I'd like do not be so pleasured whe I see NY images (or Rio, or Paris), because the big errors of a lot of governments, include Yours. But that magic, that beaultifull places are much more important than a lot of bad leaders and states. Its images, it memories belong the people and do not have any connection with the political things... Thank You for share!!!
I was born in 1943 in Queens, we lived in a 4 story walk up in Astoria. I can still remember the smell of my mom's ironing while she listened to the radio. And the organ grinder down under our window with his monkey begging for coins. My mom used to buy her bread from Walken's german bakery. Christopher Walken's father. Thanks for posting. Janice M
@lucycatism Are you German American? Italian American? Jewish American? It must have been nice to grow up in New York in that era. I bet New York was so much better back then.
@TonyGonzo1988 No, my mother's parents were born in Budapest, Hungary and my father's grandparents were born in Dublin, Ireland. I was raised a Roman Catholic. My parents moved my brother and me to Long Island in 1950, partially due to the crime in our neighborhood. Too much graft, as they called the mafia in those days!
@DazedConfused1969 No, never did. Never went to CBGB either, although the Ramones are my favorite rock band. We Queens Kids have to stick together. Thanks for asking. Janice M
This is a wonderful video indeed, but we must never forget that this world of 1940's wasn't a perfect world, It was also a time of injustice for many people that weren't white. America is a great country but it never was a perfect country. History is more realistic if you embrace the good and the bad
@fridaymanly It never will be perfect, either. Situations in Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan at the time would also weigh heavily in historical importance. I leave those connections to the historians.
So amazing. The New York before the 70s is a working man's NY, a NY made up of small business and individual industry rather than the commercial banking and wall street hell that it is today.
@Ermal8711 A decade when America may have been beset by some 'foreign' influences/interests, but not overwhelmingly so ... and was still definitely, recognizably American.
@MySugarWallz You're the one that opened the topic, not me and you're still someone mired in this Left-wing, politically correct garbage, not me.
Another bit of your whining; all 3rd-world failure is all the fault of whitey; no country was more raped over than China and now look at what they've accomplished; the same goes for India so shut up with this nonsense.
@SatchmoSings You are STILL going at it? LOL LET IT GO! Nobody with a brain, or morals, could be persuaded by your vapid attempt to rationalize the vile conduct of your people. It's pathetic and you are sick. Get some sleep and stop obsessing.
@coupleofbeers31 I'm well aware of all these immigrants that plead poverty but they're really working and they still get food stamps and Medicaid; I was just pointing out your inconsistencies.
@SatchmoSings you don't understand. these mexican people lie to get into the welfare system. the women, 99% of whom were married in mexico, lie and say that they have no spousal support. i know because i've seen it many times. they take the money from the government which includes food stamps, rent money, child support, etc, plus the money their partners get from working off the books. there are also a lot of mexican guys here in ny that deal drugs and pimp prostitutes.
@coupleofbeers31 Your disposition is uglier that any mexican or asian i've ever met. this land was stolen by white men in the first place (just like israel). There was nothing honest or moral about the means by which America was built. so how can you pretend to be so high and mighty and blame somebody else for coming here in search for a better life, too?
@MySugarWallz and i fully support native americans 100%. in fact i don't think that europeans should have ever come to this country and ruined things for them. but it's not the year 1400 anymore. laws must be respected. like i was telling the other guy, i live in new york and mexican people here are welfare sucking scum. the women lie and say they have no spouse to support their children when the fact of the matter is that their husbands work off the books. So the government believes their lies
and gives them food stamps, rent money, and child support. you think this is right? then they end up having so many kids that of course are supported by the government and many grow up to be gang members. you think that's cool? i'm not saying all of them are like this but the great majority are. i know because i live in new york and i've seen it. so go ahead and be happy that your tax dollars are going to support these people who are in my opinion thieves. cheers.
@MySugarWallz Israel has stolen no land; it's the ARabs that have; Just ask any Berber, Copt, Nubian, Phoenician, Assyrian or Chaldean; there is nothing moral in the way the Arab empire was built; they should just be honest and all go back to Arabia.
@SatchmoSings I actually don't know any of his music. I just came across the interview and thought it was interesting. More interesting than you, for sure. And stop peeking through my favorites, perv.
@SatchmoSings Yeah I live in NYC, too. I just see quite a few in the video that I don't see around. Then again, maybe it's because the newer, quickly thrown up, lacking-in-personality buildings re in the way.
Thanks. Yes I do really like Glen Miller and his music too. I saw a comment posted on a similar but more music orientated video along the lines of "...grindng nostalgia.." Well this video is more than just nostalgia - it is very much a historical record prsented in a most lifelike and realistic way. It needs to be watched many times over to catch all the details. I know I asked a similar q before but does Al's Barber Shop by any chance still exist?
Chrisspy, it was a good time because we were coming out of the depression. Hope was in the air and people were singing, 'we'll build a stairway to the stars.' It was still a city of neighborhoods, offering comfort to their resident, albeit a provincialism that bred predjudice, but we all seemed to get along. A good time, and then came the war.
@culfw Even before the FIRST World War, New York City had many skyscrapers; the Woolworth Building was 57 stories and opened in 1913; it's still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the united States.
Unfortunately the United States and, in particular, New York City no longer leads the world this way though we still do build very tall!!!
Thanks again. If anyone does manage to get to McSorley's I'd be grateful to know what it looks like nowadays inside (especially as I'm unlikley ever to be able to see it myself with the way we are being bled dry financially & taxed out of existence in dear old blighty).
Many thanks for the info. It would be nice to be able to see an internal shot of McSorley's as it seems as though it would have a lot of atmosphere and interesting features. Old English pubs are noted for this as I'm sure you know but many are fast dissappearing at present - another sad loss of our heritage. I hope NYC doesn't go that way.
@wordsmith52 It IS Glenn Miller's music, but BBC's interpretation. Yes, McSorley's Ale House looks exactly the same way it does in the photo.. The only change is that women are now allowed (There is still only one bathroom, though).
@wordsmith52 Gosh! I'm gonna check. I grew up a block away from there. Still a great neighborhood! Actually, over the holidays I was back in NYC visiting, and went to a bar on that very street and didn't notice. I'll be back for a visit later this month, and I'm gonna try to give a look-see.
This was fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this video. I just got back from NYC on Wednesday and boy--times sure have changed.Somehow, the simpler New York has a more desirable vibe.
Though I was born in the 90's I wish almost more than anything to live there, or for life to be as simple as it once was, and not all this Facebook, Youtube, and all of those sites..
Certainly wouldn't miss people talking to each other over the internet like 'R U THER? I LUV U' So on and so forth...
I always wish to have lived in the 40s. Life was just so different back then! If I ever get to NY,I will surely visit the old districts of the city,they tell a lot about its history,how the first inhabitants arrived at the early 20th century.
What Class. It seems like no matter what social class the people always tried and dress their best. Now people are slobs walking around in t-shirts and shorts all fat and unkept. What a shame. This truely was a classic era.....and for the people saying that computers have ruined everything, if it wasnt for the internet we would not be able to experience life in these other eras. This is just time traveling.
@MrChiRockk Silly thing is a fair deal of people dress sloppy but they try to make their cars look upper-class with JCWhitney chrome and all that, or they buy a fancy luxury car just to turn around and eat at McDonalds.
In fact it seems like all you need to be fancy in the US is a chromed-out car or SUV, I don't get this.
@gudpaljoey Woow! Was it as great as alot of people imagined it to be? What were the Positives? Negatives? I would love to take at least a 1 day time traveling trip to the 40s if it were possible.
I wish I could have seen what my grandparents saw when they lived in NYC way back in the day. 40's and even earlier. It's just so interesting, from the fonts of letters, and the distinct golden days advertisements.
Yes!!!! Automated computer devices gutted us as a civilization. Thank you for the thoughtful, deep analysis. Thank goodness, now I can conveniently know what to blame all this social downfall upon!
I have been watching this wonderful video for 3 years now almost on a daily basis and I can not get enough of it. This is my best meditation session. Thanks again for posting.
please e mail me and tell me who the heck took those shots. they are magnificent, and what kind of cameras, the clarity and the reds and geez, they are just georgeous. do you notice the area is mostly the lower east side by the water? the one with the lady and man where it has the quiet school zone, looks like it is from Look magazine. mostly it seems to be the same photographer, i guess. wow. the water scenes, taken from the ferry, or staten island or ? with a telephoto? as for the music, ahh!
You can see tons of these & other photos taken by Charles Cushman if you look up "the charles cushman collection". I believe the collection is posted through The University of Indiana. There's one page that has the dates 1938 through 1969. You can sit there for hours looking at all the cool photos.
Wow are all those bemoaning the "good old days" of the New York City of this video watching the same video as I am?
Cause the one I'm seeing is one of working class, dirt and grime.
Those that constantly snivel about "the good old days" would UNDOUBTEDLY be the first ones to be snivelling about "how terrible things are" IF/WHEN they were to be transported back to those "good old days".
When the talkies came along, silent film was consigned to the trash can - I mean they stopped filming in silent & archived the old stuff
It's a shame the same didn't happen to Black & White Photography & cinematography when colour came along, that way, we'd have lots of beautiful, vintage colour photographs (and footage) like we have here.
Wonderful song...and the simpler times that went with it! Being a native NYer, born in Greenwich Village, lower Manhattan, I wish I were born in a different era--no cell phones, Ipods, Xboxes, ugly SUVs...none of that trash. People had class, cars had style, there was more social interaction back then. I watch this video and wish I were my age now living THEN in 1940! LOVE IT.
There is 1 photo that HAS to be from at least the mid 50's....the photo of Brooklyn heights from manhattan near the Brooklyn bridge shows the double decked Brooklyn Queens Expressway going thru the heights...that wasn't built until sometime in the 1950's...
That aside I love this montage and the BBC Orchestra version of this song is the best I've ever heard...
Dazzling! My mother was born on the Lower East Side in 1920, and there are a lot of photos here showing that area, which I'm sure was unchanged by 1940. My mother's family followed the upward mobility pattern, and moved to Queens in 1927. I loved this, part of my personal history! And the background of Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" is perfection.
Beautiful. Wow!! You have really captured the essesence of NYC during the early 40's. I love and study vintage productions... and this one is super. Really great variety of culture, advertising and clothing of the era. Thanks so much. Regards, J.
People back then, not just in New York, spent significantly more money on clothing that people do now. Their world was much more social than our world is today. Ironic in that we have the internet, facebook, ect. that supposedly keeps us 'in touch' with everyone. The thing I like about these old stills and movies is you get to see an America that was experiencing NEW growth...not just money shifting from one place to another.
@scottieray - YES, it was a time of tremendous new growth and optimism. Post-war America held great opportunity. As a people, we were definitely more social than today. Friends and family got together a lot more often than today and even dropped in on one another unannounced. People dressed up both out of respect for others as well as for their own self-respect. Robert Putnam's book, Bowling Alone, documents how our society is becoming more disconnected in spite of Facebook.
@devildoc225 Thats a claim worth investigating, I myself have question if computers and cellphones have played a negative effect the sociable aspect of society.
@devildoc225 Yeah true, but if you go back in time and live without them long enough you will start missing them. Also, how about not having air conditioning?
People back then, not just in New York, spent significantly more money on clothing that people do now. Their world was much more social than our world is today. Ironic in that we have the internet, facebook, ect. that supposedly keeps us 'in touch' with everyone. The thing I like about these old stills and movies is you get to see an America that was experiencing NEW growth...not just money shifting from one place to another.
Does anyone know if there are any businesses still in continuous operation from back then? I know that big corporations killed off most of the Mom and Pop places, but I have heard that there are a few that survived. I would like to visit a few of those places the next time I am in New York.
@KLUNKET there wer never any good ol' days. every day has it's ups and downs... enjoy everything you can and try not to think about the past that much...
@KLUNKET I agree %100 because im 13 and I feel as if I was born in the wrong time period. I wish I could go back then where there's no cell phones no computers no video games and no distractions from the beauty of New York City!!!
so beautiful my new york, and the people in there hats and suits waiting in soup lines golly gee that's the life, today is just a bunch of corrupt war bullshit and shitty music. god bless my 1940's big apple. :(
Boy, did I enjoy that! I was 6 in '40 and my mother would drag me into the city (from Joisey) to go shopping at Macy's and Bloomingdale's (before it became such a big deal). I hated it then but I really had a good time on the Els and trolleys.
Wow. New York looks amazing in the 40's. Everything was more ..... whats the word.....relaxing? maybe??? Oh well. Great video. Music fits perfectly. :)
Great film. It is so much better to have them here than collecting dust in the attic. Thanks for sharing. These old records of life are fascinating and will be even more so the older they become. Remember, you and I are in the pioneering stage of the Internet. People 4 thousand years from now will see these and marvel. Your great, great, great, great, great grandchildren will see these. Imagine that! The "number" who have viewed will someday hit a billion!
Mc Sorley's ale house is still there , still an ale house , the funny thing is that you have to order two beers at a time they will not sell you only one ! either dark or light beer !.................Erik Vonderlieth
@rocknroll1955 I wish i had known that last summer when I visited New York, Where is Mc Sorleys ale house?? I wil keep that in mind for my next visit!! :-)
Who were the Lunatic's engineered the depression and a severe war against our selves with the results all around our open border defeated Nations, all Western Nations.
Wonderful video! I love NYC and this is so lovely. However, no time has ever been "innocent" as long as men have been here on earth! I think back then people did a better job with "appearances." Sigh...
I'd like do not be so pleasured whe I see NY images (or Rio, or Paris), because the big errors of a lot of governments, include Yours. But that magic, that beaultifull places are much more important than a lot of bad leaders and states. Its images, it memories belong the people and do not have any connection with the political things... Thank You for share!!!
adauto3000 1 month ago
so charming, i feel like just dreaming about this all day :)
Denmarkpwns 1 month ago
2:02 McSorley's Old Ale House. It's still very much in business ;)
mdhookey 1 month ago
new york city is my favorite place in the entire world. yes, crazy...but true. great video btw.
SomethingReal1119 2 months ago
I was born in 1943 in Queens, we lived in a 4 story walk up in Astoria. I can still remember the smell of my mom's ironing while she listened to the radio. And the organ grinder down under our window with his monkey begging for coins. My mom used to buy her bread from Walken's german bakery. Christopher Walken's father. Thanks for posting. Janice M
lucycatism 2 months ago
@lucycatism Are you German American? Italian American? Jewish American? It must have been nice to grow up in New York in that era. I bet New York was so much better back then.
TonyGonzo1988 2 months ago
@TonyGonzo1988 No, my mother's parents were born in Budapest, Hungary and my father's grandparents were born in Dublin, Ireland. I was raised a Roman Catholic. My parents moved my brother and me to Long Island in 1950, partially due to the crime in our neighborhood. Too much graft, as they called the mafia in those days!
lucycatism 2 months ago
@lucycatism did you ever visit the fillmore/east ?
DazedConfused1969 2 months ago
@DazedConfused1969 No, never did. Never went to CBGB either, although the Ramones are my favorite rock band. We Queens Kids have to stick together. Thanks for asking. Janice M
lucycatism 2 months ago
Somehow I like New York...
cyberOwwwOecho 2 months ago
This is a wonderful video indeed, but we must never forget that this world of 1940's wasn't a perfect world, It was also a time of injustice for many people that weren't white. America is a great country but it never was a perfect country. History is more realistic if you embrace the good and the bad
fridaymanly 3 months ago 8
@fridaymanly It never will be perfect, either. Situations in Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan at the time would also weigh heavily in historical importance. I leave those connections to the historians.
JDProductions2 3 months ago
great stuff
ringbolt9 3 months ago
Mighty glad to hear that those old bars / cafes still exist..
wordsmith52 3 months ago 3
Very very nice sir.
caviper1 3 months ago
photos look like they were taken yesterday...make me want to go back even more :(
sirklondike303 4 months ago
sigh pre-hipster era. New York sure was swell back then
dizkoteck 4 months ago
1:46 - big 'oooopsss' that's not 1940 this pic was probably taken currently
neckojezioro123 4 months ago
@neckojezioro123 what are you talking about?
sirklondike303 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
.. when white people rule the world..
Bizkits777 4 months ago
ahhh how wish to live in those times apart from the war it seem so hollywood glamorous
aktfdDenia21 5 months ago 2
that was cool! loong before my time but, cool!
ac30165 5 months ago
My New York and the best time of 1940, 1950. Thank you for this video. Unforgettable.
patertre 5 months ago
A little of the good ol moonlight serenade
Izziana 5 months ago
you know this really makes you think......about how i could be playing LA noire right now
jsh020 5 months ago
great video must have been a super time
Tomsouthrock 5 months ago
So amazing. The New York before the 70s is a working man's NY, a NY made up of small business and individual industry rather than the commercial banking and wall street hell that it is today.
Ermal8711 6 months ago 15
@Ermal8711 A decade when America may have been beset by some 'foreign' influences/interests, but not overwhelmingly so ... and was still definitely, recognizably American.
ProNorden 1 week ago
It's amazing how so many things have changed but are still the same!
MsJgreen77 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz You're the one that opened the topic, not me and you're still someone mired in this Left-wing, politically correct garbage, not me.
Another bit of your whining; all 3rd-world failure is all the fault of whitey; no country was more raped over than China and now look at what they've accomplished; the same goes for India so shut up with this nonsense.
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@SatchmoSings You are STILL going at it? LOL LET IT GO! Nobody with a brain, or morals, could be persuaded by your vapid attempt to rationalize the vile conduct of your people. It's pathetic and you are sick. Get some sleep and stop obsessing.
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz Israel didn't speak for itself this way; you did.
Take responsibility for what you do; you dragged in Israel as you did because of your hatred of Jewish people.
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@SatchmoSings Stop rationalizing and stop putting words in my mouth. Good day.
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz I hope you have such a "good day" you wind up as a quadripalegic.
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@coupleofbeers31 I'm well aware of all these immigrants that plead poverty but they're really working and they still get food stamps and Medicaid; I was just pointing out your inconsistencies.
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@SatchmoSings you don't understand. these mexican people lie to get into the welfare system. the women, 99% of whom were married in mexico, lie and say that they have no spousal support. i know because i've seen it many times. they take the money from the government which includes food stamps, rent money, child support, etc, plus the money their partners get from working off the books. there are also a lot of mexican guys here in ny that deal drugs and pimp prostitutes.
coupleofbeers31 6 months ago
@coupleofbeers31 Your disposition is uglier that any mexican or asian i've ever met. this land was stolen by white men in the first place (just like israel). There was nothing honest or moral about the means by which America was built. so how can you pretend to be so high and mighty and blame somebody else for coming here in search for a better life, too?
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz and i fully support native americans 100%. in fact i don't think that europeans should have ever come to this country and ruined things for them. but it's not the year 1400 anymore. laws must be respected. like i was telling the other guy, i live in new york and mexican people here are welfare sucking scum. the women lie and say they have no spouse to support their children when the fact of the matter is that their husbands work off the books. So the government believes their lies
coupleofbeers31 6 months ago
and gives them food stamps, rent money, and child support. you think this is right? then they end up having so many kids that of course are supported by the government and many grow up to be gang members. you think that's cool? i'm not saying all of them are like this but the great majority are. i know because i live in new york and i've seen it. so go ahead and be happy that your tax dollars are going to support these people who are in my opinion thieves. cheers.
coupleofbeers31 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz Israel has stolen no land; it's the ARabs that have; Just ask any Berber, Copt, Nubian, Phoenician, Assyrian or Chaldean; there is nothing moral in the way the Arab empire was built; they should just be honest and all go back to Arabia.
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@MySugarWallz So you consider Klaus Nomi to be "good music;" no wonder you're so brain-dead!
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@SatchmoSings I actually don't know any of his music. I just came across the interview and thought it was interesting. More interesting than you, for sure. And stop peeking through my favorites, perv.
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
@SatchmoSings Yeah I live in NYC, too. I just see quite a few in the video that I don't see around. Then again, maybe it's because the newer, quickly thrown up, lacking-in-personality buildings re in the way.
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
They tore down most of these gorgeous buildings to throw up ugly boxes. Criminal.
MySugarWallz 6 months ago
What beutiful clear pictures!
sanfrancisco89 7 months ago
@sanfrancisco89 Yes, it's amazing how well they were all colorized since they didn't have color film in "those days."
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
@SatchmoSings Colour photography was invented before WW1, Kodachrome was inroduced in 1935.
Quex01 4 months ago
Thanks. Yes I do really like Glen Miller and his music too. I saw a comment posted on a similar but more music orientated video along the lines of "...grindng nostalgia.." Well this video is more than just nostalgia - it is very much a historical record prsented in a most lifelike and realistic way. It needs to be watched many times over to catch all the details. I know I asked a similar q before but does Al's Barber Shop by any chance still exist?
wordsmith52 7 months ago
Chrisspy, it was a good time because we were coming out of the depression. Hope was in the air and people were singing, 'we'll build a stairway to the stars.' It was still a city of neighborhoods, offering comfort to their resident, albeit a provincialism that bred predjudice, but we all seemed to get along. A good time, and then came the war.
gudpaljoey 7 months ago
good old days ...... for sure !!
donmacauley 8 months ago
That good ol' days are a piece of heaven in the earth
voseck 8 months ago
Ahh... and who can forget polio.
LastBankJob 8 months ago
Ahhh the good old days in America!
quest8899 8 months ago
Thanks for posting!!!
kgmaj 8 months ago
King Kong days lol
TASIXV 9 months ago
Truly beautiful.
MizzAlexNYC 9 months ago
waa is just 1940 new york ardy had so many skyscampers
culfw 9 months ago
@culfw Even before the FIRST World War, New York City had many skyscrapers; the Woolworth Building was 57 stories and opened in 1913; it's still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the united States.
Unfortunately the United States and, in particular, New York City no longer leads the world this way though we still do build very tall!!!
SatchmoSings 6 months ago
The music is a composition called "Moonlight Serenade", made famous by Glen Miller and his Orchestra.
MrGoblin60 9 months ago
I tried to Shazam the music in this vid... no matches. You say its from BBC Orchestra do you know what the piece is?
dadsoldtapes 9 months ago
nice video
Dreamtime2611 9 months ago
fml..
0atomicbomb0 9 months ago
Thanks again. If anyone does manage to get to McSorley's I'd be grateful to know what it looks like nowadays inside (especially as I'm unlikley ever to be able to see it myself with the way we are being bled dry financially & taxed out of existence in dear old blighty).
wordsmith52 10 months ago
@wordsmith52 There's a website, mcsorleysnewyork com with the history of the bar.
cinerama62 9 months ago
looks the same only better clothes then and older cars..but then again ive never been to new york so what do i know...
normandyangel 10 months ago
GREAT pictures. Thanks for posting.
davidrodgersNJ 10 months ago
Many thanks for the info. It would be nice to be able to see an internal shot of McSorley's as it seems as though it would have a lot of atmosphere and interesting features. Old English pubs are noted for this as I'm sure you know but many are fast dissappearing at present - another sad loss of our heritage. I hope NYC doesn't go that way.
wordsmith52 10 months ago
Wonderful! Does anyone know if McSorley's Old Ale House stillexists? (Music sounded more like Glen Miller than auntie beeb)
wordsmith52 10 months ago
@wordsmith52 It IS Glenn Miller's music, but BBC's interpretation. Yes, McSorley's Ale House looks exactly the same way it does in the photo.. The only change is that women are now allowed (There is still only one bathroom, though).
JDProductions2 10 months ago 4
@wordsmith52 Gosh! I'm gonna check. I grew up a block away from there. Still a great neighborhood! Actually, over the holidays I was back in NYC visiting, and went to a bar on that very street and didn't notice. I'll be back for a visit later this month, and I'm gonna try to give a look-see.
jmnpc 10 months ago
@wordsmith52 McSorley's is still there, still EXACTLY the same and still going strong!
rmcnyc 9 months ago
@rmcnyc That's nice to know. Is the clientele the same type I wonder - maybe more gentrified nowadays?
wordsmith52 9 months ago
@wordsmith52 The song is Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade. One of my favorites.
soldier716 7 months ago
@soldier716 I've been trying to get the name of this song for a while now. Thanks
parejopinto 6 months ago
@wordsmith52 Of course McSorleys exists... and always will. Just like '21', PJ Clarke's and the Oyster Bar in Grand Central
dam2630 7 months ago
@wordsmith52 Yes, McSorley's as far as I remember still exists because it's a NY institution.
OSTARAEB4 3 months ago
@wordsmith52 McSorley's still exists. The only change is they admit women now.
M.K.
the215renaissanceman 3 months ago
This was fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this video. I just got back from NYC on Wednesday and boy--times sure have changed.Somehow, the simpler New York has a more desirable vibe.
denisethepainter 10 months ago
Though I was born in the 90's I wish almost more than anything to live there, or for life to be as simple as it once was, and not all this Facebook, Youtube, and all of those sites..
Certainly wouldn't miss people talking to each other over the internet like 'R U THER? I LUV U' So on and so forth...
Reilley302 10 months ago 3
Wish I could be there !
MBJaguar1007 10 months ago
I always wish to have lived in the 40s. Life was just so different back then! If I ever get to NY,I will surely visit the old districts of the city,they tell a lot about its history,how the first inhabitants arrived at the early 20th century.
smellytoilet1996 10 months ago
Wish I could live back then. No electric guitar, video games, or other tech like that but who cares.
RayG707 10 months ago
@jannalli
Your welcome Jules :-)
nick4alex 10 months ago
THIS IS SO NICE,I LOVE IT :-)
CrazyBoutThe40s 11 months ago
What Class. It seems like no matter what social class the people always tried and dress their best. Now people are slobs walking around in t-shirts and shorts all fat and unkept. What a shame. This truely was a classic era.....and for the people saying that computers have ruined everything, if it wasnt for the internet we would not be able to experience life in these other eras. This is just time traveling.
MrChiRockk 11 months ago 2
@MrChiRockk Silly thing is a fair deal of people dress sloppy but they try to make their cars look upper-class with JCWhitney chrome and all that, or they buy a fancy luxury car just to turn around and eat at McDonalds.
In fact it seems like all you need to be fancy in the US is a chromed-out car or SUV, I don't get this.
Ryoku75 10 months ago
I wish that some of the locations were identified. They all looked like downtown. I loved this since i lived in the city in 1940.
gudpaljoey 11 months ago
@gudpaljoey Woow! Was it as great as alot of people imagined it to be? What were the Positives? Negatives? I would love to take at least a 1 day time traveling trip to the 40s if it were possible.
Chrisspy704 7 months ago
I wish I could have seen what my grandparents saw when they lived in NYC way back in the day. 40's and even earlier. It's just so interesting, from the fonts of letters, and the distinct golden days advertisements.
skittlesareyum48 11 months ago
Yes!!!! Automated computer devices gutted us as a civilization. Thank you for the thoughtful, deep analysis. Thank goodness, now I can conveniently know what to blame all this social downfall upon!
signorgelato 11 months ago
I wanna go there :(
astinman94 11 months ago
I have been watching this wonderful video for 3 years now almost on a daily basis and I can not get enough of it. This is my best meditation session. Thanks again for posting.
guitarsoul77 11 months ago
please e mail me and tell me who the heck took those shots. they are magnificent, and what kind of cameras, the clarity and the reds and geez, they are just georgeous. do you notice the area is mostly the lower east side by the water? the one with the lady and man where it has the quiet school zone, looks like it is from Look magazine. mostly it seems to be the same photographer, i guess. wow. the water scenes, taken from the ferry, or staten island or ? with a telephoto? as for the music, ahh!
bettygoodbody 11 months ago
I'm Asian and I love it. It's so elegant and wonderful!!!!
pearlva910 11 months ago
my grandpa grew up in lic during this time he was lucky, he has a book bout it too
poopmcscoopface 11 months ago
What music is this?
TurrisBlancus 11 months ago
@TurrisBlancus
Moonlight Serenade
Glenn Miller's Orchestra
Mainzfan236 11 months ago
I really want to go back :'(
edwardconway27 1 year ago
My dad was born in 1901and worked in a factory. He wore a hat and a tie to work every day.
masm60 1 year ago
You can see tons of these & other photos taken by Charles Cushman if you look up "the charles cushman collection". I believe the collection is posted through The University of Indiana. There's one page that has the dates 1938 through 1969. You can sit there for hours looking at all the cool photos.
sexyfatbastid 1 year ago
Wow are all those bemoaning the "good old days" of the New York City of this video watching the same video as I am?
Cause the one I'm seeing is one of working class, dirt and grime.
Those that constantly snivel about "the good old days" would UNDOUBTEDLY be the first ones to be snivelling about "how terrible things are" IF/WHEN they were to be transported back to those "good old days".
lukebccb 1 year ago
@lukebccb Interesting comment there. I still would want to live in the 40's, however.
CONS: No computer, or video games.
PROS: Better music, films, books and architecture. The people had more class back then. Oh, and "Jersey Shore" didn't exist.
ShitheadSting69 1 year ago 3
Empire Bay?
BlazanCrayoluh 1 year ago
Great post. Not a sign of graffiti in any of the images ! Speaks volumes of the respect people had for other peoples property in those days.
Love the BBC Orchestra's great version of "Moonlight Serenade".
Thank you for sharing.
Corrie121 1 year ago 8
@Corrie121 Of course, paint in spray cans hadn't been invented yet!
donwert 4 months ago
The hell with the future. Let's go back to the 40's style.
swarrior216 1 year ago 13
@swarrior216 I wish
bobzzz23 6 months ago
Wonderful!!!!! Perla.
perla51 1 year ago
fantastic. music really sets the mood of the wonderful photo montage. Where oh where is my time machine?
Friedtoenails 1 year ago
When the talkies came along, silent film was consigned to the trash can - I mean they stopped filming in silent & archived the old stuff
It's a shame the same didn't happen to Black & White Photography & cinematography when colour came along, that way, we'd have lots of beautiful, vintage colour photographs (and footage) like we have here.
Strawberry7Lynn 1 year ago
hello there! I need to know where I can find the music of this video, 'cause it makes me feel so good!! *_* thanks!!!
scialala1 1 year ago
I love the tune, Mooonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller, and those photos look awesome :)
edwardconway27 1 year ago
Wonderful song...and the simpler times that went with it! Being a native NYer, born in Greenwich Village, lower Manhattan, I wish I were born in a different era--no cell phones, Ipods, Xboxes, ugly SUVs...none of that trash. People had class, cars had style, there was more social interaction back then. I watch this video and wish I were my age now living THEN in 1940! LOVE IT.
ursa41 1 year ago 2
or a wonderfull song , howard huges
1244226 1 year ago
There is 1 photo that HAS to be from at least the mid 50's....the photo of Brooklyn heights from manhattan near the Brooklyn bridge shows the double decked Brooklyn Queens Expressway going thru the heights...that wasn't built until sometime in the 1950's...
That aside I love this montage and the BBC Orchestra version of this song is the best I've ever heard...
closethippy2000 1 year ago
Thank you for this clip. Wonderful to watch and listen to.
Apolyion 1 year ago
whats the music
stSNOWMAN1 1 year ago
@stSNOWMAN1 the music is called Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller, he died in WWII
kimrabb 1 year ago
wow interesting 40's footage!
719kai719 1 year ago
thanks! I really enjoyed. It helped a lot for a school project! Keep up the great videos!
mezpaz 1 year ago
did i see a german store beside a jewish store in 1:38
VladimirGLenin 1 year ago
Dazzling! My mother was born on the Lower East Side in 1920, and there are a lot of photos here showing that area, which I'm sure was unchanged by 1940. My mother's family followed the upward mobility pattern, and moved to Queens in 1927. I loved this, part of my personal history! And the background of Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" is perfection.
edwardjames50 1 year ago
Beautiful. Wow!! You have really captured the essesence of NYC during the early 40's. I love and study vintage productions... and this one is super. Really great variety of culture, advertising and clothing of the era. Thanks so much. Regards, J.
jenflights 1 year ago
Great old photos. Nice video with great sound track. Thanks!
ImOfNope 1 year ago
for some reason it seems like the 40s were the best time to live in new york. somthing about it
lordhelmit3 1 year ago
I JUST LOVE THAT OLD NY YOUR MUCH MORE THAN NEW
verdefull 1 year ago
Such a nice video.
VIPX1 1 year ago
People back then, not just in New York, spent significantly more money on clothing that people do now. Their world was much more social than our world is today. Ironic in that we have the internet, facebook, ect. that supposedly keeps us 'in touch' with everyone. The thing I like about these old stills and movies is you get to see an America that was experiencing NEW growth...not just money shifting from one place to another.
scottieray 1 year ago
@scottieray - YES, it was a time of tremendous new growth and optimism. Post-war America held great opportunity. As a people, we were definitely more social than today. Friends and family got together a lot more often than today and even dropped in on one another unannounced. People dressed up both out of respect for others as well as for their own self-respect. Robert Putnam's book, Bowling Alone, documents how our society is becoming more disconnected in spite of Facebook.
bigcity233 1 year ago
@bigcity233 Computers, cell phones, and pagers ruined us as a society.
devildoc225 1 year ago 33
@devildoc225
Rap music.
Onmetube 1 year ago
@devildoc225 And our focus on marketing to certain demograhpics, or as I say "labeling and limiting your audience".
Ryoku75 1 year ago
@devildoc225 Thats a claim worth investigating, I myself have question if computers and cellphones have played a negative effect the sociable aspect of society.
Ryoku75 10 months ago
@devildoc225 Yeah true, but if you go back in time and live without them long enough you will start missing them. Also, how about not having air conditioning?
Railer505 9 months ago
@devildoc225 sure did
jsimone1320 9 months ago
People back then, not just in New York, spent significantly more money on clothing that people do now. Their world was much more social than our world is today. Ironic in that we have the internet, facebook, ect. that supposedly keeps us 'in touch' with everyone. The thing I like about these old stills and movies is you get to see an America that was experiencing NEW growth...not just money shifting from one place to another.
scottieray 1 year ago
Wow, it still looked the same back then ( excluding current technology)
Qdude10 1 year ago
damn! this is amazing. great pictures. Whats the name of the song and the big band who is playing it?
pvallef 1 year ago
Saw a photo of the Chase Bank building, erected in 1960!
ssorizaba 1 year ago
wonderful!
kadshah 1 year ago
Does anyone know if there are any businesses still in continuous operation from back then? I know that big corporations killed off most of the Mom and Pop places, but I have heard that there are a few that survived. I would like to visit a few of those places the next time I am in New York.
KLUNKET 1 year ago
Doesn't seeing clips like this make you want to get into a time machine, go back and enjoy the good ol' days?
KLUNKET 1 year ago 43
@KLUNKET yes
wheelslarbac 1 year ago
@KLUNKET Amen to that. Seems like alot of us have that idea. I personally would have chosen the ride to NYC in your time machine.
Wa3ypx 1 year ago
@KLUNKET yes. so bad. =[
lordhelmit3 1 year ago
@KLUNKET there wer never any good ol' days. every day has it's ups and downs... enjoy everything you can and try not to think about the past that much...
bullfrogcristiplaka 10 months ago
@KLUNKET That's the exact description of what I feel...Great days....
Pictoescu 10 months ago
@KLUNKET Absolutely!!! I was just thinking that while watching this.
denisethepainter 10 months ago
@KLUNKET I agree %100 because im 13 and I feel as if I was born in the wrong time period. I wish I could go back then where there's no cell phones no computers no video games and no distractions from the beauty of New York City!!!
bobzzz23 10 months ago
that is very very good quality still today.but in the 1940's...jeez
nuclearbigdaddy 1 year ago
WOW, Some of the best pictures from the '40's I've ever seen. NYC has always been the quintessential American city.
Thanks
blurryeyes46 1 year ago
so beautiful my new york, and the people in there hats and suits waiting in soup lines golly gee that's the life, today is just a bunch of corrupt war bullshit and shitty music. god bless my 1940's big apple. :(
SuperNumber19 1 year ago
good to see in vivid colour
mojochessclassics 1 year ago
Boy, did I enjoy that! I was 6 in '40 and my mother would drag me into the city (from Joisey) to go shopping at Macy's and Bloomingdale's (before it became such a big deal). I hated it then but I really had a good time on the Els and trolleys.
rich9862003 1 year ago
Wow. New York looks amazing in the 40's. Everything was more ..... whats the word.....relaxing? maybe??? Oh well. Great video. Music fits perfectly. :)
anaki101 1 year ago
@anaki101 Relaxing, down to earth, peaceful, those are what I'd use.
Ryoku75 1 year ago
Great film. It is so much better to have them here than collecting dust in the attic. Thanks for sharing. These old records of life are fascinating and will be even more so the older they become. Remember, you and I are in the pioneering stage of the Internet. People 4 thousand years from now will see these and marvel. Your great, great, great, great, great grandchildren will see these. Imagine that! The "number" who have viewed will someday hit a billion!
cadrolls1 1 year ago
good times...
aidinmoh97 1 year ago
That was brilliant.
haras9 1 year ago
love it wow ty
shinesthrudarain 1 year ago
those sky-scrapers are so beautiful
KoreaLoverJapanhater 1 year ago
Mc Sorley's ale house is still there , still an ale house , the funny thing is that you have to order two beers at a time they will not sell you only one ! either dark or light beer !.................Erik Vonderlieth
rocknroll1955 1 year ago
@rocknroll1955 I wish i had known that last summer when I visited New York, Where is Mc Sorleys ale house?? I wil keep that in mind for my next visit!! :-)
hullabaloo250 1 year ago
@hullabaloo250 15 East 7th Street
JDProductions2 1 year ago
Who were the Lunatic's engineered the depression and a severe war against our selves with the results all around our open border defeated Nations, all Western Nations.
The Subway cars have not spray paint on them too.
Nationsnotregimes 1 year ago
Were all of these from Kodachrome slides? Beautiful video!
mmay519 1 year ago
@mmay519 I thought these pictures were all "colorized" just like the old movies from those days.
SatchmoSings 1 year ago
Great film thanks in the end it all up to you the old and New York
greenpointrecords 1 year ago
Nice.
Francential 1 year ago
i wish everything would be classic like this
Doub1eNinja 1 year ago
You should really give proper attribution. These images are all from the recently-released Cushman Collection at Indiana University.
UTJosie 1 year ago
coca cola in the 1940's? this is fake the coca cola was invented way before that bullshit, nice try pal.
littelG333 1 year ago
hey what can i say i love da slums!!!!
MrGustavogallegos 1 year ago
Wonderful video! I love NYC and this is so lovely. However, no time has ever been "innocent" as long as men have been here on earth! I think back then people did a better job with "appearances." Sigh...
LynneC44 1 year ago 4
@LynneC44 They were better with apperence, cartoons, music, movies, and cosmetically cars (Their fuel efficiency was garbage) but you are right.
Ryoku75 1 year ago
Amazing!!!
MrCisconyc718 1 year ago
the real innocent and fun time and forgotten
dmc081 1 year ago
very true, it was also the middle of WWII. So I wouldn't call it innocent
themaskedguitarman 1 year ago