New York changes every ten minutes. If you stand on a street corner in Midtown long enough, the scaffolding will probably go up around you. But somehow, Miroslav Sasek’s This is New York book, first published way back in 1960, captures the city better than a high-definition drone video ever could. It’s weird. You’d think a children's travel guide from the Eisenhower era would feel like a dusty relic, but it doesn't.
It feels like a vibe.
Sasek was a Czech architect and illustrator who fled to Munich and eventually started this massive "This Is" series. He wasn't even a New Yorker. Maybe that's why it works? He saw the city with those wide, slightly overwhelmed eyes we all get when we first step out of Penn Station and realize everything is too loud and too tall.
The Mid-Century Magic of the This is New York Book
Honestly, the first thing you notice when you flip through the pages isn't the text. It's the color. Sasek used these vibrant, saturated gouache paints that make 1960s Manhattan look like a playground for sophisticated giants.
He didn't just draw buildings. He drew the scale.
The This is New York book manages to fit the Empire State Building, the flatiron, and the chaotic sprawl of the Bronx into a format that a five-year-old can handle, yet a 40-year-old architect would want to frame on their wall. It’s a masterclass in "less is more." He uses these sharp, geometric lines—a nod to his architectural training—to define the skyline, but then he peppers in these tiny, quirky details. You see the lady with the poodle. You see the guy in the checked suit. You see the specific shape of the fire hydrants.
Why the 2003 Reissue Changed Everything
For a long time, these books were actually hard to find. They went out of print as the world moved toward "grittier" photography or digital art. But in 2003, Universe Publishing (a division of Rizzoli) brought the This is New York book back to life.
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They did something smart, too.
They didn't "update" the drawings. Can you imagine? Some corporate editor trying to Photoshop an iPhone into Sasek’s hand-painted world would be a disaster. Instead, they kept the 1960 original art and text exactly as it was. To handle the fact that, you know, some things have changed (like the price of a subway fare no longer being 15 cents), they added a "This is the city today" section at the back. It’s a list of factual updates that acknowledges the passage of time without ruining the nostalgia.
It’s a bit heartbreaking to look at the original spreads of the World Trade Center site before it was even the World Trade Center, or the way the skyline used to look without the "Billionaires' Row" needles poking the clouds.
What Sasek Got Right (And What’s Totally Gone)
People buy this book because it feels like a time machine. But what's actually still there?
- The Pace: Sasek describes the rush, the "hurry-up" nature of the people. That hasn't changed. The speed of a New York minute is still the same, even if we're checking Slack instead of reading the Herald Tribune.
- The Architecture: The Chrysler Building still looks exactly like his stylized version. It’s one of the few things in the city that feels permanent.
- The Diversity: Sasek was fascinated by the melting pot. He drew the different neighborhoods with a kind of genuine curiosity that wasn't cynical.
The stuff that’s gone? Well, the "This is New York book" features a lot of hats. Everyone is wearing a hat. Men in fedoras, women in pillboxes. If you wear a fedora in Manhattan today, you're either a tourist or you're about to perform a jazz set in a basement in the Village. And the smog! Sasek actually mentions the "sooty" air. Nowadays, New York air just smells like a mix of roasted nuts and... other things.
The Technical Brilliance Nobody Talks About
If you’re into design, you need to look at how Sasek uses negative space. Most modern children's books are cluttered. They’re loud. They try to fill every square inch with "content."
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Sasek lets the page breathe.
In the This is New York book, he’ll place a single, perfectly rendered yellow cab against a massive white background. It forces you to look at the design of the car. It makes you realize that the city isn't just a pile of bricks; it's a collection of icons.
The perspective is also intentionally skewed. He uses "forced perspective" to make the skyscrapers feel like they are leaning over you. It’s exactly how it feels to walk down 5th Avenue for the first time. Your neck hurts because you’re looking up so much. Sasek puts that physical sensation onto the paper.
Is This Just for Kids?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Kinda, but not really.
While it's shelved in the kids' section at bookstores like Strand or McNally Jackson, the This is New York book is a staple on the coffee tables of people who work in creative fields. It’s a reference for illustrators. It’s a comfort object for expats who moved away from the city and miss the chaos.
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There's something deeply grounding about seeing the city through the eyes of someone who loved it before it became a playground for ultra-wealthy tech moguls. It reminds you that the soul of New York isn't in the stock market; it's in the way the light hits the pigeons in the park.
How to Actually Experience "Sasek's New York" Today
If you buy the book and want to find that 1960s feeling, you can't just go to Times Square. That's a giant TV screen now. You have to be more surgical.
- Grand Central Terminal: Go to the Oyster Bar. The vaulted ceilings and the tile work are straight out of a Sasek spread. It's one of the few places where the acoustics and the visuals haven't been modernized into oblivion.
- The Upper East Side: Walk past the old mansions near the Met. The sense of "old money" and rigid architecture that Sasek captured is still visible in the limestone facades and the doormen with the white gloves.
- The Staten Island Ferry: It's still free. Sasek loved the harbor. Taking that boat ride gives you the exact vantage point he used for his panoramic drawings of the Statue of Liberty.
The Legacy of the "This Is" Series
New York was just one stop. Sasek did Paris, London, Rome, San Francisco, and even Cape Kennedy. But New York feels special. It was the tallest, the loudest, and the most "Sasek" of them all. His style—often called "Mid-Century Modern Illustration"—influenced everything from Pixar’s The Incredibles to modern editorial art in The New Yorker.
Whenever you see a drawing that uses bold, flat shapes and whimsical characters, you're looking at a descendant of the This is New York book.
The irony is that Sasek’s work was almost forgotten in the 80s and 90s. We went through a phase where everything had to look "real" or "gritty." We lost the whimsy. The revival of his books in the early 2000s coincided with a global obsession with mid-century design (think Mad Men). Suddenly, everyone wanted that 1960 aesthetic back.
Final Thoughts on a Classic
If you're looking for a factual, dry history of the city, buy a textbook. If you're looking for a map, use your phone. But if you want to understand why people move here and pay $4,000 a month to live in a shoebox, you buy the This is New York book.
It captures the aspiration. It captures the dream that the city is a place where every corner holds a story and every person is a character in a grand, hand-painted play.
Next Steps for the New York Enthusiast:
- Check the Edition: When buying, ensure you get the "Expanded Edition" which includes the appendix of modern updates. It’s crucial for differentiating between 1960 and today.
- Visit the New York Transit Museum: Located in a decommissioned subway station in Brooklyn, this is the best place to see the actual vintage cars and signage that Sasek illustrated.
- Look for the "This is" Collection: If you enjoy the New York volume, the This is Paris and This is London books offer a similar stylistic exploration of European urban planning and culture from the same era.
- Support Local: If you're in the city, pick up your copy at an independent bookstore like The Strand or Books Are Magic to keep the local literary culture as vibrant as Sasek’s illustrations.