Skip to main content

Piano Man

Central Avenue down here is a lot like Seminary Street in G-Burg.  Antiques, restaurants, specialty cupcake shops, retro stores, bars, art galleries, you name it. Fun street to check out on Saturdays.  On a recent stroll this piano was outside a vacant store on the sidewalk.




It was weathered, falling apart in places and seemed to have been here a while.  Probably waiting for the junkmen to haul it away, it still was an unusual thing to see.  







The lower panel was gone exposing the innards and some of the once nice was flaking off.  I didn't have my camera with me but did have my i+phone so I took couple of shots.  It was bright out and I couldn't really see what i was taking too well, but I shot anyway.   I looked up the company and discovered Horace Waters was a reputable instrument maker back in the day.   



The firm of Horace Waters & Co. is one of the older and more historical names in the American piano industry. Horace Waters established his 'Piano & Music Establishment' in New York in 1845. In the first decade, Waters was a large retailer for pianos, melodeons, organs, sheet music and other miscellaneous musical merchandise. In the late 1850s Waters began building his own organs and melodeons with great success. After the Civil War, Horace Waters began building pianos in addition to his organ and melodeon line. In about 1864, Waters admitted his two sons T. Leeds and Horace Jr. into the firm. Pianos built during this period were often labeled as "Waters & Sons". The organs and melodeons were discontinued in the last part of the 19th Century due to the rising popularity of the piano. Waters was known for building very high quality instruments, and they enjoyed a very good reputation in the industry. In the 20th Century, Horace Waters produced pianos under the names of Horace Waters & Co., Waters, and Chester. He also produced a line of player pianos under the name "Waters Autola". Horace Waters went out of business in about 1949.

Wikipedia






When I returned home I brought up what my little iPhone had taken and was somewhat astounded at the beautiful pictures it had taken.  Just walking down the street and haphazardly snapped a few of this old piano in the harsh sun, the photographer not even being able to see where he was aiming or composing.  These are amazing pictures for what I consider an inferior camera.  You just never know.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...
Post a Comment
Read more