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On the date

Thursday, August 8, 1929

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Tactile

The August sun bakes the sidewalk until the scent of hot asphalt clings to the hems of these heavy wool waistcoats and silk flapper dresses. I’m squinting through my viewfinder at a newsboy in a rough tweed cap, his fingers calloused as they skillfully snap a lacquered wood Duncan Yo-Yo through the humid air. He executes a perfect "around the world" while his older brother, looking like a real fall guy in a sweaty linen suit, gets cornered by a copper near the newsstand. The grit of the city feels like sandpaper against my skin, but that spinning toy glides as smooth as the tunes humming from a new car radio nearby.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

WICKERSHAM HEADS DIVISION TO STUDY DRY ENFORCEMENT; N.D. Baker and Judge Kenyon Also on Subcommittee of Hoover Inquiry Board. 11 FIELDS TO BE COVERED Lawlessness by Enforcing Officers and Cost of Crime Are Among Subjects. POLICE ARE ANOTHER TOPIC. Commission Groups Are Expected to Travel Widely in Country for Testimony. Baker and Kenyon in Group. Other Divisions and Members. Conferred With Outside Groups. WICKERSHAM HEADS DRY DIVISION

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Singin' in the Rain

Nacio Herb Brown

The must-have

Duncan Yo-Yo

On This Day

  • The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.

    Wikipedia →

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

applesaucebaloneycheaterscrush

Flapper

bee's kneescat's pajamasgiggle watershebahotsy-totsy

Gangster

big cheesebump offstool pigeongatfall guy

Catchphrases of 1929

  • Wall Street Lays an Egg

Tech Check

Car Radio, Sunglasses (Mass Produced) & Coaxial Cable.

Cost of Living (1920)

Loaf of Bread

$0.11

Gallon of Gas

$0.30

Average Home

$6,296

New Car

$575

Meanwhile

  • The Great DepressionGDP fell 30%; triggered by Black Tuesday (1929-10-29).

Time Elapsed

35,365 days ago

(96 years, 325 days)