Many of us wondered why folks were recording people and transit during that time. And here we are 40 years later; OMG! somebody was smart enough to record memorable history.
Where can I find similar videos from different era's? Recorded by regular people. It would bo so amazing for me to see someone walking with a camera (even huge one back then) and recording stuff around, talking with strangers etc
Yeah, and back then if you wanted to record something the only way you could was to a buy a device that cost well over a thousand dollars in today's money ( a camcorder).
I remember riding the subways in the 80s. No mobile devices to read from. Everyone read the newspaper. Sometimes you would get on the train and someone would leave a copy of the Daily News, NY Post, or Newsday on the seat behind after they're done and you got a free, paper. What was sometimes amusing was when you were reading your paper on the train, the person sitting next to you was also reading along. 😆
You know what I really miss about this time? The quality of clothing. That might sound odd and I hope I'm not the only one to recall, but clothes back then were tougher. Standard jeans were thicker denim and lasted forever without a tear. Most shoes and boots were much tougher too. A pair of shoes today can barely go a year without a hole appearing or generally looking beaten up. These much tougher, longer lasting and warmer clothes didn't cost an absolute fortune either. Let's just not mention shell suits though...
It confuses me that now people can leave the house in sweatpants, hoodies and almost a bathrobe and house slippers. 😄Previously, people dressed more elegantly and dignifiedly: raincoats, coats, jackets, shirts, ties..
@@PiroKUSS thank god we have more narcistic people in society now that take time out of their day to "self-express" through what clothes they wear.. congrats, you're a little bitch
So true about the quality of clothing those days. It’s because people have settled for bs. Shutting down factories and letting cheap prices get the attention has messed up everything in clothing industry.
My dad started transit in 1980 as a conductor, then he became a Motor Man. My father loved the job, but most importantly he loved his passengers. He called them his Ruff Riders lol, random strangers came together. To give my daddy a BBQ when he left the A line. I met a lot of great people just going to work with my father riding on the train that he operated. Sleep Well Dad 🥀🕊
🙏 Brought tears to my eyes. May your father rest in peace and may your memory of him never fade. I spent my childhood growing up in NYC on the 7 train in the late 80s into the 90s and now I work in transit, myself, as a planner and I take it to work everyday. The people you ride with and the people who see the same operators every day absolutely become family. So grateful for your father's service and that you were able to be a part of that community of strangers.
In 1985 I was 11 years old living in a small village in The Netherlands; back then I was aware of the fact that while I was sleeping during the night a part of America was 'awake' and I thought about what was going on there across the ocean while I was in my bed. I have no idea where this fascination came from. Now, finally with this footage I can see some real activity going on in 1985, in this case in New York, while I was in my bed in The Netherlands : )...assuming the shots aren't taken in the morning, concerning the time difference of 6 hours : )
This brings back memories. I saw these a lot as a kid. In fact, up until the 90s, these were common. I rarely saw a train without some graffiti on it. This alone shows how much things changed since then. Compared to then, subways and trains look much cleaner now.
Agreed. Also, people are always complainning about crime nowadays but the statistics actually show that the US is twice (!) as safe in terms of violent crimes in 2022 as it was in the 80s and 90s. So, compared to then, it is also much safer now as well. The same goes for Europe where homicide rates have dropped several times in different countries since the 80s and 90s.
@@adriangonzales2859 Well, obviously I meant countrywide statistics. Just checked Chicago and St. Louis as well though - the homicide rates are more or less the same as in the 90s. The homicide rates are slightly down in Chicago and slightly up in St. Louis. But these cities (plus a couple more) have always been outliers and aren't indicative of the whole country.
@@adriangonzales2859 all violent crimes in major cities have gone down dramatically since the 80s and 90s. It’s because the population has risen so much and everyone has moved everywhere across the country that now crimes happen all over the place but the facts remain that major cities are as safe as they’ve been in 40 plus years. I mean just look at metro areas which weren’t relevant 40 years ago for instance the Kansas city Missouri metro area was irrelevant with little communities in the 80s now the KC metro is host to over 2 million people with big cities across the metro and in turn KCMO is now one of the most dangerous cities in the country. This is what happens when populations rise it’s not uncommon for more crime to happen when there’s more people to commit said crimes. I know sounds crazy right….
This is so cool. I love how the passengers interact with the camera- this is back when a video camera was a very obvious thing and the person filming this was a big spectacle on the platform.
What are you talking?! It's 1980, not 1880! The cameras back then were already quite small and absolutely nothing special or whatever. "A big spectacle on the platform" lol
This is the NYC that I grew up in. No surveillance cameras, no phones, nothing. When you came out the house, you had to be on-point. I know a lot of people won't believe what I'm about to say, but not one day went by when I didn't personally observe a robbery, or hear about one, not to mention shootings and murder. We didn't know any other world. Only the strong survived.
@@HandyMan657 No exaggeration. Robberies occurred daily. I’m talking robberies that I was aware of daily. Bear in mind, a robbery is simply taking the property of another with a show of violence, intimidation, or threat. This happened in school everyday multiple times, not to mention the subway and streets. Shootings and murder were commonplace. It was a different world. We measured the quality of our summers based upon how many people were victimized and killed. Unless you lived in that environment during that time period, it’s difficult to imagine.
Growing up in a small town in Norway in the 80s, I was always dreaming of the big cities with their lights and nightlife and especially New York. The big city with those big buildings seemed so interesting and attractive. But every footage I've seen from New York in that time period it seems very dystopian. I have been to NYC once myself in 2012 and I had a really good time, looked a lot cleaner than the 80s footage, but there's still room for improvement.
The 1980s were a terrific time to be alive in New York City, back when the city was authentic and gritty and filled with soul and a cast of characters that made everyday experiences memorable. Today, the heart of the city is owned by corporations and the once glorious subterranean landscape of the subways has been sadly sanitized.
@@Xavier_the_Boxing_Nerd Not like today where property value sky-rocketing, back in time real estate was not really wealth, houses in bad shape but at least rent was affordable
@@ToppsBaseballRacks yeah, nyc might be cleaner and more modern now, but there's a certain character to footage of the city in the 80's and early 90's that makes the city seem so much more vibrant, cultured, and artistic
Imagine that young lady from 7:14 is probably 70 now! She could be anxious about taking her typing machine exam that day. And this lady from 13:50, did she have a peaceful ending and was she happy with her life? Thank you for uploading this time capsule. ❤
@@francisbegbie5102 I was 19 at the time and grew up in NYC. I watch these and get sentimental, but at the time I was just there living everyday life, kinda like you're doing right now lol...
@@francisbegbie5102it was cool and exciting. I was a club kid that worked at B. Altman during the day and clubbed all night at Danceteria, Mudd Club, CBGB, Limelight, etc.... I'd be riding the trains home at 4am... never thought about the consequences being young and all hahahaa 😂
From the UK here. I remember watching films and documentaries of New York in the 1980s. It looked a dangerous place to be. We used to say we could never go to New York it must be a dangerous place to live. My ambition was to visit the Empire State Building. I’ve now done that years later and visited New York twice. A city everyone should visit during their lifetime.
Being born in the 1990s it was a weird experience where I can still remember the graffiti and sketchiness but we were also in a period of transition where things were cleaning up. So I get the nostalgia, but I’m also glad the direction the subway has gone since then.
What amazed me the most was not a ton of graffiti but the length of the stop. Its like close to two minutes. Isnt people have places to go or life was different in 1980s? Or the number of trains was so low that they had to wait so much? I dont understand that.
@@silva777 Crime rates went down considerably over the course of the 90s, and they remained notably lower than during the 70s/80s which saw notoriously bad crime rates. And daily assaults on the NYC subway system (or any major subway system for that matter) are nothing new in the slightest, so not sure what point you're trying to make.
@@janreznak881 Well, I don't know that figure, do you? But I do remember how in Superman the Movie (1978), they put a scene in where a cop gets slowly shoved in front of a train by Lex Luthor. People had been pushed onto subway lines in the 70s, often by gangsters, and it inspired that scary scene in Superman. There was also a notorious spree of exactly those sorts of murdersin London in the 70s, pushed onto the lines in the London Underground. It sparked a famous rumour of a specific serial killer doing it, but I think it was found to be more than one person. You often find the further back you go in history, the more horrendous crimes there were - ie, 1920s/prohibition America saw an enormous murder rate from all the alcohol trafficking gangs. Victorian England had an epidemic of rapesand serial killers and horrific violence usually towards women and children. Child abuse in pioneer America was horrific too, including many little girls being sold from families and forced into marriages etc. Same in Victorian England and many other parts of the world. Things are pretty cushy these days, but of course the media will try and drum you up into an outrage over whatever they can to make more and more profits. Anyway, if you want statistics for the 80s, you'll need to look those up. Pretty specific stats you're after though and I imagine the news media know that it's hard for people to look up such statistics to check on the realities of what they're being told in videos and articles. Again though, it's by no means anything new at all. You'll also find that back then, all kinds happened that wasn't reported in the media because the media then was just occasional tv spots and newspapers. They didn't have a million different online media corporations fighting over clicks and ad revenue on the internet with multiple 24/7 rolling news channels, phone apps and all the rest of it. You will find the news these days is wildly different thing, and it's largely companies saying literally anything that gets you to click on links and thereby giving them ad revenue and subscriptions etc. The news now is more manufactured than ever, on all sides, right, left, centre middle left right whatever opinion you fancy adopting, they will cater for you and websites and apps all track your data like hounds to then keep producing and showing you things that will satisfy your particular outrage slant, because that's how all these billionaires make their billions - flogging contrived junk to hundreds of millions of confused people around the globe and stirring up controversy, hatred and trouble. You might have noticed it happening so much over the last couple of decades. The news media is there just to wind you up, to make you angry, outraged, hateful and so on, because that's how you make vast profits these days. Trading your data is a bonus too, since people's personal data has not become the most lucrative resource in the world, no longer gold or oil (though oil is a close second).
"Magical" 😳I am not sure WTF is wrong with people like you. Crime rates in all NY boroughs were shocking in the 80s, much higher than today in majority of apsects...
Just remember, it was the time of huge fear of AIDS, for one thing. No one knew how it spread, and it was pretty much a death sentence. It’s always easy to look back- we already know how the story ends.
Back in those days when you saw some a dude walking down the street in a very animated conversation with no one else around him it meant something very different than in this current age of ear buds and cell phones.
@TeniquasInTheWild Lol. Last time I checked myself in the mirror I was still a mixed racial male. Doesn't matter what race they are, if they are screaming at the top of their lungs at no one , I am crossing the street. I ain't looking for no drama in my life.
The song “Your Love” by The Outfield’s music video was recorded in Queens (1985…I was all but one year old), and I finally got to visit the intersection of where it took place. That last 20 seconds of the video were some of the earliest inspirations of me loving the city. Give me a Queens neighborhood over a rural farm any day!
I emigrated to NYC from Ireland in 1982. Somehow, I am still here. The city did (as someone mentioned) look and feel dystopian back then. However, for whatever reason the city always felt comfortable to me. It was the city of where dreams were made, and everything seemed possible. It was also so much fun, the bars, the clubs. It was like living in pinball machine. I feel very fortunate to have arrived in NYC in 1982. No job, no place to stay, no Green card and very little money. You get a job selling hot dogs and still make more in a few days, then you would in a week back in London. It was a truly wonderful time!
Man, how things have changed. My parents also came around that time. I keep thinking, if they came today with no money and no advanced college degree, they wouldn't be able to survive. There's just no way in this economy for someone on a low salary to survive in NYC let alone start a family.
I remember when the new, all silver, synthetic new trains were introduced in the mid 1980s, inside they were brightly lit, like a laboratory in a sci-fi movie. Quite surreal when compared to the grafittied trains
Good to see that even 40 years ago, when the train is just going to sit there for minutes before it leaves, you still have some lady blocking the door so you can barely get out while she pushes her way in.
I visited New York from the UK for the first time in 1985. There was a busker with a synth playing "Axel F" on the platform. The sound echoed all around the station. The graffiti covered carriages and the music reverberating around created a real "Big Apple" vibe. It was great. I've been a couple of times since, the last was three years ago. Things seemed a lot cleaner and less edgy. Still a great place to visit.
Some people like dirt, eternal dusk, grime, stank of urine and garbage, no wonder. Thankfully, those gloomy, terrible times of NY subway are gone in past.😁🤩
A great time capsule, if also a sobering one. Hard to believe that the city subways were allowed to get so decrepit and yet they were. (And to think that Chambers Street is a stone's throw from City Hall!) Passengers who rode on these beasts were brave souls indeed. This video is a fantastic find.
when i see vids like this i always wonder what happened to the ppl in them. like how many of these ppl passed away, how many were at their lows here but are thriving now or how many were at their peak happiness and these were their "good old days" there's so many stories here..
@@skywishr1313 because NYC wasn't racist like it is now under gentrification which is a form of racism. NYC was wild back then, but everyone looked out for each other, including my era, the 90's.
I lived in Midtown for 5 years starting in 1989, when there were few subway cars left that were already covered in graffiti. The ones that left an impression on me were the old reddish-brown cars. Anyway, the video made me nostalgic for those days. Thanks!
Late 70’s....early to mid 80’s (when I fell in love with the art known as graffiti). Whoever decided to record this back in the days is a mad genius 🙏🏽🙏🏽
We often romanticize the past in this modern age. Videos like this are good to bring back that sobering feeling that it wasn't always better before we found ourselves thrust into this heavily digitised world of smartphones and the internet. Everyone looks pretty miserable to be honest but i'm sure that's not much different on today's subways.
I still romanticize about it tbh, because there was more socializing, better music, better video games, Hell better products in general all over the world. People really knew how to have fun back then as well. Everything is drab, depressing and is only about political BS nowadays. It’s getting tiresome.
@@metalheadgamer6666 there has been plenty of groundbreaking, mindblowing music released in the last 30 years and there's plenty of amazing music that's been released this year. And you can still listen to music from the 80s. It's the same with video games. I agree on socialising and other aspects and I think people's (my) addiction to and reliance on smartphones is awful.
I miss that NYC back then it’s was bad in the City crime was high But you had to be tough to be a NEW Yorker and that’s what made us love the city we once knew .
@@brucegelman5582 Toughness meaning a bunch of things here are a few for 1- Street smart 2- Thick skin (No Whining) )Obviously your not from NYC and if you are your to young to know what NY Toughness was and meant! Have A Good day Cousin Brucie...
@@fenkers3249 CRIME HMMM what do you think is Happening in NYC now you actually think its any better??? Stop watching CNN Ray Finkle . And YES I would take that NYC over this one anyway....
Thanks for the memories. This is what riding the NYC subway as a kid was like. This was definitely 1985 footage shown here, in the pre-Redbird graffiti era. The new stainless steel R62 cars were being rolled out at that time when most of these painted were painted white. Couple of years after this, some were retired while others sent off for rebuilding and painted red, hence the venerable Redbirds. All graffiti disappeared by early 90's, even before the current new-tech trains now in service existed. Glad to see the 'train of many colors' IRT museum train uses surviving Redbirds from that era. I really miss the old-school NYC and its subway. Thanks for sharing!
Now I understand why Rudolph Giuliani started the fight against crime with graffiti)) In Russia, there has NEVER been such a dump in the subway - neither under the USSR nor today. In Russia, the metro is clean and beautiful, like in a museum.
Ah the eighties in NYC..we had soooo much fun…what you can’t really appreciate here is how loud those trains were..bang bang boom..hear it right through your Walkman headphones..todays trains are like a library in comparison..yes I’m getting old…😊
Great Work! The 7th avenue line the way I remembered it going to work everyday in the 1980s. Thank you so much for this excellent quality video and audio... You did a great job! ,Thank you for not having any background music.
I was watching Hollywood movies showing American subway looking like that. I thought they made it like that for the film. I lived in a much poorer country and our subway looked clean like first class on airplane. In winter time, subway was warm and was a good place to take a nap till getting home. It was filled with regular people going to work, KIDS, elderly like you are in a supermarket. I think it's still like that.
If you have not already seen it, you might like what I recorded of the subway in the past. New York Subway 1976, 1984, 1990 Graffiti and all, COMPLETE VERSION Part silent movie czcams.com/video/JLyDJTk4tIo/video.html
Born and raised in Newark NJ, i didn't start hangin out in NYC til 87, before then the only times i been was to visit my Auntie & Uncle in Sheepshead Bay ,Brooklyn in the early to mid 70's . I remember seeing the construction site for one of the WTC buildings.
I am 61 years old and the 80's were the best times of my life, and now can't believe how old that time period looks to me right now! And having said that, this time period we're living in right now will look old also, 40 years from now!
For many, growing up there back then would mean experiencing NYC in its raw glory: in spite of crime, its low cost of living and culture had lead to many not having enough of it
@@mr.wyrzykowski7522 là criminalité rime avec Drogues voilà ce qui à ravagé New-York à cette époque aujourd'hui avec les gangs ça était cents fois pires crack Héroïne dès décennies de morts et surtout d'innocents morts par Bavures
Refreshing to see people chatting, reading books or newspapers instead of on mobile phones. No overcrowding either -I miss the 80’s it was the best decade.
@@hehexd4557 Not only are they more interesting than you ever will be, there's more of them than there is of you. You're basically the human equivalent of plain yogurt.
You are correct except for the overcrowded part. Peak times were super crowded. Many times I would have to let a train pass because I couldn't squeeze in lol.
Thanks for posting! Brings back so many memories of when I used to visit NYC. I can recall the smell of the subway very well, especially in the summer. It was the scent of adventure, excitement and being young in Manhattan in the late 80s.
I wish I could truly experience other places in time. I was born in the late 90's and missed all this. It's crazy to think the NES was just getting released this same year.
Anyone who complains about the state of the NYC subway today has absolutely no idea just how run-down it, and the rest of the city, were in the 1980's. These cars are absolutely caked in graffiti. NYC has truly bounced back in a way no one would have expected back then.
Was born in 1985., never been to the US but as I grew up watching so many movies from the era I feel like I lived in NY and these types of videos bring so much nostalgia and conform to me
I know. It looks so poignant now viewing this fascinating now 33 plus year old video footage on a medium not yet thought of when it was shot. What he effectively did when he woke up that 1980s morning and made the bold decision to take his video camera along with him down to the subway (with all the risks that would've entailed then) and film all the goings on there, he was unwittingly documenting a moment in time. Capturing a (rather unsavory but) very real aspect of New York City life on its major transit system frequented and used by many of its city dwellers then and now. An atmosphere of its era instantly recalled by technology with sound and vision.
@@88ntil "Ummmm duh" I am sure the camera operator knew what he (or she) was "doing" but maybe they weren't thinking in terms of decades later when unthought of technologies would allow people to view this footage! Showing the subway in a different era to themselves. Showing different fashions, hairstyles, attitudes and (lack of) technologies at this point in time.
It's fun to see how some people avoided looking at the camera or acted goofy because it was novel back then. Now we expect someone with a cellphone to be recording everything. Just the fact we all now carry a camera every place we go compared to 10 years ago.
Almost nobody wanted to be filmed. I totally understand that. And newspapers were important back then since there was no internet or cell phones. It's neat to see this time capsule film.
The contrast between the subway system as shown in 1980's films and those of other big cities at this time is striking. The policy of removing graffiti as soon as it appears and the courts putting to work graffiti vandals to clean up their mess and that left by others really makes a difference. Guest in one's city see the subway and it's best that it be presentable.
Idk man. The metro of Paris was and still is nasty. Why do you need a fancy train to ride? The subway is not meant to be a luxury. It's just there to get you from place to place.
@@heha9752 there is nowhere near the amount of filth and graffiti in the Paris metro as there was in the 1980's NYC Subway. Why vandalize something that's needed by other people ? Subways in Montreal, and Frankfurt and Buenos Aires are also much cleaner.
@@HepCatJack The first time I went on the Paris Metro (circa 2019) I saw things I would NEVER DREAM of seeing on the NYC subway (I'm a New Yorker btw). Not really sure what point you're trying to make by listing cities but go off I guess...?
@@heha9752 I don't know why but you seem to think I'm from Paris. Perhaps you think everyone who has a French name lives in Paris ? It wouldn't surprise me since bigoted people tend to be ignorant as well.
Probably didn't preserve one for the museum because the illegible graffiti covering the train is not art it's vandalism even though graffiti was part of the 80's.
@@nicknation9114 That’s YOUR definition of what is and isn’t art. Graffiti on the trains was a big part of NYC history, whether you like it not and it would have been interesting to see for people who never saw it in person.
smh, Yea... but NOW (Due 2 Colonizers) the-GENTRIFIERS Says THEIR Graffiti is "ART" & COOL... So in Communities where THEY Didn't Suffer... THEY Can have Graffiti on Walls & Smoke & Drink in front of Stores & on Blocks that Black & Brown Youth were HARRASSED BY POLICE & Considered 'JUVENILES' for! NOW Enjoying the CREAM OF THE CROP In Communities that We've been in for an Excess of 80yrs!
Amazing, I only went on it for the first time last week! The trains are spotless now, but some stations still need that super clean up! ♻️ Why the 16:9 crop over original 4:3 footage though? Missing so much 😢
@@practicingswedish4763 16:9 wasn't really a thing until the 90s and wasn't widly used until the 2000s. anything non-cinema of this era would've most likely been 4:3
I always thought I was just weird for loving any actual videos showing how things was in the past, but I guess if people keep posting them then there must be others just as nostalgicly weird as me..!!
0:04 Reminds me of the old "Equalizer" opening credits from the 80's. Had a scene with those odd tight angles and graffiti, made you feel really creeped out.
There is just something so emotionally powerful seeing things like this from another time. All we can do know is either try and imagine ourselves in this world or feel nostalgic looking back.
great gem of a video. I was born in Queens 1985. great to see people reading on the trains. these days if you took this same video people would just have there faces in there phones.
These days everywhere I look everyone seems to be on their cellphone all the time even when they're crossing a buzy street and intersection and walking on a buzy sidewalk texting on their phones and im really surprised that more people dont get hit by cars because they're so distracted by being on their phones instead of paying attention to whats around them.
Born in New York City - Upper East Side - childhood in the Bronx. The town upstairs is a clean, cultured, and refined Daddy. Downstairs will always be the grubby gritty Granny.
Those were the days, man...used to ride in between and on top of the cars! I also, believe it or not, had a subway band at the 42nd Street stop on the shuttle from Grand Central to Port Authority. Guitar through a mouse amp, drummer, bass player and rockabilly! Tips welcome.
Many of us wondered why folks were recording people and transit during that time.
And here we are 40 years later; OMG! somebody was smart enough to record memorable history.
Man, what I wouldn't give to have access to all my old video tapes from the 90s. I'm sure 99% dumb stuff, but some gems in there for sure.
Invaluable and thanks for not including any music. Just raw original landscape sounds. 💯
I was just thinking how perfect this is with no music
@@Astralkiller47 💯💯💯💯💯
hell YEAH !!
I hate when they put corny music
when I see the pictures, the wildstyle soundtrack comes into my head automatically anyway😀
I like how there were people self aware and smart enough back then to record and document their surroundings knowing that they are living in history.
Yeah once the camcorder came out it was just a matter of time dawg
Where can I find similar videos from different era's? Recorded by regular people. It would bo so amazing for me to see someone walking with a camera (even huge one back then) and recording stuff around, talking with strangers etc
@@MsDolar123Lyle Hiroshi Saxon recorded some videos of Tokyo in the 90s (same-ish era, sorry lol) and is STILL recording!
People are recording/documenting things now more than ever before bruh
Yeah, and back then if you wanted to record something the only way you could was to a buy a device that cost well over a thousand dollars in today's money ( a camcorder).
I remember riding the subways in the 80s. No mobile devices to read from. Everyone read the newspaper. Sometimes you would get on the train and someone would leave a copy of the Daily News, NY Post, or Newsday on the seat behind after they're done and you got a free, paper. What was sometimes amusing was when you were reading your paper on the train, the person sitting next to you was also reading along. 😆
I remember always getting a free paper somewhere. Almost never had to pay! 😅
*Sees a copy of Newsday*
Oh look, free toilet paper.
Still happens a lot in France with free press given out
In Europe this was still common up until smartphones became a thing. So you would still see this in 2009.
Lovely
You know what I really miss about this time? The quality of clothing. That might sound odd and I hope I'm not the only one to recall, but clothes back then were tougher. Standard jeans were thicker denim and lasted forever without a tear. Most shoes and boots were much tougher too. A pair of shoes today can barely go a year without a hole appearing or generally looking beaten up. These much tougher, longer lasting and warmer clothes didn't cost an absolute fortune either.
Let's just not mention shell suits though...
It confuses me that now people can leave the house in sweatpants, hoodies and almost a bathrobe and house slippers. 😄Previously, people dressed more elegantly and dignifiedly: raincoats, coats, jackets, shirts, ties..
@@user-sw1si3ou7s They didn't, they had terrible clothing taste lol, so boring and monotonous, no self-expression.
@@PiroKUSS thank god we have more narcistic people in society now that take time out of their day to "self-express" through what clothes they wear.. congrats, you're a little bitch
So true about the quality of clothing those days. It’s because people have settled for bs. Shutting down factories and letting cheap prices get the attention has messed up everything in clothing industry.
@@user-sw1si3ou7s Very true. Like Jordan Peterson said, adults dress like children today.
My dad started transit in 1980 as a conductor, then he became a Motor Man. My father loved the job, but most importantly he loved his passengers. He called them his Ruff Riders lol, random strangers came together. To give my daddy a BBQ when he left the A line. I met a lot of great people just going to work with my father riding on the train that he operated. Sleep Well Dad 🥀🕊
Rest well to your dad 🙏🏼
@@fgentertainment9468 thank you so much.
🙏 Brought tears to my eyes. May your father rest in peace and may your memory of him never fade. I spent my childhood growing up in NYC on the 7 train in the late 80s into the 90s and now I work in transit, myself, as a planner and I take it to work everyday. The people you ride with and the people who see the same operators every day absolutely become family. So grateful for your father's service and that you were able to be a part of that community of strangers.
@@Roboboy aww thank you so much 💓
May your father rest well. This story alone shows he touched many hearts throughout his life. :)
In 1985 I was 11 years old living in a small village in The Netherlands; back then I was aware of the fact that while I was sleeping during the night a part of America was 'awake' and I thought about what was going on there across the ocean while I was in my bed. I have no idea where this fascination came from. Now, finally with this footage I can see some real activity going on in 1985, in this case in New York, while I was in my bed in The Netherlands : )...assuming the shots aren't taken in the morning, concerning the time difference of 6 hours : )
This is such a cute comment, I’m glad you were able to find this video
This brings back memories. I saw these a lot as a kid. In fact, up until the 90s, these were common. I rarely saw a train without some graffiti on it. This alone shows how much things changed since then. Compared to then, subways and trains look much cleaner now.
Agreed. Also, people are always complainning about crime nowadays but the statistics actually show that the US is twice (!) as safe in terms of violent crimes in 2022 as it was in the 80s and 90s. So, compared to then, it is also much safer now as well. The same goes for Europe where homicide rates have dropped several times in different countries since the 80s and 90s.
Glad I never seen it
@@Beowulf245 safer in Chicago and st.loui..what?you might want to check your stats again
@@adriangonzales2859 Well, obviously I meant countrywide statistics. Just checked Chicago and St. Louis as well though - the homicide rates are more or less the same as in the 90s. The homicide rates are slightly down in Chicago and slightly up in St. Louis. But these cities (plus a couple more) have always been outliers and aren't indicative of the whole country.
@@adriangonzales2859 all violent crimes in major cities have gone down dramatically since the 80s and 90s. It’s because the population has risen so much and everyone has moved everywhere across the country that now crimes happen all over the place but the facts remain that major cities are as safe as they’ve been in 40 plus years. I mean just look at metro areas which weren’t relevant 40 years ago for instance the Kansas city Missouri metro area was irrelevant with little communities in the 80s now the KC metro is host to over 2 million people with big cities across the metro and in turn KCMO is now one of the most dangerous cities in the country. This is what happens when populations rise it’s not uncommon for more crime to happen when there’s more people to commit said crimes. I know sounds crazy right….
This is so cool. I love how the passengers interact with the camera- this is back when a video camera was a very obvious thing and the person filming this was a big spectacle on the platform.
Isn't it still quite obvious when someone films something using a phone?
Not as obvious. Those old camcorders were huge
What are you talking?! It's 1980, not 1880! The cameras back then were already quite small and absolutely nothing special or whatever. "A big spectacle on the platform" lol
Phones are ubiquitous now, camcorders were not in the 1980s. It's disingenuous to pretend that there is no difference
It was obvious and small. Kid.
This is the closest thing we have to a time machine and I absolutely love it.
This is the NYC that I grew up in. No surveillance cameras, no phones, nothing. When you came out the house, you had to be on-point. I know a lot of people won't believe what I'm about to say, but not one day went by when I didn't personally observe a robbery, or hear about one, not to mention shootings and murder. We didn't know any other world. Only the strong survived.
So true, when you went into the subway you had to be thinking ahead,and be aware 24/7
Some of that's a bit exaggerated, but I hear ya man. Safe travels
@@HandyMan657 No exaggeration. Robberies occurred daily. I’m talking robberies that I was aware of daily. Bear in mind, a robbery is simply taking the property of another with a show of violence, intimidation, or threat. This happened in school everyday multiple times, not to mention the subway and streets. Shootings and murder were commonplace. It was a different world. We measured the quality of our summers based upon how many people were victimized and killed. Unless you lived in that environment during that time period, it’s difficult to imagine.
@@HandyMan657 no exaggeration there, you had to be aware of your surroundings not to get jumped.
I watch the broadcast news from the 1970s and 1980s on you tube from channels 2 4 5 7 and 11 pix and maaannnnn!!! No joke compared to today? please😮
Growing up in a small town in Norway in the 80s, I was always dreaming of the big cities with their lights and nightlife and especially New York. The big city with those big buildings seemed so interesting and attractive. But every footage I've seen from New York in that time period it seems very dystopian.
I have been to NYC once myself in 2012 and I had a really good time, looked a lot cleaner than the 80s footage, but there's still room for improvement.
The 1980s were a terrific time to be alive in New York City, back when the city was authentic and gritty and filled with soul and a cast of characters that made everyday experiences memorable. Today, the heart of the city is owned by corporations and the once glorious subterranean landscape of the subways has been sadly sanitized.
@@ToppsBaseballRacksAre you under the impression that corporations didn’t own the city in the 80s?
@@Xavier_the_Boxing_Nerd Not like today where property value sky-rocketing, back in time real estate was not really wealth, houses in bad shape but at least rent was affordable
@@Xavier_the_Boxing_Nerd If you were alive and living in the city back then, you'd understand just how different things were.
@@ToppsBaseballRacks yeah, nyc might be cleaner and more modern now, but there's a certain character to footage of the city in the 80's and early 90's that makes the city seem so much more vibrant, cultured, and artistic
Imagine that young lady from 7:14 is probably 70 now!
She could be anxious about taking her typing machine exam that day.
And this lady from 13:50, did she have a peaceful ending and was she happy with her life? Thank you for uploading this time capsule. ❤
It is a very strange feeling to think that we are there from the future observing people who have meanwhile lived more than 35 years.
@@francisbegbie5102 I was 19 at the time and grew up in NYC. I watch these and get sentimental, but at the time I was just there living everyday life, kinda like you're doing right now lol...
@@Mhel2023 What was it like to live there at that time? Do you feel nostalgia (beyond personal events) or is contemporary era better?
@@francisbegbie5102it was cool and exciting. I was a club kid that worked at B. Altman during the day and clubbed all night at Danceteria, Mudd Club, CBGB, Limelight, etc.... I'd be riding the trains home at 4am... never thought about the consequences being young and all hahahaa 😂
Way better back then!@@francisbegbie5102
The 80’ were the best times.
Absolutely
Not so much though, there was crime on the subways and people putting graffiti on trains and stations.
@@Oraoraora69 yea. Like I said. The best times.
From the UK here. I remember watching films and documentaries of New York in the 1980s. It looked a dangerous place to be. We used to say we could never go to New York it must be a dangerous place to live. My ambition was to visit the Empire State Building. I’ve now done that years later and visited New York twice. A city everyone should visit during their lifetime.
For sure! I go once a month bc its such a vibe!
You should visit NYC if you like mentally ill people
Now thanks to multiculturalism the UK is now a sh#thole as well
EXCELLENT... No freakn' background music to ruin the experience !! BRAVO DUDE !!👍😄
PELHAM1,2,3
Being born in the 1990s it was a weird experience where I can still remember the graffiti and sketchiness but we were also in a period of transition where things were cleaning up. So I get the nostalgia, but I’m also glad the direction the subway has gone since then.
What amazed me the most was not a ton of graffiti but the length of the stop. Its like close to two minutes. Isnt people have places to go or life was different in 1980s? Or the number of trains was so low that they had to wait so much? I dont understand that.
You're "glad the direction the subway has gone since then"?? Hmm, there's an article about a subway assault in the NY Post almost every day.
@@silva777 Crime rates went down considerably over the course of the 90s, and they remained notably lower than during the 70s/80s which saw notoriously bad crime rates. And daily assaults on the NYC subway system (or any major subway system for that matter) are nothing new in the slightest, so not sure what point you're trying to make.
@@AD-kv9kj How many people were deliberately pushed in front of trains in the 1980's?
@@janreznak881 Well, I don't know that figure, do you? But I do remember how in Superman the Movie (1978), they put a scene in where a cop gets slowly shoved in front of a train by Lex Luthor. People had been pushed onto subway lines in the 70s, often by gangsters, and it inspired that scary scene in Superman. There was also a notorious spree of exactly those sorts of murdersin London in the 70s, pushed onto the lines in the London Underground. It sparked a famous rumour of a specific serial killer doing it, but I think it was found to be more than one person. You often find the further back you go in history, the more horrendous crimes there were - ie, 1920s/prohibition America saw an enormous murder rate from all the alcohol trafficking gangs. Victorian England had an epidemic of rapesand serial killers and horrific violence usually towards women and children. Child abuse in pioneer America was horrific too, including many little girls being sold from families and forced into marriages etc. Same in Victorian England and many other parts of the world. Things are pretty cushy these days, but of course the media will try and drum you up into an outrage over whatever they can to make more and more profits.
Anyway, if you want statistics for the 80s, you'll need to look those up. Pretty specific stats you're after though and I imagine the news media know that it's hard for people to look up such statistics to check on the realities of what they're being told in videos and articles. Again though, it's by no means anything new at all. You'll also find that back then, all kinds happened that wasn't reported in the media because the media then was just occasional tv spots and newspapers. They didn't have a million different online media corporations fighting over clicks and ad revenue on the internet with multiple 24/7 rolling news channels, phone apps and all the rest of it. You will find the news these days is wildly different thing, and it's largely companies saying literally anything that gets you to click on links and thereby giving them ad revenue and subscriptions etc. The news now is more manufactured than ever, on all sides, right, left, centre middle left right whatever opinion you fancy adopting, they will cater for you and websites and apps all track your data like hounds to then keep producing and showing you things that will satisfy your particular outrage slant, because that's how all these billionaires make their billions - flogging contrived junk to hundreds of millions of confused people around the globe and stirring up controversy, hatred and trouble. You might have noticed it happening so much over the last couple of decades. The news media is there just to wind you up, to make you angry, outraged, hateful and so on, because that's how you make vast profits these days. Trading your data is a bonus too, since people's personal data has not become the most lucrative resource in the world, no longer gold or oil (though oil is a close second).
Just love that grittiness of New York in the 80s. It must of been magical.
I am sure at the time it didn’t feel all that magical, but in retrospect yes…. there is something about it 🙈
@@vintagecity Maybe not all of them, but judging from all the classic movies made in NY during that time, some people were feeling that magic.
"Magical" 😳I am not sure WTF is wrong with people like you. Crime rates in all NY boroughs were shocking in the 80s, much higher than today in majority of apsects...
Just remember, it was the time of huge fear of AIDS, for one thing. No one knew how it spread, and it was pretty much a death sentence. It’s always easy to look back- we already know how the story ends.
It was.
It's so nice to see people reading and, looking around, or socializing. Cellphones have destroyed us.
Back then everyone carried cans of spray paint.
@@TheBatugan77 😂😂😂
And Sony walkmans or boom boxes
Pretty sure I saw quite a few people with head buried in news papers
@@jaredwarner8070 Good! Beats scrolling through an instagram feed.
Back in those days when you saw some a dude walking down the street in a very animated conversation with no one else around him it meant something very different than in this current age of ear buds and cell phones.
Lol, yep.
That was a sign for me to immediately cross the street.
That happened a lot in the Bronx in the 80s where I grew up.
Yeah it’s still happening more and more
@TeniquasInTheWild Lol.
Last time I checked myself in the mirror I was still a mixed racial male.
Doesn't matter what race they are, if they are screaming at the top of their lungs at no one , I am crossing the street. I ain't looking for no drama in my life.
@TeniquasInTheWildget over yourself my god
@TeniquasInTheWild Your comment makes me want to cross the street, dude.
Thank you for this. My hometown, I was 15 living in Queens in 85 and the subway was Extra grimy back then but that was NYC.
What you talking about? 7 N R were clean compared to the Brooklyn and Bronx lines
@@alexanderrodriguez6755 Absolutely right!
11:26 🕶
The song “Your Love” by The Outfield’s music video was recorded in Queens (1985…I was all but one year old), and I finally got to visit the intersection of where it took place. That last 20 seconds of the video were some of the earliest inspirations of me loving the city. Give me a Queens neighborhood over a rural farm any day!
WOW what a time to be alive I miss the NYC of the 80s & 90s
How old are u
@@nicklouis7497 probably born in the 2000s
Louisville was better during this time
I emigrated to NYC from Ireland in 1982. Somehow, I am still here. The city did (as someone mentioned) look and feel dystopian back then. However, for whatever reason the city always felt comfortable to me. It was the city of where dreams were made, and everything seemed possible. It was also so much fun, the bars, the clubs. It was like living in pinball machine. I feel very fortunate to have arrived in NYC in 1982. No job, no place to stay, no Green card and very little money. You get a job selling hot dogs and still make more in a few days, then you would in a week back in London. It was a truly wonderful time!
Man, how things have changed. My parents also came around that time. I keep thinking, if they came today with no money and no advanced college degree, they wouldn't be able to survive. There's just no way in this economy for someone on a low salary to survive in NYC let alone start a family.
I remember when the new, all silver, synthetic new trains were introduced in the mid 1980s, inside they were brightly lit, like a laboratory in a sci-fi movie. Quite surreal when compared to the grafittied trains
Imo the graffiti trains with actual graffiti art pieces and throwies are the best NYC subways ever
@@Wifistaxx synthetic trains? Were there ever organic ones?
@@KobbleGobbler in my neck of the woods we call organic trains "elongated feces"
@@KobbleGobbler huh
9:53 👀
How amazing seeing newspaper vendors in the train ,it’s not my era but it’s fascinating,thanks for taking us back in time 🙏🏽🇺🇸❤️
Good to see that even 40 years ago, when the train is just going to sit there for minutes before it leaves, you still have some lady blocking the door so you can barely get out while she pushes her way in.
My era rite here I loved the trains from the 70s 80s years raw and gritty lol will like to go back in time no b.s.
I visited New York from the UK for the first time in 1985. There was a busker with a synth playing "Axel F" on the platform. The sound echoed all around the station. The graffiti covered carriages and the music reverberating around created a real "Big Apple" vibe. It was great.
I've been a couple of times since, the last was three years ago. Things seemed a lot cleaner and less edgy. Still a great place to visit.
Some people like dirt, eternal dusk, grime, stank of urine and garbage, no wonder. Thankfully, those gloomy, terrible times of NY subway are gone in past.😁🤩
Oh shut up vaxxed boy
A great time capsule, if also a sobering one. Hard to believe that the city subways were allowed to get so decrepit and yet they were. (And to think that Chambers Street is a stone's throw from City Hall!) Passengers who rode on these beasts were brave souls indeed. This video is a fantastic find.
What you call decrepit I call artistic and personalized
when i see vids like this i always wonder what happened to the ppl in them. like how many of these ppl passed away, how many were at their lows here but are thriving now or how many were at their peak happiness and these were their "good old days" there's so many stories here..
Me too
Lived there during the seventies and eighties. Brings back memories.
Me Too!!
If only we could go back in time.
@@LexAveExp why you anyone want to go back to graffiti carts
@@LexAveExp Then please lead me to the nearest TIME MACHINE! My ass' ll be out of here in a heartbeat!
@@skywishr1313 because NYC wasn't racist like it is now under gentrification which is a form of racism. NYC was wild back then, but everyone looked out for each other, including my era, the 90's.
I lived in Midtown for 5 years starting in 1989, when there were few subway cars left that were already covered in graffiti. The ones that left an impression on me were the old reddish-brown cars. Anyway, the video made me nostalgic for those days. Thanks!
...also too were how the stations had the old Edison lights right in with the fluorescent lighting. This is mostly Chambers St on the west side IRT.
@@eles2147 Old Edison lights!" I see.
Those cars were known as the Redbirds. They were very distinctive. I really liked them.
@@marcboxerman291 Is it called "Redbird"? That's a nice name.
@@marcboxerman291 the R 22 cars were never called redbird. The R 12_R22 were never rebuilt, and never painted red.
Late 70’s....early to mid 80’s (when I fell in love with the art known as graffiti). Whoever decided to record this back in the days is a mad genius 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Rip to any of these random people in the videos who are no longer with us 🤍🕊️ its so crazy to think about how fast time flies
What memories I have of NYC! I managed to see the last of the graffiti trains when I arrived in ‘87! What a magical city!
We often romanticize the past in this modern age. Videos like this are good to bring back that sobering feeling that it wasn't always better before we found ourselves thrust into this heavily digitised world of smartphones and the internet. Everyone looks pretty miserable to be honest but i'm sure that's not much different on today's subways.
These are old people, of course they were miserable. Where were the younger folks?! And of course the 80s were better, what on earth do you mean??? 😂
I still romanticize about it tbh, because there was more socializing, better music, better video games, Hell better products in general all over the world. People really knew how to have fun back then as well. Everything is drab, depressing and is only about political BS nowadays. It’s getting tiresome.
The only difference is now you can pretend to look at your phone when the raving lunatics start performing
@@metalheadgamer6666 there has been plenty of groundbreaking, mindblowing music released in the last 30 years and there's plenty of amazing music that's been released this year. And you can still listen to music from the 80s.
It's the same with video games.
I agree on socialising and other aspects and I think people's (my) addiction to and reliance on smartphones is awful.
@@lowcostfish did anyone here ask or need to hear your opinion? Not really.
I miss that NYC back then it’s was bad in the City crime was high But you had to be tough to be a NEW Yorker and that’s what made us love the city we once knew .
True. When crime was high, you appreciate what you have. I had to move out years ago because people just did what they like now.
And what was the point of that toughness?
@@brucegelman5582 Toughness meaning a bunch of things here are a few for 1- Street smart 2- Thick skin (No Whining) )Obviously your not from NYC and if you are your to young to know what NY Toughness was and meant! Have A Good day Cousin Brucie...
You miss crime? Wtf
@@fenkers3249 CRIME HMMM what do you think is Happening in NYC now you actually think its any better??? Stop watching CNN Ray Finkle . And YES I would take that NYC over this one anyway....
Thanks for the memories. This is what riding the NYC subway as a kid was like. This was definitely 1985 footage shown here, in the pre-Redbird graffiti era. The new stainless steel R62 cars were being rolled out at that time when most of these painted were painted white. Couple of years after this, some were retired while others sent off for rebuilding and painted red, hence the venerable Redbirds. All graffiti disappeared by early 90's, even before the current new-tech trains now in service existed. Glad to see the 'train of many colors' IRT museum train uses surviving Redbirds from that era. I really miss the old-school NYC and its subway. Thanks for sharing!
I remembered seeing this run down trains with graffitis in NYC from ‘71- 91 as a kid and adult. Now, it’s day and night compared to those decades
I started as a conductor in 1983
Now I understand why Rudolph Giuliani started the fight against crime with graffiti))
In Russia, there has NEVER been such a dump in the subway - neither under the USSR nor today.
In Russia, the metro is clean and beautiful, like in a museum.
Ah the eighties in NYC..we had soooo much fun…what you can’t really appreciate here is how loud those trains were..bang bang boom..hear it right through your Walkman headphones..todays trains are like a library in comparison..yes I’m getting old…😊
Before the Internet changed EVERYTHING.
Great Work!
The 7th avenue line the way I remembered it going to work everyday in the 1980s.
Thank you so much for this excellent quality video and audio... You did a great job!
,Thank you for not having any background music.
Even though the trains are covered with graffiti. The people look a lot more sane than they do now, looks much safer.
ah no cell phones and people reading the paper!
Back in the days I was born in 73 Brooklyn ny I remember these days as a young kid it was fun and wild Back in those days especially in the stuy
This Is 6 Years After The Warriors 1979 Film Crazy!
Astonishing and priceless footage, an actual Time Capsule. Thank you.
New York grit and dirtyness has a otherworldly charm to it. I love it
These were the good old days. Lots of childhood memories😩
What’s crazy is most of the people are now elderly or have passed away
And some that were newborns then are in their mid 30s and early 40s.
I was thinking that as well. Truth be told, after seeing some of these elderly individuals boarding the train, I was like 👁👁 👀
I was thinking the same
@@quincexl1279 They don't have a recollection of the subway in the 80's
@@quincexl1279 I was ten years old in 1985.
I was watching Hollywood movies showing American subway looking like that. I thought they made it like that for the film. I lived in a much poorer country and our subway looked clean like first class on airplane. In winter time, subway was warm and was a good place to take a nap till getting home. It was filled with regular people going to work, KIDS, elderly like you are in a supermarket. I think it's still like that.
I thought it too
us subways are something else
If you have not already seen it, you might like what I recorded of the subway in the past.
New York Subway 1976, 1984, 1990 Graffiti and all, COMPLETE VERSION Part silent movie
czcams.com/video/JLyDJTk4tIo/video.html
Born and raised in Newark NJ, i didn't start hangin out in NYC til 87, before then the only times i been was to visit my Auntie & Uncle in Sheepshead Bay ,Brooklyn in the early to mid 70's . I remember seeing the construction site for one of the WTC buildings.
I am 61 years old and the 80's were the best times of my life, and now can't believe how old that time period looks to me right now! And having said that, this time period we're living in right now will look old also, 40 years from now!
You're so old, uhhuh huh huh huhh uhhhuh
I agree! To be young in that gritty city in the 80s going clubbing until the sun came up! It had it problems, but it was alive.
Growing up in NYC back then was a privilege
Huh? Everything in this video looks horrendous
crime was at its peak in NYC in the 80s and 90s, how was it a privilege to grow up in a crime ridden city xd
For many, growing up there back then would mean experiencing NYC in its raw glory: in spite of crime, its low cost of living and culture had lead to many not having enough of it
@@mr.wyrzykowski7522 là criminalité rime avec Drogues voilà ce qui à ravagé New-York à cette époque aujourd'hui avec les gangs ça était cents fois pires crack Héroïne dès décennies de morts et surtout d'innocents morts par Bavures
@@hakimrouachi5940 i only speak norwegian polish and english so i wont ubderstand this 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Refreshing to see people chatting, reading books or newspapers instead of on mobile phones. No overcrowding either -I miss the 80’s it was the best decade.
Unless you were gay, black, poor, or not born in the states.
@@redengineer4380 yawn don’t care. Those ppl are irrelevant
@@hehexd4557 Not only are they more interesting than you ever will be, there's more of them than there is of you. You're basically the human equivalent of plain yogurt.
You are correct except for the overcrowded part. Peak times were super crowded. Many times I would have to let a train pass because I couldn't squeeze in lol.
@@hehexd4557 You talk alot of shit for someone who doesn't wipe their ass.
The mid-late 80s was great to be 17-19. I miss, these trains and the club scene. These trains gave NYC, so much character.
The Internet is the closest we have to an actual time machine. This here is history in its full. Thanks for uploading and sharing!
Thanks for posting! Brings back so many memories of when I used to visit NYC. I can recall the smell of the subway very well, especially in the summer. It was the scent of adventure, excitement and being young in Manhattan in the late 80s.
scent of piss more like
@@letspetpuppies no matter how much something improves over time people will still romanticize dark times like this.
@@randomname5696 their time
Scent of adventure? Stale urine and burnt pretzels?
@@mariekatherine5238 😂 calma
I wish I could truly experience other places in time. I was born in the late 90's and missed all this. It's crazy to think the NES was just getting released this same year.
I was just looking at Mike Tyson's Punchout! the other day on here
Anyone who complains about the state of the NYC subway today has absolutely no idea just how run-down it, and the rest of the city, were in the 1980's. These cars are absolutely caked in graffiti. NYC has truly bounced back in a way no one would have expected back then.
When I was a kid I was afraid to walk over the connecting train cars. I thought I was going to fall through and into the tracks.
Was born in 1985., never been to the US but as I grew up watching so many movies from the era I feel like I lived in NY and these types of videos bring so much nostalgia and conform to me
I was born in 86 but this is some damn good footage, kudos on not ruining it with music.
Simply beautiful footage.. thank you!
as a jersey kid in the early 80s as a teenager we used to run the city straight out of Port Authority What a blast. Anything and everything
It’s like this guy knew why he was recording.
Ummmm duh??????
I know. It looks so poignant now viewing this fascinating now 33 plus year old video footage on a medium not yet thought of when it was shot. What he effectively did when he woke up that 1980s morning and made the bold decision to take his video camera along with him down to the subway (with all the risks that would've entailed then) and film all the goings on there, he was unwittingly documenting a moment in time. Capturing a (rather unsavory but) very real aspect of New York City life on its major transit system frequented and used by many of its city dwellers then and now. An atmosphere of its era instantly recalled by technology with sound and vision.
@@88ntil "Ummmm duh" I am sure the camera operator knew what he (or she) was "doing" but maybe they weren't thinking in terms of decades later when unthought of technologies would allow people to view this footage! Showing the subway in a different era to themselves. Showing different fashions, hairstyles, attitudes and (lack of) technologies at this point in time.
@@sanchoodell6789 forward thinking was always around! If anything folks were smarter back then lol he’s a pro I’m sure he had the vision.
@@sanchoodell6789 Yeh, it's a known thing. That's why things like literature exist. To preserve the past.
I miss NYC so much.
Always appreciate these old videos
It's fun to see how some people avoided looking at the camera or acted goofy because it was novel back then. Now we expect someone with a cellphone to be recording everything. Just the fact we all now carry a camera every place we go compared to 10 years ago.
I was 25 and it was truly a great time!
my dad lived in Brooklyn throughout the 80s and 90s so its really cool to see how nyc was before compared to how it is now
Long live to the Big Apple!
I totally remember those days. Different energy back then. The city was grimy but for the most part not like todays craziness.
A TRUE CLASSIC.. NEEDED THIS
Dude
Those trains are clean…
I was there in 76
Fantastic memories!. Subway still crazy but in different ways now....
People wonder why I hate mass transportation to this day. This is what I had to endure growing up.
I’m waiting for Michael Jackson to appear singing ‘I’m BAD!’
Almost nobody wanted to be filmed. I totally understand that. And newspapers were important back then since there was no internet or cell phones. It's neat to see this time capsule film.
The contrast between the subway system as shown in 1980's films and those of other big cities at this time is striking. The policy of removing graffiti as soon as it appears and the courts putting to work graffiti vandals to clean up their mess and that left by others really makes a difference. Guest in one's city see the subway and it's best that it be presentable.
Idk man. The metro of Paris was and still is nasty. Why do you need a fancy train to ride? The subway is not meant to be a luxury. It's just there to get you from place to place.
@@heha9752 there is nowhere near the amount of filth and graffiti in the Paris metro as there was in the 1980's NYC Subway. Why vandalize something that's needed by other people ? Subways in Montreal, and Frankfurt and Buenos Aires are also much cleaner.
@@HepCatJack The first time I went on the Paris Metro (circa 2019) I saw things I would NEVER DREAM of seeing on the NYC subway (I'm a New Yorker btw). Not really sure what point you're trying to make by listing cities but go off I guess...?
Paris is hands down the most disgusting and depressing city I've ever been to. So much pretentiousness in one place...
@@heha9752 I don't know why but you seem to think I'm from Paris. Perhaps you think everyone who has a French name lives in Paris ? It wouldn't surprise me since bigoted people tend to be ignorant as well.
I always wished that they would have preserved one of the graffiti-covered trains for the Transit Museum in Brooklyn!
Probably didn't preserve one for the museum because the illegible graffiti covering the train is not art it's vandalism even though graffiti was part of the 80's.
@@nicknation9114 That’s YOUR definition of what is and isn’t art. Graffiti on the trains was a big part of NYC history, whether you like it not and it would have been interesting to see for people who never saw it in person.
@@nicknation9114 ok Karen
Don’t worry Swatch Watch took the idea and aren’t considered vandals.
@@nicknation9114 I think you are right. Treating crime like art sends the wrong message to society.
Well done, Amazing footage 👍🏼
I won’t lie the graffiti trains kinda makes it seems unpleasant to be in or see
It was.
Ehhhh shut up
smh,
Yea... but NOW (Due 2 Colonizers) the-GENTRIFIERS Says THEIR Graffiti is "ART" & COOL...
So in Communities where THEY Didn't Suffer... THEY Can have Graffiti on Walls & Smoke & Drink in front of Stores & on Blocks that Black & Brown Youth were HARRASSED BY POLICE & Considered 'JUVENILES' for!
NOW Enjoying the CREAM OF THE CROP In Communities that We've been in for an Excess of 80yrs!
What!? That's exactly what I had LOVED to see ❤️
Amazing, I only went on it for the first time last week! The trains are spotless now, but some stations still need that super clean up! ♻️ Why the 16:9 crop over original 4:3 footage though? Missing so much 😢
How do you know it’s cropped
@@practicingswedish4763 16:9 wasn't really a thing until the 90s and wasn't widly used until the 2000s. anything non-cinema of this era would've most likely been 4:3
Growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s it really was the last of a truly gritty Era
I've been watching a lot of these videos, and I never realized how rundown New York used to be. It is so much better now.
I always thought I was just weird for loving any actual videos showing how things was in the past, but I guess if people keep posting them then there must be others just as nostalgicly weird as me..!!
0:04 Reminds me of the old "Equalizer" opening credits from the 80's. Had a scene with those odd tight angles and graffiti, made you feel really creeped out.
There is just something so emotionally powerful seeing things like this from another time. All we can do know is either try and imagine ourselves in this world or feel nostalgic looking back.
I was a kid in the Chicago area during the mid 1980s. It had that same urban vibe this video reminds me of.
The guy smiling at 9:38 got me laughing 😂
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
great gem of a video. I was born in Queens 1985. great to see people reading on the trains. these days if you took this same video people would just have there faces in there phones.
why read books when u have fone
These days everywhere I look everyone seems to be on their cellphone all the time even when they're crossing a buzy street and intersection and walking on a buzy sidewalk texting on their phones and im really surprised that more people dont get hit by cars because they're so distracted by being on their phones instead of paying attention to whats around them.
@@michaelcipollone50 i always hit ppl on their fone to teach them lesson
Amazing videos, thanks 🥰
Born in New York City - Upper East Side - childhood in the Bronx. The town upstairs is a clean, cultured, and refined Daddy. Downstairs will always be the grubby gritty Granny.
What a time to be alive!
Seeing the graffitied trains, for some reason it gives me a unnerving feeling…
But also nostalgic
Those were the days, man...used to ride in between and on top of the cars! I also, believe it or not, had a subway band at the 42nd Street stop on the shuttle from Grand Central to Port Authority. Guitar through a mouse amp, drummer, bass player and rockabilly! Tips welcome.
Great video showing how it really was. So good to see something real like this.