NYC Past

March 5, 2013 8:20 PM

NYC Past Large-format historical photos of New York City.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken (13 comments total)

These look gorgeous, thanks for posting. The phrase on the side of the building in this snowy scene - "Straw hats for the sweltering weather. Earlaps attached free." got me agoogling and turning up this interesting fellow - Russell Sage.
posted by unliteral at 9:09 PM on March 5, 2013

Nice images, thanks for sharing this.
posted by carter at 9:11 PM on March 5, 2013

Large format pictures are so wonderful. This is dangerously renewing my interesting in buying one of these.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:28 PM on March 5, 2013

And while I'm sure everyone and their dog already knows about Shorpy, I think it's worth mentioning just in case.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:31 PM on March 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ooh! His friend has Chicago Past.
posted by unliteral at 9:34 PM on March 5, 2013

Awesome. I could look through old photos like this all day. Fascinating. Having lived in both NYC and Chicago I am loving both cities photos.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:37 PM on March 5, 2013

Wow ! Thanks !
posted by nicolin at 3:14 AM on March 6, 2013

Anyone know how they have access to so many unwatermarked high-res images from the NYC Department of Records? They don't seem obtainable from the site the images link to.
posted by gubo at 3:55 AM on March 6, 2013

The photographer on many of these is listed as "Vachon, John, 1914-1975" who is the father of Christine Vachon who produced all the Todd Haynes movies.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:22 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

These are stunning, thank you. I love the Grand Central 1941 picture.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:47 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Love the interior images from the turn of the century Grand Central Station. They're like ghost stories.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:22 AM on March 6, 2013

Wonderful photos, and so amazing to go from one decade to another. Especially love the street views that show plain folks going about their lives 100 years ago.

It's jolly fun to hop back and forth between these and current street views. I'll spend hours with these later, thanks so much for sharing.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:10 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Having grown up in NY and now living in the UK, I was back recently and as always was taken aback by how much has changed just during my lifetime.

While feeling wistful and self pitying, it's comforting to see writ large that NY has ALWAYS been constantly changing, and probably always will.

Wonderful post. Thank you.
posted by Hickeystudio at 2:53 AM on March 7, 2013