Sign of the Times

Time was when you didn't have to be a Superman to find a phone booth.  These days even the lowly wall-mounted payphone is becoming a rare sight.  I fought as hard as anyone to avoid getting a cell phone, but finally broke down a few years ago.  Until then, if I received a page while I was out (yes, believe it or not the company I work for still makes us carry pagers), I would have to drive around looking for payphones.  I knew the location of each and every payphone on my way home from work.

I was at the estate sale of a ex-Bell telephone employee and saw this in his basement mounted next to the bar.

I was there on the second day of the sale and it was getting late in the day.  It was marked "Make Offer" so I offered $5 and they accepted it.

It needed to be rewired which I did with a re-purposed extension cord.  I think it looks great mounted over my 1952 Western Electric 354 wall phone.

Friday Slide Blowout

These slides are from the same batch as the previous blog.  No witty remarks, just throwing these out here for your enjoyment.

1963 Ford Thunderbird

Mustang

Beetle

Somewhere out there is a film of this slide being taken...

Clay H. Orrick

Surprise!

GTO

Tiki

Whoa, I'm trippin', man!

Street Smart

This post will probably only be of interest to readers familiar with St. Louis, particularly South St. Louis County where I grew up in the town of Oakville, and it might not even be of interest to them!  So if that doesn't catch your fancy, I'll see you next time.

Are you still there?  Okay.

I bought an old St. Louis street guide at an estate sale last summer (the same sale where I found these).  The guide is undated, but appears to be fairly old.  Looking at the map, the streets are noticeably different from the Oakville I know.  And looking through the street names, many sporting first or last names, I became intrigued as to their source.  (You'll need to right-click, open in new window or tab for better details.)

Sunbeam T-9 Toaster

I've previously mentioned my addiction to chrome toasters.  As I've often said, I've never met a toaster I didn't like.  Usually my wife just rolls her eyes when I come home with yet another.  But this past week while estate saling, she revealed her true self -- an enabler.  We were at an estate sale off of Gravois Road, a very crowded one, I might add.   While squeezing around, I had become separated from her.  Suddenly, she appeared before me holding this.

Sliding Through Summer

You know you have a problem when you find slides you don't recall buying.  I either picked these up in a huge lot of banking-related slides I bought at an estate sale about a 2 months ago, or these are two sets of slides I picked up at an estate sale off of Becker Road about a month ago.  Does it really matter?  Either way, it's time for slides once again.  These slides date from 1968 through 1972.

Slides anyone?

No-Tell Show 'n Tell

In my younger days, I knew about the Coral Court, but never thought much about it.  By the time I was passing by, its glory days were long gone and it just looked "depressing", to coin a word my mother used to describe such motels.   It's shadowy grounds and oddly-shaped buildings were more of a curiosity: who would stay in such a run-down looking place?   Coral Court by that time (and even  many years prior) was known as a "No-Tell" Motel.  Rates by the hour and discreet garages to guard any recognition of your car from the street by friends and family.  A getaway for adulterous affairs and pre-marital shenanigans.

 

Coral Court in its finer days

Leveriffic

A couple of weeks back we had a power surge at our house.  Nothing seemed to be affected with the exception of both of our alarm clocks in our bedroom.  The odd thing was, on one the radio worked, but would not display time, the other would display time, but the radio didn't work.

Coincidentally, while out garage saling with my wife the following Saturday, she spied this 1959 RCA Victor Levermatic AM Radio/Alarm Clock.  It's a model C1E.