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

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 .

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....

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

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.

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.

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

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.👏🥰👏

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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.

Like and Share Please!

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!

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...

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...

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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...!

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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

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

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..

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

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.

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

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.

I’m thankful that this person filmed this.. thank you so much❤

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

Amazing. Thank You, keep up the great work.

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.

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

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

Great job, what a fascinating time-machine!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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

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...

Nice work! Gotta love that shot near the end through the two trains passing each other.

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.

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

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.

Good vid. Thanks for the upload.

Fabulous vid and great restoration work yet again I love your channel and hope you can keep going. You deserve everything that you earn from doing this.

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! 👍👍👍

Love what people wore back then.

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

Nice restoration! Thank you!

That first train shot is amazing!

Great ride, nice and intimate! Thanks NASS.🤩

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.

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

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

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.

Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

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

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

Fantastic 🙂

I'm old enough to remember those trains

This is great, thank you!

Hats were still fashionable back then.

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.

That's insane! I grew up on 13th street between 2nd and 3rd Ave, the same street where they filmed Taxi Driver with Robert Dinero, and I never knew that 3rd Ave had an El train. I was born in 1960 and lived in Harlem from 1960-1969, before moving to the LES. But my mother and I took bus rides all the time, especially along 3rd Ave. I need to check to see when that line was demolished, but interesting to know. Nice vid!

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.

Amazing Video 👍

Back in best days of america .Not banana republic it is now !

love it , love you for saving these memories

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!

🖐🖐😎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.🖐❤️

Great train ride to the past!

I wasn't even around then and I miss those times.

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.