Vintage Film of Brooklyn Trolleys Circa 1930s

[@tamer1773]

Great trolley film. Just a minor quibble - the film is probably from 1948-1950. Several cars are seen that were manufactured in the late 40's such as the '47 to '49 Studebaker and the '42-'46 Packard. The trolleys only lasted a few years after the film was made.

[@lisagee3318]

Absolutely

[@d4seasons]

just beautiful.

[@Angelzofblue]

its wonderful.. I hope this stays here for a very long time... Let the children of today see how it was.. I just loved this. Thank You

[@chem100]

I wasn't there then; but I can safely say (just from watching this) that those days were better.

[@vibra64]

WOW. Does that bring back memories. I used to live on 24 St and 4th Ave in Brooklyn, NY. I grew up there. I recognize the surrondings in the video at 9th St and 5th ave!! My mom would always shop on Saturdays. We walked from 24st and 5th ave to 9th St and 5th ave and back. Any more videos of that area? Thanks for this video!!!

[@MooPotPie]

The Avon Theater, which opened in 1914, was torn down for a McDonald's in 1975. So much for the "great taste" if McDonald's!

[@bigcity233]

YES! - certain trolley lines were converted to trolley bus lines in the late 40's when this video was originally filmed. Most trolley car lines were converted to regular diesel bus lines in Brooklyn.

[@brocczz]

Knocked me out...it looked essentially the same in the 50's. I rememeber the trolley buses on Bergan where I got off the IRT crossing Flatbush as late as 1958. The Building is the Wialliamsbug Bank.

[@radreader01]

I grew up on Bergen St and I do remember those trolleys

[@atarocket]

great stuff and good transfer, thanks , cars are a good way to tell waht year a film is from and also cloths

[@bigcity233]

jflundy, I totally agree with your comments above -as
a student of Brooklyn history and former resident. I remember oldtimers talked about the EL on Fifth Ave - which was part of the Culver Line (now the F train).
Mayor Laguardia did not like trolley cars or els. By the time this film clip was made ('48) there were no trolleys in Manhattan and the conversion to buses in the boros was in full swing.

[@dinamercado1153]

Thanks for sharing the memories. I remember the trolleys as a child.

[@WinslowLeach1974]

Great film, but as an old street sign fan, I especially loved the three amazing close-ups of old humpbacks. The 5th Ave & 9th St. one was just one block away from where I grew up, and yes the Slope looked a heck of a lot different 45 years ago.

[@solarvegan]

That there was sound made me feel as if I really were there, that I traveled back in time. Fantastic! Thank you for this!

[@doowop1942]

Thanks for the memories, I'm old enough to remember riding on the Trolleys when I was a kid..... Then they changed over to electric buses...

[@questioneverything2892]

Three corporations, General Motors, Firestone Tire and Standard Oil surreptitiously bought up the efficient non-polluting trolly car system across America and junked it to generate profit selling GM busses, with Firestone Tires, burning Standard Oil fuel.

[@HarborGuy]

A lot better than the busses. With today's fuel prices and more ridership up I wish they had them still. $1.50 for fare now, I am sure the streetcars were/would be less expensive.

[@eriswen]

Brooklyn is sure different now. Funny how all over the US trolley lines were removed, and now a lot of cities are bringing them back.

[@bigcity233]

My older relatives remember the 9th St and
5th Ave area as an Italian and Polish area back in the '40's. I think there was a movie theater on Ninth St just east of 5th Ave.

[@dwightpowell6673]

You're correct...a YMCA is there now

[@videoprotectedcom]

Maybe west of it, where McDonalds is?

[@Skywalker567]

Thank you for this footage! I am in my mid-thirties but I simply love any photos or videos of vintage Brooklyn. Thank you for sharing. If you have any more footage, especially of old Bay Ridge, please post. Thanks!

[@prausch65]

Indeed, and the 3 rd ave el still has not been replaced, no wonder why he was called "The Little Flower".

[@oneafter9095]

Wow that’s the neighborhood I grew up in during the mid ‘60’s on...spent a great deal of time walking along 5th avenue...and wow I noticed J Michael’s furniture on 11th street store was around back then...and this is before the Elevated train tracks that ran above 5th avenue?

[@izzysantiago978]

Now this is really worth watching! Being that I work in the transit system (MTA). And these trolleys are not around anymore. Thank you sodadaze for the video upload!

[@adelgado75]

thanks for posting this. Why did LaGuardia hate trolleys and EL's? I bet he got some big money from the auto industry to phase out trolleys so the city would buy buses. LaGuardia is hailed as one of the greatest mayors of NYC but it shows how shortsighted he was. Rather than thinking of future generations he only thought, as most politicians, about the short-term rewards for himself.

[@b5b9]

Thanks for the great footage of Brooklyn. Some of it may be as late as 1950. At 3 minutes 21 seconds, a 1949-51 Chevrolet or Studebaker is seen following the streetcar as two ladies cross the street in front of the camera.

[@adelgado75]

What a shame some of the trolley lines weren't saved.

[@ukkfayooyay]

Great video, but it had to be taken after 1941. The Fifth Avenue El ran over Fifth Avenue and Flatbush Avenues until 1941 when service ended and the El was demolished.

[@xXrockyiszhereXx]

I live in Williamsburg and noticed one of the tracks in Marcy avenue. I also noticed the streets use to be brick too o.o but such great history :D

[@IanHunedoara8]

I remember as a small child how the overhead wires would spark.

[@Spazza40]

Great footage of a bygone era..........They look a little like the "W" class Trams still running in Melbourne Australia.................

[@HarborGuy]

Thanks for sharing wish we still had them...Some cities San Francisco, Seattle and others still use them They never wore out and were fuel efficient. Fare was 5 cents..

[@smurfswacker]

Fascinating! I think the footage is a little newer than the 1930s, though, because that's definitely a postwar Studebaker (1947?) following the trolley in the last scene.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Oh the trams of New York! They never should have gotten rid of them, thank goodness Canada's largest City did'nt..Toronto!

[@user-cw1md6no6d]

these trolleys are running on special occasions in Vienna and are on display at the local tramway museum....I rode one of those...

[@RailyardProductions]

Very Nice video. I love these old films!

[@LetticiaRosado]

I wish I was there. I think that was the B63 running down Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. That, the B35, and B67 used to run as Trolley lines. The buses have since taken over those routes now.

[@GeoEstic]

It`s weird when you think that almost all these people in the vid are dead now.
Great times

[@Skywalker567]

Wow! I'm in my mid-thirties but I absolutely love any video or photos of vintage Brooklyn. If you have any additional footage, please, please share, especially the Bay Ridge area. Thanks!

[@MooPotPie]

This is more likely early 1940s.

[@merccadoosis8847]

All USA cities need to bring back the trolleys in order to improve the flow of traffic, reduce pollution, and enhance the urban quality of life. That would be a small investment that would greatly improve society.

[@prausch65]

Indeed, the trolley was an environmentally safe mode of transit in early 20 th century New York.
But with population growth and the rise of the automobile, its lack of maneuverability and slowness was quite impractical for today.

[@cha5]

I really wish they could be rebuilt
but with the way NYC
is handling their current public transportation and traffic problems
I doubt rebuilding the NY trolley system is something that's very high on mayor Bloomberg's list right now.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

@avcomth Yes Tram is what i use, the "Trolley" is actually the wheel running along the electric line. The British also invented the Railway and rails

[@DaveFromBrooklyn]

They should bring those back in the form of light rail. Anything would be better than the frigging B-41 bus.

[@michaelabrams7345]

Actually the El ran down 5th ave from Flatbush Ave to 38th st until June of 1940.. So none of these films of the 5th ave streetcar could have been taken in the 1930's.

[@1947Desoto]

If you look at the body styles from the back of the cars at 1:22 to 1:30, you can tell that those are 1940's cars.

[@1952kid]

Abbott and Costello could have walked around here.

[@madercic3aolcom]

Good eye. You're right. Definitely a post war Studebaker. I think it's spelled "Loewy" though. Love his work on the P.R.R. locos too.:)

[@michaelabrams7345]

Great film but has to be late 1940s. At 5th Ave and Flatbush Ave there is no sign of the elevated rapid transit line that was not torn down until after 1941.

[@MooPotPie]

duh...I meant late 1940s! Great video!

[@1947Desoto]

Judging by the cars, this is definitly before or during WWII, but no earlier than 1939.

[@krizvasa]

It is interesting for me to compare conditions for public transport in US and my country. You have also different terminology. What is difference between public transport and rapid transit in USA? Public transport is only when it isn´t private? Or what is the difference?

[@tramvinicyus2]

It's possible to see with google maps, 3 PCC streetcars of Brooklyn in Red Hook Docklands, abbandoned in front of a restaurant, I think they're original.
Vinicyus from Rome

[@wacoflyer]

Very interesting, but misdated. Judging from the passing cars, this was shot around 1948.

[@inkey2]

@cyasares you are correct....see my posting....judging by the "post ww2 studebaker following the trolly at the end of this clip" this has to be 1949

[@cadrolls]

@MooPotPie There is a 1947 Studebaker toward the very end. That seems to be the newest car in this film.

[@BiologicalUnit2380]

was audio recording possible on film like this? It doesn't appear to be authentic audio. (?)

[@3589546]

36,000th viewer. Yay. Great to see my old stomping ground of Brooklyn. The beginning looks like dumbo.

[@ditmaseagle1296]

It would have been nice to live from those days thru today

[@user-cw1md6no6d]

In Vienna they were going pretty fast, in any case faster than the automobiles around us....

[@delgadop197a]

At 0:21 of the video could that be the foot of atlantic avenue where the current B-63 terminates its run?

[@DTD110865]

Hey, Vackav, Buses are public transit too, and GM DID NOT kill the streetcars.

[@jkinghrm]

I went to Brooklyn yesterday and I saw a broken trolley the trolly crash

[@muppetchile]

this is really amazing , where did you get this footage?

[@culturehorse]

Sodadaze: This clip transfer is a work of art with the immediacy of the choice of overlaid audio(s). Thanks. Btw, who is playing piano.

[@fiddlerpin]

Is that a Tucker car I see at the end of the video?

[@BiologicalUnit2380]

is that an actual soundtrack or overdubbed ?

[@kyolym]

5th ave and 9th street , this is Park Slope Brooklyn I live about 10 minutes away

[@richardfigueroa9498]

I'm pretty sure no one missed the trolley because of their cellular phone.

[@Handiman544]

Based on what I see, this isn't the 30s...it's the 40s

[@gtomark71]

There is no 5th Ave elevated train line in this footage. It can't be 1938. The 5th Ave EL closed for service June 1,1940 and the EL was torn down in 1950. The very sat shot is the east side of 5th Ave between 12th and 13th Streets. Ou can see J. Michael's furniture store come into the frame just as the film clip ends.

[@1947Desoto]

I can tell by the styles. But I take back my last statement. This is postwar footage, at 3:23 you can see a 47-49 Studebaker.

[@darthjohn0]

Thanks for the vid...where do you "purchase" these old films?

[@scarsinizm]

in some areas it seems like it was built up more then then it is now

[@thomasuras]

how do you account for the 40's cars in the pic?

[@musicom67]

Nice nutcase at 2:06

[@Turkeydoodlers]

are you sure thats from the 30's ?
i could have swore i saw a few 40's cars in there???
maybe not though

[@thedisrealityshow]

Nice footage can i use a few snippets of it for my project ??? reply here yes or no thanks

[@roberthenriksen4395]

how can i use a small clips of this sodadaze?? can you send a reply yes .. thanks

[@rivky11225]

Is there any old footage from crown heights at that time?

[@inkey2]

I just say a post ww2 studebaker following a trolly at the end of this (starting at 3:20).....this is probably 1949.....remember, the war just ended and not many new models on the road

[@BK2dafullist]

Look at all the "Trolley Dodgers"!

[@thomasuras]

I miss read ur statment i was thinking no later than 1939 but i do see the mid 40's

[@ditmaseagle1296]

Imagine these Trolleys Today How slow they'd go

[@jeffbear1472]

I've had this and similar Brooklyn trolley tapes for several years. Shame it's of such poor quality. There are brief scenes of the Clark PCC car. I have a Brooklyn trolley VHS tape that I purchased several years ago that features sharp, clear 16mm color movies. It's actually awesome, if you can stand the awful narration. Some of the pronunciations are hilarious. Best to watch it with the sound muted. But I don't have that VHS tape in a digital format.

[@hackerpx]

See 3:24 It was a Studebaker, and definitely post-war. either 1946 or 1947.

[@hackerpx]

checked again not before 1947

[@vandanerisgomes9009]

Muito bom

[@TrainmasterCurt]

@1400deadwood Actually 1400deadwood, it's not right-wingers that love oil, it's the fat-cats that we never see or hear of, i am a conservative in the truest sense of the word, i think all cities should have Trams, i went to Toronto in 2009, and i loved it! My city of Winnipeg in 1955 sold out to buses and gas, which angered me, but there is hope that our Mayor will implement either a light-rail or Tram system like the glory days, we need it, electric is clean!

[@ditmaseagle1296]

Now,you might be right but don't say it like that. we gotta live here

[@bas1010]

He looks like he is pointing with his middle finger and yelling "f@ck off!", then waves to an imaginary friend, then slips on the ice. My guess is he was either a drunk or schizophrenic. Maybe someone with some clinical experience can chime in...

[@andrew_trucker]

Used to be all white 😪

[@cha5]

Yeah well sadly we have to deal with the world that we have now, Sorry but I've never had all that high a regard
toward Malthusian solutions for the worlds woes that will solve everything.