{"id":318632,"date":"2026-08-11T14:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318632\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:12:11","slug":"upper-west-side-historical-photo-challenge-no-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318632\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenge No. 33"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group<\/p>\n

Welcome to another installment in the Rag\u2019s Historical Photo Challenge. The image above was taken somewhere on the Upper West Side, sometime in the past. Can you figure out where, when, and what it shows? Look closely; this week\u2019s challenge photo, like the\u00a0others in the series<\/a>, includes clues that will help you identify the scene, if you\u2019re a dedicated UWS history sleuth. And even if you don\u2019t recognize the picture\u2014not to worry! Come back in two weeks and I\u2019ll decode it, show you the clues that help identify it, and\u2014best of all\u2014tell you a story the image unlocks, because this column isn\u2019t just a test of your neighborhood knowledge; it\u2019s also a rolling celebration of the people, buildings and events that wove the tapestry of the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n

Ready? If you think you know where and when the photo was taken and what it shows, post your answer as a comment on this column.<\/p>\n

Solution to Historical Photo Challenge #32<\/p>\n

Subject: Classic UWS commercial corner
Location: Southeast corner of Amsterdam and West 72nd Street
Date: December 13, 1964. Car buffs, is that a 1958ish Plymouth Fury with the big fins, and a white 1962 Fury at the curb?\u00a0 Yes, phil\u2014the billboard ad is for the Fastback Mustang, introduced for model year 1965 but a big marketing campaign starting Fall 1964 around the tag line \u201cBest Year Yet to Go Ford,\u201d which you can just barely make out if you squint.
Image Source: New York City Transit Museum
Clues: Every building in this picture is still standing more than 60 years later, which made your identification challenge a breeze. That\u2019s uncommon anywhere on the UWS, particularly with low, non-apartment buildings.\u00a0 At the same time, every business is different, which is no surprise. Yes, Sleepy\u2019s is now Mattress Firm\u2014I had to go back to 2009 to find an image where the sidewalk tree wasn\u2019t blocking the Art Deco Citibank building.<\/p>\n

This image was so easy to identify that I\u2019ve got another challenge for you: How many UWS businesses can you name that are in the same location today as they were in 1964?\u00a0 Laytner\u2019s!\u00a0 Oh wait. How about Apthorp Pharmacy! It moved? When? OK, The Symposium Restaurant on West 113th!\u00a0 No, it opened in 1969\u2014it only seems like it\u2019s been there forever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rest of the story: If there\u2019s a story here, it\u2019s the mashup of architecture and commerce. There\u2019s something quintessentially New York about this busy scene. Cheek by jowl, we\u2019ve got Art Deco next to a building where, as Tom Miller wrote, \u201cRomanesque Revival coexisted with a touch of Flemish Revival, topped with a slate-covered mansard roof.\u201d\u00a0 And the corner building is in what style\u2014maybe Taxpayer Grotesque? OK, it\u2019s Art Moderne somewhere under all that signage. You couldn\u2019t call this combination of buildings harmonious, but imagine how we\u2019re going to feel if they get replaced by a single building, no matter how tasteful.<\/p>\n

The Horn & Hardart building was purpose-built to be an Automat\u2014its Art Deco style is reminiscent of another Horn & Hardart survivor at Broadway and 103rd. It was an Automat from 1931 until 1967 and is remarkably intact today as a Citibank. The Romanesque building next door at 174 West 72nd has had its lower floors brutalized as a restaurant fa\u00e7ade for so long that it looks natural. At the time of the 1964 photo, it was Donohue\u2019s, an Irish bar. And the exuberant impact of a mattress store over Gray\u2019s Papaya greeting you upon climbing out of the subway station\u2014would we want it any other way?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Top left: the Horn and Hardart depicted on opening day in 1931.\u00a0 Right: 174 West 72nd in 1940\u2014already disfigured into Kuo Hing Chinese-American restaurant.\u00a0 And don\u2019t miss another New York staple\u2014the guy with the sandwich board.\u00a0 Bottom left: only a couple of years old in 1940, and the corner building on Broadway is already shouting with signs.<\/p>\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the story behind the image in the last challenge.\u00a0 Now scroll back to the top of the column and take on your next one, Sherlockians!\u00a0 If you\u2019ve missed any pictures in this series, you can find the complete set on my author page<\/a>.\u00a0 All photos in the Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenges used with permission.<\/p>\n

About the author:\u00a0 Rob Garber<\/a> has lived on the Upper West Side since the late 20th century and is a member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. To learn more, visit their website at upperwestsidehistory.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group Welcome to another installment in the Rag\u2019s Historical Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-318632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}