Amazing Photographs of 1980s New York City Subway Through the Lens of a Teenager

Most of these photographs below were shot in 1982 and 1983 by native New Yorker Ken Stein when he was 17 and 18 year old, and was the staff photographer for a weekly community newspaper in The Bronx. Through his work he managed to capture the spirit of a New York quite different than the one we currently know, one with an undertone of danger and edge that has transformed over the past few decades.

“The city was different back then,” he told Gothamist. “I think it was quieter, the street lights were darker, there was more room to walk and more places to wander—often everything seemed new and the different areas of the city were just that; different.”

Ken Stein recently shared some of his old photos of New York City from the 1980s on his Flickr page. “I pulled my slides from 20 years ago out of storage and began scanning them. It’s like a portal back to my teenage years when I dreamed of going to art school to become a photojournalist.”

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My Mom in the 1980s – These 50 Pictures of '80s Beautiful Mothers Shared by Reddit Users Are Gorgeous and Fascinating!

We are talking stir up pants, puff paint sweat shirts, plastic jewelry, high tops, velvet and velour and acid washed jeans. And the hair of the 80s was the best, tease and spray, tease and pray. Hair was as big as you could get it and moms love that, the bigger your hair the thinner you look. And here they are, the classic '80s moms! These photographs were shared by members of reddit/OldSchoolCool

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The 10 Worst Cars of the 1980s

The Eighties are fondly remembered for break-dancing, mix tapes, big hair, leg-warmers and the threat of Global Thermonuclear War. But some things from the ‘80s are best left buried and forgotten, like this selection of craptastic automobiles. Presenting the 10 Worst Cars of the 1980s!

1. Cadillac Cimarron

Cadillac - a byword for American automotive luxury and style. A byword shamelessly exploited by GM to produce this, the Cadillac Cimarron, the Worst Car of the 1980s. In essence a J-platform stuffed into a cheap tuxedo, the Cimarron cost almost twice as much as its GM siblings. For that price you got several Cadillac badges inside and out, some plastic trim coated to look like chrome, some (actually rather nice) alloy wheels, optional leather interior, standard A/C, tachometer , chin spoiler with fog lamps, and the ability to tell your more gullible friends that you drive a Cadillac.


Legend has it Cadillac Product Director John Howell has a picture of this car on his office wall, with the caption, “Lest We Forget”. And well he should: the Cimarron is partly responsible for Cadillac’s decline in market share from 3.8% in 1979 to 2.2% in 1997. Traditional buyers of Cadillacs were not interested in a compact car with an 88hp inline 4, and, needless to say, the car was no threat to the likes of the BMW 3-Series or the Audi 100. GM later added a standard V6 in 1987, but it was far too late: it had already cemented its reputation as the Worst Car of the 1980s.


2. Yugo 45

“What they did with the Yugo 45”, an Englishman with an afro once observed, “was to take all the best bits of the Fiat 127 and throw them away.” Originally equipped with an anemic 903cc 44hp sewing machine for an engine, a later upgrade to a 1100cc 55hp motor took the car from being a danger to the public on the highways to merely being an annoyance. This and command-economy build quality that made malaise-era US automakers look brilliant in comparison spawned dozens of jokes about the car: “What comes with every Yugo Owner’s Manual?” Answer: “A Bus Schedule”.

But at least the Yugo was an honest car. It was dirt cheap (just under $10k in today’s money), and it never pretended to be something it wasn’t, unlike our next vehicle...


3. Oldsmobile Delta 88 Diesel

Ever notice that very few American cars come in diesel versions? Well, #3 on the list is the reason why. Rising gas prices and new emissions regulations prompted GM to develop a diesel engine, offered as an option on the Delta 88. In what surely must be a record for biggest engine with the weakest output, this 5.7L V8 diesel produced a pathetic 105bhp and an even more embarrassing 165 lb-ft of torque.

Needless to say, this power output was inadequate considering the size and weight of the car. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the engine suffered nightmarish reliability issues and smoked like a character from Mad Men. The result was that Americans, somewhat justifiably, refused to consider domestic diesels for the next 25 years. Even today, automotive journalists have a tough time convincing some people that diesels “don’t suck”, and even then, they often recommend European models.


4. Chevrolet Camaro “Iron Duke”

GM’s pony killer was redesigned for 1982 with a Hot New Look for the Eighties. Not so hot was the infamous 4-cylinder 85bhp Iron Duke engine mated to a 3-speed slushbox that came with the woefully misnamed Sport Coupe model. As befits a brand-new model in GM’s malaise era, the 1982 model was buggy and not well put together, prone to rust and flaky paint.

For true Camaro fans, GM offered the Z28 with a proper 5.0L V8 - producing between 145 and 165hp. How GM managed to get so little out of so much is a mystery that the next car will leave unsolved.


5. Maserati Biturbo

A crazed Englishman once destroyed his Biturbo by dropping a dumpster filled with scrap metal on top of it, claiming it “Got what it deserved”. His anger can be understood as the car promised the world but delivered a service bill instead.

Many epic cars have worn the trident badge, and at first glance this looks to be equally epic, a RWD Italian sport saloon with an F1-bred twin turbo V6 producing up to 225hp. Many were seduced by her charms, but it quickly became apparent that this Italian lady was a Black Widow. Unreliable electrics were the least of her weapons: if the turbocharger wasn’t exploding, the engine was.

You can still find them, lurking in junkyards, hoping to snare one last victim...

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19 Vintage Photos Show the National Beauty of Women From Between the 1900s and 1910s

Women of each nation has their own beauty. Check out these lovely vintage photos to see the national beauty styles from the 1900s to 1910s.

Alsace-Lorraine girl, 1906

Dutch woman, 1906-14

Girl from Rattvik, province of Dalarna, Sweden, 1906-14

Greek woman, 1909

Guadeloupean woman, 1911

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89 Amazing Snapshots Documented Everyday Life of Guatemala in the 1970s

These are photos that were taken over the course of three and a half years in and out of Guatemala, from January, 1976 to late May of 1979.

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The Johnstown Flood: 27 Rare Photographs of the Great Flood of 1889 Which Killed Over 2,000 People in Minutes

In a river valley in central Pennsylvania, heavy rain and a neglected dam lead to a catastrophe in which 2,209 people die and a prosperous city, Johnstown, is nearly wiped off the face of the earth.

Johnstown, located at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek, was 14 miles downstream from Lake Conemaugh, a reservoir turned recreational lake that was owned and maintained by the prestigious South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The sporting club, which catered to a wealthy clientele from nearby Pittsburgh, included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick on its membership rolls. Lake Conemaugh was held back by the South Fork Dam, a large earth-fill dam that was completed by the club in 1881. By 1889, the dam was in dire need of repairs.

When several days of heavy rain struck the area in late May 1889, club officials struggled to reinforce the neglected dam, which was under tremendous pressure from the swollen waters of Lake Conemaugh. The dam began to disintegrate, and on May 31 the lake’s water level passed over the top of the dam. Realizing that the dam’s collapse was imminent, club officials sent riders down the valley to evacuate area residents. However, flooding was a familiar occurrence in the valley, and few Johnstown residents heeded the riders’ desperate warnings. Most just took the same simple precautions they did when Little Conemaugh River flooded: They moved their belongings to the second story of their homes and settled down to wait out the storm.

At 3:10 p.m., the South Fork Dam washed away, drowning several laborers who were struggling to maintain it. Club officials on high ground watched awe-struck as 20 million tons of water went roaring down the valley toward Johnstown. The deluge swept through the communities of South Fork, Mineral Point, Woodvale, and East Conemaugh, accumulating debris, including rocks, trees, houses, barns, railroad cars, animals, and people, both dead and alive. By the time it reached Johnstown, at 4:07 p.m., the flood appeared as a rolling hill of debris more than 30 feet high and nearly half a mile wide. In a terrible swoop, the northern half of the city was swept away, sending some 1,500 demolished Johnstown buildings tumbling down with the roaring torrent.

It took 10 minutes for the waters of Lake Conemaugh to pass through Johnstown, and 2,000 people were drowned or crushed in the torrent. A few survivors were washed up along with numerous corpses several miles down the valley. At the old Stone Bridge in Johnstown, debris piled 40 feet high caught fire, and some 80 huddled survivors of the flood perished in the flames. A total of 2,209 died as a result of the disaster.

Among the survivors of the calamity, there was a scarcely an individual who had not lost a friend or relative in the Johnstown Flood. Despite the great scale of the tragedy, reconstruction of the devastated community began almost immediately, and Clara Barton and the American Red Cross constructed shelters for homeless residents while well-wishers around the country sent tons of relief supplies. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was widely criticized for its failure to maintain the South Fork Dam, but no successful lawsuits were ever brought against the organization.

A freight car lies near the damaged Cambria Iron Works warehouse.

Lower Johnstown three days after the flood.

A tree protrudes from a house tossed by the flood.

A souvenir stands sells flood memorabilia.

Johnstown's Main Street is choked with debris.

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It All Started With a $50 Wager, Two Men and a Pit Bull Took the America's First Cross-Country Road Trip in 63 Days in 1903

Horatio Nelson Jackson (1872–1955) was an American physician and automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States.

Besides his medical practice, Jackson was a 31-year-old auto enthusiast who differed with the then-prevailing wisdom that the automobile was a passing fad and a recreational plaything. While in San Francisco's University Club as a guest on May 18, 1903, he agreed to a $50 wager (equivalent to $1,333 in 2016) to prove that a four-wheeled machine could be driven across the country. He accepted even though he did not own a car, had practically no experience driving, and had no maps to follow. Jackson and his wife planned to return to their Burlington, Vermont, home in a few days, and both had been taking automobile driving lessons while in San Francisco. She returned home by train, allowing him to take his adventure by automobile.

Having no mechanical experience, Jackson convinced a young mechanic and chauffeur, Sewall K. Crocker, to serve as his travel companion, mechanic, and backup driver. Crocker suggested that Jackson buy a Winton car. He bought a slightly used, two-cylinder, 20 hp Winton, which he named the Vermont, after his home state, bade his wife goodbye, and left San Francisco on May 23, carrying coats, rubber protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, cans for extra gasoline and oil, a Kodak camera, a rifle, a shotgun, and pistols.

Horatio’s route

Heeding the failed attempt by automobile pioneer Alexander Winton (founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company, which manufactured Jackson's car) to cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah, Jackson decided to take a more northerly route. A route through the Sacramento Valley and along the Oregon Trail also allowed them to avoid the higher passes in the Rocky Mountains.


Journey

The car was transported by ferry from San Francisco to Oakland and points eastward. But only 15 miles (24 km) into the journey, the car blew a tire. Jackson and Crocker replaced it with the only spare they had, in fact, the only right-sized spare tire they could find in all of San Francisco.

The second night of their journey, they replaced the side lanterns, having discovered on the first night that they were too dim, with a large spotlight mounted on the front of the Vermont. They stopped early in Sacramento to accomplish this. The duo was assisted in Sacramento by bicyclists who offered them road maps. Jackson was unable to buy a new tire, but purchased some used inner tubes.

Going northwards out of Sacramento, the noise of the car covered the fact that the duo's cooking gear was falling off. They were also given a 108-mile (174 km) misdirection by a woman so that she could send them to the spot where her family could see an automobile.

The rough trek towards Oregon required them to haul the car across deep streams with the block and tackle. Somewhere along this route, Jackson lost a pair of his glasses. Items continued to be lost, including another pair of Jackson's glasses. They were also forced to pay a $4 (equivalent to $107 in 2016) toll by a land-owner in order to cross his property on a "bad, rocky, mountain road" as Jackson described it. When their tires blew out they were required to wind rope around the wheels. Jackson did manage to find a telegraph office and wired back to San Francisco for replacement tires to be transported to them along the journey.

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