kinda OT: how to locate vintage pics

well as the city finalizes ****ing me dry of all patience, time and their fair share of money,...and i get closer to opening my new shop, i have been wanting to get a picture of it back in the 40's.

it was beaudry motor company (chevrolet) in 1940 till ???the 70's i think...and im sure there is some pictures that were taken of it, by the city for site plans and what nots,....

so that leads me to my quest for help. i have asked the always helpfull people in the city works/permits building and the common response is,
"uhhh hmmm...well i dunno??" and i had tried contacting the family members of beadry motors (since they are still in biz) with no luck either.

so how does someone go about finding a black and white (or whatever)
photo image of the building back in its glory years as one of tucson's original car dealerships? i was told by an ispector that its out there somewhere (he just didnt know where)..because cities always do***ent on film buildings in the dowtown area of my size...

any suggestions fellas?

 

If that's it... that's gotta be some kinda record...!


JOE

 

cool pic, but not mine.

it says georgia there at the bottom....

my building is in tucson,...but thats the type of pic im lookin for,..and the right name...SO WE'RE GETTIN CLOSER BOYS!!!!

 

Here you go!

Oops. I saw the credit for GSU, but thought since it was an archive, maybe it was still your shop. I'll try again.

 

Yeah it's from a Library collection at Georgia State University, doesn't mean it's in GA, merely from their collection... They're one of the few to actually put theirs online....

 

ok ok ok guys......lol.....you are awesome for all your help and BELIEVE ME I APPRECIATE IT. but i need pictures of MY building in Tucson,Arizona that was originally a beaudry car dealership.

847 N. STONE AVE is the address if that helps you guys any...i do really appreciate the help, thanks again fellas

 

here is the building now, (except the name across the top is gone) if this helps

 

Go to the library, and ask about any books on the History of Tuscon - particularly pictorial books. Check the high schools for yearbooks - the car dealers advertised in them. Look for telephone books from the 50s - the yellow pages will have pictures of dealerships. Check with the university....a little digging is all it should take.


Mutt

 

Maybe you could just PRETEND it is yours ... I think you're going to dig up
plat drawings, survey info, etc to get them. Usually filed at city hall or the county seat (where ever tax info is). I got pics of my old house from the county zoning commision.

 

I don't know about the Tucson paper, but the Phoenix newspaper is always digging up old photos of the valley. The little city museum in Scottsdale has a lot of old photos of busineses, from the very early days of Scottsdale, it may be part of the chamber of commerce. Maybe Tucson has something similar.

 

Try insurance companies in your area. One of them covered the building and they take pics.

 

Yeah, thats the old Beaudry Ford in downtown Atlanta.

 

Another clue is the radio mic from "WBGE". "W" means east of the Mississippi River "K" designates west of the Mississippi.

 

DAMN! Thats some Matlock **** there!

 

I would suggest to try Google's image directory.
Go to Google.com, then click "images" above and type "tucson 1957" for instance. And change the year for each search perhaps.

In the meantime, I found a site with a few old pics of Tucson;
http://www.acmeron.com/arizona_towns2.htm
&
http://www.acmeron.com/Tucson/tucson_1970's.htm

Main site;
http://www.acmeron.com/

 

I would try going to the City and see if they have a local Historical society and if that doesn't pan out look for an area preservation society. Most major cities have designated areas of Historical homes and people tend to collect photos of the neighborhoods and business districts.

 

what's the closest history/natural history museum? usually, the curators at those places just itch for projects that require some sort of research in their archives.

cool building, btw. good luck with it.
dan

 

Apart from the university and/or public library archives, you might try the local used bookstores. The better ones usually have an ephemera section where they stash all the pictures that show up between the pages of books or that they pick up at estate sales. It's a long shot, but if you do find the picture you're looking for, it's yours for a quarter.

 

Beaudry sold mopars, not Chevys....I grew up in Tucson in the 60s-70s. The Chevy dealers were Orielys (still there on east Broadway) and Murray-Bryant somewhere closer to downtown.

There was a GMC dealer somewhere near Stone, in that part of town, into the 80s.

I agree with the library recommendation, go to the main library or the UofA library and ask around. Expect to waste several hours...or days....or send someone else off on this errand.

 

here's an ad (NOTE THE ADDRESS) from a 1971 Arizona Daily Star....I found the paper in the trunk of a parts car years ago, it's fun reading. At that time Beaudry's was on east 22nd, and Murray-Bryant was still at 22nd and Park.

Also try the Arizona Historical Society, I think they're in Tucson, they should at least be able to help you figure out where to find info.

 

Explain KDKA in Pittsburgh.

A lot of cities have archives in the public library that will have pictures of old buildings. Planning commission may actually have some as well. You could even approach the owners of Beaudry motors to see if maybe they have some stored away somewhere.

 

That's an interesting one. First exception I've heard to the above-stated rule.

 

...I'm not gonna be any help on your search, but I just wanted to say how great a place the HAMB is,...I'm continually amazed at the help someone can get on almost any topic. Good luck on your search!
.
..P.S. ...you mite try to find a post card collector; lots of times post cards showed stuff like this. (I've got an old post card of my town postmarked 1911 and shows one side of main street -there were at that time only bldgs. on one side of street- and the street was dirt!)

 

here's another ad, and with the correct address...sounds like the Sports Car Center and Import Motors might be the same company?

perhaps a used car lot owned by Beaudry? one of Beaudry's ads mentiones having a used car division, and also having new Hondacars for sale (only $1395)

 

It takes a lot of patience, but going through the micro-fisch from whatever was the big newspaper during the era you are interested in will yield information. Many times the public libraries in large cities maintain micro-fich for the local papers.

A.J.

 

Not to hijack here, but the rule isn't hrd and fast on the Mississippi. The call letters change over gradually in the middle of the country. In Dallas, where I grew up, there were call letters that began with W and some with K. The Mississippi river is just a good guide as to where the majority of stations will be one or the other. The east boast doesn't have any Ks and the west coast doesn't have any Ws. As an aside, the oldest stations only have 3 call letters instead of the now ubiquitous 4.

 

You're solution is . . .

 

wow i really appreciate the help!

and not to seem like im challenging you or anything but i do have the original blue prints from the construction crew that built the building in 1940 for beaudry motor company, it was originally a chevrolet (and possibly whatever else at the time) dealership. it says on the backside of my building "beaudry chevrolet motor co." i cannot speek for what it has been since its original beginnings, and what it may have evolved to while in the hands of the beaudry family, but i am certain about this.
the wall speaks for itself. my original copy of the blue prints, and my copies of the original permits say so.
i guess in the long run it was a blessing having an architech as **** as the one i used, because he has every blue print and permit attached to my new site plans for reference, for the inspectors (during my inspection process).
i knew it was a dealership when i got the building (why i got it)..but i dint know much more than that. but this has all been very helpful for me guys, i really appreciate it. i havent gone to the library yet, but i have checked with the city (prior to this thread) with no luck. but hopefully the library will turn something up!

 

I don't doubt you about it being a Beaudry Chevy dealership in 1940 if that's what the drawings say....that was 30 years before I really started paying attention to cars and dealer names and whatnot, and a lot could have changed in that time.

If you can find some 40s-50s publications at the library or wherever that would be a big help.