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On the date

Monday, October 21, 1929

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sight

Rain slicks the pavement, reflecting the dizzying amber glow of the marquee where a dapper gent hums "Singin' in the Rain" while adjusting his new mass-produced sunglasses against the glare. I catch a flash of a "Sheba" in a cloche hat leaning against a shiny coupe; the driver is fiddling with a dial, trying to coax a melody out of a new-fangled car radio. That story about Edison’s old laboratory in the papers is pure applesauce compared to the modern hum of these streets, where thick coaxial cable snakes behind the scenes to power this electric fever. I snap the shutter just as a boy flickers past, his Duncan Yo-Yo spinning a blur of red against the autumn grit.

Memories from that day

No memories yet. Add yours if you remember this day.

The Headlines

EDISON YOUNG AGAIN AS HE RELIVES PAST IN OLD LABORATORY; Tremulous With Emotion, Now Misty-Eyed, Now Chuckling, He Marvels at Re-Creation. FINDS IT ALL AT DEARBORN Exclaims That Ford Has Even Brought Real Jersey Clay and Stump of Menlo Park Elm. FINALLY SITS IN OLD CHAIR Onlookers Stand Apart in Silence, Leaving Him for the Moment Alone With His Memories. Amazed to Find Dirt Authentic. Horses and Oxen in Rehearsal. Recognizes Stump of Old Elm. EDISON YOUNG AGAIN AS HE RELIVES PAST Sits Alone With His Memories.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Singin' in the Rain

Nacio Herb Brown

The must-have

Duncan Yo-Yo

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

35,291 days ago

(96 years, 251 days)