Added: 2 years ago
From: wksufreshair
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  • This is REALLY cool! It's like taking a time machine back almost 30 years.

  • the very earliest incarnation of guns n roses was somewhere on those streets you passed through

  • god bless you for posting this... this has a lot of history.

  • Dude, you literally could NOT have chosen better music for driving into downtown LA in 1985. Seriously, was like a scene from a movie like "Less than Zero." Awesome stuff...the cars, pop culture, dress..just great. If you only knew then how cool that random day 26 years ago would turn out to be!

  • i love how SLOW everyone's driving on the freeway lol

  • what's the instrumental music from mins approx 2:00-4:51

  • Want... to... live... there!

  • I remember living in the Eastside of LA.

  • Can you tell me the name of the song at 5:20 ?

  • thanx for video. especially interesting to watch in winter Russia ))

  • wow it's crazy seeing the LA skyline without the US Bank Tower.

  • Interesting to see the 110 before the double deck. I remember that from so long ago...

  • i live in l.a. your on the 110 north about to pass where l.a. live is gonna be

  • That is so cool I wish that was taped today

  • too bad the dashboard takes up most of it

  • @Magyarhazafi01 This track was also used as a sample for the 1993 dance track Usura-Open Your Mind, just in case you're looking for that track aswell! :-))

  • WOW, I feel like I'm going back in the mid 80's, thanks for posting this!

  • Very cool video! Thanks for sharing! I was 9 years old in 1985, so cool to see how the cars were on the roads then.

  • We had early 70s cars in our household in the mid 80s. 

  • i miss santa ana

  • In 1985 I was 5 years old; I was in California and remember both a trip to Universal Studios and to Disneyland in Anaheim. My single divorced mother drove a lil blue Datsun (which show up a lot in this video). I don't recall seeing that many 60's era cars. But a lot of the cars in this video are not made anymore for sure. I was driving in the 90's (got my license in '96) the mid to late 90's cars were more like today's cars. Funny how even in the 90's the cars in this video woulda seemed old

  • what is the name of the music metween 5:33 - 6:09 ?

  • @Magyarhazafi01 New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) by Simple minds

  • everything that is raound hollywood california is a beauty i love it it has the most beautiful roads

  • I had a 1968 Cougar in 1985

  • wow the 80s were the best years even though im 15 i hav some sort of image of a past life some where stretching from the 70s to the 90s. its weird but true. we are now living in a time period that we will always remember to be the most stressful time.

  • @THEUTUBEVIDZ I'm 31; born in '80 and was a kid in the 80's and teenager of the 90's (turned 18 in '98, got my license in '96). What you say makes me feel 100 because to talk about a past life in the recent period of the 70's to 90's era is not funny. You're just wishing you were born before the 90's or 80's so you can say that you were there in the 80's. Well I was there!!!

  • at 8:02 is that bus the L.A Bus like the metro?

  • @msia40004 back then it was knows as RTD Rapid Transit Authority.

  • Love the 80s! Back then when there werent so much cars on the road .

  • in a emergency this freeways will stuck to the fullest there's a lot a cars now we need some tunnels

  • I LOVE THE PAST OF LOS ANGELES, IF YOU DIDNT NOTICE THE CARPOOL IS NOT THERE, I REMEMBER THEY WAS BUILDING IT WHEN I WAS A KID BUT DOES ANYBODY KNOW THE YEAR THEY START BUILDING THE UPPER CARPOOL LANE

  • @kclite I recall Caltrans added the elevated carpool lane and widened the Harbor Fwy from1993 to1995

  • @477450661 thanks

  • driving in LA....1985...listening to New Order and Simple Minds....can't get any better than that....this is amazing stuff...

  • Great video! This is so creepy to watch somehow. I love looking at the "old" cars and people!

  • whats the name of the music that starts @ 1:06?

  • @xytsdx2 "Theme for Great Cities" by Simple Minds

  • I grew up in LA. I miss the 80's.

    That was the best time I've ever lived.

  • great video, too bad half of the screen is taken by your dark dash board and your windshield wiper

  • damn this y/t character limit per post hehe..anyway, back in '81 a lady neighbor bought a '65 impala as a daily driver & even though the car was only 15 y/o its design was so different from the latest stuff out of detroit it was always very noticed by all whether parked or on the road..most - myself included - loved its lines, big v8 & that great looking trio of tailights per side..only a relatively few derided it as a relict p.o.s...what 15 y/o car would today be looked upon in a same way??..

  • good stuff for future historical value..kudos for the foresight to just shoot footage of something which must seem boring at the time but will serve a real role someday as a short window back in time...it's interesting to juxtapose your footage with some similar others on y/t which depict earlier decades [60s and '50s] shot in a similar way- just a view of streets from a car driving through it...the '80s was the most boring decade with regards to u.s. automotive engineering/design scene...

  • @36Studebaker continuing from below...i came to the usa in 1980 at age 14 & being fascinated with motorcycles/cars from earliest age, i paid the automotive scene particular attention..i remember liking mostly the earlier cars i could still see back then on the road & not caring for the contemporary stuff coming out of detroit then..but even then in the beginning of '80s [at least in nyc] the cars from late '60s or older were already looked at as semi-classics despite being only 12-15 years old..

  • like the music

  • Haven't heard that New Order song in a LONG time! Had almost forgotten about it! LOL

  • New Order! This video is truly remarkable. I credit you with giving me some real-life architectural impressions of LA in the mid-1980s, I am writing a story set then and this video has helped a lot in visualizing it.

  • Where did you find the "This is the city of Los Angeles, California" sample? It's so cool

  • @johntgr I think that was Joe Friday from Dragnet..

  • by the way wksufreshair, what time of day did you take this drive and on what day if you can recall? the free flow of traffic is mind blowing. I'm going on 29 yrs old and I am on those freeways quite often but at non-peak times because traffic is so bad. I take certain surface streets now when headed to Downtown or Hollywood (that chevron on the right is now a Tommy's Burger stand, the 76 station and liquor store are still there) if I didnt say already, GOOD VIDEO :)

  • Great video!!! Great music, scenery, and driving! Thank you for posting - it made my day... ;)

  • damn i love watching old videos like this cuz i love to see how it looked back then and what has changed from todays

  • California is awesome! I was born there and moved out in 1999 as a first grader...I miss it, I lived in Santa Barbara County and have been to LA many times

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  • whats the artist and first song playing ?

  • @ateball1 the first song is "Prefect Kiss" by New Order

  • @runerman16 thanks.

  • Great 80's driving video. Love the washed out cloudless sky. Check out - "Driving 91 West Corona 1985 Song: 77 Slightly Delayed By Ashra"

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  • Those were the days!!!!

  • Love the 1967 cream color Pontiac coupe in right lane.

  • At first couldn't even tell what fwy it was Im so used of seeing the carpool on top of the 110 its been like that for almost 20yrs and still remember the 710 once was the sr7 cool vid

  • I Love this!!

    Thank you so much for posting this. It reminds me of how tragic and fragile LA is and that's why I love it.

  • Awesome..thanks for taking us back! You're right about all the 60s cars still on the road. My dad had 64,65,and 68 Ramblers throughout the 80s.

  • this is the coolest thing I've ever seen on Youtube....this is amazing....its a shame I was only 3 yrs old in 1985....shit!!

  • Stumbled on this looking for EXP videos, still got my '82 "frog"... :) GREAT vid!

  • Great video, thanks for sharing. Whoever filmed it as the passed Adams Blvd exit, shortly right after the cut off the camera right as they were Bout to pass the apartment I was living in at that time. Brings back many many great memories. Lived there up till 1987. This was special to see. Thx

  • Cruising and listening to New Order..... man I love the 80s!

  • Love it! I make this commute up the 110 every night and the has changed quite a bit.

  • We the hell is the US Bank Tower???!!!!!

  • @mexi323 it wasnt built til 1989

  • @mexi323

    US Bank Tower (formerly Library Tower) was completed in 1990.

  • the name of the music (at 1:07- i think 5:35) is ---> Simple Minds - Theme For Great Cities

  • @Magyarhazafi01

    thanks for the title!

  • many thanks for sharing this...! bring back the 80's !!!

    Greetings from Italy !

  • "Perfect Kiss" by New Order at the beginning, and Theme for Great Cities half-way through. Good songs, never heard of them before!

  • Nice historical footage, thanks for posting! I have some footage my parents filmed going around NYC in 1986, I haven't gotten around to posting it. Btw, the Ford EXP sounded like a nice car to have - I guess there was an ample amount of room to place your camcorder on as you drove?

    Anyways, the 1980s were the time where VCR camcorders were all the rage, it's too bad by the 1990s people had forgotten about them somewhat.

  • @dadsoldtapes please post your 1986 New York footage....i'm eager to see it....

  • @schules100 Nah, I don't like it^^ Since I can remember I wanted to be citizin of the USA/California. And Los Angeles was always a city I liked^^ 

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  • classic

  • lo and behold: no fukin chemtrails

  • man I was a newborn when this video was shot.

  • Amazing !!!@

  • It's wierd to see a home video of a year 10 years before I was born.

  • great job mate, love this and the other videos of you driving through hollywood hills

    i have a lot of memories of 1985 here in ireland

  • Richard Ramirez often used these freeways as he was driving to different communities killing people.

  • WOW. The air was so clean back then. When I went in summer 2008 and 2009 there was so much smog that it was foggy all the time.

  • @LSBonnPower Oh, it was plenty smoggy in the summer back then too, maybe worse than now (except during Santa Anas). It's not smoggy in the winter though, and it looks like that's when this may have been taped. It's one of the reasons that winter was always my favorite time of the year there. Clear blue skies, snow on the mountains, everything in bloom, green foothills, and mild temps.

  • @RManBB2010 yeah well I only went in the summers so I guess thats the reason, but still, its sooooo bad that they need to do something about it. I would love to live in California, I love the weather but with the polution conditions, I'm not willing too.

  • song that starts at 1:05?

  • @cancanbiker Simple Minds "Theme for great cities" :)

  • Hey, I love this clip! I grew up in L.A County. I was 17 when you recorded this. I used to drive all over L.A. with my friends back then. I can still remember those days like they were yesterday! I really wish the traffic was like that again. Those were the good ol' days. I've got to say the quality of the clip is amazing considering it's 25 years old. It looks like it could have been made yesterday, except for the cars and surroundings being different now of course. Thanks for posting this!

  • What a great video! I was 22 years old when that was filmed. I've been to all those places many times. It's neat to see a now and then comparison.

  • Wow, even back in the mid 80's Los Angeles was a wonderful, magic city & this video wants me even more to visit this city!!!!!!! I can't wait till my 18th Bday so I can try to leave Germany & immigrate to the USA!

    Great video!

  • @DRIFTking95M Don't do it. You will regret it.

  • I Love LA!

  • i remember going on the freeway to downtown l.a this year, many of the amazing art that was painted with great effort was just gratified over with a bunch of cussing, why do people do that?

  • Oh man! Terrific video! I like at 1:00 when the voice says "this is the city of Los Angeles, California" and right after is being played "Theme of Great Cities" by Simple Minds. Excellent choice of music! Inspiring!

  • How did you guys drive 55 mph without going crazy !!!!

  • @js182010 LOL. It did suck, but we really didn't have a choice. Was a great thing when speed limits went back to 70 in the 90s!

  • cool vid, you should do the same drive today and film it and see how it compares. Bonus points if you use the same car and camera!

  • Ha! This is great! LOVE the legit radio you recorded too. Really helps to capture what it was like.

  • The junction around 4.03 still looks the same as today.

  • Nice video. What day and month was this filmed?

  • this is before the us bak tower was built dowtown looks different witho out it

  • wow i was 17 when you made this video good stuff !!!

  • I was about 10 years old in '85. I used to love visiting my grandad when he lived in L.A. during those days.

  • whats the song at 4:30?

  • we are all but ants going to and fro

  • Pretty good clip, there! The driving footage is excellent, but the music, I could take or leave. I looked at it while listening to a few of the versions of the theme song of "Hawaii Five-O," which I strongly believe is a much better song than what was presented here.

  • This is classic! It's fun to look back and notice how all the cars were then!

  • wow, i like a lot this video!.. thanks for share it!.. one question: what's the name of the song at 1:07?.. greetings!

  • wksufreshair: nice vid, thanks a lot ... I'm from the Czech Republic so I can hardly imagine how it looks like in places like LA and videos like this one help a lot :)

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  • I was 16 in'85....SO COOL!!!!!

  • Funny how the 110 still looks the same. Except it's cleaner back then.

  • Wow.. not only all the cars from the 60s but no freakin SUVS!!

  • Hi wksufreshair, gorgeous video - thanks! The quality is supurb, can you tell how you filmed it please, what camera did you use etc?

    Also is the music coming from the radio or is it post production? I cant quite tell lol.

    What month was this filmed looks like summer?

    Thanks once again im gonna recommend this to many people... :)

  • @Isthisthelongestname Thank you so much for the recommendation.. Your comments make it worth all the time to post these. Music is a combination of live and post. I used a then new RCA 4 head VHS portable camera and recorder. A new Maxell High grade cassette Only replayed to dub. .

  • Richard Ramirez AKA The Nightstalker was terrorising LA when this was filmed.

  • @jamesrosevear

    he was, good call lol.

  • Wow the city was less crowded & the air much cleaner this is the way L.A sould look like.now there is just way to many cars & the smog is just bad to the bone & very unhealty.

  • I would like to know what kind of car you are driving? Thanks

  • @thestrange1000 1982 Ford EXP

  • @wksufreshair as in Ford Explorer?

  • sounds like you're listening to... Roq of the 80s... K R O Q

  • sweet! funny thing is LA looks the same today as it did 25 years ago. palm trees and the same hazy blue and yellow tones from the sun and smog. best damn place on earth =D

  • Like the music started at 1:07 i heard it before but don't remember. Nice video.

  • this is like a time machine

  • Does anyone know the name of the tune between 1:07 and 5:35? I would gladly put up with the big hair, parachute pants, and station wagons with simulated wood grain siding just to hear that tune in the day.

  • @argozempo The name of the instrumental is "Theme For Great Cities" by Simple Minds from "Sisters Feeling Call" 1981.

  • you passed my school...on the 101 turn the CVS pharmacy is not there.. lol....i drive thru the 110 101..10..5..eveyyday...my chick wasnt even born yet.....wow i remember the RTD busses..lol..

  • Thank you ever so much for these videos. As someone who was there at the time, I was old enough to remember how special LA was in the early/mid 80's was.

    So much is gone now, Fedco, Thirfty, Bullock's, Robinson's, KB Toys, etc... It saddens me to no end how cruel this city can be to the past.

    Thanks again for sharing this along with all that wonderful New Wave music.

  • @Vebinz i especially miss kb toys, i'm 16 and i still remember loving that store

  • What is the name of the song that plays between 1:07 to 5:35?

    It has a Miami Vice-beat to it.

  • nice downtown view back in 1985: did you miss any building in that video? Like some one said later before, this video is a real time machine.

  • Does someone swear right near the end of the video when ur stopped behind that Toyota truck?

  • i just searched LA videos because im going there in a few days for the first time every from canada but this is amazing like a time machine just like others said... good quality for 85 impressive, must have been like the 1080p of today.

  • @TOPGUNCANADA00 if you already have not found this out by now, but los angeles is NOT EVEN CLOSE to how it was back then.

  • those of you who said video like a time machine that is very weird because when i was watching it i wast thinking the same thing.

  • i was born in 85, thanks for posting this video all of us that were born in these years appreciate it.

  • @tjluis2002 85er here also

  • very neat...a little eerie...sort of like a time machine only because i was born in 88' and have lived in new york my whole life

  • This video is a time machine. Very cool stuff.

  • Holy shit this is amazingcould do with more vids like this on you tube.

  • i agree jeff. i turned 21 in aug. of 85. good times, less responsibility. i was living in bakersfield back then. miss the 80s.

  • there seemed to be less traffic back then, and the highway seemed to be a lot cleaner.

  • i may have been in the car next to you(76 camaro), back in 85. living in alabama now. missin the 80s.

  • Damn,,  I miss the 80's. I was a college student back then and I had so much fun at that time. I was a better time than now days.

  • That's my generation! I grew up in that era. I was 19 in 1985. The music was great, I loved the TV shows, The economy was way better than it is today, Gas was cheap, and for some reason I liked the cars better back then. It was awesome being a teenager in the 80's. YOU WOULD HAVE BE BORN IN THE 1960'S TO EXPERIANCE THE 80's!!!!!! None of this " I born in the 80''s" stuff.

  • back in the day when stuff was groovy, none of this terrorist threat bs

  • @ballm0use

    Maybe for you mate but the IRA was bombing up places left right and centre in Britain....we've lived in a "state of terrorism" for 40+ years!

  • @Isthisthelongestname thats no good

  • @jeff1969z

    I see your point. I was born in 76, so I experienced the 80's from a child's view, not a teen's.

    I guess we each had our own thing, you had MTV and John Hughes films, and we had cartoons like He-Man and oys like G.I.Joe.

  • @jeff1969z Amen to that...graduated high school in '86. Everything was more positive back then.

  • Cool! :D

  • who would ever think something so simple would make you feel so good

  • First Song isn't Kinks - Celluloid Heroes, its Perfect Kiss by New Order.

  • The 110 freeway looked cleaner and nicer back then

  • @Mitube Yeah. There was graffiti back then, but not like all the idiot tagger BS today that has totally made L.A. look like a shithole.

  • Damn I know where that is!

    There is a CVS at 4.22 now and I work there!

    Wow,, there used to be nothing there huh...

  • wow L.A. in 1985. the rock clubs on the strip were at their height then

  • Nah man back in the mid and late 60's they were. Then they actually did have like a huge resurgance in the 80's

  • what the name song a 1:08?

  • "Theme for Great Cities" by Simple Minds.

  • The song heard in a short clip around 5:35 is "New gold Dream 81 82 83 84 by Simple Minds

  • This is Great ! I lived in San Diego in 1985 and I went up to L.A. quite a bit! I loved to cruise around Sherman Oaks and in Westwood Village. I liked to cruise to New Order but my favorite was "The Cars".My theme for Mullholland Drive was "Its All I Can Do" by The Cars. Lots of good memories! Thanks for posting!

  • I can't think of anything better than cruising around LA listening to New Order. Wait - I do that already!

  • i may do that when i go back to la great music to be crusing with

  • AWESOME!! I was 19 in 1985 and I drove all over the place. I remember Wham on the radio alot for some weird reason. I remember seeing alot of GT/CS MUSTANGS nad old musclecars. I remember the Tropicana and Red Onion lol oh! and BAHOODKAS in Rosemead.

  • Do you remember "Ahhhs" ? It was a card and gift store and a cool one at that!

  • @806samuel bahookas is still here in rosemead

  • So awesome! I always wanted to live in L.A. during the 80s, so now I can get a glimpse of it...thank you! :)

  • Nice....brings back memories! I was 10 years old in L.A. in 1985.... I love those old RTD buses.

  • This movie rocks the planet!!!

  • LOL i Love the "Dragnet intro" you should have stuck with that while showing City hall driving up the 101.

  • I was born in LA in 1985. I love the 80's.

  • Great to hear it! It was a great decade!

  • this is even before the us bank tower was built.

  • i wonder what was there b4 the bank tower

  • Cool Vi