Philly police 1930
- Thread starter Dave Mellor NJ
- Start date
David in San Antonio
Well-known member
Dave - I love seeing these photos! Also appreciate how you send them out one at a time. If there were a dozen all at once I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on each one.
David in San Antonio
Well-known member
Tangent Warning - Note the lettering on the door. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that was done by hand, probably by the person(or team) who did all the Philadelphia Police Department’s signs (MENS Washroom, Detective Dept —>, NO SMOKING). I took a shop class taught by a crusty geezer who had done lettering since he himself was a teenager. His biggest customers were grocery stores like A&P. He had big rolls of white paper which he cut to length with a butcher knife. He’d drive from one to the next and paint the paper signs for the front windows, to order, right on the spot - Juicy GEORGIA PEACHES - Fresh! 14c doz. I don’t remember what kind of paint we used in the shop class, but it hardly smelled, and we used vegetable oil to clean the brushes. First several days we did nothing but paint the letter O, over and over, covered each sheet with those damn O’s until it was time to clean up. Then the next day, same thing. The width of the stroke had to be uniform all the way around, and appear continuous. An unlit Antony Y Cleopatra cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth, he’d paint the first few and it seemed effortless, just a few movements and there was a perfect O, exactly the same height and width, and right right right on the pencil line! Then I’d go at it and maybe one O on every other line was even satisfactory. After that, the other letters and numbers were comparatively easy. Comparatively. We had to be able to letter on a vertical surface, like for lettering on a wall or the side of a truck. He showed us how to letter backwards in mirror writing for glass doors. We didn’t learn that. He could also do commercial logos, like Coca-Cola, or Firestone. Also Turkeys, Santa Claus, an exploding firecracker. Also (this being NYC) he could knock out the word KOSHER in letters that looked like Hebrew.
The Philadelpia Police lettering in a circle surrounding a central number brought that all back. That is very skilled work. Pick up a pencil and try it for yourself.
Hadn’t thought about Mr. Barron in five decades. Thank you, Dave Mellor. Thank you, Mr. Barron.
The Philadelpia Police lettering in a circle surrounding a central number brought that all back. That is very skilled work. Pick up a pencil and try it for yourself.
Hadn’t thought about Mr. Barron in five decades. Thank you, Dave Mellor. Thank you, Mr. Barron.
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I agree with Katy above. I saved the photo and enlarged it. It looks like the dark object is setting on a pole and there is some sort of clamp at the bottom of the dark object. The object has a somewhat round elongated contour, except at the very top there is square shape (you can clearly see the contour of the square) my guess is the square is about 3" X 5" or 4" x 6" perhaps the parking meter face covered by a bag.
Bruce of MN
Well-known member
It must have been brisk in the winter or if it was raining.
mass A man
Well-known member
I think it's something on the building, not the fence. I believe I read somewhere the first parking meter was in Oklahoma City, 1933. I can't tell if the Ford has a police lamp on front. They might be semi-undercover, unmarked to a point!
Flathead
Well-known member
Ray in La Mesa
Well-known member
No top either!
