Photo of The Month – Jun 2005

Panorama

Contributor: Grover Haynes, Jr.

In the midst of World War II, probably in the summer of 1944, Ina Fortune Haynes mailed her son Grover, Jr., who was serving in the navy in the Pacific, a couple of photos made of the square in Cliffside. Grover kept them separate in his picture album all these years, and only recently joined them together to form this panorama. He suspects the car at far right may be his father’s 1938 Chrysler. The small white sign at lower right says “Reserved for Chas. H. Haynes.” The other tiny sign on the fountain fence says “Reserved for Bus.”

The oil-strained pavement in the foreground reminds us that cars in those years were prone to leak oil, so every parking space was apt to be greasy and black. A driver would always let the gas station attendent check his oil. The diagnosis might very well be: “You’re a quart low.”