Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Documenting life by the water

In the early 1970s, Brooklyn native Arthur Tress visited multiple waterfront neighborhoods across New York City. One of those parts was Staten Island. A series of Tress' images have been added to the U.S. National Archives.

This particular gallery was spotted on a Flickr page, which features this description: "Arthur Tress' photographs of the general New York Harbor area, including Staten Island, include some of the most startling images of unchecked pollution and environmental decay in and around urban areas during the early 1970s."

We hope you enjoy these photographs as much as we have. (The image above: A lifeguard relaxes at Great Kills beach.)

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Those vintage vehicles

Cars -- notice the lack of SUVs? -- from the beginning of 1970s and earlier populate the St. George ferry terminal parking lot.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

End of school day, 1973

School students walk home after leaving a school bus in what appears to be the Oakwood Beach neighborhood (below Hylan Boulevard, along Fairbanks Avenue, Montreal Avenue, etc.).

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Leather jacket and baggy pants

A youngster hangs outside of a house, possibly on Grayson Avenue in Oakwood Beach, 1973.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Fairbanks and Brook avenues

Yellow street signs, all capital letters. Today, they're green, and only one letter is in uppercase. You won't see mounds of dirt and unpaved roads over there. Oakwood Beach has long been populated, as its served as a robust, completed Staten Island neighborhood for more than four decades.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Debris by the boats

An overflowing garbage can, tossed tires and other debris rest near a row of small boats in Great Kills.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

An iconic Hylan Boulevard burger joint

A&W has been long gone for more than a decade now, but images such as this one remind older generations of Staten Islanders of the Dongan Hills burger spot that made for a pleasurable drive-in, dine-in experience.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

America on a tray, feat. dog

Three burgers and an order of french fries, feat. four ketchup containers, rest outside a driver's window at the former A&W establishment on Hylan Boulevard, Dongan Hills. The dog won't look away, either.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

A&W Drive-In, have a 35-cent shake

Two quarters for a burger, coffee for a couple dimes. Tress' A&W visit captured Staten Islanders dining in their car on a May afternoon in 1973. We're grateful he took a still of the menu, which features prices that would blow our minds today.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

To the ferry terminal we go.

A St. George-bound train chugs toward its North Shore destination after picking up passengers in Oakwood Heights, we assume?

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

The Manhattan skyline looks bare

The World Trade Center opened the same year Tress' gallery was published (1973). The two WTC buildings dominate the Manhattan skyline in this image, taken from the Staten Island Ferry.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

WARNING-DANGER

Prohibited on what appears to be photograph of South Beach: No swimming ... no walking?!

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Deceased bird, Great Kills beach

In addition to the boom and promise of the early 1970s, Tress' New York City portfolio shows some depressing, eye-popping images, including this one of a dead bird in Great Kills.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

LNG tank site

Pictured: The aftermath of the liquefied natural gas tank explosion site in Bloomfield, apparently from May 1973. Just three months earlier, the worst industrial disaster in Staten Island history took place when an explosion blew the concrete roof off this LNG tank. Forty workers died.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Greenbrook, Staten Island?

We're not exactly certain what "Greenbrook, Staten Island" is. Greenridge, yes, but Greenbrook? That's technically a New Jersey town. All said, developers used fancy, friendly names to lure residents to the borough from Brooklyn in the post-Verrazano era. Just look at the next photo.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

The Windsor!

The Windsor? Master Builders' "custom-built" homes were part of Jefferson City Estates. Today, we might just call it Dongan Hills, but we're not entirely sure about that. Where do you think this is? Regardless of its location, life on Staten Island after the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge resulted in many new homes and expanded communities. Which brings us to the following ...

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Under construction in Grant City

June, 1973: A sewer pipe is ready for installation in Grant City. As the caption of this photo reads, "All Staten Island Is Experiencing a Building Boom, a Result of the Completion of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge."

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Great Kills beach expansion

A construction vehicle plows sand as part of the expansion of the Great Kills beach.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Stoop of Staten Island

Arthur Tress' photograph of folks hanging outside their homes, near Great Kills Park.

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Arthur Tress/U.S. National Archives public domain

Station wagon defines an era

Two-toned vehicles, including a red and white SUV, and a wood-paneled and white station wagon, are photographed outside of recently built homes in Grant City.

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