Marvelous NYC photographs by Irwin Klein

April 18, 2007 8:20 AM

Photographs of Manhattan 1964-1969 By Irwin Klein. Immigrants, storefronts, gangs, mafiosi, street scenes. More Klein here. My fave. First link via
posted by CunningLinguist (19 comments total)

These have great captions. "Hasidic jew approaching"

Also, street toughs in polo shirts
posted by DU at 8:27 AM on April 18, 2007

Wonderful, thanks.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:32 AM on April 18, 2007

Evocative, beautiful photographs. Love the gentle, dry humor in some. Details I'd long forgotten, like those huge ConEd spools on the street. Those were my first years in Manhattan (1962 to 1970), so these images are really meaningful to me. There was a sort of inhospitable rawness to Manhattan, a loneliness then.

Really loved that, thanks so much CunningLinguist.
posted by nickyskye at 8:37 AM on April 18, 2007

Magic Mirror.

These are rad, thanks.
posted by freebird at 8:39 AM on April 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

These are some nice photos.
posted by chunking express at 8:42 AM on April 18, 2007

A Citroen in the reflection! Cool pictures. They make me feel old though, I was a kid when those were taken and am shocked at what a different world from today they show.
posted by octothorpe at 8:43 AM on April 18, 2007

These are awesome--intense, lonely, desperate, and beautiful. they make me want to grab my camera and do some street photography.
posted by atayah at 8:47 AM on April 18, 2007

ps missed you here in MetaFilter. Hope you've been well. :)
posted by nickyskye at 8:48 AM on April 18, 2007

I love that many of the subjects seem to be saying, "the fuck you lookin' at?"

I ♥ NY
posted by Koko at 9:00 AM on April 18, 2007

Marvelous indeed!
posted by sidereal at 9:59 AM on April 18, 2007

I wouldn't have thought a Mafia storefront would have a picture of JFK, even after the assassination. I guess they didn't have him whacked after all.

Nice find. Thanks, CL!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:04 AM on April 18, 2007

Wow, this really brought me back to my early New York experiences (first in 1974 I think....) Thanks!
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:30 AM on April 18, 2007

So long ago, just yesterday...excellent photos.
posted by scratch at 10:31 AM on April 18, 2007

This is fabulous.
posted by OmieWise at 12:19 PM on April 18, 2007

I wouldn't have thought a Mafia storefront would have a picture of JFK, even after the assassination. I guess they didn't have him whacked after all.

Unless those were trophies. Dude! They got Washington, too!
posted by redhanrahan at 1:21 PM on April 18, 2007

Beautiful. Reminds me a tiny bit of Lisette Modell or sharper Diane Arbus.
posted by piratebowling at 1:23 PM on April 18, 2007

They make me feel old though, I was a kid when those were taken and am shocked at what a different world from today they show.

Me too. It really was a different world then.
posted by amberglow at 2:58 PM on April 18, 2007

Yeah. A different world altogether.

Cool links, CL. Welcome back!
posted by jason's_planet at 4:14 PM on April 18, 2007

Pretty awesome.
posted by klausness at 2:55 AM on April 25, 2007