The Empire State Building 50th anniversary celebration featured a laser light show as seen from the RCA Building April 30, 1981. The light show consisted of beams of light — mounted on two corners of the building. The beams were rotated 360 degrees every hour so that everyone could get a look.
Staff photographer Frank Becerra Jr., from a perch uptown at Rockefeller Center, captured the laser lights in time-lapse, a photo that also caught the gleaming World Trade Center, its twin towers appearing as one from Becerra’s perspective.
A report from The Journal News said that the light show was difficult to see for viewers on the ground. The light at dusk was too bright for the red and blue-green laser lights to be anything but faint. The light show’s director blamed Daylight Saving Time.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Look back at the 50th anniversary of the Empire State Building in 1981
Reporting by Matt Richter, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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