Boarding House Blues

Author: Tiger Wiseman

1 July 2024
Sodom or Poor Man's Paradise?

Coney Island, a three-mile peninsula off Brooklyn, NY, has always been both famous and infamous — which accounts for its early nickname “Sodom by the Sea.” Until the turn of the century, Coney Island was an island. In the early 20th century, thanks to a great deal of landfill, it became "attached." The peninsula comprises […]

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1 June 2024
Flappers - Shanghai style

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month — a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States — which led me to wonder if there were any Asian flappers. China also experienced their version of the Roaring 20s in Shanghai. Because of the opening of trade in the 1920s, there were many Western influences […]

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1 June 2024
Capone's "white sheep" Brother

Chicago gangster Al Capone was one of nine children born to Gabriele Capone, a barber, and Teresa Raiola, a seamstress. James Vincenzo Capone was the couple's first-born child, and one of two born in Italy before the family emigrated to the U.S. His U.S.-born siblings, Al, Savatore and Ralph, became members of the notorious Five […]

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2 April 2024
Japan in the 1920s

I usually blog about the Roaring 20s in the U.S., but yesterday I arrived in Japan for two weeks. So, I'm looking at the non-roaring 20s here. In World War I, few people from Japan died. In fact, the country only lost 415 people and all of those were in the military. No civilians died. […]

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2 March 2024
Do Not Disturb. Writer at Work

This is for all you writers who need complete quiet and concentration when you work — provided you don't suffer from claustrophobia. In 1925, editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback proposed an invention to eliminate noise distractions. Gernsback dubbed his creation "The Isolator" helmet. His prototype helmet was made of wood and felt, and included a […]

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13 February 2024
The Truth Behind An American Tragedy

Many, if not most, of us read Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy during high school. His novel examines the disillusionment of the American Dream. In it, Dreiser reveals how the pressures of society toward financial success, coupled with the protagonist's urges, drive him to his own destruction. But did you know it's based it is […]

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3 January 2024
Recipes: Past & Present - Creamed Oysters

Food is one of my passions. Cooking perhaps even more than eating. I collect cookbooks and read them for fun. I have a separate Kindle just for e-cookbooks. You get the picture. Recipes from 1920 looked — and probably tasted — a lot different than today. Judging from old cookbooks, many, if not most, recipes […]

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1 December 2023
Monkey see, monkey do.

Who among us hasn’t played “follow the leader” on monkey bars? And fallen off with a resounding thud. While many monkey bars are stand-alone units today, they were originally part of a jungle gym. The first jungle gym was invented in 1920 and patented by Chicago lawyer Sebastian Hinton. While the term "monkey bars" was […]

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1 November 2023
Here she is, Miss America

In the Fall of 1920, local Atlantic City, NJ business owners devised a scheme to extend the tourist season into September. They planned to stage an "inter-city" beauty contest where local newspapers would select contestants and pay for their wardrobe. The Atlantic City Businessmen's League would pay for their travel to the contest. Newspapers in […]

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1 September 2023
Before there were dealerships, there were salons

The prosperity of the 1920s led to new patterns of consumption for consumer goods like radios, vacuums, beauty products, and clothing. For many, this new pattern included cars. Prosperity, coupled with the expansion of credit, put automobiles within reach of average Americans. Now individuals who could not afford to purchase a car at full price […]

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