Alfred Eisensteadt Photo Archives - LIFE

Eisenstadt’s Images of Change in the Pacific Northwest

Bill Syken — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:59:54 +0000

In 1939 LIFE devoted a themed issue to the future of America, and it led off its reporting with a big piece on the Pacific Northwest, which the magazine predicted would be an engine of of growth as the country looked to move past the Great Depression. The region was described by hopefuls as “the last frontier” and “the promised land.” The big change afoot at the moment was the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, which would became a major new source of power. And the Pacific Northwest in general was hailed for natural resources that were waiting to be tapped, and whose vast expanses were still only lightly populated. LIFE wrote, “Beyond the cities of the coast lie mighty reaches of forest, mountain, valley and river where you may go for miles and miles and see only a thread of railroad track or a lonely settler’s clearing as evidence of man’s presence on the giant earth.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt expertly captured the change that was coming to this Eden. Many of his pictures are striking on their own, from the images of a man at work in a teeming Seattle lumber yard, to dam construction, to the fishermen along the majestic Columbia River, to the characters of rural life. But taken together, Eisenstaedt illustrated what it looks like when civilization comes to the prairie. Consider his image of barefoot boys riding a tricycle alongside a highway that is only going to get busier.

LIFE wrote that these photos of Eisenstein were documenting not just a pivotal moment for the Northwest, but for the Amerca as a whole. The piece ended with this somber message to readers about a country making a fundamental transition:

The old American frontier, where a strong man with an axe and plow could take up free land and make his way regardless of his neighbors, is gone. In the industrial civilization of today and tomorrow, no region, no city, no business, no individual in America will ever be able to prosper alone and independent of the rest. The new frontier is one on which, working together for the common good, American will use their great technical and creative resources to produce the full abundance of which the American land is capable, an abundance which will make the long American Dream of dignity and freedom and equal opportunity for every citizen at last come true.

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A post office in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Exterior view of a post office in the US Northwest region, 1939.

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children playing on seesaws in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sheep ranch in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man at work at the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Blue Lake, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A skier at a resort in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Eisenstadt’s Images of Change in the Pacific Northwest appeared first on LIFE.

Atlantic City: Scenes From a Beach Town’s Heyday

Bill Syken — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 13:53:14 +0000

In 1941 legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt went to Atlantic City and chronicled the bustling activity and amusements of the beach town at its peak.

In these pictures you’ll see the 1940 Miss America, Frances Burke, who had been crowned the year before at Atlantic City’s Convention Hall, posing with her sash on the beach. You’ll see the crowds at night flocking to the legendary Steel Pier amusement park, while others enjoy fine dining in a grand hotel. You’ll see women wearing bathing caps into the ocean to protect their hairdos, as was common in those days. And you’ll see boardwalk attractions that were very much of their time: one booth charged people 15 cents (about $3 today) to have their blood pressure taken. The Sodamat” sold drinks for a nickel. People mobbed a Heinz 57 specialty store that was apparently trying to live up to its “57 varieties” slogan.

Also notable is the sheer prevalence of senior citizens, many of whom went out in the summertime sun wearing suits and dresses, as if they were going to a formal event rather than a day at the shore.

These photos were shot toward the end of the Atlantic City heyday that began in the early 20th century and waned as tourists moved on to other destinations. By 1977 the town’s fortunes had sagged enough that Atlantic City turned to legalized gambling, becoming the first U.S location outside Nevada to do so. The casinos that sprouted up along the boardwalk, some of them taking the place of the grand hotels of yesteryear, did provide a shot in the arm, but the benefits have proved fleeting, especially after competing casinos began popping up all around the country. In 2023 Atlantic City still claims 27 million visitors a year.

Its battle to recapture its glory days make Atlantic City something of an avatar for nostalgia itself. In 1980 Louis Malle directed a movie called Atlantic City in which a small-time mobster played by Burt Lancaster was so consumed by romantic visions of days gone by that he memorably declared to a younger character, “You should have seen the Atlantic Ocean in those days.”

In these photos you can do just that.

Aerial view of people at the beach, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frances Burke, winner of the 1940 Miss American pageant, joined Miss Atlantic City on the beach Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People going onto the beach at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The beach at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Readers on a hotel terrace, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N,J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lifeguards in action, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sketch artists on the beach, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Posted regulations, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A wicker rolling chair passed by a Philip Morris tobacco shop, Atlantic City, N.J. , 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Crocheting on the boardwalk, Atlantic City, N.J, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People crowded a hot dog stand on the boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J,, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An exterior view of the Brighton Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. in 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frances Green (right) of Baltimore and Charles McIntosh of Brampton, Ontatio enjoying a ride in a wicker rolling chair through the pergola at the Brighton Hotel en route to the beach, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nurses tending to afflicted children as they lie on a sun deck, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Knife & Fork restaurant, Atlantic City, N.J, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lucy the Elephant in Margate, N.J., not far from Atlantic City, N.J, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ice skating, Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People dining at the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ice capades at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People gathering outside of Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Atlantic City: Scenes From a Beach Town’s Heyday appeared first on LIFE.

A Holiday Icon: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Taylor Gilkison — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:38:41 +0000

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in Manhattan is the epitome of New York’s holiday season. With humble beginnings, the tree is considered an international symbol of Christmas and is ceremoniously lit every year on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. Let’s dive deeper into the history behind this iconic holiday symbol and view photos of the famous tree from LIFE’s vast archive.

In December 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, construction workers building the Rockefeller Center complex pooled their money together to buy a 20-foot balsam fir Christmas tree to put up outside of the center. Two years later, in 1933, Rockefeller Center made the tree an annual tradition, and the first Christmas tree-lighting ceremony took place.

The size of the tree and its decorations grew more elaborate over the years; and, in 1951, the first televised tree lighting ceremony aired. Other traditions also began to take shape, including the now infamous collection of herald angels in the Channel Gardens and the larger-than-life Swarovski star that adorns the top of the tree.

Between 70-100 feet, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is usually a Norway spruce, and it remains on display through the start of the New Year. After the holiday season, the famous tree is taken down, turned into lumber, donated to Habitat for Humanity, and used to build homes for those in need.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be lit for the 2023 holiday season during a special ceremony on Wednesday, November 29th. Watch the world’s most famous Christmas tree come to life during the Christmas at Rockefeller Center special airing on NBC.

You can also find a historical anecdote about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree from an original 1972 issue of LIFE magazine by clicking here.

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree at night, 1952.

Alfred Eisenstaedt / LIFE Picture Collection

People walking near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree during a snowstorm, New York City, New York, 1948.

Al Fenn / LIFE Picture Collection Al Fenn / LIFE Picture Collection

Christmas decorations at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, New York, 1949.

Andreas Feininger / LIFE Picture Collection

Aerial wide-angle view of Rockefeller Center skating rink and Christmas tree, 1956.

Yale Joel / LIFE Picture Collection

Christmas tree being set-up in Rockefeller Center.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Christmas Tree being removed from Rockefeller Center.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Christmas tree being removed from Rockefeller Center.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree turned into mulch.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree turned into mulch.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree turned into mulch.

Bill Ray / LIFE Picture Collection

Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, 1940.

Nina Leen / LIFE Picture Collection

People gathering near Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, New York City, New York, 1940.

Nina Leen / LIFE Picture Collection

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree at night, 1952.

Alfred Eisenstaedt / LIFE Picture Collection

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree at night.

LIFE Picture Collection

The post A Holiday Icon: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree appeared first on LIFE.

Disturbing Photographs Show Pollution in the Great Lakes Before the Clean Water Act

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 08:30:53 +0000

In 1968, two years before the first Earth Day, LIFE magazine dispatched photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to the Great Lakes to capture a crisis.

“Lake Erie, the smallest and shallowest of the five lakes, is also the filthiest; if every sewage pipe were turned off today, it would take 10 years for nature to purify Erie. Ontario is a repository for Buffalo-area filth. Michigan, where 16 billion small fish, called seawives, mysteriously died last year, is a cul-de-sac without an overflow pipe, and if Michigan becomes further polluted, the damage may take 1,000 years to repair,” the magazine explained. “Huron and Superior are still relatively clean, but they are in danger.”

And, statistics aside, the photographs Eisenstaedt produced told the story in lurid browns, oranges and grays, punctuated by the vivid iridescence of the occasional oil slick. As many in the United States were starting to realize, pollution of the American environment seemed to be reaching a point of no return. From that, there was some hope. “For selfish as well as civic reasons, more has been done in the past three years to clean the lakes than in the preceding 30,” the article reported.

Though federal water-protection laws did exist already (the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was 20 years old at that point) they were only just starting to get teeth, and technology that would facilitate a clean-up was improving. In 1972, the law was revamped as the Clean Water Act, and the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency made the lakes a priority. They still are, just as they are still under threat from a variety of sources. Though progress has been made on some fronts—Lake Erie has come back from the “dead—the words of one teenager who wrote to the Secretary of the Interior in the 1960s, and who was subsequently quoted by LIFE, still read as a warning.

“I was truly amazed,” he remarked upon visiting a polluted lakeshore, “that such a great country should not solve this problem before it’s too late.”

Masses of dirty soapsuds glided down Ohio’s Cuyhoga River. Shimmering in sewage, they were bound for Lake Erie.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In the Cleveland port, litter was used to build unsightly breakwaters.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fred Wittal, shown cleaning a meager perch catch, was the last of the commercial fishermen in his area.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Cuyahoga snaked through Cleveland, carrying a load of detergents, sewage and chemicals to Lake Erie.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This oil melange was waste from U.S. Steel. It is shown on the Grand Calumet River, a Lake Michigan tributary where even worms could no longer survive.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Another problem was natural pollutants such as the red clay delivered by the Big Iron River in Michigan.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Canadian shore, a slaughterhouse pipe was the best place to try to catch what fish were left.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Detroit River flowed into Lake Erie.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

“Beside the deep, clear waters that inspired Longfellow to write “By the shore of Gitche Gumee,” a waterfall of taconite tailings from the Reserve Mining Co.’s plant at Silver Bay, Minn. spilled into Lake Superior at the rate of 20 million tons a year.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Looking like a giant glob of beer foam, pulp wastes from the Hammermill Paper Co. stained Lake Erie’s Pennsylvania shore. The white mess was penned by a dike built of old tires and oil drums, but residue seeped through to foul open waters.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In 1968, Lake Erie’s Sterling State Park had been dangerously polluted by septic-tank wastes for eight years, but despite warning signs the state of Michigan still permitted swimming.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

White Lake, a five-mile-long catch basin on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore, was covered by sewage-fed weeds.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Green Bay, Wis., paper mill refuse helped turn the municipal beach into a marsh: there had been no swimming there for 25 years.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The beach at Whiting, Ind., 20 miles from Chicago, had been closed for ten years in 1968; Whiting had a problem in common with other lake communities: it had only one sewer system for human refuse and storm waters.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lake Michigan’s big polluters were steel mills and refineries, some of which were clustered along the Indiana Harbor ship Canal, an oily caldron running through East Chicago.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A city sewer dumped into a Great Lake.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the U.S. side of Niagara Falls, nearly raw sewage—71 million gallons a day—gushed into the Niagara River. To the fury of Canadians, it then poured into Lake Ontario.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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