Woodward Avenue, 1915

[kathy2trips]

"CHOP SUEY" in big neon letters! A great American tradition!

[DetroitZack]

That picture is just amazing. Looks at all the people!

[eriedearie]

I just noticed - left hand side of the picture where the "Stotter's" sign is - to the right of that is what appears to be banner strung across the street. Can anyone make out what is written on it? It may explain the reason for the crowd of people. Maybe a parade day?

Using my magnifying glass I can make out what looks to be "now you" - can't get the other words though. Just wondering?

[reddog289]

Erie, If you scroll down on the Shorpy site there is an answer to your question.

[eriedearie]

Thanks Reddog! I didn't think of looking further down

[Mikeg]

Given the wording on that banner, that photo had to have been taken shortly before or after the Tuesday June 5, 1917 WW I draft registration. On that date, all men between the ages of 21 and 31 had to physically appear in front of the registrar of their local selective service board and fill out a registration card [example]. Across the country, ten million men registered that day.

On Friday, July 20, 1917, a draft lottery was held in Washington DC to determine the first 1.3 million men who would be called up for examination, with the expectation that group would be sufficiently large enough to fill the first allotment of 687,000 draftees needed to expand the armed forces of the United States. Here is the Washington Post's interesting account of how the draft lottery was conducted.

[EastsideAl]

In this 1942 FSA photo it's titled "Looking north on Woodward." Is that the same Bonds store, in the same place as the Bonds Clothing store in the older photo?
Attachment 3831

Bond's here is on the opposite side of the block from the one in the 1917 picture. It's approximately where the Golde's and Elmer's signs are in the older picture. The building just to the north of it is Kern's

Cascade Whiskey, whose sign sits atop the Bond's store in the Shorpy picture, is what is today known as George Dickel. If you look closely you can see the Dickel name in the lower left corner of the sign. The slogan goes back to the old belief that whiskey could be made mellower by leaving it out exposed on moonlit nights.

[old guy]

Thanks Eastside Al

[old guy]

So it's next to Hudsons.
Attachment 3924

[old guy]

My mistake. I guess it is Kerns.
Attachment 3925

[Ray1936]

I'm getting so hopped up on going back to the past that I'm gonna buy a Delorean and install a flux capacitor. You just watch me.

[Mikeg]

What was left of the Kern's building, Aug. 1966:
Attachment 3931
[full size]

[reddog289]

Thanks for the post Ray and good luck with your DeLorean project, and your welcome Erie.

[EastsideAl]

What was left of the Kern's building, Aug. 1966

A sorry sight. Kern's was actually a really nice art deco-ish building, quite different from other Detroit stores. It replaced the collection of buildings along Gratiot between Woodward and Farmer that Kern's occupied at the time of the Shorpy photo [[a couple of Kern's signs can be glimpsed in the picture if you look carefully).

That building was rather short-lived though, having opened in 1929 and closed in 1959, before being torn down in '66. In fact, after it was torn down the land stood vacant longer than that store was open.