24 Beautiful Pictures Of Harlem In The Mid-20th Century

Streetcars run past the Apollo Theater, Loew's Victoria, and movie theaters on a busy afternoon on 125th Street in Harlem, 1944.

Performers on amateur night at the Apollo Theater in 1944.

Two Marines walk down a street in Harlem during World War II in June 1943.

Left: Sculptor Augusta Savage works on a piece in her Harlem studio in 1938. Right: A group of young girls play beside a flooded street drain in 1947.

Teenage boys play a game of stickball in 1958.

Left: A couple kisses in the hallway of a Harlem apartment building in 1942. Right: A woman and her dog take in the sights from their open window in 1943.

A man reclines for a straight-razor shave in the 1930s.

A woman is given a manicure in a beauty salon, 1933.

Cootie Williams plays his trumpet in a crowed Harlem ballroom with Duke Ellington's band in the 1930s.

Couples swing dance at the Savoy Ballroom during the late 1940s.

Lee Moates and Tonita Malau show their winning dance style during a Lindy Hop competition at the Savoy Ballroom on April 24, 1953.

Sugar Ray Robinson tends a crowded bar on Seventh Avenue between 122nd and 123rd streets on June 25, 1953.

Women entertainers dance at Smalls Paradise, a Harlem nightclub, in 1929.

Left: A jazz band performs in a smoky club, 1938. Right: Women enjoying a jazz concert, 1944.

Service members are entertained at the weekly Saturday night United Service Organizations dance held at the YMCA on Feb. 7, 1942.

A young man joins in the dancing, 1944.

A young man falls asleep in a chair to the amusement of a woman in the surrounding crowd, 1945.

A group of girls wait to go downstairs for a debutante cotillion on March 1, 1950.

Brides and grooms kiss at a double wedding in 1940.

Two men walk down a street in East Harlem at night, 1958.