As much as we love to hate tourists, New Yorkers have always enjoyed looking at photos of them looking silly. Here is a century-old photo from the Museum of the City of New York that dates back to September 30, 1904 and has a group of tourists looking rather gloom on an "observation automobile", known now as a "double decker bus".
The second photo was taken around the same time period, but is setup more like a roller coaster car with 4 tourists sitting side-by-side, all in a row, and equally ridiculous.
From the markings on the side of the vehicles, it appears that these tourist-mobiles were owned and operated by the Bartholdi Hotel (third photo, left edge) which used to own the space across the street from the Flatiron building, on the south-east corner of 23rd and Broadway. The hotel seems to have shut down a mere 8 years after this photo was taken, but they will be remembered fondly for these tourist automobiles and their oysters.
via reddit
Matt Coneybeare
Editor in Chief
Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.
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