Friday, October 28, 2011

Old Busses



Today's picture comes to us from 1913. It shows two buses in New York City. I love how the buses really look more like motorized train cars. Not sure what part of New York the picture is taken in.
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13 comments:

  1. Do you think that the bus on the right is a Mercedes-Benz bus, with that emblem on the front.
    It is a little bigger than you normally see, but I'm just saying, maybe.

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  2. Isn't that the arch in Washington Square back there?

    -XC

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  3. I was wondering about Mercedes-Benz AS well.
    Those buses are very interesting.

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  4. I googled Washington Square Arch and Expat is right. It's a match!

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  5. That's definitely Washington Square, and it's definitely not a Mercedes (in 1913, Mercedes wasn't yet Mercedes-Benz, either).

    More specifically, that's 5th Avenue just outside of Washington Square Park The photo says "5th Ave. Bus" at the bottom, but it's cropped here, and if you see it zoomed, you can see that the bus with the Mercedes-like symbol says "Seventh and Fifth AV's Via 110th St to Wash. Sq."

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  6. Oh, I meant to add that we know the bus isn't a Mercedes because it tells us it's a De Dion-Bouton:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion-Bouton

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  7. I love the starter cranks on the fronts of the buses.

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  8. I was thinking that the bus on the left was awfully tall and that it might want to crawl around corners or it might tip over. But I guess back in the day they didn't go too fast anyway. I see seats up there.

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  9. What a great photo. And yes, that is Washington Square Park. That arch looks the same today, although the surrounding area obviously doesn't.

    I would have thought the bus on the right was a Mercedes also.

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  10. Washington Square Park is the origination point of Fifth Avenue, which runs right through the center of Manhattan and separates the east and west sides of the city.

    The famous arch that can be seen in the background was designed by architect Stanford White, who also designed several famous Gilded Age manions (such as Rosecliff in Newport). It's a copy of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

    If you look at the bus on the left, the sign on top reads "Riverside Drive." That is on the upper west side of Manhattan, where all the famous and rich people live, even today - it's a beautiful area.

    Also - Stanford White was murdered in 1906 by the jealous millionaire husband of a young actress, Evelyn Nesbitt, with whom White had had an affair (when she was only 16). He was a notorious womanizer and used to keep a red velvet swing in his residence, where young ladies (in various stages of undress) would entertain him. Wow, even back then those things went on!

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  11. Chris is correct about that bus on the right.
    It's not a Mercedes.Scroll down for
    various truck/bus pictures made
    by De Dion-Bouton.

    http://www.svvs.org/philippines1.shtml

    John

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  12. Thanks John! Great site.

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  13. I see I'm late in commenting that this is the Washington Square Park area... but I've been meaning to leave a comment telling you how much I enjoy this blog. Nice work!

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