Aerial view of Vali Ahd Square (Meydan e Vali Ahd) in 1971.

Pahlavi avenue ingress to Vali Ahd Square (Meydan e Vali Ahd) in the 1960s.

Tehran’s Hilton Hotel in 1961.

Mehrabad airport in 1971. Note the four-engined Boeing 707. Mehrabad was to become one of the busiest and most modern airports in Western Asia by the late 1970s.

Takht e Jamshid Avenue in 1971.

Istanbul Avenue in 1965.

Queen Elizabeth Boulevard in 1971.

Entrance to Tehran University in 1971.

Tehran university students in 1971.

Iranian university students in the 1970s.

Medical students at Tehran University.

Miss Iran 1967, Shahla Vahabzadeh.

The Shemshak ski resort in 1971.

The Abeali Ski resort in 1966.

Golden City Cinema in 1971.

Tehran’s posh Chattanooga restaurant and coffee bar in 1966.

The Tehran Twist: The Tehran jet-set entertaining themselves with rock and roll music in the early 1960s.

Old men amusing themselves with water-pipes on Isfahan street in the 1960s.

The Kourosh department store in the 1970s.

Mother shopping for her young son in the children’s section of a Tehran department store in 1971.

A Tehran hospital operating room in 1971.

Older people will remember a vastly different impression of Iran though, the Iran from before the Islamic Revolution. Here are 21 interesting photos that show a radically different country from the one today...