When I perused this section I found some, to me, rather interesting things. I noted just how much things have changed. I am sure my musings have logical reasoning behind them, I just don't exactly know what they may be. Let's have fun with this. Geyser Ice Co is listed under 'Air Conditioners'. Could it have been if either Air Con Engineering Corp, Brazelton Appliance Co, or Ruebeck C H Co couldn't keep folks cool, that Geyser could be counted on for blocks of ice for some alternative? Amusement...there were 3 athletic fields and Wright Wrestling arena on Clay av listed. Hmmmm. Ah! Uh-huh! Only 1 antique shop!! Carolina Home Craft Antiques at 1009 Jefferson. Now those of you who are local go get a new 2002 phone book and see how many you can count. There is a list of Asociations and Clubs, commercial, that is. Hmmm. Some I understand, like the Advertising Club, Baptist Federation of Texas, Federation Garden Club, McLennan County Tuberculois Assn, Texas Cotton Growers Assn, but some I wonder about in amusement. There was the Circle LaSalle Club which met on call. On call? For what? To watch folks drive in circles on purpose or because they are lost and confused? And how could they know without cell phones? Was someone staked out near there and near a payphone? :C) I have done that, once, drive around the thing a few times just for kix. Whooop-peeee! A Current Review Club? Met on call, too. I wonder what they reviewed. Was the Emerson Club for fans of the poet? And what did the Ensemble Club assemble for? There was both a Junior Enterpean and a Juvenile Enterpean Clubs. Excuse me, but doesn't this seem odd? Aren't Juniors juvenile's and vice versa? Or was one for good kids and one for bad? Beats me! And what was the Junior Pierian club for? Possibly a club for little lovers of piers? When! they revoked a membership did they tell them to take a long walk off a short pier? I shrug in bewilderment. I even see there is just a Peirian Club. For grown-ups I assume. I won't ponder too long on the Pleasure and Profit Club. They, too, met on call. Ponder on this yourselves. And what did the Thursday Study Club study?? Several start with the city name Waco...some make sense like the Waco Chamber of Commerce, Waco Girls Club, Waco Real Estate Board. But what was in the Waco Community Chest which is listed at 3d fl City Hall? Waco Insurance Exchange? What did they exchange, customers unawares, ideas on how to get more money for less services? (I said this was in fun!!) And what did Waco Service League service? Was the Roosevelt so popular they felt the need to have a Waco Traffic Club at thier place? Well, I reckon I probably caused some fits of apoplexy and I apologize, but I did say this was in fun. As usual, there was no shortage of Attorney's-at-law or lawyers!! Not much changed there. I found my paternal g.m.'s father listed among the barbers, Cornelius M Cunningham 313 S 3d!! Note some smile invoking names of shops.. A B C Barber Shop...sounds simple enough! Bank Barber Shop...my, did they have such outrageous rates they had thier own bank??? Bus Terminal Barber Shop...take a cut and run, huh? Hope they pd. first. Elks Barber Shop....Was it for elks only or could people get serviced? Hub Barber Shop..sounds like it was a real busy place..the hub of hair? Ok, maybe I am stretching it here. Interurban Barber Shop....was it limited to interurban folks or could outerurban folks get service too?? Medical Arts Barber Shop??? Bet they took more than enough off the top, and with surgical presicion too!! Yikes!! Oh, and what was so artsy about medicine? New Post Office Barber and Beauty Shop...cut, style and mail, huh? Wonder how many letters got cut short or patrons got stamped? Now I like this!! O K Barber Shop...sounds okay to me!! I just hope the service matched the name!! Palace Barber Shop...reckon the fellas were treated like Kings!! Wonder if they had a red carpet at the entrance and thrones for chairs? Provident Barber Shop...sit down and wait on providence to select and/or do the cut? Oh, now this is amusing! Sanitary Barber Shop...was that to imply they were cleaner than all the rest?? Were the patrons fumigated prior to entering? Hmmmmm.... Square Barber Shop....gave a square deal I hope, not a square cut State House Barber Shop...makes me think of government...wonder if the cuts were regulated and the prices hashed out in legislative style, maybe the conversation therein was typical of politicians West Side Barber and Beauty Shop...at 2205 Bosque not on the square. Wonder how you a find person's 'west' side? Okay, Okay!! I know, 'nuff already. I skipped those with just a man's name. Don't want to be accused of insulting someone's family name! Under Beauty Shops I found my pat. g.f.'s sisters shop... Mrs. Muriel Darwin 802 N 10th. Some of these names, like the Barber Shops above, are interesting. Baylor Barber and Beauty Shop...reckon you got right smart service there! Cinderella Beauty Shop...reckon many a lady, little or grown, left there feeling either like a princess or a queen. Hope they left no slippers behind! Cook's Beauty Shop..on this I walk as if on EGGshells as I am not intending to slander someone's name...but I wonder if the operator stirred the stew while she styled...must I spell it out?? stew, styled...ya, know, dish up the details...oh, go think about it!! Court House Beauty Shop...well, how appropiate. Get dolled up and see if you can sway a jury or judge...and I am sure it was done legally... Uh, how futuristic!! Infra-Ray Wave Shop....Marvin Martian just popped into my head..."sit earthling while my Infra-Ray waves your hair"... Mayfair Beauty Shop....I see visions of spring and fair beauty...refreshing.. Orchid Beauty Shop stirs imaginings of the exotic! Powder Puff Beauty Shop! A cut or style and a bit of buff, uh, puff... okay..... Young's Beauty Shop...oh, though probably a family name, how appropiate for it to adorn a Beauty Shop. Go in wrinkled and gray and come out smooth and blonde or red or whatever your natural color was!! Better still, go in at 50, 70 or 90 and come out 20!! YES!!! Oh, beer dealers!! Retail. Some names of these places are a hoot! Bridge Inn (Loop rd sw corner 11th) did the patrons wiggle across the bridge and wobble back hoping they didn't fall in the river??? LOL Circle Club....okay, maybe some go 'round in circles 'round that thing for another reason besides getting a kick or being lost!! First and Last Tavern...first one, last one out?? or as in your spouse said "That was the first and last time you ever see the inside of that place!!"? (all the way home!!!) Frosty Mug...'nuff said Green Gables...wonder if they had a waitress named Anne? Harlem Blue Moon....what can I say?? Palace Tavern....reckon that's 'cuz all the gals got purty like princesses or queens at closing time??? OH, I love this creative, yet honest, name!-- Rendezvouz The....well, ain't that what them awful places are for??? Royal Tavern...refer to comment on The Palace Tavern Silver Moon Tavern....what can I say?? reckon it's got to do with a silver lining behind every cloud, but after a few hours they can't tell a cloud from the moon?? Yellow House Beer Garden...reckon that house never got painted no other color!!! But I could think of better things to put in a garden!! Under Bottlers...Carbonated Beverages...there is Double Cola, Dr. Pepper, Holt Seven-Up, Nehi-Royal, Pepsi Cola, Real Juice Co., Texas Bottling Co. and Waco Coca-Cola...but the one that gets me is this: Liquid Sunshine Bottling Co....now, what on earth was liquid sunshine?? Did they maybe find a way to bottle the sun?? And why on earth in a place as hot as Texas!!! How amusing. Under Bus and Coach Lines -Motor (gracious, what else could they be) there is one called Bee Line..now I bet they gotcha somewhere fast!!! Was the State Venerial Clinic for what I think it was for?? located 3d fl City Hall. Texas may not have always been as hot as it has been the last several years. Under Fur Dealers and Furriers is listed two businesses!! How cool can ya get with Canadaina Fur Shop Inc 700 Austin and then there is Kirscner, Jacob at 317 1/2 Austin av! And my goodness the grocery stores!!! The list covers a 1/4 page, a full page, and half of another!! Gee whilikins. You locals look and count in the current phone book and see how many we got. And there's no H.E.B.!!! not any! Why would Bolger-Haney Funeral Home be listed under 'Invalid Coach'??? Gracious, couldn't they wait until someone was dead before transporting them to the funeral home? OH, OH!! I have growed up all my 38, almost 39, yrs. hearing the name as 'Lipshitz'. Any old timer in town calls it Lipshitz. I tell scoffers that was actually the family name, they raise eyebrows!! In the 1939 directory is listed Lipshitz Smelting and Refining Works...it was a real name. The family changed it somewhere along the way to Lipsitz, for obvious reasons. But hey, don't frown on old timers who remember and passed down the old name. It's been Lipshitz for me all my life and Lipshitz it'll remain. Harrumph!! I didn't Waco was bed of unions!! But yep, there are some listed. Unions for barbers,bookbinders,bricklayers,butchers,cement plant workers, electricians, firefighters, garment workers, lathers, musicians, painters, plasters, plumbers, printing pressman, roofers, sheet metal workers, stage employees, sterotypers, typographical. And there were labor temples (listed w/o the word 'union')- Brotherhood Railway Clerks of America, Brotherhood of Railway Clerks , Katy Machinists, Label League, Moving Pictures Operators. Wow. There is a looooonnnnngggg list of meat retailers. Butchers, I presume. When I think of Marstaller's I think of cars, not grocery, but they had one in '39! Huh. Piggly Wigglies aren't listed under Grocery Stores! Nuh-uh. They are under 'Piggly Wggly Systems'. Ya know, I remember the one on Herring where a DHS office is now and the one at Westview where Pep Boys is now and the one on Memorial in Beverly Hill where I think an Auto Zone is now. In this directory the one Herring is listed, #4 1509. OH, get this!! Pickle Manufactors! Waco Pickle Corp 508 S 11th. I didn't know we had a pickle place in Waco! Lots of Resturants and Lunch Rooms, but not catagorized as to type of food, like now. Here's a few: The Airport Inn on Bosque was near the airport. Oh, yes it was! Rich Field was the city's airport before Madison Cooper out near the lake, now Waco Regional. I cannot imagine why Avalon Nite Club, Friendly Nite Club, and Starlite Tavern, are listed here!! Bus Terminal Coffee Shop...I don't know 'bout ya'll but I am leary of eating at a place with the name 'terminal' in it!! Ah, the Golden Bear Cafe...need I say more? Ok, SIC'EM BEARS!! How quaint- Little Gypsy Tea Room 1133 Dallas Rd. Luby's New England Cafeteria?? This is neat...P D Q Sandwich Shop- Betcha didn't wait long! Round Up Cafe. Shady Grove Cafe. Silver Grill. Snack Shack. Subway Cafe (and we never had no subways! go figure). Wing Sing Cafe, wonder if wings sung before supper? Ok, Societies- Benevolent and Fraternal. Here's a few: Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge 166; Elks Home; Huaco Hayloft No 48 1/2 Haymakers Association I O O O R (now what did this stand for?); Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Knight of Pythias Waco Lodge No 484; Masonic Grand Lodge AF & AM; Pythian Sisters Temple No 85;Tehuacana Tribe No 56 I O O R M (what does this stand for?); Waco Assembly No 18 Order of Rainbow for Girls (anything like the Girl Scouts?); here are a couple of 'whatsits': Waco Chapter No 7 O E S, Waco Chapter No 45 R A M, Waco Chapter of De Molay; Wah Wah Tee Council No 15 Decree of Pocahontas. Oh, what was the Waco Commandery No 10 K T? And Waco Council No 33 Royal and Select Masters? This has me wondering... under societies miscellaneous... Youth's Temperance Council. Did it help keep kids from drinking, maybe help them if they did. I know it's a problem these days, but it's hard to imagine it may've so in '39. And this concludes my amusing musings of the business directory for 1939. I apologize if I offended any, wasn't my intention. This was all in fun!! Teresa G.O.S.P.E.L. - God Offers Sinful People Eternal Life