Mr. Ginsberg, a 93-year-old retired photographer who lives in Springfield, N.J., says he is uncomfortable saving his money to send to a single charity.

It is a scene of civic optimism that Mr. Aiosa, a retired photographer now living in Bellingham, Wash., still remembers.

"He's a nationalist," said Omar Lambaia, 53, a retired military photographer who drives a taxicab.

The slow man is Paul Rayment, 60 years old, a retired photographer and archivist, divorced and childless, living alone.

"The Old Guard is 200 friends for life," said Frank Veber, a retired photographer who's largely housebound now with his dying wife.

"We don't want a South Street Seaport kind of development in our neighborhood," said Per-Olof Odman, a retired photographer.

"She was very much into women's rights, workers' rights," said Mr. Bellak, 71, a retired photographer.

A retired photographer, he had given up playing violin in college.

Stanford Smilow, a retired commercial photographer who lives on the Upper East Side, finds it disturbing to visit him.

In November, Mr. Ginsberg, a 91-year-old retired industrial photographer, sent $3 from his fixed monthly income (a $625 Social Security check).