These stunning images show the bustling heart of New York in the middle of the 20th century – and how times have changed in the city.
Pictures taken in the 1940s and 1950s by legendary crime photographer Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, are shown alongside shots of the same areas captured this month.
They include an image of a man lying drunk next to the former police department headquarters on Center Street in 1945 – and the same spot 70 years later.
A man is pictured lying drunk on the ground on Center Street in a 1945 picture called ‘Derelict sleeping on the sidewalk outside police headquarters’ (left). A woman walks past the same engraved sign for the former Police Department on March 18 this year (right)
A lightning bolt strikes above Lower Manhattan on July 27, 1940 (top) in a picture taken by legendary crime photographer Arthur Fellig. A picture taken from the same vantage point (bottom) shows how the skyline has changed over the last 75 years
Bright lights: Weegee’s photograph ‘Neon billboards on Times Square’ (top), taken in September 1957, and an image taken from the same spot earlier this month (bottom) shows how the area has changed over the years
A 1940 photo of Lower Manhattan, shot at night from across the river near the Brooklyn Bridge, is dominated by a mere three skyscrapers, a shocking contrast to the forest of towers now surrounding 1 World Trade.
A 1952 picture shows the stately, pristine stone facade of One Times Square, where a spire on the roof is still used for the New Year’s Eve ball drop.
Today the building’s exterior is covered with billboards.
But Weegee’s 1957 view of Times Square does show neon ads, including now-outmoded brands like Admiral TV appliances alongside still-familiar names like Budweiser.
Then and now: Shops and businesses have sprung up along Doyers Street in the heart of New York’s Chinatown (bottom). Weegee photographed a fire on the same street (top) on January 17, 1941
Weegee photographed The Empire State Building in 1943 (left) from behind a ‘loans sign’. A picture taken this month (right) shows how the view from the same spot has changed in the last 70 years
