Empire State Building – Summer 1969

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Published in LIFE magazine during that magical time, in an equally magical New York City. The old world blended and clashed with the new that Summer, with colors and styles which spoke more about individuality than they did about being part of the big picture.

Or the Big Apple.

The photo above was taken by Vernon Merritt III, a veteran photographer by the time he captured New York that summer. Merritt was fearless in his job; he covered the Civil Rights Movement in the early 60s, and also got wounded – and temporarily paralyzed – while on assignment during the Vietnam War.  He stayed with LIFE magazine as a photographer until it closed up shop in 1972 (it launched again later in the decade).  Merritt died in 2000.

In this picture I love his juxtaposition of old and new: Empire State Building – by that time several decades old – and a construction crane representing the dawn of a new high rise. It’s a beautiful and simple image.

Click HERE for more photos from Vernon Merritt.

New York! New York! [1960]

Photo from Norman Parkinson, of his neighbors Pippa Diggle and Robin Miller. This captures a positive excitement in the big city. What a skyline!

Norman Parkinson 1913 – 1990

All Set For a New Career [1966]

The stunning Mrs. BelRedRoad tries on her Dad’s cap at home on Staten Island in the Fall of 1966. Jack was an Navy officer in the Public Health Service at the time, stationed in New York City. This photo was kept in his Mother’s photo album until she died, at which point her pictures were dispersed throughout at the family.

My wife had not see this photo for decades until it arrived in an envelope.

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Check out “Party Like It’s 1966” for more Staten Island family photos 🙂

Beret in The Barrio [1967]

From the camera lens of James Jowers, this photo captures a very urban neighborhood scene in New York City.  The man in the beret is sitting on a `57 Chevrolet, while there is a `59 Chevy across the street.  Jowers shot a series of NYC photos at an important time in US history – the 1960s.  Check out a collection of his work here on Flickr.

Jowers’ pictures and copyrights from this period were donated to The Eastman House in 2007.