New York City 1950s in color, Third Ave El [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added

[@NASS_0]

in which city in the world do you want to live in 1950s???

[@song1861]

sorry no Thanks..

[@AvioftheSand]

Maybe Lucerne, Switzerland. Somewhere beautiful like that.

[@shaggybreeks]

Buenos Aires or Honolulu

[@Mathin3D]

Nu Yoik freaking C T!!!

[@wallytuber]

One of the cities in california probably. San Francisco maybe. Before the state got ruined.

[@if6was929]

Remarkable footage! I was born in 1950, Brooklyn, NY and I clearly remember riding with my mother on the elevated subway, looking at the streets below, the lofts, the traffic with cars built like tanks. The U.S. was still experiencing post war prosperity, wealth wasn't ostentatious, blue collar rode the same subways, ate at the same places, shopped at the same stores as white collar professionals. No billionaires, there just didn't seem to be much of a divide between the social classes. Kids of all types hung out together, air conditioning wasn't that prevalent. The streets teemed with people, open windows, music played from transistor radios. Sinatra, Dion And The Belmonts, the Everly Brothers, The Platters, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Elvis, Bobby Darin... Men still wore hats, many wore suits, women dressed as seen in this film. Adults dressed like an adult, kids dressed like a kid, except on Sunday's when kids dressed like an adult. The Blue Laws meant that retail stores were closed on Sunday's, at least in Brooklyn. There was a standard, a uniformity, a formality but... Between the cracks there was a burgeoning subculture, the Birth of the Cool, the Beat movement, the Civil Rights movement, so many interesting characters. Mad magazine, Playboy, Ban the Bomb, Sputnik, the Cuban Revolution, the Cold War. Great science fiction movies, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day The Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, Invaders From Mars... Alaska and Hawaii became states, nuns wore habits, a slice of pizza was .10 cents....

[@jherl8307]

Yeah back in the day you could get same day tickets to pro sports with good seats for the average guy and his sons. Now corporations have upped the ante to where you have to be a season ticket holder to have a shot at a good seat. Ridiculous

[@timothydempsey3763]

And cancer was a sure thing

[@hook-x6f]

@@timothydempsey3763 No it wasn't

[@FINEST-uk8nc]

Golden age of this country in my opinion

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@derrickfinzer_retro But last way longer than they did back at the time of this film.

[@hiker64]

I have to say one of the best things about your work is your use of sound - People don't realize how difficult it is to find the correct sounds, but also how to use them properly, fading to the front or rear, or balancing to the left or right. It's hard to remember that these videos had no sound originally - Really well done.

[@Printer0011]

Just the only thing is the propulsion motors on the trains... they sound exactly like the 142 and 160's that are currently running today. Other than that, great effort 👍🏿👍🏿

[@angelsoulnme]

The EL train sounds are perfect

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

They added color as well didn't they?

[@sobroed]

I agree with you 100%. I actually came across afew (so called) restored NYC videos from the 40's & 50's...and sadly their added sound effects were way too modern...with police car sirens, cars honking, people & children talking in areas where you just didn't see any pedestrians at all...and the sound of a passing car playing loud hip hop music. I thought it was so unoriginal...but funny at the same time. Lol

[@deveraalmestica5838]

My mom was born in 1946 . May she rest in peace. I always told my dad that era of 1940 s and 1950 where the best people respect each other and always dress well . To see my home town of New York in the 1950s is beautiful. Thank you .

[@luislaplume8261]

There are pictures of me from 1959 with my late parents and my grandmother in Woodside, Queens, NYC. One of those pictures shows the switch tower for the line 7 train that was built in 1917 to change from local to express and back again. When it was alright for middle class families to have just one parent working. It was a largely Irish neighborhood. 😊

[@jashary15]

I have two older sisters; the oldest born in 1946 and the latter in 1951, so they were little girls in 1955, ages 9 and 4 respectively. They can remember as little girls back then running up to Third Avenue and 124th Street in East Harlem and watching the Transit workers dismantling the Third Avenue El.

[@saraortiz7818]

I rode the 3rd Ave El, with my mom from 3rd Ave and 149th St to Fordham Rd in the Bronx.. it was our shopping trip.. sometimes it was just for sightseeing all the way to the end of the line.. Gunhill Rd..It was scary, but fun.. scratchy wicker seats..Everyone was polite, well dressed and patient.. I was 8yrs old.. the trains were dark, but very cleaned inside.. I think my last ride was in 1967.. Thank you for sharing.. Great Memories.👏🥰👏

[@spontaneouz1000-sr6ls]

2 activities I really missed out on in my childhood/teenage years, riding the 3rd Ave El (8 train), and having fun at Freedom land amusement park (which is now Co op City). I was born in 1980

[@JimmyFoxhound]

the shot @ 6:33 has such a film noir look to it, I love it! Man I love the aesthetics of the 50s. The hats & clothes and cars. So cool to see this.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

This isn't the only footage of the 50s........ Do people not understand this. Don't you care to think perhaps they had color camera at the time.

[@rogerfournier3284]

I agree the whole look had a noir look to it, for sure.

[@Tj-ho2fs]

@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar unclench

[@leversforever9748]

@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar Lighten up Francis!!

[@RF_NY1]

At 6:46 the guy honestly looks like he's heading home after a hit!

[@kevinmorgan8534]

I was born in 1955 so it's interesting to see what the world looked like then. It's amazing how fast the world changed between then and the 60's and 70's. Dramatic changes all in a short time.

[@anastasios901]

So was I on October 26 1955 Fascinating footage!!

[@anastasios901]

They had to strip all this El line down. Wow!

[@arunanarina1316]

You were born in New York, Mr. Morgan ?

[@rosannasmom1]

@@anastasios901 my birthday is October 26! (Different year)

[@Tracktorking]

@@anastasios901 you guys are lucky :'(

[@JosephThomas-xb9wo]

Love the hats and fashion style of the 50s . Like being in a time machine back to the past .

[@gustavoperez5480]

And also nice dress shoes.

[@LUIS-ox1bv]

Loved the signage in many of the storefronts and businesses.

[@billgreen1861]

@@gustavoperez5480 What I found outstanding was the femininity of the ladies getting off the train. Unlike today's " bulldozer " pushing their way out or in the train. I really miss those days. I remember the 2nd avenue elevated train and there were gumball vending machines that dispense little box with two Chiclets inside.

[@gustavoperez5480]

@@billgreen1861 i agree with you.

[@realsteviem]

@@billgreen1861 Sadly, Feminism killed Femininity

[@tommotd]

The Bronx leg of the 3rd Ave El was the last to be dismantled. I rode it daily from Gun Hill Road to Fordham Road going to summer school at Roosevelt High School. My Mom once took me on a ride all the way to South Ferry as a child. Thanks for your efforts here!

[@HeatherB81]

So cool! Thank you for sharing!

[@keppela1]

Did the Bronx 4/5 trains overlap with the 3rd Ave El, or were those a completely different line?

[@tommotd]

@@keppela1 The 5 train stopped at Gun Hill Road where you could go downstairs to the lower (elevated) level and get the 3rd Ave train. In the early days some of the 3rd Ave El trains originated at or near 241st Street (like the #5 train) and the tracks split off and ran down to the lower level at G.H. Rd and made the turn to run along Gun Hill Rd., over the Parkway, then a tight turn south to run along Webster Ave.

[@tommotd]

Correction: The 5 train runs part time on that line. It's the #2 train that originates at 241 and stops at Gun Hill and White Plains road, where the 3rd Ave El stopped.

[@keppela1]

@@tommotd I thought some of the line looked familiar. I used to ride the 5 all the time (about 40 years ago : ) Also went to Bx. Sci. and Fordham U. so familiar with that whole Gunhill/Fordham Rd. area you're talking about.

[@billking1751]

I was born in 62, but by, 65, i still remember the city i was born, and raised in (Waterloo, Ia) looking similar to this, the clothes, cars, the cleanliness of the streets, signs, neon signs, and the way people looked, and carried themselves, with such pride.

[@Koffieleuter]

Back when things were designed to last and people still polished their shoes.

[@LUIS-ox1bv]

Examine the public appearance of New Yorkers in this footage and compare it to the non standards of dressing today. Many will dismiss this startling difference as a being merely a matter of changing tastes. I look at it as societal degeneration and decay.

[@BeeBee-pl9ly]

​@@LUIS-ox1bv why? Because we don't all wear black/brown/blue suits? And awful dress shoes that hurt our feet? Such decay that I gotta hurt my feet while walking and wear uniforms outside like I'm in grade school

[@mstrpig123]

​@@BeeBee-pl9ly Well made dress shoes are more comfortable than trainers (sneakers). A well tailored suit is likewise more comfortable than a cotton jumpsuit. It's about self respect, (notice how little obesity there was compared to now). Objects were made to last and look beautiful as opposed to being designed to make you buy them over and over to enrich lefty globalists. And walking around in a hoody, sneakers with a lip stud and shit tattoos are still a uniform. Just one that makes people look stupid and shit. Mostly because illiterate, lefty drones who think what the media tell them to and have no self respect are just that- stupid and shit.

[@BeeBee-pl9ly]

@@mstrpig123 I don't believe that even well made dress shoes are better than sneakers in comfort.. I'll need some sensual proof. Also I don't agree with tattoos and other garbage to make you look like an idiot but to say a tailored suit and shoes are more comfortable than a tee shirt with sweatpants is ridiculous.

[@nysavvy9241]

Some were working in those suits. People did wear comfortable shoes back then as well. Nice when one could ride the subway without fear, homeless sleeping all over and people lugging huge pack packs with all their earthly processions. Technology has certainly improved but society has not.

[@omunozl]

THIS FOOTAGE IS PURE GOLD. Refreshing to see people quietly reading their newspapers on the subway.If you compare it to today the way people dressed there was more societal respect. Even the subway car seats were cushioned. Nobody blaring radios or panhandling.

[@Halliday7895]

societal respect or ...shame and repressed behavior for fear of standing out and being noticed as unacceptable...i think we are better off not worrying constantly how we will be perceived...to a degree. obviously I dont think people should just act like obnoxious freaks in public...but feeling comfortable and not uptight dress in wool head to toe is an improvement.

[@puppylove3781]

No negroes. Just right!

[@foodeater1236]

@@Halliday7895 we are still shamed and repressed if we somehow offend the wrong people

[@steveshama5960]

Has anyone ever written to you saying they saw their dad, mom, sister or brother or friend in your video? That would be special and heartwarming. Your video brought be back to when I lived in Brooklyn as a child. Sweet years...

[@a.b.s_productions]

If my father was alive still this would bring a tear to his eye. I remember him telling me all about the 3rd Ave EL. He was born in 1952, and he said his earliest memory was taking this El line with his mother my grandmother. A lot of people were heartbroken when this was demolished. It’s just fascinating to see that this is how people dressed.

[@JuanRodriguez-uc6br]

It was a terrible eyesore for the city.

[@drewh3224]

They didn't have subway crimes then..

[@jamesmcinnis208]

"Heartbroken" because the subway was rerouted?

[@rhythmfield]

@@jamesmcinnis208 I am a New Yorker myself; New Yorkers get attached to things like this, particular subway lines that you travel your entire life, the convenience, the memories…

[@rhythmfield]

I bet the residents on the second and third floors facing the street weren’t too heartbroken… Although I’ve heard that people living along subway lines get so used to it, that some miss it when they spend time elsewhere!

[@strafrag1]

I can still remember vividly being two years old in 1955, in a stroller and going to the shops under the EL Train with my aunt on White Plains Road in The Bronx.

[@neilm7902]

LOL... Yep, that's where I grew up.

[@corrineagnello4584]

Wow, that was really great. I love how everyone was dressed nice and I like all the different hats !

[@matthewparsons1497]

The closest we will ever come to time travel. Thank you for posting this.

[@ivanerokhin9105]

All these old videos make me sad, because life is so fleeting, and we are doing some nonsense until it suddenly ends.

[@bobtaylor170]

John 11: 25, 26.

[@ivanerokhin9105]

@@bobtaylor170 Job 7:2,3

[@bobtaylor170]

@@ivanerokhin9105 , yes, and there's no conflict. Job 19:26.

[@51pogo]

And sadly, most of us do not realize that until we get close to the end of our run…

[@davechristian7543]

@@bobtaylor170 there is no 19:26 so why direct ppl there?>

[@justme8837]

Still looked like the 19th century. My parents moved to NY in 1958 from S. America and it is nice to see the NY they moved to.

[@Vertex-lx7hx]

As a native New Yorker, the sound effects you used for the on-train shots broke the immersion for me. Those are the sounds of the newer modern subway cars!

[@8avexp]

Agreed. Those el cars had spur-cut gears that moaned and groaned as they gathered speed. You could tell how fast you were going by the bear pitch.

[@chicago-l9125]

Yep. The sound overlay for this video sounded like the more recently purchased R160 cars used on the BMT/IND subway lines. So while that wasn't a huge deal, it took away from the authenticity of the video just a little bit.

[@ron101346]

Indeed, the soundtrack is much too prominent; and it sounds like the output from much larger and heavier railcars.

[@mohamad-ms2pb]

Leave it to the subway buffs to not only point out that the audio was dubbed in, but to point out the recording did not apply to the el cars depicted in this video.

[@HardCold-Alquan]

@@mohamad-ms2pb Yeah, like the average person would know without having been alive then.

[@randymoyan7871]

I love the old neon signs on all the businesses. It gave so much character to the older buildings. The men wearing fedoras and the well dressed women of the day. My favorite decades were the 40's and 50's. Thanks NASS for another trip back in time!

[@gustavoperez5480]

And also nice dress and shiny shoes was the normal.

[@calrissianlando7792]

People still dressed very nice all the way up until the late, late 70's then the 80's and 90's was where people really changed. The hippies didn't really go mainstream until the early 70's and even then people generally were still using the hats, overcoats and clothing designs of yesteryear with only moderate alterations. The Counter culture movement really did a number on people's dress, behavior and civics which came as a result of conversative overeach in many instances.

[@ga6589]

Those women were also wearing girdles to cinch in their waistlines and hold up their nylon stockings. I'm so glad those days are long gone!

[@issacjones4237]

@@ga6589 why's that

[@ga6589]

@@issacjones4237 I'm old enough to remember having to wear a girdle and stockings. You try it and I doubt you'll be asking why I'm glad those days are gone. Women's clothing and undergarments have historically been very restrictive and uncomfortable.

[@seandelap8587]

One thing I always notice from watching these videos is how clean the roads and footpaths look without any sign of rubbish being thrown around

[@thebalderthor4884]

It’s amazing what liberal policies end up doing to these big beautiful cities.

[@OSTARAEB4]

@@thebalderthor4884 this was real New York. Loud, griity and overwhelmingly safe.

[@oliveater2358]

Because that was a time when good manners were taught to children and bad manners and crime weren't tolerated in society. Sadly, trash is the least of your worries if you are using the subway today.

[@sushimamba4281]

That's because rubbish wasn't invented until 10 May 1989 by Nobel Prize winner, Sir Charles B. Rubbish III.

[@adkforever6997]

NO POLITICS FOR CHRIST'S SAKE

[@vintageradios7790]

These we're the good old days. Great job remastering this film. My mother was married in 1948 she loved her brownie camera, always taking pictures of anything and everything it is amassing how things have changed, the subway was 10 cents in 1955. The rent was $39 at the time the stories she could tell were remarkable the tons of her photos tell the story of NY. She got her camera as a wedding present in 1948.

[@johnjohn3241]

Good old days because you were white.

[@genebigs1749]

Incredible footage...your work is amazing. Thank you for posting. I will be rewatching this at least 3 or 4 more times!

[@NASS_0]

Thank you

[@jody6851]

Scary, but I was two years old when this film was made. Alive and experiencing this world. To this day, I remember the cars including the Dodge my parents had. And I remember my father taking me on those very dark green subways dating back to the 20s and 30s for the very first time with the lacquered wicker seats, the dangling strap handles from the ceiling to help balance if standing, ceiling fans (there was no A/C in those days in subway cars), the intense squealing sound of the metal wheels on the tracks overlaid accurately in this film, and the rows of naked bulbs on each side of a subway car that would flicker as the train went across seams of the third rail. This elevated line -- the Third Avenue El -- was removed from Manhattan in May 1955. Obviously, no more than a month or so after this film was made if it is also from 1955. And any older person shown in the film would have been born in the last two decades of the 19th Century as my grandparents were in the 1890s, or at most at the very turn of the 20th Century.

[@OSTARAEB4]

The El was before my time but I remember those army green subway cars on the A train and they were dark, wicker seats yes and the stand arms and those small fans. Gosh, they were so loud and the suspension was horrible. Even the Redbirds were much more comfortable! 😄

[@sopaman1234]

I was born two years later and my parents telling me when i was a baby they took me to Coney Island..My mom telling me exactly the same thing when i was a little older..

[@larryfine88]

Do you remember the one penny vending machines for gum?

[@OSTARAEB4]

@@larryfine88 are you referring to the turn knob and you had to quickly catch the gum ball out before the latch opened and different colored gum balls a bit larger than a marble is what you got? I remember the machines were a bit larger than the token boxes when you got on a New York City bus. 😀

[@richardz3577]

@@OSTARAEB4 I think larryfine88 is referring to the vending machine that would sell a small piece of gum for a penny. There was a bar that one could move to the brand/flavor that they liked, put in the penny and pull the bar down....out came a piece of gum wrapped in paper.

[@Napoleonvanderbilt]

Probably one of the best places and times to be born. If you were born intelligent when this video was taken, you probably lived a very very good life.

[@sidilicious11]

I was in my first year of life then. There were some very good things about it. Never had to worry about being gunned down in school for one.

[@howboutnow974]

@@sidilicious11 Merely musketed down in educational church!

[@matrox]

My brother was born this year. I 2 years later. The 50s and 60s were a great time to grow up.

[@fredrickmarsiello4395]

@@sidilicious11 It happened, though less frequently.

[@drscopeify]

@@sidilicious11 There were school shooting of course, fewer fatalities but they happened in the 1950s as well. In 1952 there was a school shooting in NYC with 1 fatality. The first mass and terrible shooting was in 1966 in Austin Texas "University of Texas tower shooting" with 18 deaths, very sad. However there are school attacks in every country and there is always more that needs to be done to prevent it along with attacks against staff in Hospitals that is also a big issue no one talks about but is common all over the world, here too.

[@charlesseiderman29]

I remember this stuff, I was born 1950. I remember the El going right through the middle of the block at 138th. St. where I lived! Amazing...

[@jtcbrt]

The streets were way cleaner. The clothes were way nicer. And the times were way more civil. An innocence gone forever. So sad.

[@althepenguin]

Yeah but there was also lead paint, and almost everyone smoked.

[@lourdesfernandez3301]

@@jtcbrt Yes, I’m sure Black Americans would agree with the civility part. And women who had very little rights. Nice clothes and streets are nice. But there’s more to life than that. Much more important things.

[@jntj3007]

Life was much simpler, the vast majority of people were much more sensible and decent then-this can even be seen in they way they dressed and carried themselves. Thanks for uploading this video!

[@NASS_0]

Thanks

[@jntj3007]

@@NASS_0 You're welcome.

[@kratoleaf7619]

then came the minorities

[@jntj3007]

@@kratoleaf7619 Each successive ethnicity/nationality that arrived in the U.S. was considered a minority by the groups that preceded them.

[@HayADrummer]

@@jntj3007 cool, and?

[@stevenlawrence7340]

These videos would be so cool to watch in today's history classes. Absolutely fantastic. Still my favorite youtube channel.

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much

[@johnscanlan9335]

Teachers wouldn't show these videos in classrooms these days. Students might get the idea what civilization looks like!

[@stevenlawrence7340]

@@johnscanlan9335 yeah..they wanna erase and change history.Good point. Too bad though these videos are amazing.

[@Dorpmuller]

Never happen because they'd whine racizt, racist, racist.

[@williamlacentra2808]

Loved riding those El trains--even the ones in the subway when I was a kid ------the front cars were always open for a perfect view of the tracks and paths, providing a tour in itself...!

[@donnasmyth45]

Why were they called El?

[@williamlacentra2808]

@@donnasmyth45 El----is short for elevated line--------those trains which ran above the ground ---there are still s few of them left in New York City, but moist disappeared or was torn down to preserve light and air space..!

[@donnasmyth45]

@@williamlacentra2808 thankyou for your reply.

[@williamlacentra2808]

@@donnasmyth45 You're welcome----by the way-----all the above video you are seeing of the El's in Manhattan are no more and have been build instead underground...!

[@troyadeyemi1996]

Look at how clean everything was. no trash in the streets. no graffiti on buildings. Civilized, well-dressed people walking the streets and riding the trains. For as much as we've progressed as a society, we've regressed in many other areas.

[@jaminova_1969]

Thank You for showing me what my grandparents NYC looled like! They didn't own a car, took the train or taxis everywhere! Grandpa helped Liberate France in WW2. Said it was the best time in his life! Merci, Mr. Nass!

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much

[@OSTARAEB4]

This is all basically The Third Avenue Elevated in it’s last years although it might be more like early 1950‘s. That shed was at 42nd Street and Third Avenue as the white building in background was the old New York Daily News Building on corner of 42nd Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan. One can see in the train shed to the right the skeleton frame of the Secony Mobil Building and there was a Woolworths on that corner for decades. The view is looking East along 42nd Street. Those old „Honeymooners“ buses „Ride the Motorcoach Way“‘ were in service from about 1941-late 1960‘s. Manhattan had a few of these elevated lines on Ninth Avenue, Sixth Avenue torn down in 1939 and here the Third Avenue El which was the last to be demolished about 1953. Thanks NASS.

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much

[@luislaplume8261]

It was demolished in the summer of 1955 and finished in 1956.

[@OSTARAEB4]

@@luislaplume8261 Thanks Luis.

[@boinknook]

I was born in 1964, lived in NYC all my life and never seen this.🤭 always wondered why? Had it been around, I certainly would have taken it! Fantastic view! Wish it was still around. Thanks for that info!

[@luislaplume8261]

@@OSTARAEB4 Thank you. I first learned about it in elementary school back in the 1960s in NYC when we had history class and we had a 1950s NYC history book and I saw a photo of it from that era and wondered why we didn't see it when my family went to Manhattan on some weekends for walking around, by then the only evidence of any elevated train line was the 59the street branch without tracks from the Queensborough Bridge that nearly reaches 2nd Ave. There was no trace of the 3rd Ave. El. The last 2nd Avenue El ended service in 1942, 14 years before we immigrated to America legally from Cuba.

[@J-ellO]

So wonderful to view this! Thank you so much for all you do………❤❤

[@NASS_0]

Thank you so much

[@golferpro1241]

My grandfather who hailed from Newmarket County Cork Ireland was a conductor on the 3rd Ave El at this time. Would love to see him in one of these films. Good show!

[@roystrickland3363]

When people moved next to el trains, their neighbors told them they'd get used to the noise. Actually, they got used to it because the els made them lose their hearing.

[@jamesstephens9702]

Thanks for sharing this video. In the 1970's I use to ride Bronx section of the third Avenue El from 174th street to 149th street. The third Avenue El service in the Bronx was ended in 1973 and replaced with the Bx 55 Express bus.

[@qg3726]

Stepping back in Time.. These videos are fascinating as current Society get a glimpse of how things were back then. To think that most of these Folks are obviously not here anymore & even the little kids are now in their 70'S..

[@RobertodelaVega-t3w]

I was one year old in 1955... today I am 70 and still live in NYC... Great Video!

[@matrox]

3:35 I like how everyone is dressed looking professional and no thugs hanging around trying to rob people or push on the track.

[@gustavoperez5480]

Fedoras, suits and ties and also dress shoes were the dress code of those decades, figured it out.

[@matrox]

@@gustavoperez5480 There was no dress code, there was a common sense code. You figure it out.

[@gustavoperez5480]

@@matrox i agree with you.

[@51pogo]

There were a few thugs around back then too, but even they had to dress better to fit in. This is a wonderful, high quality film. Thanks NASS! Favorite TV show shot in the streets back then is Naked City.

[@D_Marrenalv]

@@matrox that's what he basically meant.

[@Mixednuts2]

Makes me think of my dear departed parents who in the prime of their live during this period. I have memories as a small boy with Dad in New York City visiting his office off Madison in the mid 20s. Turkey club sandwiches at his favorite lunch spot. Life flys by so fast.

[@MovementGraffiti]

It’s crazy there’s only like one above ground subway station left in Manhattan now. Thanks for this peek into the past!

[@andrewstaples7544]

There's still a few in the bronx

[@monember2722]

At least 3 in queens

[@mcc28joe]

the addition of sound is so compelling and makes this restored footage become an "experience" instead of eye-candy. So cool!

[@vincentperratore4395]

You might say that!

[@NASS_0]

Like and Share Please!

[@maladetts]

You do "remastering", but can't upload without the black bars, when any basic program and KZbin itself give you every option to do that? I honestly don't get this. How about uploading without the bars and making this likable/sharable automaticially?

[@keplermission4947]

Awesome ... pity we're all in such a hurry, deserves studying.

[@charles6771]

Some of the best and clearest from that era, cinematography! Amazing the degree of cut and cover excavation and construction work, that went into making this the world’s largest subterranean metro system.

[@robinsss]

@@charles6771 looks just like the Chicago L today

[@nycitymodeltransitsystemby5785]

NY City Model Transit System, by Joseph. Frank 0 seconds I lived along, and rode and photographed the Manhattan & Bronx 3rd Ave El in the late 1940's thru mid 1950 - and 1973 for the Bronx remnant when it closed in April. This colorized film is excellent and brings back the reality of the time for me. I made scale 1/48 museum caliber models of the IRT & BMT El and subway cars of the period -- and a huge El layout to run them on. I have a website of photos & videos of this layout and models - . Thank you "NASS" for what I consider accurate colorization process on segments of Ben's films you used. I have copies of his 3 long 16mm film reels in B&W.

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much! It is a pleasure to read your comment ;)

[@martinmulder8501]

Great job, what a fascinating time-machine!

[@NASS_0]

Thx ;)

[@710MaryJane]

I WAS BORN JULY, 1951 IN NYC. 🎉 THANKS FOR POSTING! ❤

[@Thesage50]

This video brings back fond memories of those wooden platforms, straw seats , metal fans , and the fragrance of Wrigley’s chewing gum permeating the air!

[@kkrazy2263]

Wow, this is some of the best footage I've ever seen... to see the train roll up to Canal St and that bank tower on Canal.. Also that station at 57th and 3rd. What I also like is the footage from inside the cars showing how it's not too much different from today even though everyone is buried in their phone.

[@Video4Mori]

Thank you for your work which shows us these wonderful testimonies of the past

[@NASS_0]

Thank you

[@robertgdavis1]

Rode this when I was 4. Lived at 27th off 3rd Ave. 28th was the stop. Dismantled in May 1955. Memories.

[@bronxboy47]

The Third Avenue El was not just in Manhattan. It extended well into the upper reaches of the Bronx (Gun Hill Road was the last stop on the line). I was born in 1947 and raised at 1088 Washington Ave, one block parallel to the 166th street 3rd Ave El station. I rode the El to and from PS2 every day during the school terms of my 1st through 4th grades.

[@angelsoulnme]

Very cool information! Native New Yorker too but a Brooklyn girl. I’m the 90’s I commuted in.

[@leecornwell5632]

The Thrid Avenue Elevated line definitely needs to come back. If they tair something down put it back. Stop keeping people out of new York city. Bring the Thrid Avenue Elevated line back. People would definitely come back to new York city if they bring the 8 Thrid Avenue Elevated line back.

[@lancegomez6118]

​@leecornwell5632 You are absolutely right, the people want and need it,it can be done let's get it done!

[@GeOsmomGina]

I love, these videos. My mother was 26, in 1955. I wish she was alive to see these videos.

[@thebalderthor4884]

The streets are clean, people are all dressed well, there isn’t graffiti everywhere, homelessness is a tiny fraction of what it is now, and crime isn’t rampant. I’d take this New York over the current one every time.

[@sidilicious11]

No school shootings.

[@insmileyfacemur4242]

I think New York was worse on the 80's and 90's with graffiti bro

[@carl0maldonado46]

Crime was still around just more organized and scary…😂😂

[@Eagle7433]

And everyone is racist. If you're a person of color, good luck.

[@sidilicious11]

@@Eagle7433 that part sucked!

[@gregdolecki8530]

Fascinating look at a day long gone. This was the year the El was decommissioned and demolition started. This was probably a "last ride" to capture the experience.

[@jamill79]

Amazing. Thank You, keep up the great work.

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much

[@anthonyyoutubefan7567]

Truly remarkable. Thank you. My parents were adolescents, during this time, living in NYC. They'd probably totally relate to all of this, if I showed this video to them.

[@peace-yv4qd]

I grew up in the 40's 50's ands 60's. Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end.

[@theghostofleeroyjenkinsi3087]

Thanks for the diversity and inclusion Silent Gen!

[@jamesmack3314]

@@theghostofleeroyjenkinsi3087 diversity is overrated

[@FINEST-uk8nc]

I am a 58yr old lifer long NYer born and raised in NYC now live in suburbs .. right off the the cleanliness of the streets stand out big time also the attire of people I remember my father dressing like that! Oh well different and much better times on my opinion … golden age of USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@pedrocooper]

Great video as always, thank you for posting. Believe it or not at 1'36" the Comet Hotel (106 Bowery) is now the US Pacific Hotel!

[@solohoh]

Just the way I remember it in the summer of 1956 --- commuting from the Bronx to Nedicks restaurant at Grand Central Station, where we served hot dogs & orange drink. I was 16

[@rayjaypaulsen]

Great to see history that's not to be forgotten!

[@leecornwell5632]

That Thrid Avenue Elevated line is definitely coming back real soon I'm telling you that now Wake up and smell the coffee

[@ellylovely205]

The metallic pink color car is amazing! How about a day in Los Angeles and New York?! Great videos! Thanks for sharing! 🥰💗

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

That Buick would have probably been metallic platinum blue.

[@dannyboyz7061]

The clothing designers for this show are really good at capturing the time in history.

[@FenceThis]

thumbs up to the props department

[@darracqboy]

Funni

[@rasputanrasputan1380]

I lived uptown ,remember sitting on the fire escape and waving when the train passed by..

[@curtisdalrymple42]

This is almost kind of eerie it's like looking at a different world.

[@FINEST-uk8nc]

That’s because it was … 100% different and for the better not worse

[@kingjoeytheape1657]

Yup sad. Now it's another country with double the idiots. 🥴👈

[@grower420ed4]

Just look at how clean everything is there’s not even garbage in the streets unreal how Different it is now😮

[@arawilson]

Dirty, at 57th & 3rd?

[@Sashazur]

It’s not like New York City now is a dump unless you’re in a sketchy area. And even in this clip you can see some trash, like by the fire hydrant and stairs near the beginning. To me what looks different (besides the people and cars and such) is only really the lack of graffiti back then.

[@number1pappy]

I just wanted to thank you for restoring all these films of our past! Thank you so much!

[@rhythmfield]

Kinda trippy - eery timewarp quality - gratitude to cameramen who took these for posterity, and to document a particular period of time.

[@tonywolton]

The city that went on for miles and miles, street after street. It must have been the most fascinating train ride ever, if you love the 50s. When the El's came down the streets must have seemed naked. In another life I think I would have been happy to have been an El train driver........gliding above the streets.

[@jessewolf7649]

They still seem naked to me.

[@monember2722]

It's so amazing to think that 3rd avenue had an elevated line. I know they existed all over NY but it's so hard to phantom it now. And only back in the 50s. That's fairly recent.

[@dariusketchup4781]

Amazing...noone wearing shorts or t-shirts and flip-flops, ragged jeans hanging down showing off thier underwear and the crack of thier butts. Everyone is nice and neat, the cars, buildings, everything. Thanks for posting this! 👍👍👍

[@naturistfred]

Well the people on the trains were most likely heading to work. I saw mostly business attire

[@waynemitchell1513]

People dressed for Success. Take notice no Street People.

[@horatiodreamt]

Good vid. Thanks for the upload.

[@sterlinsilver]

It's amazing how in 1950 they were using infrastructure more or less from the turn of the century, and here we are 70 years after that, STILL using the same infrastructure. Glad to know it lasts so long, but it's probably loooong past it's best by date...

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

In my opinion, all of that goes to show how dependent modern day is on the blueprints for technology we, the 20th century generations, created for them...yet how they make fun of us for not being as advanced as their current versions of all the information on a piece of tech they were given by the time period they now make fun of. Ironic.

[@nonyafkinbznes1420]

What are you talking about? This line no longer exists.

[@joannepicciano2668]

Thanks for posting this !! This is a close as you could get to time travel :) So much has changed, and a lot of it isn't for the better

[@kt4no]

That first train shot is amazing!

[@carolynnewyork6919]

We are watching the life of what once was the greatest city in 💓 in the USA. This time of living in New York was the love affair that so many of us share. What in the world happened. Now in 2023, our city is hell on Earth. Thanks 4 this brief encounter.

[@Michael-q1t9n]

Hell on earth ?

[@lugano1999]

In 1973, when I heard that the last section of the 3rd Ave El (it was in the Bronx) was about to be torn down, I took a couple of rides on it. The trains were very old, athough intact, and as the train approached, the stations rattled.

[@Ticonderoga12]

What the hell has happened to mankind, we've gone from a clean civil society to a bunch of low lives. Imagine 70 yrs from now.

[@ViveSemelBeneVivere]

Some or even many of those men would have fought in WWII. The city and people looked a bit subdued, like they were still recovering from the terror of the previous decade. Thanks for sharing!

[@ageoflistening]

Love what people wore back then.

[@thecapone45]

I do too. ☺️

[@luisoyola1158]

this video is amazing!!! great job!! i know how pain staking it is to do this kind of thing!!! BRAVO!!!

[@visionseeker68]

Great ride, nice and intimate! Thanks NASS.🤩

[@Larry-qz3es]

May 12, 1955, was the end of the line for the 3rd Avenue EL and it was discontinued and removed. I was born five years later and my window faces the avenue. Only remnants show of the EL when you go to the southwest corner of 99th Street and the building where you can see an imprint of "Manhattan Railway Company, Station No 7."

[@MisterRico101]

Amazing Video 👍

[@NASS_0]

Thx ;)

[@baronsamedi5652]

time machine thank u for the uploading

[@MrMinuteman]

Times were so much better and simpler back then. There were some bad aspects of course, but not bad enough to make me not want to live then instead of now.

[@chrishultgren777]

Corporations weren't socially engineering their customers yet.

[@MrMinuteman]

@@chrishultgren777 Exactly

[@pmafterdark]

Certainly no woke joke of a society that exists today.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

And you haven't even seen it in color!

[@BoozeAholic]

@@pmafterdark Woke society did exist during the early 1900s-1930s in Germany. It's the main reason that Funny Mustache man was able to rise to power, he offered an alternative. History seems to repeat but this time in the USA.

[@williamlacentra2808]

As a life long New York'er ========my city was great in any era----and the world knows it----that's why everyone and his mother came here to either live or visit...!

[@esterherschkovich6499]

Fantastic 🙂

[@diannefaith7866]

Nass, thank you so much for posting this beautiful video!, My parents lived in NYC during this time! 💞I was born 4 year later! Wow!! Please, I would love to watch more of these videos if you can find them!

[@Timofey0904]

Уровень жизни выше нашего похоже. Люди все читали раньше и были грамотные.

[@FREEDOM-qb8db]

I grew up in the 50's. This brought back so many powerful memories. What I am most reminded of is how everyone took pride in how they looked out in public. Men cleanly shaved, wearing hats. Women dressed like women. And everyone engrossed in their newspaper. It was still soon after the war and there was a general sense of national pride and camaraderie amongst people. Businesses' were booming and Americans were living increasingly comfortable and exciting lives. Optimism was through the roof. Generally people were very happy. Sure, there were also concerns I remember. Racially, we were a developing country and I distinctly remember as our family would travel on vacation we would near any large city and there was the awful thick brown smog hanging over the city. Yeah we had our problems, for sure but overall, it was a grand time to be alive. I would gladly give up our smartphones and internet and return to that better time.

[@voterdown]

🖐🖐😎as Billy Joel once said, “ The good old days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems”. Enjoyed the video.🖐❤️

[@mustafajackson9430]

Love seeing footage of my hometown back before I was born, my Mom and Dad came up from North Carolina to New York in the 1950s.

[@jonweber6896]

Fascinating, historic images. In the sound design, the only thing missing were the car horns.

[@Allan-et5ig]

Once again I call on any car next to identify what year this is by taking a look at the cars on the street... my guess is '50, '51 '52, very early 50s? I'm not a car expert! Fine video as usual from NASS.

[@NASS_0]

thank you so much

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

Always hard to tell in the cities compared to a downtown, but based upon the 1955 Oldsmobile, and 1955 Mercury in the beginning in a particular coat of wonderful polychromatic, I can date this to late of 1954.

[@fredo1070]

Hats were still fashionable back then.

[@thekurtcobainfoundation4200]

I wished I could of been a 1940's --- 1950's housewife. A stay at home Mom with 6 kids and going to all their games and school functions. And Going camping and having summer vacations and going to grandma's for the holidays. Sounds like a dream. Having my very own "Johnny Angel" to love forever. What a cute song.

[@jimlaguardia8185]

I was there. It was GREAT!