Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: bars

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of at the playground . Five girls pose on playground equipment in Mayo Park, Rochester, Minnesota, circa 1910. Caption on the front of this real photo postcard: "The Playground. Mayo Park. 143." Printed on the other side: "Bert Crowell, Rochester, Minn." Postmarked in Rochester, Minn., May 14, 1910, and addressed to "Miss Hilda Swanson, #85 Cambridge Ave., St. Paul, Minn. Macalaster Park, c/o James Beddie." Handwritten message: "Rochester, Minn. Dear Aunt Hilda, I have not heard from you for a long time, but I had a card from Myrtle today and she said you had gone to St. Paul to live. Mama has been sick all the time lately. She seems to have a cold all the time. She has been lying down all morning. I hope she gets better. How are poor little James and William. Mama says that she wishes you would write soon and tell her. With love and kisses, Beth."

John Matthes (1834-1894) was the proprietor of American House, a hotel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. It's likely that this business card dates to around 1864, when Matthes ran a newspaper ad for American House. A later advertisement indicates that he was operating a wine and liquor store by 1873 (see below for the ads). American House Lebanon, Pa. Market Street, half-square south of Market House and one and a half squares from Court House. John Matthes, prop'r. The table is supplied with the best of edibles. The bar with the choicest of liquors. Extensive new stabling attached to the house. Handwritten name and year on the other side of the card : "Allen Longenecker, 1864." -------- Advertisement printed in the Lebanon Advertiser (Lebanon, Pa.), July 20, 1864, p. 4 : AMERICAN HOUSE, Market Street, Lebanon, JOHN MATTHES, Proprietor. The proprietor of this old established and popular HOTEL would respectfully inform the public that it will be conducted at all times to the comfort and convenience of its guests. It has been thoroughly refitted and renovated, and no pains will be spared to make the Table and the Bar, at all times, equal to any in the county. The STABLING and Yard are superior too, and more extensive, than any other in Lebanon. A new SHED is also in the course of erection, which will be completed in a short time. The patronage of the Farmers and the Traveling public generally is respectfully solicited. PLACE--West side of Market street, and half a square south from the Market House. JOHN MATTHES. Lebanon, April 6, 1864. -------- Advertisement in the Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, Pa.), Jan. 9, 1873, p. 4: "John Matthes' Wholesale and Retail Wine & Liquor Store, No. 33 North 8th Street, Lebanon, Pa."

"The Instrumental Aires, featured at the Sapphire Room, Hotel Floridan, Tampa, Florida." A real photo postcard showing the three suave fellows who performed as the Instrumental Aires at the Hotel Floridan (now the Floridan Palace Hotel ). An ad from 1955 identified the musicians as "Bill Horn, direct from 2 years in Las Vegas, Bill Byers, Tampa's favorite vocalist, [and] Rickey Powell, wizard of the strings" (I'm not sure who's who in the photo, however).

A tools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard showing a group of men working on railroad track maintenance (workers like these were sometimes called " gandy dancers "). The man on the left is using a track jack to adjust the height of a rail. The man next to him is posing with another tool, probably a sledge hammer. The boy in the middle is carrying a bucket. The fellow on the right is sitting on some sort of long bar—maybe a claw bar for pulling spikes—that appears to be wedged under one of the cross ties.

A Prohibition-era comic postcard that depicts a man dreaming about a change to the Volstead Act that would allow the sale of beer and create work—and prosperity—for brewers, farmers, and other laborers. As Wikipedia explains, the Volstead Act "was enacted to carry out the intent of the Eighteenth Amendment , which established prohibition in the United States " and banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages beginning in 1920. Prohibition lasted until 1933, when the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified in order to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt used " Happy Days Are Here Again " as his presidential campaign song in 1932, and the repeal of Prohibition took place soon after Roosevelt took office. Signs and captions: "Free lunch today. Good old time lager beer. Free beer tomorrow. Happy days are here again." Dream of Prosperity Last night I dreamed that the Volstead law had been amended permitting the sale of beer (Oh! what a grand and glorious feeling!). Immediately 100,000 carpenters, bricklayers, and laborers went to work building and refitting breweries; 50,000 brewery truck drivers, helpers, vatmen, and coppersmiths were hired; and 100,000 printers were put to work printing beer labels. Bottle works and barrel makers engaged thousands more. Bookkeepers, stenographers, clerks, and salesmen found ready employment by the hundreds of thousands. Thousands of farmers left the city and returned to farms to raise hops and barley. 150,000 musicians went to work in the beer gardens. There was no unemployment. The country hummed with industry. The tax secured from the sale of beer was placed in a fund that was used for an old age pension. Then the scene changed–I saw 1,000,000 bootleggers holding a protest meeting. Disgusted, I then awoke.

"Friendly Tavern, Route 11-15, north of Harrisburg, Pa." The Friendly Tavern was located in Perry County , Pennsylvania, along a stretch of highway where U.S. Route 11 combines with U.S. Route 15 . The building that housed the taven is now part of an establishment called TJ's (see the Google Maps Street View from 2015).

"Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant. The Meeting Place of the World." Printed on the back of this linen postcard: "Come in and say Hello! Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant on Broadway bet. 49th & 50th Sts., New York City." Postmarked: Philadelphia, Pa., March 27, 1944. Handwritten message on the back: "Having a swell time, am half drunk. Love, Francis."

"John Pecinovsky, the famous Half & Half Man, owner and operator of the Bonair Tavern, 4 miles west and 3 miles north of Cresco, Iowa. We serve Fitger's Beer, Walt Rush, distributor. Ice cream, soft drinks, and candy. Half & Half, Bonair, Iowa. Souvenir post card." As one brief obituary explained, "For years Pecinovsky wore suits in which half of the coat was white and the other black, one trouser leg white and the other black. One side of his face was always kept shaved smooth while the other was permitted to support a luxuriant crop of whiskers" ( Waterloo Daily Courier , April 7, 1942).

Hey, buddy, quit shaking that bottle and get your hand off of that gal's waist! And wipe that grin off your face, too! Your shenanigans have startled that poor lady, and now her lovely visage is blurred. Nice going, pal! Sloppy Joe's is a classy bar. Try and take some pointers from these other folks on how to act when your picture's being taken!

"Greetings from the St. Clair Cocktail Circle, the biggest little bar in all Chicago... and the most novel! " Printed on the back of this linen postcard: "The St. Clair. Rooms, studios. Chicago's distinguished hotel-home. Ideally located on near north side overlooking Lake Michigan, Outer Drive Bridge, Michigan Ave., etc. Air-conditioned restaurant and cocktail rooms. Ideal home for a day, a month, a year. Hotel St. Clair. 2B-H1202." Hotel St. Clair was built in 1927, and today it continues in business as the Inn of Chicago Magnificent Mile Hotel . I doubt that the St. Clair Cocktail Circle is still around, however.

"Big Trout Inn, Weedville, Pa. Bar. Ballroom." Printed on the back of this linen postcard: "Big Trout Inn, Weedville, Pa. Leo and Rose Barbazzeni, props., welcome you to their spacious tavern, located on Route 255 near Weedville, Pa., in the heart of Pennsylvania's picturesque Alleghenies."

Posted as an "interiors" photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park group. The bartender with a stogie in his right hand, the well-worn surface of the bar, and the spindly looking bar stools initially attracted my attention to this photo, which the dealer's label described as a Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania, bar interior. What made me decide to purchase it, however, was the wide array of items visible on the shelves and walls behind the bar. Old photos can be windows to the past, and it's fun to look through them to see what they reveal. In this bar scene, I first noticed the advertising calendars (there are at least four of them), particularly the one featuring U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which is situated just above the bartender's head. After enlarging the image, I discovered that the calendar displays the month of August 1934. A sign partially visible in the upper left-hand section of the photo humorously explains the bar's credit policy--"Credit makes enemies, let's be friends"--and on the shelves below the sign are open boxes of cigars. Some of the cigar brand names include John Hay Junior, Henrietta, Rose-O-Cuba, and Gilbert's Deuces. To the right of the credit sign is an ad for Daeufer's Peerless Beer that depicts a smiling woman, who's holding a glass of beer and saying, "What you like I like." Another copy of this same Daeufer's Beer ad, which additionally claims that the beverage is "Allentown's Favorite," shows up on the far end of the bar near the window, where there's also a display rack with packages of Tas-T-Nut snacks. A different Daeufer's Beer ad appears on the wall to the right of the clock above the far end of the bar. And on the other side of the clock are two framed certificates, one of which includes the year (1934) printed in large numerals. Below the certificates is an ad for Camel cigarettes. Back over at the cash register (behind the bartender) is a second ad for Camels, and hanging on the mirror above the cash register is yet another ad for Daeufer's Beer, along with a sign that suggests, "Try our delicious sandwiches." To cap off a night of smoking, drinking, and sandwich eating, patrons of this establishment could indulge in some of the candy displayed in open boxes in the far corner behind the bar, just above what appear to be two beer taps. Milky Way, Mr. Goodbar, and Zero candy bars as well as boxes of Cracker Jacks and packages of Beech-Nut Gum were available. For a closer look at the area behind the bar, see the cropped version of this photo (thumbnail image below).

This could be a scene from a movie —a photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. I know it's only a novelty photo, but the guys in this real photo postcard are so elaborately outfitted—cowboy hats, revolvers, chaps, gun belts, wrist cuffs, vests, and bandanas—that I could imagine them stepping away from the cartoonish saloon backdrop and heading right onto a Western movie set. These kinds of cowboy getups must have been popular. Take a look at these fellows in Shootout at Dead Man's Gulch Saloon (below), which I previously submitted to the Theme Park as a Wild Wild West photo.

A photo of hands on hips for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. (For an entire group devoted to this theme, see Just Put Your Hands On Your Hips .) This novelty photo features such detailed cowboy costumes--including hats, vests, bandanas, chaps, wrist cuffs, gun belts, and revolvers--that it must have taken these fellows a good while to suit up. The signs in the background of this real photo postcard are difficult to read. Two of them are: "Leave your horse outside, also the bull." "Safety first?"

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of odd backdrops or backgrounds . A souvenir real photo postcard from " Happy Hollow " (McLeod's Amusement Park), which was located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Some of the signs and labels visible in the photo are: "Gambling room down stares. No drinks served." "Wild cat mine for sail chepe." "Don't ask for no darn fool dude drinks." "Old Crow, 2 bits a drink." "Wite mule, 2 bits per drink, good stuff." "Ky. booze XXX." "Pabst Blue Ribbon on drought." "Shiref's offis." "Tanglefoot strate, 2 bits." "Pabst Blue Ribbon, the beer of quality." "On a slow train through Arkansas."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hold it (people holding something) . These three guys are holding guns and a baton as they pose in cowboy and police costumes. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Metropolitan Photo Studio, 645 Sixth Ave., N.Y." The signs in the background are difficult to read. Two of them are: "Brother Jones' Gin Mill." "We use the best chemicals in our distillery."

"Merchants' House, Denver, Pa. F.P. Miller, prop'r. Bar stocked with the finest wines and liquors. Livery connected."

"Meal Ticket, good only at Circle Bar, 9th & Bingaman Sts., Reading, Penna., Walter (Shag) Bialy, prop. $5.50 value, price $5.00. 5, 10, 25, 50."