1950s American Small Towns in COLOR
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- The 1950s was a time of great change for the United States, and small towns were not left unaffected. As the economy boomed, many people began moving to the cities and their surrounding suburbs for greater economic opportunities. For some small towns, this meant the beginning of their eventual decline. For others, this resulted in changes that led to continued vitality in new areas.
The images shown in this video are NOT colorized but were originally shot in color using Kodak Kodachrome color film. Kodachrome came out in the 1930s and was a film that non-professionals could use in their regular cameras. Kodachrome is known for its nice bright colors (thanks, Paul Simon), and you'll see how well these images hold up over the years.
I hope you enjoy seeing this view back into small town America in the 1950s - and thanks for watching!
- Kevin
#1950s #lifeinamerica #nostalgia
![A Day in New York 1940s in color [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](/img/n.gif)
I'm a Norwegian 41 year old. Kinda weird how this makes me nostalgic about a period I didn't experience, in a country I've never been to.
Me too, 46 y Norwegian here. I really hope USA gets back on its feet somehow👍
I am not Norwegian.
A past life memory
@@norwegianblue2017 But I am.
In this present crazy world people are looking at the past seeking to reconnect with some type of normality. Great video!!
Just an escape from reality, the new normal is so far removed from the times represented in this video.
@Kidraver But this WAS Reality. A nicer reality.
@@thrummer1953 Was is the key word there, that means it is no more, you cannot go somewhere that does not exist, you can challenge reality all you like for whatever reasons but you cannot escape reality, and nice is not a good word either, too saccharin like fake sugar.
@@Kidraver555 I'm sorry but that is a meaningless word salad. It is obvious that you impressed yourself though.
@@thrummer1953 Jim Crow & Segregation strict race laws enter the chat.
Somebody invent a time machine so I can go back there!
I grew up in Lenox, Massachusetts in the 1950's. My time machine is in my head.
Marty McFly where are you???
Why is it I'd much rather walk around those towns than the towns of 2023?
How do I answer that without getting political? Sorry, I can’t. I will remain silent.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT ,, THANK'S FOR YOUR COMMENT... P.D.,,...
You notice that in the pictures with warmer weather most of the parked cars had their windows open? I guess they weren't as worried about crime as we do today.
The first picture shows a Citroen DS, must have been pretty exotic for Morgantown WV. back then...or most any other US city back then.
@@Yellow.Dog. - A lot of those cars really had nothing you could steal from the inside like a fancy stereo system. If a woman left her purse that’d be different. I guess you could hot-wire and steal the car, but you’d probably get caught before you could complete the job. There was still plenty of crime back then, especially in larger cities.
Born in 1956, I'm glad I got to experience a little of the 50's. This brings back good memories of that time as a little boy, with my parents in a small town.
Thanks for putting the names of the towns.
Great video love the 50’s videos! I’m obsessed with the 50’s so wish I could go back to that time
me too :) I wrote a TV series based in 1959
Don't Forget That Virtually EVERYBODY Smoked Back Then, And You Usually Worked HARDER For Your Lower Wages. And POLIO Was Still A Health Threat In The Early 50's As Well...
How much you old
Let me guess your favorite film is back to future
Would be fascinating (and possibly somewhat depressing) to see how these same small town streets look today.
The amazing cars, those fabulous signs & the warm ‘small town’ vibe just draws you in… a wonderful era for sure! ❤
Absolutely priceless, fantastic!
I remember those downtowns as a child in Lodi, CA and now I live in a slightly larger town with a decently surviving old downtown (Paducah, KY) I love that I can still find a small downtown that feels like the old days.
I used to pass through Lodi often when I lived in nearby Walnut Grove. Last I heard Mexicans have taken it over.
My grandfather grew up in the town at 0:24. Houston, Missouri. He took me there once when I was a teenager. Unfortunately by that time this street was mostly empty. Loved the trip back in time that he took me on though.
Nostagia... Main streets, gorgeous cars, and what superb colors ! Thanks.
And look at 0:10, before the VW combi, a Citroën DS or Id (difficult to see), in a small town, unbelievable !
Love your videos. So fun looking back in time.
Actually, the Interstate Highway System was designed for the necessity of military logistics movement from one place to another very quickly. It was the brainchild of a former Army General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was President during the 1950s.
Not for the necessity of military movement in America. Yet he did get the idea from nazi era Germany of the autobahn of open highways. The skirting of larger cities and towns helped them move their military but life during peacetime was a excellent highway system. Note: Lady Byrd Johnson pioneered the highway beautician act.
@@327JohnnySS *beautification*
É
Fantástico esse vídeo adorei estou com 68 anos e voltar a o passado é maravilhoso Obrigado 👍👍👍👍👏👏👏🙏
Great video we remember my family and I the drug store signs..I saw a 1955 Ford Fairlane great to see these old cars 🚗.. the opening of your video with the doors with a squeaking my wife jumped it sounded like a snake 🐍..Ha..
Great pictures, as usual. I certainly stand to be corrected, La Grange, Indiana 1959. 3:58 is that a 62 Chrysler Windsor on the other side of the street in the background? Probably me been a nutty lil OCD. Heh heh. Keep up the great work!
Sure brings back some great memories 😊
Very much enjoyed a couple of your videos. I like the narration in small amounts like you did.
on the first picture, a French car "DS", the all new and expensive car of Citroën in France ! what a surpise here at this time !🤣
I noticed that too, must have been hard to find a mechanic to work on a car so different, I saw lots of them when I lived in Germany
Another effect of the Interstate Highway System was that freeways went past small towns, there were off ramps, but unlike the earlier highways which led right into a small town and out of it again.
LOTS Of Extra Time Consumed, Waiting In Small Town Traffic And Stop Lights. And Locals Poking Along Or Pulling Out To Cause An Accident. NO THANKS. However The Speed Demons On The Interstates That Aren't Paying Attention Or Drive Like Idiots Are No Blessing To Be On The Roads With Either...
Loved this video you produced about one of the most important decades in recent American history. Appreciate the History Over-view of the 1950s the sharp insights into our culture and how the changes effected the whole country. Your accuracy and attention to detail was really impressive.
Big box stores may have lower priced items but it's all about who owns the chains and their selfish need to fill the pockets and bank accounts. I support small business and wish small towns weren't dying off and being forgotten.
Support made in the USA .
Always support the mom and pop small business as much as you can.
I love old time vintage life even tho this was before my time. I love to appreciate these eras!
Whoever is making thuse videos. Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Pinchas! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. Thanks for watching and commenting!
once upon time in America
I can't believe a person would want to live in a city now. Not one good thing about any of them! Small towns have good, decent, moral people. That's where I want to be.
Apartments are Government seduction to keep the masses in subjection, out of the rural life of more freedom.
Back When I Was A Teenager, The Older Kids COULDN'T WAIT To Get Out Of Our Small Town. Complaining That "There Was Nothing To Do" There. But The City Rat Race Was NOT For Me And My Friends, That Found Lots Of Stuff On Our Own To Do Back Then. And I'm Glad I Stayed...
While watching those images of small towns I noticed one kind of business turn up again and again: Rexall Drugs. Funny how it once was such a common feature of the landscape - with some 12,000 stores nationwide - and is now long extinct, having died out over 40 years ago. 🥀
The weird thing is that to this day there still are a limited number of mom and pop drugstores in the US that have this signage on their exterior, even if they no longer operate under the Rexall name. Plus in Canada, sone different company uses the Rexall Drugs name to this day.
I grew up in Huntington NY. The picture listed here as Huntington does not match the town I knew.
The Interstate highway system was not build for population and economy; it was built at the behest of Eisenhower for military purposes(The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways) but serendipitously benefited the burgeoning economy and car travel.
That is so interesting about the GI bill and how small town people moved to the city
I notice small businesses everywhere, sense of community and one culture.
When small towns became cities!!
I lived in a small town in southern CT for 4 1/2 years during the 50s. I've since seen videos of the place and it looks pretty much the same as it always did. There are a few different types of stores around, but the buildings look the same.
I grew up in Bridgeport Connecticut and it's looks very familiar
@@charleshunziker7416 Agreed. I remember Bridgeport. We lived close enough to shop there even after moving to other nearby towns.
thanks bro! great video. we are beginning to see what we lost, with the growth of dirty, lonely, violent cities and now we are here, nowhere..
I'm from Spain and I was born 55s but I feel inexplicably nostalgia about that age wich I only know in the americans movies.
Tuesday. October 3 -23
Great music,who is it?
I also want to know this!
Would you look at all the old automobiles? look at that gleaming, Beautiful Chrome!
weird to think those towns from the 1950s look more technologically advance and more well put together than entire cities where I come from
The day should never have ended…my town of 300 is now 700 but there is nothing but a laundromat used mostly in the summer by lake residents.
Amazing!!!
Before the Interstate Highway System, small towns can be accessed through regular highways and state roads
The growth of the post war tourist industry got a big boost in the later 1950s and beyond thanks to construction of the interstate highway system. Kove these phoyos!
Yes - great point. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The best years for USA!
Love watching the past… only downside is, everyone we are seeing here, has passed.
Wunderschön😊😌👍
It was so colorful at that time beautiful?
Why am I nostalgic? I didn't exist
Just before we walked down the road to the gates of hell! A little dramatic, but now a days....a lot of truth in that statement!!!!
Better Clean Up Your Act If THAT'S Where YOUR Headed Kiddo. WOW...
nice
3:00Model T Ford still in regular use?
2:36 Credit cards welcomed in 1955, wow!
Who is your backing track music?
See that was true American Dream,,,not the garbage 🗑️ we have now
Some think Im a backwards hillbilly. But I open all doors for my wife and jump up when she needs something. I have no neighbors within a half mile in any direction and I come straight home after work to enjoy my family and house I built with my own two hands. A modern day oddity Im fine to be.
"Try That in a Small Town!"
1:10 google earth 261 CO-67 cripple creek Colorado. In the google earth photo the hotel is still there and you can count all the windows on right. 😃
The commentary is largely a few years to a decade or more out of synch with the early to mid 50's pictures. This often happens when "history" is written by people who were never there at the time. Small town business was really at it's peak then - the main competition coming from Sears and Wards Catalogs. Sears and Wards did not have any significant storefronts outside the big cities until the early 60's, nearly a decade later, and both operated side by side in relative comfort for another decade. Suburban shopping centers did become a serious thing in the mid to late 50's, but in many cases this prompted the same mom and pops to relocate rather than go out of business. The decay of the small city center was quite prolonged, and simply didn't happen in areas where there was not a parallel economic collapse caused by other factors such as factory closures, consolidation of small family farms, or the like. A preference for low modern archetecture and plastic chic interiors ( aka "the orange naugahyde cafe" (my copyright title) over old wood and brick storefronts may also have and continue to play a part .
Excellent footage.. silence is golden though..
And the people had some problems of course, But they would have thought they were blessed if they new our's today. And they had no idea how much there car's would be worth in the future.Thanks for the Video.
No garbage in the street, no homeless tents on sidewalks, no drug Zombies, no spray paint on buildings and no democrats are in charge!
Paradise lost.
Back When Going 45 to 50 mph As A Highway Speed Was Fast Enough. No Mass Gun Killings Everyday In The News. And You Could Sit Down And Have A Root Beer Float At The Drugstore Soda Fountain Counter...
Is it just me or was the first business you’d always notice in each town was a drug store? I guess even then we were a pharmaceutically bound nation!
Yet drug stores back then had a lunch counter and other non pharmaceutical products and services.
@@327JohnnySS Yum, ice cream soda, chocolate egg cream or a sundae. 🍧🍨
That may have been the high point in American culture..
The boom times from post-WW2 must have been a sight to behold. That was back when the idea of capitalism was creating enough money for you and your family to live comfortably, and maybe start your own business. Now it’s become a system for the super rich to feed off the needy. You see less business owners, and more people who’ll never be able to retire than ever before - all the while we have corporate fat cats and super billionaires making more money they can’t even spend. Yet it’s a “fair system” they tell me!
Ironic that the past is better than our present
@@armorpro573 - I think if you look back through human history that’s been somewhat consistent. Most “great nations” struggle, then go through boom times - then pride, complacency, hubris, whatever it may be causes a slow decline until they crumble. All empires through history have crumbled at one point or another (some are still around but share nothing more than a name). Even the British Empire - which at one point in time practically owned the world - is a fraction of what it once was. It’s still very powerful and holds a lot of influence, but not compared to about 300-400 years ago. I feel like The United States hit it’s plateau decades ago, and now we’re starting a slow decline.
@@piercehubbard4086 It’s already started. We’ve been in decline since the late 70s. Now some parts, we have rebounded but as a whole, it’s not looking good
@@armorpro573 Simply Put, TOO MUCH GREED At The Top, Making Unnecessary Boat Loads Of Money Through Republican Deregulations And Tax Maneuvering Schemes. The Old Ronny Reagen "Trickle Down" BS Idea. While The Working Class Remains Struggling And Going Into Debt. Example: Al Roker The Today Show Weatherman Makes 10-MILLION A Year For Doing WHAT??? 3-Minutes Of Weather Reporting Every Hour For The 3-Hour Show!!! And How About The Ball Game Players With Astronomical Contract Pay!!! Something Is Really FKD UP In This Job Value And Living Wage Necessity In This Country Indeed...
It's spelled : A l a m o g o r d o.
GREAT PICS, GREAT ERA THE FIFTIES ! GRAD. HI SCHOOL 56, MARRIED 58, FIRST CHILD 59, OH WHAT A GREAT TIME ! NOW 85, SURE WOULD LIKE TO CRAWL BACK TO THAT TIME ! NOTHING WILL EVER COMPARE !
I live in a small town in England , city life isn't for me .
2023 American big cities are a disgrace. Long live decent small towns.
Walmart and Kmart destroyed all of them.
Cities have destroyed a better way of life, small towns.
Nowadays, cars are white or black or silver. Boring. Very few are red, blue, or --God forbid -- green.
Yeah. The 50s. The best. Washed away with technology, the government Training centers and the media. Progress?
People think those old times are great but the truth is they're as boring as bat crap. There's nothing to do but get drunk 🎉
So Not True
Wonderful
The One Picture Of Cherokee North Carolina Shows An Old Tin Lizzie Coming Up The Street, With Cars Parked Along The Sides Being About 30-Years NEWER. What An IMMENSE CHANGE Indeed. Where As A 30-Year Old Car Today Wouldn't Seem That Surprisingly Different, Except For Today's Cars Looking MUCH UGLIER And HIDEIOUS, Like Identical Plastic Balls. All BLAND With NO STYLE AT ALL, Having A Choice Of Only 4-Colors. How SAD Indeed...