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Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Walker Hill Dairy." And a milk truck that's been around the block a few times. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size.
I mean the one in the middle. It isn't real clear of him but, from what I can see, he looked pretty good! He actually looks kind of like the young guy who came here last night, grinning from ear to ear, to tell me that I will have a new grandson in the spring!
That's the spare on the left front. The next time it goes flat we'll put the other good tire back on and save the worn one for the spare again.
And notice the rears are solid rubber, no flats back there.
Dr. Q's comment of non-skid tires jogged my memory. For those who have never seen one, here's a shot of a Firestone non-skid tire I took at Hubacher Cadillac in Sacramento around 1975. Elmer Hubacher had an extensive collection of old cars on display one afternoon.
Note how the "non skid" pattern on the left tire (the one with tread remaining) matches the trademark in the Lee Tire sign two pictures above. Almost as cool as the Non Skid Tire whose treads were formed by many repeats of the words "non skid non skid non skid."
... with the Milk Squad! Looks like these boys take their milk delivery pretty seriously. Wouldn't want to get in their way!
Dad delivered milk for NOCA dairy in Kamloops, British Columbia, from 1966 to 1972. I worked on that truck with him Saturdays, 5:30 in the morning and sometimes by the time we were cashed out it was 6 p.m. Dad talked a lot! Well I think he enjoyed the social aspect of milk delivery. The delivery people of the mid twentieth century were a presence in the neighbourhood and I believe they hindered petty crime. I have many happy memories of Dad and the customers on that route.
If I'm not mistaken, it looks like a White Truck, made in Cleveland. Probably a little after World War One. You'd think they would put the spare on if the rubber ripped off like that. Today you'd get a ticket for an unsafe tire
that could cause an accident! In 1921, many dairies still had horse wagons delivering the cow juice!
The perspective and shading makes the truck pop right out of the photograph. I was quite amazed when I opened it. In fact I still am.
The marks on the concrete lintel remarked on above are the impressions on the pour of the concrete from the form, in this case sawed lumber. Forming and pouring in place would allow for a beam of considerable size to be installed in a building without needing a big crane. I believe this was a rather novel approach at the time.
Aha! I Iook, but I do not see. I guess I wanted it to be something more exotic.
Check out the crack in that lintel! That's not encouraging!
There is any object that hanging in front of the fellow on the left. I appears to be some type of cloth cover. Anyone know what it is? I can't get enough of these old truck photos. Not for nothin', but these guys look like they are up to no good.
[It is indeed a cloth cover -- for his head. - Dave]
As recently as the mid-50s, Baltimore had non-refrigerated milk trucks delivering dairy products to back porches. They used ice, the smaller chunks of which we kids consumed, dirt and all. The drivers let us ride on the back bumpers as they made their rounds through the alleys. Imagine something like that today. First refrigerated trucks that rolled through our 'hood was circa 1958. By then we were getting dairy products at the "High's" dairy stores that had sprung up all over town. Much cheaper.
Another great truck photo with interesting people and lots of fascinating details. And a suicide tire on the left front wheel, even worse than the right front tire on the spiffy tour bus in the previous post. There are many hundreds of wonderful old commercial truck photos in the LOC archive. Can it be that our Dave is using the "That won't last another day" filter?
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