashion expert. But I'm willing to bet that these three men are riding some nice tricked out bikes. Id say that these three are the symbolic ancestors of the low rider bike makers in America's urban areas. From the forties or fifties.

Tandem Bikes

No dates or labels of any kind on these snapshots. Tucson, Palm Springs? They were shot somewhere in the desert. As a cyclist, I love photos that feature bikes. The tandems aren't too common anymore.

Bicycle Hike

Written on the back of the print, "Scout Bicycle Hike Brookfield Zoo Spring 1937 L. to R.-Marion Stoffel; my bicycle; Ruth Gilmore; Sophie Stephens; Helen Sauer." Not long to World War 2 for these young ladies. When I see something like this, just before the war, I always wonder how the subjects would be changed by the conflict. They're all old enough that they entered adulthood during the fighting. Did they enlist, marry a soldier, go into war work?

Bicycle Touring

These photos have to come from either a commercial studio, perhaps for an advertisement, or a newspaper, maybe a story about a ladies bicycle touring club. Stamped on the back of the photos, "KLOSS PHOTO." Sorry about the weird formatting, but I've tried typing this in five times now, and the web site keeps breaking up words. What a stupid way to run a business.

Bicycle Betty

I bought a packet of negatives advertised as being farm scenes from the 1930's. This is the only image that I was able to print before the lab I was working at went under. The seller was from Iowa, though that doesn't mean that this picture was taken in Iowa. And no, I have no idea what this young ladies name was. Betty just goes well with bicycle.

Coast Radio

This image is a perfect example of just how far an old photo can take a collector like me. I bought it because, as a cyclist, I love old bikes. The woman is riding a very distinct machine. The angle is just off enough that it can't be identified with any precision. Once beyond the bikes, things get even more interesting.

On the back of the picture, there is a processor's stamp. "PRINTED APR 8 1940 THE OWL DRUG COMPANY." That set me off in an entirely new direction. The Owl Drug Company was founded in 1892, in San Fransisco, CA. It would go on to become one of the biggest drug store companies in the world and would be taken over by Rexall in 1920. The Coast Radio store could be the name of a chain, or it could indicate that this picture was taken in an American coastal city like San Fransisco, or Seattle. Under the silk sign it says Rayons and Wools. Is the store next to it Molly Mae or perhaps Holly or Polly Mae? Is there a Masonic sign next to the silk shop? Quite a lot of information for a photograph that measures 2 3/8 x 4 inches.