A visit to Manhattan in 1935

As I was browsing the Duke University site, where I usually look for images of Phoenix or Los Angeles, I decided to click on some images just to see the beauty of the old buildings, the cars, and the advertising. The Duke site is dedicated specifically to outdoor advertising, what we nowadays think of as billboards, but there was a time when they were more of an art form, and seemed to fit in with a city, rather than cover it up.

This photo is of Manhattan, in New York, at West 57th Street and 8th. It was taken on February 16th, 1935. And all of the information is right there in the photo. You can see the sign for W. 57th, you can see the Columbus statue, which is still there, you can see that the movie "Great Expectations" with Henry Hull is playing at the Columbus, and heck, the date is even written in the bottom left corner of the photo. I like to identify date and location precisely, and this was easy for me, even though I've never been near New York City.

I just love stepping into photos like this. This photo has some wonderful detail, let's step into it. I just looked it up, and apparently the statue has been there for a very long time, since 1892, and I really don't know if the circle around it had been named Columbus Circle yet, but it seems obvious to me that the theater's name was inspired by it. The overhang says "Circle Danceland", and that makes me think that the circle on 8th Street, with the Columbus statue, was pretty well-known by the people who lived there. Seems to me you wouldn't even need an address, you'd just say that it was over by the Columbus statue, or maybe over by the circle?

Looks like most of the buildings in the old photo are gone, but I found one in the background on Google Street View that's still there. And of course Central Park is still there. Personally, I think that the Coca-Cola sign, "the pause that refreshes" is beautiful, but I'm sure back then it was considered just another eyesore, like pop-up ads on the internet are nowadays. 

Thank you for visiting Manhattan in 1935 with me!


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