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Check out these startlingly clear colorized photos of turn-of-the-century New York

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Content Director, The AmericasWednesday May 30 2018

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When you’re on an F train tonight sandwiched between two sweat-covered bros who refuse to take off their backpacks, take heart: New Yorkers have apparently been enduring such struggles for more than 100 years.

Jam-packed city buses (circa 1910) are just one of the startlingly clear revelations that can be gleaned from a new crop of impressively detailed colorized photographs by Royston Leonard.

The retro shots, mainly depicting street scenes from a turn-of-the-century city, show moments that would be familiar to many present day New Yorkers, including a police escort, a lively costumed parade and children playing on a sidewalk. Except, you know, everyone’s wearing a hat and there are a lot more horses.

More colorized photos of NYC like these are featured in British author Michel D. Carroll’s new book, Retrographic. Check out some more of the vivid shots below and dream about a long-ago time when the city's urine scent was much more palatable.

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