The shot I posted earlier this week of the Corning Tower under construction was hugely popular. Thanks to Marcia and her dad for another long-lost view, this one of the Empire State Plaza under construction in 1967.
The winding road in foreground is a little confusing, but I think it’s a detour of Madison Avenue. The “Furniture Transport” truck is at the corner of South Swan Street and, I think, Madison. (The building on the corner strongly resembles the building housing Townsend & Company, though it must have had some good renovations.) Now many of the buildings along Swan and two streets are gone, made into the parking lot at Robinson Square. You can make out the red brick building that now houses El Mariachi, and further up Swan Street, the Wilborn Temple. The brick pile just this side of Wilborn, now a turnaround for the plaza and a small park, was the Normans Kill Dairy processing plant. I think those are milk trucks parked just in front of it.
On the left side of the Plaza site, you can see steel being laid for the Swan Street Building. You can also see the wall and decking that would split Swan Street and raise the Plaza above the city’s level, making it inaccessible from the neighborhoods. To the right of that, you can see pilings being prepared for the agency buildings. I can’t determine where this picture could have been taken from; it’s a fairly high vantage point. Foreshortening makes it difficult to relate to the Plaza as it stands today.