Text by Patrick Bell.
For today’s tour we are heading to New York and visit a few smaller towns. The furthest east I have been is Jackson, Mississippi, so none of this is familiar to me at all. But, I am sure it is to many of you. Most of the images are in the town of Kingston with some others as noted, and all are from the early eighties. I am not going to try to ID all the cars as I would be here all week, so I will pick and choose several.
Our first shot is in the town of Hudson, looking on a downtown street most likely in December. There is no snow but the holiday decorations are out. From the left to right at the curb is a ’78 or ’79 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Coupe, ’81-’84 Pontiac Grand Prix Coupe with a ’67 or ’68 Ford Mustang hardtop behind it, and a ’78 or ’79 Chrysler Cordoba heading away.
Now let’s head downriver to Kingston and check out Grand Union. The sun is low so it is either early in the day or late, and the store looks fairly busy. From the left a white ’78-’83 Mercury Zephyr wagon, ’75 or ’76 Subaru wagon in the aisle, clean silver ’75-’79 Chevrolet Chevette 2 door, and a yellow ’79-’81 Ford Mustang 3 door in the same row.
It’s off to downtown to make a bank stop if we can find a place to park. From the left a ’79-’81 Pontiac Firebird, in the street perhaps a ’78-’83 Plymouth Voyager van, at the curb a dark ’77 or ’78 Ford Thunderbird, a white ’75 Chevrolet Malibu coupe, and a blue ’70-’72 Buick Skylark partly off-frame.
We are now at an official looking building of some sort. From the left in the front row, a ’78 Chevrolet Malibu 4 door sedan, ’74 or ’75 Dodge Dart Sport, and a ’82 Cadillac Coupe deVille.
Let’s head out to Port Chester to see what’s going on. From the right a ’73 Cadillac pushing their way in, ’74-’78 Ford Pinto Squire, ’80 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe, and a ’75 or ’76 Buick Electra.
We are back in Kingston to take a break and see what’s on the menu next to Thom McAn’s. I am going for the two pickups here. On the left a white ’80-’86 Datsun 720 is partially visible, and above it on the next row the tail end of a black Volkswagen Rabbit with a camper shell.
The local law is on the lookout in a ’78-’80 Dodge Aspen sedan. On the left side by the fence, a green ’74-’78 AMC Matador coupe and on the far right a yellow ’79-’83 Toyota Corolla wagon.
Here we have a ’75-’79 Buick Skylark 4 door with some rear damage in the foreground, a red first gen Honda Civic almost hidden behind it, a ’71 or ’72 Chevrolet Malibu Sport Coupe, and to the right a ’76-’78 Jeep Wagoneer.
This looks like a motel with individual cabins complete with a clothes line to make you feel at home. From the left foreground a ’84-’86 Buick Skyhawk 4 door sedan, ’74-’78 Ford Pinto wagon, and a ’77 or ’78 Ford Mustang 2 door hardtop.
A cool winter day. What little bit of snow that is left is melting away. On the left a ’74-’81 Fiat 124 Spider drives through, a ’80 Plymouth Volare, and a ’73-’75 Chevrolet Monte Carlo behind it.
There is a bunch of cars in this parking lot at a shopping center. I am going to highlight the ’78-’82 Dodge Omni 024 in the aisle and a couple of green ones in the first row; a ’74-’76 Ford Mustang 2 door hardtop and a ’70-’72 Chevrolet Nova 2 door.
For our last shot we’ll head back downtown for some more holiday happiness in the melting snow. From the left a ’74-’76 Ford Torino at the curb, a silver ’75 or ’76 Lincoln Continental heading toward us, ’74-’77 Buick Century 4 door sedan driving away, and a silver ’79 Chevrolet Malibu 4 door sedan on the opposite curb.
Thanks for riding with us today and to all good day!
Thom McAnn was a shoe store chain. Just happens to be next to a restaurant in that photo
I was just going to note the same thing, indicating that what was on the menu at Thom McAnn’s would probably taste like shoe leather.
That’s a good one! Likely their roast heel sandwich.
And we all think alike as you both beat me to it.
I went to college across the river from Kingston in New Paltz. Had a job on campus driving students to doctors & emergency rooms. Mostly in a black
AMC Matador sedan with state emblems. AMC was popular with police &
government fleets in the mid 70’s.
Kingston had a fantastic deli “The Hub” with killer corned beef & pastrami.
Kingston and New Paltz are on the same side of the river, closest college across the river from Kingston is Bard in Red Hook. but New Paltz and Kingston felt like different worlds, even the drive up 32 reinforced that. Especially if you took the back way, which was across the Wallkill to Springtown Rd, through Rosendale, across 32 to Creek Locks Rd to the Rondout Creek and then up S Wall from the water, or all the way to the Rondout waterfront district.
“TM” sure caught my eye! Miss that store!
Thanks for the reminder, the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. There was a Thom McAn in Puerto Rico actually, but on the opposite side of the island, and never visited it back in the ’80s.
The post is updated now.
Sorry, that was a poor attempt at humor on my part. I know Thom McAn’s was a shoe store and thought it was odd how the two signs ran together.
The fourth photo of the “official looking building” in the city of Kingston shows the historic Ulster County Courthouse where Sojourner Truth won the freedom of her child nearly 200 years ago.
Ok, I grew up in Rhinebeck until high school then in Kingston. The Grand Union pic is the original location of Grand Union in Kingston Plaza. Kay Bee Toy & Hobby was in the plaza as well until they moved to the Hudson Valley Mall (pic with the Hess’s store later in the post), Sears was at the far left as an anchor store for the Plaza, Britt’s the other end. In 1988 Grand Union moved to where Britt’s was (it was the flagship store for the company, I worked there in 90-92). The uptown shots are Wall St by the courthouse (trees on the left beyond the Pontiac), the “official looking building” is the actual courthouse from the back lot, the police car is heading to Broadway with what was Kingston Hospital on the right (mutli-story brick building), white building with red shutters may be the Elks Lodge on Hurley Ave, no idea where the Pinto is parked, the Fiat is heading down Fair St just past Main St (if you follow that bus and got over a mile to the far end of Main up the hill is where my family lived). The Ulster County office building is on the right where the DMV is, the brick building on the corner is or was Burgevin Florist, then the Hudson Valley Mall with Hess’s the main anchor store along with JC Penney, and finally looking along N Front St up towards Wall St.
I traveled to Kingston a few times in 1985 -1986, working with an IBM group that had a tiny office tucked in a strip mall that looked a lot like the one pictured with the Thom McAn store. All I remember about the location was an Offtrack Betting (OTB) storefront in the shopping center, which was foreign to me from California. I remember a lot more about my rental cars though; a Dodge Daytona, a Fox Ford LTD with a V8 and a Fox Mustang with a 2300 four. And most memorable, a first year Taurus. We stayed at an old hotel in Rhinebeck, literally a “George Washington slept here” place.
IBM was mostly off Boices Lane in town of Ulster by they did have another small site on Albany/Ulster Ave near McDonald’s that was part of a strip mall. Likely it was that spot, as the Plaza didn’t have an IBM office. OTB was in a few spots in town, one near Caldor, one in the Plaza, and one by the small IBM in the old strip mall. My mom worked in CPD in the main Kingston site.
The old hotel in Rhinebeck to which you refer would likely be the Beekman Arms, in the center of the village. The first president apparently did sleep there.
Washington supposedly spent a night in any building standing still from that era in Dutchess county. I lived a block away from the Beekman Arms across from the cemetery for the Dutch Reformed church south of it with the big clock tower.
Great tour of places not far from us. Kingston is about 80 miles north of us. The City of Hudson, in its heyday, was an extremely busy place. So much of this is lost but the towns aa cities of The Hudson River Valley have revived with arts, different manufacturing and surrounding specialty farms to complement the agriculture. It is a great place to tour for the historic sites, the restaurants, the breweries and the farms. We are a major apple growing region. Just north of the Hudson River Valley is what is known as “The Teat of New York” because of the great production of milk in this region, which is west and south of Albany. To view it on the map, one would never know. SUNY (State University of New York) at Cobleskill is a renowned agriculture university. Thanks for the tour. Hmmmm…go to the eastside of The Hudson and visit Catskill, NY to see the Rip Van Winkle Statue at the head of the main street and then go down to T Creekside Restaurant (use your GPS) for delicious food in an ordinary down home and pleasant setting.
Catskill is on the west side
I love the variety of your ‘Vintage Snapshot’ features. Both in their era, and their geographical locations.
My parents made various daytrips to Northern and Central New York, during the late ’70’s and early ’80’s. From Southern Ontario.
First thing I always noticed as a little kid, were the bright orange and blue New York licence plates. Far more flashy, that our blue and white Ontario plates. I also noticed how many traffic lights and traffic light standards, were painted dark green in New York State. In Ontario, they were mostly consistently bright chrome yellow. With natural grey light standards.
Many consumer products, were still not available in Canada. My parents would buy me the full set of Topps MLB baseball cards. 700+ players. We usually, only got 300+ players in Canada.
The bus below is an Orion I, built by Ontario Bus Industries, likely at their nearby US factory in Oriskany, New York. Popular in Canada. Solid buses, but pretty slow, and limited seating capacity. Best for small town, and suburban use.
Oh the memories! About 1981, I had just moved from Houston to NYC, driving my 1976 Eldo convertible. I still had Texas plates on the car. Mid-town traffic, stop & go, a Checker cab bumped my rear bumper. I stopped, got out of my car, no damage but the cabbie yelled “whatsa big deal”! I gave him the finger salute and kicked his massive bumper. I literally wanted to punch out his headlights. I had arrived in the big city and felt like a New Yorker.
The photo of the 74 Dart Sport together with the blue Malibu. The dart is suffering some surface rust on the rear wheel wells.
I can’t make out what is on the hood of the Malibu. Either a bunch of overhead lights, but unlikely in broad daylight, some paint degradation, or a visit by a gaggle of pigeons.
There’s a “Vega” wagon in that lot too.( remote possibility it could be an “Astre”)
Or a Monza.
Speaking of Astres I saw a wagon version on the way to work today. I’ve seen it once before, it is looking a little ratty but seems to be doing daily driver duty.
I also see a different Astre Wagon my house on occasion, though only in the summer as it is a period perfect hot rodded version in very nice shape and a healthy rumble from its V8.
How many 1970’s grey primer/bondo jobs like this, do you remember? Poor Satellite.
Detroit, June 1, 1979, as it still has winter tires on.
(Photo by Paul A. Bateson)
In Ontario, you and I have seen thousands of these body patches.
June 2, 1978 in Downtown Albany, New York. Check out the rust on the Duster. Not uncommon to see 1970’s cars, in rougher shape back then. At least in Central and Eastern Canada, and the US Rust Belt.
(Photo by Paul A. Bateson.)
That Duster has not lived an easy life. Parked outside, never washed, salt on the roads in the winter. Eight years have taken their toll. Windshield wipers parked halfway up the glass, needing a new motor or bushings.
Recognizing a LOT of these places. The old Woolworth’s on the left on Warren Street in Hudson. Port Chester at the intersection of US1 / Post Road by United Hospital and Caldor’s (formerly EJ Korvettes), and where Aerosmith used to test out songs at Happy Daze…but I digress.
I lived in Port Chester in the early 90s, that appears to be down by the water (Long Island Sound) where I rarely went since I was inland by Rye Brook.
Kingston is Upstate near Albany, I’ve been nearby plus i went to college in the Southern Tier. You got a lot of rust anywhere north of Westchester and they used enough salt to gt a lot of rust buckets down state too.
Anyone know what “98 FaMe” refers to? Looks like it could be a radio station, except that any radio stations in NY would have started with a W, not an F. Also, did nobody with any clout who lived or worked in the building behind it complain about their outward view being blocked?
The Chevette in the Grand Union pic is a ’78; ’76-77s have a different wheel trim ring style (which was optional in those two years) and ’79-later have a flatter hood, larger grille, and rectangular headlamps. The wheel cover design in early Chevettes was unusual, with the dog-dish hubcap holding the styled trim rings (with square openings) in place, with the overall look being a full-coverage wheel cover rather than separate hubcaps and trim rings.
It was a radio station in Poughkeepsie. “98 FaMe” was a branding name, used from sometime in 1982, not the station call letters, which were WJJB.
Thanks. It took me a few minutes to figure out why the “M” was capitalized (it’s on the FM dial). AM music stations began to dwindle around the time these pics were taken, though AM remains fairly popular for news, sports, and talk shows.
That’s Warren Street in Hudson New York top right was Osborne’s Music Center left was a jewelry store took my 4-Hour driving course in the building next to CVS lots of memories cruising up and down that street
Great Kingston pics, grew up about 15 miles south of there in the Hyde park/Poughkeepsie area.. lot of history and historic bldgs in kgn… An uncle had a liquor store on Broadway for a bit when I was a kid… Big fun playing in the basement. Saw Bambi the movie for the first time in a theatre on Broadway with my brothers… Enjoyed the tour.. There’s an old section in uptown called the stockade district. one of the old buildings was a former auto dealership from the early 1900s. Has a circular ramp rising up to the 2nd floor. Awesome old structure. Used to deliver items there from the metal Fab co. I worked for…
The article did state “on the menu next to Thom McAn’s”
The previous photo, facing north along Post Road next to the Rye/Port Chester shopping center, hits home for me:
Every two weeks, Mom & Dad drove from Stamford to Korvettes/ Caldor for cigarettes (taxes on cigarettes and booze were lower in NY than in CT).
They sometimes drove home from nearby Sandy’s Homestead in the 1970s, often under influence of the latter.
In better times, we would occasionally visit Rye Playland after the shopping center.
You may not have seen it but the article originally referred to what was on the menu “at” Thom McAn’s. After several commentators, myself included, made light references to that, presumably the author properly amended the article to correctly note that there was a restaurant next to Thom McAn’s and to eliminate the inference that Thom McAn’s was itself a restaurant.
Great pix, Rich! 🧡 the Pinto wagons, esp the squire; but to me it’s almost “sacrilege” for the owner not to have spent the extra $$ for the roof rack & woody air deflector, to complete the look. I guess the head of the Kingston police motor pool didn’t get the memo that Whelen & Federal Signal were by then making smaller light bars for compact-sized police cruisers – thanks to the popularity of the Chevy Nova patroler. Either that, or they were saving money by simply re-using a bar lifted from a much larger Coronet or Monaco. With the right motor though, those Aspen/Volare “bear cars” were pocket rockets for their day!