-
Synagogue of Augsburg, Germany.
Source: Neil Folberg. And I Shall Dwell Among Them. Historic Synagogues of the World.
-
-
no desire to see the show again but
how I do love this supreme jackass
let me count the ways
-
even a single book may overspill the skin.
-
Carl Kronberger - A Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Golden Hood
This guidebook to New York City’s attractions, published anonymously in 1870, had nothing to say about Central Park or the Croton Aqueduct. But it had everything to say about the “seven beautiful young lady scholars” residing at the Ladies’ Seminary on West 27th Street and other women-for-hire vying for a gentleman’s attention and dollars.
Pages reproduced with the permission of the The New York-Historical Society.Oh… wow… Damn.
This will go well with my map of 19th century Chicago’s vice district. Really would like to see if there are any books/papers on that topic and time period from a geographical perspective.
(via injusticeworth)
Different spots in New York City, summer 2009.
Langston Hughes’ Collection of Harlem Rent Party Advertisements
These cards, collected by Langston Hughes and held with his papers in Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, advertised “rent parties” to be held in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s.
Hosts of these gatherings opened up their apartments for a night, charging a fee to guests in return for live music, dancing, and socializing. Food was extra, and the accumulated cash went to help the hosts pay their rent. Sandra L. West points out that black tenants in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s faced discriminatory rental rates. That, along with the generally lower salaries for black workers, created a situation in which many people were short of rent money. These parties were originally meant to bridge that gap.
As advertisements for the parties, the cards name the kind of musical entertainment attendees could expect using lyrics from popular songs or made-up rhyming verse as slogans. Kathleen Drowne writes that the cards always used euphemisms to name the parties’ purpose. You can see the use of the names “Social Whist Party” and “Social Party” here, but Drowne also mentions cards from the 1920s that advertised shindigs under the names “Too Terrible Party,” “Boogie,” or “Tea Cup Party.”
How did Hughes come to collect these cards? The poet wrote about rent parties and rent party cards in the Chicago Defender in 1957, explaining, “When I first came to Harlem, as a poet I was intrigued by the little rhymes at the top of most House Rent Party cards, so I saved them. Now I have quite a collection.”
Hughes noted that rent parties seemed to disappear after the Depression but had returned in the postwar era: “Maybe it is inflation today and the high cost of living that is causing the return of the pay-at-the-door and buy-your-refreshments parties.” He argued that these new parties weren’t as fun as the older ones had been, since live music had been superseded by recorded entertainment. The new cards, however, “are just as amusing as the old ones.”
(via thetinhouse)
“In 1951, Vivian moved to New York at twenty-five-years-old and worked in a sweat shop for a while until she would become a nanny for the next forty years on and off. When she had days off, she would walk the streets of Chicago or New York, most often using her Rollieflex camera, photographing everyone and everything from the well-dressed shoppers to homeless people and even her own reflection.”
Messy Nessy Chic highlights the photography of Vivian Maier, whose work was unseen until bought at a Chicago auction by real estate agent and historical hobbyist John Maloof. Check out more of her photography here and watch the trailer for the upcoming documentary film, Finding Vivian Maier.
The pictures from Breezy Point are chilling.
I’ve never been there, but it’s only a half-hour away.
My friend had friends who lived there, and not only are their houses gone, but whatever is left of their house is completely flooded.
We’re not talking about one or two houses, we’re talking anywhere from 80 to 100. That’s almost an entire neighborhood, and since it’s a beach community, all the houses were pretty much stacked on one another. These people have lost everything. When you’re thinking about a hurricane, you shouldn’t be worried about a fire, and to come back to find out that your house is nothing but dust is completely awful.
My best wishes go out to these people. Hopefully they can rebuild soon.
Former President Richard Nixon enjoys his java from the counter of a New York City diner in 1980.
(via woundman)
RIDING THE SUBWAY WITH STANLEY KUBRICK
by this point it’s not much of a secret that a young Stanley Kubrick earned his chops as a photographer for LOOK Magazine and some other rags in 1940s new york city, but relatively unseen examples of his work continue to crop up here and there. given that i live in NYC, i’d say mostly “here.”
Museum of the City of New York has just posted a collection of delightfully candid photos Kubrick snapped on the city’s subways, and together they’re something of a remarkable portal. it might be a bit of a stretch to say that these portraits portend Kubrick’s unique precision as a director of motion pictures, but they’re focused and bracing and — if you squint hard enough — you can even see some Fear and Desire, in there.
