Here is a slightly later photo, and I have the details to go with it:

Date: January 9, 1946

Place: The "Casablanca" cabaret, Havana, Cuba

My mom, Gloria (now blonde) and Estelle having a night on the town. I think Sabine may have just gotten married, so that would explain her absence. Or, maybe she just wasn't up for being pawed while drinking her rum & coke (note the bottles on the table).

Left to Right: My mom, some guy who looks like Xavier Cugat and thinks he's going to score (in his dreams - he'd be better off with one of them red-headed Yolandas), Gloria, some drunk horny guy who may or may not have narcolepsy, and Estelle.

I looked this up before, and thought the same thing. But after reading about it here and here, how Smith had been bought out in 1850 (after just 5 years), I was wondering why his name would still be in there as it was renamed Henry Morgan & Company, and they moved in 1891. Unless it says "Smith and Morgan's" simply as part of the centennial sign...

I wish I could see a bigger version of that pic...

Tell Xavier, "You touch my mom again, I'll kill ya"

Drunk dude on the right probably passed out before he saw any action...haha.

Damn close!! It was a 1954 Ford.

But, about the drapes? I didn't see nothin' an' I don' know nothin'!

Signor V.

Beth - Thanks. Yeah, just imagine a mixture of all 4 grandparents I've posted, and it'll end up looking something like me. And maybe we are related somehow?? I've always considered you one of my GBB sisters, after all.

And I'm glad Nicole is having as much fun as I am. I sent two pictures of my brother to my friend, along with the one of my dad, so she could see how much they look alike - but I made her promise not to tell my brother I'd sent them...he'd kill me.

Thanks, TIS - I think my grandpa must've really had a good sense of humor. The pictures I've looked through and the stories I've heard support that. And my dad is always teasing people, joking around, acting silly. He gives everyone a hard time, and I always find it so funny...I'm certain that his dad must've been the same way.

Ice, that's very sweet.

SV, your pictures are great!! And I love the stories/info that go with them. Please keep posting...

TB, you probably know more about our ancestors and their lives than we know!

I was born 20 days before the spring of 1977. Here is my first New Year photo with my mom. (We celebrate the beginning of spring)




Here is me, my older brother and my older sister:




Here is a family photo:




And finally here is me when I was 5 or 6, not really sure how old I was here!:

Afsaneh's pics were taken right about the time of Part III.

Af's those are precious. How cute in that dress and hat.

Thanks Mig!

I just came across a picture that was exactly as you've described here - it was a very old photo set up the same way, and made as a postcard. No writing was on it, unfortunately...but I think it was just of a family friend.

Afs, those are great pictures!

----

Now I'm finding older ones...

July 27, 1924 - at Galveston
1924 - Kay Adams, Marlon Brando born

My maternal grandmother's mother:


My maternal grandmother's father:

An entry from Mignon -

Here's our Mignon with her brother in a photo from 1964; that doesn't really fit into "The Godfather" timeline, but hey, it was still 1945 in the hills then ( ):



Cute picture, Mig. You're another that hasn't changed THAT much (its easy to see "you" in that picture).

Afs - that last picture of you is absolutely awesome! You look like a little doll!! (Nice looking family, too).

Wasn't he driving a car that Fanucci got into??

Your great grandmother was a real looker!!

Great photos.

I have a few of them, too. Here's one of them; its my maternal great grandmother circa 1900. She would have had seven of her eleven children by this time (she was about 31-32 years old then):



Young Vito Corleone was coming to America about this time.... My great grandmother could have been one of the immigrants on the Moshulu with him.

Afs, those pics are beautiful. Your father has a resemblance to someone, but I can't quite figure it out yet.

An aside from looking at all these pictures: I am reminded of two times in my life that I actually cried after meeting some family members.

First, I hadn't seen my aunt (my dad's sister) in about ten years during the 80's/early 90's. We were close when I was a kid and I truly adore this woman (she'd tell stories about her and my father as they grew up in tough neighborhoods that enthralled me and she was always hugging and kissing me). Well, I saw her at my nephew's wedding in 1991 for the first time in 10 years and when she saw me she cradled my face and softly said my childhood nickname (which VERY few people know or call me) and I lost it... I couldn't stop crying as we hugged each other.

Second was my great aunt Julia (I am reminded of this by looking at the picture of my great grandmother above). Julia was my grandmother's younger sister, and my mother's favorite aunt. (She lived upstate New York); I'd see her at big family functions as a kid but I'd rather play with all my cousins so I really didn't know her well (much to my regret now). Well, the last time I saw her was at some family function and I was "grown-up" (so I didn't look to run off with all my cousins ), and she came up to me, took my face in her hands, looked at me with eyes that only a family member with the same blood running through their veins could and asked, "You're D******'s baby?". I nodded "yes" and couldn't tear my gaze away from this unbelievably loving face. I started crying, knowing that I was "home".

If nothing else comes from this thread, it'd all be worthwhile if just one of you sits down with a family elder, asks some questions about your past and share some good memories.

I'm loving looking at the fashion from that era. Some seems to be coming back into style.

Wonderful pictures, afs. Could you explain the items that are included in that top picure? I'm sure they have some cultural significance that we'd be interested in.

A great thread! Fascinating to see all those pictures and all the stories behind them. Imagine, there's a whole life behind just photo in black and white...

I will try to find some old pictures of my family, and gather stories about the people who were photographed.

Hmmm...




Ehhhh!!


Your great grandmother, in that most recent picture, has a hairstyle similar to my great grandmother's at Galveston. And at that time, her face and her hair remind me so much of my grandma's sister - they look very much alike.

SC, What wonderful stories!! It's amazing how much you realize that your family means as you get older.

When my grandfather came to America, he left his entire family behind in Sicily. My mother had never met any of them. After my grandfather died, my mother's family lost track of them. When we went to Italy on vacation in 1973, my mom wanted to go to Sicily to see the town where her parents were born. We didn't know that her father's brother was still alive, and that she had tons of first cousin's still alive. She wrote to the local priest about her upcoming visit, and he passed the word along to her family. When we got to the airport, there were 50 people waiting for us with huge banners bearing my mother's name.

We went back to her cousin's house, and they brought her uncle over. He had had a slight stroke, but he was still this brawny guy who obviously had worked on a farm all his life. He was a little confused as to what was going on, but after about a half hour, he really looked at my mom, and he said, "You're Anna? The daughter of my brother Leonardo?" and he started to cry.

It was one of the most moving things I've ever seen.

Afs, beautiful pictures. Your mother is very pretty also. Mig you and your brother look a lot alike. Thanks for posting.

And Funucci's car!! LMAO

SC, I know what you mean about this thread and "reflecting".

SB, when my parents went to Sicily for the first time (about 20 yrs ago) they met some relatives there (from both my mom's and dad's side) that they met for the first time. They said that they were very warm and welcomed them with open arms. However, they said next time they go, they are going to visit them last. You know why????? My parents said that never wanted my parents to leave. They could have stayed there their entire vacation. That's so cool!!



TIS

Geeez.... My eyes teared up just reading that... What did you mother do?

Grabbed him and gave him the biggest hug, and cried her eyes out. What else??

Goosebump time.

Now I want to dig THOSE pictures out. I have to hand it to you, SC. This thread really was one of the best ideas ever!!!

I have a story somewhat similar to yours and SB's:
When my wife's mother and her family fled Eastern Europe after WWI, they made their way, precariously, across Ukraine and Germany to Antwerp, where they boarded a ship to America. The ship stopped in Liverpool and, for some reason, part of the family got off and never got back on. So, the family legend was that there were some relatives in England, but they were unknown.

Flash forward 60 years. My wife's cousin had business in London. On a lark, he looked in the phone book for families with his last name. He found several. He started calling. Bingo: The first family he called turned out to be the successors of the 1919 immigrants. They immediately invited him for dinner, and he kept up the relationship. A couple of years later, his sister had a surprise 40th birthday party. Who turned up for it? One of the UK relatives, who had gotten a job transfer to NYC. My wife and I met her at the party, and we had a swell time. Small world!

TB, that's amazing! I am always impressed with the way that people will embrace a complete stranger because there's that blood tie. Isn't it wonderful???

Yes it is!

Great story, TB. Mrs. TB's family migration sounds very similar to my grandfather's (mother's father) family (starting out in eastern Europe and "losing" some members to England). They did it some 25 years earlier, though. I still have numerous cousins in England that I'd love to meet someday.

I can't even imagine the simple joy that SB's mom felt upon meeting her uncle for the first time....