Category Archives: Photography

A Photographic Trip To Green-Wood Cemetery Part 1

4 Replies

A Different Way To Spend The Day In New York, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery

When I’m asked by people visiting New York what are some of the things they should do while they are here, my answer usually results in incredulous looks. “Go see Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx or Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.”

Most people will never visit a cemetery unless their relatives are located there. Even then, most people dread going to a cemetery. This is a mistake from a cultural standpoint. Cemeteries, especially historic ones like Green-Wood, possess landscape and architectural treasures that you cannot see in any museum.  They also contain a history told in granite, marble, bronze,  slate and limestone through an array of monuments, mausoleums, crypts, sarcophagi and tombstones of the permanent residents of Brooklyn.  As Green-Wood describes itself on its web site:

Green-Wood is 478 spectacular acres of hills, valleys, glacial ponds and paths, throughout which exists one of the largest outdoor collections of 19th- and 20th-century statuary and mausoleums. Four seasons of beauty from century-and-a-half-old trees offer a peaceful oasis to visitors, as well as its 560,000 permanent residents.

The rural cemetery movement began in 1831 with the opening of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts, Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #11 – The Teenage Brigitte Bardot

Leave a reply

Before Bardot Was A Sex Symbol (circa 1951)

Yes we know Brigitte Bardot is not a Hollywood fixture. She made almost all of her films in Europe but transcended borders as an international sex symbol of the 1950’s and 1960’s. So we can feature her here under the Classic Hollywood moniker. In this photo a very young Bardot wears a quasi ballet top with fishnet stocking ensemble.

Bardot had several years of dance training as a child Continue reading →

Hair Pulling Contest 1940

5 Replies

And They Are Doing This Because?

On a hot July day, is there anything more entertaining than a contest featuring beautiful women pulling each others hair?

If you agree, then this July 11, 1940 news photograph entitled “Models in Hair Pulling Match” should fit the bill.

The caption reads as follows:

Palisades Park, N.J. – In the first official contest of its kind, two dozen beautiful New York models competed in a hair pulling contest at the Palisades Amusement Park on July 11th. Object of the contestants was to drag their opponents across a finish line by their lustrous locks. Here are Florence Goodman (top) and Alice Schinkel battling it out for championship near the finish line. Florence was declared the winner of the knock-down, drag ’em across contest. 7-11-40 credit: Acme

Old New York In Photos #15 – Fifth Ave. & 42nd St. 1928

2 Replies

42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, 1928

A street level photograph looking east on 42nd Street towards 5th Avenue on a chilly day in 1928. On the left side of the photograph and just to the right of the twin street lamp globes is one of the early traffic towers which would control vehicular traffic flow with colored signals. Continue reading →

Outtake Photos From The Sexiest Album Cover of The 1960’s

29 Replies

Dolores Erickson on Whipped Cream and Other Delights

The cover is the stuff of teenage dreams and yearning of older men to return to their youth.  Innocence and come-hither looks wrapped into one alluring package.

If an album cover ever helped to sell mega amounts of copies, this was it. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, certainly benefited from the album design of  A&M art director Peter Whorf, and model, Dolores Erickson, gracing the cover of Whipped Cream and Other Delights.

The iconic album cover, which is best appreciated in its full 12″ x 12″ vinyl incarnation, can still be found for sale at many thrift shops, flea markets and garage sales for a couple of dollars.

The album released in 1965, went to #1 on the Billboard pop music charts and ended up selling over six million copies over the years.

Was it based on the music? While it is a good album of instrumentals, I am positive that the provocative cover Continue reading →

January 9, 1912 The Equitable Fire

4 Replies

The Equitable Assurance Building Is Destroyed By Fire 100 Years Ago Today

Equitable Building Jan. 10, 1912 – View From The Singer Building © Library of Congress

David Dunlap’s excellent story in The New York Times about the Equitable Assurance Building fire is merely a reminder about how great disasters are eventually forgotten over time. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911 took 146 lives and was remembered in various ceremonies on its 100th anniversary.

No such commemorations will be held this year for the Equitable fire which killed six people, including Battalion Chief William Walsh.

The fire took place on a brutally cold day and the water froze quickly and left macabre ruins resembling an ice palace. Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #14 – Presbyterian Hospital 1872

Leave a reply

The Old Men And Women’s Hospital (Presbyterian Hospital) Circa 1872

This photograph is from a stereoview which captioned the Presbyterian Hospital as “the old men and women’s hospital.” This photo was taken by E. & H.T. Anthony Co. about 1872, shortly before the hospital’s first complex of buildings was completed.  The hospital was built by the leading architect of the day, Richard Morris Hunt. Though you cannot tell from the black and white photograph, the contrasting color scheme had bricks that were very red and others that were pale. Continue reading →

New York’s Big Snowstorm Of 1948

29 Replies

December 19, 1948 – Times Square 8:53 pm

On this day 63 years ago, 19.6 inches of snow blanketed the city.  Here is Times Square in the midst of this snowstorm with only a few pedestrians and cars visible. Because it was a Sunday, traffic was light and the city was able to prepare and battle the storm efficiently. Mayor William O’Dwyer had a force of 18,340 men to remove the snow and keep the city running.

To the disappointment of children on Monday, New York City schools were open.

Looking north from the Times Building we see on the left The Paramount Building with the Paramount Theatre’s marquee lights casting an extreme white glow and on the next block The Hotel Astor. On the right are two iconic neon advertising signs; one for Camel cigarettes between 43rd and 44th Streets and the other for Bond Clothiers between 44th and 45th Streets.

The Bond sign contained nearly two miles of neon and had two fifty foot nude figures at each end, one male and one female. A huge recirculating waterfall between the two figures topped off this amazing advertising sign which was in place from 1948-1954.