Sepia Saturday #132 - Love, Set, Match - Two Little German Boys

This week's Sepia Saturday theme centers around tennis, in fact the photograph on their blog site is from 1971 taken in Fort Lauderdale, FL of Dinah Shore and Burt Bacharach most likely at a celebrity tournament.  This is most interesting to me because I was a teenager growing up in Fort Lauderdale at that very time.  I spent many hours hanging out with my friends at Holiday Park where the famous Chris Evert practiced tennis on a daily basis with her father before she became a world class champion.  I myself could never hit a tennis ball worth a darn - I spent more time chasing the ball all over the court than actually hitting it!  Holiday Park is a large, very popular park with tennis courts, ball diamonds, basketball courts, playgrounds, a theater, etc.  My father coached Little League baseball for my brothers' teams and our family spent many nights at that park.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this time, but it brought back a lot of fond memories. 

However, I do have this CDV photograph of two very cute Hamburg, Germany boys in "matching" suits that I thought I would share.    It comes with an interesting story about the photographer.  In this photo the boys are holding toy tennis rackets and standing next to a toy rocking horse. They are wearing the most adorable outfits; I'm not sure how to describe them, they almost resemble sailor suits.  The photographer is Waarenhaus Hermann Tietz (department store).  On the back of the card it says, "Waarenhaus" which means "a site where mass products are sold" or "department store". According to Wikipedia, Herman Tietz was a German merchant of Jewish origin who was born on 29 Apr 1837 in Birnbaum an der Warthe  near Posen (today Miedzychód, Poland) and died in Berlin 3 May 1907.

He was the first to create the idea of a department store in Germany and founded the chain store which would become known as "Hertie".  His first store was opened in 1882 in Gera (Thuringia, Germany) by his nephew Oskar Tietz.  After successful stores were established in smaller towns like Bamberg, Erfurt, Rostock, Stralsund and Wismar, Tietz opened his department store in Berlin.  In 1900 he opened a store in Leipziger StraBe, in 1904 Alexanderplatz, Hamburg in 1912.  By 1927 the Tietz chain had ten stores and 13,000 employees.

In the Third Reich, all businesses of the Tietz family were "Aryanized" (seized and given to new owners) and the family members emigrated.  In 1933, Georg Karg, the new owner, changed the company's name to the less Jewish-sounding "Hertie Department Stores" as an abbreviation of Hermann Tietz.

I'm not entirely sure how to date this Cartes de Visite.  The card is slightly larger than most CDVs and is quite thick which would usually lead one to think it dated between 1880 and 1890.  CDV's were rarely seen after 1890.  Since it has been reported that Tietz did not open his Hamburg store until 1912 I am at a loss to explain or give a good date for this photo.  Perhaps one of my readers can offer some insight.

Sources:   

1.  Wikipedia

2.  Shoah Resource Center, 

http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205622.pdf

Please drop by Sepia Saturday to check out the other "love"ly entries for this week's tennis theme.

Sepia Saturday #116 - A Hair Raising Subject

This week's theme at Sepia Saturday is hair and as I was pouring through my many old photographs I remembered an old album I bought some time ago of people of a Trenton, NJ family.  I bought this album mainly because my husband's ancestors, the Rogers and Hildingers are mostly from this location, although none of the 68 people in this album are his family, at least I don't think so as no one is identified and it would sure be a big coincidence if they were.  I never got around to scanning the photos from this album which date from pre-Civil War to about 1900 so I got it out and started looking through it again and found several great photos I thought would fit this theme.

I realized as I was looking at these pictures how hair, whether on the head or face, has always been such an expression of individuality throughout time no matter what the current fad.  Take a look at these gentlemen:

This good looking guy from Trenton, NJ, late 1880's,  has a beautiful head of hair and he looks quite proud of it.

The distinguished gentlemen from Trenton, from the late 1860's has quite the beard, kind of looks like a giant Brillo pad!

 





Also from the album, these well-groomed gents, both I believe from the late 1860's, one with a crazy, bushy mustache and one with scary side-burns:

 

 

On another note, my grandmother was a hairdresser, or what used to be called a beautician, for many years.  She first had a shop in Mt. Vernon, IL for a number of years (1930's - 50's) then moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL in the 1960's where she worked at her sister's shop the Curl & Swirl.  I spent many hours in both places as a young girl visiting my her so I have many fond memories.  When she died I found this homemade sign from her salon in Illinois which I previously posted on my blog, http://teresastangledroots.blogspot.com.  I will always treasure this sign as if it were the most valuable heirloom:

To see more great hairy stories check out this week's Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #115 - Games - Shuffleboard, Dog Racing & Baseball

For this week's theme at Sepia Saturday, "Games," I really had to dig deep. I couldn't find any old pictures featuring games, but I do have these old postcards and one special baseball card.  Being a transplant in south Florida I really enjoy the old  scenic views.  This first one is from my adopted home town, Fort Lauderdale postmarked 1936.  These people, winter tourists most likely, were playing shuffleboard at the Lauderdale Arms Apartment.  I couldn't find any information on the Lauderdale Arms, I'm sure it is long gone.  However, one interesting and sad note is the postmark.  For nearly 100 years a Fort Lauderdale postmark has been on all mail posted in Broward County, FL.  However, the US Postal Service has recently announced that in an effort to reduce costs they will most likely close the processing center in Fort Lauderdale and all mail will be processed and postmarked out of Miami.  It seems like a minor thing, but it is a blow to the identity and historical presence of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.  

This second postcard, which is probably technically more a sport than a game, is Greyhound Racing at the West Flagler Kennel Club in Miami, FL and postmarked Valentines Day 1942. The back of the card says, "Nightly thousands of fans gather at Miami's most beautiful dog track, the West Flagler Kennel Club, where the Greyhound is King.  Steam Heated Grandstand." Not sure what that means and why they would need that in Miami!

Now, where the baseball card comes in - baseball is of course, the all American past-time, the game of games.  This card which was put out in 1992 is a republication of a 1925 card for Jack Warner of the Detroit Tigers.  It's relevance to me and my family is that Jack Warner was married to my maternal grandmother's aunt which would make him I guess my great grand uncle.  His full name was John Ralph Warner, he was born on 29 Aug 1903 in Evansville, IN and died 13 Mar 1986 in Mt. Vernon, IL, my hometown, where he is also buried. After his career as a baseball player was over, Jack became a baseball scout for the Chicago Cubs and later a coach for the Los Angeles Angels. If you would like to read more about him you can check out this post on my other blog Teresa's Tangled Roots or see Wikipedia.

Great Grand Uncle John Ralph Warner

Jack Warner Stats

There are more games to be played at Sepia Saturday so check them out.