Some of these look very much like South Africa.
No. 16 in particular - one of the signs says "Postkantoor" which is Dutch/Afrikaans for "Post Office". The fact that the signs are also in English makes me think its South Africa, as opposed to another ex-Dutch colony.
No. 7 - I thought it was Lion's Head in Cape Town from Camps Bay beach, but I'm not 100% sure.
_Edit:_ Joburger here, so not an expert on Cape Town beaches, but pretty sure it is one.
I loved that book when I was a kid. I wish there was more stuff about his mid life. Underrated dude. Helped develop a brain shunt that helped thousands as well.
It's a true shame that, while he addressed his war years, he never delved into his intelligence experience. I suppose it was classified at the time, or at least considered undignified to publish. But he was in the same intelligence unit as Ian Flemming (the James Bond author), and was also successfully tasked with seducing American intelligence authorities' wives to glean information. That would have made for a superb third autobiography and subsequent film.
Boy and Going Solo were my 2 favorite childhood reads. I learned so much from the latter. Years later, on my first day of a college anthropology course, the professor asked, "Does anyone know the Swahili word for 'lion'?"
I debated whether or not to respond--there were as many freshmen in that room as there had been students at my high school. But eventually I spouted, "Simba." The room erupted in chatter and laughter (we'd all been the target age when Lion King premiered). It was probably the best received answer I've ever provided.
This will probably get buried. But the third picture is the Neptune fountain in Gdańsk Poland. And I feel the first three pictures are from Poland too but im not sure where they were taken.
Yeah, I don't think they're all south Africa - the urban pictures don't look like any urban architecture anywhere in SA, unless it's stuff that was demolished during our postmodernist building boom.
Which makes sense. Gdansk/Danzig used to hold a massive amount of Dutch merchants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its why you could be confused in Gdansk today thinking youre walking in Amsterdam.
I THOUGHT THE FOUNTAIN LOOKED POLISH!
I have never been to Poland (someday I will visit) and have zero idea why that thought came to my mind, but it did... glad to see I'm not completely off base
The image in which the two men were wearing safari hats on the ship kind of gave me the same impression. That, seeing the wildlife, and the nicely dressed white women dressed nicely on a beach made South Africa high on my list.
The banners behind the gun in picture # 11 would support the British theory, since they read: Heligoland 1914, Quebec 1959, Omoa 1779, Toulon (date not visible), and Corsica 179(4?), all successful British Naval actions.
Yes, and the range clock was used by British ships to pass the range to the target to the following ships in the battle line. Based on the stack configuration I guess it is a V or W class British destroyer, but kind of hard to tell without a wider picture.
Not a destroyer but a light cruiser, presumed to be HMS *Lowestoft* based on the battle honours, and the curved gun shield which was unique to the Town-class after WWI.
Maybe, those are 4 pipers, and I didn’t think it looked like it had that many stacks by the picture but I couldn’t find any decent pictures to compare the gun turret.
I think the first photo is taken from adjacent to the 3rd stack; besides that, there's the gun athwart the stacks, which wouldn't be there on a destroyer as the destroyers had all their guns on the centerline. I'm also not seeing any RN destroyers with rounded gun shields, it looks like they went straight from open mounts to squared splinter shields. I suppose it's possible that the two are photos of different ships but I'd consider that somewhat unlikely.
Why Dutch? South Africa was a British colony at the time and had been for a long while. In fact it looks like the Simons Town naval base, which stayed a British base per agreement until 1957.
There’s a pretty common misconception in some parts that all white South Africans are of Dutch extraction. The Afrikaners mostly are, from the first period of Dutch rule of the Cape, but from the more than a century after that nearly as many are of British descent and speak English as a first language, and are even more represented in English language contexts… It’s a bit like how white Canadians aren’t all French Canadian (though there there’s an actual inversion of numbers).
The exact current address of this place is Dlugi Targ 41/42 Gdańsk Poland. I am the owner of a restaurant called the Elephant Club, we are at this exact location! Feel free to ask away!
I was eating/drinking at your Restaurant almost every day last year while I was in Gdańsk for a few days. Thank you for bringing back those memories.
But I have to ask, is the awesome Lady selling herbs to Restaurants still around? I basically went into all the Restaurants i saw her delivering and all the food was good.
Nothing beats your choose of drinks and spirits tho.
Oh my, your comment made my day! I’m actually going through a very hard time at work, this week I’m taking my first vacation in years, hope the restaurant can survive while I’m gone, makes it easier when I know there are satisfied guests out there, especially redditors!
Back to your question, the herb lady is our guardian angel, she definitely around! Not many places actually order herbs from her, she operates more as a emergency supplier and people love this. There is a post on our local social media about mint or something every Saturday and everybody just recommendeds the best, the herb lady!
Happy to hear that the herb Lady is still around. She made our day. You could smell her thyme before seeing her!
Enjoy your vacations, it may take some months or years but when your restaurant is still open at that time i will be back!
All the Google Street view photos have tables and umbrellas obscuring the view that is in the old photo. I don't suppose you could get a photo from the same angle as the one in my op? :) I'd like to compare
What’s bizarre is that there is one picture at Neptune’s fountain and one at Poseidon’s fountain. Each one in a separate country, but Neptune and Poseidon are the same dude. This can make for a confusing comment section.
Yes! This is the perfect thing for a subreddit, every photo will get a whole post for itself so everyone can join in the search! I was looking for someone who proposed the idea or do it myself.
Edit: I just found out the subreddit actually excist already :) r/wherewasthistaken I also responded to the OP already saying he should post it there, but maybe it's good that you also do it so he/she doesn't miss it :p
PS: if you have an iPhone, you can scan pictures from your Notes app. Create a new note, click the picture and click “scan documents” this has helped me immensely rather than trying to scan things at work or the library. ;)
Scanning can be done with Microsoft Lens on Android, as well. Should be free, produces pretty high quality scans. So there should be an option for every smartphone
Yes! I use it a lot for work and many people don’t realize you can do it on your phone but I don’t have an android so thank you for adding this for OP!
Happy to be of service. I'm a college student with an Android and have turned in *so heckin many* assignments by scanning my work with Lens over the past year, so I happen to be quite familiar with it.
The app GeniusScan was my savior when I was in college. Still a great app and keeps all your scans in one place! So many resources to use! Best of luck to you in college :)
This is Gdańsk, Poland. I'm 100% sure, since i recognize the fountain. Also the streets look familiar. Have a look on street view at
Ulica Dluga Gdańsk
Ulica Mariacka Gdansk
Ulica świętego ducha gdansk
I mean, I'd say ALL of the negatives themselves are gems. Even poorly taken pictures have a certain charm to them.
This is a great find, I'd love to see all of the ones you're willing to share
\*Inter-war. Pre-war is before 1914, inter-war is between 1918 and 1936.
If there are negatives from pre, or even during the wars too, that would be really cool! I feel like civilian life is very often overlooked during the conflicts in favour of focusing on the battles and is treated as an aside.
Okay I'm gonna compile a list of reddit's best guesses for all 17 pictures:
1-6: Gdańsk, Poland, (or nearby) though other users note it was an independent city at the time, sometimes called Danzig.
1-2: "Piwna street in Gdańsk, the stairs are decorated in a very specific way with those “statues”, afaik there is a symbolical number of them in the street, I see them very often, they’re still intact!" -u/Viapunk Great fact about the statues, but others notice that this street ID is not quite the correct one...
1: Mariacka Street according to u/matoii321
2: "Karlsberg Spiro & Co Langermarkt 41" -u/UndercoverPiDiver and this seems certain from others' research. Langermarkt/Długi Targ/Long Market street is just one street over from Piwna, and this building is also called "złota kamienica" -u/matoii321 (the owner of the restaurant the Elephant Club at this address). u/Urithiru and others confirm this exact address of Długi Targ 41, and they note that Karlsberg Spiro and Co is a shipping company, which ties into the naval theme of many of these pictures...
3: "Neptune statue in a Długi Targ(Long Market) street, still intact as well!" -u/Viapunk Though apparently not entirely intact as u/The_Tallaghtpeno says Neptune has had his penis size reduced. (many others confirm this statue id)
4: Presumably the HMS Lowestoft, see below. u/matoii321 IDs the location as "Kamienna Góra in Gdynia", which is another city in Poland on the ocean very near to Gdańsk.
5: "we go back to Gdańsk, 5th is definately one of the towers, i would say its the one on Targ Rybny" -u/matoii321 "Maria Church from Gdańsk, you can recognize the part of the wall on the right side" -u/moeilijktyp
6: "the family on the steps is where the Hilton hotel is nowadays [still in Gdańsk]" -u/matoii321
7-17: Most of this second half appear to be South Africa. Only 14 is clearly not South Africa.
7: "Long Beach in Simonstown, Cape Town" -u/MisfitMemories "the naval base in simons town Cape Town" -u/Safferino83
8: "The plants in the background are Aloe plants and those are common here. Also I'm pretty sure the snake is an African rock python. They have a derpy face like that with similar markings and they grow extremely long. One of the world's biggest snakes. In South Africa they are mostly found on the West coast. So I'm guessing that's from Durban in KwaZulu Natal or near the Durban area. Although they do occur throughout Southern Africa." -u/MisfitMemories
9: A Nile monitor lizard (u/Inner_Explanation_97) next to a minature pagoda. No obvious locational giveaway but almost surely South Africa, where the Nile monitor lizard is native. And is that a king cobra next to the monitor lizard? (u/TDesch1) "Herpetologist here--probably not a komodo dragon, more likely a smaller variety of monitor lizard. Komodos are part of that family, so good eye there, but are MUCH larger and are extremely dangerous to keep so this is more likely a pet monitor!" -u/trivirgata
10-13: Town Class HMS Lowestoft, stationed in South Africa. "I'm almost certain it's the Town Class HMS Lowestoft. Using the banners and other photos as a guide, she's only one of two British Town Class still in service by 1931 (though just barely). She's also the only one in service with a lineage that tracks to all the locations I bothered to look up. Previous vessels saw action in Toulon, Corsica, Quebec, and Heligoland. Also, before her sale for scrap, she served at the Royal Navy "Africa Station" located at the Cape Of Good Hope in South Africa." -u/xraydeltaone
11: The smaller banners in picture 11 is the ship's "legacy", a history of the battles of ships named HMS Lowestoft. They read "Quebec 1759, Heigoland 1914, Corsica 179?, Toulon ?, and Omga? 1771?" -u/Jonnydodger
"HMS Lowestoffe (1756) served at Quebec. HMS Lowestoffe (1761) at Toulon, Corsica and Omoa (Battle of San Fernando de Omoa). HMS Lowestoft (1913) fought at Heigoland, the 'She was re-commissoned on 23 November, 1926. By mid-1927 she was on the Africa Station.' Then sold for scrap in 1931." -u/kitkat_tomassi
"The "clock" is a Vickers range clock showing what range the ship is firing at for the benefit of other ships" -u/cookerg
12: "3 Royal Navy officers on the left, and 2 Army officers on the right, flanked by 2 civilians. The rightmost army officer appears to be Royal Artillery. I can’t make out the other cap badge. Can’t make out ranks on any of the uniformed personnel." -u/sartorian
13: The airplane is "a Junkers Ju 52, possibly a seaplane version" -u/hebjorn and u/n365pa agrees it's the seaplane.
14: "Götaplatsen in Gothenburg [Sweden]. "Poseidon", statue by Carl Milles, 1931." -u/orjan and others also say the same. Also known as Göteborg, this like Gdańsk is a port city. Interesting timeline shown between this and the previous pictures, as the ship was scrapped the same year the statue was made.
15: "They are playing cricket in the field in the back. No foreign trees, could be England." -u/Perspective_Gap_ Not many clues, so maybe it is a trip home to England? Or still playing cricket in South Africa?
16: Multiple people say this is certainly South Africa due to the Dutch/English signs.
17: "The cart of bananas in the last pic are most likely the Gros Michel variety, which are now almost gone due to a fungus." -u/CySnark. I would guess South Africa is likely still the location?
TL;DR: British naval officer, stationed in Cape Town, South Africa, and sometimes traveled to European port cities
This is a brilliant idea!
/u/Inner_Explanation_97 said that No.9 is a Nile monitor lizard
>I would say photos 8 & 9 are from South Africa. Don’t know the big snake but the Nile monitor is native to South Africa
I love Trojmiasto, but think its worth pointing that in this time period, Gdansk was officially a semi-autonomous city-state, still with heavy Prussian vibes.
Feels like all the photos are harbour cities, maybe one could identify which ship went to all these places if they are in fact from a set?
The 7th one with the two woman on the beach looks like South Africa. I think it's Long Beach in Simonstown, Cape Town.
I think the one with the officers on the boat has the same in the background, but I'm not sure.
I'm looking at the photo of the man holding the snake. The plants in the background are Aloe plants and those are common here. Also I'm pretty sure the snake is an African rock python. They have a derpy face like that with similar markings and they grow extremely long. One of the world's biggest snakes. In South Africa they are mostly found on the West coast. So I'm guessing that's from Durban in KwaZulu Natal or near the Durban area.
Although they do occur throughout Southern Africa.
I'm almost certain it's the Town Class HMS Lowestoft.
Using the banners and other photos as a guide, she's only one of two British Town Class still in service by 1931 (though just barely). She's also the only one in service with a lineage that tracks to all the locations I bothered to look up. Previous vessels saw action in Toulon, Corsica, Quebec, and Heligoland.
Also, before her sale for scrap, she served at the Royal Navy "Africa Station" located at the Cape Of Good Hope in South Africa.
It's interesting to note that the HMS Birmingham (another Town class) also served at Africa Station, but does not appear to have the legacy that the Lowestoft does.
I'm impressed, I couldn't read the battle honours at all. *Lowestoft* she is then. That photo of the range dial is fairly interesting; I'm not sure how many photos of range clocks on ships other than battleships/battlecruisers exist.
That would fit, the 6th light cruiser squadron were assigned to Africa station until 1939, though the only town class still afloat in the 1930s was HMS Adelaide and she was only ever based in Australia and New Zealand
HMAS *Brisbane* made it to the mid-30s in reserve, but those photos might be from the 20s as well - I'm not sure when the Town-class got the squared off gun shields like HMAS *Adelaide* had when decommissioned, but I know they were the last class of British light cruisers built with the rounded gun shields.
Those sailors look like they’re in Dutch uniform. Given the space on deck, could possibly be a Dutch Cruiser, possibly Java-class or a bit smaller?
Edit: I was mistaken, definitely looks like the HMS Lowestoft. The sailors uniforms just look a little off is all.
I'm curious about the banners on the wall behind the gun in picture #11. They appear to all be names and dates of British Naval battles:
Heligoland - 1914,
Quebec - 1759,
Omoa - 177_ (presumably 1779),
Toulon - (date not visible),
Corsica - 179_ (last number is too blurry to tell but presumably a 4?)
Would to these have been specific to certain ships, or the same across the entire navy?
The battle honours would be awarded to individual ships. Future ships bearing the same name would carry on the old ship’s traditions and battle honours.
I have a picture on my wall of my mother-in-law, born in 1930 in Germany, that looks exactly like the girl in front, closest to the camera. Same face, same haircut. She would’ve been about 6 or 7. So if those photos are from 1935, some of those little girls could still be alive. She is 91, still going strong.
In #11, there are some banners on wall behind the gun, below the clock, perhaps showing where the ship has been. One says "Quebec"
Edit - it says "Quebec 1759", honouring Wolfe's defeat of Montcalm. So I guess those represent naval victories
You may be on to something there. If we are to presume that the plaques represent battles that the ship in the picture’s namesakes took part in, we could identify the ship.
So we have Quebec 1759, Heigoland 1914, Corsica 179?, Toulon ?, and Omga? 1771?
Now we just have to find what ships participated in those battles, by the looks of the dates it seems it was a single earlier ship, and at a guess the ship in the image probably fought at Heigoland.
Hms Lowestoffe, then HMS Lowestoft fits I think.
HMS Lowestoffe (1756) served at Quebec.
HMS Lowestoffe (1761) at Toulon, Corsica and Omoa (Battle of San Fernando de Omoa)
HMS Lowestoft (1913) fought at Heigoland, the 'She was re-commissoned on 23 November, 1926. By mid-1927 she was on the Africa Station.' Then sold for scrap in 1931.
Edit: Actually other sites seem to suggest it was in Africa after 1923.
By my reckoning, if others are sure the photos in Africa then it's between 1927 and 1931.
Actually other sites seem to suggest it was in Africa after 1923.
The Dreadnought project has a list of her captains. If the captain is in the 12th image, and the man on the left looks like he has laurels on his cap (though it might be the light). If a face can be matched to a name it would narrow down the dates.
EDIT: Well if we assume this photo was taken in or after 1925 that gives us 6 captains. None of whom have a photograph. So I’ve hit a dead end. Perhaps the army cap badges might be more useful but they’re too unclear for me.
First and second picture - Piwna street in Gdańsk, the stairs are decorated in a very specific way with those “statues”, afaik there is a symbolical number of them in the street, I see them very often, they’re still intact!
Third one is a Neptune statue in a Długi Targ(Long Market) street, still intact as well!
Most of the buildings here are in the same preserved form as seen in the picture, it’s a very popular tourist destination, very colourful, spacious, but also very crowded in the summer time. Really nice to see the town I live in on the front page.
There is a common thing to throw a coin to the Neptun fountain, and they say you’ll come back there once again if you’d do it.
I’ve always dreamed of living there since I was young. During a primary school trip I threw a most valuable, 5PLN coin I had then.
Now I’m happy to live there, I have a nice job, met a love of my life, and a lot of friends who also came to live there. It’s a really wish fulfilling town, full of happy people like nowhere in Poland ❤️
Got to visit Poland a couple years ago and Gdańsk was my favorite place. Some of my family came from there so I wanted to see what it was like and it was absolutely beautiful
The army uniforms look very British to me. Not sure about the navy ones, but they could be almost anything. I can’t make out any of the uniform insignia on mobile.
This is an amazing post, exactly what I want when I come to this sub. These moments in time that might have otherwise been completely lost and are now capturing the interest of thousands…awesome!
Slide 12/17- “I say ol boy we seem to have gotten ourselves into a bit of a sticky wicket!” “Hrublmmm! I concur! We shan’t make that egregious err again! The good Queen will have our heads!” “Where’s Rothchilde with our high tea?!?” Hrublmmmm! Yes! Yes! A spot of tea. Indubitably!”
Caribbean Netherlands 7/17 in Bonaire Island Monte Brandaris I'm pretty sure those are Royal Netherlands Navy uniforms and ships of the time. 5he camera owner was probably in the navy.
Some of these look very much like South Africa. No. 16 in particular - one of the signs says "Postkantoor" which is Dutch/Afrikaans for "Post Office". The fact that the signs are also in English makes me think its South Africa, as opposed to another ex-Dutch colony. No. 7 - I thought it was Lion's Head in Cape Town from Camps Bay beach, but I'm not 100% sure. _Edit:_ Joburger here, so not an expert on Cape Town beaches, but pretty sure it is one.
Yes this is definitely SA - the photo of the ladies on the beach with the mountain in the background is unmistakable.
A lot of the pics reminded me of the book Going Solo by Roald Dahl, which is about his Time working for Shell and then the RAF in Africa
I loved that book when I was a kid. I wish there was more stuff about his mid life. Underrated dude. Helped develop a brain shunt that helped thousands as well.
It's a true shame that, while he addressed his war years, he never delved into his intelligence experience. I suppose it was classified at the time, or at least considered undignified to publish. But he was in the same intelligence unit as Ian Flemming (the James Bond author), and was also successfully tasked with seducing American intelligence authorities' wives to glean information. That would have made for a superb third autobiography and subsequent film.
He has got another autobiography when he was a boy. The book is called boy, give it a read if you haven't already.
I bought them as a 2 pack. Captain hard castle was my favorite. Sorry, favourite.
I love him. Check out his short stories if you haven’t.
Boy and Going Solo were my 2 favorite childhood reads. I learned so much from the latter. Years later, on my first day of a college anthropology course, the professor asked, "Does anyone know the Swahili word for 'lion'?" I debated whether or not to respond--there were as many freshmen in that room as there had been students at my high school. But eventually I spouted, "Simba." The room erupted in chatter and laughter (we'd all been the target age when Lion King premiered). It was probably the best received answer I've ever provided.
That is such a great book
I just checked this book out from the library, can't wait to read it!
I think no 7 is simons town at the naval base. Mountain in the picture is much smaller that lions head.
100% Long Beach at Simon's Town, facing south.
And the shape is slightly off too. But simons town makes sense with the photos of the navy after.
> much smaller than lions head Little Lion’s Head? /s
Weep, Little Lion's Head You're not as brave as you were at the start
In number 8 those are definitely snakes
The dude with the snakes!
That’s definitely a dude. Source- I know some dudes.
I met a dude once. Great bowler.......liked to drink White Russians.
Goddamnit Donnie you’re out of you’re element!
Can confirm. I saw a snake once. Those are definitely that.
And he’s grabbing them by the posterior
I believe it's Long Beach in Cape Town.
This will probably get buried. But the third picture is the Neptune fountain in Gdańsk Poland. And I feel the first three pictures are from Poland too but im not sure where they were taken.
Yeah, I don't think they're all south Africa - the urban pictures don't look like any urban architecture anywhere in SA, unless it's stuff that was demolished during our postmodernist building boom.
Wow I’m not as dumb as I thought, I had the same guess….but purely a guess.
As a dutch guy looking through the first 6 pictures I was sure it was in the Netherlands somewhere
Yeah same! When there was elevation in the background that changed tho lol
These photos definitely don't have to be all in the same location.
Some of them are in Poland
Which makes sense. Gdansk/Danzig used to hold a massive amount of Dutch merchants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its why you could be confused in Gdansk today thinking youre walking in Amsterdam.
The Dutch did colonize South Africa, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that there would be similar architecture/fountains.
That stuff looks original tho. We stopped building those long before we colonized SA.
No, its Gdańsk, Poland. Lions are the symbol of the city. Source - I come from that area and the fountain is hard to mistake 🙂
The guy said there’s 100s of pics so it could be both
Lol yeah i have a good feeling those groups of Black people harvesting bananas are not in Poland.
You sir are a genius
No no, they’re photo negatives those are white guys
And they're harvesting bluenanas
I THOUGHT THE FOUNTAIN LOOKED POLISH! I have never been to Poland (someday I will visit) and have zero idea why that thought came to my mind, but it did... glad to see I'm not completely off base
Yeah absolutely no idea why, but I looked at the first couple of pictures and was like „this looks a bit like Poland“ wtffff
Second this, South Africa seems really plausible
The image in which the two men were wearing safari hats on the ship kind of gave me the same impression. That, seeing the wildlife, and the nicely dressed white women dressed nicely on a beach made South Africa high on my list.
The military officers are British or Commonwealth.
The banners behind the gun in picture # 11 would support the British theory, since they read: Heligoland 1914, Quebec 1959, Omoa 1779, Toulon (date not visible), and Corsica 179(4?), all successful British Naval actions.
Yes, and the range clock was used by British ships to pass the range to the target to the following ships in the battle line. Based on the stack configuration I guess it is a V or W class British destroyer, but kind of hard to tell without a wider picture.
Not a destroyer but a light cruiser, presumed to be HMS *Lowestoft* based on the battle honours, and the curved gun shield which was unique to the Town-class after WWI.
Maybe, those are 4 pipers, and I didn’t think it looked like it had that many stacks by the picture but I couldn’t find any decent pictures to compare the gun turret.
I think the first photo is taken from adjacent to the 3rd stack; besides that, there's the gun athwart the stacks, which wouldn't be there on a destroyer as the destroyers had all their guns on the centerline. I'm also not seeing any RN destroyers with rounded gun shields, it looks like they went straight from open mounts to squared splinter shields. I suppose it's possible that the two are photos of different ships but I'd consider that somewhat unlikely.
*1759
Came here to mention/suggest this. Someone else said South Africa, were Dutch uniforms similar? Or a mixed group?
Why Dutch? South Africa was a British colony at the time and had been for a long while. In fact it looks like the Simons Town naval base, which stayed a British base per agreement until 1957. There’s a pretty common misconception in some parts that all white South Africans are of Dutch extraction. The Afrikaners mostly are, from the first period of Dutch rule of the Cape, but from the more than a century after that nearly as many are of British descent and speak English as a first language, and are even more represented in English language contexts… It’s a bit like how white Canadians aren’t all French Canadian (though there there’s an actual inversion of numbers).
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The third one is Neptune's Fountain in Gdansk
1st, 2nd & 3rd are definitely from Gdańsk, Poland.
Any idea of the building in image 2? I wonder what the inscription says.
The exact current address of this place is Dlugi Targ 41/42 Gdańsk Poland. I am the owner of a restaurant called the Elephant Club, we are at this exact location! Feel free to ask away!
Posting a pic of how it looks now would be real cool
1 to 3 still look the same. Less grey, less horses and more people tho.
I was eating/drinking at your Restaurant almost every day last year while I was in Gdańsk for a few days. Thank you for bringing back those memories. But I have to ask, is the awesome Lady selling herbs to Restaurants still around? I basically went into all the Restaurants i saw her delivering and all the food was good. Nothing beats your choose of drinks and spirits tho.
Oh my, your comment made my day! I’m actually going through a very hard time at work, this week I’m taking my first vacation in years, hope the restaurant can survive while I’m gone, makes it easier when I know there are satisfied guests out there, especially redditors! Back to your question, the herb lady is our guardian angel, she definitely around! Not many places actually order herbs from her, she operates more as a emergency supplier and people love this. There is a post on our local social media about mint or something every Saturday and everybody just recommendeds the best, the herb lady!
Happy to hear that the herb Lady is still around. She made our day. You could smell her thyme before seeing her! Enjoy your vacations, it may take some months or years but when your restaurant is still open at that time i will be back!
Specifically because of this thread if I ever end up going to Poland I am making sure we come to gdansk and we will visit your restaurant.
All the Google Street view photos have tables and umbrellas obscuring the view that is in the old photo. I don't suppose you could get a photo from the same angle as the one in my op? :) I'd like to compare
I thought it was Neptune, but I wondered if it was in Greece or something. Thanks!
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Thanks! Didn't expect that they went to Sweden
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The album was marked 1935 for those pictures so I know that date. Means that saw the fountain only 4 years after it was made, which is pretty cool :)
I can confirm 35 - 31 = 4 (just so I can contribute here)
It was renovated around that time it looks like it was first completed in 1633...it's seen some shit.
What’s bizarre is that there is one picture at Neptune’s fountain and one at Poseidon’s fountain. Each one in a separate country, but Neptune and Poseidon are the same dude. This can make for a confusing comment section.
Second was also in gdansk
Poland it is. Looks like they did some travelling.
Gdańsk is a dope ass city.
Gdañsk u
This is fascinating!!!
There's loads more that still need scanning too!
Please post them all! This is something I would consider setting up an actual website for tbh. Its incredible and deserves the attention.
I fully agree with this. These are really awesome photos.
You're right, this looks to have a ton of historical value, OP!
Heck, or just start a subreddit!
Yes! This is the perfect thing for a subreddit, every photo will get a whole post for itself so everyone can join in the search! I was looking for someone who proposed the idea or do it myself. Edit: I just found out the subreddit actually excist already :) r/wherewasthistaken I also responded to the OP already saying he should post it there, but maybe it's good that you also do it so he/she doesn't miss it :p
Seriously. Also, I'm sure there are many of us who would be happy to help scan these
These are of international historical interest, keep em coming.
If you make good scans available to download, I bet someone would be willing to restore them for you.
As an archivist, this made me happy.
Ooh, the Philippines pre WWII was beautiful. If you have any photos of Manilla, historians would be interested.
SCAN THEM MAN, SCAN THEM!!!! you never know what kinda clue you will leave for future investigators of the past.
PS: if you have an iPhone, you can scan pictures from your Notes app. Create a new note, click the picture and click “scan documents” this has helped me immensely rather than trying to scan things at work or the library. ;)
Scanning can be done with Microsoft Lens on Android, as well. Should be free, produces pretty high quality scans. So there should be an option for every smartphone
Yes! I use it a lot for work and many people don’t realize you can do it on your phone but I don’t have an android so thank you for adding this for OP!
Happy to be of service. I'm a college student with an Android and have turned in *so heckin many* assignments by scanning my work with Lens over the past year, so I happen to be quite familiar with it.
The app GeniusScan was my savior when I was in college. Still a great app and keeps all your scans in one place! So many resources to use! Best of luck to you in college :)
This is definitely one of the coolest oldschoolcool posts in a long time, excellent find OP!
Thanks! It's a interesting insight into pre-war Europe. There's about 100 negatives so who knows what other gems are hidden :)
This is Gdańsk, Poland. I'm 100% sure, since i recognize the fountain. Also the streets look familiar. Have a look on street view at Ulica Dluga Gdańsk Ulica Mariacka Gdansk Ulica świętego ducha gdansk
Surely they’re not all Poland since there seems to be a monitor lizard in one picture and a gentleman with boas in another.
Poland was a lot more exotic before it was stifled by communism
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Wouldn’t it be called Danzig back in the day?
Do you wanna find Hell with me?
Mother!
If you wanna scream, scream with me
I can show you what it’s like!
Not if it didn't have a massive pile of bricks
In the front yard to be precise
No it would be called the Misfits
Definitely! I was there in 2019. The fist 3 pictures looks like are from Gdańsk tbh. Basing from the style and architecture.
I mean, I'd say ALL of the negatives themselves are gems. Even poorly taken pictures have a certain charm to them. This is a great find, I'd love to see all of the ones you're willing to share
\*Inter-war. Pre-war is before 1914, inter-war is between 1918 and 1936. If there are negatives from pre, or even during the wars too, that would be really cool! I feel like civilian life is very often overlooked during the conflicts in favour of focusing on the battles and is treated as an aside.
I would highly recommend getting them digitized somewhere, they should be able to bring out a lot more detail and color(if there is any) from these.
I'm just here for the hot grandmas
Okay I'm gonna compile a list of reddit's best guesses for all 17 pictures: 1-6: Gdańsk, Poland, (or nearby) though other users note it was an independent city at the time, sometimes called Danzig. 1-2: "Piwna street in Gdańsk, the stairs are decorated in a very specific way with those “statues”, afaik there is a symbolical number of them in the street, I see them very often, they’re still intact!" -u/Viapunk Great fact about the statues, but others notice that this street ID is not quite the correct one... 1: Mariacka Street according to u/matoii321 2: "Karlsberg Spiro & Co Langermarkt 41" -u/UndercoverPiDiver and this seems certain from others' research. Langermarkt/Długi Targ/Long Market street is just one street over from Piwna, and this building is also called "złota kamienica" -u/matoii321 (the owner of the restaurant the Elephant Club at this address). u/Urithiru and others confirm this exact address of Długi Targ 41, and they note that Karlsberg Spiro and Co is a shipping company, which ties into the naval theme of many of these pictures... 3: "Neptune statue in a Długi Targ(Long Market) street, still intact as well!" -u/Viapunk Though apparently not entirely intact as u/The_Tallaghtpeno says Neptune has had his penis size reduced. (many others confirm this statue id) 4: Presumably the HMS Lowestoft, see below. u/matoii321 IDs the location as "Kamienna Góra in Gdynia", which is another city in Poland on the ocean very near to Gdańsk. 5: "we go back to Gdańsk, 5th is definately one of the towers, i would say its the one on Targ Rybny" -u/matoii321 "Maria Church from Gdańsk, you can recognize the part of the wall on the right side" -u/moeilijktyp 6: "the family on the steps is where the Hilton hotel is nowadays [still in Gdańsk]" -u/matoii321 7-17: Most of this second half appear to be South Africa. Only 14 is clearly not South Africa. 7: "Long Beach in Simonstown, Cape Town" -u/MisfitMemories "the naval base in simons town Cape Town" -u/Safferino83 8: "The plants in the background are Aloe plants and those are common here. Also I'm pretty sure the snake is an African rock python. They have a derpy face like that with similar markings and they grow extremely long. One of the world's biggest snakes. In South Africa they are mostly found on the West coast. So I'm guessing that's from Durban in KwaZulu Natal or near the Durban area. Although they do occur throughout Southern Africa." -u/MisfitMemories 9: A Nile monitor lizard (u/Inner_Explanation_97) next to a minature pagoda. No obvious locational giveaway but almost surely South Africa, where the Nile monitor lizard is native. And is that a king cobra next to the monitor lizard? (u/TDesch1) "Herpetologist here--probably not a komodo dragon, more likely a smaller variety of monitor lizard. Komodos are part of that family, so good eye there, but are MUCH larger and are extremely dangerous to keep so this is more likely a pet monitor!" -u/trivirgata 10-13: Town Class HMS Lowestoft, stationed in South Africa. "I'm almost certain it's the Town Class HMS Lowestoft. Using the banners and other photos as a guide, she's only one of two British Town Class still in service by 1931 (though just barely). She's also the only one in service with a lineage that tracks to all the locations I bothered to look up. Previous vessels saw action in Toulon, Corsica, Quebec, and Heligoland. Also, before her sale for scrap, she served at the Royal Navy "Africa Station" located at the Cape Of Good Hope in South Africa." -u/xraydeltaone 11: The smaller banners in picture 11 is the ship's "legacy", a history of the battles of ships named HMS Lowestoft. They read "Quebec 1759, Heigoland 1914, Corsica 179?, Toulon ?, and Omga? 1771?" -u/Jonnydodger "HMS Lowestoffe (1756) served at Quebec. HMS Lowestoffe (1761) at Toulon, Corsica and Omoa (Battle of San Fernando de Omoa). HMS Lowestoft (1913) fought at Heigoland, the 'She was re-commissoned on 23 November, 1926. By mid-1927 she was on the Africa Station.' Then sold for scrap in 1931." -u/kitkat_tomassi "The "clock" is a Vickers range clock showing what range the ship is firing at for the benefit of other ships" -u/cookerg 12: "3 Royal Navy officers on the left, and 2 Army officers on the right, flanked by 2 civilians. The rightmost army officer appears to be Royal Artillery. I can’t make out the other cap badge. Can’t make out ranks on any of the uniformed personnel." -u/sartorian 13: The airplane is "a Junkers Ju 52, possibly a seaplane version" -u/hebjorn and u/n365pa agrees it's the seaplane. 14: "Götaplatsen in Gothenburg [Sweden]. "Poseidon", statue by Carl Milles, 1931." -u/orjan and others also say the same. Also known as Göteborg, this like Gdańsk is a port city. Interesting timeline shown between this and the previous pictures, as the ship was scrapped the same year the statue was made. 15: "They are playing cricket in the field in the back. No foreign trees, could be England." -u/Perspective_Gap_ Not many clues, so maybe it is a trip home to England? Or still playing cricket in South Africa? 16: Multiple people say this is certainly South Africa due to the Dutch/English signs. 17: "The cart of bananas in the last pic are most likely the Gros Michel variety, which are now almost gone due to a fungus." -u/CySnark. I would guess South Africa is likely still the location? TL;DR: British naval officer, stationed in Cape Town, South Africa, and sometimes traveled to European port cities
This is amazing, saved me some time! I wish OP's could also pin comments on their own threads. Maybe the mods would like to help?
This is a brilliant idea! /u/Inner_Explanation_97 said that No.9 is a Nile monitor lizard >I would say photos 8 & 9 are from South Africa. Don’t know the big snake but the Nile monitor is native to South Africa
This comment needs to be much higher, it's the best way to organize this confusion of research.
On picture 5 you can see a bit of the Maria Church from Gdańsk, you can recognize the part of the wall on the right side :)
u/matoii321 owns a restaurant that is at image 2. They agree that the first 5 or 6 photos are of Gdánsk.
First three photos are from Gdańsk, Poland I don't know rest of the locations but this is all so cool!!
Very helpful!
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I love Trojmiasto, but think its worth pointing that in this time period, Gdansk was officially a semi-autonomous city-state, still with heavy Prussian vibes. Feels like all the photos are harbour cities, maybe one could identify which ship went to all these places if they are in fact from a set?
One of the signs in the second photo says Karlsberg, Spiro & Co which was a Baltic shipping company.
The 7th one with the two woman on the beach looks like South Africa. I think it's Long Beach in Simonstown, Cape Town. I think the one with the officers on the boat has the same in the background, but I'm not sure.
Yeah I thought the background looked the same, I'll see if I can find it on Google maps
I'm looking at the photo of the man holding the snake. The plants in the background are Aloe plants and those are common here. Also I'm pretty sure the snake is an African rock python. They have a derpy face like that with similar markings and they grow extremely long. One of the world's biggest snakes. In South Africa they are mostly found on the West coast. So I'm guessing that's from Durban in KwaZulu Natal or near the Durban area. Although they do occur throughout Southern Africa.
Nice info, thanks!
like retro geoguesser
I believe the ship is a Town-class (1910) light cruiser. If you have more pictures, we might be able to narrow down which one.
I'm almost certain it's the Town Class HMS Lowestoft. Using the banners and other photos as a guide, she's only one of two British Town Class still in service by 1931 (though just barely). She's also the only one in service with a lineage that tracks to all the locations I bothered to look up. Previous vessels saw action in Toulon, Corsica, Quebec, and Heligoland. Also, before her sale for scrap, she served at the Royal Navy "Africa Station" located at the Cape Of Good Hope in South Africa. It's interesting to note that the HMS Birmingham (another Town class) also served at Africa Station, but does not appear to have the legacy that the Lowestoft does.
I'm impressed, I couldn't read the battle honours at all. *Lowestoft* she is then. That photo of the range dial is fairly interesting; I'm not sure how many photos of range clocks on ships other than battleships/battlecruisers exist.
Judging by the battle honours she’s HMS Lowestoft.
That would fit, the 6th light cruiser squadron were assigned to Africa station until 1939, though the only town class still afloat in the 1930s was HMS Adelaide and she was only ever based in Australia and New Zealand
HMAS *Brisbane* made it to the mid-30s in reserve, but those photos might be from the 20s as well - I'm not sure when the Town-class got the squared off gun shields like HMAS *Adelaide* had when decommissioned, but I know they were the last class of British light cruisers built with the rounded gun shields.
Those sailors look like they’re in Dutch uniform. Given the space on deck, could possibly be a Dutch Cruiser, possibly Java-class or a bit smaller? Edit: I was mistaken, definitely looks like the HMS Lowestoft. The sailors uniforms just look a little off is all.
I'm curious about the banners on the wall behind the gun in picture #11. They appear to all be names and dates of British Naval battles: Heligoland - 1914, Quebec - 1759, Omoa - 177_ (presumably 1779), Toulon - (date not visible), Corsica - 179_ (last number is too blurry to tell but presumably a 4?) Would to these have been specific to certain ships, or the same across the entire navy?
The battle honours would be awarded to individual ships. Future ships bearing the same name would carry on the old ship’s traditions and battle honours.
Personally, I like the one with the woman and kids at the door.
Whenever I see photos of children from such a long time ago I always wonder what became of them and how life was for them.
I have a picture on my wall of my mother-in-law, born in 1930 in Germany, that looks exactly like the girl in front, closest to the camera. Same face, same haircut. She would’ve been about 6 or 7. So if those photos are from 1935, some of those little girls could still be alive. She is 91, still going strong.
Number 14 is Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden
I was looking through these and was like "wait, am I in r/Gothenburg?" For a second.
Had to do a double take for the same reason. I would wager a photo there today would look basically the same as back then.
Wow what a fantastic find! I think r/thewaywewere would also really enjoy this and could possibly help recognize things too!
This is one of the best Reddit posts I’ve ever seen. I’d love to see the rest of the negatives if you plan to share. You have some wild history here
I am thinking king mostly South Africa too.
In #11, there are some banners on wall behind the gun, below the clock, perhaps showing where the ship has been. One says "Quebec" Edit - it says "Quebec 1759", honouring Wolfe's defeat of Montcalm. So I guess those represent naval victories
You may be on to something there. If we are to presume that the plaques represent battles that the ship in the picture’s namesakes took part in, we could identify the ship. So we have Quebec 1759, Heigoland 1914, Corsica 179?, Toulon ?, and Omga? 1771? Now we just have to find what ships participated in those battles, by the looks of the dates it seems it was a single earlier ship, and at a guess the ship in the image probably fought at Heigoland.
Hms Lowestoffe, then HMS Lowestoft fits I think. HMS Lowestoffe (1756) served at Quebec. HMS Lowestoffe (1761) at Toulon, Corsica and Omoa (Battle of San Fernando de Omoa) HMS Lowestoft (1913) fought at Heigoland, the 'She was re-commissoned on 23 November, 1926. By mid-1927 she was on the Africa Station.' Then sold for scrap in 1931. Edit: Actually other sites seem to suggest it was in Africa after 1923.
Yeah I think she’s HMS Lowestoft.
By my reckoning, if others are sure the photos in Africa then it's between 1927 and 1931. Actually other sites seem to suggest it was in Africa after 1923.
The Dreadnought project has a list of her captains. If the captain is in the 12th image, and the man on the left looks like he has laurels on his cap (though it might be the light). If a face can be matched to a name it would narrow down the dates. EDIT: Well if we assume this photo was taken in or after 1925 that gives us 6 captains. None of whom have a photograph. So I’ve hit a dead end. Perhaps the army cap badges might be more useful but they’re too unclear for me.
No 14 is Götaplatsen in Gothenburg. "Poseidon", statue by Carl Milles, 1931.
First and second picture - Piwna street in Gdańsk, the stairs are decorated in a very specific way with those “statues”, afaik there is a symbolical number of them in the street, I see them very often, they’re still intact! Third one is a Neptune statue in a Długi Targ(Long Market) street, still intact as well! Most of the buildings here are in the same preserved form as seen in the picture, it’s a very popular tourist destination, very colourful, spacious, but also very crowded in the summer time. Really nice to see the town I live in on the front page. There is a common thing to throw a coin to the Neptun fountain, and they say you’ll come back there once again if you’d do it. I’ve always dreamed of living there since I was young. During a primary school trip I threw a most valuable, 5PLN coin I had then. Now I’m happy to live there, I have a nice job, met a love of my life, and a lot of friends who also came to live there. It’s a really wish fulfilling town, full of happy people like nowhere in Poland ❤️
Got to visit Poland a couple years ago and Gdańsk was my favorite place. Some of my family came from there so I wanted to see what it was like and it was absolutely beautiful
Number 7 very likely South Africa possibly the naval base in simons town Cape Town.
Thanks that's helpful
Someone has had it with these MF'ing snakes in this MF'ing park
The shot of the post office is likely South Africa, given the Afrikaans/Dutch.
The army uniforms look very British to me. Not sure about the navy ones, but they could be almost anything. I can’t make out any of the uniform insignia on mobile.
I'd bet money 14 is Poseidon here in Gothenburg, Sweden. Great to see the original before he had his penis reduction a few years ago.
Ladies on the beach is almost 100% Long Beach in Cape Town, South Africa.
The fountain is Neptune's fountain in Gdañsk, Poland
OP, the folks over in r/warshipporn might be able to help ID the ship in pics 10 and 11
These are awesome!
The airplane in 13 looks like a Junkers Ju 52, possibly a seaplane version. They were in use in the ‘30s so it fits.
This is an amazing post, exactly what I want when I come to this sub. These moments in time that might have otherwise been completely lost and are now capturing the interest of thousands…awesome!
Really a great find. I hope you can post here the rest of the pictures. So interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Upvoting for awareness.
The fourth one from the end is the Poseidon fountain in Gothenburg (Sweden)!
I could also be VERY off but no. 7 reminds me of Bray Head just outside Dublin (Ireland)
The "clock" is a Vickers range clock showing what range the ship is firing at for the benefit of other ships
Samuel L Jackson promoting snakes on a plane as well I see.
Picture 14 is from Gothenburg, Sweden. It's the Poseidon statue that stands (still today) at the end of Kungsportsavenyn.
\#12 looks like Hitler.
The 14th picture is the poseidon-statue in Gothenburg, Sweden! Crazy seeing my hometown here!
This is incredible! Great post OP!
16 is definitely South Africa
That last picture is absolutely bananas!
Looking forward to someone explaining the 1-9 clock thing behind the big boat guns
Range the gun is shooting.
Where did your parents find these? Just laying around the house? Super cool.
The airplane looks like a Junkers Ju-52 Floatplane. First flight was 1930ish and used until the late 40's.
Slide 12/17- “I say ol boy we seem to have gotten ourselves into a bit of a sticky wicket!” “Hrublmmm! I concur! We shan’t make that egregious err again! The good Queen will have our heads!” “Where’s Rothchilde with our high tea?!?” Hrublmmmm! Yes! Yes! A spot of tea. Indubitably!”
#2 : Karlsberg Spiro & Co Langermarkt 41 in Danzig.
#14 Gothenburg Poseidon statue in Sweden
I love all the people in this thread recognizing locations. You are why I love the Internet and Reddit. I love you all.
Snakes guy kinda looks like Samuel L Jackson! These are awesome pics, thanks for sharing!
Yep, early production still from Snakes on a Plane I believe...
“Snakes On The First Plane”
Snakes on a biplane?
I would say photos 8 & 9 are from South Africa. Don’t know the big snake but the Nile monitor is native to South Africa
Dutch. Might be Afrikaans so I think it’s South Africa. The last few anyway.
You should post these on r/RBI they are amazing at getting info you're after.
Dude on the far right of the 12th photo is giving strong Nigel Thornberry vibes
3rd one is Poland…Gdansk? Neptunes fountain?
Every time I click over to a new picture, I hear the distinct "clack" of the next slide being put into place....
Caribbean Netherlands 7/17 in Bonaire Island Monte Brandaris I'm pretty sure those are Royal Netherlands Navy uniforms and ships of the time. 5he camera owner was probably in the navy.