1964 Downtown Hartford, Connecticut

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Downtown Hartford, Bushnell Park, The Travels Building, and WTIC. Can you identify anything else,? Leave a Comment.

[@billbrimmer1739]

I was a teen at time and Downtown Hartford was a thriving location. Charm and many businesses. Westfarms Mall came in and eventually erased retail from Hartford. Too bad, the stores had a lot of charm in 1964.

[@CityViewGuy]

I came back to this video to show a friend. Whoever took it had a keen eye for juxtaposition, and took short pauses so that you could appreciate the clean, sharp lines and landscape of places like Constitution Plaza, the new Travelers entry plaza, St. Joseph's and the old Statler Hilton, and there's a few moments where there is a focus on the construction of I-84 as it's cutting across Asylum Hill, and the old Lowes Poli Theater block, just before it was torn down for Bushnell Plaza condos. The last few seconds also shows the Market and Talcott Street entrances into the G.Fox store...which was the bargain basement section until you went up two floors to the Main floor on Main St. Few people today appreciate how different Hartford and Connecticut was then. Hartford was still the big city center and commercial hub. The department stores...G.Fox, Sage's, Korvette's and a couple of hundred other stores were the big public draw, week in and week out, along with theaters, restaurants and Id guess about half of the employment was in manufacturing and the other was in white-collar jobs, and most factories ran two or three shifts. The cost of living was also not gamed the way it is today and you could get a decent paying job without a college degree. Life was slower....but a LOT less hectic too. There also wasn't the sprawl across all the towns around it that there is today, with endless big box centers and malls, so many more people went to downtown Hartford just to window shop and browse. This was an entire decade before Westfarms opened, and that sprawl took decades to build. However, a good part of the city also felt old and run-down in many sections....from years of neglect and disinvestment, since there had been little construction since before WWII and the depression. The scale and size of Constitution Plaza..which was brand new and fully opened in '64... was later criticized as being cold and lifeless, was actually a huge investment into the city. $40 million dollars then is close to $400 million now...and it had some of the best quality construction and designers of their times working on it. The big reason it never did well, was it was supposed to have a few hundred apartments attached to it....where the science center and CT state office buildings are now...overlooking the river, and the plaza level was to be connected by bridges up over Market Street...up to Main Street and the department stores and shops. Had they done that...the city would've looked different and maybe a bit more vibrant, even with the stores gone now.

[@markrichards6863]

It used to be a lot safer too, with a more financially diverse population. Now it's mostly ghetto with poor schools. I think the idea of higher density housing, close to downtown will help. When G. Fox and Sage Allen closed, Hartford spiraled down the drain. We used to stay downtown after work, but even we boomers, as cool as we were, could not resist the allure of a 3BR, 2BA splanch in Glastonbury or Rocky Hill, 2.5 kids who think we are squares, and better suburban education. Now we're retired in Florida, because we had to follow the script, remembering when Hartford was fun, so very long ago.

[@CityViewGuy]

This is spectacular. I was born in '64....had a love of architecture, department stores and modern buildings. Grew up in Central CT and spent a lot of my teen years taking the bus to downtown Hartford. When G Fox, Sage-Allen, the Civic Center Mall were all there, and Constitution Plaza was still in almost pristine condition, just before Traveler's sold it off to a series of awful owners who've slowly destroyed the complex with decades of neglect and bad alterations. The stores long-ago folded and merged away...and downtown...although with more residences than ever, feels emptier and sad. I was seeing the twilight of the last era of a city that had come to the end of it's life a dominant commercial center...and is still transitioning...but into what?

[@emilrodriguez5835]

Me too. I was born in the Hartford Hospital.

[@64Racerx]

I was also born in 64, we lived in the Blue Hills section on a quiet little street that time "miraculously" has left alone. I attended the Mark Twain school right down the street from our house and I also remember going to G-Fox because mom did all her Christmas shopping there. Moved to Jersey for third grade, but Hartford & CT in general hold a special place in my heart that I'll always hold onto. Growing up back in those days feels like hitting the lottery, as far as I'm concerned.

[@FearLess_SunKissedCaramel]

I don’t know why. But at era in time right there is where I belong! I am fascinated. Things were so different then! Simple…Nothing like today! I was not even alive yet when this was filmed. Thank you for sharing how Hartford looked back then compared to now!

[@debitendcredits7950]

Glad you are enjoying the film. Nostalgia can be dangerous. These images are curated. They don't show the political unrest (so similar to today). They just show pretty buildings and cool outfits. Enjoy nostalgia but don't seduced!

[@writerrad]

This was taken the ;last full year I lived there. It was more complex and often confrontational in many ways then than it is now with the level of racism and repression in the city quite strong.. Still industrial jobs that could support a family were much more common than the Hartford of Today. Goldwater and Johnson who as supposed to keep the US out of war in Vietnam were supposed to be the choices. Computerization was starting to end all the clerical and computational jobs in the insurance companies and banks. By the next spring and summer friends of mine would be drafted into the armed forces, sent to Southeast Asia and some die. Most Black people in the Southern states could not vote, and offical segregation existed across the South. Not that Hartford was free of it. Waiting for a the franklin to Blue Hills bus at night after going to a folk music evening, a cop night confront me,a Black high school junior or senior depending on when in 64 and ask me what the hell was I doing in that neighborhood. Granted there was no Covid, but it was just as complex and the beginning of an era of social, political, cultural, sexual, and religious upheaval.

[@writerrad]

@@debitendcredits7950 that you. That was my last full year before going off to college. Lots of political, social, and economic problems faced everyday people in Hartford then, some have been solved, and some are worse. This seems to avoid the real Hartford most of us lived in. I liked those 3 decker and perfect 6s, I just find constipation plaza so cold and ead and empty compared to the vibrant life of the old Front street neighborhood. Thanks for your post

[@johndonovan6308]

A city destroyed by liberal democrats since that time.

[@gregdolecki8530]

@@debitendcredits7950 Yeah, but still, it was a simpler time. Land lines only, 3 or 4 stations on your black & white TV, not even answering machines yet. People got together in person, not on Zoom.

[@davidevans3175]

I was 8. I could have been in that footage - in a car or in the park. Such a simple time. G Fox at Christmas was something else.

[@chispomartinez5199]

Wish I can go back in time miss those days 😥😥😥

[@Aaron.Davis56]

Great video. Born in Hartford, in 1956 and is still nearby. Went to Brackett K-8, then Price Tech. P&W 1975 until 2018. Yes, Hartford is my home.

[@billjohnson7599]

Went to Brackett too!!!

[@xaustedbrain2369]

Wow the Connecticut river was actually blue

[@jeanneruffy8715]

That's Wyllys Street. And that's St. Cyril's School & Convent. I spent 8 years there. Great to see that. That was Dutch Point area. We had an entrance to Colt's Park at the end of Wyllys. It was a good remembrance. Thanks!

[@glogiroux4737]

We lived at 4 Lisbon Street! Remember Wandy's Bakery on Wyllys & Charter Oak Place? best pastries.

[@junkandthangs]

where was Dutch Point Lane, did that lead to Colt Park as well?

[@angelsuarez9914]

I grew up in duch point my self plumey family

[@angelsuarez9914]

Grew up in duch point my self I grew up in dutch point my self

[@stevetan9459]

I was in first grade at Ss Cyril’s in ‘64. I wonder if I was inside the school when this was filmed!!

[@gregdolecki8530]

Looks like Constitution Plaza is in there. My mother was pregnant with me at the time of this filming.

[@robertmunro2529]

I'm from east Hartford and I spent a lot of time at the river on the East Hartford south side. The view across the river to Hartford brings back a lot of memories. There was an oil company tank farm along the East Hartford bank and I used to watch the ships dock there to transfer the oil to the tanks. When there wasn't river traffic I hung around on the docks. I My family moved to the central downtown area of East Hartford when I was in high school and downtown Hartford was a short walk along Connecticut Blvd across the Buckley Bridge (can't do that these days). I remember singing in the choir at the Greater Hartford Council of Churches Easter sunrise service on Constitution Plaza, broadcast live by channel 3. I don't remember what year that was. The bookstore on the plaza was the closest "real" bookstore within walking distance from downtown East Hartford.

[@rovingdesigner7431]

I believe the bookstore on Constitution Plaza was a branch of NYC's 'Brentano's Books. I remember it as a kid.

[@Sleepyjew]

Holy crap the water used to be blue!?

[@daviddesmond2143]

I was 13 when this was taken and I lived in Newington. Recall taking the bus to Hartford to shop for clothes. I saved up my paper route money and bought a new 3 speed English bike downtown and rode it back home. Rode it to school the next day and somebody stole it!

[@georgiannachauvin8414]

Thanks so much for this video! Great to see these places in Hartford as they were in 1964. I was 2 y.o. I never knew the Phoenix building was even built by then! Good memories. Glad you added the music.

[@writerrad]

Too much of constipation plaza which always seemed so cold and empty. Still 64 was the last full year I spent there before going off to college (Weaver 65 I am) and coming home summers, and then off to the world. I liked the tripple deckers at the start and the North end shots. Hope there is more somewhere

[@juliemnm8273]

Constipation plaza??? Is that your attempt of humor?

[@BTBLive]

Wow everything looked so nice and clean.

[@335mikey7]

Beautiful

[@cr20rodriguez]

I love my city, I was born in 1976, great video

[@Greenwings701]

Where was the Society for Savings located? Loved the old, glitzy every-man bank! Even as kids we had a passbook with interest. Bring 'em back!

[@Honeedew1LUV]

Woooow! This was so good to see how many things have changed since and what hasnt change one bit lol. I wasnt born during this time but my brother was. He and my mom will enjoy this. Thank u for sharing!

[@azizjad6315]

I love the cars

[@junkandthangs]

Great footage of history… I think there should have been a caption describing each building

[@mikegruber172]

wow 3:14 the road on the right is gone. Now a walkway

[@Hermetic_]

Even in the early 80s, Hartford was good. The Italian parade on Franklin Ave was great. GFox Downtown during Christmas was great. But last time I visited home it was sad; tons of out of state license plates, but the growth does not seem to be from economic growth but instead of looters coming into the state. I dunno, maybe it’s fine 🤷‍♂️

[@bctraveltv323]

I live in Constitution Plaza in what was the Royal Sonesta Back then. Building still looks the same today!!

[@anndavis725]

I remember Mary Hooker school. The Hawes. Williams. Davis.

[@MrCraigblaze]

Thanks for the Upload 👍 !! XD

[@rogermorell423]

Old memories

[@JERios-wv8lx]

Hmm, i lived in Harrford in 1971, and thought some modern-looking building i saw while living there weren't so old. (They appear in this 1964 video.)

[@RobertWPaine]

They missed the American Industrial Building opposite G. Fox.

[@tictac9074]

Thanks for posting

[@d.a.elliottjr.367]

Color footage from 1964 seems rare to me.

[@rachaelstephens8016]

This is wonderful thanks so much for sharing! Can I ask how you got this footage and if you have any more of the Greater Hartford area? Thanks!

[@foytoy57]

I am pretty sure that red headed girl is me. I was 7. Where did you get this footage?

[@SmokeWithMeInCT]

Doesn’t look like much growth has happened here

[@grovve8960]

Hartford is a great city period, we need to bring the jobs back so kids are unlikely to join gangs and do crime due to inflation and the lack of opportunities

[@CTeale1]

How I wish I knew then, what I know now.

[@azizjad6315]

It is remained me thend bird moovie of the sixties woow