Yesterday Today

49 Amazing Photos Showing Mardi Gras in New Orleans During the 1970s and 1980s

“Hey Mister, throw me some beads!” – It is a phrase that is iconic in New Orleans’ Mardi Gras street argot. Strings of beads, doubloons, and other trinkets are passed out or thrown from the floats in the Mardi Gras parades to spectators lining the streets.

In 1974, Bruce Gilden was a young photographer when he first went down to Mardi Gras to shoot his first personal essay away from his home city New York. But when Gilden first stepped foot in New Orleans, he found himself in “a pagan dream where you can be what you want to be.” So Gilden became a regular, making seven trips down to the mayhem of Bourbon Street between 1974 and 1982.

The energy, the mentality, social / cultural mores of Mardi Gras were all new for Gilden, but he captured the carnival crowds with the same raw intensity and poignancy that characterize his most iconic New York street photographs.

The holiday of Mardi Gras is celebrated in all of Louisiana, including the city of New Orleans. Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday (the start of lent in the Western Christian tradition). Usually there is one major parade each day (weather permitting); many days have several large parades. The largest and most elaborate parades take place the last five days of the Mardi Gras season. In the final week, many events occur throughout New Orleans and surrounding communities, including parades and balls (some of them masquerade balls).

The parades in New Orleans are organized by social clubs known as krewes; most follow the same parade schedule and route each year. The earliest-established krewes were the Mistick Krewe of Comus, the earliest, Rex, the Knights of Momus and the Krewe of Proteus. Several modern “super krewes” are well known for holding large parades and events, such as the Krewe of Endymion (which is best known for naming celebrities as grand marshals for their parades), the Krewe of Bacchus (similarly known for naming celebrities as their Kings), as well as the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club—a predominantly African American krewe. Float riders traditionally toss throws into the crowds. The most common throws are strings of colorful plastic beads, doubloons, decorated plastic “throw cups”, Moon Pies, and small inexpensive toys. Major krewes follow the same parade schedule and route each year.

While many tourists center their Carnival season activities on Bourbon Street, major parades originate in the Uptown and Mid-City districts and follow a route along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, on the upriver side of the French Quarter. Walking parades – most notably the Krewe du Vieux and Chewbacchus – also take place downtown in the Faubourg Marigny and French Quarter in the weekends preceding Mardi Gras day. Mardi Gras day traditionally concludes with the “Meeting of the Courts” between Rex and Comus. (Wikipedia)

24 Incredible Photos That Show London During the 1930s

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

London in the 1930s tried to be cleaner, more modern and efficient. It was increasingly a city of electric lighting and motor vechicles, rather than gas lighting and horse-drawn vehicles. The Capital’s old problems were being tackled by new public bodies. The London Passenger Transport Board was created in 1933 as a way of bringing all the capital’s transport providers together. The General Post Office completed the automation of London’s telephone exchanges.

The decade was dominated by the growing threat of fascism in Europe. Bitter clashes between English supporters of fascism and their opponents took place in central London and the East End. German Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, began to arrive, many settling in Hampstead. War with Germany began to look inevitable and the decade ended with preparations to evacuate London’s children.

These fascinating images below from the 1930s show the ever-evolving city going through a period of exciting change and new beginnings.

**Children playing cricket in a street in Millwall, east London on August 15, 1938, with a large liner in the background.**

**Early morning rush hour traffic crossing London Bridge in 1933.**

50 Amazing Vintage Photos From the 1970s Volume 7

**King Street, Hamilton, Canada – August 9, 1974**

**The Arches, Off Craven Street, Charing Cross, London 1972**

**Minneapolis musician Prince Rogers Nelson, 1977**

**A Los Angeles police officer looks after an abandoned baby in her desk drawer in 1971.**

**The roomy interior of a Boeing 747 in the 1970s.**

**Debbie Harry of Blondie singing, 1978.**

**Johnny Cash getting baptized at age 39 in the Jordan River. (1971)**

**Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya Richardson in 1972. They have been married for almost 40 years!**

**Harrison Ford as a carpenter before he became famous as an actor. (1970)**

**Mr and Mrs Hudson outside their Newsagents in Seacroft, Leeds, England, 1974**

**David Crosby and his dad, Floyd, 1970s**

**‘Wear Something Gold’ – Sly Stone and Kathy Silva’s 1974 wedding at Madison Square Garden**

**Paul and Linda McCartney with their daughters Heather, Stella and Mary in Rye, East Sussex, 4th April 1976.**

**Bill Cosby spoke to kids about drugs… And won a Grammy for it. 1972**

**Sid Vicious off to see a David Bowie concert in 1973**

**Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, Lulu and David Bowie at the ‘Last Supper’ at the Cafe Royal, Regent Street, 1973.**

**The Jacksons visit Buckingham Palace in 1977.**

**Dolly Parton and hair stylist, 1970s**

**Gregg Allman and Cher, Los Angeles, CA, 1977**

**On the set of TV’s Wonder Woman, 1976**

**Alma Hitchcock with her husband Alfred’s wax head in the fridge, 1972**

**“For the man who takes everything he wears seriously” – Not Underwear – Dynamite. Ad from November 1973.**

**Stanley Kubrick, Vivian Kubrick and Jack Nicholson on The Shining set.**

**“On the Rocks at Arthur’s Pool,” Nelson Valentine, Arthur’s Pool, Santa Monica, October 1976**

**Queen at a tea ceremony in the garden at the Tokyo Prince Hotel, 1975.**

**The Isle of Wight lifeboat attempts to deliver Christmas goodies to Needles Lighthouse, 1979.**

**Here’s a 7 year-old Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with his father Rocky Johnson, who was a famous pro wrestler. (1978)**

**Keith Emerson playing the EMMS (Emerson Moog Modular System) in 1974.**

**A girl selling flowers on the street, 1970s.**

**Jesse Jackson and Marvin Gaye playing hoops in 1976**

**Jerry Stiller takes his son Ben to a play, 1978.**

**Snack bar, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, 1972**

**James Caan having a smoke after shooting his death scene in “The Godfather”, 1972.**

**Two bartenders prepare drinks for guests at the bar on board Led Zeppelin’s private jet, July 30, 1973.**

“Human Fly” George Willig scaling the exterior of the World Trade Center’s South Tower in 1977. After completing the climb in 3.5 hours, he was arrested at the top and was fined $1.10 by the city- a penny for each floor he had passed.

17 year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane in 1971 after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell 2 miles to the ground, strapped to her seat and survived after she endured 10 days in the Amazon Jungle before being rescued by a logging team.

50 Fascinating Photos of Las Vegas in the Late 1980s and Early 1990s.

The “Mafia/Rat Pack” Las Vegas of the mid-20th century came to a gradual end in the 1980s with the aging out of the World War II generation, the decline of organized crime elements, and the rise of baby boomer entrepreneurs who began a new chapter in the city’s history, the so-called megaresort era.

Las Vegas began to become a more commercialized, family-oriented place with large corporations coming to own the hotels, casinos, and nightclubs in place of Mafia bosses.

The megaresort era kicked off in 1989 with the construction of The Mirage. More landmark hotels and other structures were razed to make way for ever-larger and more opulent resorts.

Las Vegas (Spanish for “The Meadows”), often known simply as Vegas, is the 26th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada.

The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its luxurious and extremely large casino-hotels together with their associated activities. It is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations. The city’s tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of “Sin City”, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, and music videos.

Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated North American city founded within that century (a similar distinction was earned by Chicago in the 19th century). Population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85.2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had 641,903 residents in 2020,[5] with a metropolitan population of 2,227,053.

As with most major metropolitan areas, the name of the primary city (“Las Vegas” in this case) is often used to describe areas beyond official city limits. In the case of Las Vegas, this especially applies to the areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip, which are actually located within the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester. Nevada is the driest state, and Las Vegas is the driest major U.S. city. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Southern Nevada have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Las Vegas’s water security. (Wikipedia)

Sylvia Scarlett – The Character That Defined Short Hairstyle of Katharine Hepburn in 1935

Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s.

Hepburn plays the title role of Sylvia Scarlett, a female con artist masquerading as a boy to escape the police. The success of the subterfuge is in large part due to the transformation of Hepburn by RKO make-up artist Mel Berns.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, stage and television. Hepburn’s career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.

Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while at Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in film brought her international fame, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for her third picture, Morning Glory (1933), but this was followed by a series of commercial failures culminating in the critically lauded box office failure Bringing Up Baby (1938). Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold on the condition that she be the star. That comedy film was a box office success and landed her a third Academy Award nomination. In the 1940s, she was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy. The screen-partnership spanned 26 years, and produced nine movies.

Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she tackled Shakespearean stage productions and a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Hepburn earned three more Oscars for her work in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). In the 1970s, she began appearing in television films, which later became her focus. She made her final screen appearance at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96.

Hepburn shunned the Hollywood publicity machine and refused to conform to society’s expectations of women, famously wearing trousers before they were fashionable for women. She was briefly married as a young woman but thereafter lived independently. With her unconventional lifestyle and the independent characters she brought to the screen, Hepburn epitomized the “modern woman” in the 20th-century United States, and is remembered as an important cultural figure. (Wikipedia)

Take a look at these photos to see fabulous beauty of Katharine Hepburn with her short hairstyle in this movie.

18 Elegant Photos of Ladies in Dresses From the 1930s

The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to 1945 was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibers, especially rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. The zipper became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans (called at the time “sunburns”) became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the Mediterranean, in the Bahamas, and on the east coast of Florida where one can acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women.

Revolutionary designer and couturier Madeleine Vionnet gained popularity for her bias-cut technique, which clung, draped, and embraced the curves of the natural female body. Fashion trendsetters in the period included The Prince of Wales (King Edward VIII from January 1936 until his abdication that December) and his companion Wallis Simpson (the Duke and Duchess of Windsor from their marriage in June 1937), socialites like Nicolas de Gunzburg, Daisy Fellowes and Mona von Bismarck, and Hollywood movie stars such as Fred Astaire, Carole Lombard, and Joan Crawford.

These photos that capture beautiful ladies in their dresses from the 1930s are just elegant.

36 Stunning Photos of Actress La Jana During the 1920s & 1930s

La Jana was the stage name of the brunette Viennese-born actress and exotic dancer Henriette “Henny” Hiebel. She was trained as a ballerina for ten years and first performed at the Frankfurt Kinderoper at the age of eight. Of boyishly slim build, she appeared on stage in cabaret in 1921.

La Jana received good publicity from a successful tour of Britain. The build-up continued with glamour photographs for Vogue magazine. Movies followed and La Jana hit the big time with Truxa (1937) and The Stars Shine (1938).

Propelled to instant stardom, La Jana came to represent oriental or Latin mystery and allure as the scantily-clad heroines of The Tiger of Eschnapur (1938), Das indische Grabmal (1938) and Stern von Rio (1940).

La Jana was married to the opera star Michael Bohnen and was said to have previously been romantically involved with Wilhelm, the last Crown Prince of the former German Empire.

Her life ended tragically young at the very peak of her popularity. She died of pneumonia at the age of 35. One fanciful story has it that she aided in the escape from Nazi Germany of Jewish acting colleagues and was consequently murdered by the SS.

Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of La Jana in her short life.

15 Wonderful Vintage Photos Showing London in the Late 1950s

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom with a total population of 9,002,488. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains boundaries close to its medieval ones. Since the 19th century, “London” has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries held the national government and parliament.

As one of the world’s global cities, London exerts strong influence on its arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, health care, media, tourism, and communications, and has sometimes been called the capital of the world. Its GDP (€801.66 billion in 2017) makes it the biggest urban economy in Europe, and it is one of the major financial centres in the world. In 2019 it had the second-highest number of ultra high-net-worth individuals in Europe after Paris and the second-highest number of billionaires in Europe after Moscow. As of 2021, London has the most millionaires of any city. With Europe’s largest concentration of higher education institutions, it includes Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. The city is home to the most 5-star hotels of any city in the world. In 2012, London became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games.

London’s diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The mid-2018 population of Greater London of about 9 million made it Europe’s third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4% of the population of the United Kingdom. Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, after Istanbul, Moscow and Paris, with about 9.8 million inhabitants at the 2011 census. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe after Istanbul’s and Moscow’s, with about 14 million inhabitants in 2016, granting London the status of a megacity.

London has four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the combined Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret’s Church; and also the historic settlement in Greenwich, where the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. It has numerous museums, galleries, libraries and sporting venues, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world. (Wikipedia)

**Piccadilly Circus, 5th November 1956**

**Cafe at the top level of the Passenger Building, London Airport (it wasn’t to be called Heathrow for another ten years), 1956**

**Landseer Lions, Trafalgar Square, London, 1958**

**View of London Bridge from Tower Bridge 1956**

**View down Whitehall from Trafalgar Square (including Big Ben), May 1958**

**Old Sunken Roundabout outside the Heathrow Tunnel (and just south of the Bath Road), London Airport, London, 1956**

45 Wonderful Photos of Luxembourg City in the Early 1970s

Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerg; French: Luxembourg; German: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City (Luxembourgish: Stad Lëtzebuerg or d’Stad; French: Ville de Luxembourg; German: Stadt Luxemburg or Luxemburg-Stadt), is the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country’s most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxembourg, the city lies at the heart of Western Europe, situated 213 km (132 mi) by road from Brussels, 372 km (231 mi) from Paris, and 209 km (130 mi) from Cologne. The city contains Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, around which a settlement developed.

As of 31 December 2021, Luxembourg City has a population of 128,514 inhabitants, which is more than three times the population of the country’s second most populous commune (Esch-sur-Alzette). The city’s population consists of 160 nationalities. Foreigners represent 70% of the city’s population, whilst Luxembourgers represent 30% of the population; the number of foreign-born residents in the city rises steadily each year.

In 2022, Luxembourg was ranked as having the first-highest per capita GDP in the world at $137,950(PPP), with the city having developed into a banking and administrative centre. In the 2019 Mercer worldwide survey of 231 cities, Luxembourg was placed first for personal safety, while it was ranked 18th for quality of living.

Luxembourg is one of the de facto capitals of the European Union (alongside Brussels, Frankfurt and Strasbourg), as it is the seat of several institutions, agencies and bodies, including the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the Secretariat of the European Parliament, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund, the European Stability Mechanism, as well as amongst other European Commission departments and services, Eurostat. The Council of the European Union meets in the city for three months annually. (Wikipedia)

26 Wonderful Vintage Photos of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller at the April in Paris Ball, Waldorf in New York City, 1957

April in Paris Ball was an annual US gala event whose mission was to serve charity and Franco-American relations. Established in 1952 at the Waldorf Astoria New York in New York City, it was the idea of Claude Philippe, the hotel’s banquet manager, who enlisted Elsa Maxwell to help organize it.

The first event was a celebration of the 2,000th birthday of the city of Paris and was held in 1951. When it was decided to make the ball an annual event, the name was changed to the April in Paris Ball.

The 1957 event, attended by Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller, Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, included 1300 guests, who paid $100 each and donated $130,000 to charities; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor attended as well.

The Duchess and Elsa Maxwell had reportedly had a major falling out at another ball four years earlier and sat far apart from each other and didn’t speak even when they were in the elevator together. The Duke and Duchess were the guests of honor and were seated at the most visible table in the ballroom. One article in The Times Standard even claimed that Maxwell had invited Monroe to the ball to publicly embarrass the Duchess; when Monroe arrived more than 30 photographer abandoned her to photograph Monroe. After the ball, a wealthy New York broker offered to donate $50,000 to charity if Maxwell and the Duchess would abandon their feud and shake hands in front of press photographers. Maxwell was most willing to end the quarrel in this way, but the Duchess declined the offer.

Subscribe to get access

Subscribe to continue reading

Yesterday Today