The little-known, but utterly fascinating tax photographs from The City of New York’s Hall of Records and how those areas look today. The photographs are an interesting page in the history of the city’s municipal workings alone, but are a fascinating look into daily city life in the 1940’s. They were taken to help figure out property tax assessments. Incredibly, city officials employed a team of photographers to go out to all five boroughs and photograph literally every building in the city. The result is tens of thousands of photos of practically every nook and cranny of the streets of New York. In this book, author and photographer Jamie McDonald compares the old locations with modern photos. Readers will marvel at the changes some neighborhoods have undergone, whereas some parts of the city have remained remarkably unchanged. It’s a remarkable look at the city’s past and present.

Jamie McDonald wrote, directed and hosted the Emmy award winning PBS television series “New York Originals,” which brought about the subsequent book of the same name published by Universe/Rizzoli. He is a former producer at Fox News and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His last film, “Pulp Fiction Art: Cheap Thrills and Painted Nightmares” was broadcast on several public television stations nationwide. The film received three out of four stars from USA Today, and won two “Best Documentary” awards. He also co-produced “The Latin Legends of Comedy,” which has played in several theaters and has also been released on DVD. Jamie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Boston University and a Master’s Degree from New York University. He is also the author of No Access New York.