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Old Photos Offer Time Capsule Into New York City In The 1930s, 80s

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – As the latest high-tech and high-rise buildings pop up all across Manhattan, it can be hard to remember what New York City used to look like.

An old tax project took photographs of every building on every block, creating a time capsule back into the 1930s and 80s in the city.

New York City Then And Now
An old tax project took photographs of every building on every block, creating a time capsule back into the 1930s and 80s in the city. (Photo credits: NYC Municipal Archives / Benjamin Norman for the New York Times)

PHOTO GALLERY: New York City Then And Now

New York Times reporter James Barron has been covering the story of these photos.

He told CBSN New York's Alex Denis the pictures show "what it was like and what had been there before – it's the physical city and what that meant."

To see more of the photos, click here for the 1930s or here for the 80s.

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