Walking past Dave's Market in the 1950s


When I saw this image on the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), I really had a sense that I could project myself into it, and walk past Dave's Market in the 1950s. As near as I can figure, this man looks to be about my age. Here, I'll zoom in a bit:


Yeah, I figure that this man is in his early sixties, like I am. Of course, he could be a very youthful-looking man in his nineties, or a man in his thirties who has been aged by care. I really don't know, and I really don't know the exact location. And I'm just estimating the date based on the cars, which look to be the early fifties. Update: February 12th - see comment below. Thank you!


The store is Dave's Market, but it looks like the sign says "Frank's Fruit Beverages", not sure what that means? And it looks like Dave put up a display area, with chicken wire and lumber, presumably to display things when he wanted to. By the way, the expression on the man there is probably what I look like nowadays, looking a bit grouchy to the young folks, but probably just lost in thought. He's wearing his trousers at what is called the "natural waist", which is still where gentlemen wear dress trousers, although to our modern eyes they appear to be way too high, as if they're just under his armpits!


Here are the cars in the background. I'm gonna say post World War II, but not much. Let me know if you recognize a make and model and I'll update this post! And just a reminder, if you're new to time-traveling with old photos, remember that not everyone drives a brand-new car.

Oh yeah, before I forget, let's take a look at the advertising. It's the reason that this photo is on the Duke site (they study historic advertising there), and why the photo was taken in the first place (to prove to the advertiser that their ad was up and visible.) The 7-Up logo I recognize, but what in the world was Alaga Syrup?


Apparently it "brings back memories" with "real ribbon cane flavor". The ad says that they've been "first for flavor for over 50 years". Those pancakes look good!

Thank you for walking past Dave's Market with me!

3rd Street and Christian, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Comments

  1. AcworthlessFebruary 12, 2022 at 6:15 AM

    Just ran across this while looking for trivia on the Alaga Syrup Company. Alaga Syrup was (and still is) made in Montgomery. We would drive past the plant every time we would visit my grandmother in Montgomery. It was one of the first syrups distributed nationally as they pioneered packing syrup in cans instead of bottles or jars. Their history is here https://www.alagasyrup.com/about/

    The car behind the Oscar Mayer truck is a 1951 De Soto, so that may help date the photo a bit more accurately.

    Frank's Fruit Beverages were bottled by the Frank Fruit Company, which branched out into beer and liquor. The history is here https://frankbeveragegroup.com/frank/about/history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brad HallFebruary 12, 2022 at 10:51 AM

      Thank you! I've updated the post - and now I'm getting hungry for some pancakes! - Brad

      Delete

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