Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Striking Photographs of Lonely Parked Cars and Deserted Streets at Night in New York in the 1970s

Cars were an indispensable aspect of twentieth-century culture, both for their utility and aesthetics. From 1974 to 1976, Langdon Clay photographed the cars he encountered while wandering the streets of New York City and nearby Hoboken, New Jersey at night.

Shot in Kodachrome with a Leica and deftly lit with then new sodium vapor lights, the pictures feature a distinct array of makes and models set against the gritty details of their surrounding urban and architectural environments, and occasionally the ghostly presence of people.

Bar car (anti-apartheid day), Chevrolet Nova, in the Twenties near Avenue of the Americas, 1976.

Hard Rock Caddy, Cadillac near 23rd Street and 8th Avenue, 1975.

White Tower car, Buick LeSabre, Meatpacking District, 1976.

Box car, Gran Torino Sport, in the Twenties or Thirties on the East side, 1975.

A&P car, Buick LeSabre, 14th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, 1974.

Four dancing figures, 1915



Monday, December 19, 2016

Hitler Headlines from Vintage Tabloids – 14 National Police Gazette Covers Featuring Hitler’s Possible Survival from the 1950s and '60s

Nearly two centuries ago, the National Police Gazette made history as North America’s first-ever tabloid. Its groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style changed journalism forever, and it would go on to become one of the continent’s five longest-running periodicals.

During the 1800s, while the underbelly of America was hidden beneath the skirts of Victorian purity, the Police Gazette delighted in foisting in-your-face stories of adultery, boozing, drug taking, corruption and gambling onto a shocked public.

The Gazette’s coverage of Adolph Hitler began predictably enough. In June 1939, even before the start of the war in Europe, the Police Gazette published an article proving Hitler was a raging homosexual. Then, following oddly little coverage during the war itself—perhaps the real-life absurdities reported daily in the newspapers were enough—a portent of things to come was published in the October 1946 issue. A caption under the photo of a Führer lookalike begins “Is Hitler Dead?” But, except for an article in September 1947, it would be another five years before the Gazette revisited the Hitler subject. And this time it would be revisited with a vengeance.

For those keeping score, from 1951 to 1968 the Police Gazette published 76 Hitler-related articles—including 13 excerpts from Alan Bullock’s respected biography Hitler: A Study in Tyranny—and featured him on the cover 37 times, not counting a few more covers where his name was only mentioned in small print. During this period, a prominent Hitler grabber appeared on a Gazette cover an average of over twice per year.

Below is a small sample of just the covers of the National Police Gazette featuring Hitler’s possible survival.

December 1951

December 1952

April 1953

September 1953

July 1953

8 Vintage Photos That Prove Winters Were Harder in the Past

Frigid temps dragging you down? Let these classic winter weather photos from the Library of Congress archives make you feel glad to be living in the 21st century.

1. Shoveling inside your car


In 1917, the year that this photo was taken in New York City, automobiles were equipped with windshields but they did not yet have windows—you know, those pieces of glass above the doors of the car that keep stuff out. So snow removal was a back-breaking exterior and interior job.


2. No zamboni!


These boys, in an image snapped between 1909 and 1932, had to shovel the snow off the ice before skating on it, draining their energy and time. To sweep larger expanses, rink owners resorted to tractors dragging a scraper. After testing numerous prototypes, Frank J. Zamboni, high-school dropout and proprietor of Iceland Skating Rink in southern California, received a patent for his eponymous ice-cleaning machine in 1953.


3. No snow days


Two of the most beautiful words in the world: "snow day." Most school districts in frosty climates have adapted through the years to have a certain number of snow days budgeted into their schedules so that learning stays on track. These Valdez, Alaska, students, shown here in 1910, did not have the luxury of staying home. But they did have the pretty cool perk of being able to stand on their schoolhouse roof.


4. Frigid beds


This photo shows a 1927 electric "blanketless bed" created by Milton Fairchild of Washington, D.C., a contraption that kept a person warm without the inconvenience of covers. It never caught on, probably because its target market—people who enjoy sleeping in a box—consisted of only the inventor himself.


5. Terrifying school transportation


Forget cars with seat warmers: Back in 1936, when this photo was taken, Minnesota students traveled to school in a cabin mounted on a sleigh. The trip took a bumpy two hours (one way) and that's if their ride didn't burst into flames first—the wooden compartment was heated by a stove.


Preparing for Christmas – 37 Lovely Vintage Photos Show People Decorating Their Christmas Trees

It's time to prepare for Christmas. There are a lot of things to do, and decorating for Christmas trees is indispensable. Look at these vintage photos to see how people decorated their Christmas trees in the past.







Three girls making a 'sandman' at the beach, 1964


30 Charming Vintage Photos Prove That '20s African-American Girls Were So Beautiful

That's what African American girls of the 1920s looked like.