Antique & Vintage Postcards

Searchlights rake a midnight-blue sky as the George Washington Bridge blazes with white lights above Riverside Drive — a glamorous vision of New York that made travelers reach for a postcard the moment they arrived. This Curt Teich Colortone linen, numbered 5A-H647 and published by Frank E. Cooper of 288 Broadway, New York, captures the bridge in its early years: construction finished in 1932 at a cost of over $60,000,000, and the Will Rogers Memorial Beacon for Aviators — described on the reverse — was a celebrated feature of Depression-era nights on the Hudson. Vintage automobiles with rounded fenders cruise the curving drive below, anchoring the scene firmly in the late 1930s. The card instructs senders to "Place One Cent Stamp Here," consistent with domestic postcard rates in force through 1951.