Looking 78 years back in time 🤯 New York City in 1945

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Fascinating.

 

[StonedLemur]

When I was 15-16 yrs old I talked a man in his 90s and he told me he remembered when New York still had cobble roads.

He had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life, and was telling me how things changed and more and more people ruined what he remembered of his childhood.

It was kinda depressing to be honest.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

When I was 15-16 yrs old I talked a man in his 90s and he told me he remembered when New York still had cobble roads.

He had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life, and was telling me how things changed and more and more people ruined what he remembered of his childhood.

It was kinda depressing to be honest.

I had a similar experience when I was young.

Back before my town was built post-war, my little corner of PA was just a scattering of small towns/villages between sprawling farms.

An old timer I was talking to at the local library one time told me how there were mostly just dirt roads between the towns/villlages and in some cases just wagon trails.

No lie, he then went into the county archives and busted out a picture of himself as a kid standing outside a local Methodist church with fucking wagon trails going off into the distance behind him.

Was pretty cool.

That wagon trail is now the main road that cuts from one end of my town to the other, with two circa late-1600s villages on either end of it.

 

[StonedLemur]

I had a similar experience when I was young.

Back before my town was built post-war, my little corner of PA was just a scattering of small towns/villages between sprawling farms.

An old timer I was talking to at the local library one time told me how there were mostly just dirt roads between the towns/villlages and in some cases just wagon trails.

No lie, he then went into the county archives and busted out a picture of himself as a kid standing outside a local Methodist church with fucking wagon trails going off into the distance behind him.

Was pretty cool.

That wagon trail is now the main road that cuts from one end of my town to the other, with two circa late-1600s villages on either end of it.

That kind of shit puts life in perspective sir, its like hearing history itself talking to you to teach you something more than you thought possible.

Hearing about cobble roads in New York from someone that remembered when it was only that...was like a painting talking to me.
Elders will teach you if you're willing to truly listen, otherwise they'll give you a fuck off.

 

[666]

Whenever I see videos like this I can't help but think about how they're all dead now.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Whenever I see videos like this I can't help but think about how they're all dead now.

No they're not all dead. There people born way before 1945, that are still alive.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Its crazy how no one back then was even worried about looking at their cellphone, just living in the moment, wonder what changed

 

[IndyCovaHart]

When I was 15-16 yrs old I talked a man in his 90s and he told me he remembered when New York still had cobble roads.

He had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life, and was telling me how things changed and more and more people ruined what he remembered of his childhood.

It was kinda depressing to be honest.

There are still cobbled roads today

 

[Richmma80]

Now it's a shithole

 

[Pliny Pete]

Now it's a shithole

You say that about everything

 

[Possum Jenkins]

You say that about everything

Only the things that have minorities in them.

Interesting thing is that the bigots of the 1940s were also complaining about what a shithole New York had become and for the same reason: too many minorities.

But they were a different type of "minority." Italian, Jewish, and other southern European immigrants were screwing up the lovely city

 

[StonedLemur]

There are still cobbled roads today

Yes there are but he was saying all cobbled roads sir.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

When I was 15-16 yrs old I talked a man in his 90s and he told me he remembered when New York still had cobble roads.

He had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life, and was telling me how things changed and more and more people ruined what he remembered of his childhood.

It was kinda depressing to be honest.

That guy was probably an Italian whose parents immigrated from Italy and were said to, by those who lived there before them, be the cause of ruination of their neighborhood.

 

[StonedLemur]

That guy was probably an Italian whose parents immigrated from Italy and were said to, by those who lived there before them, be the cause of ruination of their neighborhood.

Yeah, didn't get to talk to that generation sir.

 

[TeTe]

He had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life, and was telling me how things changed and more and more people ruined what he remembered of his childhood.

It was kinda depressing to be honest.

I feel like every generation says that.

 

[Your Account]

I feel like every generation says that.

in the essence sounds like nostalgia

 

[I Am Legion]

My Dad inherited a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan when I was a baby. I was born in 72 and have memories of going into the city most weekends as early as 76. The city was really edgy in the 70s. Lots of drugs, graffitti, crime. He knew where to take us and where to cross the street when needed. I learned that. In the 80s it cleaned up a bit but you still had to watch your back. Then Mayor Guiliani came and the city reinvented itself. 42nd street was a really dangerous block in my youth. Crack heads, prostitution, porn parlors, pimps, scammers. Within a year 42nd was clean of crime. A year after that they opened plays and legit businesses, and it actually became a tourist attraction. Parks were no longer filled with bums and addicts. The windshield washers and ATM hawks were arrested. The bums were few and far between. It stayed that way until jackass DeBlasio took office. Now the city resembles the 80s. Subways are dangerous again, graffiti everywhere, bums everywhere. Mentally Ill homeless are a real problem as are inner city youth with no fear of cops. I grew up in the city, but don't like my kids going in without me. Its still a great city, but my heart breaks that one liberal idiot did so much damage. Big cities need to be tough on crime and have cops empowered and judges that prosecute.

 

[Legumes]

Its crazy how no one back then was even worried about looking at their cellphone, just living in the moment, wonder what changed

They were too busy with their fancy newspapers and almanacs.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Not enough Orphans to be New York

 

[Fedorgasm]

Funny how NY traffic sucked even back then