Last Updated on May 2, 2025 by Colby Droscher
Bell-bottoms, station wagons, and 15-cent burgers: the early 1970s were equal parts gritty and carefree. Whether it’s girls cooling off on an NYC subway car or a wide-eyed kid meeting Andre the Giant , these 35 vintage shots frame a decade caught between the optimism of the ’60s and the pop swagger soon to come. Flip through and find out how close these snapshots land to your own family album.
1. A group of girls riding the NYC subway in 1970.
2. Sharp-dressed kids in Harlem in 1970
3. This kid’s reaction to meeting Andre the Giant in the 1970s
4. Inside a new 7-11 in 1973
5. Truck stop waitress in New Mexico in 1972
6. Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California, 1973
7. “My uncle working at the toll booth to cross the Mexico border in 1970.”
8. “My uncle Bernie in 1972 after painting the house.”
9. A young family at an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California in 1970
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger at night school in California in 1973
11. “My mom and her siblings at the county fair in 1970.”
12. 13-year-old Melanie Griffith with her pet lion ‘Neil’ in 1971
13. Johnny Cash on the set of Sesame Street in 1973
14. Check out that creepy Burger Chef clown from 1970.
15. Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds in 1972
16. Grocery shopping in 197`
17. Los Angeles, 1972
18. A 26-year-old Jackie Chan in 1970
19. Greektown festival in Detroit, 1972
20. Couple on the way to church in Alabama, 1972
21. Family relaxing on a back porch in 1972
22. “My mom voting for the first time in a presidential election in 1972 in Indiana, PA.”
23. Shelf stocker stamping the price on some Staley Syrup in 1973
24. Now that’s a pink 1970s Volvo
25. Family dinner, 1973
26. Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul Jabbar in 1972
27. Running into people you know at the grocery store in 1972
28. “My parents on their honeymoon in 1973.”
29. United Airlines stewardess in 1970
30. Released POWs flying home from Vietnam in 1973
31. “My dad and uncle in Warren, Ohio at a McDonald’s grand opening in October, 1973”
32. U.S. Army audiovisual technician\ stands at her videotape editing station in 1973
33. International Society of Twins, Muncie, IN, 1973
34. “My dad and his ‘dune buggy’ in 1973”
35. Block party in Harlem, 1973
Love wandering through the past? …