Shadowplay

From Violet to Hazel: Postcards From Our Past (part 4)
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This may be it, I think I lost the postcard scanning buzz I had going last week. This last batch has some cool images including another Kleinhann's, which looks like it is Florida for some reason. There aren't a lot of trees and very little structures beyond the building- which is odd to see after living in this neighborhood off and on over the the last 20 years or so. The Main Street Shopping District is amazing in it's New York City-ness as it is has people galore on the streets among theaters, street cars and the famous AM & As Department Store. The back is great too- it is postmarked Nov 20, 1933 and begins "Hello Mother" and includes the calming "We did not have to use the car chains coming here as the road was in pretty good shape."

The crowds of people in the Zoo card and the Boat House at Delaware Lake are impressive, as well is the street scene which includes several folks on bicycles (including a woman), horse drawn buggies, Louis Sullivan's Guaranty Building, the St. Louis Church and that big building, which is no longer there but I think was the old City Hall. The back of this card has "Besser's and Sons, Buffalo. No. 104. Printed in Germany." But no tell-tale postmarked date, unfortunately. Oh and the interior shot of the Historical Building which is postmarked August 22, 1912, looks pretty close to how it looks now.

All these vintage postcards have a beautiful haunting quality to the coloring and especially the people frozen in Buffalo's past. In fact these four with the people in it have become some of my favorites. If you look close you can pick out certain people and I wonder about their day captured at Hoyt Lake or the Buffalo Zoo.... were they having a good time?


Sunny afternoon in Buffalo with smiling lady in a big hat.


Feeding the seal at the Buffalo Zoo. Only one seal.


Eerily similar to today, the History Museum.


Another awesome Kleinhann's painted postcard.


Biking in downtown Buffalo, NY. This shot was the cover image used on the original Buffalo vintage postcard book, Buffalo Views by Rich Kegler.


Busy downtown shopping district, in 'beautiful river"....


This is the end, my friend...