Written By: Ben Cosgrove
The monuments and the museums, the pulsing crowds on Fifth Avenue, opera at the Met and stickball in Spanish Harlem, sardines on the subway and the romantic urban vistas of Central Park: Over the years, LIFE’s photographers explored every corner of New York, the city the magazine always called its home.
From the countless images of the Big Apple stored away in the late, great magazine’s archives, LIFE.com presents a selection of black-and-white photos that show off the the spirit, the architecture, the culture (the high and the decidedly, thrillingly low) of Gotham visual testaments to a city that, in darkness and in light, remains one of a kind.
The silhouette of the Statue of Liberty in January 1943.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Fifth Avenue teems with pre-Christmas holiday traffic near 34th street in November 1948.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
The Brooklyn Bridge, 1946.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Model Carol Lorell walks down 3rd avenue in the east ’60s of Manhattan in January 1940.
Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A view from New Jersey of the moon shining over Manhattan’s RCA and Chrysler buildings as its light shimmers on the waters of the Hudson River in September 1946.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A strolling blind musician played guitar and harmonica along Broadway at night in Times Square in 1944.
Peter Stackpole/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Aerial view of the crowded beach and pier at Coney Island, including the Parachute Jump amusement park ride (the tall structure at left), Brooklyn, 1951.
Margaret Bourke-White Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Young boys in Spanish Harlem in January 1947.
Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A woman walks her poodles along the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue in October 1942.
Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A view from the balcony at the opening of new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in January 1966.
John Dominis Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Off-loaded freight boxes are hoisted up to loading platforms at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in October 1949.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
People race from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during an air raid drill in November 1951.
Yale Joel Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A soldier says farewell at (the old, classic) Penn Station in December 1943.
Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Central Park, 1951.
Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
New Yorkers crowd Broadway below a large billboard depicting actress Marlene Dietrich in October 1944.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Sightseeing above New York, October 1949.
Bernard Hoffman Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Commuters crowd a train during rush hour on Manhattan’s IRT subway in January 1970.
Ralph Crane Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Beautiful, ornate clock at Pennsylvania Station, December 1942
Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
The new Metropolitan Life Insurance Company North Building, left, and the 1909 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at night, Madison Square, New York City, May 1947.
Herbert Gehr Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A trio of sailors walk arm in arm down a dimly lit street near Times Square, searching vainly for fun in the curfew-quiet city, February 1945.
Herbert Gehr Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
An aerial view of the entrance ramp leading to the top of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York City, 1950.
Margaret Bourke-White Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Children participate in a bicycle safety program run by the New York City police in June 1954.
Yale Joel Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Russian head Nikita S. Khrushchev and his wife, center, meet the press at the top of the Empire State building in September 1959.
Al Fenn Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Boys climb on rocks in Central Park, November 1972.
Bill Ray Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A snowstorm hits New York City in February 1960.
Al Fenn Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Columbus Circle During a Heatwave, 1944
Marie Hansen Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Fire boats greet the SS France as it enters New York Harbor on its maiden voyage in February 1962.
Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A father and son walk past the Globe Theater in 1971.
Bill Ray Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A view of bustling, raucous New York City, looking straight down 42nd Street, January 1946.
Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock
