"…I'm leaving today…"
A second look at picture postcards of New York of Yesteryear
Please find part one here:
Now, we’ll leave the 1940s behind and boldly venture into the 1950s and 1960s, this time featuring “true photographs”. Enjoy, if you will.
We’ll begin with the Columbia University/Presbyterian Medical Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan:
Today (2014), it looks a wee bit different (source):
A bit further south, the below images of Times Square doesn’t need any further comment:
The image below shows Herald Square, a few blocks further south of Times Square (hat/tip to reader “kapock” for the correction).
And then there’s this image, dateable to c. 1965 (due to the movie “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, which premiered in that year):
I’ll post a third instalment from the early 20th century next to wrap up this mini-series.
The images of Times Square do in fact need one further comment: the second one is actually of Herald Square, a few blocks further south!
Herald Square was a hub of department stores. You see Gimbel’s on the left; just past it is Sak’s (pre-“Fifth Avenue”). Both those buildings survive, though vastly changed. Behind Sak’s, not visible in the photo, is Macy’s, the only one to continue with its original appearance and function.
Observe that between the older and newer pictures of Columbia Presbyterian, the George Washington Bridge acquired a second deck.
The final photo – I don’t know where that was taken. Maybe the north end of the Times Square area, like 47th Street? Do you have any specifics about the location?
I linked your NYC articles to Naomi Wolf's Substack. She will probably really enjoy seeing them.