Found Photos from New York [1963-64]

Susan Healey got bitten by the old camera bug.

It’s an addictive habit; old cameras come in so many shapes and sizes, plus many of them still work.  In my world, people give me film cameras because they have moved completely to digital.  If anything, they are cool to look at even if they don’t work (case in point is this Canon AL-1, which doesn’t power up).  Sometimes it’s nice to have a collection for comparison purposes, and there are plenty of clubs around the US that still provide a camera nut with plenty to see.

To feed her addiction to cameras, Susan spends a lot of time at camera swap meets and events. “I discovered the Photographic Historical Society of New England a few years ago,” she said in an email, “and a couple of times a year they have a big event called Photographica.”

Like other types of swap meets, people come from all over the place to buy and sell cameras, film and other photographic equipment. On one occasion, she found more than cameras at a table.  ”One of the vendors had a few piles of old photos,” Susan explained. “When I saw them I couldn’t believe they hadn’t been snatched up yet.

For about $5.00, they were mine.”

I agree with Susan’s description of these photos as “an amazing glimpse of well-known areas and time.” The signage, the cars, and the buildings are all so perfectly preserved in photographic form that it’s almost as if we are pulled right into the scenes. And the people in the photos also are very stylish; the cut of the clothing they’re wearing is clearly money, and the care each has taken to be presentable – save one photo – is very obvious. I know it would be corny to mention Mad Men at this point, but I am truly reminded of that hit series when looking at these photos.

Susan’s take on the collection is heart-felt.

“Every time I go (to the swap meets), I look through the old photos but have never found anything that moved me as much as these ones did.”

I totally agree. The photos are truly a hashmark on the map of time.  The colors, while a bit faded, are very accurate for the era.  It helps that the pictures are clear, and that the photographer seems to be good at what she/he did.  Check out each photo below; they range from big city scenes to snowy rural backgrounds – with stylish 60s beach photos sure to peak some interest in the the folks over at We Heart Vintage.  Click on any of the pictures to go see more info about them on Flickr.

Enjoy!

1960s halter tops left nothing to imagine.  Gotta admit she’s pretty ripped for being in the 1960s. That’s a 1960 Ford Galaxie behind her.

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One has to wonder if they ever got all of that into the little red Corvair!

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Love the old Texaco sign.  Same Corvair from above appears to be making an encore appearance in the background.

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Umm…is he peeing in the snow?  Next to the Corvair?

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New York City, 42nd Street – Dodge Lancer speeds past an old Buick on the left and a yellow 1963 Chev Bel-Air taxi on the right.

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1962 Chev Bel-Air taxi speeds through intersection, followed by an Oldsmobile and Thunderbird.

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Empire State Building

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Bridge to the Catskills.

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They look like a Chet and a Burl.  I’m kinda impressed that that they don’t have floppy double-martini 60s bodies.

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Chet and Burl’s chicks.

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What a trio; they are so stylish!  This shot alone made the five-dollars Susan paid for the whole album worth the purchase.

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The Whitehouse

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Suffern NY – 1963.  That’s a righteous Dodge or Plymouth.

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Studebaker at the pump!  Bonus points for the `55 Ford on the right.

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