From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Feb. 4, 1912:
[Advertisements] "Visit our new talking machine rooms where you can hear your favorite orchestra or singer or vaudeville sketch without being disturbed. The February records are all in. Come in and hear them. Bell Brothers Music Co." ... "The Caterer Telephones. 'Tomorrow night? Very well, how many guests did you say, Mrs. Blank? All right, we will have everything ready.' The confectioner and caterer often fill orders at short notice. Any failure to supply the order would cause serious annoyance. With the Bell Telephone Local and Long Distance Service at his command he can fill any order, no matter how large. The Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company." ... "If your Pump is Broken or Frozen Call Bell 260. If your gas pipes are bursted or need repairs in any way call Bell 260. Lawrence Implement & Pump Works, 1026 Mass. St." ... "Valentines: Davis, Parker and Tuck lines. Also Valentine Napkins, seals, Sachets, and LEAP YEAR NOVELTIES at BOYLES, 725 Mass. Street." ... "Hood's Sarsaparilla. Cures all blood humors, all eruptions, clears the complexion, creates an appetite, aids digestion, relieves that tired feeling, gives vigor and vim." ... "DEFEAT. You can't beat if the competition you meet is largely a matter of clothes. You must look as good as the other man. SCHULZ THE TAILOR." ... "To-Day's Express Brought us a choice line of Robertson's celebrated Silk Dresses and Waists. One of a kind, which means exclusive styles. They are very choice and very moderate in price." ... "HOT DRINKS for COLD WEATHER. Hot chocolate, hot tomato, cream tomato, clam bouillon, hot malted clams, hot malted milk, hot lemonade. Wilson's Drug Store, 1101 Mass. St." ... "The little things for coughs and colds -- plasters for aches -- skin lotions for chaps -- mild soaps and cold creams for tender skins: Woodward's 'Round Corner' is the place to get these."
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rbwaa (anonymous) says…
When I was a kid there was a music store [Bell's?] on Massachussets a couple doors south of Weaver's that had "talking machine" rooms where you could listen to records before buying them. That would have been in the late fifties or early sixties...
FlintlockRifle (anonymous) says…
Likewise when I was lad I to remember when Bell's Music Store was located on Mass. St. that was in early forties to mid forties. Round Courner Drug was also located on Mass for years, if memory servies me correct, they were to oldest continues drug store west of the Mississippi River .Kids that was truly the best time to grow.
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
Think I got some of that Hood's Sarsaparilla around here someplace. Runs around 86 proof.
tange (anonymous) says…
whoa... pre-auto-decapitalization
ScottyMac (anonymous) says…
Mmmm... Hot malted clams...
sjgreen (anonymous) says…
A little off topic, but... I saw The Artist at Liberty Hall earlier this week, and it made me wonder if silent movies were shown there a 100 years ago. Did they show movies there when it first opened, or was it only for live performances?
OldHomeTown (Sarah St. John) says…
Hi sjgreen! As far as I have been able to discover, the Bowersock Opera House (now Liberty Hall) was only showing live entertainment in 1912. For movies (such as they were!) we had the Nickel and the Patee theaters. I believe both of those were on Mass Street but I do not have an address, unfortunately.
ScottyMac (anonymous) replies…
From the Watkins Museum:
In 1898, while Mary E. "Vivian" Patee and her husband, Clair, were staying in New Jersey, Mr. Patee purchased a toy machine that projected moving pictures onto a screen, plus 800 feet of film, from a Frenchman staying in the same boarding house. Mr. Patee rented a building in Pennsylvania and opened a small theater where he charged five cents admission for an eight minute film.
Working with Thomas Edison, he made improvements to the projector and the film it used. He then acquired this new model and opened a film theater in Jersey City, NJ while Mrs. Patee went back to Lawrence to help care for her sick father.
The couple considered opening a theater in Lawrence and did so after Mr. Patee shipped some of the projection equipment to his wife. The building that Mrs. Patee purchased at 708 Massachusetts Street was formally the location of the Lawrence Journal which had recently moved to the first floor of the Bowersock Opera House. In 1903, after Mr. Patee returned, the couple remodeled the building and opened the Nickel Theater: the first feature film theater in the Western United States.
The Nickel operated successfully for ten years before the Patees relocated the theater to 828 Massachusetts Street and renamed it the Patee Theater in 1913. Although many people doubted the theater should be opened at night, the business thrived for many years and showed many popular films. In March 1955, the interior of the theater was gutted by a fire and the remaining structure was torn down later that year. The newly vacated lot was converted to a walkway connecting the sidewalk on Massachusetts Street to a parking lot across the alley on New Hampshire Street. (The walkway is next to what is now the Antique Mall -sm)
Today, the space that was originally the Nickel Theater at 708 Massachusetts Street is home to the Dusty Bookshelf.
http://watkinsmuseum.org/exhibits/onl...
sjgreen (anonymous) replies…
Thanks Sarah and ScottyMac!
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
FYI Sarah. It seems Mr C. I. Hood was quite the entrepreneur, with an extensive line of products.
http://choyt48.home.comcast.net/~choy...
"If Made By Hood It's Good"
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
and a hundred years from now will show restaurants galore and vacant business...