Brooklyn was hip before it was hip

January 8, 2014 5:43 PM

In January 1978, a then unknown, and still very much undiscovered photographer by the name of Dinanda H. Nooney began documenting Brooklynites in their homes. She gained access to the private lives of hundreds of perfect strangers, who showed her around, introduced her to their families and became part of a collection of over 500 largely unseen gelatin silver prints, known as The Nooney Brooklyn Photographs.
posted by flapjax at midnite (11 comments total)

Wow, those huge spaces.
posted by Sphinx at 6:06 PM on January 8, 2014

Nooney nooney noo!
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:42 PM on January 8, 2014

I love this kind of thing. I particularly like old photos of people going about their lives, like Old New York tumblr.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:47 PM on January 8, 2014 [5 favorites]

The 1970s were subtle

I don't look at the main image
It's the details of the edges
The small hints in each one of photos
That ignite stories of the moment
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 8:42 PM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

My goodness those Kliban cat posters were ubiquitous, weren't they?
posted by sourwookie at 8:56 PM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

> My goodness those Kliban cat posters were ubiquitous, weren't they?

It seems that way, but it's just because the tote bags aren't in the photos.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:07 PM on January 8, 2014

This guy has such a sweet sound system, and we have the address. He's just begging to get robbed by hipsters with a time machine.
posted by Mezentian at 9:46 PM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Nice to see some pictures of the era that aren't just the usual "hookers in Times Square/kids playing in trash-strewn vacant lots/graffiti everywhere" genre.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:58 AM on January 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

Nice to see some pictures of the era that aren't just the usual "hookers in Times Square/kids playing in trash-strewn vacant lots/graffiti everywhere" genre.

I had exactly the same thought.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:25 AM on January 9, 2014

I always wondered what those gorgeous neighborhoods were like back when NYC was told to drop dead.
posted by whuppy at 2:09 PM on January 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Saw the Messy Nessy Chic piece mentioned elsewhere and was googling around; of course, it turns out it was linked on MeFi well before any of my other internet sources. So cool to see all the people and houses, a couple of which are just around the corner from me.
posted by mlle valentine at 6:31 PM on January 14, 2014