1976 – July 4: Operation Sail

The biggest local event of 1976 – the nation’s Bicentennial – was Operation Sail, the parade of tall ships up and down the Hudson River between NJ and NY.

My roommate knew someone who could get us in to view the event from the grounds of a ritzy high-rise in Fort Lee, NJ, high atop the mighty Palisades and near the George Washington Bridge.

Unfortunately, the sky was overcast, the pictures weren’t my sharpest, they came out heavily blue and seemed to have dust embedded in them. It took forever to spot them out (and lose a good chunk of the blue) in Photoshop, but they were too historically important to NOT spend the time doing it.

Some, however, came out fairly well and it’s interesting to see the sailors lined up on the ships AND the thousands of people lined up on the NYC shoreline and above them on the West Side Highway.

And then there are the historic NYC structures behind and above everything else. In at least two of the pictures, you can see Riverside Church, Grant’s Tomb and – behind the tomb – part of the old Triboro/Triborough Bridge, which connects Manhattan with Queens and The Bronx.

That’s a lot of interesting stuff in one shot.

 

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