WSR Editor’s note: We thought it fitting to end Throwback Thursday with the photographer’s favorite photos from the hundreds and hundreds that ran in the series over the past year. So we asked Stephen Harmon to send us his top picks.
“How many can I send?” he asked via email. “As many as you want,” we wrote back, thinking he’d stick close to the 12-14 photos we ran each week. He sent 50! What a bonus! Instead of running them all at once or eliminating any, we’ve decided to offer a three-week finale to Throwback Thursday, starting this week.
TBT lives!
Text and photographs by Stephen Harmon
It has been my honor and pleasure to have West Side Rag publish my photos of the Upper West Side people, streets, businesses, and storefronts that I loved from those wonderful now-vanished days of the 1970s and 80s.
I thank all of you who looked at them and especially those of you who made positive and kind comments about the photos. Many people have asked me if I have favorite photos from those bygone days. Of course I loved them all and it is almost impossible to edit them down to a few, but I have tried and here they are — quite a few more than my editor expected! As always, I hope you find something to enjoy.
I bid you a fond farewell and hope to see you on the streets of today’s UWS.  I will have a big Nikon camera around my neck.
Next Thursday, The Finale, Part 2
Stephen Harmon is a longtime Upper West Sider, a retired lawyer, and a world-class photographer whose work is on display in many of the city’s museums, including The Museum of the City of New York, The Brooklyn Museum, New York Historical, and The New York Public Library.
Check out our audio interview with Stephen Harmon on Rag Radio — HERE.
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Thank you, Stephen! These are wonderful.
That’s my UWS.
Thank you, thank you Mr Harmon for sharing with us this past year. These have been wonderful.
It says a great deal about the photographer that nearly all of his personal favorites are portraits of people – of us, over time – and the one that isn’t is a portrait of a long-gone but beloved bakery that still defines our neighborhood.
Stephen, you are truly a mensch. And a very talented one at that. Thank you!
Stephen, I have loved every single one of your photos, as they bring back so many memories of my neighborhood from my growing up and young adulthood years. Thank you for preserving and sharing these wonderful images !
Smiled all the way through!
Yes! I realize I smiled when I saw the first photo and didn’t stop until the end. Stephen Harmon and his photos bring continuous joy.
Love love love!
Nooooo!! Why must you end this? I love seeing these pictures each week!
As usual, great photos. Thanks for the extension.
Stephen’s series has brought me so much joy! So much forgotten since I landed on West 76th Street in 1972.
My grandparents lived in Lincoln Towers from approximately 1970-1990. I keep hoping. they will show up in one of these photos. Two more chances!!
So happy for extension! All of these photos are so great–the woman wearing curlers at her window with her cat; Grossingers (best chocolate cheesecake ever); woman in blue hoodie; Embassy theater and Work Bench…. I will beg you yet again to publish a book of UWS photos, which would sell out on UWS and be of interest to any photograher anywhere! Please would you let us know if you are considering doing this? I’m the person who suggested Times Books…
How will I pester you after next Thursday?!
Yes! A book!
All of that, and the cat. I noticed the cat bc cats are the only beings that look the same, through generations of humans.
So sad that Stephan will no longer be displaying his
beautiful and fun photos. I wish Stephan good luck as he moves on.
The people, yes! Thank you for the brief reprieve — I was dreading a Harmon-less Rag. The editors’ careful selection emphasizes the vast and beautiful variety of people that makes the UWS what it is. There’s a story in every photo. Thanks again, Mr. Harmon, for showing us our neighborhood through your observant eyes and thanks to the WSR for letting us share your observations.
Terrific and do hope it can continue. We need these images.
So you’re saying last week’s Throwback Thursday was actually the anteantepenultimate edition?
Please, continue upping the “ante”!
A real joy! I lived on 70th and Amsterdam from 1972 to 2006. Your wonderful pics captured everything I remember from those days. How times have changed.
This series was my gateway drug to the WSR newsletter. Sorry to see it go, but glad the finale has been stretched a couple of weeks. Thank you, Stephen Harmon and Rag. Maybe the Throwback Thursday space could be filled by crowd-sourced contributions?
I’ve so loved your series, thank you for sharing them with your fellow upper west siders.
The first photo on the bench–the older gentleman; dressed in suite and tie and the young guy with no shirt. They are not paying attention to each other, just like New Yorkers were and still are.
I love the way they’re all sharing space. It’s beautiful.
Throwback Thursday has an absolute joy. Thank you, Stephen. How wonderful that the first favorites were portraits!
Thank you for all the great photos, Stephen! We will miss them!
Absolutely delightful! The way people dressed then was so impeccable, so beautiful. Even the most casually dressed people looked slick, hip, cool. Everyone fit into the New York backdrop as if in movie scene. People looked joyful and at ease. Thank you Stephen Harmon, for sharing your view through the lens with us. I will miss throw back Thursdays .
Is it the case that neighbors no longer sit next strangers on benches anymore? I keep noticing that in the photos, that they did. But I don’t see it anymore, where I pass by, anyway. So sad, really. But why is it?
Once again, thank you for these. I completely forgot there was a movie theater just above 72nd St wow!’ How soon we forget. I’m still hoping you will consider creating a book of these wonderful photos. You have a history of the west side in these photos
The people, the people, the many lovely and wacky characters! They are what makes NYC and out neighborhood! Oh yeah, and those boom boxes and roller skates!
Your pictures warm my heart. Thank you for sharing.
Why doesn’t he continue?
BOOK BOOK BOOK!!!! We wanna book!
These photos are the visual equivalent of an aroma or piece of music that takes you back to a specific moment in time via the sub or un conscious.
Such kind words!! Thank you.