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Vintage: Three Eyed Cats by Weegee

Vintage: Three Eyed Cats by Weegee

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Arthur Fellig, known by his pseudonym Weegee was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white photography. The three eyed cat meaning relates to the symbolism of the mythical creature that appears in many ancient spiritual texts. This creature appears as a cat with a third eye between its eyebrows, symbolizing the third eye chakra that we…
Vintage: Portraits of James Cagney

Vintage: Portraits of James Cagney

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James Cagney (1899 – 1986) was an American actor and dancer, both on stage and in film. Known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing, he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. He is remembered by some for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931),…
Vintage: American Actresses Greeting New Year’s Eve

Vintage: American Actresses Greeting New Year’s Eve

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Most nations of Western Europe officially adopted 1 January as New Year’s Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian Calendar. In Tudor England, New Year’s Day, along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide. There, until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, the first day…
Vintage: Christmas Shopping in the past

Vintage: Christmas Shopping in the past

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“Christmas creep” refers to a merchandising phenomenon in which merchants and retailers exploit the commercialized status of Christmas by moving up the start of the holiday shopping season. The term was first used in the mid-1980s, and is associated with a desire of merchants to take advantage of particularly heavy Christmas-related shopping well before Black Friday in the United States…
Vintage: Christmas Trees in the past

Vintage: Christmas Trees in the past

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The relevance of ancient pre-Christian customs to the 16th-century German initiation of the Christmas tree custom is disputed. Resistance to the custom was often because of its supposed Lutheran origins. Other sources have offered a connection between the first documented Christmas trees in Alsace around 1600 and pre-Christian traditions. For example, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, “The use of evergreen…
Vintage: Santa Claus in the past

Vintage: Santa Claus in the past

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In 1821, the book A New-year’s present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York. It contained Old Santeclaus with Much Delight, an anonymous poem describing Santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children. Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem “A Visit From St.…
Vintage: Hoboken, New Jersey (Early XX Century)

Vintage: Hoboken, New Jersey (Early XX Century)

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Hoboken was originally formed as a township on April 9, 1849, from portions of North Bergen Township. As the town grew in population and employment, many of Hoboken’s residents saw a need to incorporate as a full-fledged city, and in a referendum held on March 29, 1855, ratified an Act of the New Jersey Legislature signed the previous day, and…
Vintage: Moving Day (early 20th Century)

Vintage: Moving Day (early 20th Century)

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For our parents and grandparents, some things were so much harder. Yet, other things were easier because they were less complicated. Moving day is never easy for anyone, but these old photos show us what it was like to move for past generations. Sometimes they were lucky enough to have a box for everything, but often wagons of trucks were…
Vintage: Everyday Life of American Jews (Early 20th Century)

Vintage: Everyday Life of American Jews (Early 20th Century)

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Jewish migration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution and economic difficulties in parts of Eastern Europe. Most of these new immigrants were Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, though most came from the poor rural populations of the Russian Empire and the Pale of Settlement, located in modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.…
Vintage: Early 20th Century B&W Nudes

Vintage: Early 20th Century B&W Nudes

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Since the first days of photography, the nude was a source of inspiration for those that adopted the new medium. Most of the early images were closely guarded or surreptitiously circulated as violations of the social norms of the time, since the photograph captures real nudity. Many cultures, while accepting nudity in art, shun actual nudity. For example, even an…
Vintage: Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest

Vintage: Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest

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The original permanent crossing, a decorative suspension bridge of chains, was built between 1897 and 1903, amid a corruption scandal. The Buda end of Erzsébet bridge runs directly into the massive foot of Gellért Hill, necessitating a complicated arrangement of roads to connect to the bridge. The bridge was designed in such a way because a wealthy nobleman, a member…
Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century (1890s)

Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century (1890s)

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During the 19th century, Helsinki became the economic and cultural center of Finland; as elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were key factors behind the city’s growth. The first Helsinki railway station opened in 1862 with service to Hämeenlinna. Beginning from the late 19th century, the Finnish language became more and more dominant in the city, since the…
Vintage: Los Angeles Retro Restaurants

Vintage: Los Angeles Retro Restaurants

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We’re used to seeing swanky rooftop restaurants and bars, taco stands and outdoor patios decorated with lights in Los Angeles. But back in the day we had restaurants and food stands that took architecture to the next level, with wacky buildings shaped as actual items like tamales, hot dogs and planes. via LAist
Vintage: Kids and their Pedal Cars (1920s-1950s)

Vintage: Kids and their Pedal Cars (1920s-1950s)

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Reaching the peak of popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s, pedal cars experienced a resurgence in the 1950s to 1960s with chain-driven models. With postwar prosperity in the 1950s, pedal cars grew more popular and were available in all major stores. From the early 1920s through the late 1960s, pedal cars, like automobiles, were produced in many different…
Vintage: Early Days of the London Underground

Vintage: Early Days of the London Underground

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The idea of an underground railway linking the City of London with some of the railway termini in its urban centre was proposed in the 1830s, and the Metropolitan Railway was granted permission to build such a line in 1854. To prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar…
Vintage: New Year’s Eve in Soviet Russia

Vintage: New Year’s Eve in Soviet Russia

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During the Soviet period, religious celebrations were discouraged by the official state policy of atheism. Christmas tree and related celebrations were gradually eradicated after the October Revolution. In 1935, in a surprising turn of state politics, the Christmas tradition was adopted as part of the secular New Year celebration.