These 14 Candid Photos Show What Life Was Like In New York In The 1920s
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Lisa Sammons
Author
There’s something special about looking at old candid photos. It’s surreal to imagine the people standing a century ago, who have since passed away, and knowing that you are looking at them through technology they could only dream of. We’ve got some fascinating photos from New York City in the 1920s to share with you: have a peek!
Back then, stockbrokers were known as "curb brokers" because they literally traded on the street's curbs. This was before Wall Street trading moved indoors.
Pictured here is a shop that sold women's undergarments.
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Check out the huge ads for the Universal Pictures silent film "The Virgin of Stamboul." The film was said to have a $500,000 production budget (needless to say, a massive amount in 1920 dollars!). The building was around for over 100 years but was demolished in 2004.
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Queens was certainly not the bustling hubbub of activity it is today!
While this may look like a photo of children engaging in arts and crafts, it was actually from a report done on child labor. The pictured apartment was being used as a fabric sweatshop.
It's shocking how crowded the skyline was already!
Here's a shot of spectators gathered outside Ebbets Field in 1920 before the World Series. The stadium was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sadly, the Dodgers lost the series to the Cleveland Indians. The stadium was demolished in 1960.
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Herald Square was named after the New York Herald, a newspaper that was headquartered there. The paper ceased publication in 1924.
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This shot shows construction on the University Heights Bridge, which spans the Harlem River.
Judge Rutherford is most famous as the founder of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Here he is boarding a Cadillac in 1928 in preparation to drive to a convention in Detroit.
It's wild to imagine that the infamous stock market crash known as Black Thursday would occur just a year later.
This undated photo provides another view of the urban area of New York. It's incredible to think that all of that was assembled without computers or modern technology.
Some things never change!
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Here's a neat shot of curious onlookers watching gardeners plant greenery in Bryant Park.
For more nostalgia trips, check out these views of New York in the 1960s.
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