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On the date

Sunday, March 21, 1920

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sound

The camera lens captures a blur of beaded silk and cloche hats as the Sunday crowd surges past 125th Street, where the scent of change hangs heavy over a million-dollar lease. My ears ring with the crackle of KDKA's new broadcast frequency, competing against the shrill whir of a heavy metal hair dryer from the salon upstairs. I duck into an alley to avoid a stool pigeon, nearly tripping over a discarded Band-Aid tin near a crate of illegal giggle water. Between the clicks of my shutter, I hum "Whispering" while watching a child clutch a Raggedy Andy, dodging the grit of a Harlem destined for steel and stone.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

$1,000,000 LEASE IN WEST HARLEM; Morris Krim Takes Over Corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue for Fifty Years. OLD LANDMARK ON SITE Prosperty to be Improved at Once with a Modern Store and Office Structure.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Whispering

John Schonberger

The must-have

Raggedy Andy

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

applesaucebaloneycheaterscrush

Flapper

bee's kneescat's pajamasgiggle watershebahotsy-totsy

Gangster

big cheesebump offstool pigeongatfall guy

Catchphrases of 1920

  • Return to normalcy

Tech Check

Commercial Radio Stations (KDKA), Hair Dryer & Band-Aid.

Style of 1920

Silhouette: Straight and drop-waisted (Flapper)

Material: Beaded silk and rayon

  • Bobbed hair
  • Cloche hats
  • T-strap heels

Cost of Living (1920)

Loaf of Bread

$0.11

Gallon of Gas

$0.30

Average Home

$6,296

New Car

$575

Meanwhile

  • Post-WWI RecessionSevere deflation and collapse of agricultural prices.

Time Elapsed

38,792 days ago

(106 years, 102 days)