20 replies to this topic

[Ned Merrill]

I want to apologize for posting a non-relevant topic, please forgive me.

 

But the attached image is interesting; it comes from a 1962 National Geographic ad for a Buick Electra 225, and it has been a favorite of mine for over 25 years. Yes, it has nothing to do with the NYWF, but it is slightly interesting--it does evoke NYC in the early 1960's, something I think we are all interested in.

 

Q:  I know this is a long shot, but does anyone recognize the interior of this building?

 

Q:  More importantly, does anyone recognize the blue colored ad in the back?

 

Please accept my apologies for this posting, sincerely...

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[Mike Kraus]

I would guess Seagram or Union Carbide?
Has that late-50's, early-60's Modern look...

[xl5er]

http://aergonaut.com...arbide-building

Are you sure that is an ad and not art? Looks kinda familiar.

[Ned Merrill]

This ad from Buick is a photo of someone that (thanks to Mike Kraus) appears indeed to be inside of the lobby of the Union Carbide building, New York City (now JP Morgan Chase Tower but still at 270 Park Ave). Thanks to Mike, I did my own Googling, and I also found the same image xl5er found.

 

Mike, thank you very very much. I've wondered for years and when I finally made the effort to find out (and to ask others for help), it appears the mystery is finally solved. Thank you very much. And also thank you xl5er for posting that photo of the lobby. Looks like the lobby changed slightly from 1962 to 1965, but the "FLOORS 32-50" is still the same.

 

I am not sure why I love this ad, but maybe it's the bluish Ektachrome-like mid-60's colors, I love the "...man of action...", the slight blur, the modern interior, the off-center, slightly diagonal composition (diagonals tend to emphasize "action"). Very evocative of my early childhood. Easily my favorite for over 25 years.

 

If you want to see the full Buick ad, see attached for the full image (thanks http://www.jonwilliamson.com/).

 

Some of the photos of the 64-65 NYWF also have this same Ektachrome-like mise-en-scène.

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[Mike Kraus]

Ned, it was pretty easy, as there are only a few "Modern" office buildings in NYC. Post-modernism ruled the day from the mid-60's onward.
The grand-daddy was Lever House. Then Seagrams and Union Carbide, and maybe Pan Am?

 

An ad in the same vein that I really love is on page 207 of your NYWF 64 guidebook, for Lincoln Continental.
A Lincoln crossing the Park Avenue median, long shot south all the way to the Pan Am bldg.
(The landscaped median hides the air shafts for the New York Central tunnel into GCT).

[Ned Merrill]

Yes, that is a favorite of mine too, especially the Whitestone lamposts used on Park Ave at the time (see http://forgotten-ny....d-period-lamps/)

[Ned Merrill]

My guess is that the photo was taken somewhere around 68th street, because looking downtown it is close to the top of a hill.  So you can see all of the green lights in the distance toward he Pan Am building.  See attached. 

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[xl5er]

Here's a question. Were the green lights fudged to imply your new Buick cannot be stopped?


Because nowadays the Avenue uses progressive lights, designed to allow a car at a certain mph to travel unimpeded. There is never a time they are all one color.


But that was not always the case. My dad told me that those newfangled progressive lights caused accidents because drivers would not slow down and instead approached a red light knowing it was about to turn green, with dire consequences to any dawdling pedestrians.


So was this photo taken while synchronicity was a possibility? I don't know what year the change was made.


BTW, my Boy Scout Troop was called upon to sequentially throw the switches on the Christmas tree lights one late 60s season. There was a tree on every or every other block.

What they should have anticipated was once we threw the switch we knew how to shut the tress on and off at will.

[Doug Seed]

As always, the answers to most questions are quickly found here, at PTU!  However... Mike and Ned, why would Union Carbide change the walls and baseboard between 1960 and 1965?  The marble or granite by the elevators in the Buick ad looks snazzy, and is that paneling on the walls in the 1960 shot?  Paneling was hot in the 1960s and '70s. Granted, the elevator sign looks really similar, but it seems unlikely, to me, that they'd remodel the lobby in that short period.

 

I'm just sayin'.

[Ned Merrill]

The 1960 image (at http://aergonaut.com...arbide-building) at first appears at first to be wood paneling...but enlarging the image I can see uniform vertical stripes...

In the 1962 National Geographic ad for a Buick Electra 225 the stripes are more obvious. Mostly black background with uniform silver thin stripes.

I think the baseboards match too.

Inside the area where the elevator doors are, they both show stainless steel or chrome-like panels--a shiny reflective metal.  The size of the panels also appears to match. 

See the attached image.  Copy it to your local machine and zoom in close--I think they are a match, but I've been wrong before!

I agree--why would they remodel the lobby and change the material only after a couple of years? 

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[Mike Kraus]

Wow! History detectives at work. Amazing!

Never heard of the Xmas tree thing on Park Ave. Do they still do that?

[xl5er]

Never heard of the Xmas tree thing on Park Ave. Do they still do that?

I don't know if they have a special lighting ceremony, but the trees were there this year. My old troop 666 was renamed 1, and now they sell trees on 79th and Third.

There is so much going on in that city it is impossible to keep track.

[Ned Merrill]

So you are saying that your Boy Scout Troop turned on the Christmas tree lights--sequentially--with a tree on every or every other block, all up Park Avenue? Impressive....now I can see why the green lights in the Lincoln Continental ad reminded you of the Christmas trees.

[mcpjmac]

I learned to drive in my Dad's 64 Lincoln Continental......

[Ned Merrill]

Does this image ring a bell?

 

Photo by Leake Auction Company

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•  1964-Lincoln-Continental-convertible-LBJ-auction-dash.jpeg   91.47K   24 downloads