What Was Buried Beneath Cleopatra’s Needle? And Other Secrets of Manhattan!

What I Discovered Visiting Every Site from a 1950s View-Master Reel

My entire View Master collections is available online, with View Master games and other resources - check it out here:

http://vm.vmdatabase.com/

When I first discovered the vintage 1946 View-Master reels of New York City, I was struck by how they froze the city in time. Each stereoscopic image captured iconic landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Rockefeller Center in vivid color, just as they looked at the end of World War II. Holding those reels up today feels like peering through a window into another era, when the skyline was simpler and the city was still finding its modern identity.

As I compared those vintage views to what I saw in 2025, I was amazed at the changes. Some landmarks have barely aged — Trinity Church, for example, still stands in the shadow of Wall Street much as it did in the 19th century. Others, though, are surrounded by towering skyscrapers or altered by decades of development. It’s fascinating to see how New York’s architecture balances preservation with constant reinvention, and how these reels reveal what has been lost as much as what has endured.

For me, this journey is about more than comparing pictures. It’s about discovering the hidden stories that connect the past and present. The View-Master reels remind us that New York has always been a city of change, but also one of continuity. By looking closely at these images, I get to see not just how the landmarks themselves evolved, but also how the spirit of the city — its energy, ambition, and resilience — continues to shine through, whether in 1946 or 2025.

Some of the most fascinating details come from the stories behind the landmarks themselves. At Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park, for example, archaeologists discovered a hidden Roman treasure buried beneath the ancient Egyptian obelisk — a reminder of how layers of history often lie unseen beneath the city. And at Washington Square, what looks today like a peaceful park was once at the center of fierce political battles that toppled a powerful 150-year-old political machine. These details add depth to the images, showing that the landmarks are more than stone and steel — they are storytellers of New York’s dramatic past.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
02:03 - Central Park
07:16 - Rockefeller Center
10:12 - Times Square
12:55 - Public Library
15:30 - Washington Square
19:10 - Wall Street
21:12 - Statue of Liberty

Image Credits:

The actual fountain from Friends taken from Warner Brother’s website.
“Boys Gate” by Jay Dobkin
Pictures of bridges in Central Park: Bryan Schorn, Jim Henderson, HeadlessHancho, Epicgenius, Godot13, Mike Peel, Rosapicci.
Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park - King of Hearts.
Astor Place subway name in tile, because I was too dumb to take my own picture when we were standing right there - credit to Gryffindor.

Painting of what the Rockefeller Center area might have looked like is AI generated. Image of a Masonic magic lantern presentation is also AI generated.

Music Credits:

Acid Jazz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Sound Effects Credits:

Central Park - Field Sound: https://freesound.org/s/427872/
City Park in Autumn: https://freesound.org/s/361307/
Tourists in Riquewihr, France: https://freesound.org/s/753656/
New York Street Ambience: https://freesound.org/s/214319/
City Fountain the the Netherlands: https://freesound.org/s/671401/
Times Square Ambience: https://freesound.org/s/639703/
Manhattan Street Walk Through the Village: https://freesound.org/s/637318/
Transit Bus Passes: https://freesound.org/s/453777/
Washington Square: https://freesound.org/s/166490/
Murillo Square: https://freesound.org/s/755527/
Wallasea Island from the Seawall: https://freesound.org/s/608609/
Rain Under an Umbrella: https://freesound.org/s/758280/