Twenties elegance

Although not marked, this is another walking picture most likely from the prolific firm of Sunbeam, taken in Margate, more specifically the Bungalow Tea Room gardens, a popular cafe at Cliftonville (sadly all long gone). This postcard dates from the late 1920s and I particularly like it for the immaculate hats the smartly dressed young couple are sporting. This path was a favourite of the walkie cameramen for many years, with the elaborate trellis work very easy to spot. There are quite a few scratches on the print, this being the days of glass negative plates, suggesting pressure in the darkrooms! I’m not sure why the cameraman framed it at this distance, leaving lots of empty pavement and other people in the shot, though it gives us plenty to look at today.

More on the Bungalow Tea Rooms on the site.

pier attractions

Good to see some of the old seaside entertainments live on! This head in the hole comic board was at the entrance to Weston Super Mare’s pier when we visited in 2023. These days they have given up trying to charge for prints, you just whip out the mobile phone and snap away. Which is fine, except there will be no postcard prints for people to collect in 50 years…

In the pavilion at the pier head was another variation on the seaside portrait. Inside a spooky horror train ride they have fitted cameras and flash units, which are triggered as the car goes by. You can then nip upstairs and look at the photos in screens, and if you like them have a print made, or some other photo souvenir. This sort of fairground souvenir photo has been around for almost 100 years now! However a quick look at the samples shows that everyone is sat behind a safety screen, so all the photos have you obscured by a mesh grid… strange.

Shopping on Regent Street

The two ladies from the Felixstowe walking pictures turn up again, shopping in London.  In one of the prints we can just make out Nelson’s Column in the background, while the other two examples were taken on Regent Street.  I assume that these prints may have been dispatched by post. It is clear that the quality is far below that of the older Felixstowe prints. The shots are blurred and lack focus, so seem to have been taken by someone with a lack of experience in the trade.  They are not dated but I would think just post-WW2 from the outfits.  I cannot work out which street the Nelson’s Column image was taken; the low level colonnaded fence might provide a clue to someone who knows this area of London well! 

The Regent Street images look to have been taken on the same shopping trip though frustratingly the name on shopping bag (which appears between the frames) cannot be read.

Felixstowe ladies

To me mention of Felixstowe brings to mind Europe’s largest container port; the actual seaside town is not somewhere I know much about.  But it was a very popular resort especially up to the second world war and of course the walking picture photographers were busy here during the 1920s and 30s.  Mr. Snaps and Jackson’s Faces were the biggest names in the trade here, both well represented in this montage of walkies in immaculate condition which I picked up recently.  In total there were 18 walking pictures taken over what looks to be a 15 year period (they have not dated any of them), all taken on the seafront walk.  This walk goes for a long distance, and is only just above the pebble beach, which makes for a nice level walk I’m sure – but a problem when trying to identify unmarked walking pictures 100 years on!  

The two women in all the cards seem to be sisters, and a couple show them with friends.  Sadly there is nothing to identify who they are, but it does demonstrate how popular these street portraits were with people. I’m glad I found the collection before they got  split up too.

There were four more walkies in the batch which looked to be from an urban location which turned out to be London, and I will post those at a later date.

Vintage fashion

Here’s another mystery walking picture I picked up recently, mainly as it was dated by one of the two ladies who were captured by the movie camera on a sunny day in 1932. I had hoped I could identify the location but am unable to do so. It is one of a number of high contrast walking pictures I have by the same firm, probably Sunfilms, who were taking this sort of film strip from around 1929 (this is the middle frame of three, size 60x70mm). There are a number of trams in view and also some gents in what might be porter’s uniforms behind the two women, so it may have been snapped in a city rather than a coastal town. The woman on the left is clearly dressed in fashions of an earlier era but others in the scene have more up to date hats and outfits. I cannot decipher the christian names, the surname is probably Ferguson. If anyone recognises the spot do let us know!

Whitby weekend

Despite being a popular seaside destination, walking pictures from Whitby seem thin on the ground, so this find helps add a little detail. Unidentified, the long warehouse in the distance turns out to be the timber store for Corner and Brown, a firm long established in the town. A quick look at street view confirmed the location, today known at New Quay Road. This dock area was a relatively late addition to the town’s shipping industry and later became a drop off point for coach trippers and parking spot for cars. This walkie was taken in the late 1940s I think, and you can see the coach the three ladies have arrived in. Five minutes off the bus and the cameraman has ticketed them before they have even had time for a late morning cup of tea! Let’s face it, they’re not headed for the beach dressed like that. Like all walking pictures, a tiny moment in time.

Much of this view has now changed, see the street shot below; and even replacement development overlooking this part of the harbour from the early 70s is now being ripped down (it would be nice to hope the town’s impressive library there might survive but what are the chances?).

Another walkie from the town on the site under the Walkies By Town menu