30 Fabulous Photos Show What New York Looked Like in the 1980s

Compared to the 1970s, the 1980s were a time of restrained optimism in New York. The boom on Wall Street was fueling the speculative real estate market, and unemployment numbers dropped noticeably. However, the city's reputation for crime and disorder was still very much a part of New Yorkers' daily lives.

The illegal drug trade flourished, causing the murder rate to soar, and dividing the city into areas ruled by different drug lords. It became known as the crack epidemic.

The New York City Subway fell victim to a crime epidemic that saw more crimes being committed on the subway each year than in any other subway system around the world.

Homelessness also became a serious problem during the 1980s.

These fabulous photos were taken by Peter Anderson that show street scenes of New York in 1987.

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The First-Ever Photo of a Total Solar Eclipse Was Taken by Julius Berkowski on July 28, 1851

Since the earliest days of photography, scientists worked at making a successful image of the corona during a total solar eclipse. The earliest scientifically useful photograph of a total solar eclipse was made by Julius Berkowski at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kalinigrad in Russia), on Monday, July 28, 1851. It was the first correctly exposed photographic image taken during totality thereby including the Sun’s corona.

Photographing a rare event such as a total eclipse posed unique challenges for early photography, including the extreme contrast between the corona and the dark shadow of the Moon, as well as the unusual angle to which photographic equipment had to be oriented.

Prior to the eclipse of July 28, 1851, no properly exposed photograph of the solar corona had yet been produced. For this occasion, the Royal Prussian Observatory at Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) commissioned one of the city’s most skilled daguerreotypists, Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski, to record a still image of the event. The observers attached a small 6 centimeter refracting telescope to a 15.8 centimeter Fraunhofer heliometer, and Berkowski made an 84 second exposure shortly after the beginning of totality.

A cropped and enhanced version of the original Berkowski daguerreotype of 1851 clearly shows that not only did Johann Berkowski correctly expose his 84 second daguerreotype, he was the first to document the solar flares, known as prominences, emanating from the sun's surface. This daguerreotype became the benchmark for later photographic attempts.

Fascinating Photos of Neil, the Pet Lion of Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith

Tippi Hedren, best known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), was also famous for her dedicated commitment to animal rights and conservation activism. Her non-profit The Roar Foundation and the 80-acre wildlife habitat Shambala Preserve have taken care of and advocated for tigers and lions for decades. In 1971, she, together with her daughter Melanie Griffith and her then-husband Noel Marshall, shared their home in California with a 400-pound mature lion named Neil. Take a look at him playing and relaxing with the family through these fascinating photographs taken by LIFE photographer Michael Rougier:

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40 Gorgeous Photos of American Actress Evelyn Brent in the 1920s and ’30s

Born 1895 as Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida, American actress Evelyn Brent began her film career working under her own name at a New Jersey film studio then made her major debut in the 1915 silent film production of the Robert W. Service poem, The Shooting of Dan McGrew.

As Evelyn Brent, she continued to work in film, developing into a young woman whose sultry looks were much sought after. After World War I, she went to London for a vacation and remained in England for four years performing on stage and in films produced by British companies before going to Hollywood in 1922.

Her career received a major boost the following year when she was chosen as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. Brent went on to make more than two dozen silent films, an epic war drama, and featured a pivotal supporting performance for William Powell.

After performing in more than 120 films, Brent retired from acting in 1950 and worked for a number of years as an actor’s agent. She returned to acting in television’s Wagon Train for one episode in 1960, The Lita Foladaire Story starring Ward Bond and Diane Brewster.

In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard. She died of a heart attack in 1975 at her Los Angeles home, aged 79.

Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see the beauty of Evelyn Brent in the 1920s and 1930s.

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The “Queen of Country Pop”: Beautiful Photos of Shania Twain in the 1980s and Early ’90s

Born 1965 as Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, Canadian singer and songwriter Shania Twain pursued singing and songwriting from a young age before signing with Mercury Nashville Records in the early 1990s.

Twain has received five Grammy Awards, 27 BMI Songwriter Awards, stars on Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

According to the RIAA she is the only female artist in history to have three (consecutive) albums certified Diamond by the RIAA. and is the sixth best-selling female artist in the United States.

Twain has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the “Queen of Country Pop”.

Take a look at these beautiful photos to see fashion styles of young Shania Twain in the 1980s and early 1990s.

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20 Fascinating Black and White Photos of a Young and Beautiful Olivia de Havilland in the 1930s

Best known as Melanie in Gone with the Wind, actress Olivia de Havilland won Academy Awards for her roles in To Each His Own and The Heiress. On July 26, 2020, Olivia de Havilland passed away in her sleep at her home in Paris, France.

Born on July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, de Havilland spent much of her youth in California. She moved there with her mother and younger sister, Joan, after her parents divorced. De Havilland caught her big break in 1933 with her stage role as Hermia in a Max Reinhardt production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the famed Hollywood Bowl.

De Havilland earned the chance to reprise her role in the 1935 film adaptation with Dick Powell and James Cagney. Along with her coveted part, she also landed a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers. The studio soon paired her with one of her frequent co-stars, Errol Flynn. The duo first appeared together in the action-adventure tale Captain Blood (1935).

De Havilland continued to work with Errol Flynn, and they proved to be a popular on-screen couple. She played Maid Marian to his Robin Hood in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood. While these films were entertaining, they did little to reveal de Havilland’s talents as a serious performer.

With 1939’s Gone with the Wind, movie audiences had their first real experience with de Havilland as a dramatic actress. This Civil War era drama, based on the Margaret Mitchell novel, proved to be one of the top films of the year and has continued to enjoy enormous popularity since its release. De Havilland played the gentle and kind Melanie Hamilton opposite Vivien Leigh’s fiery Scarlett O’Hara. Both characters vied for the love of Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), and Melanie won his heart. Scarlett eventually ended up with the dashing Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).

Below are some of fascinating black and white photographs of a young de Havilland in the 1930s:

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Rare Polaroid Shots of The Beatles During the Filming of ‘The Mersey Sound’ in Liverpool, 1963

The Beatles were in Southport for a series of six nights at the Odeon Cinema when they also took part in The Mersey Beat, a documentary made by Manchester-based BBC producer Don Haworth.

Haworth had first met the group on July 21, 1963 to discuss his idea to capture the spirit of Mersey Beat on camera. He signed a contract with Brian Epstein on August 6, granting him exclusive access for a time.

Shooting took place in Southport, Manchester and Liverpool between Tuesday 27 and Friday 30 August. On this first day The Beatles were filmed at the Little Theatre on Hoghton Street, Southport, performing on stage without an audience. Haworth knew that if he filmed a real concert the sound and the fury from the fans would have made the footage unusable.

On the second day filming took place in a dressing room at the BBC’s Dickenson Road studio in Manchester. They spoke about their past, future plans and their belief that the present beat music boom wouldn't last for ever. They were also shown applying make up and waiting in the wings their instruments, in a sequence which was intended to precede the 'concert' footage filmed the day before.

For the third day two locations were used. The first was aboard a ferry crossing the Mersey from Liverpool Pier Head to Wallasey. They were filmed on board signing autographs and meeting fans.

On the forth and final day the filming took place outside 10 Admiral Grove, Liverpool 8, Ringo Starr’s family home. Starr was filmed leaving the house through the front door, being crowded by a horde of local children, and leaving in George Harrison’s open-top sports car. Also present were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, although footage of them from this day wasn’t used in the final edit.

Below are some rare and funny behind the scenes photographs from the filming of The Mersey Sound in Liverpool.

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