Text and Photographs by Stephen Harmon
I was fascinated by everything on the Upper West Side in those vanished days and I tried to photograph it all, constrained only by time and the cost of film. I photographed the businesses and signs upstairs, on the street, in an old suitcase. It was just exhilarating. Here are some I particularly liked.
Stephen Harmon is a longtime Upper West Sider, a retired lawyer, and a world-class photographer whose work is displayed in many of the city’s museums, including The Museum of the City of New York, The Brooklyn Museum, The New York Historical, and The New York Public Library.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Love love love! So glad this is now a regular feature. Thank you WSR!
Yes, yes, yes! Particularly loved the prices for fruit……
More, More More! Thank you again Steve Harmon!
Best, Lily Goldstein
Pedro and Olga Dance Studios has particular significance for those of us who studied at the School of American Ballet in the west 80’s. That studio either shared a floor or a stairway with the Balanchine studios. For us ballet kids, peering in there and seeing a completely different type of dance was both confusing and scintillating. Anyone else here remember this?
I used to see the father of the actor Richard Thomas coming out of that dance studio location, he was diminutive and friendly and he bred Brussels Griffon’s– I had one, so it was of such interest!
I rented the Pedro and Olga Studio to teach yoga classes so long ago. The walls were covered with photos of Pedro and Olga from their days as a famous Ballroom dancing couple.
Love these photos every week! Would it be possible to include the locations when known? Thanks.
Thank you for these, Stephen. There’s a story in every picture.
I moved from the midwest to the upper west side of Manhattan in 1973 and have lived in the neighborhood ever since then, over half a century. I love seeing all the old pictures you share with us! Thank you.
Thanks so much for this wonderful series. Broadway was lined with dance studios in the 1970s and 1980s. Do you have pictures of them?
Love these so much! Thank you for this ‘column’ – more please!
thanks, great photos – one thing that stands out (real or imagined) is that proprietors then seemed to invest more in the facades of their storefronts with unique colors, designs and an impression of some permanency — nowadays, what with the rental market being what it is, businesses seem to come and go with barely enough time to hang a generic cardboard-like sign up top
GREAT pictures! Keep them coming.
These are the best batch yet!
Love these pictures SO much!
These are the best! If we can’t bring back Grossinger’s ice cream cakes at least Stephen is allowing us to reminisce about them via this photo. As always, thanks for another great Throwback Thursday!
What a wonderful kaleidoscope of colors.
Love it all. If possible could you please identify the store (s) with all the fruit?
Inasmuch as possible, knowing the locations where the photos were taken would be so great.
It might be one of the Zingones family member store on Columbus Avenue between 84th and 83rd on the north east side of the street.
Love Stephen’s photo’s of the UWS
Richard Thomas’s father, also named Richard Thomas, taught ballet ( he was with NYCBallet) at the same location as Pedro & Olga’s Dance Studio, on Broadway in the low 80’s.
👍👍
Who didn’t love eating at the Famou restaurant?
Coming uptown in a taxi at night I knew I was in my neighborhood when I saw the P&G sign.
My first apartment was a 5th floor walk-up on W. 80th St., a half-block from RSD. That rent stabilized, one bedroom apartment was advertised in the NY Times for $235 a month. I moved into the building in 1976, and ended up a couple of floors down between 1978 and 2005, when I left for Turtle Bay.
These photos bring back many memories, instantly. I will always love my old neighborhood and be nostalgic for the years I spent there.
These are fabulous! I’ve in the UWS since 1976, These are SO evocative! What a a great eye!! Thank you so much.
I agree with the others that suggested that, if possible, it would be great to know the locations of these businesses/locations. Such great photos!
Limes, 2 for 30 cents, quite a change.
These are great, but captions indicating the location of each photo would be very much appreciated by many readers.