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9 Vintage New York City Postcards and the Same Views Today

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By Hana R. Alberts
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[Rockefeller Center as pictured in a 1930s postcard, and today.]

Few things serve as better time capsules than vintage postcards. They render a location—idealistically, of course, given that they're sent to far-off friends and relatives with notes about how wonderfully things are going on holiday—and freeze it in time. The folks that created ScenePast (which captured and mapped movie locations) have come up with a new app called Americana Road Trip, which contains more than 600 historic cards of various landmarks across the U.S. It allows users to compare a given vista with today's view of the same spot, as well as (somewhat ironically) electronically send someone a missive straight out of the olden days. So go ahead, see how much Columbus Circle has changed in eight decades, and how much Rockefeller Center hasn't.




[The Times Square Information Center as pictured in a 1950s postcard, and today.]



[The Unisphere from the 1964 World's Fair as pictured in a 1960s postcard, and today.]



[Herald Square as pictured in a 1900s postcard, and today.]



[Brooklyn's George Washington statue in Continental Army Plaza as pictured in a 1910 postcard, and today.]



[Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster as pictured in a 1940s postcard, and today.]



[Columbus Circle's old Coliseum as pictured in a 1950s postcard, and the Time Warner Center today.]



[A Woolworth's on Broadway and 35th Street as pictured in a 1920s postcard, and the corner today.]



[Cooper Square, just south of Astor Place, as pictured in a 1910s postcard, and today.]

· ScenePast [official]
· ScenePast: Americana Road Trip [App Store]
· 11 Vintage San Francisco Postcards and the Same Views Today [Curbed SF]
· 9 Vintage Los Angeles Postcards and the Same Views Today [Curbed LA]
· See Nine Famous Manhattan Film Locations, Then And Now [Curbed NY]

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