JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

 Port Huron Times Herald. December 31, 1925. It's been a long time, hasn't it?  In its last incarnation, this site was primarily used for bonus features related to articles I've written, or as a workaround for Facebook's continuing ban on Canadian news websites. Since the last time I wrote on here, I haven't been in the mood to round up the extra stuff and I've abandoned FB for 12 million reasons.  This site has evolved over its two decades, from an online diary to testing writing ideas to placating tech overlords. Having been dormant for over a year, I feel it's time to properly resurrect it with yet another new direction. That new direction? Going back to the "curio emporium" aspect of the title by digging into the thousands of files on my computer and posting material I've collected for reasons ranging from cool artwork to potential use for future professional assignments.  As social media decays into forms I'm not in love with, maybe it...

  Buffalo Times, December 31, 1921. Warning: this post will mix historical material with working out some thoughts about the present.  After the roller coaster of 2021, this cartoon feels equally at home now as it did a century ago.  Brantford Expositor, December 31, 1921.  After digging through some of the New Year's sentiments and sketches from that era, it's stunning how many only require minor adjustments to reflect present-day concerns and feelings - in many cases, you can replace the continuing repercussions of the First World War with COVID-related issues.  Regarding this front page cartoon, we're still dealing with housing insecurity, while you could swap labour disputes for the changes brought on (hopefully for the better in the long run) by the pandemic within the current labour force, and business depression into the insecurities surrounding operations under ever-changing conditions. Buffalo Times, January 1, 1922. In short, don't lose your head when ...

London Free Press, October 29, 1924. Halloween has snuck up on me this year. Not until the last week or so has it felt imminent, with decorations finally making their way onto local lawns. Celebrations feel like they're slowly making a comeback, and probably won't kick into full gear until next year (fingers crossed). Digging into my files for a quick post, I found a few pages I gathered from the London Free Press published in 1924 which offered party suggestions under the sort of ornate banner newspapers loved in the post-First World War era.  London Free Press, October 29, 1924.  A festive table setting to set the mood for your Halloween dinner party. The main article on the party page, which winds all over it, provides pointers on how to have "an electric Halloween celebration." It begins with some safety advice: The success of the Halloween party depends largely upon decorations and lighting. A Halloween without the lighted Jack o' Lantern would be like Chris...

Sometimes, while easing myself into a work session, I compose Twitter threads of things discovered while browsing through old newspapers. Sometimes these discoveries are made in the midst of research, sometimes through lazy browsing of online archives. This weekend marks the first time in nearly a year I've spent time in my hometown, Amherstburg. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather the first two days I was down here meant wandering around town and the rest of Essex County. Today is not so lovely, so I've parked myself in my Mom's dining room, where, depending on the angle, I can stare out into the lush greenery of the south end of town along the Detroit River. So, as an easing-into-work-you'll-see-in-a-few-months exercise, I decided to flip through the pages of the Border Cities Star from the second weekend of July a century ago. Instead of throwing this material onto Twitter, it seemed like a good excuse for a blog post where I could expand on some of the storie...

The December 31, 1920 edition of the Pasadena Post spotlighted (mostly) grinning photos of the paper's staff and local businessmen. Given my penchant for going down research rabbit holes related to anything quirky I stumble upon (and desire to learn more about places I've travelled to), this series will look at some of the stories behind the smiling faces.  Pasadena Post, December 31, 1920. A clean, fresh start to a new year? This installment's smile is courtesy of a business that would leave Pasadena with an art deco landmark. I discovered little about George F. Whitehouse, other than he remained an executive for Royal Laundry through the late 1920s, after which he was associated with another launderer. His 1946 obituary bluntly states that he "dropped dead at his home." Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1923. Royal Yosemite Laundry (the "Yosemite" part was dropped by the mid-1920s) grew out of a merger of three cleaners orchestrated by Arthur Clinton Tubbs ...

The December 31, 1920 edition of the Pasadena Post spotlighted (mostly) grinning photos of the paper's staff and local businessmen. Given my penchant for going down research rabbit holes related to anything quirky I stumble upon, this series will look at some of the stories behind the smiling faces.  Pasadena Post, December 31, 1920. He might be smiling out of habit but, based on the information I found about Clarke Bogardus, he may have hid plenty of pain behind that grin. At age 17 he enlisted for service in the First World War, ending up in an ambulance unit.  During the Second Battle of the Marne in August 1918 he, according to his obituary, "contracted a disease from which he never fully recovered."  Pasadena Post, June 5, 1920. After the war, he wrote the Post 's "Motor Gossip" column. He later established an advertising agency and was involved in Pasadena Preferred, an organization promoting local growth. By the late 1940s local papers periodically p...