#dec. 20

The Christmas display was blazing at Rockefeller Center on December 20, 1952.

Kids with a sled watch ducks feeding on the ice-hemmed lake at 59th Street in Central Park, December 20, 1948. The morning after the 19.5-inch snowstorm, a small area of the lake remained unfrozen despite the temperature being 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

Governor-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt played Santa Claus to 150 children at the Beekman Street Hospital, December 20, 1928. He wasn't as wary of being photographed with his leg braces as he was when he became president.

Viola Gentry poses at Roosevelt Field in Mineola after breaking the first non-refueling endurance record for women, December 20, 1928. Gentry, once a member of the office staff at the Roosevelt Field Flying School, flew for 8 hours, 6 minutes and 37 seconds.

There was a newspaper strike during the Christmas shopping season in 1958, so retailers had to be creative about their advertising. Here, model Diane Milne sits in the window of Stern's (one of the many department stores that have since vanished) and announces, via blackboard, news of a shoe sale, December 20, 1958.

First day of demolition of the 6th Avenue El, December 20, 1938.