Line drying has largely disappeared from New York as so many traditions of the lower classes in the name of social progress. Industrialized laundries with delivery and drop off were introduced as a convenience service to the middle class at the turn-of-the-century.
Electric dryers were developed in the 1930s, but did not become marketable until the late 1940s and early ’50s. Soon, New Yorkers began to haul their laundry (as most do now) in swollen bags down the narrow passages and steep stairwells of their buildings through the street to laundromats lined with self-service machines and coin dispensers.
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| A view down an alley, as rows and rows of laundry hang from tenements, New York City, ca. 1930s. Seen looking west from 70 Columbus Avenue or Amsterdam Avenue at 63nd Street. (NYC Municipal Archives) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Tudor City from 39th Street. c. 1930-1933. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Court of the First Model Tenements in New York City. March 16, 1936. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| View of clothesline strung between windows in brick courtyard, 1392 Madison Ave. ca. 1933. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Greenwich Street. 1932.(Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Vacant Lot between Buildings at 148th St., 1939. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Hanging laundry, 1940. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Wooden Rear Tenements–Children Playing in Dirt. 1935. (Museum of the City of New York) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Rows of laundry outside a New York City apartment house, 1935. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Tenements, New York, ca. 1937. (The Jewish Museum) |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Laundry, New York City, ca. 1930s. |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| Laundry, New York City, ca. 1934. |
Amazing Vintage Photos That Capture Laundry Scenes of New York City in the 1930s
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| A woman hanging out the laundry on the roof of her building, New York City, 1939. |
