The Lively Morgue is a daily photo blog from the New York Times in which an original photo from the newspaper's archives is reposted along with tidbits of information gleaned from the historical article it accompanied. Along with a rescan of the original photograph, the backs of each photo are also scanned, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the editorial process of one of the world's best newspapers.
Today's post shows a photo from December 29th, 1946 documenting one of the last trips of the official double decker buses in New York City as they drive through Washington Square.
Dec. 29, 1946: “It’s a lark!” exclaimed a passenger on one of the last trips of one of New York City’s last five double-decker, open-top buses. “It’s a shame they’re taking them away. During the summer months they’d be wonderful,” the woman added. “The Fifth Avenue Coach Company had ordered the use of the old open double-deckers discontinued as of 1 p.m.,” reported The Times, which also noted that the buses had been running there since 1907 and that “some of the old machines would be sent to Argentina and Cuba,” and others would be scrapped for parts.
The original article from 1946 has more.
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.
Something wrong with this post? Let us know!
