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Posts from Heddels for 11/20/2023
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Heddels is the leading destination for those seeking to understand and find well-made, enduring denim, footwear, and other clothing that improves with wear.
By James on Nov 20, 2023 03:00 am
Moments in Time takes a closer look at specific pieces and silhouettes from the past that have had a lasting impact on our niche today. From unsung-but-iconic vintage pieces like the Cossack Jacket and Karakoram Parka to modern heritage staples like the Guayabera shirt and Monkey Boot, we’ll be dissecting these classics to find out how they made their mark and where we can find both vintage and contemporary articles today
The time of the paperboy is over. Once upon a time, practically every suburban neighborhood in the USA had a young person delivering newspapers by bicycle in the early morning. They are often portrayed in a cliche fashion in American movies, particularly those based in mid-century America through to the 90s. A young lad cycles nonchalantly down a wide suburban street, reaches into the basket of his bike — or back into his newspaper bag — and slings a paper with pinpoint accuracy onto someone’s drive. The camera zooms to the front page to reveal a headline that kicks off the movie’s narrative, and the kid cycles on to throw dozens more porch-seeking papers to complete their round.
While paperboys don’t really exist in this format today for reasons we’ll touch on later, the heritage clothing scene has maintained an appreciation for the bags used by paperboys throughout the early-to-mid 20th century. In this edition of Moments in Time, we will be taking a look at the newspaper bag in its most iconic form, its utility, and where you can find both vintage examples and fantastic reproductions today.
The Golden Age of the Paperboy
An archetypal paperboy via Grunge.
During the golden age of the American newspaper, paper distributors highlighted a need for a daily delivery service. Newspaper legend has it that on September 10, 1833, The New York Sun, hired a 10-year-old Irish boy, Barney Flaherty, to sell his 1 cent ‘penny press’ papers. Newspaper lore suggests that the only requirement of Flaherty was that he could ‘throw a newspaper into the bushes’.
While the whole truth of this story is not known, it is true that the mid-1800s saw the rise of the paperboy, an occupation that would become a part of everyday American life by the late 1800s. Newspaper distributors hired young boys — typically older, pre-teen children or teenagers — to deliver newspapers to paying residents within a certain radius. The role of the paperboy varied from employer to employer, but the nuts and bolts of the job was delivering papers by bicycle to paying customers, sometimes collecting payments for the distributor.
Paperboy license for boys under age 14 in 1970 when girls were not allowed to deliver newspapers in New York State, via Wikipedia.
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