Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Back In Time On Columbia Street: Of Photographers And Fuel Trucks

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I loved the old photo of Jos. Tragale's Fuel Oil and Kerosene truck from the moment it landed in my inbox. It was sent to me by fellow Carroll Gardener and history buff Alexandrea.

I cannot tell you if that is Mr. Tragale in the photo standing here on Columbia Street . Does anyone know?

Though the truck and the man leaning on it are very interesting, I was also curious about the stores behind him. I know that Columbia Street was THE shopping strip long ago, before Robert Moses divided the Carroll Gardens neighborhood with his highway. Here, on the photo, is evidence of that thriving commercial strip. At 264 Columbia Street there was a self-service supermarket and at 262 there was Palmisano's photography studio.

And this is where things get even more interesting. I googled the address to get an idea of exactly were on Columbia the photo was taken. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found mention of a photography studio. But the name was not Palmisano. Instead there is mention of 'Leeds' a photo studio which must have predated Palmisano.

On a beautiful web site filled with old photographic portraits, I found three Victorian photographs stamped Leeds. Take a look at them below.

Unfortunatelly, dear readers, when I walked down to Columbia Street yesterday, my heart sank. The old 262 and 264 Columbia Street buildings between President and Carroll Street are long gone.
 portrait photos from Mirabelia at All You Beautiful Ghosts

Update:
Below are three portraits taken at Palmisano Studio at 262 Columbia Street. They were provided by Daniel Marino, Mr. Palmisano's grandson. Marino followed in his grandfather's footsteps and became a photographer himself.


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is wonderfull stuff to look at.Great portraits. Thank you.

Vince

Kelly said...

Hi Vince,
Glad you like them. Isn't it cool to see photos of past Carroll Gardeners?

Anonymous said...

I was married to the Jr joseph tragale for 27 years... wow! NEVADA

Kelly said...

Hi Lynn,

My goodness! That is great. Please, please, please tell us more...
Katia

Anonymous said...

Palmisano's was my grandfather's photo studio. He died before I was born, but just looking at this photo makes me feel closer to him. Thanks for posting it!
-Jennifer Marino Walters

Kelly said...

Hi Jennifer,

That's great. Maybe you can tell us a bit about your grandfather? I am sure others would love to hear about him and his studio.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that is Mr. Joe Tragale!
....he is my great-uncle. We have the same photo hanging in our home!

Kelly said...

Wow,
that's cool. Could you please tell us a bit about your great-uncle?
Would love to hear about his life here in Brooklyn.

Mark H. Besotted said...

Great post, thanks.

I linked, and posted a Palmisano portrait over on my blog (with a link to another one for sale on Etsy).
http://heylookatwhatifound.blogspot.com/2011/09/family-portrait-gallery-3.html

Unknown said...

I have a portrait of my great grandmother...it says Roubain Palmisano Studio 262 Columbia st. Thank you for preserving some history!

Joe said...

John was My father's best friend & my favorite uncle & I had 18 Uncles...He was a gem & passed away when I was 17 in my senior year of High School... R.I.P. Uncle John & Aunt Vee
Love Always Joseph S.

Katia said...

Glad to hear that John continues to be remembered.

Mary Cline said...

I used to live at 235 Columbia (in the mid 1960s) in a former photography studio on the second floor. The middle room had 2 skylights........one running diagonally ceiling to floor, facing north. I found boxes of glass plates in a closet and regret not looking at them closely. Does anyone know what photographer did business at 235..and does anyone know when these buildings were put up?
WHEn I lived there, there was a shoe store on the ground floor, grocer with a side buiness in Italian ices, a movie theater, guys singing harmony at night on the corner, a Union Street bakery outside our back windows...hard to sleep and smell baking bread.

Incipient Madness said...

I am scanning photographs from my Grandmother's great Aunts photo album -we don't know who any of the people are other than realtives of some kind and have very few dates to go by. One is a photo from Leeds photography studio at 262 Columbia Ave. I was thrilled to find your photograph of the street at that address --do you know when Leeds became Palmisano?

Katia said...

Sorry, I do not, but you may want to contact Daniel Marino, his grandson at www.danmarino.com. He probably would know

Lisa Brank said...

I too came across this page by doing a search of a photographer's address; 241 Columbus Street. I have a portrait of my grandmother in her communion dress in 1926 from Lee's Studio.

Frk. Brit said...

I have a picture of my grandfather taken at Lee’s, 241 Columbia Street. I just did a search today and came along this page.

donmago said...

My wife has a small hand mirror, about the size of a business card, that is framed and backed in a plastic material. On the back is a photo of her taken in September, 1940 at Roubain Studios, 262 Columbia Street, Brooklyn. In the early 1980s she tried to find what happened to the photographer and owner of the studio. She did find, living in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, the son (first name?) of a Mr. (first name?) Roubain who owned the studio. The son said he did have, at that time, some materials from the studio. Read "Graciela, No One's Child" by Grace Banta, available at Amazon.com, for the important part this photo had in Grace's life. Grace had been abducted at age 6 months, from Brooklyn to Mexico, where she grew up to adulthood with two dreams; to get back to her country of birth and to find her family.