King Kong

The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel once stood where the Empire State Building was constructed (at 350 Fifth Avenue) in 1930. It took only fourteen months to finish what was then the tallest building in the world. What did it look like at that time?

Many of Theodor Horydczak’s photographs of the Empire State Building, taken in the 1930s, have been digitized by the Library of Congress. Let’s examine a representative sampling:

• A view from 41st Street and 5th Avenue, on July 3, 1933 - four months after the March 2, 1933 release of the original King Kong film.
  
  
• On the 4th of July, 1933, the building - at 102 stories - was the tallest in the world.
  
  
• At the time, it dominated the Manhattan skyline. 

Samuel Gottscho’s photographs, also digitized by the Library of Congress, add to our understanding of New York City as it appeared in the 1930s:

• A view from the ESB, on January 19, 1932, including Central Park.
  
  
• Looking north - and northeast (toward the East River) - on September 11, 1933.
  
  
• Night scenes - the Queensboro Bridge (on January 19, 1932), Times Square (January 7, 1932), and the north part of town (January 19, 1932) - were impressive from the top of the city. They still are - as a virtual tour (from the ESB’s official site) demonstrates.

Against this historical backdrop - when people in a previously vibrant city were “down on their luck” because of the depression - RKO Studio released King Kong, a movie which featured the city and its tallest building. Like its predecessor, Peter Jackson’s remake requires us to take another trip back in time - much further back - to the days of the dinosaurs. Could such creatures have existed on a place like "Skull Island?"