New York 1960: Howard Johnson's

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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

HOWARD JOHNSON'S MOTOR LODGE

8TH AVE. BETWEEN 51st & 52nd STS.

TELEPHONE: LT 1-4100

"1 block from Times Sq. 300 air conditioned rooms; famed Howard Johnson's restaurant; cocktail lounge; free and easy parking."

Mission Statement

NEW YORK 1960 is a window into the architecture and urban landscape of New York City from the end of WWII to the Bicentennial as seen through "chrome" postcards from the period. These mid-century cards were printed using a new "chromolithic" process, yielding bright, saturated colors more like a color photograph than any previous postcard printing process. The images and their descriptions provide the contemporary viewer an opportunity to understand how the city saw itself during a time of sweeping changes ushered in by post-war prosperity. They also depict how corporations and cultural institutions embraced and distilled the Modernist aesthetic. Corporations used it in the design of skyscrapers to project an image of power and progress. Cultural institutions employed it to appeal to a younger or progressive demographic. Many buildings have become icons of the era for better or worse.