Eighty Years of New York City, Then and Now

June 14, 2017 4:31 PM

The New Yorker presents a split-screen tour of the same streets in New York City, from the nineteen-thirties and today. (slyt)
posted by fings (14 comments total)

1930s drivers...also assholes. No big change.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:15 PM on June 14, 2017

did drivers in the 30's always street race....all...the...time?
posted by shockingbluamp at 5:35 PM on June 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is great. Thank you.

I notice (although I could be wrong) a comparative lack of scaffolding in the older footage. Whenever I've visited New York, which is once every couple of years or so, I seem to spend more time walking under sidewalk scaffolding than otherwise. Maybe it's due to public safety laws about repair and renovation that have passed since the '30s; maybe not.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:26 PM on June 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

I note a distressing lack of food carts in the 1930s.
posted by jedicus at 8:39 PM on June 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

It seems like the west side highway is the only thing a time travelled might not recognize.
posted by double bubble at 9:11 PM on June 14, 2017

A relative lack of trees is a big thing I notice in old photos and movies of NYC (and is evident in some shots from this clip).

The block in Brooklyn where I lived a few years ago is covered by a barrel vault of mature plane trees. In photos of the same street from the 1930s there's not even a sapling in sight.
posted by theory at 1:03 AM on June 15, 2017

The current day scaffolding is indeed due to a public safety law, now Local Law 11 ("Façade Inspection Safety Program") of 1998, which requires periodic inspection and repairs to buildings.
posted by plastic_animals at 4:07 AM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Fantastic. All this is missing is Gene Hackman and/or Roy Scheider.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:31 AM on June 15, 2017

"Ah, now I know where I am - and who I am."
posted by Bob Regular at 7:20 AM on June 15, 2017

I could watch this kind of thing for hours. It's a joy to watch crowds of pedestrians jaywalking just as they do today. Thanks for the post! (Now let's see comparisons like this for other cities...)
posted by languagehat at 8:08 AM on June 15, 2017

did drivers in the 30's always street race....all...the...time?

Well there was a lot less traffic back then.
posted by Automocar at 8:23 AM on June 15, 2017

Now let's see comparisons like this for other cities
They did one for 70 Years of Los Angeles last year.
posted by fings at 8:31 AM on June 15, 2017

I note a distressing lack of food carts in the 1930s.

Yeah, for some mysterious reason, people were really good at watching their weight during THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

The block in Brooklyn where I lived a few years ago is covered by a barrel vault of mature plane trees. In photos of the same street from the 1930s there's not even a sapling in sight.

Someone ought to write a book about that!
posted by Sys Rq at 12:10 PM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

There were still horse-drawn carts in the 30s, amazing.
posted by gottabefunky at 2:37 PM on June 15, 2017