The poor workingman on the right looks so sad, as he gazes at the liquor bottles he is about to have a hand in destroying. I think his partner, the executioner, is also less than enthused about his work. But, they also both know, it’s a “photo op” for the bigwigs and the press. “Hey, once the press clears out, maybe we can liberate a couple of bottles.”
This picture was captioned “Bootleggers, 1924” in several places but it’s obviously not.
This is the real caption, from a 2025 “This Day in History” collection of photos, in the Chicago Tribune:
“Capt. A.C. Townsend, from left, U.S. Marshall Palmer Anderson, Dept. U.S. Marshall A. J. Jostock and a laborer look over confiscated liquor at the federal warehouse, circa April 20, 1925. Townsend and the men were ordered to clear out the federal government warehouse for seized liquor to make room for Army purposes.”
Believe it or not, this was a “girly” type photo, not meant to be humorous at all, but sexy, though that word was not used in Victorian times.
For several centuries, people from a region of the North Caucasus, along the Black Sea, were considered the best looking in the world.
They were known as Circassian. (From that, we later got the word “Caucasian.)
The women were sometimes captured, to be enslaved in harems, or married to sheiks.
In the mid 1800s, PT Barnum started exhibiting a supposed Circassian woman said to have escaped from a Turkish harem. She had a giant head of frizzy hair, and was touted as beautiful, sensual, and graceful.
The look became popular in other side shows and in erotic(!) images like this one … most also managed by Barnum. These Circassian woman became known as “Moss-haired girls”, prized for their exotic appearance.
It eventually became known that they weren’t real Circassians, but achieved that look by washing their hair with beer, teasing it and letting it dry.
OOoooooooooo. SO close.
It could have been glorious! A triumph for the common man. If only they had placed some convenient hand holds around that section of the stern …
Maybe. I’ve searched it (Dumbo) and while it looks quite familiar, there is something still tickling my memory that it was a chubby dog, sitting.
Oh, well, as one ages, one loses clarity.
Okay… I just googled “magic feather”, and the two things that came up were Dumbo, who of course learned to fly by thinking he had one, and the animated series Bluey, which I’ve never seen.
There’s a character in Bluey…. I think they’re dogs… with a magic feather, but I doubt that’s the one you mean. Unless you do.
The people will look AI… but trains really did run on elevated tracks just like that, in NYC.
Called the “El”, it changed ownership in various times and different parts of the city, private and then public, starting with steam and eventually electrified, from the 1870s till mostly the mid 1950s, but some lines lasted longer.
It’s not called the El any more, but there are still some (scary looking, to me) sections of the NYC subway system that are up on tracks like these…. And they’re called subways!
Most of the people who said this picture was AI thought it was an AI enhanced photo of a real train.
There’s a building just above that first hammock thing that looks about 2ft deep and looks to be in b+w …obviously pasted in.Not to mention the water tower left of it … must be one of the famous Chicago water towers they’re famous for.
It’s on a bunch of sites, even a few Facebook pages and blogs for historical New York images,
It’s described as the 6th Avenue El, at 18th Street, though a couple of pages say 14th Street.
But on several sites people are calling it out, saying it’s AI… and on some, others insist that it can’t be.
I saw it argued that the colorization makes it look fake… but I looked at the B/W, and it’s the same.
Somebody posted the photo I’m attaching below, saying it’s the real view of that corner… but even not knowing the area, to me, it looks s few blocks away.
The deciding factor, to me, is that completely illegible sign… No way that’s not AI.
As AI gets more and more sophisticated, I’m glad we can still tell! Next month maybe not.
Another portrait of German farm children, this one from the early 1920s, by August Sander, also included in his 1929 book that attempted to show the diversity of German lives and people.
Funny you posted this…. as you know, I send some images to Nighthawks… only a small part of what he posts here.
I’ve been holding back on the one below, because people were arguing on Facebook and Reddit about whether it’s real or AI… and because one poster’s description called it “realistic”, I decided that it was probably fake. I try to avoid AI.
But yours looks real. It’s much later. No zip code… probably late 1950s. ($6.95 was a lot of money then!)
Mine is supposed to be from the early 1930s. What do you guys think?
BTW… I’d love to know how your rear vision is unimpaired.
I’m in agreement with MCTS. Back in the day when the roof of cars were more likely fabric or wooden, how would you seal off the eye-bolts from the rain.
And what early-1930 cars would have what appears to be a radio under the dash?
One of my doubts also was due to the wide expanse of window nearest us. That doesn’t look like the 1930s either.. another reason I decided it was probably AI, and didn’t offer it to Nighthawks.
I’m thinking they could have solved the bolt problem… the inside “ceiling”, or headliner, would be fabric, leather, or even leathery looking cardboard, but the actual roof AFAIK was steel…
But drilling and sealing the bolt-hole was probably not something Daddy would do at home. So you’d go to have this installed? Not anything I’ve ever heard of.
And I don’t know what it is about him, but Daddy looks modern.
The brewery complex had its own narrow gauge rail system for moving produce etc. around the place. They would place a narrow gauge steam loco into a broad gauge cradle so they could work the broad gauge feeder tracks. It meant that, for a long time, they didn’t have to have a dedicated broad gauge loco.
.
Hullo, Spot.
Woof!
,
Camouflage pants!
And shirt.
“Lover in Disguise”… Photographer August Östberg, 2017
This isn’t one of those candid photos where the photographer is surprised by what he accidentally caught on film.
It was carefully planned and posed.
Very well done, I’d say!
,,
Howcum when Elliot Ness smashed those barrels the whisky all came out at once, Where did the bottles go?
Maybe because you mean Robert Stack, playing Ness on television? Cos they’re not too worried about reality.
But also, probably some was in barrels and some in bottles. And some in buckets, used wine bottles, and old mayonnaise jars… whatever they had.
But I’ve read, probably not bathtubs.
The poor workingman on the right looks so sad, as he gazes at the liquor bottles he is about to have a hand in destroying. I think his partner, the executioner, is also less than enthused about his work. But, they also both know, it’s a “photo op” for the bigwigs and the press. “Hey, once the press clears out, maybe we can liberate a couple of bottles.”
This picture was captioned “Bootleggers, 1924” in several places but it’s obviously not.
This is the real caption, from a 2025 “This Day in History” collection of photos, in the Chicago Tribune:
“Capt. A.C. Townsend, from left, U.S. Marshall Palmer Anderson, Dept. U.S. Marshall A. J. Jostock and a laborer look over confiscated liquor at the federal warehouse, circa April 20, 1925. Townsend and the men were ordered to clear out the federal government warehouse for seized liquor to make room for Army purposes.”
I would have helped clearing that out alright… ;o)
,,,
Which Bunker Hill is it referring to? Surely not Boston?
I think it Sanfran
,
GET OFF THE TRACKS!
(I hope he heard me!)
“I’m betting he* swerves first.”
*(the train)
Gotta be Bill Murray in Groundhog Day
Iron horse?
,..
Clearly a vaudevillian, or whatever other equivalents existed at the time of the photo.
Believe it or not, this was a “girly” type photo, not meant to be humorous at all, but sexy, though that word was not used in Victorian times.
For several centuries, people from a region of the North Caucasus, along the Black Sea, were considered the best looking in the world.
They were known as Circassian. (From that, we later got the word “Caucasian.)
The women were sometimes captured, to be enslaved in harems, or married to sheiks.
In the mid 1800s, PT Barnum started exhibiting a supposed Circassian woman said to have escaped from a Turkish harem. She had a giant head of frizzy hair, and was touted as beautiful, sensual, and graceful.
The look became popular in other side shows and in erotic(!) images like this one … most also managed by Barnum. These Circassian woman became known as “Moss-haired girls”, prized for their exotic appearance.
It eventually became known that they weren’t real Circassians, but achieved that look by washing their hair with beer, teasing it and letting it dry.
….
OOoooooooooo. SO close.
It could have been glorious! A triumph for the common man. If only they had placed some convenient hand holds around that section of the stern …
looks like a mailman of sorts delivering mail
,,..
Amazing how cozy they can make such an empty space look in tight shots.
I miss Rob Reiner!
.,…
Wasn’t this used for a FTND puzzle at some point?
Not that I can recall.
It’s similar to Grant Wood’s ‘The Midnight ride of Paul Revere’
which I did indeed make anFTD from.
.
I’ll see if I can find it for next week
….,
O M G. How could you blame him for anything?
Where is his lucky feather?
Wow, that’s a blast from the past! Can you remember his name?
Dumbo?
Maybe. I’ve searched it (Dumbo) and while it looks quite familiar, there is something still tickling my memory that it was a chubby dog, sitting.
Oh, well, as one ages, one loses clarity.
Okay… I just googled “magic feather”, and the two things that came up were Dumbo, who of course learned to fly by thinking he had one, and the animated series Bluey, which I’ve never seen.
There’s a character in Bluey…. I think they’re dogs… with a magic feather, but I doubt that’s the one you mean. Unless you do.
Sorry… But I tried!
,
Chicago or a movie set? Sure looks a lot like the Chicago I saw when I was there in 1990 (with newer cars and clothes…)
To me it looks bogus. AI.
Very AI.
Trains don’t ride the tracks like that in cities, and that’s a great hat/head on the figure bottom middle.
The people will look AI… but trains really did run on elevated tracks just like that, in NYC.
Called the “El”, it changed ownership in various times and different parts of the city, private and then public, starting with steam and eventually electrified, from the 1870s till mostly the mid 1950s, but some lines lasted longer.
It’s not called the El any more, but there are still some (scary looking, to me) sections of the NYC subway system that are up on tracks like these…. And they’re called subways!
Most of the people who said this picture was AI thought it was an AI enhanced photo of a real train.
Here’s a real postcard….
There’s a building just above that first hammock thing that looks about 2ft deep and looks to be in b+w …obviously pasted in.Not to mention the water tower left of it … must be one of the famous Chicago water towers they’re famous for.
Yeah, that skinny building looked weird to me too…
I thought maybe it was a false front but it has windows… and besides, I didn’t think they had those back east.
However every link I chased down said it was New York City… Nobody mentioned Chicago.
It’s on a bunch of sites, even a few Facebook pages and blogs for historical New York images,
It’s described as the 6th Avenue El, at 18th Street, though a couple of pages say 14th Street.
But on several sites people are calling it out, saying it’s AI… and on some, others insist that it can’t be.
I saw it argued that the colorization makes it look fake… but I looked at the B/W, and it’s the same.
Somebody posted the photo I’m attaching below, saying it’s the real view of that corner… but even not knowing the area, to me, it looks s few blocks away.
The deciding factor, to me, is that completely illegible sign… No way that’s not AI.
As AI gets more and more sophisticated, I’m glad we can still tell! Next month maybe not.
,,
,.
Yep.
Isn’t anybody looking?
I guess I’ll post
Too easy🥹
If I can find it, it’s probably easy.
I missed it.
,,.
Another portrait of German farm children, this one from the early 1920s, by August Sander, also included in his 1929 book that attempted to show the diversity of German lives and people.
,
HEY! No kicking below the belt!
“Rules?!? What Rules in a knife fight?”
And it’s not fair! Godzilla doesn’t even have a belt!
“Sim City”, anyone?
I couldn’t find the pie slice but I did find this …
.
Funny you posted this…. as you know, I send some images to Nighthawks… only a small part of what he posts here.
I’ve been holding back on the one below, because people were arguing on Facebook and Reddit about whether it’s real or AI… and because one poster’s description called it “realistic”, I decided that it was probably fake. I try to avoid AI.
But yours looks real. It’s much later. No zip code… probably late 1950s. ($6.95 was a lot of money then!)
Mine is supposed to be from the early 1930s. What do you guys think?
BTW… I’d love to know how your rear vision is unimpaired.
Would require an eye bolt in the middle of the roof in your version.
I’m in agreement with MCTS. Back in the day when the roof of cars were more likely fabric or wooden, how would you seal off the eye-bolts from the rain.
And what early-1930 cars would have what appears to be a radio under the dash?
One of my doubts also was due to the wide expanse of window nearest us. That doesn’t look like the 1930s either.. another reason I decided it was probably AI, and didn’t offer it to Nighthawks.
I’m thinking they could have solved the bolt problem… the inside “ceiling”, or headliner, would be fabric, leather, or even leathery looking cardboard, but the actual roof AFAIK was steel…
But drilling and sealing the bolt-hole was probably not something Daddy would do at home. So you’d go to have this installed? Not anything I’ve ever heard of.
And I don’t know what it is about him, but Daddy looks modern.
It’s a baby slingshot!
Dunlin.
Dublin.
The brewery complex had its own narrow gauge rail system for moving produce etc. around the place. They would place a narrow gauge steam loco into a broad gauge cradle so they could work the broad gauge feeder tracks. It meant that, for a long time, they didn’t have to have a dedicated broad gauge loco.
Ingenious!
And, is that you at the Sacred Gates?
Nope… ;-(
I tried Dr G and CHATGPT… NADA!