New Photo Exhibit Depicts Coney Island In the Early 1960s

In the spirit of the weather warming up and summer right around the corner, New York Magazine featured photographer Aaron Rose and the pictures he took in Coney Island between 1961 and 1963. Even on this rainy Thursday, these pictures will make you want to stop whatever you’re doing and go to the beach.

From NY Magazine:

Rose, a lifelong New Yorker himself, documented his fellow residents as they spilled out from every neighborhood for their annual migration to Brookyn’s [sic] end. The swimsuit styles are a little different, but it looked even then like it was impossible to find a spot for your towel.

Rose’s photos are now part of an exhibit opening tomorrow at the Museum of the City of New York. It’s called “In a World of Their Own.”

Just as Rose was well known for his intimate portraits of New York life, he was also admired for his technical skills in the darkroom. The museum notes in its release:

Rose is considered a photographer’s photographer: the process of making the photographs is as important to him as the final product. In an era when black-and-white photography was widespread, Rose took what he learned during his short stint in the commercial sector to create highly unusual prints. Rose seized upon a new technology – chromogenic color film – for his Coney Island photographs and … Rose’s photographs capture the heat of the summer, and give them what [critic] Aletti has called the “burnished glow of a fresh tan” so reminiscent of a day at the beach.

Below are some of the images shared on the museum’s website.