And so it moves from the memories of yesterday into the promise of tomorrow...
December 28, 2011 10:30 AM Subscribe
New York - The Wonder City - 1938 (SLOldTimeyYT)
The street signs are fantastic.
The descriptions of Chinatown and Harlem, uh, not so much.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:55 AM on December 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
The descriptions of Chinatown and Harlem, uh, not so much.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:55 AM on December 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
So I'm going to just take the period-appropriate-but-still-super-offputting racism in a box, acknowledge it, and then continue with my afternoon.
I thought the kids swimming in the fountain at Washington Square park were going to be the destroy-me-with-charm high point of this, but the the long, loving shots of the old Penn Station were what ultimately punched my heard the hardest.
This was really fantastic. Watched it the whole way through, and now have the motivation I needed to go into the city to finish my holiday shopping tomorrow. Gotta go stare at some granite buildings and sigh dreamily.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:30 PM on December 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I thought the kids swimming in the fountain at Washington Square park were going to be the destroy-me-with-charm high point of this, but the the long, loving shots of the old Penn Station were what ultimately punched my heard the hardest.
This was really fantastic. Watched it the whole way through, and now have the motivation I needed to go into the city to finish my holiday shopping tomorrow. Gotta go stare at some granite buildings and sigh dreamily.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:30 PM on December 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
and by "heard" I mean "heart"
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:31 PM on December 28, 2011
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:31 PM on December 28, 2011
Well if Holden Caulfield had watched that he would have known exactly what happens to those goddam ducks in central park during winter.
posted by mattoxic at 2:37 PM on December 28, 2011
posted by mattoxic at 2:37 PM on December 28, 2011
Wow, the first several minutes of that video in Lower Manhattan after the Bowling Green shot, could almost have been shot today...the only difference is that you don't see the thousands of f'ing police barriers surrounding every single thing in sight. Seriously, though, maybe it was just the way the shots were framed -- without a lot of cars / street vendors / etc, or maybe it is just because Lower Manhattan feels so much older. Oh, and the shot down Broad in front of the Stock Exchange, that would look the same too, if you could walk or drive or do anything there anymore. Ugh.
And beyond the abundance of traffic in the waterways and piers, the first real big change is the shock at seeing the old Penn Station. The narrator describes it as "[a] monument to a vision of a great railroad." Ha, I wonder what the vision would be for the current incarnation? I was walking from the LIRR side to the NJ Transit area a week ago -- something I've probably done dozens of times, and I seriously ended up in what felt like a utility tunnel, with bare exposed light bulbs dotting the ceilings inches overhead, random trash and laundry carts, and water dripping onto the gray dank concrete floor. And you know what, that was an actual route that people were expected to walk. Thank Gawd they were at least able to save Grand Central from that fate.
Also, it is kinda neat to see that car zip by on 116th Street when they are shooting Low Library at Columbia. That is now closed to traffic (except for big shots and world leaders at major events). I had heard some odd story that in order to keep it from reverting back to the grid, they have to close the gates at least two days a year, or something. I may be botching this, but there was some sort of odd stipulation floating around regarding their right to close off the road there.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 5:58 PM on December 28, 2011
And beyond the abundance of traffic in the waterways and piers, the first real big change is the shock at seeing the old Penn Station. The narrator describes it as "[a] monument to a vision of a great railroad." Ha, I wonder what the vision would be for the current incarnation? I was walking from the LIRR side to the NJ Transit area a week ago -- something I've probably done dozens of times, and I seriously ended up in what felt like a utility tunnel, with bare exposed light bulbs dotting the ceilings inches overhead, random trash and laundry carts, and water dripping onto the gray dank concrete floor. And you know what, that was an actual route that people were expected to walk. Thank Gawd they were at least able to save Grand Central from that fate.
Also, it is kinda neat to see that car zip by on 116th Street when they are shooting Low Library at Columbia. That is now closed to traffic (except for big shots and world leaders at major events). I had heard some odd story that in order to keep it from reverting back to the grid, they have to close the gates at least two days a year, or something. I may be botching this, but there was some sort of odd stipulation floating around regarding their right to close off the road there.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 5:58 PM on December 28, 2011
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posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on December 28, 2011