NYC Then and Now

[Triborough]

Many years ago before the New York Bound Book Shop was forced out of the AP Building for a "lobby renovation", I picked up a copy of New York Then and Now which was published in 1976 and is now hideously outdated.
I started a flickr group called NYC Then and Now to document the changes of the city over a long and sometimes a very short period of time.

Here are some of mine. Feel free to share anything you have here or on flickr.

Gas station, Fordham Road & Arthur Avenue, the Bronx

1993


2007

Columbus Circle

1995


2006


1995


2006

Long Island Rail Road at Woodside, from the 7 train platform

1990s


2007

Astor Place

1998


2006

[NYC4Life]

The most dramatic change over the years has been that of Columbus Circle and the addition of the Time Warner Center.

[The Benniest]

Fantastic thread. It's just crazy to see the change in all of the pictures, especially the Manhattan skyline in the LIRR picture and definitely Columbus Circle.

[smellslikeabid]

So much development, in relativly so little time.

[Scraperfannyc]

It's just crazy to see the change in all of the pictures, especially the Manhattan skyline in the LIRR picture

This is an optical illusion. If you look carefully, you will see the same buildings are in both pictures. It is just that the earlier picture is zoomed and makes the buildings in the second picture appear shorter. Look at each building and you will see they are all there.

[RandySavage]

For fun I put together these Then & Now shots using pics from the phenomenal RFCGraphics.com - the best modern photographer of NYC.

[Merry]

Many years ago before the New York Bound Book Shop was forced out of the AP Building for a "lobby renovation", I picked up a copy of New York Then and Now which was published in 1976 and is now hideously outdated.

Before the age of the internet, I used to deal with New York Bound quite a lot, and I got my copy of this book from them too .

Although it doesn't represent NYC today, it's still a fascinating record extending over a long period of time and it's fun to pore over how little and how much things have changed.

There is also another New York Then and Now book with similarly old "then" photos, but more up-to-date colour "now" photos. There is also a pre 9/11 edition, which I have.

[RandySavage]

The ultimate Then & Now book is New York Changing:

http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Chang...5123448&sr=8-1

Levere painstakingly recreated (in the late 90s early 00s) Abbott's classic 1930s pics not only to the precise angle, but also to the time of day/year. Even the shadows are aligned.

[Luca]

Have it, but the pics posted here I didn't have and they are EXCELLENT. Thanks.

[ablarc]

Randy, every single last one of your pairs of pics in Post #6 is better in the BEFORE version.

What does that tell us?

[RandySavage]

^ It tells us a lot... and I'm afraid not much of it good.

I did a couple more:

[ablarc]

^ It tells us a lot... and I'm afraid not much of it good.

So why do we keep rooting for the scaleless blockbusters? Why do we cheer Bank of America?

Why do we like that egregious blue building at the tip of Manhattan? Maybe it would make a good vase, but as a building in context...

[NYatKNIGHT]

Probably because it's all relative. A building with any form other than another cheap, dreary box is cheered.

[ablarc]

I see, it's a form of damning with faint praise.

Or anything that can be faintly praised is cheered.

A kind of general lowering of standards.

But then there are masterpieces like Gehry's Beekman Tower; do you notice how traditional his window treatment is: punched holes in a variegated plane?

[NYatKNIGHT]

Except for one whole side. As beautiful as the rest of the building is I suppose the general lowering of standards allows us to declare a building that towers a completely undistinctive backside over its neighborhood a "masterpiece".