1929 - Early Sound Footage of Cleveland

Early sound footage of Downtown Cleveland in the late 1920s. The city was the sixth largest in the US at the time, with a population of over 900,000 and a foreign born population of 25%. The film shows the large parade held on Euclid Avenue in honor of the first National Air Race held in Cleveland, August 24, 1929. In this clip, you can see shots of the large arch of the Williamson Building, which has since been demolished (the 200 Public Square skyscraper now stands in its place). The Chamber of Commerce Building (demolished in 1955) is also visible from Public Square. The newly-completed Terminal Tower, which would be officially dedicated one year later, is not shown in this film, but it loomed large to all those present. This footage is from the Moving Image Research Collections at the University of South Carolina (mirc.sc.edu/).

[@kenlasky3904]

If my mom was in the crowd, she would have been 17 years old, just shy of her 18th birthday. And my dad would have turned 22 earlier that summer. Cleveland was awesome at the time!

[@richardashwood5771]

The craftsmanship on those downtown buildings was unbelievable. My grandfather came to Cleveland to do the iron work on the Stadium and the Lorain-Carnegie bridge in the 30’s. It amazes me that all of that work was done back then without power tools or computers. Those workers were true craftsmen. I wonder if those workers had any idea those bridges and buildings would still be standing almost a hundred years later.

[@miketype1each]

We forget that what we have available to us now was found then in the pages of fantasy stories. But, they had everything they needed, and more.

[@mfindora5210]

I think they knew exactly what they were building. Cleveland has a wild history of bridges.

[@lisk3822]

Cleveland was indeed a grand city!

[@jasondudash5501]

Wow! The roaring 20's in the city of Cleveland.

[@ronaldfazekas6492]

The open bus--built by White Trucks of Cleveland--the longest running auto manufacturer in the US--they are now Volvo trucks--my dad was a contractor and his '62 White dump truck is still running

[@patlysobey1938]

Interesting film clips. I remember the Williamson Building and I was there when it and the Cuyahoga building were imploded to start construction of the Sohio headquarters building on Public Square. The dust storm from that implosion was incredible and quickly overtook anyone trying to run from it.

[@Davett53]

In 1929 my mother would have been 7 years old, living with her sister above her father's delicatessen in a Jewish neighborhood, near the downtown and Lake Erie. 20 years later she would meet my Dad, whose family lived nearby, but the two didn't know each other. By 1929, my Dad had just begun attending Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. He traveled there by train. He was 10 years older than my mother. My mother talked about how there were still ice men, when she was young, who delivered blocks of ice to people's homes, and businesses. Everyone knew the names of the ice men, and postmen, and all the shopkeepers. Horse drawn wagons for delivering the ice, were still in use in the 1920s.

[@joannemiller9391]

All the hats!

[@songtraveler]

That's pretty much the way Euclid Avenue looked when I was growing up in Cleveland during the 1950s. Cleveland was a major U.S. city then with a population of almost a million, and downtown was still a bustling commercial center with big department stores - May Company, Higbee's, Bailey's, Halle's, and Sterling Lindners. And the grand old theaters were still open: Allen, State and Palace. And then there was the Roxy Burlesque Theater on Ninth Street and Short Vincent with its bars and dubious reputation.

[@glam2gobeauty811]

Where was Short Vincent located?

[@songtraveler]

@@glam2gobeauty811 It's still there. It connects East Sixth and East Ninth Streets, between Euclid and Superior Avenues in downtown Cleveland. Today it's all parking garages. Back then (1930s to 1960s) it was a center of nightlife, legitimate and otherwise. Take a look at the short video that follows. It will give you a flavor of the way it was. kzbin.info/www/bejne/apLUq4ufebKSedUsi=efEe6JN5Egpg9sbS

[@lowelllarsen5947]

Was a great city back then 👍

[@jrt2792]

Still is in some ways.

[@filmman89]

@@jrt2792 Still is, in most ways! Cleveland is a city with incredible potential and countless built-in amenities (e.g., the lake shore, the world-class orchestra, the art museum, the public library system, the historical architecture, etc.). It also has an incredible history. At one point, in the early 1920s, it even had its own film industry.

[@Jujubeans_garage]

Cleveland was packed

[@NorthRoyalton]

I wonder why

[@wutruriding1355]

Incredibly good video and audio for that period!

[@RadhadaniteBabylonian]

Little did they all know what would be heading their way come later in the fall.

[@horatiodreamt]

Many, many hats.

[@Celluloidwatcher]

A big thank you for presenting what was, apparently, a Fox Newsreel film of Cleveland in the late summer of 1929 prior to the Wall Street Crash. It's nice to see a parade honoring the first National Air Races at Hopkins Airport back then. With a very large crowd lining Euclid Avenue and Public Square. The names of Davis, as in Sterling, Lindner-Davis department store, Mills Restaurant, and Cleveland College might bring back memories to some old enough to remember. However, I believe that Sterling, Lindner-Davis was on Euclid Avenue and East 12th Street when I was younger prior to its 1968 closure. Maybe, the Davis sign was referring to Davis Bakery, not sure.

[@briankay4229]

Wasn't it the Sterling - Linder building that always had the humungus Christmas tree inside?

[@kenlasky3904]

@@briankay4229Yes! I remember it and walking underneath it to get to the toy department. We mostly shopped at May Co and Higbee’s, but we’d always make a trip to see that tree. I think it was grander than the one in NYC.

[@CharlesEBright]

This is pretty cool even for 1929

[@Ms.HistoryBuff433]

I see my great-grandfather’s store, next to the Davis sign and the Windmill restaurant.

[@lisk3822]

I noticed the windmill also. Was that later "Mills Cafeteria?"

[@dg1006]

@@lisk3822 Yes. But I think it was Mills cafeteria even then.

[@kingjohnny7215]

this is great, thanks Man !

[@carolyncook3611]

Great video. I grew up in Shaker Hts. My dad would have been about 12 in 1929. I recognize some of the buildings. Is the one marked “Davis” the Sterling Linder Davis department store? One building, the arched one, looks like Old Arcade. Look at all those lovely 20’s flapper girls and guys in their straw bowler hats! If they only knew what’s coming.....Depression, WWll, Vietnam, assasinations, World Trade Center, covid.

[@caroltenge5147]

Check out the Mills restraunt sign right next to the Davis sign.....

[@sgalambos]

At around 2:30, the band is playing a German March-'Alta Kameraden'. Interesting.

[@deadcorpert619]

Incredible!

[@chromefin5378]

It looks like a haberdashery was a good business to get into at the time.

[@keybyss98]

Honestly, I always imagine the past parades (or the past in general) sounding so much different from today. Here? Besides the whistling and the occasional car horn, this doesn’t sound too different from what a normal bustling parade would sound like today tbh. Even the music sounds pretty much unchanged.

[@annaket5148]

Thank you so much for amazing video 🌹❤️

[@filmman89]

You are most welcome! :)

[@Jujubeans_garage]

Damn

[@miketheyunggod2534]

Just before The Great Depression.

[@shockingguy]

That’s friggin awesome I live here that’s very cool and I want that truck that was hauling the band

[@albertnemeth1310]

I think the truck is really a type of rail of rail car, if you look closely you can see rails in the pavement. there were electric trolly cars throughout Cleveland at this time.

[@igorest2619]

Wow, cell phones must not have had very good cameras back then, they have improved a lot since then!

[@JuiceGuy07]

Any idea where this is? It does not resemble any current city scape that I can think of.

[@filmman89]

This is right at the section of downtown Cleveland where Euclid Ave. meets Public Square. As noted in the description, the reason it doesn't look recognizable is because the Williamson Building is still there, as is the Chamber of Commerce Building. The Williamson was demolished in 1982 to make way for the construction of the 200 Public Square skyscraper (later known as the Sohio or BP Building). The Chamber of Commerce Building was demolished in 1955. The site served as a parking lot for several decades until that was demolished to make way for the construction of Key Tower, which now occupies that space. For awhile, the Chamber of Commerce Building was home to the short-lived "Cleveland College" hosted jointly by Case and Western Reserve before they merged to become CWRU. For more on that, see case.edu/its/archives/downtown/clevelandcollege.htm

[@JuiceGuy07]

@@filmman89 wow. thanks for that info. learned something today.

[@lattiedavis5450]

I look at all of those people and I realize that every single one of them is dead! Might be one or two still around, but doubtful.

[@filmman89]

Now available in colorized form: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIqQi5iQhdSqfKs

[@edzaslow]

Note that almost all the people--men and women--wore hats. Real hats, not baseball caps.

[@brandonlucas3051]

Wow 😳

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

So this motorcycle cop pulls over a band which does not miss a beat while playing a march....

[@gingercat77977]

Damn… that’s the year my grandpa was born

[@carolthailing9964]

Was that Amelia Earhardt at the beginning? In the plane?

[@filmman89]

Unfortunately, the faces of the people sitting in the seats of the plane on parade are not clear. However, Earhardt did fly to Cleveland from Santa Monica, CA in the 1929 Women's Air Derby (also known as the "Powder Puff Derby" to use the name dubbed by Will Rogers).

[@kimberlyburks]

they had videos back then?

[@CharlesEBright]

Yes they did.

[@filmman89]

Well not necessarily video, but film. :)

[@miketheyunggod2534]

Film started in the late 1800s. Sound in mid 20s.

[@filmman89]

@@miketheyunggod2534 yes, and the first film shot in Cleveland was 1897 by the Edison Company. You can see it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGXCiKCGhtV8qsU

[@AudiophileTubes]

If you look close enough, you can spot George himself, of George's Kitchen!!!

[@caroltenge5147]

Almost everyone wore a hat!

[@lenisbennett3062]

Everyone was nicely dressed and most had on a hat. No social distancing here man it looks like a Trump rally.

[@tima4929]

LOL trump rally? No, I don't see any rednecks

[@jonkore2024]

Then a few months later the big crash

[@louislamonte334]

Back before the ugly, banal pox of suburbia and the shopping malls destroyed a very vibrant downtown!

[@mikebussy3334]

That was pretty cool, sadly Cleveland kinda declined since then.

[@wjatube]

Were there scares of sun poisoning back then? Is the same hat company now selling masks?

[@SputnickSpooner-jg5gi]

No scares at all. The sun gives life, heals and rejuvenates. It is known as class and fashion.