We, humans, are visual creatures. We might read or listen about the past, but looking at photographs is somehow even more pleasing. Since time traveling is not a thing (and probably will never be), what’s a better way to visit the place and times we didn’t have a chance to be a part of that through vintage photographs?

Pages like Flashbak give us an opportunity to get a glimpse of life before our time by keeping the spirit of old photography alive. They scour the archives to find the coolest photos of famous people and city life in the 20th century, so, here we present to you the most interesting ones!

More info: Facebook | Flashbak | Instagram

#1 Tina Turner On The Eiffel Tower – 1989 By Peter Lindbergh

Image credits: Flashbak

#2 A Competitor And Her Pet Toad. At The Children’s Pet Shows At Venice Beach, California – 1936

Image credits: Flashbak

#3 In 1974 Serbian-Born Performance Artist Marina Abramovic Told Visitors To Her Show Rhythm 0 (1974) In Studio Morra, Naples, She Wouldn’t Move For Six Hours No Matter What They Did To Her

On a table to her side she placed 72 objects that could be used on her – items included: flowers, a knife and a loaded gun.

Her instructions were placed on the table:

Instructions:

‘There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired.
Performance.
I am the object.
During this period I take full responsibility.’

Abramović said that at first visitors were peaceful and shy, but quickly became violent: ′′The experience I learned was that… if you leave the decision to the public, you might be killed… I felt very violated. They cut my clothes, put rose thorns in my belly, one person pointed the gun at my head, and another pulled the gun out close. This created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I got up and started walking towards the public. Everyone ran away, escaping from a real confrontation.”

Image credits: Flashbak

#4 West Berliners Waving To Relatives Over The Berlin Wall, Christmas Day, 1961 By Leon Herschtritt

Image credits: Flashbak

#5 ‘No B***hing Before 6am’ Smithfield, London In 1998 By Sarah Ainslie

Image credits: Flashbak

#6 California, 1957 By Ralph Crane

Image credits: Flashbak

#7 Ron Terner : City Island In The Bronx, 1980s

Image credits: Flashbak

#8 Merry Christmas

Image credits: Flashbak

#9 Sinéad O’Connor In 1987 By Anton Corbijn

Image credits: Flashbak

#10 Patrick Swayze Dancing In The 70s

Image credits: Flashbak

#11 Richard Harrington: Theresie, Three-Year-Old Daughter Of Erkuaktok (Iquugaqtuq), A Pelly Bay (Arvilikjuaq) Inuk, Standing Next To A Snowman Carved By Her Father, 1951

Image credits: Flashbak

#12 The Visit

Image credits: Flashbak

#13 May 16 1984 – Madonna Before She Performed ‘Dress You Up’ And ‘Like A Virgin’ For Keith Haring’s 26th Birthday Party At New York’s Paradise Garage

Image credits: Flashbak

#14 Basketball Coach Alexander Gomelsky And His Protégé Vladimir Tkachenko, USSR – 1986. (Ht Oldskoolcool)

Image credits: Flashbak

#15 Eminem With His Group Soul Intent In 1991

Image credits: Flashbak

#16 Béatrice Dalle & Azzedine Alaïa By Jean-Paul Goude, 1998

Image credits: Flashbak

#17 Freddie Mercury And One Of His Many Cats

Image credits: Flashbak

#18 Magician And Origami Expert Robert Harbin (12 February 1908 – 12 January 1978) Makes A Sunbather Levitate On The Beach At Eastbourne, East Sussex, England On 12 September 1956

Image credits: Flashbak

#19 Egg Salad Machine

Image credits: Flashbak

#20 Steve Schapiro : New Jersey, 1963

Image credits: Flashbak

#21 Spanish Archaeologist Manuel Esteve Wearing The Corinthian Helmet He Had Found – 1938

Image credits: Flashbak

#22 Before Housing The West Lawn Branch Of The Chicago Public Library, 6356 S. Kedzie Was Home To The Midget Club (1948 – 1982)

The bar was run by a husband and wife team – Chicago native Parnell St. Aubin (December 19, 1922 – December 4, 1987) and Mary Ellen Burbach (born September 21, 1920).

Both had showbiz pedigree. He’d played a Munchkin soldier in The Wizard of Oz. She was a former Mae West impersonator with the vaudeville troupes Rose’s Parisian Midget Follies. Mary also performed with (and see if you spot a theme): Fred Roper & His Wonderful Midgets, Henry & Dolly Kramer Midget Troupe, and Nate Eagle’s Hollywood Midgets.Was

Image credits: Flashbak

#23 Times Square NYC, 1958 By Allyn Baum

Image credits: Flashbak

#24 Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) Santa Takes A Break, 1964

Image credits: Flashbak

#25 Ballet Dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s Legs, 1961. By Richard Avedon

Image credits: Flashbak

#26 Students At The University Of Michigan In 1950 By Stanley Kubrick

Image credits: Flashbak

#27 Vivian Maier: Self-Portrait, 1956 Taken In Chicago, Illinois

Image credits: Flashbak

#28 Ricki Lake And Divine On The Set Of John Waters’ Hairspray (1988)

Image credits: Flashbak

#29 Sophia Loren Serving Pasta During The Production Of La Ciociara (Vittorio De Sica 1960) In Saracinesco Lazio Italy

Image credits: Flashbak

#30 Woman With A Crow At The Limelight Cafe, Greenwich Village, New York City By Weegee, C. 1950s

Image credits: Flashbak

#31 Bill Brandt : Coal-Miner’s Bath, Chester-Le-Street, Durham, England In 1937

Image credits: Flashbak

#32 Scold’s Bridle From Armagh Jail – Used To Quieten Inmates. Co Armagh. Early 1900s. National Museums Northern Ireland

#33 Alice Cooper Putting His Face On In 1973. By Terry O’neill

Image credits: Flashbak

#34 Captain Beefheart And Frank Zappa In The Mojave Desert, California, 1975 – By John Williams

Image credits: Flashbak

#35 Misty Thames. London. 1931

Image credits: Flashbak

#36 Poodle With Phone Booth, Chicago, Illinois, 1968 By Vivian Maier

Image credits: Flashbak

#37 Happy Halloween From Neil Young And His Pumpkin

Image credits: Flashbak

#38 The Fabulous Amy Winehouse In Paris In The 1990s

Image credits: Flashbak

#39 Marisol With Her Work Dinner Date – 1963

Image credits: Flashbak

#40 Children Jumping Onto Mattresses At Ashfield Valley Estate At Rochdale, Lancashire, England In The 1980s – Photographer Unknown

Image credits: Flashbak

#41 Ahoo Daryaei, A 30-Year-Old Iranian Doctoral Student In French Literature At Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, Iran., Protesting Agaisnt The Regime’s Brutal Anti-Women Laws

Image credits: Flashbak

#42 Cynthia The Celebrity Mannequin (1932)

Cynthia became a star. She appeared on the cover of Life magazine’s issue of July 12 1937. People sent her gifts and fan mail. Cartier and Tiffany sent her jewellery, French-American milliner Lilly Daché (c. 1892 – 31 December 1989) designed hats for her, couturiers sent her their latest fashions and furrieries sent minks.

Image credits: Flashbak

#43 Waking The Dead – Charlie Hewitt, 1949

Image credits: Flashbak

#44 Boys With A Boombox On 14th Street, NYC, 1983. By Morris Engel

Image credits: Flashbak

#45 Department Store Wax Mannequins Melting During A Heatwave In 1929

Image credits: Flashbak

#46 Polaroid Of Candy Darling By Robert Mapplethorpe, 1972

Image credits: Flashbak

#47 Marlon Brando Photographed By Cecil Beaton For Vogue In 1947

He was 23 at the time and not yet appeared in films.

Image credits: Flashbak

#48 “My Really Cool Grandma In The USSR:) Tbilisi, Georgia, 1979” – Tata Tabidze

Image credits: Flashbak

#49 Las Vegas In 1947

Image credits: Flashbak

#50 On The Road With Jane Birkin And Serge Gainsbourg In Oxfordshire, England, 1969. By Andrew Birkin

Image credits: Flashbak

#51 Paris, Texas Wim Wenders 1984

Image credits: Flashbak

#52 The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned And Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers Before First Night Of The The Anarchy Tour At Leeds Polytechnic On December 6, 1976 – Doors Opened At 8pm; Entrance: £1.50

The concert was historic because it was the first night of the Anarchy In The UK Tour (The Damned were replaced by the Buzzcocks after the Leeds gig).

Image credits: Flashbak

#53 At A Cafe In Paris In 1959 By Saul Leiter (1923 – 2013)

Image credits: Flashbak

#54 A Woman With The Word ‘Invincible’ Embroidered On Her Knickers Welcomes Back HMS Invincible Back From The Falklands Islands On 27 September 1982 – By Colin Davey

Image credits: Flashbak

#55 In The Pub – Gorbals, Glasgow, 1968. (Photo By Jurgen Schadeberg)

Image credits: Flashbak

#56 Donald Sutherland (Second From Left) With The Puppet Club At Victoria School In Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada In 1948

Image credits: Flashbak

#57 Bowie In Berlin – 1977

Image credits: Flashbak

#58 Eye Clinic In Tainan, Taiwan By Wang Shuang-Chuan – 1962

Image credits: Flashbak

#59 William Eggelston – Any Time

Image credits: Flashbak

#60 Kate Bush Dressed As A Bat, 1978

Image credits: Flashbak

#61 Siouxsie Sioux At The Vortex Club, Wardour Street, London, 1977 By Ray Stevenson

Image credits: Flashbak

#62 Vivian Maier: Self Portrait

Image credits: Flashbak

#63 Who’s In?

Image credits: Flashbak

#64 Caroline Coon Wearing Yamamoto Early 1970s

Image credits: Flashbak

#65 Paul Mccartney Photo Booth, France 1966

Image credits: Flashbak

#66 Karl Grill: Daisy Spies As The Spiral In The Triadic Ballet From Oskar Schlemmer 1926

Image credits: Flashbak

#67 On The New York City Subway In 1968 By Ronnie Ginnever

Image credits: Flashbak

#68 Elton John’s Jeans Photographed By Terry O’neill, Circa 1972

Image credits: Flashbak

#69 Birmingham In 1962. By Peter Donnelly

Image credits: Flashbak

#70 Police Photo From 1952 Salvaged From A Stash Of Lapd Crime Pictures

Image credits: Flashbak

#71 Trying To Hear The Whispers Up In London’s St Pauls Cathedral In 1950

The Whispering Gallery was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the renowned architect who was also responsible for the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral itself. It is located 30 meters above the floor of the cathedral and is accessible via a staircase of 259 steps. The gallery gets its name from the way sound travels along its curved surface, allowing whispers to be heard from one side of the dome to the other

Image credits: Flashbak

#72 The Ronettes Before Opening For The Beatles In Cleveland, Ohio In 1966

Image credits: Flashbak

#73 The Mazda Mx-81 Aria, 1981 – By Bertone. (The Mx Stood For Mazda Experimental)

Image credits: Flashbak

#74 Dinner At Andy Warhol’s Factory, NYC In 1985

Seated are: Quentin Crisp, Bianca Jagger, Rupert Everett, Boy George, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring.

Photo by Timothy Hursley

Image credits: Flashbak

#75 Amy Irving, Carrie Fisher And Teri Garr At A Thanksgiving Party, 1977

Image credits: Flashbak

#76 Self-Portrait In NYC, 1955 By Vivian Maier

Image credits: Flashbak

#77 Woman With Flag By Tina Modotti – Mexico, 1928

Image credits: Flashbak

#78 Robert Zimmerman And His Doll Paco’s Pete, Christmas, 1950

“AT CHRISTMAS OF 1950 I scored really big! I not only got an HO gauge Peco Train Set, I also got my ventriloquist dummy that I named “Peco’s Pete”. He and I wore almost-matching flannel shirts. Sadly, or maybe for the better, my ventriloquist act didn’t go over too well: Pete was getting all the laughs, so I decided to break up the team and let him go his own way. The last time I heard from him, Pete was somewhere in Verona, Italy playing a benefit at a retirement home for old ventriloquists.”

Image credits: Flashbak

#79 Julianne Moore (Born : 3.12.1960) “The Audience Doesn’t Come To See You, They Come To See Themselves.”

Image credits: Flashbak

#80 Blondie Playing Whiskey A Gogo In The Early 70s

Image credits: Flashbak

#81 Times Square, New York – February 1978

Image credits: Flashbak

#82 H.r. Giger And Debbie Harry With The Harkonnen Chair He Built For Ridley Scott’s Dune Project – 1980

Image credits: Flashbak

#83 Venetian Gondola By Gianni Berengo Jardin, 1960

Image credits: Flashbak

#84 Wedding, Bratsk, Siberia, USSR, 1967 By Elliott Erwitt

Image credits: Flashbak

#85 Bruno Ganz And Peter Falk, Berlin, 1987. By Walter Yablonsky

Image credits: Flashbak

#86 Annie Lennox In 1984. Photo By Anton Corbijn

Image credits: Flashbak

#87 Sean Young’s Polaroid Self-Portrait With Rutger Hauer, 1981- On The Set Of “Blade Runner” In Los Angeles, California

Image credits: Flashbak

#88 ‘This Is Not A Pipe’ Marcel Duchamp With Ann Miller’s Leg As A Pipe, Vue Magazine, 1954

Image credits: Flashbak

#89 A Woman Living Opposite Ironbridge Power Station In Telford, Shropshire, England, Sits To Eat By Candlelight During Power Cuts In 1972 By David Bagnall

Image credits: Flashbak

#90 Bob Dylan Lifted By Joan Baez After Party, NYC, 1964

Image credits: Flashbak

#91 Carolyn Jones (1930-1983) In A Promotional Still For 1957 Noir Crime Film “Baby Face Nelson” Directed By Don Siegel

Image credits: Flashbak

#92 Carroll Boreland In Mark Of The Vampire, 1935

Image credits: Flashbak

#93 “The Factory”. Budapest. Hungary. 1955 Photo: Erno Vadas

Image credits: Flashbak

#94 The Piccadilly Line On The London Underground Being Constructed Under The Tram Tracks In 1906

Image credits: Flashbak

#95 Dame Diana Rigg And Dame Helen Mirren In The Grounds At Compton Verney Between Takes Of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1968 – By David Farrell

Image credits: Flashbak