Old Ogden Photos are a Time Machine

Ray Cardon's hobby snapshots in 1940 are a real time machine looking into Ogden's past.

The corner of 22nd and Washington, looking west, about 1940. Photo by Ray Cardon

Cardon was a pharmacist at the H. E. Riley Drug Store, 2201 Washington Blvd. That's where he got his film developed. I found more than 100 (I'm still counting) of his negatives in a box of unsorted negatives stores in the Union Station Library's back room.

How'd they get here? No clue.

Hugh Riley?

Ray Cardon is the father of Ogden attorney Kelly Cardon.  Kelly told me his dad only worked a couple of years at H.E. Riley. World War II came along and Ray joined the U.S. Navy. After the war he came home and set up his own drug store on 24th Street.

Ray met his wife at that drug store, Kelly said. Eventually Ray operated several businesses in and around Ogden, including a flower business.

Ray was a pretty prolific photographer. In a previous blog I showed some of his snaps of the Pioneer Days Parade going past the front door of the drug store. The business was a perfect perch to see it all. There are other pictures of a very early Ogden Canyon, Ogden High School, and scenery around Pineview Reservoir.

But what about the drug store itself? He did take pictures of that.

It's hard to tell who he took pictures of. Kelly is wracking his brains trying to recognize them, but we can guess.

This gentleman, in a nice suit standing in the front door, has the air of a man who owns where he is standing. My guess, this is Hugh Riley, the owner of the drug store. Who else would stand like that for a formal picture?

There is a series of pictures of people either waiting outside the store to get in, or piled up at the counter, drinking Pepsi and eating lunch. These pictures have the feel of some sort of special even at the drug store.

Perhaps the grand opening? I need to dig into the old newspapers and see if there was a news announcement of it.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that these pictures are square, not rectangular. That would mean Ray was using a different camera, or perhaps someone else was taking these
pictures? No clue.

I love the look of this woman, obviously very impatient to get in the door. They've got tooth brushes on sale for a nickel and, by God, she's going to get some! Wanna bet she elbowed that kid next to her?

Ray shot a few customers or workers at the store too. I wondered if the young lady was the girl he eventually married, but Kelly said no, that's not his mom.

There's a kid who looks like your standard soda jerk ... probably some college kid making summer money.
d.

I love the shot at the top of this post showing the whole corner, looking west from across the street. To the right right was Tabernacle Square, where the LDS Church operated. You can't see the tabernacle, but you can see cars parked on the side street, folks walking across the street, just going about their business.

What would  a stroll down that street have been like? Full of things to see.

Commerce was more compact back then. Businesses themselves tended to be tucked into small buildings. Fewer folks had cars, after all, so business went to where the customers could get to them, not vice versa.

As a result, if you lived downtown, you could do most of your daily marketing with a short walk.

And a lot of folks did live downtown. According to the 1941 Polk City Directory, the Gregory Apartments upstairs from the drug store were mostly occupied, eight of the 12.

You can see Wheeler Bakery next door to the south of the drug store. What you can't see further down the block was an O.P. Skaggs warehouse next to Wheeler Bakery. Then there was an O.P. Skaggs grocer and meat market.

At 2215 there was Quality Cleaning. At 2219 you had the Community Bakery, and at 2221 you had the Coffee Mug Restaurant. At 2223 there was the Grill Market, selling meat.

At 2229  you would go into Sears & Roebuck department store. At 2243, still not even halfway down the block, was Bud's Barber Shop, then Rainbow Market and meats at 2245. At 2247 there was Central Market grocery and meats.

Four grocery stores, two bakeries, a drug store and a barber shop, all in one block and that's just on the west side of the street. There were more clothing stores and grocers on the east side, all within one city block.

You could leave your apartment, buy food, clothing, aspirin, a soda and newspaper and go back home, all without breaking a sweat or spending a cent on transportation. If you worked for the railroad -- and in 1940 a lot of Ogden folk did -- you could get by without a car in Ogden very nicely.