NYC heat wave: Hot weather street scenes (early 1900s)
Hot weather in NYC means cooling off in a fountain, taking the kids to park to cool down, and more adventures in the era before air conditioning.
Statue of Liberty construction (1886)
It took years to complete the construction of the Statue of Liberty - also known as Liberty Enlightening the World - but here are some peeks behind the scenes into how it was done!
The end of an era: New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel torn down (1929)
The doors of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a 36-year-old internationally-known institution, closed May 1, 1929. Noisy wreckers will clank in to tear it down. The old generation passes with a sigh. The new era enters with a roar.
Take a trip back to New York’s original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The luxurious original Waldorf-Astoria was among America's first big hotels. When it was built during the Victorian era, and for years thereafter, it was considered the finest hotel in the world -- and it soon became the most famous, too.
Owney: How the world’s most famous dog traveled the globe (1890s)
Owney, the world's most popular dog has traveled almost around the globe. He made the journey around the world all alone and with only a tag about his neck -- and found friends everywhere. Here's the story!
Have you seen Tom Collins? Plus 5 classic Tom Collins cocktail recipes
A Tom Collins isn't a drink just named after some guy, somewhere. It's a drink named after nobody, nowhere. Ah, but there's a story to go along with it all. Find out the backstory of "Have you seen Tom Collins?" -- and get recipes for four original, old-fashioned versions of the Tom Collins cocktail!
The suite life: See the rooms at the elegant Waldorf-Astoria (1903)
New York City's old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel -- torn down in 1929 -- was a luxurious Victorian building that served overnight guests as much as Manhattan's social elite. Here, take a look inside the hotel rooms and suites, and see what accommodations would have looked like back in 1903!
New Amsterdam to now: Images of New York in the Colonial days
Here are images showing New York City's growth from a frontier settlement known as New Amsterdam to the metropolis of the western world --through the Colonial times, and in the early days of US independence.
The Odd Couple: Jack Klugman & Tony Randall are Oscar & Felix (1970s)
"The Odd Couple" TV show recounted the madcap experiences of Felix Unger (Tony Randall) and Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman), two of Neil Simon's most endearing and enduring characters.
Amazing newly-discovered footage takes you back to New York in 1911
If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have lived a century ago, or to have wandered the streets of a much younger Manhattan, you will be amazed by this footage from New York in 1911!
See NYC’s stunning historical Fifth Avenue mansions (1890s)
Take a stroll back to the late 1800s and early 1900s to see some of the grand homes and mansions that lined New York City's famed Fifth Avenue.
Gray Gardens in the Hamptons: A beautiful walled garden in color (1916)
Come take a stroll through these gated gardens, and lose yourself in another era. These photos show how the walled gardens at Gray Gardens in East Hampton, New York looked in the year 1916.
How tall will the skyscrapers of the future be? (1931)
How high will the skyscraper of the future be? Higher even than the Empire State Building, which towers 1250 feet above the base mark in the center of the curb at Fifth Avenue?
How safe are skyscrapers like the Empire State Building? (1931)
Uncle Sam's scientists, armed with every known precision test instrument, have set out to answer the much-debated question of "How safe are skyscrapers?"
See how they had to remove snow 100 years ago
Without the kind of winter weather equipment we take for granted, removing snow from city streets and sidewalks was a huge undertaking. Here's a look!
See 75 stars of the stage shine on Theater Magazine (1901-1922)
Through these 75 gorgeous and artistic color covers of Theater magazine, take a peek back in time to the stage scene from the first decades of the twentieth century.
America shocked when Alexander Hamilton dies after a duel (1804)
"The greatest man in America" has fallen in a duel
The Sprig Of Liberty (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) - July 27, 1804
DISTRESSING!
It is with infi... Click to read more...
Have a seat! Seating charts for classic theatres in New York City (1922)
No other city in the world has so many theatres in actual operation as New York. The number of theatre seats available in proportion to the population is also surprisingly high.
TWA’s space age Flight Center opens at New York’s JFK Airport (1962)
Probably the most beautiful, and certainly the most imaginative, air terminal in the world will be unveiled when Trans World Airlines formally opens its new Flight Center at New York International Airport (Idlewild).
Tourist photos of the World Trade Center (before 9/11)
Here’s a selection of photos taken by visitors to NYC who snapped pictures of the impressively tall twin towers of the World Trade Center during the months and years before they fell.
The telephone girls: A look at switchboard operators at work (1899)
To see the telephone girl at her work, to observe her quick, delicate, never-hesitating movements, is a pastime fascinating to the extreme. Each will get between 500 to 600 calls a day. Here, see photographs from New York City phone operators in 1899.
Give me your tired, your poor: The story of the Statue of Liberty’s poem (1903)
On the inside of the pedestal of the statute of Liberty Enlightening the World has been placed a bronze memorial tablet bearing Emma Lazarus's name and the sonnet she wrote twenty years ago, dedicated to the statue.
Titanic: New York’s reaction to news of the disaster (1912)
Titanic's dead, 1,342, including Captain and all officers except four -- 868 survive
Olympic's captain ends hope that other liners than Carpathia a... Click to read more...
New York City views (1917)
Get a load of that view! Here are some images showing parts of New York City's skyline as it appeared back in 1917.
Union Square in 1917
... Click to read more...
Coney Island beach scenes (1890s-1920s)
Scene on the beach (1890s)
Bathing at Coney Island, New York (1900)
Coney Island in the early 1900s
On the beach at C... Click to read more...
Long Island: Vacation paradise (1914)
Want to see for yourself just how much things have changed -- or not? Lucky modern-day citizens can view or download a free PDF version of the 1914 Lo... Click to read more...
Vintage Bloomies! Antique Bloomingdale’s ads
Bloomingdale's originally opened in 1861 when the Bloomingdale brothers began by selling hoop-skirts on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Then in 1872, the... Click to read more...
Summer swimming in New York (1909)
Summer swimming in NYC
Gotham's youth are fortunate in the number of opportunities for swimming which the city's configuration presents. Many a grace... Click to read more...
Public smoking by women banned (1908)
They say it is wrong for women to smoke in public places -- that it is offensive to those who look on and detrimental to the character and dignity of the fair sex.
The construction of the Empire State Building (1929-1930)
The highest building in the world will be built on the site of the Waldorf Astoria hotel. It will be known as the Empire State Building, will be eighty stories high, and will cost more than $66,000,000.
The New York World’s Fair (1964)
What you will see at world's biggest show
New York's billion dollar dream fair
When the first visitors enter a onetime Long Island swamp on Apri... Click to read more...
New York City: The summer resort! (1911)
New York City -- The summer resort
The gateway to all mountain, lake & coast resorts of the east
New York City invites you to consider her claim... Click to read more...
Cross the country with these vintage US road maps
Take a look at a more than 20 vintage road maps below, apparently preserved for years in car gloveboxes across the nation!
Coney Island’s Dreamland Tower (1904-1911)
Dreamland and its beautiful tower attract the eye of the pleasure seeker long before Coney Island is reached. There is capital amusement under and about the big tower, and all the novelties are enjoying a large share of favor...
Roller coasters of the early 20th century
Love old amusement parks? For a closer look at any of these 9 vintage roller coasters from the early 1900s -- in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Massac... Click to read more...
Woman goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel (1901)
Mrs Annie Edson Taylor, 50 years old, went over Niagara Falls on the Canadian side this afternoon and survived, a feat never before accomplished and indeed never attempted.
