# America in the 1970s: a photolog-- Pretty Amazing Pictures! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 26, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184 "2011-11-26T20:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/1 "2011-11-26T20:52:25Z")
Commissioned by a then fledgling EPA in the early 1970s, over a 100 photographers went out to document America, both its environment and its people. [Here](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/11/documerica-images-of-america-in-crisis-in-the-1970s/100190/) are some of the pictures. I thought many of these were amazing and wanted to share. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/2 "2011-11-26T21:05:07Z")
Wow! Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/3 "2011-11-26T21:13:53Z")
Awesome link! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/4 "2011-11-26T21:21:10Z")
Wow…those are great. I feel…homesick, lol. But I was just growing up then, born in '66. But dayum…this feels weird. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/5 "2011-11-26T21:22:19Z")
Depressing photos. Things were not so bad in San Diego and Lancaster. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/6 "2011-11-26T21:47:12Z")
Maybe this will help my son understand what my sister and I mean when we say a lot of places were dirtier when we were kids. Litter, smog, all of it. Some of those shots put me right back 35 and more years ago, riding in my grandfather’s car hearing about what the neighborhoods used to be like. Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/7 "2011-11-26T21:55:18Z")
I’m trying to use Google Maps street view for the Colfax Ave. 1972 photo in Denver. For the life of me, I can’t figure out the spot where the photo was taken. In the photo, the street appears to be lumpy and headed downhill. The dome is about the same height as the steeple across the street. I can’t reproduce that on Google Maps at all. The closest I can get appears to be the intersection of [Colfax & Pearl](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=colfax+avenue,+denver,+co&hl=en&ll=39.740007,-104.97979&spn=0.000579,0.001373&gbv=2&hnear=Colfax+Ave,+Denver,+Colorado+80203&gl=us&t=h&z=20&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=39.740008,-104.979907&panoid=n1WZ4oeljmDvGMg6w3DVZQ&cbp=12,268.57,,0,5.54), looking west, but the height of the dome relative to the church is way off at that spot. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/8 "2011-11-26T22:18:38Z")
A lot of that pollution was later cleaned up under the supervision of the EPA and Rick Perry wants to eliminate that whole organization. So we can get back to those happier toxic waste-filled times? ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/9 "2011-11-26T22:39:18Z")
Tons more available on Flickr from the US Archives: [Collection: DOCUMERICA Project by the Environmental Protection Agency](http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/collections/72157620729903309/) I’m struck not only by how dirty things are, but how much more slender everyone is–especially in the group shots of kids. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/10 "2011-11-26T23:25:10Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > A lot of that pollution was later cleaned up under the supervision of the EPA and Rick Perry wants to eliminate that whole organization. No he doesn’t - he wants to drastically reorganize it. When Perry could not remember the name of the third agency he wanted to eliminate, Romney offered up the EPA as a suggestion, but it was really the Department of Energy. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/11 "2011-11-26T23:28:06Z")
> [@booklover](#): > > Tons more available on Flickr from the US Archives: [Collection: DOCUMERICA Project by the Environmental Protection Agency](http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/collections/72157620729903309/) > > I’m struck not only by how dirty things are, but how much more slender everyone is–especially in the group shots of kids. Heh - that’s what I noticed too. Not a single fat person in any of the photos I looked at. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/12 "2011-11-26T23:28:50Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > No he doesn’t - he wants to drastically reorganize it. When Perry could not remember the name of the third agency he wanted to eliminate, Romney offered up the EPA as a suggestion, but it was really the Department of Energy. You’re right. Now I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/13 "2011-11-26T23:46:43Z")
Anyone recognize the California freeway pic with “Cindy’s” restaurant in the background? I think that is (or was) in Encino, Woodland Hills, or nearby, and originally had a slightly different name, like “Candy’s.” It might have fronted on Ventura Blvd, backing up to the freeway. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/14 "2011-11-27T00:25:13Z")
\*God \*the 1970s were horrible. I remember even at the time thinking, “_please_, 1980s, hurry up and \*get \*here!” ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/15 "2011-11-27T00:34:52Z")
> [@booklover](#): > > I’m struck not only by how diry things are, but how much more slender everyone is–especially in the group shots of kids. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/16 "2011-11-27T01:56:52Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > I’m trying to use Google Maps street view for the Colfax Ave. 1972 photo in Denver. For the life of me, I can’t figure out the spot where the photo was taken. > > In the photo, the street appears to be lumpy and headed downhill. The dome is about the same height as the steeple across the street. I can’t reproduce that on Google Maps at all. The closest I can get appears to be the intersection of [Colfax & Pearl](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=colfax+avenue,+denver,+co&hl=en&ll=39.740007,-104.97979&spn=0.000579,0.001373&gbv=2&hnear=Colfax+Ave,+Denver,+Colorado+80203&gl=us&t=h&z=20&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=39.740008,-104.979907&panoid=n1WZ4oeljmDvGMg6w3DVZQ&cbp=12,268.57,,0,5.54), looking west, but the height of the dome relative to the church is way off at that spot. It’s taken from a higher elevation than the Google shot; the cathedral is a couple of blocks closer than the state house, and parallax does the rest. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/17 "2011-11-27T02:17:23Z")
It’s amazing how far we’ve come. Cities used to be such depressing and filthy places. I wonder if we’re heading back in that direction where people will again leave the cities? ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/18 "2011-11-27T04:17:59Z")
Thanks for the wonderful link. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/19 "2011-11-27T04:36:12Z")
I’d like to show that picture of the subway to anyone who still believes graffiti was a form of artistic expression. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184/20 "2011-11-27T05:06:56Z")
[Some](http://net.onextrapixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/liverpool-graffiti.jpg) of it is definitely art; the shit in the OP’s link is just tags. There’s some graffiti out there that is really amazing. But all of it is definitely illegal, and I certainly don’t have any sympathy for the guys who get arrested while doing it. They _know_ the risk, they know the game - that’s why they do it. But I definitely admire the good pieces. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-in-the-1970s-a-photolog-pretty-amazing-pictures/604184.md?page=2)