19 Amazing Vintage Photos of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Balloons From the Early Days

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade has been a tradition of Thankgiving for decades. It started out as a way for the employees of Macy’s to say thank you to New York. Macy’s started using balloons in their parade in 1927 and it has been tradition since. Here’s a collection of 19 amazing vintage photos of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons from the early days.

Here’s a floating dachshund. Image: Macy’s Inc.

The only balloon to be modeled after a real person was this one, for entertainer Eddie Cantor. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Father Knickerbocker floats through the streets. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Ferdinand the Bull. Image: Macy’s Inc.

A huge fish from 1938. Looks like something from a Guillermo del Toro movie. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Gridiron glories have long been a Thanksgiving tradition. Here, a footballer makes a dash down a street. Image: Macy’s Inc.

An early incarnation of Mickey Mouse. Image: Macy’s Inc.

A pilgrim–firmly in the Thanksgiving spirit. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Yarr–the pirate was a fan favorite in early years. Image: Macy’s Inc.

A soldier. Image: Macy’s Inc.

This spaceman was an early favorite–a relic of the space race era. Image: Macy’s Inc.

This Christmas stocking offered floats within a float. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Here, a dino, from 1963. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Another shot from 1963. Image: Macy’s Inc.

This shot reminds us that the early years overlapped with the golden age of airships–it’s from 1930. The Hindenburg would crash 7 years later. Image: Macy’s Inc.

A clown floats through New York City in the 1940 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Image: Macy’s Inc.

A clown, from 1938. Image: Macy’s Inc.

This dachshund was a staple in early years. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Harold the Baseball Player, a representative for the national pastime. Image: Macy’s Inc.

Vintage Photographs From the Early Days of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade dates as far back as the 1920s, when Macy’s employees, many of whom were immigrants, began this tradition in an attempt to connect with American culture by celebrating Thanksgiving.

Currently, the parade features enormous and impressive balloons, a variety of performers and paraders and a viewership of over 44 million every year, on television alone. Here’s a collection of some of interesting vintage photographs featuring the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from the early days in the 1920s.

The first Macy’s parade was held in 1924. In the beginning, this was a rather small, employee-run event. That first parade was mostly employees and animals from the Central Park Zoo. Around 250,000 people attended that first parade.

Macy’s employees are shown dressed as clowns in 1924.

The 1924 Balloonatics float inspired famed puppeteer and Macy’s window designer Tony Sarg to create inflatable upside down marionettes, otherwise known as Macy’s giant helium balloons.

The star of the first and every Macy’s parade, Santa Claus, is seen here on his first float in 1924.

The first few parades did have some major highlights: the floats. The biggest and the best was Santa’s float. Here he is being watched by the crowd in 1925.

A parade float from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1926.

The parade is now famous for its balloons, but the first parades didn’t have them. The very first balloon, Felix the Cat, didn’t make his appearance until 1927. This is the year the parade was re-named the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Felix the Cat, debuted in the Thanksgiving Day parade in 1927.

Macy’s presented Felix the Cat, its first ever giant inflatable balloon, in 1927.

Felix the Cat giant balloon in 1927.

A parade float from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1927.

A large outdoor float of Captain Nemo makes its way down the street during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, on Nov. 28, 1929.

Anthony Sarg (center) and puppeteers touch up a parade balloon in 1929.

Daschund- Released after conclusion of Parade 1929.

1st Macy’s Parade advertisement – Originally called Macy’s Christmas Parade, on November 26, 1924.

50 Amazing Color Photographs Capture Street Scenes of New York City in the 1970s

The New York City of the 1970s looked very different from the gentrified metropolis we know today. The Bowery, now lined with luxury apartments, housed much of the city’s illicit activities, while drug dealers and prostitutes worked openly from Park Slope to Times Square.

Industrial decline, economic stagnation, and white flight led to the dramatic downturn for America’s largest city.
Gotham had an unprecedented fiscal crisis in 1975, and two years later the city descended into chaos after the power went out for 25 hours. New York City saw 1,814 homicides in 1980 — three times what we have today — while the population declined to just over 7 million from nearly 8 million a decade before.

79th Street and Broadway, facing East, 1972. Photo by Joseph Testagrose.

172 Delancey Street, 1970. Photo by Camilo José Vergara.

Jackson Avenue at Eleventh Street, 1980.

Third Avenue at 66th Street, facing Southwest, 1979. Photo by Alan Benjamin.

Facing Southwest to Fourteenth Street from Third Avenue. Photo by Bill Ricco.

Seventh Avenue South at Perry Street, facing South, 1973. Photo by Dan McCoy.

42nd Street at Seventh Avenue, facing Northwest, 1970.

Charlotte Street, circa 1980. Photo by Steven Siegel.

Orchard Street between Stanton and Rivington, facing South, mid ’70s. Photo by Susan Saunders.

131 Essex Street (at Rivington), 1971. Photo by Helen Levitt.

Fourteenth Street between Ninth and Tentth Avenues, facing East, 1976. Photo by Eugene Gannon.

Second Avenue at 26th Street, facing Northwest, c.1972. Photo by Lew Kampel.

Lenox Avenue between 124th and 125th Streets, facing West.

Northwest corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 150th Street, 1970. Photo by Manny Gerard.

155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, facing South, 1970. Photo by Manny Gerard.

Mulberry Street at Hester, facing North, 1975. Photo by Nick DeWolf.

July 4th, 1976 – Bicentennial celebration in New York Harbor. Photo by Steven Lindner.

Eighth Avenue at 41st Street, facing Northeast, 1978. Photo by Tony Smull.

Park Avenue at 110th Street – Spanish Harlem circa 1974. Photo by Susan Saunders.

Lower East Side, early ’70s. Photo by Susan Saunders.

Madison Avenue at 64th Street, facing South, 1979. Photo by Alan Benjamin.

72nd and Broadway, facing West, mid ’70s. Photo by Ira Gallen.

Northeast corner of Delancey and Bowery, c.1978. Photo by Manel Armengol.

Delancey at Norfolk Street, facing East, early ’70s. Photo by Steve Zabel.

23rd Street facing West towards Eighth Avenue, January, 1976.

68th and Broadway, facing Northeast, 1980. Photo by Ed Sijmons.

86th and 3rd, facing South, 1971. Photo by Michelle Gruber.

Lafayette Street at Bleecker, facing North, 1976. Screencap from Marathon Man.

130th and 7th Avenue (A.C. Powell Boulevard), facing Northeast, 1978. Photo by Manel Armengol.

Kingsbridge – West 231st Street between Broadway and Godwin Terrace, facing South, 1978. Photo by Nicholas Nigro.

Orchard Street at Delancey, facing North, 1978.

Rivington Street at The Bowery, facing East – August, 1973. Photo by Armando Moreschi.

Sixth Avenue at 27th Street, 1978. Photo by Manel Armengol.

Harlem, late 1970s. Photo by Manel Armengol.

Second Avenue at East Seventh Street facing Southwest, late 1970s. Photo by Laura Knight.

34th Street and 7th Avenue facing North, 1977. Photo by Laura Knight.

The old New Yorker Theater. West side of Broadway 88th to 89th Streets, c.1977. Photo by Nicholas West.

Hell’s Kitchen, 1973. Photo by Paul Mones.

Southwest corner of 74th and Broadway, the storefront was located inside the Ansonia. Early 1970s.

Fulton Avenue and Crotona Park South, facing Northwest. Photo by Robert Ronan.

Northeast Corner of 14th Street at 7th Avenue, 1972. Photo by Lionel Martinez.

Lower Manhattan, 1972. Photo by Lionel Martinez.

Sixth Avenue facing South from 59th Street.

Times Square night in 1970. Photo by James Wolcott.

Park Avenue at 47th Street, facing South, circa 1974.

Spring Street at Mulberry, facing West, 1976.

Ninth Avenue at 56th Street, facing South, 1979.

West End Avenue at 79th Street, facing North, 1979.

Amsterdam Avenue, between 144th Street and 145th Streets, 1971.

Harlem, 1971. Photo by Camilo José Vergara.

First Day of School: 45 Lovely Vintage Photos of Children With Their School Cones

A Schultüte (“school cone”), also known as a Zuckertüte (“sugar cone”) in some parts of Germany, is a large cone-shaped, cornucopia-styled container made of paper, cardboard, or plastic.

When children in Germany and in parts of the Czech Republic close to the German border, in parts of Poland (Greater Poland, Upper Silesia, Warmia), in Austria, in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Belgium set off for their first day of school upon entering first grade, their parents and/or grandparents present them with this large cone, attractively decorated and filled with toys, chocolate, candies/sweets, school supplies, and various other special treats.

The cone is given to children to make this anxiously awaited first day of school a little sweeter. Here below is a set of lovely vintage photos that shows children with their school cones.

33 Lovely Photos Show What the First Day of School Looked Like in the Past Century

hile the outfits, books, bags and hairstyles may have changed, the excitement surrounding going back to school, making new friends and learning new things seems timeless.

Take a look at these lovely photos from HuffPost

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 to see how the first day of school has changed from the past century.

A young boy and girl on the way to school for the start of a new term in the 1920s

 

A girl’s first day of school in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, circa 1921

 

Japanese children in traditional garb start school in California in 1927

 

A 5-year-old girl shows off her books after her first day of kindergarten, circa 1929

 

A mother takes her daughter by the hand as they head to school in the late 1920s or early 1930s

A young Australian boy stares into a classroom already full of students, circa 1930

 

Children on their way home from school, with book bags strapped on their backs, after the first day of classes in Germany, circa 1930

 

Parents and their children are seen outside a school in Tokyo in the early 20th century

 

Students in France greet a photographer at the start of a new term by shaking their schoolbags in 1932

 

During World War II, Parisian students line up a courtyard on the first day of classes

 

A little boy in Paris says goodbye to his mother outside a school in September 1945

 

As their instruction begins in 1948, students at the Lucy D. Anthony school examine a small turtle

 

In 1948, a young girl shares a moment with her mother outside the Lucy D. Anthony school in Madison, New Jersey

 

Joyce Payne and Vincent Baker have fun depicting their teacher at a school in New York’s Harlem community on Sep. 13, 1948

 

Nap-time on the first day in 1949

 

Wide-eyed children listening to fairy-tales on their first school day in 1949

 

Children getting to know their new teacher, circa 1950

 

Students eagerly vie to be called on at a New York school, circa 1950

 

Teacher Agnes Bolton stands in the schoolhouse door on the first day of classes for her only pupil, Jimmy MacLellan, in Scotland, circa 1950

 

Five-year-old Howard Crafter has a tough time adjusting at the St. Nicholas County school, circa 1952

 

Richard Sharp on his first day at the St. Nicholas County Primary School in Loughton, England, circa 1952

 

Children hard at work on Sept. 15, 1959

 

Delores York heads off for her first day at a previously all-white school in September 1960 in Arkansas

 

Two brothers about to start the new school year, circa 1964

 

Mary Lynch, an assistant principal at a school in Boston’s Roxbury community, leads first graders to a school in the city’s North End on Sept. 6, 1967. Operation Exodus, a voluntary busing program organized by Roxbury parents, transported students from overcrowded schools in predominantly black neighborhoods to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods that had vacant seats

 

Children walk up a flight of stairs to attend a newly desegregated school in Berkeley, California, 1968

 

Jim Hard (left) of Framingham, Massachusetts, gets acquainted with Joseph Reis of the Roxbury neighborhood at the Trotter School in Boston on Sept. 3, 1969

 

Canadian kindergarten teacher Trisha Langley teaching her first lessons on Sept. 7, 1971

 

Students at the Mary E. Curley School in Boston on Sept. 8, 1975

 

Maranda Francisco seems taken aback by a classmate’s antics on Sept. 20, 1987

 

Students line up at the Side Creek Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, on Aug. 11, 1987

 

Schools kids arrive at Ellis Elementary School in Denver on Aug. 31, 1988

 

Five-year-old Dylan O’ Sullivan appears determined to make it a good year as he heads into class in Denver on Aug. 30, 1989