New York in the 'Swinging sixties': Beautiful pictures capture New York City in a period of historic transition


New York City in the 1960s, where hippies in Greenwich Village avoided the squares uptown and baby boomers worried about the war on the horizon.



Photographer James Jowers walked the streets of Manhattan capturing immigrants dancing in the streets downtown while throngs of World War II veterans streamed into their Midtown offices.

Taken only a few years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but before the Vietnam War becomes a national rallying cry for the disenchanted masses, the pictures capture New York in a period of transition unlike any other in its history.

Mr Jowers caught it all, and now these images are part of a permanent collection at the George Eastman House, a film and photography museum in Rochester, New York.

The museum has made many photos available online to the interested masses unable to make the trek upstate but wanting to go back in time.

1st Avenue: A woman exits a fish market that has since become an Indian grocery West 3rd Street: A man casually rests against a car while smoking a cigarette

Old and young: The man on the left was captured on Fifth Avenue, the young girl at right First Avenue New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue: A woman leans on a railing in front of the library on the corner of 42nd and 5th St Mark's Place: A woman walks by the empty side of a building - a rarity both then and now The Lower East Side: A young girl looks down from a fire escape as young children play beside her

Two people dance in the street on East Third (left) and a man rests in front of a store on Broadway

Thompkins Square park: Couples and a dog enjoy an afternoon in the Lower East Side park



Within blocks of each other: An immigrant looks out of his shop on the Lower East Side while a man hoists an American flag in the middle of East 3rd Street



Washington Square Park: People still play chess on the same tables these men are seen playing on almost 50 years ago Tompkins Square Park: The woman sitting on this bench has likely had better days East Second Street: This guy's too cool for school while smoking on the back of this Chrysler

42nd Street and 8th Ave: A lady stands on the corner just outside Times Square