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A model boat race in Central Park, 1921.

Photo: George Grantham Bain for the Bain News Agency via Wikimedia Commons

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Isac Friedlander, 3 A.M., 1934. Etching, plate.

Photo: patrons.org

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The old Whitelaw Reid mansion, where international society used to meet at banquets and balls, was used during World War II as the Women’s Military Services Club. Every member of the women’s auxiliaries of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps and similar divisions of other Allies were welcome.

The mansion, which was designed by a member of Stanford White's staff, was built in 1882 and was converted into a club with overnight accommodations for about 50 enlisted women. It had shower and locker rooms, recreation and game rooms, lounges, writing rooms, a library, and a canteen where meals were served at cost. Girl Scouts served as waitresses. Members could entertain men in the lounges, and there were parties and weekly dances. This scene in the powder room shows officers of the WAACS, WAVES, and SPARS on April 25, 1943.

Photo: Robert Wands for the AP via Bloomberg

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A woman pulling a shopping cart through the traffic, 1952.

Photo: Ernst Haas via Getty Images Instagram

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Sunshine and cloudless skies lured hundreds of visitors to Coney Island on Sunday, April 24, 1938. Many were seen promenading on the boardwalk, but some ventured on the rides in Steeplechase Park.

Photo: George Rinhart via Corbis/Getty Images/Ranker

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Model Hannale Sherman on the terrace of Condé Nast's Park Avenue apartment, 1928. This 30-room penthouse, designed by Elsie de Wolfe, was the scene of Nast's many legendary parties. Sherman wears a crepe de chine skirt and jacket over a cream-colored blouse, by Hattie Carnegie, and a hat by Rose Descat.

Photo: Edward Steichen for Vogue via the Condé Nast Store

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Lovers meet where they can, 1942.

Edit: A couple of people wrote that they thought this was a mother and daughter, and now I see the older woman’s skirt! I’d looked only at her head and upper body and thought she looked like a man. But I suppose they could have been lovers anyway. 😀

Photo: Helen Levitt via the Museum of Contemporary Art

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Lee Moates and Tonita Malau show their winning dance style during a Lindy contest on the block-long floor of Harlem's Savoy Ballroom on April 24, 1953.

Photo: Hans Von Nolde for the Associated Press via the Deseret News

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A young couple playing records in Washington Square Park, ca. 1946.

The album on the boy's lap is typical of the cases that housed the shellac records of the time, which rotated at 78 rpm. They could hold only a few minutes of music per side, and a song was sometimes split between the two sides of the disc. Originally they were issued singly, but record companies noticed that consumers were storing them in photo album-like cases, and began to follow suit.

Photo: Weegee via the Int'l Center of Photography/Getty Images/Old New York City Facebook

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This man selling apples on a street corner in the 1930s looks like he once had a better-paying job.

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/Fine Art America

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The Black cotillion dance during the presentation of the debutantes of 1954 at Rockland Palace April 23, 1954. The event was sponsored by the Amsterdam News.

For more on an earlier debutante ball (and a better picture), see this post.

Photo: Marty Lederhandler for the AP

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Baptism celebration, Harlem, April 23, 1927.

Photo: James van der Zee via MoMA

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Mayor LaGuardia throws out the first ball at Yankee Stadium, April 22, 1943. The visiting team was the Washington Senators. This officially opened the Yankees' 1943 season.

Photo: John Rooney for the AP via Newsday

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Leonard Bernstein, music director of the New York Philharmonic, rehearses the orchestra in Arthur Honneger's Joan of Arc at the Stake in Carnegie Hall, April 22, 1958. The Chilean-born actress Felicia Montealegre is the narrator, Joan. Montealegre was then Mrs. Bernstein.

Photo: Associated Press

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Life in the tenements, 1937.

Photo: Arnold Eagle via Christie's

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George Copeland Ault, Morning in Brooklyn, 1929. Oil on canvas.

Photo: Invaluable Auctions

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The city suffered a serious water shortage in 1949-50. These are two appeals from the Subway Sun (a "newspaper" that appeared above the seats in subway cars, along with ads) to encourage New Yorkers to conserve water. The illustrator was Amelia Opdyke Jones, who signed her work "Oppy."

Photos: wnyc archives/ wnyc.org