The famous pictures of the Empire State Building during its construction in 1931 were taken by the well-known photographer Lewis Wickes Hine, who happened to live down the street from my grandfather's mechanic shop in Dobbs Ferry, NY. One day a few years later, Mr. Hine badly injured himself while working with a saw. My grandfather - shown pointing - ran to help, stopped much of the bleeding (likely saving his life) and then went to call for a doctor. Mr. Hine was immensely grateful and as a token of thanks did a series of snapshots of my dad as a young boy; these are two of them.
My dad is dying of advanced-stage Parkinson's now. There are boxes and boxes of old black and white pictures I've never seen before that I'm just starting to sort through now...photos from before my grandparents even came to this country from Germany in 1918, photos of my dad's older brother who was sent home from kindergarten because he couldn't speak English. And photos of my dad, who can only remember my name half the time now...so much sepia-toned history.
