A record rainfall for the date, July 13, 1972, brought three inches down, snarling traffic and flooding basements. Some were determined to carry on as normal, such as Steve Allen, pictured, a guard at Brighton Beach, braving the rain “to guard trash and baskets.” Photo: Barton Silverman/The New York Times
An unpublished photo from Feb. 1975 shows brisk weather on the Coney Island boardwalk. These ladies store their chairs at the Polar Bear Club, the self-described “oldest winter bathing organization in the United States,” for a $10 fee. Photo: Eddie Hausner/The New York Times
After prohibiting them for 116 years, McSorley’s Old Ale House was ordered by Mayor John Lindsay to open its doors to women in 1970. The article from that August describes the first co-ed bar brawl in McSorley’s history, when Lucy Komisar, a vice-president of the National Organization for Women and pictured at right, was heckled and antagonized by patrons. Photo: Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Norman Tate, preparing for the United States Olympic trials for that year’s Munich Games, jumped in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, hoping to “make the other guys realize you’re tough to beat.” June 7, 1972. A June 10 article noted that Mr. Tate, who had been eliminated from the qualifying round at the 1968 Mexico City Games, trained without a sponsor. Photo: Tyrone Dukes/The New York Times
July 9, 1978: In an Italian section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, St. Paulinus of Nola was honored in classic tradition during an annual parade. It took 150 men to carry a giant monument, or “giglio,” to the saint to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
April 12, 1975: Cambodians in Phnom Penh kept their distance from an impromptu helicopter landing, as Marines picked up a load of evacuees after the announcement to close the American embassy there. President Ford said he felt it was his “responsibility for the safety of Americans who have served there so valiantly,” adding that, despite the evacuation, he would continue to support a peaceful, unified Cambodia. Photo: Dith Pran/The New York Times
July 23, 1972: An unpublished picture of the Jacob Riis Park parking lot in Queens. Photo: Michael Evans/The New York Times
Nov. 25, 1977: A statistic cited in the article with this photo noted that 150,000 people were treated in 1976 for injuries associated with toys. The article also gave a New Jersey number for calling Santa and offered wisdom such as wearing layers in cold weather and not skating at night. The caption identified Santa as heading toward the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, where the parking lot was already packed with automobiles of Christmas shoppers. Photo: D. Gorton/The New York Times
Sept. 3, 1977: Patty Cake, a superstar of the Central Park Zoo when she was feted her first in 1973, was yesterday’s news by the time she turned five. “Patty Cake, 5, Finds Fame Fades,” was the headline, and the article described Patty’s unfortunate upstaging by her cage-mate, Pansy, a chimpanzee. “It was Pansy, not Patty Cake, who first snatched up the yellow and white cake. When Patty did one of her favorite bits, perching comically on a beach ball, Pansy leaped out and stole show by plopping full-bottomed into a soggy watermelon shell.” Photo: John Sotomayor/The New York Times
Oct. 26, 1976: “In Tux and Gowns, Some Outdoor Types Climb the Walls,” was the headline for an article that accompanied this photo of a benefit dinner for Outward Bound at the Plaza Hotel. “The loudest cheers came from the women, since the crowd of 500 included several corporate wives who have been off climbing mountains without their mates,” the reporter wrote. The evening’s only mishap? Somebody tripped on a loose carpet. Photo: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
