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1913issue6online

146 Ladies  in  dresses  men  in  suits  and  hats  the  boy  selling  the  paper  about  the  New  Deal     Crowds  walking  over  the  tracks  wait     and  peer,  wires  gridding,  faces  in  the  windows.     Photography  always  includes  the  face—the  three  windows  and  the  little  nose,  the  button  in  the  middle.     From  a  recording  with  Harry  Aitken,  a  retired  volunteer  at  the  Western  Railway  Museum  in  Suisun  City.  He  gets  out  a  binder   of  photographs  labeled  Broadway  Ave.  We  both  hover  over  it.  His  voice  wavers,  but  not  his  facts.  He  corrects  me  when  I   refer  to  the  streetcars  as  trains.     Plastic  holders  softly  crackling.  Each  photograph  arranged  by  street.  Some  wealthy  people  had  their  own  cars,  1912.     I  usually  respond  with  a  noise,  lips  closed.     Everybody  just  walked  every  which  way.  It  didn’t  matter.  I  laugh.     A  parade.  Here  they’re  changing  the  tracks  again—cable  car  to  electric.     Plastic  shifting.  Flipping,  flipping     There’s  always  some  little  boy  trying  to  get  into  the  picture.  Especially  when  there’s  a  wreck.     Look  at  the  crowds  here.  We  can  usually  tell  the  time  period  by  the  length  of  the  ladies’  skirts.     Can  I  bookmark  this  picture?  I  said.  Sure,  he  said.  What  drew  you  to  that  one?   I  think  because  it’s  from  above.     These  guys  are  waiting  for  the  San  Francisco  train.  This  car’s  going  to  Alameda.       Harry  realizes  one  of  the  volunteers  has  reordered  the  binder:  These  are  all  mixed  up.  I’m  going  to  have  to  talk  to  that  guy.     Here  we  have  the  crowd  scenes.     This  is  San  Pablo  and  that’s  Telegraph.   Here’s  the  old  post  office  on  Broadway.  Long  gone.      

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