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 facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  Note the propeller
1 comment
Read more