In the late 1930s and early 1940s, New York City sent photographers to every building in every borough in an attempt to make property tax assessments fairer and more accurate. The result was more than 700,000 black-and-white snapshots of everything from fashionable apartment buildings in Manhattan to this out-of-the-way diner on Staten Island.

The city recently had the images digitized.

In the 1930s, the neighborhood around Broadway and Columbus Avenue in Manhattan was more raffish than respectable. “Stain Specialists,” read the sign outside a dry cleaner there. “Expert Removal of Blood, Ink, Nail Polish, Vomit.”