People are wary of cameras being pointed at them nowadays, and folks become extra paranoid when they’re up to no good and don’t want someone capturing photographic evidence of their misdeeds.
But the 1920s and 1930s were a simpler time, and photos were seen as a benign medium, considered flattering if people wanted to take your picture even if you were hanging around a speakeasy or dive bar.
The photographs taken by Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first published female photojournalist in America, give us a window into Greenwich Village's past, with the seedy standing alongside the historical, and 29 of her photos which have become part of Harvard's Schlesinger Library are now on Flickr for your viewing pleasure.
-Via AnimalNY