It may come as a surprise that Brooklyn, New York existed before the early 2000s—well over a decade before the affront to humanity that is the hipster joke reached such a broad level of understanding that even your parents started making them—but this week, BuzzFeed rolls out photographic evidence in the form of Dinanda Nooney's At Home in Brooklyn, a portrait series that captured Brooklynites of a (mostly) bygone era in their natural habitat. From 1978 to 1979, the Manhattan-born photographer documented a broad ethnic and economic panorama of the borough's residents posing in their homes, and viewed today, the project is equal parts anthropological effort and retro decor archive. The New York Public Library has made the entire 576-photo series available online; standouts include the above portrait of a couple reading the paper together in a spare Fort Greene living room with parquet wood floors, an unfinished paint job, and an abundance of wicker accoutrement, while a large African mask looks on. Ready for more?
↑ At first glance, the interior stonework of this Clinton Hill entryway might elicit a "hmm, not exactly my bag, but hey, its their journey." But by the time your eyes come to rest upon the bedroom, which complements the effect with the kind of floral wall treatment so eye-achingly intense that they defined an entire era, you realize the true extent of the decorating effort at hand.
↑ This cozy Park Slope kitchen is hung with pots and pans in a folksy way one could undoubtedly find imitated all over Park Slope today. A Tiffany-style Coca Cola lampshade steals the show, while the wall above the stove approaches nigh-Cracker Barrel levels of signage.
↑ This Boerum Hill bedroom could pass for a present-day college dorm, except with a poster by cat-loving cartoonist Bernand Kliban in place of the now ubiquitous "Le Chat Noir" print. Hanging beside it is what looks to be a huge sculpture of a camera, because why not.
↑ This Cobble Hill apartment belongs to a couple of artists who know how to give a bedroom a nice sense of balance.
· Peek Inside 38 Different Brooklyn Homes From The '70s [BuzzFeed]
· At Home in Brooklyn: the Nooney Brooklyn Photographs, 1978-1979 [NYPL]