Back then it was known, and fondly remembered by some, as Anniversary Day. Anniversary Day is celebrated annually on the first Thursday in June, commemorating the founding of the First Sunday School on Long Island. The first parade was held in Brooklyn June 1829.

To commemorate this year’s 181st annual Brooklyn-Queens Day, Peter also unearthed the wonderful photographs below which feature a wide range of Brooklyn pride and history. For more reading, I suggest this great line-up of archived Brooklyn Daily Eagle articles about Anniversary Day (mostly from the 1800′s) over at Gothamist. Hope you enjoy!

The first American ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) on display at Coney Island in the 1950′s. The 80-foot missile was set to launch on May 24th, Armed Services Day.

Celebrating the Dodgers Pennant win in 1949.

At Pitkin Avenue and Watkins Street in Brownsville, 1957. This was Nathan’s biggest competitor and it eventually became the Papaya King in the city.

Sutter Avenue in Brownsville, 1949.

Lafayette Avenue and Grand Avenue in Bed-Stuy, 1929.

I encourage you to check out her photostream and official website, and enjoy the interview below!

For the Love of Brooklyn: When I first discovered your photo stream and website, I could see NYC all over your work. On further inspection, though, I see that you’re not a native Brooklynite and you have quite an interesting story. How did you come to live in NYC and end up in Bed-Stuy?
Lyouba Assadourova: New York is my childhood dream, my love affair, my challenge – it is the kind place that makes you or breaks you. I was obsessed with the Big Apple growing up in communist Bulgaria. My room was covered with images from New York, and I even had the subway map on the wall. I tried packing my bags when I was 12, but in a communist regime it was more probable to set foot on the Moon than to go to the United States. Everybody that knew me knew that one day I would live in New York. I and two of my best friends made a pact when when we were 15 that on June 1st, 2000, no matter what happens to us, we will meet in front of the MET at 6pm. I arrived in New York on March 10th, 2000 with $30 in my pocket and I didn’t know anybody but a friend of a friend. My friends arrived few months later. Growing up we were so infatuated with the 80′s downtown scene – Keith Harring, Basquiat, Talking Heads, Paradise Garage; this was the time hip-hop was making its way to the mainstream and Madonna was a pop queen. We saw the city as a place we can lose and find ourselves, a place that you can be anything you wanna be if you just have the drive and discipline to achieve it. After I lived in Queens, Manhattan, and New Jersey I finally found Bed-Stuy. It was love at first sight! I moved there November of 2003 and most people I knew would not come visit me. For the first two years, I never saw another white person on the subway platform or the grocery store. I still get “Yo, white girl” on the street but when people want to show me love they say I’m “light skin”.

LoB: How has Brooklyn, and Bed-Stuy in particular, impacted your style and perspective on life in the States? Where are your favorite places to shoot in NYC and beyond? [ed. note: check out Lyouba's fantastic Bed-Stuy collection here!]
LA: I found a home away from home in Bed-Stuy. It is a tightly woven and diverse neighborhood where people say hello to you every day. Brooklyn gets love internationally in general. You can go anywhere in the world and shout out “Brooklyn!” and you’ll get somebody shouting back “Yeah!” Bed-Stuy has impacted tremendously my work and perspective on life. It is my muse. I try to capture the spirit of the area and its inhabitants – my neighbors, friends, or strangers – history, life and death. I feel privileged to have such an intimate view. Living in Bed-Stuy has taught me a lot about American society and the human spirit in general. I have never imagined that I can feel so connected to a place thousands of miles away from where I was born among people from a different cultural, racial, ethnic, or religious background. This shows me everyday that humans have more things in common than differences. My life in the US has been like falling down the rabbit hole for me but these days, the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, and I are best friends.

My favorite places to shoot in New York are often off the beaten path or the map. Have you heard of English Kills? Most people have not. It is a 3.5 mile estuary that forms part of the border between Brooklyn and Queens. It is one of the most polluted industrial sites in America, containing years of discarded toxins, an estimated 30 million gallons of spilled oil, and raw sewage from New York City’s sewer system. My friend Common Folk, a graffiti artist, took me there. I love abandoned buildings and industrial sites, anything you can’t find in a tourist guide. It amazes me that in one of the most populous areas in the world, New York City, there are areas with zero per capita square mile. I’m fascinated with the workings of the metropolis and the after-effects of human interaction with the man- made or natural environment, and what it takes to effectively design a city. I’m interested in improving quality of life for urban dwellers through design and re-purposing.

I would love to shoot any place on Earth and beyond – from the Sahara desert to the crowded streets of Tokyo, or even underwater. There’s nothing that I love more then to explore life through my lens.

LoB: Much of your work evokes a strong vintage / retro sensibility mixed with gritty street realism. How does this unique style reflect upon you as a person? What influences do you consider most important in your life and in your work?
LA: I’m an analog girl in a digital world, like Erykah Badu sings. I love old pictures, from daguerreotype to polaroids; they are so temperamental and retrospective. I love the warmth of the analog process and techniques and I always try to bring these qualities to my work. I am a big comic and graphic novel fan so I explore magical realism in photography. I love cinematic and moody lighting. I enjoy distorting “reality” to a subjective surreal world, often referencing movies, comic strips, music. I like nothing more then putting my headphones on and getting lost in the city with my camera.

My parents were instrumental in my artistic aspirations. Jazz poured from the speakers and a typewriter echoed through the walls in the apartment I grew up in. Books and artwork cover the walls top to bottom. I first saw New York through the eyes of Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Woody Allen. Emir Kusturica, Pedro Almodovar, Igmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni , and Kim Ki-duk are just few of the people whose brilliant mind inspires me.

LoB: Some of your most recent work has been medium format. Is this your first time experimenting with 120? How does the larger format change the way you approach scenes, if at all? What advice would you give those looking to branch out larger format photography?
LA: Yes, I recently started experimenting with 120 film and that opened a whole new world in front of me. My father sent me an old Lubitel 166 Universal and the rest is history. Now I walk around with two cameras, like one was not heavy enough. I love composing and thinking in 6X6. I love vinyl so I feel like I’m making a record cover every time. Looking at the world from the top is a great feeling as well! Not to mention all the fun I have choosing film and the mistakes that come with full manual operation makes the photos so much more special. I kept over-rolling the film and that would split my frame in two. I enjoy playing with double exposure and I’m looking to try some cross processing. My advice to any photographer is push your limits, try new things, new approaches, new techniques. Expand your vision and skillset daily, and work in any genre you can.

LoB: And this one’s obligatory — What’s the craziest photo story you have while shooting in NYC?
LA: Man, I’ve seen it all in this city, but I guess the craziest moments, and there are more then one, involve NYPD because they always want to know what am I doing here and what’s in my camera. This is why I have the Your Rights App on my iPhone. I’m not going to lie – being a girl with a foreign accent “working on an art project” helps soften the blow.

Thanks so much to Lyouba for the interview and inspiration. Have a fantastic weekend!

I took this while riding my bike through my old neighborhood on the Bed-Stuy/Clinton Hill border. Different maps define the neighborhoods differently. When we first rented the place, the Craigslist ad said it was Clinton Hill. However, the car service begged to differ: they always wanted to charge me $5.00 more because they considered it Bed-Stuy.

Bed-Stuy has a bad rap. I know there have been tough times in Bed-Stuy like the race riots of the 60′s and 70′s, but things have changed all over Brooklyn and Bed-Stuy is no exception. The neighborhood has always been lovely with tree-lined streets filled with beautiful churches, brownstones, and row houses. Bed-Stuy continues to provide good transportation (A, C, G, LIRR), proximity to shopping on Fulton Avenue, and good African/Afro-Caribbean food.