Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » Old Painted Ad - 9365 Mack Avenue « Previous Next »
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3069
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 9:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I noticed that a building on Mack near McClellan has recently been demolished, revealing an old painted advertisement for Buster Brown Bread:


9365 Mack







The building was a barber shop going back as far as 1925, when it belonged to the Honold Brothers, both barbers. The building that was demolished was there as early as 1935, so the ad must be more than 70 years old.



Mortons

Buster Brown
Bread

Makes Each Meal A Delight


There's more but I didn't have time to get a closer look to decipher the rest.

To the left must be an ad for a Jeweler:

______?
Jeweler
Watches
Diamonds
Clocks
Silverware
_______?


You can even see the remains of Buster himself:




Buster Brown
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1150
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Nice find, Mike. Thx for posting.
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Thecarl
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Username: Thecarl

Post Number: 1020
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

wow. great time capsule and reference materials! i wish i knew why i am so incredibly fascinated with this sort of thing!?
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1769
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

BZ
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Rhymeswithrawk
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Username: Rhymeswithrawk

Post Number: 294
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 1:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wow. The train-time was made for slaves? Yikes. No wonder it's no longer in business.
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Mikeg
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Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 611
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 8:12 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

The train-time was made for slaves?



As in, people are slaves to the clock and the schedules of others. Sometimes I wish that I could get someone to "hold the train" or plane for me when I am running late.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 5562
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 8:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Buster Brown ad above indentifies the text that it's a stereotype against Black-folks.
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Ookpik
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Username: Ookpik

Post Number: 72
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 9:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Train-Time," in my opinion, refers to Time Zones - a fairly new concept when that ad was printed. Time Zones came about because of the railroad.

You can read an excellent article about time zones and the railroads influence in their creation here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T ime_zone

Thus, people were "slaves" to "Train-Time" - ie "The Clock."
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Fishtoes2000
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Username: Fishtoes2000

Post Number: 172
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 9:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I knew Buster Brown made loafers, but not loafs. :-)

There's more on the Buster Brown cartoon character on Wikipedia.
"The name "Buster" came either directly or indirectly from the popularity of Buster Keaton, then a child-star of vaudeville."
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Bussey
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Username: Bussey

Post Number: 487
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 9:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

danny, you are awesome.
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Detroitrulez
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Username: Detroitrulez

Post Number: 150
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 9:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

pretty.
looks like a nice neighborhood. or an early 20th century anthropological dig.....
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Catman_dude
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Username: Catman_dude

Post Number: 95
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 10:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've always wondered why Buster seems to dress like a girl, with the weirdly-positioned hat and the girly-hair. Still do.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3072
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 12:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe to fend off illness? That's why the English dressed their boys like girls a few centuries ago - girls typically had higher mortality rates in their early childhood. Maybe he was just "gay"?

I had the impression that most of the Buster Brown ads were from the teens. The wooden sides of the building look old enough, but the brick façade looks more recent, and probably is. All I can say for sure is that the ad could have been painted before 1925, and was there before 1935.

(Message edited by MikeM on February 22, 2007)
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Gtat44
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Username: Gtat44

Post Number: 16
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 2:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Is the puff of smoke winking at Buster?
And is that a loaf of bread off to the side or is it a casket? HMMMM
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Gargoyle
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Username: Gargoyle

Post Number: 57
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 3:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Catman, I have a preschool picture of my stepdad taken circa 1923 and he's dressed in almost the exact outfit, except it was white. Had the same haircut, too.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3080
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 6:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Passed by again today. The bottom line reads "General Baking Company". General Baking was located at 925 Cherry - "Bakers of Bond Bread".

Still can't read the jeweler's name.
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Ookpik
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Username: Ookpik

Post Number: 74
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 7:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


p


Children dressed oddly a long time ago. The photo is from about 1925 and depicts:

A. 2 boys
B. 2 girls
C. Girl and boy
D. Boy and girl

The answer is C.

The photo is from Brooklyn, New York.

Ookpik
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Beavis1981
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Username: Beavis1981

Post Number: 257
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Friday, February 23, 2007 - 7:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

girl left, boy right?
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3093
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 5:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Noticed another one today on Harper near St. Cyril Street. The existing building has the address of 7415 Harper. Both this building and the one that was torn down appear to have been built prior to 1935, the demolished one being the Harper Beauty Shoppe in 1935. The ad must be at least 72 years old.

In a 1925 directory, J. L. Kobus Fine Shoes was at 7415 Harper, but by 1935 Kobus no longer appears in the directory, meaning the ad must be more than 72 years old, and possibly more than 82 years old.


7415 Harper



Henkel's



Perfect baking requires two kinds of Henkel's flour; One bag of Best bread flour, one bag of Velvet pastry flour, both supplied by the Commercial Milling Company, corner of Randolph and Atwater:


Best Flour

Velvet Flour
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1157
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 7:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This site and contributors like Mikem continue to positively amaze me.
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65memories
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Username: 65memories

Post Number: 348
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 7:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

me too.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3097
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 8:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks!

A couple more that probably aren't as old - When was the last time you could buy an ice cream soda for 10¢? This store on Grand River at Indiana has been a confectioner as far back as 1935:


11858 Grand River



5700 block of 12th, also established sometime prior to 1935. Still in the phone book in 1946:


D. Sullivan Coal 5784 12th
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Stromberg2
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Username: Stromberg2

Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 8:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, Mikem is amazing. I wouldn't begin to know where he finds this stuff. One helluva photographer.

Stromberg2
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Bulletmagnet
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Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 58
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 11:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here are a few more shots from today, as well as a rear view.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com /149/405328036_f8d839379a_b.jp g
http://farm1.static.flickr.com /152/405328034_a0a06fa116_b.jp g
http://farm1.static.flickr.com /157/405336160_953e343b4f_b.jp g

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