Aug. 4, 1959: Toots Shor at a hole in the wall of his West 51st Street restaurant, Toots Shor’s, which was demolished to make way for the Zeckendorf Hotel. (The wrecking ball was painted to resemble a baseball, a tip to the sportsmen who frequented the restaurant.) Mr. Shor was a one-time speakeasy bouncer “whose style and enterprise carried him into the circles of mink-clad society and cigar-chomping politicians,” according to a 1971 article about the closing of another of his restaurants.Photo: Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
Nov. 6, 1979: Two riders on the Staten Island Ferry looked out the window on “a perfect autumn day when the air was crisp and the skyline sparkled,” read the text accompanying a photo spread. “The kind of day, some New Yorkers like to say, when the city is at its best.” Photo: Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
1969 Corvette..vintage magazine cover
Jan. 19, 1960: To accompany a March 1960 article about Miami Beach rezoning, The Times ran a series of photos of Florida beaches. “The gist of these pictures,” a caption read, “is the theory that there is always, night and day, something to do for everyone, for every taste and avocation, and for every shape and age.” This photo ran beside a picture of a crowded beach. “Some holidayers like to spend their days with a lot of people,” the page read.” But here, “others like open sand and sky, which also are available.” Photo: Sam Falk/The New York Times
Feb. 2, 1969: The Staten Island Ferry was “the only nickel nightclub in town,” according to an article that ran the following day, deeming the ferry “a combination of subway and ocean cruise; of playground and library; of respite from frenzy and preparation for pleasure.” The reporter, Murray Schumach, found inspiration in these lines from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay: “We were very tired, we were very merry/We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.” Photo: Jack Manning/The New York Times
Yellowstone National Park, circa 1940’s
