In 1916, New York City ground to a halt.

This extraordinary Fine Art Print captures a moment of urban improvisation during the Great NYC Streetcar Strike, when tens of thousands of transit workers walked off the job, paralyzing the city’s primary means of transportation. With streetcars immobilized, New Yorkers turned to an unlikely solution: jitneys—privately owned automobiles pressed into service as informal shared taxis.

Here, a single open automobile becomes a moving platform of survival. Men and women crowd every inch of the vehicle—standing on running boards, gripping the bodywork, clinging to one another—as it navigates the busy Manhattan streets. Faces turn outward, aware of the spectacle they have become, embodying both urgency and resilience.

The image reveals more than congestion; it documents a pivotal shift in urban life. The jitney phenomenon, born of necessity, foreshadowed the future dominance of automobiles while exposing the fragility of centralized transit systems. It is a rare, candid glimpse of a city adapting in real time—improvising, enduring, and moving forward despite disruption.

Produced from an original vintage glass camera negative, this photograph preserves astonishing detail: period clothing, early automobile engineering, and the dense architectural backdrop of early-20th-century Manhattan. It stands as a powerful visual record of labor unrest, technological transition, and the unyielding momentum of New York City itself.