Walking in Newark, New Jersey in 1941

Time-travel with me, and let's walk around Newark, New Jersey in 1941. This image is from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions) and their main interest is studying historic advertising, and mine is time-traveling. Come on!

I'm gonna say that it's May of 1941 because that's the May '41 issue of the Saturday Evening Post at the newsstand. It could, of course, be earlier than that, but it's not later - no self-respecting stand would have an old magazine for sale! Suffice to say that the United States is not yet in the war. By the way, I found a better pic of the cover, here ya go:


It's a hat check girl, comically overwhelmed by coats and hat at a Convention, of course drawn by Norman Rockwell. And before I forget, we're looking north on Broad Street towards Williams. Let's take a closer look:


I'd like to imagine that's me, striding confidently, great posture, looking as if at any moment I'll be changing into Superman! But I'm inclined to think that I'm this other guy, maybe wondering if I should go over to Schwarz Drugs while I'm out, maybe get some bromo.


Hey, check out that cool split window there! I wish that I could identify the makes and models of the cars, but the best I can do personally is to recognize cars from the '60s and '70s. I'm working on it! Let's go back and take a closer look at that newsstand.

Looks like you can read "The people America needs" or even "My introduction to love" in True Story. How about "This man's army" in Liberty. Can't quite read the name there, Old ___? Is that Cosmopolitan? Can't read the other ones, besides you shouldn't just stand around a newsstand reading without buying anything, so I guess I'll skedaddle!

Images from the Duke University Library Digital Collections, Art.com, and Google Street View.


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