photographs Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

May12017 by Chris Holmes7 Comments

Scenes from a 1970s Kmart

Photography

Like many of you, the heyday of department stores and discount stores is still filled with warm feelings of nostalgia. So imagine my delight in stumbling across these photographs taken at a Kmart sometime in the 1970s. I have little other information to go on here -- no year or location. But perhaps one of my eagle-eyed readers can discern both from some clues in these pics. What they show is a very busy Kmart somewhere (presumably) in the western United States. All I know is that the store -- located right next to a Safeway -- was packed that day and people were really into the yarn. Enjoy!

Jan82015 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Dig These Great Star Trek Original Series Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Auction Finds, TV & Radio

Science fiction props, artifacts, and ephemera are very easy to find on auction sites although they can often be expensive to obtain. And one of the great sources of cool stuff is Star Trek. So today I have a set of behind-the-scenes photographs taken on the set of Star Trek in 1966. Most of these pictures feature Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, although we also get appearances from Capt. Kirk and Mr. Sulu. Based on some of the props seen in these shots, I'm guessing at least some of them were taken during the filming of "The Galileo Seven," which aired in January 1967. Look for the pictures of Spock with the giant spear and Yeoman Mears (Phyllis Douglas) fending off one of the ape-like creatures of Taurus II.

Sep162013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage Slides Depicting Life in Cuba, 1955

Auction Finds, Photography

All I know about this gallery of 35mm Kodachrome slides is that they purport to depict scenes from Cuba in 1955. If true, that means these were taken during the reign of Fulgencio Batista -- and about four years before Fidel Castro's revolution ousted him from power. If I had to guess I'd say that these slides were shot by a foreign tourist on a sightseeing trip. Most of these photographs capture buildings and other landmarks in Cuba, and very few Cubans are actually seen. Since I know so little about the island, I can't even make any educated guesses as to what is shown here (although I think one of these slides shows the American embassy in Havana), but if you can then please leave a comment below. What I can say is that there a ton of sweet vintage automobiles to gaze at. F...

Sep72013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Tumblr Highlights, Week Ended 9/6/13

Blogstuff

Here are some highlights from the last week on my very own Tumblr feed. Included here are some tourist shots from Cuba in 1955, some great scenes from the American retail scene of the 1950s, and an ad for The Chevy Chase Show. Click any picture to be taken to the original post, and by all means follow me there if you're a user. [alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src="user" uid="grayflannelsuit" imgl="tumblr" style="vertical" size="500" num="20" shadow="1" curve="1" align="center" max="100"]

Jul172013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 37: Smokin’ Outside the Pool Room

Vintage Photo Wednesday

From St. Louis in May 1910 comes a scene you won't see much of anymore. The photo description from the Library of Congress reads as follow: "A Pool Room Branch (Chouteau & Manchester). These boys were playing pool and smoking in the pool room while waiting for papers. The smallest boy is 9 years old and sells until 9 P.M." Click for a larger version. Photo credit to Lewis Wickes Hine. For another shot from the same session, check out this Shorpy page. I love the smirk on the dapper gentleman standing in the doorway. His face pretty much says, "Yeah, I'm watching these young kids smoke, what of it? As long as I get my paper on time I'm fine and dandy."

Jul12013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Four Beautiful Kodachrome Photos of New York City Storefronts

Auction Finds, Photography

In browsing through the Kodachrome prints on one of my favorite auction sites recently, I came upon these four gorgeous shots taken in New York City between 1949 and 1952. They feature four different storefronts and some of the sweetest Art Deco signage you will see this week. Click on any photo for the full-size version, and enjoy! Just look at those signs. Something about Art Deco makes even an otherwise drab storefront look slightly glamorous, doesn't it? The Golds and pharmacy stores must have looked fantastic on a dark New York City evening.

Jun262013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 35: New York Horsecar Scene, 1910s-1920s

Vintage Photo Wednesday

I'll admit that this one has me a bit puzzled. What I can gather is that this is a shot of a horsecar in front of a building owned by the Hartford and New York Transportation Company. The company operated steamboats, barges, skiffs, tugboats, and other water craft and carried passengers between New York and Connecticut -- making frequent stops along the Connecticut River. In 1906 the company was taken over by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. All this is to say that I can't really nail down a date for this very nice photo. Click for the full-size version. The main clue for dating offered here is the horsecar in the foreground of the photo. Horsecars -- which differed slightly from horse-drawn trolleys -- were pretty much phased out of New York City by 1917 or so, w

Jun122013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Time Capsule: Los Angeles Development Boom of the 1950s

Capsules

In its July 13, 1953 issue Life magazine ran one of many photo essays on the city of Los Angeles. This one focused on the immense population and development growth the city and surrounding area encountered in the late '40s and early '50s. Here then is a gallery of the most interesting photos -- some unpublished -- that went into its story called "400 New Angels Every Day." There were all shot in either December '52 or July '53 by J. R. Eyerman. Less than two years after this piece ran in the magazine, Life published another, less sunny L.A. story -- this one about an October 1954 smog emergency. You can see those pics here.

Jun52013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 33: Papier-mâché Cow in Australia, 1944

Vintage Photo Wednesday

I have no reason for sharing this photo, other than the fact that it's so random and so odd that it must be seen. It comes to us via the Australian War Memorial's collection, and shows a rather unique scene from the Australian home front. This odd photo was shot on February 29, 1944 by the Herald Newspaper in Melbourne, Victoria. Here is the description, which makes no note of the priceless expression on the face of the woman walking by the car: A papier-mache cow, used for milking demonstrations at the Werribee experimental farm, being tied on to the luggage carrier of Mrs. Mellor's car for transport to the farm. Mrs. Mellor is a Field Officer in charge of the Women's Land Army Mont Park training depot.