Throwing Garbage As A Sign Of Respect

Ticker tape, as such, has been defunct for more than 50 years. The machines were a form of telegraph connected to printers: since they wasn’t carrying general messages but only a constrained set of letters and numbers in series, a simple printer onto a roll of paper was sufficient. This led to Financial District offices being full of long pieces of narrow paper tape, and offices used to have operable windows…

1888, a political campaign parade, looking west on Wall Street towards Trinity Church.

1962, President João Goulart of Brazil, standing. My guess is the skeptical fellow sitting is soemhow responsible for Goulart’s security.

1926, (then) Lieutenant Richard Byrd after his flight (maybe) to the North Pole, looking south down Broadway with St. Paul’s chapel on the right.

A wet day in 1965 for Virgil Grissom and John Young after the Gemini 3 flight, looking north up Broadway past Maiden Lane.

Close up of Grissom on the left and Young on the right, flanking Hubert Humphrey.

Over the decades, fewer military parades and fewer foreign leaders, more local sports teams. And, of course, ticker tape has been replaced by torn up scrap paper and (horror of horrors) pre-made confetti.

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