Portrait of the South Bronx 1965 | Full Film HD

[@niccoarcadia4179]

My Parents and grandparents owned a building on 147th St. near St Mary's park between 1940 to 1954. They sold out to a private company that bought many (over 50) buildings in the area. Overall the building was in great condition and tenants there loved it. At that time, after the war 1945 the families who lived there were moving away to purchase their own homes in New York State, Queens and Nassau County. Built in 1938 the building had 16 units and a rooftop structure to hold roofing tools and building supplies. The new owners somehow turned it from 16 rental units to 40 smaller units and rented the smaller apartments out cheap with no security deposit. Even the basement was broken down into 4 apartments. The rooftop building even housed a family. Later the building burned down in 1975. I have pics of the building and area in the 1940s. It was a sharp looking all red brick building with white stone highlights around the windows. Back then the neighborhood was mostly lower middle class Irish & Italian and some Jewish. As a child I used to hear my parents reminisce about the Bronx all the time.

[@marcchevalier3750]

That's why the WHITE FLIGHT occured. NOBODY WANTS TO BE AROUND WITH THE AFRICANS/HISPANICS/PUERTO RICANS! Once a GREAT WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD, THAT ALL TURNED AROUND WHEN AFRICANS/PUERTO RICANS vandalized, didn't keep it in great condition and turned it all INTO HAITI, AFRICA / MEXICO!!! AM so glad those art deco buildings were burnt to the ground. they dont deserve anything luxurious

[@drpoundsign]

"1938??" WOW. That sounds like a Spring Chicken in that area. Again-I'm a Midwesterner. MY impression, However, was that the area had a lot of Tenements, built from 1900-1910...with a few Brownstones, and some Victorian houses scattered about. The 3rd Avenue Elevated Line spurred the growth of the Southern tip of the Bronx, with the IRT subway causing it to Explode in population. It was Really Prewar Immigration, of course, which contributed to the growth of All Five Boroughs, as well as Northeastern New Jersey and Connecticut. The Great African American Migrations from the Souh, also swelled the populations of the Northern cities. I lived for one year in a mid-rise building in Bay Ridge Brooklyn-built in 1931. It had one old-fashioned, rickety elevator. That area never got bad, because its' multiethnic, and anchored by Good, old houses. There were nice restaurants within walking distance. There was even an A&P(!) This was in 1989-1990, when a LOT of the rest of the City-and Nation-were Out of Control. I worked at then-Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park-the Hood immediately to the North. They had Crack, Crime, Hookers and AIDS. I wish I'd bought an Old house there. They are going for over One Million dollars now. There are still a lot of tenement apartments there, though. My Old Building got Cooped awhile back. It DID have a roach problem (Duh) but they were mainly breeding in the %$#!! Garbage chutes. Those used to lead to incinerators...problem Solved. But, then, Air Pollution worse.

[@EdwardM-t8p]

I have a hunch people moved out of your old Bronx neighborhood because Robert Moses drove a freeway through it, the Cross Bronx Expressway. That highway destroyed the whole South Bronx. He will live in infamy!

[@nostrezzn1740]

All facts I’m from the Bronx and remember certain neighborhoods was all a certain group of races

[@TheDeskChicken]

@@EdwardM-t8pthe Cross Bronx is 25 blocks north of there so it wasn’t that.

[@norakat]

Wow.. it’s great to be able to see the Bronx during this time. It was a little while before I was born. I know some people may view this as a sad state (especially with the video being Black and White, and the narrator is trying to paint a particular picture) but for many living there, it was great. Some areas were better, and upbeat. Many of the people were warm and humorous, and there was a sense of community/every one knew each other and were very friendly and it was a vibrant culture with music on the streets. If you were born there, nothing about it bothered you and you didn’t view it as run down. There was nothing else to compare it to. If you were a kid, all the kids were playing on the street and it was a blast, you go out and play every day w all sorts of street games. It’s actually exciting and every day is a new adventure. There’s always something going on. Maybe it was better as a kid because you didn’t understand any of the bad stuff and the struggles some of the adults may have been going through.

[@ariesmichaelsayan4013]

We knew what was happening in the 70s. Those kids that experienced the fires firsthand knew something wrong. We saw our buildings/neighborhoods turn into ghost towns quickly. The kids in the 80s were the ones who saw the ashes/burnt out buildings. They may have experienced the crimes and other things, but the fires were the worst. Some families slept with their shoes on. Ready to jet!! That was something we got so use to. You can play tag or basketball and it was normal to just play nearby a burning building. Sometimes there were shootouts and nobody would run. They’ll just watch the 2 individuals run after each other. 70s were very different

[@curtis2299]

This was Spanish Bronx (PR). The first true Latino Hub in Bronx NY. Thing is, the people were happy. The children had a ball. Played all day in the summer. Never in the house. I later learned that after the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Bronx was split in two. North and south. Very few blacks moved north. Even fewer Puerto Ricans. That came a little later. The people in this video were surrounded by “Black Bronx” on all sides. Then they soon spread. We all were a more well balanced people then because of socialization. Human interaction. Prospect Ave was the main drag. We flew kites , played street games, had ridiculous amounts of fun. Believe it or not, crime wasn’t that bad in those particular days. Not many people got badly hurt. A 6 year old kid could wander around and be safe. Other adults would protect you. 5 years after this film things got really bad. Drugs man. It destroyed everything’

[@drpoundsign]

Drugs are Bad... The War on Drugs, however...has been WORSE. Most Burglaries, Muggings, Robberies, Car Theft, and Stripping of vehicles is done to get drug money. In the UK-Adult Heroin addicts have been able-for Decades-to get their drug for free. IDK if that's True for Cocaine. The addicts themselves are then Much less at risk or HIV(AIDS) and Hepatitis.

[@niccoarcadia4179]

Drugs has been destroying America for the past 65 years.

[@benallmark9671]

Ya and it was all on purpose unfortunately. It should anger all.

[@niccoarcadia4179]

@@benallmark9671 It was on purpose, yes! The drug money that makes for kickbacks to politicians & law enforcement is what rus a city. People on drug payrolls ignore the problem and pretend they care. But we the people haven't seen nothin yet. Just wait, 'The Cartels have been here setting up business and have started to do the damage Cartels do. In all the large cities it will be like El Salvador, only bigger.

[@benallmark9671]

@@niccoarcadia4179 glad you’re awake at least. The majority are still sleeping having fun fun fun.

[@b2d327]

I’m torn between loving and hating this documentary: loving it for taking me back in time to my childhood in the South Bronx and hating it for showing me the days long gone that I can never relive. As rough as things were back then, it was a simpler time with a feeling of community among family and neighbors that doesn’t exist here anymore. Time can be such a cruel history teacher.

[@burbank]

It sure is. A friend of mine sent a listing for an apartment in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx that was going for like $4,000 a month in one of those new gentrified luxury buildings that are going up now. Sad

[@moniho6907]

​@burbank I live in mott haven now, it's very quiet and nice

[@Frankaziza1]

It’s a beautiful time period but all these neighborhoods are madness. People allow crime, litter and graffiti…being poor doesn’t have to mean all those things. Look at today’s inner cities….crime out the ass yet they want to defund police. It’s madness…

[@bxdale83]

The South Bronx in 1965 was the calm before the storm. It's incredible how much it it declined between 1965-1970 but to be frank it wasn't just the Bronx; Harlem/East Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens all went through the same transformation as crime began to increase in that 5 year time frame.

[@cprocel96]

I was born in the 60's raised on 96 street between Broadway and Amsterdam and It wasn't just those places you mentioned where it looked like the Bronx, in Manhattan 125 street and Broadway past Grant Houses the projects you had places like 96 street and Broadway which had burnt down buildings. They had a large theater which was torn apart, they had large lots on 96 street and Columbus which had building debris where kids would play in. On Broadway you had all the hookers and addicts roaming the area south of 96 street. Go further south you had burnt down buildings in the Alphabet city area where much heroin was sold there. It affect just about every area within the tri-state area.

[@lipete1000]

@@cprocel96 that's to the liberal politicians and developers. Build projects put section 8 in. Brilliant idea

[@charlesflinnill978]

Dennis Smith, a former FDNY member, wrote a book called "Report from Engine Company 82." It was a national best seller. The book came out in the early 70's.The station was housed in the S. Bronx. Smith described the S. Bronx, the most wretched ghetto in the country.

[@xavilopez4716]

Came here to the south Bronx in 1980 it was like WW2 aftermath buildings abandoned burned rubble all over garbage it was crazy . But proud to be from the south Bronx and made it lots of good memories from my childhood and saw it change little by little . Now it’s changed a lot very crowded buildings all over every empty space a building is constructed over all this city is not that fun to live day to day it’s very hectic crowded in the Bronx . Even though these times was bad also in it’s way I’ll take the old Bronx than the way all this craziness is going on these days . Legget ave & Fox st I miss you 😢 is where I grew up from 5 years old . Cheers 🍻 my peoples stay safe 🙏❤

[@voceval1]

In 1965 as happy teenage girls we'd leave the Hunts Point Palace after a fun night of salsa dancing, walking from Southern Boulevard to Kelley St. We had no fear walking the streets home, and were never accosted. It was as if the neighborhood was watching out for us even at that hour. We often went to church dances or house parties, with both sexes nicely dressed and well-groomed, and we were respectful of each other. We never heard of friends or persons getting assaulted or hurt. But by 1970s all of that had changed for the worst, a new breed and mentality came about that was focused on nothing but negativity.

[@bhall4996]

That was so wild hearing your experience! You're a witness to history. I always wonder how & why people got worse. Folk were so much nicer then- even tho life was hard. I guess becuz we allow it & make excuses for it

[@land7776]

The MLK riots destroyed and burned whatever was left of that environment

[@warehousejo007]

​@@land7776 wth are u talking about? we weren't having riots in the Bronx. dope and unemployment killed sht.

[@Russell-rg2ej]

I was a 1 year old at the time. Born in the Bronx, and still live here.

[@lizlocher3612]

That was sooo excellent from my perspective of being a 67 yr old white female who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 1960's!!! Detroit was a tough city I have lived most of my life in but seeing this Uptown New York City video from that same era made me ever more grateful for all the wonderful luxuries, education, clothing n neighborhoods eith trees n parks especially after sering the dank, stark awful reality of a larger n more poverty stricken city!!!

[@margaritaortiz5810]

I had lived in Bx since I was 8, born in PR. Of all my years here nothing has ever happen to me or my relatives. Now is when I'm afraid of going out. It's different in so many ways.I had live all of the Bx changes.

[@johnstinson4026]

Wow margarita I'm Sam Lopez de ohio . It's ok here a lot of the same white y blacks. Alot of hatrd no culture. Is it dangerous there now in bronx

[@MrYankeefoll]

I’m 76 years old. Notice the presence of fathers and religion in the community.

[@Patrick-il4es]

The South Bronx was destroyed between 1970 and 1980. During this time, over 40% of the South Bronx was burned or abandoned. Seven census tracts lost more than 97% of their buildings, and 44 tracts lost more than half. It didn't have to be destroyed. Blame that on the folks who moved. From the film, it shows that the South Bronx was a vibrant community before 1970.

[@urbantraxx3756]

The first fires started around 1966/67 but in 1970 is whent it just spiked up all over

[@Fritha71]

Blame that on the folks who moved?? Anybody who could get the hell out of there got out of there! A sensible thing to do, quite frankly. Also, the families that moved in the 50s and early 60s, well, people with decent jobs had the chance to own a house with greenery around in a nice, fresh suburb, not going to blame them for wanting a better environment for their kids. And no, a filthy street in the South Bronx is NOT a suitable place for kids to grow up... no matter how much people praise the "community feeling". It was just overcrowded! BLAME THE LANDLORDS AND THE BAD ELEMENT.

[@juanshaftpatel7488]

blame the blks

[@land7776]

the MLK riots started the burning and total destruction

Born in 63. Grew up on 178th in the tremont section. By the 70s half the buildings were burned out. They wouldn’t tear them down. You just smelled smoke. I remember going for a ride the last day of the 3rd Ave El.

[@luislaplume8261]

The mark at 4 minutes and 30 seconds we see the Hub where people transferred from the Central Bronx elevated to the subway at 3rd Avenue and 149th street.

[@stephenheath8465]

This was the end of the White Flight Era and the Ricans and Blacks took over.I am old enough to remember old Italians and Jews still living in the area

[@drpoundsign]

On Charlotte street however (The Late Colin Powell's Old Hood) the Jewish people in the tenements were killing RATS with their shoes, I think, as early as 1960. And, Crime was already beginning to creep in. You see: The "New Law" tenements, while incrementally better than the Old Law "Dumbbell" type, were built from around 1900-1910, in anticipation of the IRT line. So...they were not exactly Spring Chickens, Sixty years later. Both Freeways and Subway lines made it easy to commute from further out (Westchester County, NY, Connecticut, New Jersey and Nassau County, Long Island.) That, and VA home loans for WW2 Veterans, facilitated the move to the Suburbs. Also, there were some factories in the Bronx, but they began relocating in the Fifties, reducing job opportunities. COOP City was built in the Bronx, and middle-class people moved into that newer housing, leaving the Poor behind. Blacks from the Second Great Migration North, along with Puerto Ricans seeking a Better Life, then poured into the South Bronx. It's Ironic that the Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Triboro Bridges made New Yorkers able to move out of Manhattan's Crowded Lower East Side to "Better" housing in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and The Bronx. The Verrazano Narrows Suspension Bridge connected Brooklyn to Staten Island in the 1960s. The Latter has some Real Fancy housing, but also crime-ridden Projects. It was the Lexington Elevated Line (1880s) and A Train Subway (Early 1900s) which caused the Population of East and West Harlem, respectively, to Soar. East Harlem was Always Poor, but the West side, was, in the Beginning-pretty Upscale. Realtors overbuilt, however, and then everything Crashed. The SoBro Did have the 3rd Avenue Elevated Line, already in the Late Nineteenth Century. Doctor's Row grew up around it, and some of those Brownstones and Victorians still stand. The Line was demolished in 1973.

[@tonymanzo3766]

Co op city was being built and once finished the concourse and whoever could afford it ran there, good for awhile then empty apartments were bought up and turned into section 8 and co op is the same as so Bronx in the 60s

[@sharonbre9347]

I love this video. This is where I was born and raised.

[@JosephJenkins-dm9ox]

Amazing. Subway footage passed right by the building I lived in back then

[@land7776]

I remember riding through S.Bronx on the expressway in the late 60's and early 70's to CT. It was literally like the aftermath of a nuclear war- abandoned boarded up high rises, most of them housing projects, some built and rebuilt a couple times as they were vandalised and destroyed. Whole blocks with no people, just ruined buildings and trash. Occasionaly you would see some odd people, the precursers of rap standing on the corner with boom-boxes, babbling rhymes and gyrating . It was a nuke zone from the time you hit the G.Washington bridge.

[@pacmantravel2158]

That's my friend flying a kite @ 4:07. Today he's 83!

[@roberthendrix6521]

Foreal

[@DJRobbieTroncoRemix]

cool , is he still Flying a Kite ??

[@pacmantravel2158]

@@DJRobbieTroncoRemix Nope, he's just relaxing home now. He moved out of New York 30 years ago

[@EdwardM-t8p]

So he was 24 then, fit as a fiddle and also working on his tan.

[@criminalminded6480]

God bless

[@urbantraxx3756]

The sad part is by the end of 1966 the arson rage would begin

[@carlbowles1808]

Life in Fort apache South Bronx during the 1960's was good because we were poor but didn't know it. The salsa music was tremendous. My happiest memories are of this supposedly horrible place. I'm black, the American poor elsewhere were considered middle class. Life in the Barrio was better than people think, better or worse is relative. Compared to today we had it good. ❤👏🌞🏖🙏

[@BOOGLEMANN-m2j]

salsa music was tremendously loud and very disruptive all day long !!! them percussion instruments - congas - bongos - *** non stop noise !!!

[@DominicanManowarFan]

Did the black people hang out with the Puerto Ricans and danced salsa?

[@BOOGLEMANN-m2j]

@@DominicanManowarFan : DO YOU THINK THET DIDN'T HAVE TURF WARS ??

[@jimmyrodasmolestina979]

Not really ​@@DominicanManowarFan

[@DominicanManowarFan]

@@BOOGLEMANN-m2j trying to figure out this racial dynamic. There seems to be conflicting stories with regards to Black and Puerto Ricans living together and their relationship with each other. Some people swear they got along and influenced each other culturally and then others say different.

[@aproverbshome173]

Thank you for sharing. The Cordero Te Zion Church My grandfather pastor there all the way into the early 90's wow.! I visit there when I was a kid.

[@markogarcia7578]

Yall cought that a graffiti taggedd on the wall 1965 Imperial Playboys Same yr as Cornbread 1965 in Phily

[@idieilik1069]

word! I peeped it right away 👍

[@makeuthink2120]

Watch the first 10-15 minutes of West Side Story.

[@yvonlarouche3152]

My family went to the Bronx in the 60's and when they was passing by some streets over there, they received some rocks on their cars. Hopefully, it's not the same thing today. Have a nice day

[@RandomFlavor]

Wow, seeing this video gives me childhood memories of Abuela taking me to the "Vivero" near Simpson St. off of Westchester Avenue. So many chickens for sale, but I was pained when the chickens were taken to the back to be slaughtered for sale!

[@johnstinson4026]

Que Paso thats awesome to hear u say that. I'm Spanish rom Ohio . That's cool ths to u got the experience. Was Carlitos way real

[@MrMarkgeller]

Grew up in Hunts Point during the 50s. Great neighborhood with no crime. Attended PS48.

[@luislaplume8261]

I used to play stickball in those days. Why didn't we play 1 block away where we attended school, I can't know. We never thought of it.

[@charlesharper9694]

1965,. I was born then but I was born and raised in Washington heights but later on it started to get real bad in the 70 80 90 it was a big war out there then compare now it's a whole lot better then my era I use to walk to the Bronx by Amsterdam Ave it use to be a bridge crossing to the Bronx it was University avenue

[@tonymanzo3766]

Robert Moses didn’t help matters much by bisecting the Bronx with the cross Bronx expressway a stable neighborhood ruined by cutting through the middle of a thriving neighborhood, this was the beginning of the Bronx as being beautiful. The building of co op city further pushed hard working people further away.

[@grahamperry3773]

Wow, look at how much prettier these neighborhoods were before the fires destroyed most of the buildings

[@theoneforgaveme]

Without the bronx hiphop wouldn't be borne. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@tommycasidy3031]

what a wonderful contribution to society 😂

[@theoneforgaveme]

@@tommycasidy3031 cheers buddy 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@olivier3847]

subterranean homesick blues - bob dylan 1965

[@Prone-Ski_BX]

10 years later it was all burned down by the landlords. It wasn't the people it was the landlords that burnt it down.

[@John-kl6tf]

And the mayor’s of NYC allowed it….favoring the landlords for ins money, get rid of us, rebuild and charge more.

[@stephenheath8465]

If you call those people out,you are bigot smdh

[@drpoundsign]

Mostly the landlords, but also some of the tenants. But, ALSO, it is claimed that the antiquated electrical systems in those buildings (and, I'm Sure, more than one gas stove and space heater) caused a good number of fires. I wonder if things would have been different if they had been retrofitted with fire sprinklers (not cheap-I know.) I guess the arsonists would have had to turn off the valves first.

[@Prone-Ski_BX]

It was all for nothing,, if they thought they would drive out the blacks and Puerto Ricans. It didn't. That neighborhood still has the same demographics . And it was rebuilt. Hahaha 🤣😂

[@drpoundsign]

@@Prone-Ski_BXBut...I was under the impression that they now have Latinos from Multiple Nations, along with First-Generation Africans, with a smattering of Other ethnic groups. You Know-they may no longer have the Really Bad Tenements (can't have your Hood and Burn it, Too.) They DO, however, have a LOT of Public Housing, built decades ago. That's where you fin All the Dysfunction.

[@albewolf]

Just a bit of history...stilted, distinctly racist, misleading. Stirring, honest (as far a that goes) and heart wrenching. I was born in the South Bronx; my family left the Bronx in 1961 for the green lawns of Queens...as did many of our family friends. But I always seem to go back! If not physically, then meeting someone, both of us a million miles away from the Bronx, who grew up in Castle Hill, or by St. Ann's park (last week!), or shopped on Arthur Ave, or went to Poe Park to chill... I attended NYU at our University Heights campus. I drove every single NYC MTA (MaBOSTA) bus line in the Bronx for a few years. Did my therapeutic clinical practicums and internships in the Bronx years later. Counselled in schools throughout the borough in more recent years. ...just a bit of history!

[@nereidaarroyo7387]

I use to live 729 prospect ave. Where is milagros, rivera from longwood ave and her sister carmen rivera. Miss the good old days.

[@uy7munir]

haven't seen carmen in AGES

[@madhatter1787]

Would anyone happen to know the Spanish song that plays at 12:32 I want to find it for my dad ...any help appreciated thank you

[@SamMcKinley]

When I spoke to ole timers and look at footage or read material I am confused as to how things deteriorated from the 1950s and 1960s to 1970s. I don’t know why people moved in such droves. Why buildings weren’t maintained on the Grand Concourse for instance

[@simonyip5978]

20 years later many of the kids would be caught up in the crack epidemic of the mid 80's and 90's.

[@poetcomic1]

WONDERFUL memory trip before drugs and gangs fully ravaged S. Bronx.

[@GSquid92]

Minorities

[@roberthendrix6521]

Your government

[@roberthendrix6521]

​@@GSquid92 your parents

[@tonyrivers8688]

The majority of the Bronx should be depopulated. The black, Dominican and Puerto Rican mix is very toxic

[@soniasg8639]

You're wrong. Needle Park was based on a true story about a couple that was addicted to heroin in New York, 1965. Drugs have always existed.

[@ladislavjonas977]

How did they hang those clothes at 8:42?

[@EdwardM-t8p]

Landlords would cooperate and have pulley lines installed - each a loop of thin clothesline with a pulley at either end. The person doing the laundry would clothespin the laundry on the lower line and pull on the upper line for the next item of wash.

[@Jackhandless]

Man. I am so lucky to have been born in the country in Indiana. Im so dang lucky

[@3markaw]

Ha ha Jethro.

[@peterguindo1576]

Watching this documentary make me see how important studies are, these people did not have the opportunity to study and get a career. I hope some had it.

[@0159ralph]

I grew up by Fordham University but we had to move out in 74, because the crime was out of control. This is testament of how Johnsons Great Society failed.

[@fa1509]

Can you tell me about that of his great society I want to know more as a black man

[@0159ralph]

@@fa1509 Ugh NOTHING....

[@fa1509]

@@0159ralph the only thing I know he said he will have those n words vote Democrat for the next 200 years

[@DeniseLopez-gt9wg]

​@@fa1509Black's will vote dem forever

[@johnmaldonado3932]

I grew up in the the southbronx until I was 6y on 172st and hoe av.it got I guess bad after that 1966 but I'm proud of being from DA.BRONX

[@neonvandal8770]

Robert Moses has a lot to answer for. Life wasnt easy in the South Bronx before, but he completely ruined the adhesion of the community and things went downhill fast as the business closed down, people with money left and then redlining and scummy landlords started torching for insurance money.Those who know know.

[@vargavision338]

He was a pig.

[@robertnussberger6449]

Robert moses for the most part saved nyc Nyc needed modern a infrastructure Or it would have went the way of Detroit

[@drpoundsign]

A Prelude of the Horrors to Come.

[@OwenLoney]

Classic 1965 film of slide into urban decay of South Bronx.

[@Katwoman4318]

People are people. Love one another. ♥️

[@johnsanto3501]

In the 60s and 70s I use to live in 179 street and vyse avenue and also wuent to tree schools the ps6 in east treamont and then from there to castle hill and purdy avenue the 127 junior high school and then to chrystopher colombus high school.

[@chazzlidell1492]

Yeah, looks like the schools never taught you how to spell 😂😂😂

[@markogarcia7578]

I LOVE THIS VID So much history The Graff allready On walls The tag Ruben Cuban n in the Blk hoods as well And then a Street Gangs name too. Here the language Look at the Blocks And the rest is History SOUTH BRONX BUT OF COURSE NY IS ALOT BIGGER WITH MANY BARIOS.

[@idieilik1069]

and the dude painting in front of a church. amazing!!

[@fellazfilmz]

The Pharmacy at 6:41 is still there lol

[@LANCSKID]

Yeah … I get my stuff from there, you dig?

[@jashary15]

I came up during those troubled times, only I lived in East Harlem, where there was a large concentration of Puerto Ricans on my block, which was 115th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues. Times were hard, but at least people then still had a sense of personal and ethnic pride. At least people went to church on Sundays, even the gang members, pimps and prostitutes went to church then. Times has sure changed a lot.

[@marcchevalier3750]

going to church doesn't make you a good person. those were wolves in sheeps' clothing. stop trying to sugarcoat everything was good back then when you were/are immoral just like today

[@peternagy-im4be]

They were trying to reserve a place in heaven ​@@marcchevalier3750

[@blakemcnamara9105]

The transition period. Crazy how by 1965 it already was getting bad. Ten years earlier it would've been a completely different neighbourhood.

[@conigjo62]

I remember riding on that style of subway cars in the 1960s

[@Stehtky]

Go back 20 more years and then I'll want to watch it

[@gboogie360]

Love the BX

[@seanberry1969]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@LANCSKID]

Lived in the brownstone, lived in the ghetto … a diet of plantains and habaneros … kept me regular and let me see things you can only imagine.

[@xavilopez4716]

Grew up in the south Bronx in the 1980s most buildings was burned down . But the people I grew up with was amazing good people Puerto Ricans and blacks good peoples it wasn’t as bad as it looked in some ways it though me how to survive get by with the little bit we had it was great. Now it’s getting messed up with Venezuelans el tren de arugua nd other migrants. El barrio was el barrio . Hunts point was hunts point it’s very different now I liked the old south Bronx not this stuff that’s now .

[@robertortiz8540]

Wow I was 5 years old in 1965.

[@markogarcia7578]

Unknown Sinners Gang tagged Another Puerto Rican gang 1965 Now Blk spades were the first gang of the Blkyorks coming out the Bx 1968.

[@Awjrp]

Make it look rough all you want. We were family it things got rough we all handled the situation. Black or white or whatever life was much better than what you have believed god bless the BRONX

[@thugpiece8038]

I live here now 173rd & Bryant still horrible i hate sorry to say…. Back to Manhattan i go

[@gerardorivera7828]

Yes the Bronx is tuff good luck the whole city is going too hell

[@Joedirt3349]

FR y'all!

[@gerardorivera7828]

@@Joedirt3349 your name said it all stay dirt

[@Joedirt3349]

😆😉

[@ariesmichaelsayan4013]

If you think 173rd and Bryant is bad now… time travel back to 1970s when we lived on that block!! We watched the whole neighborhood burn down!!! My family had to move to Vyse and Boston because they were tearing down/burning everything. Bronx is was worse it was in the 70s/80s and the early 90s.

[@mgtowlevel5293]

I grew up with blank n bwown folks on the wrong side of NJ. As soon as I got away from all of them my life took owf. Take this and run with it.

[@luisar6136]

My grandmother said she would never give up her Spanish language No matter how much they put her down

[@jamesmack3314]

So…stay in your home country then

[@luisar6136]

@@jamesmack3314 what are you white Irish, German what?? What is your ethnic language? Spanish is the dominant language in this part of the world But ignorance is bliss

[@jamesmack3314]

@@luisar6136 Spanish is the dominant language in South America, Central America, and Mexico. It’s not the dominant language in the United States although it’s certainly slowly, but surely becoming that way I just feel there’s too many people that moved to this country with no intention of trying to learn English and are very dismissive of trying to assimilate and have an over abundance of pride in their own language and culture which is a common trait of Hispanics -don’t get me wrong. I have many many coworkers who are Latino and I love most of them but there’s a certain percentage of immigrants that come to this country these days and don’t have any intention of learning English and I think that’s wrong. Yes I’m of Anglo-Saxon background, but if I were to move to say, France or Germany or even South America I would at least try to learn a little bit of the language I don’t expect a person to be fluent but just to say that they have no desire or refuse to learn is to me disrespectful it’s just that’s how things are now in this day and age, it wasn’t like this 50 or 60 or 70 years ago when people actually had to learn the language now we make it too easy

[@luisar6136]

@@jamesmack3314 the language was Spanish Besides the Indian language Also what is a "Hispanic"?

[@peternagy-im4be]

​@@luisar6136you would know about ignorance of course....

[@christianhuntercascon888]

the sweet aroma to the ears are to an overman of pleasure which defy and conquer all the iniquities also overflow unbounded, unlawful, atrocities of which go much further back in history than this. Yes, we’v seen these things before, All we have seen before. However, I beg of thee full pardon 🙏🏾🔥🕊️. Inasmuch I ask for everyone, the ubiquitous heart space which no man nor woman on the earth not un given full graces. I only ask; in a small listening space when one takes the time to in fact listen! Listen to the music! The glorious, gorgeous, glorious, effervescent sweet sounds of the varieties, ethnic diversity also such lovely are the melodies, so fulfilling are the chords and human voices which sing! Sing! Sing! Yes friends, neath the ugly things all over the globe, there is a very real beautiful vantage amidst such true atrocities the music NOT lay dormant. The music NOT oppress! For the whole time freedom was a lie both within and without. It is because of these things I beg thee pardon! For I do in fact declare that the music that lay in the tapestry of all the ugly ness and the pretty! Are such things in any lack? No, they are full ethereal overflow, as also the tears so their gorgeous music I implore each man & women & child. Trust and joyfully rejoice for the coming of the rising sun! That do reflect such beauty unrivalled are all atrocious ugliness ‘the monster who is only a man’. He too play his strings, harp and lyre. The music is inside of them, by them, ❤, for everyone! For the great purpose of ubiquitous union which defined clearly; LOVE O my soul, a new song Coming of the rising sun! Gr8ful Was here For you ❤

[@rossdrysdale7875]

In the 1960s, I visited a pentecostal church in The Bronx.Took the Subway the whole time and had no problem.It was a great time

[@land7776]

music isn't LOVE, or the Bronx and Harlem would be heaven.

[@EdwardM-t8p]

Ten years later it was a city of "grate businesses". Two years after that the grates were busted and the businesses got cleaned out. Then the arsonists, hired by landlords looking to cash in on their fire insurance, started torching buildings. Sometimes there was no work for the fire-setters so they targeted vacant public buildings for practice. Howard Cosell notices during a Wotld Series game broadcast from Yankee Stadium and says the famous line, "Ladies and gentlemen, The Bronx is burning." Five years after that the South Bronx was a sea of blight, filled with abandoned, derelict buildings and rubble.

[@johnnynoirman]

Too bad you posted this with all those numbers running.

[@LANCSKID]

Isn’t running numbers illegal? I got busted by the Feds for a little caper.

[@phoenixherbert]

Nothing has changed . Still poverty still poor living situations still crime.

[@HMurphy]

i lived off e 177st bx nyc in 65

[@BOOGLEMANN-m2j]

[@Frankaziza1]

Why do they get worse as time goes on? They depend on government to help and it gets worse, yet they do the same thing over and over and expect different results…. That’s the definition of insanity

[@land7776]

they don't care, and/or have the intelligence. Otherwise the poorest here would be fleeing to PR or some sub-Saharan African nation.

[@garyeisenberg4251]

My mom was charlotte street up there

[@deanbianco4982]

Was she living on Charlotte St in 1965?

[@amok918]

Eye-opening? Nope. EYE-PUNCHING!!

[@markogarcia7578]

Julio tag in a Latin Crowns gang hood NYRicans.

[@firesurfer]

The problems of the s.Bronx was many and the least of them were racism. We had high inflation, high interest rate, the gas crisis, the default on bonds by NYC. All of these caused people who could leave, to someplace cheaper. Just like the pandemic caused people to abandon NYC. It happened quick and dirty. People in the South Bronx were least able to withstand it. Mortgages on buildings became unaffordable for landlords. It was cheaper to let the buildings burn for the insurance. Inflation was 11% in 1974!! Gas doubled in 2 years. The same thing happened in 78-80.

[@BillMorse-jr2ou]

agreed.... as a country we tend to look for a scapegoat or a boogie man that we can all point a finger at while the multiple "elephants in the room" continue to be ignored... I moved there in 1980 and eventually rehabbed a rowhouse on Vyse by 172nd... sold it in the late nineties.... a mixed bag, but people are people, just in different and extreme circumstances.

[@glenngalligan6604]

952 Sherman avenue !!

[@KINGKOOKOS]

That’s an awful lot of graffiti considering they said it was invented by blacks in Philadelphia in 1967! lol

[@land7776]

who said that fool?

[@KINGKOOKOS]

@@land7776 Tariq nashed and cornbread

[@land7776]

lol, fake name, bs game

[@makeuthink2120]

Watch the first 10-15 minutes of West Side Story(1960/61)

[@jamesmack3314]

At least back then the people would assimilate eventually now no incentive to assimilate and very little incentive to learn English. Unfortunately, the language is slowly being replaced over time by Spanish and not just in New York. Definitely here in California and Florida and many other places.

[@markthompson8246]

Good, since Spain colonized the United States and the Americas a century before the British. 😁

[@mtanyctrainatlantamartatra7164]

​@@markthompson8246Typical colonizers

[@BOOGLEMANN-m2j]

@@mtanyctrainatlantamartatra7164 : latter day colonizer !! **** The ALIEN INVASION ****

[@BOOGLEMANN-m2j]

@@mtanyctrainatlantamartatra7164 : latter day colonizer !! **** The ALIEN INVASION ****

[@Robert-ur8mi]

Florida was founded by a Spanish man

[@bobbydigital1982]

aint shit change

[@Виталий-з7ю8п]

Как в СССР

[@perrysar5954]

Suburbs killed communties and human interaction

[@land7776]

but were necessitated by the degradation of the inner cities.

[@markogarcia7578]

🟧👊🟦⭐️23️⃣

[@jose.davidvilafane1942]

1 year before the first fires would be ser

[@jamestiburon443]

Where I came from. Quite a good Karma, wouldn't ya say?

[@Amidat]

So sad how racism destroyed the South Bronx. Blacks and Puerto Ricans were pushed in from Harlem and services and jobs disappeared.

[@luislaplume8261]

Blacks and Puerto Ricans fought each other and other whites. Not to mention other Hispanics. Besides it was the Department of the Interior that brought Puerto Ricans to the northeast as a social experiment to see what would happen if a people who had a history that was foreign born and forced to move to America and make them go on welfare to increase the voting base for the Democrats. Look at the real history of my old hometown of NYC during the Mad Men era.

[@Supervillainmc]

Racism didn’t destroy the Bronx, blacks and Puerto Ricans did. 15-20 years before it was a paradise. It’s a fact. 2+2=4 no mater which way u slice it.

[@Me-ll4ig]

This is now the UK 2024

[@Frankaziza1]

Maybe it’s time to get your shit together before having five kids

[@markogarcia7578]

A RUBEN TAG ON A NYR HOOD WHILE PLAYING STICK BALL ON THE BLOCK

[@SamMcKinley]

Actually doesn’t seem too bad back then.

[@EraphaseContemplation]

Looks alot like Ukraine or Russia buildings and life in old soviet times. and buildings.

[@livmarlin4259]

This is their "culture".

[@sandraabbot109]

So unfortunate for them few. It was not the norm for the rest of the Puerto Ricans and Blacks.

[@land7776]

if it wasn't, it became so...

[@NiScontex]

average age 28,5 lol

[@Prone-Ski_BX]

They Burnt down the south bronx all for nothing,, if they thought they would drive out the blacks and Puerto Ricans. It didn't. That neighborhood still has the same demographics . And it was rebuilt. Hahaha 🤣😂

[@land7776]

lol, "they" is the ones that burned it down, mostly blacks

[@janisameduri2212]

The landlords were responsible for the So. Bronx buildings burning. The purpose was to collect on the insurance. The landlords paid young guys from neighborhood to burn down the buildings.

[@Prone-Ski_BX]

This place is where Hip Hop was Born!!!

[@dnyce6278]

I had to watch the whole film before I said something and what I have to say is what happened to all the Caucasian Hispanics that lived in the area at the time?

[@land7776]

replaced by blacks of course

[@Robert-ur8mi]

Hispanics are still in the south bronx but the Caucasian left

[@land7776]

@@Robert-ur8mi dude the Caucasian left the S. Bronx 60 yrs. ago

[@mikedrown2721]

I speak English NOT american

[@VerifiedVIPMember]

Chithole

[@LANCSKID]

Is that like chipotle?

[@hirameberhardt8643]

AMERICAN is not a language.

[@liamsandal6360]

Incorrect. American is a language recognized by linguists for generations.

[@michaelanzelino5068]

If you are going to have a "Portrait" of the south Bronx, you must mention the names of the various neighborhoods and streets. For instance, Mottheaven 138th St. or Southern Blvd. and 149th street. There is none of that here. This is a generic bunch of crap. This could have been any place U.S.A. The south Bronx has a very rich history, no matter what group of people populated it at any given time in it's history. This so called Portrait doesn't even mention any landmarks that make the South Bronx the icon that it is. The people who presented this feeble attempt, who call themselves 'Buyout Footage Historic Archive' are just another bunch of sellouts for what little money they made from this junk.