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On the date

Monday, May 18, 1931

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sound

The rhythmic *hi-de-hi-de-ho* of Cab Calloway’s "Minnie the Moocher" spills out of a nearby radio shop, competeing with the heavy clatter of a mounted patrol trotting past a line of idling Model Ts. I duck behind my viewfinder to catch a swell dame in a cloche hat, just as she winces at the garage sign listing gas at **$0.20** a gallon—a price that’s starting to feel truly lousy. Between the roar of the new mechanized units and the sharp scent of street horse manure, the city feels caught in a strange, noisy gears-and-marrow transition. I snap the shutter, freezing a moment where the future’s electric hum meets the old world’s fading gallop.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

MECHANIZED ARMY WILL RETAIN HORSE; Gen. MacArthur Convinces the President That the Mounted Trooper Is Not Obsolete. TRADITION A BIG FACTOR But the Adoption of Machines for Faster Movement Will Be Continued. Horse Still Useful in War. One Regiment for Experiment. MECHANIZED ARMY WILL RETAIN HORSE Horse No Longer a Weapon.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Minnie the Moocher

Cab Calloway

The must-have

Charlotte Clark Mickey Mouse

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

damefellaswelllousy

Hardboiled

clip jointgriftershamusgunsel

Swing Era

alligatorjitterbugkiller dillerin the groove

Catchphrases of 1931

  • Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash

Tech Check

Electric Guitar, Electron Microscope & Radio Telescope.

Cost of Living (1930)

Loaf of Bread

$0.09

Gallon of Gas

$0.20

Average Home

$3,900

New Car

$640

Meanwhile

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

Time Elapsed

34,718 days ago

(95 years, 43 days)