By 1925, the Roaring Twenties were roaring louder than ever. Jazz was pouring out of speakeasies, flapper skirts were getting shorter, and even kids were out hustlin’ to try and make a buck. Sure, Prohibition was still going strong, but everywhere you looked, people were chasing a good time — in opium dens, behind the wheel of a new ride, or while hauling bootleg booze under the cover of night.
But underneath all the glitz and glamour, the cracks were already forming as the Great Depression inched closer. Here are 35 vintage photos from 1925 that capture the joy of a world dreaming big and having fun while it still could.
1. A Glimpse Inside an Opium Den in New York City
2. Mugshot of William Stanley Moore, a Drug Dealer in Australia
3. ‘My Great-Grandfather (Left) and Two Friends, Circa 1925’
4. ‘My Great-Grandmother, Circa 1925’
5. Caught Mid-Swing: A Woman Throws a Mean Right Hook at a Bus Driver Who Nearly Hit Her While Crossing the Street
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6. Farmers Take a Break From Plowing To Pose for a Snap in Wisconsin
7. ‘My Grandfather (Front) and His Family in 1925’
8. Just Two Friends Goofing Around on a Hilltop
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9. Fed Up With Prohibition, Protesters Take to the Streets in New York
10. Two Women Having a Blast as They Jam on Their Ukuleles
11. Two Flappers Watch the Sunset With a Local Man Overlooking the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt
12. A Group of Children Ringing in the New Year
13. Two Friends Enjoy a Lazy Afternoon Picking Wildflowers in a Field
14. Flappers Compete in the 1925 ‘Bathing Beauty Pageant of Huntington Beach’ in California
15. A Couple Shares a Laugh While Waiting for the Bus in Minnesota
16. ‘A Young Woman at the Beach in Deauville, France, 1925’
17. A View of Fifth Avenue and 38th Street in New York City
18. Bootleggers Secretly Filling Bottles With Homemade Liquor During Prohibition
19. ‘My Dad and Grandmother Looking Like a Scene From an Old Movie’
20. An Underground Commonwealth Savings Bank and Post Office Pictured in Coober Pedy, Australia
21. Would Slay as a Halloween Costume: ‘Tibetan Skeleton Dancer, 1925’
22. ‘Two Orphan Children Raised By My Great-Great-Grandmother on Her Cajun Homestead, Circa 1925’
23. A Quiet Afternoon on Fifth Avenue and Central Park West in New York City
24. ‘My Grandfather With His New Ford in 1925’
25. An Old Lady Stirs a Boiling Pot Over an Open Fire To Make Soap in Santa Claus, Indiana
26. A Man Repairs a Flat Tire Along a Dirt Road in Florida
27. ‘My Grandmother as a Little Girl in Upstate New York, 1925’
28. Flappers Enjoy a Playful Day at the Beach in Minnesota
29. ‘Helen, a Native American Telephone and Switchboard Operator’
30. Passengers Sit in Wicker Seats Aboard an Early Imperial Airways Flight, April 1925
31. Children Ride in a Goat-Drawn ‘Jitney Bus’
32. Before Drones: A Photographer Balances on the Edge of a Skyscraper to Capture New York City From Above
33. A Group of Boys Having Fun in Malax, Finland
34. ‘Waiting for the Bus in Chicago, 1925’
35. Lon Chaney Shows Off His Makeup Kit on the Set of ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ September 1925
More 1920s content:
- These 30 Photos Capture What Life Was Actually Like in the Early 1920s — Here are 30 vintage photos from 1920 to 1925 that capture all the exciting and quiet slices of life in an unforgettable moment in time.
- 20 Dreamy Photos That Show Why Paris in the 1920s Was Pure Magic — These 20 dreamy photos capture a world where modernity merged with tradition.
- Step Into the Roaring Twenties With These Stunning Colorized Images — From speakeasies and street parades to dance halls filled with bright-eyed couples jiving the night away, these 20 colorized images bring the Roaring Twenties back to life.
