Footage of NYC in 1911

Wow, incredible natural looking footage of New York City in 1911.

Everybody is dressed so formal and wearing a hat. Not too many people deviating from the dress code.

Fascinating stuff

Would have been a very interesting time to be alive, seeing horse and buggies sharing roads with those new motor car thingys.
Loved the looks on the faces of people who most likely had never seen a camera before.

What I wouldnt give to be able to spend a day wandering around any major city around that time

a reply to: nOraKat

Thanks 😊 I really enjoyed watching that .. why am I shocked that 2 men are holding hands at 6.20 ? 😳 haha

a reply to: nofear39

most likely due to the youth of the boys/young men or one could have been guiding...pulling along. If they were more intimate then that certainly would have raised eyebrows.

originally posted by: auroraaus
a reply to: nofear39

most likely due to the youth of the boys/young men or one could have been guiding...pulling along. If they were more intimate then that certainly would have raised eyebrows.

That makes sense .. just didn’t expect it 😊

I’ve just looked again and they are youngest .. deffo not guilding each other tho because they both look at the camera same time ..
I think they are gay 😊

Fantastic! I absolutely love seeing images and movies of days gone by! So fascinating. Thank you for this thread OP.

a reply to: nofear39

They are young - and of course they'd look at the camera - remember this is technically a novelty!

Do you not remember being young and seeing a camera rolling when a journalist was recording a piece and walking up behind and making gestures or being silly? Or purposely "camera bombing" - this here is an early example. Young mate with the flat cap no doubt was like Heyyyy there's one of those new camera thingamejigs, lets walk past it and become movie stars! *proceeds to drag his mate by the hand past, whilst both smiling silly into the lens*

Mind you they also could have been gay. But risking a public display of homoeroticism would have subjected them to decades of prison time and/or forced lobotomies.

a reply to: auroraaus

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my behalf 😁

a reply to: nofear39



personally I also find homoeroticism hot too.

a reply to: auroraaus
My best pal is gay so going to send him the vid and ask him his opinion 😊

originally posted by: nofear39
a reply to: nOraKat

Thanks 😊 I really enjoyed watching that .. why am I shocked that 2 men are holding hands at 6.20 ? 😳 haha

Probably Irish brothers. Ready to play as a team.

a reply to: auroraaus

My pal said they are deffo gay 😁

a reply to: nOraKat

Dig!

The archives behind The Darkest Patterns are always hungry for more raw footage.

Pretty heavy traffic at 4:00 min.

So many horse and buggies still..

Interesting clip, but I think the sound is not real. It has been dubbed into the film for a more realistic appearance.

Sound in film wasn't really a commercially viable technology in 1911. It had been done previously, but required cumbersome equipment (not to mention lots of it) and was rarely synchronized with the film itself. More importantly, the fidelity of these early recordings was usually poor at best and certainly not of the fidelity and/or quality found in this film.

Still, a fun and interesting clip to watch (with the sound off).

People don’t even try to avoid stepping in the horse poop!
Very cool.
a reply to: nOraKat

And to think, not one of those people, not one man, woman or child, nor any of those horses, or birds in the sky, fish in the water, not one black cabbie driving people to and fro, not one train controller transporting every day folk to and from their work place, not one ladder carrier, not one hidden yet desperate gay person holding his secret lovers hand, not a single animal, in any form, from then, is alive. Their clothes put away, most likely now land fill, no machine being operated in working order, nothing.

Their grand children will only know them from memories passed to them. Photos and footage such as this, but to us, they are unknown, lost to time, reluctant actors in a timeless clip.

What will people, I wonder, think of us in 117 years. When they gloss over vapid clips of grandma snorting a condom or of great grandpa eating laundry detergent, in the internet archive, the wayback machine of 117 years ago, of facebook and youtube.

When we too are mere distant memories, and our worth measured without context.

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon; The flames of Love extinguished, and fully past and gone: Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold, that loving Breast of thine; That thou canst never once reflect. On old long syne.

a reply to: stonker

What will people, I wonder, think of us in 117 years. When they gloss over vapid clips of grandma snorting a condom or of great grandpa eating laundry detergent, in the internet archive, the wayback machine of 117 years ago, of facebook and youtube.

When we too are mere distant memories, and our worth measured without context.

Yeah, some people should maybe think about things like that! I didn't notice any people with tattoos on their face either in the video, or any people with 4" PVC (schedule 40) pipe stuck through their earlobes calling it fashion, did anyone else? Wow, and people actually wore their pants up around their hips back then, and not around their knees...who knew!

You know, the more I think about it, perhaps a lot of people ought to watch this video after reading your comments...a whole lot of people!

...Then again, 117 years from now people might be running around shooting rainbow colored hotdogs out of their butts while riding around on invisible robotic lesbians and chanting "NEEP!!"...so maybe snorting condoms and mainlining Tide Pods will be so..."yesterday" to them.

Grandma? Who's that? Is Grandma the petri dish...or the swab?

a reply to: stonker


But then you look and see the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges which are both still in use, the Flatiron Building which wasn't even 10 years old at that point and a whole host of other structures that are still part of the New York City skyline or infrastructure.

Great video, just think some of those young children might have ended up fighting oversea in WW2

Black chauffeur driver as well

Also they are all a lot thinner

Great video