Showing posts with label antiques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antiques. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

More Treasures! Smith's Appliances, Magnolia Road, Vicksburg (Abandoned Films 05d)

Smith's Appliances on Magnolia Road in Vicksburg sells old machines, freezers, and odd treasures. I love places like this, and Mr. Smith generously let me take photographs inside during 2020 when I was on one of my episodes of exploring around town.

As you can see, Mr. Smith emphasizes gasoline and motor-oriented artwork and souvenirs. There were also some household appliances, and I assume he repairs and sells them. 

I took the black and white photograph on my last roll of Panatomic-X film with my Leica M2 camera with 35mm and 50mm Summicron lenses. I measured the light with a Gossen Luna-Pro Digital in incident mode. This roll was grainy and underexposed compared to the previous one that I used in the Adolph Rose Antiques. I assume this roll had aged too much despite having been (supposedly) frozen in storage. It is a warning that expired film is always a bit of a gamble. But the grittiness works well for this type of topic; please click any frame to see more detail.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Treasures! The Adolph Rose Antiques, Vicksburg, Mississippi (Abandoned Films 05c)

Adolph Rose Building in the center the block (Cooper Post Card Collection, from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History) 
Clay Street view east with Adolph Rose Building to the left (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Adolph Rose Antiques occupied the first two floors of the historic Adolph Rose Building at 717 Clay Street in Vicksburg. This handsome brick structure is one of the finest remaining examples of a multi-floor commercial building of the type that demonstrated Vicksburg's commercial ascendancy and prosperity in the late-1800s. 

In 2006, the adjoining building at 515 partly collapsed when some workmen were starting some form of renovation. I wrote about the mess in 2011. No one was hurt, and the damage to the Adolph Rose building was repaired. Now the lot is empty (see the photograph above).

Sadly, Malcolm and Karen sold the Adolph Rose in 2021 and closed their long-running antique store. Before their going-out-of-business sale, they generously let me explore inside with my camera. (Click any picture to expand it and see details.)

Ground floor of Adolph Rose Antiques (Fuji X-E1 digital file)
Rear (north side) of ground floor (Panatomic-X film, Leica M2 camera)

The street-level (ground) floor occupied half of the structure. On the other side of the long wall is the Strand Theatre. The Strand is active and is a venue for independent films and live productions from the Westside Theatre Foundation. The building was remodeled to include the Strand in 1934, and the cinema was active for decades.

Scales, cookware, a wringer-clothes washer, James Dean's toilet - it was all available here. I did not check if the old tube radios worked. 

Old-fashioned shoe lasts to prevent leather shoes from curling when stored in the closet. How many of you readers have used shoe lasts? They really do prolong the life of shoes, cowboy boots, and hiking boots.

The glassware was backlit near the back wall. Nice display.

Sturdy stairs lead up to the second floor. Up here, the antiques occupy the entire width of the building. This was a nice, airy space.

Books and LP records were on the second floor. None of the LPs interested me as they were rather romantic or schmaltzy 1960s offerings, but there likely is a market.

This ends our brief exploration of the Adolph Rose Antiques.

Several apartments are on the floors above, but they had tenants and were off limits. I do not know if the new owners of the Adolph Rose will continue to rent the apartments.

I wrote about a similar treasure/antique store on Halls Ferry Road in 2013. Sadly, that store closed in 2014 and all the neat items disappeared somewhere.

I took most of these 2020 photographs on 35mm size Kodak Panatomic-X film using my Leica M2 camera with 35mm or 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lenses. Panatomic-X is a slow film, but that is what was loaded in my camera. This was one of my three last rolls and was in perfect condition. The light was a mixture of side-lighting from the tall windows along with tungsten and halogen bulbs overhead. I bounced flash off the ceiling, but it was so far above the furniture, I suspect there was minimal extra fill. Most were 1 sec. exposures, tripod-mounted. The traditional Panatomic worked well for this type of subject matter with just the right graininess (please click any frame to see more details). All comments welcome. Please see earlier articles dealing with other abandoned (discontinued) films.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Still Open: Gibbes & Sons Grocery, Learned, Mississippi

Most of the country stores we have looked at in previous posts are closed, victims of changing times and loss of nearby residents who once patronized these stores. But in the little town of Learned, Mississippi (near Utica), the H.D. Gibbes & Sons grocery is still open for business.
Learned is a nice little town, clean and neat. The grocery is at the corner of Main and Pine Streets.
Lunches are served on these polished tables.
Walk on in - it is visual delight. All sorts of old-fashioned stuff greets you: bottles, signs, displays, antlers. But this is a working store, so ask the nice-looking young lady for a drink, candy bar, or even some groceries. One side of the store has a ladder on a rail so the shopkeeper can reach high shelves. The store has an active restaurant on Friday and Saturday, well-known for steak (a carnivore-type of place).
Learned has some more square-front buildings that may have once been stores.
Tired? Find a rocker and put your feet up.

Interior photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 digital camera with Olympus 9-18mm lens. Exterior photographs taken with a FujiFilm X-E1 camera. I reprocessed the raw files with PhotoNinja software. This is the type of place to revisit with real film.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Great Stuff: Treasure Store on Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg

The Treasure Chest is a funky little place at 3444 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, Mississippi, full of old sewing machines, LP records, hardware fittings, pots, glassware, paintings, books, and general treasures (OK, some might call it junk). The store is closing soon, and the proprietor generously let me wander around with my tripod and camera.  He is a really nice guy.
Even getting out of your car, you are greeted with neat things hanging from posts and the rafters of the porch.
Step inside: shapes, textures, and goods piled high.
The glassware is neatly organized along the wall.
Who is this elegant lady, and could she have once worn this straw hat?
Memories of the past. The gent looks very early-20th century, but the young lady has a modern countenance.
You have to love a place where the cat sleeps in the merchandise and largely runs the show.
I hope the owner can sell off his stock at a reasonable prices. It must be difficult to run a business like this. Nationwide, the economy is improving and many retailers report decent sales, but Vicksburg is still behind the national trends. Please patronize local merchants. They are your neighbors.

(March 10, 2014 update: the store has closed.)

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 digital camera and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 lens.  Raw files reprocessed with Photo Ninja software. I used a 1:1 aspect ratio in-camera to create a square frame, similar to the view in my old Rolleiflex camera. The Rolleiflex used 120-size film to produce twelve 54x54 mm frames per roll. Click the link for an article on the Rolleiflex.