I can remember the 1950s as well as anyone and of course tend to romanticise the period while I sit meditating with my morning coffee. How wonderful then, to discover a forum (thanks to Autoblog) with a huge number of 50s city street scene photographs, most of which include automobiles. The focus is on buildings, with the cars merely background material, but I agree with Autoblog's Chris Tutor that while it's entertaining to see restored autos in shows and concours it is often more fun to see them as they once were, unwashed and driven daily. A reminder that, after all, they're just cars.

The photos reminded me that most of the buildings and streets in that era really weren't very attractive but on the other hand, each had a personality that's hard to find in today's homogenous corporate facades. As someone who likes old ships I was also delighted to find a couple of shots in which wooden lake steamers were moored to piers adjoining waterfront streets. They were mostly gone by the 50s but I do remember Sailing on them as a kid in Toronto. I challenge you to spend a few minutes glancing through the Skyscraper City site... then come back and tell me you didn't enjoy the trip!