Downtown Dallas - Early 1970s

A rare 35mm film of a car driving down the streets of downtown Dallas shot by the Dallas Theater Center in early 1970s.

[@m-71tx26]

I grew up in Dallas and it’s a treat for me to see how it looked at the beginning of the 1970’s(my father was in his late 20s at that point and one of my uncles had just come home from Vietnam). Watching films like this one is the nearest thing to a time machine that we have. And by way: Most of the cars that were in the film are now sought-after collector’s items.

[@riverjstarkey7244]

Wow, that is some sharp film for the period.

[@PrinceDarius2000]

For people who don't know, it was shot in 35mm which was an analog technology. 35mm film can be converted to 4k. So most of the films that were shot from 40's through the 90's had potential to be converted to 1080p or 4k, but we didn't have the devices or technology yet to watch them on.

[@greenvelvet]

​@@PrinceDarius2000wow I did not know that. Thank you!

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

​@@PrinceDarius2000 yes we did, you put it on a screen.

[@joerules829]

Am I the only one that thinks of the opening credits to “The Naked Gun” when I watch this video?

[@willpoundstone71]

no

[@nukima11]

Ha!

[@vegas9440]

Absolutely amazing. Classic cars

[@nordythenorthman]

I see that most of the theaters on Elm Street are gone and only a few of them were still left at the time. Only the Majestic still remains to this day.

[@Senator.Tien.Strong]

Woah it was beautiful back in the 70's

[@kristennnnn9038]

Wow its so surreal seeing footage from almost 60 years ago in hd , like it looks so recent yet so old

[@Rustycaddy17]

Its not in HD, its in 4k!

[@clutchcargo2419]

Thx, i grew up in dallas - great vid.

[@sundaymoon000]

I love this so much!!! Thank you and need more

[@jameshorton7496]

Was kind of hoping to see Dealy Plaza. But remarkable film to say the least.

[@Sarajevo_1999]

Beautiful

[@mbclaxton78]

Early 1970, likely January/February. One of the theatre marquees advertises Marlo Thomas in "Jenny". Another has Warren Beatty/Liz Taylor in "The Only Game in Town".

[@mbclaxton78]

Oh yeah, to get a good view of things, drop the playback down to half-speed. This is great, crystal-clear footage!

[@eascec8374]

The Majestic Theatre Said "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here" (Released By Universal In December 1969); Yes This Is Dated Early 1970.

[@marktaft]

Sharp eye, detective!

[@crusinclassicslucas6218]

Has anyone ever cared about that this was actually an ambulance response

[@mikesolo472]

"1-ADAM-12, 1-ADAM-12"

[@fidelcatsro6948]

TJ hooker entered the chat..

[@MastaSimpson]

So DPD apparently had 4K technology in the 70’s

[@MarquosXoloVanda]

This is why film is superior to hd digital

[@BenKirb]

@@MarquosXoloVanda But dirt, hair, scratches and dust are the only problems.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

​@@BenKirb Welcome to the real world.

[@BenDieseL313]

Original GoPro footage !!🙂

[@fidelcatsro6948]

Gonepro 1.0 !

[@bravobravoh1344]

Dallas was slow on economic progress in those days. Only if you were in properly connected social circles could you progress from the meager earnings that were typical of those times. It took decades for the DFW area to come into the real world.

[@johnerwin9024]

slow it down; see how much has changed-

[@jtc9098]

The city looks so well taken care of. There is so much work that needs to be done today and the city doesn't do anything about it.

[@trevorjameson3213]

Yes it looks great, and no bums or thugs lying around or standing around on the street corners.

[@greenvelvet]

Holy hell! THIS IS COOL!

[@FliVids]

This cannot be real wow

[@zone47]

Wow, every one of those cars are now worth 1000s of dollars. I wonder if anyone had a clue? Plano had like 3,000 people living there at that time.

[@trevorjameson3213]

We didn't have a clue back then. Cars and trucks were pretty cheap at the time and didn't last very long. 100 thousand miles was a big deal. Our '68 Dodge Dart lasted to 135 thousand miles and that was extremely good. My '71 Chevy Impala went 140 thousand before I bought the next car. Most people kept a car or pickup a few years and upgraded to a new one. People could afford to do that back then when cars were only 3 or 4 thousand dollars new. I also had a '65 Chevelle that I wish I had kept. Even back then, I knew it had a classic look. But nobody could have guessed those old cars would ever be worth anything in the future.

[@mima8862]

Awww Dallas as I knew it🥰🥰🥰

[@coachbaseball7618]

Not a single homeless or panhandler in sight. Clean streets 🚗👍🏻

[@gdub350]

Before drugs slammed the United States, am I right?

[@trevorjameson3213]

Nope not a one back then! Cops would arrest any bums for vagrancy back then. It sure was nice back then!

[@trevorjameson3213]

@@gdub350 Yes, before drugs, but also there were no street bums because the cops would arrest a bum for vagrancy back then. It sure was nice, I wish they would do that now!!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

so much less populated back then...even cats were rarely spotted on the streets

[@steverutherford7378]

that's nothing. just watch the Rockford Files.

[@Josh-yi4gr]

I'm really interested in what year or decade did the street name signs change from the old 40s/50s font style to what they look like today, that kinda the greenish background with white font. I do know most Dallas street signs have looked basically the same for four decades at least

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

Over time. Just like how neoclassical, art noveau, and art deco fonts shared their strip along with the cursive style shop font in the 1920s. It all came at different intervals, and most of all of these are 1940s fonts.

[@krzysztofmazurkiewicz9831]

I wish, somebody would make a new version of "The Driver" game who just looking like it..

[@ecup1384]

just watch the driver movie directed by walter hill from 1979

[@celticanglotx313]

If I knew cars well I could tell the date pretty close. I recognize some spots like HL Greens and more

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

1969 exact. I saw a 1969 Mercury, a lot of 1964 Fords (that's not really important however to the current year but a interesting tidbit I notice) 1965-68 Lincolns, cadillacs from '59 and 1964, Plymouths, no Buicks surprisingly but might have missed them, and the Police vehicle is around a 1967 Dodge Coronet.

[@rluhringjr]

Slug Bug!

[@passinowt6068]

How is this so clear?!?

[@Chino.12oo]

Bc they needed advanced cameras to film alao a lot of black specs wheels edited out to make it look better

[@osimeon00]

It's on film.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

@@Chino.12oo nothing is edited out here

[@awh5773]

a lot of the buildings still seem to look the same after 45 years lol

[@user-fl3ey6pe6k]

that's a good thing

[@katemorgan4690]

Well lit and preserved film will be superior to digital for a long time, still - but my impression is “Ugh the 1970’s and the things we thought were actual medicine that were only actually metaphysics. Let’s alleviate pain with petroleum derivatives was a bad call.”

[@mima8862]

Google maps car 🚙

[@robertom3018]

We regressed as a city.

[@rickym940]

Now there’s nothing but homeless people & gangsters! & you best don’t go down town at night! 😱

[@MarquosXoloVanda]

Thanks liberal democrats (rats)

[@214dude2]

That’s where all the homeless shelters are located. People in Dallas don’t want them in their neighborhood so they have no choice but to put them in Downtown. It’s not going to change simply due to the location of the shelters. Just about every city in North Texas without homeless shelters send their homeless population to Dallas. The vast majority of homeless people aren’t even from Dallas. Cities across the country also give their homeless one way bus tickets to other cities. So, there’s a lot of them that aren’t even from Texas. But even with that being said, it’s still nowhere near on the level of cities in California (LA, SF, etc.)

[@anthonyv1971]

It’s actually getting gentrified

[@mima8862]

Miami is bad

[@invisableobserver]

This brought back memories, Dallas was a fairly decent place back then before the hoards of foreign mongrel heathens turned it into a ghetto.

[@bravobravoh1344]

but the wages were very low

[@trevorjameson3213]

Man you sure got that right! "Foreign Mongrel Heathens".. Very well put!!

[@hothemeep1219]

​@@bravobravoh1344the cost of life too !