Flashback Friday: Freak 1981 Blizzard Footage Uncovered

Park Slope’s fascinating winter history has yielded a handful of memorable photos over the last century.

It’s hard to forget O.E. Dunlap’s creepy snowfall photo from around 1904. 6th Avenue at Berkeley Place needed a good dig out in 1947. Christmas tree decorations looked beautiful at Grand Army Plaza in the 1950s.

And just two months ago, the January Blizzard of 2016 created some unforgettable images.

We just received this photo from our neighbor Luke At-At, who snapped it in January 1981.

At-At recalls:

“I took this photo on 4th Avenue. I know you can’t see the buildings — they’re rather obscured by the snow drifts. I was walking down Union Street from 5th Avenue. When I made a left turn onto 4th Avenue, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I would say the behemoth was approximately 90 feet long and 50 feet high. It was moving at a speed of 40 miles per hour.

The beast was armed with two heavy laser cannons and two medium blaster cannons. A crew of one pilot and one gunner sat in the cockpit under the command of the vehicle’s commander. It carried 40 troops and four 74-Z speeder bikes. But that’s all I can recall.”

At-At took the photo with a Canon AE-1. “I still have that camera,” recalls At-At. “I was frightened, but I just used — I guess you can call it the force — to stay calm.”