Before the current era (in which people wear pajama bottoms to Wal-Mart), folks dressed up for work. They took some time. They put in some effort. And if you saw a man in a derby and a double-breasted suit, you knew he was somebody, earning money for a new pair of wing-tips.
Here’s an interior shot.
My favorite part of this one is the view outside the window; the man crossing the street, the jalopy idling at the crosswalk. When’s the last time you saw curtains in an office? Where are the monitors? Is that faux marble trim on the counter? And an ashtray for smoking inside the office?
How refreshing to see the calming images of The Grand Canyon and lakeside fishing, without those ridiculous motivational taglines beneath them. But why aren’t the pictures framed? Look at those employees: no emails to check, no online bill pay, no texts, no sexts for dang sure. Just envelopes and stamps, back when a stamp was THREE CENTS. And just a bit of trivia for you here: stamps cost three cents from 1933-1958. Yes, for TWENTY-FIVE years, stamps stayed the same price. Can you imagine that? By comparison, stamps were 44 cents in 2011, then 45 in 2012, then 46 in 2013. That’s the game we play these days. You can barely catch your breath before the rules change. And that applies to everything. You think WordPress will exist in 2025? Don’t count on it.
I Don't Get It 
Nothing like the “old days”!!!
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🙂
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Amen! I for one miss the days when men actually dressed up to go out. Up until a few years ago I did. Now I am afraid I’ve become as triflin’ as every other male.
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You could never be triflin’. If we dressed up like that these days, folks would think it was Halloween.
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You’re right. But then maybe we could score some candy.
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I wish Fedoras were still in style. I hate backwards baseball caps…
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Don’t get me started. My son gets the ix-na on caps worn backwards, so he tries to push the envelope by wearing it just a bit askew, like he’s some sort of B-boy hip-hop guy in overalls with a strap hanging down. AS. IF.
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That baggy-pants look with the askew, flat-billed baseball hat drives me nuts. Especially when it’s a 30-plus-year-old. My sons (both 14) know not to wear their flat-billed hats around me. Especially crooked. They got me a flat-billed Star Wars hat for Christmas, thinking I’d wear it so they could say “ah-HA!” And I DID wear it, but not until I bent the brim. And I never, ever wear it backwards.
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Good for you, bending the brim! You took what they meant for evil and made it good.
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It’s rare, but it happens 😉
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I’m really drawn to the storefront picture. I’ve always enjoyed painted writing on glass for some reason.
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Well, for sure it shows they didn’t rent that space for six months. Paint is like saying, “We’re here for the long haul.” Do you think that’s granite surrounding the glass?
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I took a closer look at it, and I’m willing to say that is indeed granite. I see it everywhere in old buildings around here.
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When dress was formal, the men made two bucks and hour, the women made a buck an hour, and … Well, I love the picture and the notion of slow and steady, too, Kerbey, but I think these folks had a different mind full of anxieties.
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nuclear bombs? air raids? the russkies?
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Yes. Yup. Of course.
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Better get our WP time in now, then, before it goes the way of mixed tapes. The double-breasted suits are downright debonair. Those were the days, I guess, though I only know from pictures.
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Because we are fresh young blossoms, you and I. How could we recall the days of black and white?
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Great post Kerbey.
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🙂
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obviously I have seen way too many mob movies, I look at the top pic and want to say someone may have caught Joey, “Tough Guy” Glinico and Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti checking to make sure cut brake lines are covered by the local insurance Company
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oh, dear.
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