Whimsical Windows - Pigeon Style Parking

For this week's architectural themed meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, I am posting a subject that has been seen before that is quite unique. I like the image so much, and the now retro 1950s autos, it is the desktop picture on my computer :)

This is a picture taken by my grandfather in 1955 in the steeltown of Steubenville Ohio. This car-park apparatus referred to as Pigeon Hole Parking, where a lift device moves horizontally and vertically to place your car in a discreet spot and could be easily retrieved when your shopping or errands were complete.

In the background is the now shuttered Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill. When I was in college in the city on the 1970s, this mill was busy place and lots of parking available. Not as busy these days, sixty years removed from 1955...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Exempted

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back. I am constantly scanning the thousands of old photos taken by my grandfather that I 'inherited' in 1981. What prompts this has to do with a box of pictures sent to me by my Aunt Terry last year...here is his business car in 1955, a Plymouth of the same year, in a slightly different shadowy shot of a previously posted pic. He fixed police and fire department radios in many towns and hamlets in and around Steubenville Ohio and Weirton West Virginia from the 1930-1970s. With an emphasis on the police departments as we look at the next item.

Also in the same box was this item that may explain why he drove really fast...he had friends in high places. This letter was very carefully folded, as if it was meant to be carried in a wallet. Is is the proverbial get-out-of-the-speeding-ticket device that you present to a police officer? Grandpa Ralph, of course was a man of unquestionable character. So a mystery continues...

Whimsical Windows - Pigeon roost

Toby is the host of the always fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors in which we look for and at interesting architectural gems. And I am back late owing to a sporadic internet signal which has turned progressively worse - Comcast will be here Tuesday hopefully fix it. Happily, right now the signal is okay. I'd hate to miss another week :)

My subject this week is from 1955 in , the the not-so-mythical steel-making city of Steubenville Ohio. This is a car-park apparatus referred to as Pigeon Hole Parking where a lift device moves horizontally and vertically to place your car in a discreet spot and could be easily retrieved when your shopping or errands were complete. 

I believe this to be downtown on Fifth Street, south of Market Street. In the background is a steel mill alongside the Ohio River. I believe it belonged to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, and now closed. When I was in college in the city on the 1970s, a lifetime for some, this mill was a very busy place then as in 1955. I located this picture earlier this year and like its industrial style...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Plush Packard Panama

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns, and a subject such as an old car may be passé to some…obviously not to me! Last Sunday was Father’s Day and the car show and open house at the Shelton History Center.

It was not Just the chrome and size of this 1955 Packard Clipper Super Panama captured my attention, it was the color that brought me over. Not pink, nor mauve, I think it is a dusty rose. Under the slightly overcast gray humid sky and shadows, here it is a rich and understated hue, not at all garish.

Of course today one will not get colors like this and certainly not in two-tone. Nor interesting touches like the ships wheel emblem (for a Clipper ship). However as art, the overstyled and colorful cars were artistic rolling sculptures then…and now

Shadow Shot Sunday - Smokehouse celebration

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back and we celebrated a birthday (mine - 58 should you ask :) yesterday. Instead of a restaurant, I requested (and received) a family meal from a classic low-and-slow BBQ restaurant, the fun, delicious and smoke-house traditional Smoke&Bones in nearby Derby. 

What you see is what we had: ribs, brisket, chicken, 3 large sides, biscuits, Carolina mustard/vinegar and Kansas City BBQ sauces. The food was great with an unexpected side dish of shadows. As good as the food was, the conversation and family time together the best gift...and yes, there are leftovers - supper promptly at 6PM!

Restored Retro Ruby Tuesday

For Ruby Tuesday 2 a little or a lot of red is okay, and given my attraction to old American cars, a bold ruby 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air is not to be ignored...full of 1950s styling art, restored in this stunning red outside, and on the engine (and even the battery is ruby). 

And it is for sale! However, with a new engine (350), and the high appraised value Chevy's from this era command, it is somewhat too rich to contemplate parking in our driveway. I'll stick with admiring its classic 1950s US car styling instead...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Parking apparatus

Strubennville and steel, 1955

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and a recently scanned, steel town Steubenville shot of slight shadow is chosen. The car at the upper left, a 1955 Packard Clipper suggests this is the year. This is probably downtown and it is a stacked mechanical parking lot/car park (referred to as pigeon hole parking) and taken from a roof of a nearby building. It appears that the elevator takes the vehicles to the level and slot the car is/was parked. In the distance looks to be one of the steel mills that once dotted the banks of the Ohio River. The grit of the industrial contrasts with the nice cars parked by the downtown shoppers. A shadow in time...

Whimsical Windows - Ralph at play

In 1955, Ralph looks to be ready for a round of golf

It is not this Ralph as the subject for Toby's Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors...

Actually it is my grandfather who this day is not at his normal business of leasing and fixing police and fire department radios in local towns in OH and WV. In his play clothes looking as if he was about to attack the front nine at the Steubenville Golf Club even though he didn't play. Windows involved are in his 1955 Plymouth work vehicle and the 1920s houses along Oregon Avenue. He looks like a million amid the neighborhood windows and doors...