Category Archives: New York

Old New York In Photos #176 – Park Row 1890

Looking South Along Park Row / Newspaper Row -1890

This Albertype Company photograph was taken from the German language Staats-Zeitung newspaper building at the confluence of Centre Stret and Park Row.

We’re looking south along Park Row at the New York terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge. This busy district was Continue reading

Crime In New York City 1838 & Today

New York City Crimes Committed And Their Sentences 1838

 Jail Time Then – Leniency Now

How many people long for the good old days when it comes to punishing crime?

Some people may lament the lack of strict law enforcement in New York today. There has always been crime in New York, but how has crime and its consequences changed? Continue reading

Old New York In Postcards #30 – Equitable Building Fire

The Equitable Building Burns To The Ground – January 9, 1912

On January 9, 1912, the Equitable Life Assurance Building at 120 Broadway was destroyed in a fire of historic proportions.

In 2012 we covered the 100th anniversary of this historic fire and its consequences. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #175 – Fifth Avenue From 57th Street

Fifth Avenue Looking North From 57th Street c. 1914

From the Detroit Publishing Company comes this lightly trafficked view of Fifth Avenue. By 1915 horses were being phased out of daily street life and a large portion of the vehicular traffic is motorized. Continue reading

Boyfriend Proposes To His Girl, Then Shoots Her – 1915

Matrimony Or Else

Marriage Proposal Gone Wrong On New York’s Upper East Side

If you imagine that in the good old days courtship always involved proper etiquette, courtesy and social mores you would be mistaken.

While combing through the archives of the New York Tribune we came across this article Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #174 – Times Square 1961

Times Square Movie Ads, The Automat and Other Signs Of the Time

A frozen moment on a sunny winter day in Times Square.

We are looking north from 46th Street to the west side of Broadway. Before looking at the surroundings, check out the tail fins on the passing 1960 Plymouth Savoy automobile heading east.

You may notice the human scale of what Times Square once was. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #173 – Broadway & 44th St. Vitagraph Theatre -1914

Mr. Barnes Of New York Playing At The Vitagraph Theatre – 1914

This rare postcard view of The Vitagraph Theatre on the east side of Broadway and 44th Street shows the theatre’s marquee with people milling about a horse drawn promotional wagon.

The building opening in 1895 as the Lyric Theatre was part of the Olympia entertainment complex built by Oscar Hammerstein. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #172 – Broadway From 8th Street 1878

Looking North Along Broadway At Stewart’s Store & Grace Church – c. 1878

Two prominent buildings on the east side of Broadway are the subject of this stereoview photograph taken around 1878: the five-story A.T. Stewart Store and Grace Church.

The view was taken from the western corner of 8th Street and Broadway. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #171 – Lower East Side Immigrants Shopping 1907

Lower East Side Pushcarts With “Imported Americans” 1907

This stereoview published by Underwood & Underwood in 1907 says in its caption:

“Imported Americans”, shopping from push-carts in the Lower East Side, N.Y. City.

Although the neighborhood is unidentified it appears to be Little Italy with Mulberry Bend Park on the left.

This not so veiled aspersion of “Imported Americans” is typical of the apprehensions Continue reading