Windsor Terrace Reno

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March 25, 2007

The Medicine Cabinet Uncovered

As I may have mentioned before, the person who sold us this house had it totally cleaned out before putting it on the market. From what we hear, she did it at personal expense and aggravation to herself since she had to hire people to do this for her and the house was full of junk. So we know we should be grateful that we didn't have to do all the heavy lifting there.

But with that said, Mr. Limestone and I mourn the loss of all old junk that once took up residence here. I know it was of no value but we have a sort of weird reverence for old things...even ordinary things. So when we took possession of the house, we started opening cabinets and looking in ceiling tiles for old forgotten stuff. Much to our shock, we really didn't find any. Whoever did the clean out, did a good job of taking everything - even scrapes of paper or things like that you would expect to find.

But a few days ago I was in the pink scary bathroom (I try to avoid this room whenever possible) and happened to slide open the cabinet. EUREKA! Must have missed looking in here when we did the search earlier. Inside were an assortment of toiletries considerably older than me. Some things I recognize: ponds face cream, secret deodorant, etc. Some things I don't recognize like oil of wintergreen. Still pretty fun to find these things in the way they were packaged decades ago. My favorites are the oil of wintergreen that came from Ballards pharmacy and the Camphor that came from Neergards. Those in the area will recognize those two as the pharmacies our mothers went to when we were sick (before Rite Aid and CVS were on every other corner).

I don't know how old the bottles are. Anyone know when Ballards pharmacy was "South 8-1325"? And what is Oil of Wintergreen good for anyway?

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Comments

excellent
you just reminded me of a post i should make about little finds from our basement demo
:D

Posted by: ms. crown heights reno at March 26, 2007 9:42 AM

Totally, and completely, awesome; a veritable time capsule.

Posted by: Archiefina at March 26, 2007 10:23 PM

Why do you call the bathroom scary? It looks kind of cool from the picture.

Posted by: Anonymous at March 27, 2007 8:06 AM

South 8 = 768. Its how they used to refer to the common 3 digit start to the phone numbers in the neighborhood. SO8

Posted by: greenwood slope at March 27, 2007 8:50 AM

We have a similar scary pink bathroom (in the basement). The medicine chest was also filled with a bunch of goodies - with cryptic telephone numbers for local Flatbush pharmacies.

Posted by: Anonymous at March 27, 2007 9:10 AM

Anon 8:06 - I'll take that as a high compliment to my photography skills. If you go to one of the blogs first posts, you will see why its a scary room. Brown smears on pink tiles, flickering flourescent lighting and omminous echo all make for horror film like ambiance.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at March 27, 2007 9:51 AM

From the Web....Oil of wintergreen contains methyl salicylate which has anti-inflammatory properties and is closely related to the well-known medication aspirin.5 Wintergreen and the oil of wintergreen are used in topical pain relievers and products that produce a feeling of warmth for muscle and rheumatic pain relief.4,6 Oil of wintergreen has also been used for the treatment of cellulitis, a bacterial infection accompanied by inflammation of the skin.5 In the past, wintergreen was used internally to treat chronic mucous discharges, regulate hormones, and as a diuretic; due to its toxicity it is no longer used internally for medicinal purposes.1

Posted by: bigmissfrenchie at March 28, 2007 5:46 PM

We bought our house in 1974 from the surviver of three sisters, who was confined to a nursing. Their father had bought the house for them in 1927. It seemed clear that the family member who was handling the sale had little use for old houses and antique furniture. We took a chance and had the usual "broom swept" clause omitted from our contract, knowing that the family might take everything of value, but hoping that they'd be too lazy to bother. The family took some of the furnishings, but left many pieces of oak furniture, which looked great after I stripped and refinished them. We also ended up with lots of junk, along with the great stuff, but it was worth it.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 1, 2007 7:00 PM

Does your medicine cabinet have a slot for old razor blades? They actually drop down into the stud cavity of the wall. When you do the demo you will find them inside.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 6, 2007 10:53 PM

Can anyone recommend an individual or company in Brooklyn who restores old houses? Thanks very much.

Posted by: Jen at April 12, 2007 8:54 PM

Cool collection! There might be some, (marginal), value to those items. I remember, years ago, watching a television show about a Hollywood set designer who purchased items such as those to accurately outfit movie sets, set in the past. It was so long ago I can't remember the details, but I remember they paid for those items...

Posted by: Capeman05 at April 26, 2007 11:07 AM

Ballard's is STILL SOuth 8-1325. 768-1325.

Posted by: BrooklynBridge at April 26, 2007 4:49 PM

I used to have Wintergreen ointment rubbed on me legs as a child. I suffered from "growing pains".

Posted by: Anonymous at June 28, 2007 3:04 PM

Wintergreen oil is also useful for transfering photoscopies onto other surfaces.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 30, 2007 2:24 PM