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Photo: Construction Worker Moons NYC Atop World Trade Center In 1970s
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 10, 2015
Modified Jan 10, 2015
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 10, 2015
Modified Jan 10, 2015
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2015 may be the year of the belfie, but let's turn back the clock to a time when a person needed another human being to be able to take a suitably rotund butt photo. The remarkable photograph above, which was recently posted on Reddit, was taken by photographer Peter B. Kaplan in 1978 atop the World Trade Center. It was suitably titled, "Moon Over Manhattan."
Notes on New York has the details about the photo:
In 1979, photographer Peter B. Kaplan spent 12 days shooting the crew as they installed a new piece of the communications antenna to the top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The antenna was added to the North Tower in 1978 and extended some 360 feet into the sky. So when he captured these guys hoisting the antenna into place, they were all about 1,728 feet off the ground
As for the identity of the daredevil butt-baring worker, Matthew Newton discovered it was one Richard Riley, a 49-year member of Ironworkers Union Local 40, who died in 2011. Here's what one reader wrote about him:
that guy mooning manhattan was a friend of mine that i met in Miami through other great friends. his name was Dickie Riley, one of the funniest and greatest i have ever met. he worked on The World Trade Center during its construction as a Union Steel Worker, and he was also involved in the demolition work many years later after the 9-11 attacks. unfortunately Dickie passed away about two years ago, suffering from illnesses related to working in such toxic conditions at ground zero. he was a hell of a guy, one who i will miss dearly.
For some comparison, you can check out some more vertically-exceptional (but slightly less fleshy) photos from atop One World Trade Center from 2013 and 2014.
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butt photo
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moon over manhattan
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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