Ed and Alden Lake Trip 1920s-30s – Sepia Sat Post

This weeks Sepia Saturday post inspired from

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/

Finding old photos becomes addicting.
I have been back and forth from California to Arizona often,  around Phoenix are oodles of antique shops, vintage stores, thrifts, you name it.
I ventured a little farther using one of those antique store brochures showing numerous stores and maps and ended up at another store, when I first started to browse I thought “Ugh, wrong store” it was very nice, more upscale, really expensive antiques. I wanted to turn around and leave, but I wandered my way around. Came across a few old framed photos that were in the hundreds to purchase, No thanks.

I got to the end of the third row and found a booth with lots of books, paper items, I walked in and off to the side was a box full of photos! It was wedged in a spot hard to get to and no room to really lay them out or look thru them, nowhere to sit so I went one by one stacking them on the books in piles. I made an awful mess too! I dont think these had been looked through in sometime and old photos have crumbling edges or cardboard sleeves and little pieces falling off, leaving a pile around me. After I went through one basket for sometime, I crouched down to find some larger photos, oh no! Sighhh, I love this stuff, I want it all, but the pocket book will not allow. I am heartbroken by so many dispersed lost family photos, and this stack had photos 5×7, 8×10 and larger ones.
Then after I finished that stack, I saw another basket up high, that was it, i went up front to ask if someone could get it down, and also if there was a place I could sit and look through them. They allowed me to use a leather chair in the booth across the way and I just made piles on a trunk next to me.

After that I saw the locked cases, and in it were albums! I loveeeeee LOVEEE Loveeee photo albums complete with the photos still intact. I was so excited, the man brought three over to me, 2 of them were full of postcards(Im sure that excites all the postcard collectors here) but I wanted photos so I put those 2 back in the case, and found a wonderful album I had to have. If I left with only one item this would have been it. I have never seen so many old photos in one booth before in any antique store I have visited, this is the vendors specialty it seems. I could have stayed forever. I picked out photos as usual with info on the backs so I could do detective work, and then whittled my pile down gradually as it was too expensive to get all of them.

So today’s Sepia Saturday post is from the album I found in Phoenix, Az. When I looked at the theme for the week, I immediately knew what I was going to use! A storefront!
As this was in the album I just brought home. This is one of those leather covered, string bound with holes through the center and black paper with pretty white ink captions written on the pages. It seems to be “Ed and Alden’s Trip 1931”

At first the album was full of first names but no last names on the photos of these 2, Until I found a page with “Ma and Pa Lake” in some photos, so I did a search on “Alden Lake” and bingo! I matched up 3 other names of the siblings to others in the photos and Im quite sure a perfect match as to who they all were.

I tried to find a good shot of the two fellows together but most are separate, so as i browsed some more there are some earlier pics of them and some of them 7 plus years older. Please meet “Alden and Ed August 1925 Dirty Friends”

From all that I can gather, Alden and Ed were brothers or Ed is a friend, but Alden did have a brother named Edmund.

From Family Search 1920 Census Records I have found them living in Providence,  Rhode Island

Llewellyn R. Lake – Pa

Harriet E. Lake – Ma

Richard B. Lake – Son

Alden R. Lake – Son

Edmund M. Lake – Son

Milton H. Lake – Son

Photo of Alden, Ma Lake, and Aunt (cant make out other word?) 1932. Love the way this one is posed

This  next photo has the caption “Ed in Montreal 1931”   

I wish I could fully see the sign! But all I can make out is the words SODA, Orangeade? , Shops, maybe someone will recognize what this was and can chime in. Perhaps some Canadians can assist this go around as some of the photos in the album are in Canada along with the USA.

Next photo says “ALDEN in Montreal 1931” and I can make out “THE THREE MUSKETEERS TAVERNE” , Dawes Lachine” and “Broadway Billard Room” on the glass also.  From internet research I can find some info on Dawes Brewery in Montreal but my guess this is probably a location that served their brew? Not the actual spot, since I have found pics online of the actual Brewery. ” The “Dawes”, Lachine’s first industry, was founded in 1811 by Thomas A. Dawes.”

This photo says “Val’s Boston Store 1927-28”  it is “The Great Atlantic & Pacific” also know as the “A&P” which my Mom spotted right away as she remembers these stores, but said they just called them the A&P. Val is family or friend as I see his name on other photos in the album.

And to close, some fun photos of Ed…

Ed in his room 1932

Love this one below, with the camera man in the mirror and Ed laying on his dresser, had a little fun and it appears these fellows had a little flair for the dramatic, some of the photos appear to be from plays or acting. Hope you have enjoyed just a tiny peek into this album!