Chicago When Dirt Was New!! Rare 1966 8mm Footage of Chicago, Illinois. (FTHVN 600)

[@Progrocker70]

Nice pic of the famous Edgewater Beach Hotel at 3:16, tall building with the cupola on it which I believe closed a year or two later and was demolished.

[@ge2623]

I like that the traffic actually MOVED then.

[@FUNDIR5]

Interesting seeing familiar landmark buildings without the Hancock building or Sears Tower in the background. (Drake Hotel for example) Thanks for sharing this. It was entertaining.

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!

[@bubba1343]

What memories. Thanks for sharing.

[@FlynBrian]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting and watching!

[@MrPorsche85]

In just less than a year, Jan 67, the city would be inundated with a huge snowfall that would just cripple the city. It took me 2 days to get home to the suburbs

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!!

[@1906tpir]

Wow, no center divider on the Chicago Skyway High Bridge. That’s scary as hell.

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!

[@wmbrown6]

@ 1:00 - the zipper atop the Walgreens at State and Randolph (towards frame right) bore the exact same type fonts (and rows - 11) as that around the Allied Chemical Tower (a.k.a. One Times Square) in New York City. Alas, once Life got out of the picture of the Chicago zipper, it went dead - unlike at Times Square. That zipper was apparently fashioned by Douglas Leigh, who also did the Times Square one (plus many other Times Square "spectaculars"). Must've brought forth that bitmapped type as well.

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for commenting and for watching!

[@jtdavis62]

I'm fairly sure there is no L entrance on Michigan Ave. Those stairs lead to the Metra station to the South Shore Limited.

[@Secession1900]

Yes I agree that was the entrance to the Van Buren Illinois Central station ,now called the Metra Electric and also the South Shore Line.

[@FlynBrian]

Sorry about the inaccuracies. Truth be told, I have never been to Chicago. These images were all captured by my mom during a visit to the city when I was a wee lad. (And they left me with grandma.) Since she and my dad are both gone and can no longer be asked about the footage, I resorted to simple observation. I spent hours analyzing the scenes and comparing what I saw with images in Google "Street View" to figure out where these were taken. Although I cannot fix the video without deleting this post, re-rendering the video and posting a new version, I do greatly appreciate your input.

[@noblehillministerprophet8689]

Cool music! 1966 first year highschool

[@franklopez4276]

Great footage!! I may have been at Oak Street Beach when you drove past. One other thing. The Kemper Insurance Bldg was on South Wacker Drive by the Civic Opera House, not on State & Wacker.

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for the correction and thanks for watching!

[@noblehillministerprophet8689]

Thank you

[@adape0884frank]

Oh how awesome do you have anything from 1971?

[@schlesmail1]

Thanx for the memories, Brian! Conversion quality is excellent, compared to others I've seen. Whom would you recommend for me to convert a bunch of old 8mm home movies to video--preferably best quality for best price?

[@FlynBrian]

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thanks for the great comment! This footage was originally captured on an 8mm film camera by my mom back in the day. Sometime in the late 1980s, the 8mm film was converted to VHS video tape. Later, In the early 2000s, the VHS video was converted to digital format. So, the footage has been through several iterations of conversion. I still have the original 8mm film and maybe some day I will get it converted directly to digital format. As to your question, "Who would I recommend?", I don't have a clue. The company that did the original conversion is long out of business. Sorry.

[@JamesSmith-wp4um]

Hood ornament on car that they were riding in over the Skyway bridge tells me that it was a '65 Dodge Monaco

[@FlynBrian]

An excellent observation for sure. That was the "Family Truckster" and if memory serves me correct, I think it was a 1965 Dodge Polara station wagon. But I suspect the hood ornaments were the same on both. Thanks for watching!!

[@davehue9517]

WOW...the streets cleaned with no trash or litter rolling around, the water, park and boulevard without trash, potholes, panhandling or homeless.... something has definitely deteriorated since...our politicians have forgotten how to run a city and don't have any civic pride

[@trainliker100]

My father used to say that everybody you meet either has, or will be, at some point in their life at State and Madison in Chicago. While I don't think that's quite true, I have found it surprising how often that is the case.

[@noblehillministerprophet8689]

Cool music

[@Chiracingfan]

1:21 Was Chicago’s time square. Why did it get removed

[@TheMagicGeekdom]

Neat footage!

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!

[@robertmasina4610]

Yes 1966, before there were a number of skyscrapers, unlike today.

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!

[@gregory46236]

As a kid in the 60s, I remember my parents driving on LSD when they had the S curve.

[@michaelfrankel8082]

Incorrect. That was NOT the L entrance on Van Burin. There is no L entrance anywhere on Michigan avenue. That was, and is, the ICC commuter train entrance.

[@111danish111]

Time machine .

[@TeenGlamBoxx]

tip play it at a slower speed thank me later

[@FlynBrian]

Thanks for watching!