#18 aug.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Mayor La Guardia at 45th Street and Broadway, August 18, 1941, reviewing the city's air raid wardens on parade. Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine is beside the mayor. About 2,500 marched from 54th Street down Broadway to the Hotel Astor, where the police department's six-session training course for sector wardens will take place. Wardens directed the work of post-wardens and were under the command of zone wardens.

Photo: Robert Kradin for the AP

[newyorkthegoldenage]

This double line of baseball fans ends on the other side of Yankee Stadium, where the entrance to the Rotunda is located. On August 18, 1948, thousands of people from all walks of life stood on line during the day for the opportunity of passing by the body of Babe Ruth, who had died of cancer two days before, as it lay in state in the rotunda of the ballpark where he achieved his greatest fame.

Photo: John Lindsay for the AP

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Jobs were hard to come by even before the Depression. Out of the 6,000 men and women who stormed the Free Employment Agency at 60 Lafayette St. on August 18, 1920, only 135 found jobs.

This was the "Females" section. Job postings were sex-segregated in those days, with women being offered positions in domestic service and low-level clerical work. This practice continued for more than 50 years.

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/Fine Art America