Glorious Amid Grit: Times Square (1946 - 1972)

Incandescent, even in its gritty phase: Times Square at different points between 1946 and 1972.

Found Objects: 1970s NYC On 35MM Slides

Scans: Found 35MM slides of NYC in the 1970s.  Photographer Unknown.

Kathleen Joan Nelsen Makes Her Debut

My Mom was a fashionista from the very start!

A dressed-up Kathleen Joan Nelsen on her Christening Day, January 1952.

My Mom is seen with her parents above and her Godparents (Aunt Marion & Uncle Richard) below.

A Father-Daughter Dance.

An oddly-cropped camera misfire with gorgeous results: My young Grandmother with my smiling Mom.

Later that same year: Cousins celebrating with the rest of the family.

Ladies in a Holiday Coffe Klatch (above) my Great Grandparents' priceless Holiday Manger (below).

My Mom gets her first lesson in Holiday Swag.  Sorry, Kate... No Ralph Lauren this year.

And ONCE AGAIN, let the record show... NOBODY, but NOBODY was starving.

There's something about that doll emerging from under that fake brick drape that makes me laugh.

My Mom flanked by my twin cousins Lois and Dianne... Picture Perfect Ladies.

I have no idea who these kids are.  I just like their style.

And, in closing... No family photo set would be complete without a very telling non sequitur.

My Uncle Henny (at right) is pictured at work at a mechanic's garage with an unnamed colleague and a fetching pictoral centerpiece.  The 1950s "Dirty Old Man" pinup calendar coupled with the sly grin he is most definitely choking back over his can of Ballantine Beer says everything you need to know about the hilarious, brilliantly witty, totally wiseass (but extremely kind and loving) man he was.

We are who we are in this life... All we can do is be great at it.

Nineteen Fifty-Three In Living Color

My Grandmother Joan with my then-newborn Uncle Kevin and Mother (nearly two years old).

Uncle Kevin is christened as his Godparents look on. 

My Grandmother receives baby gifts at a party thrown for her by former co-workers at AT&T.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Uncle Richard (in front, at left), Aunt Marion (in rear, at right) and their growing brood.  Cousin Lois is on the left (in red) and her fraternal twin sister Dianne is wearing a matching red top across the table from her at right.  Baby Cousin Janet is peeking around from behind Dianne, but there is no sign of Cousin Ricky, who was most definitely around at this time.  I don't know who the man in the blue tie is, but the older woman in the blue dress toward the back of the photo is my beloved Great Grandmother Mae Costello.

Classic Father & Daughter Moment:  My Grandfather Norman with my Mom at the park.

ABOVE & BELOW: Two gatherings... Many cousins.

My Grandmother tends to my (rather unhappy) Mom's pom pom outfit as Cousin Janet makes her best "grownup face".  This photo seems to have been taken at a scenic overlook on the Hudson River overlooking NYC.

ABOVE & BELOW:  My Grandmother and Grandfather with my Mom and the infant Kevin in front of their apartment on Hoyt Avenue in Staten Island.  Saint Vincent's Hospital can be seen in the background.

My Mom pushes a doll in a brand new toy baby carriage.  I'd like to think that she was just getting in some early practice, seeing as she would be pushing me around in one of these exactly 20 years later.

This must be where my Mom's love of the equine decorative motif began.  Who knew that such a highbrow taste level would have its origin atop a coin-operated storefront ride on a Staten Island street?

Though somewhat soft focus and oddly composed, this is one of my favorite images from the family slide archive.  I first happened upon this slide and took some sketches from it some time in the 1990s (when the slide carousels were first given to me by my Grandfather).  I remember being transfixed by the complexity of this Kodachrome frame (and the questions about the holiday activity around it) as I projected it onto a white wall of the studio in my Brooklyn apartment.  A short time later, after boxing up all of the carousels for what would become a whole decade, I would use elements of those initial sketches in the composition of a kaleidescopic drawing called "Every Xmas Ago".