Anatomy of a Photo: EAST 42ND STREET

A deep dive into a photo made around 1933, looking east down 42nd Street to Second Avenue and Tudor City.

Exhibit A, the photograph. This eastern view down 42nd Street is framed by No. 45, The Woodstock and Hotel Tudor in the distance. The Daily News Building, right center.

A closer look reveals that Hotel Tudor's neon sign had yet to be installed. Instead, there was a painted version on its western wall.

Above center, the 42nd St. station of the Second Ave. El, the elevated railway running from the Battery to the Bronx. Tudor Citizens were blessed with many transportation options during this era: elevated trains at 2nd and 3rd Aves., Grand Central at Lexington Ave., and a crosstown streetcar along 42nd St. [seen passing beneath the El station in the photo.]

Street life near the entrance of the Daily News Building.

A hazy, ghostly rendition of The Sign.