I was thinking exactly the same thing as I watched the older people crossing the streets.. About all of the changes they had seen since they were young..
Was 18 years old in 1957 and really excited by cars back then, but now, just transportation and a necessity. So getting my fill by watching Perry Mason reruns. Thanks for posting this.
In the mid to late 1950's my dad owned and was sole mechanic of an auto repair shop on Coldwater Canyon in LA. These are the cars he would have been repairing.
For a while I managed a brake shop on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. (Brake Service Boys, Inc.) This was late 1956 and the Hollywood Freeway came through Cahuenga Pass into the valley and turned left into Ventura Blvd. End of freeway. Then it was was U.S. 101 on street surface all the way up the Valley.
There are several definite 1957 cars and at least one possible '58, so contrary to what it says at the beginning, the clip is from late '57 or maybe even early '58.
It has to be the winter of '56 - '57 because of the many '57 model cars in the film, which did not become available until September of 1956. Also, all of the cars with visible license plates have the 1956 black on gold California plates (1951 - 1955 CA plates were gold on black). I could find none with the red 1957 renewal validation sticker on them yet, but most of the plates in the film are not turned toward the camera, and of the ones that are, poor resolution or purposeful obscuring of the plates makes it difficult to tell conclusively whether any of them have a red sticker along the top of the plate. The best indication of the "no earlier than" date of the film clip is the fact the theater at 0:38 is showing the movie "Friendly Persuasion", which was officially released on November 25, 1956. If this film clip had been made between November 25th and the end of 1956, I think we would see tons of Christmas decorations on the shops, strung over the streets, etc. However, there are no Christmas decorations visible in the entire film clip, which would seem to indicate that a sufficient amount of time had passed since Christmas of 1956 that all of the Christmas decorations had already come down. On the other hand, people are still wearing coats and jackets and the convertibles have their tops up, meaning it's still chilly at least in a SoCal sense of the word. That combined with the apparent lack of red '57 renewal validation stickers on any of the license plates indicates that it probably wasn't very long into 1957, meaning few license plates had yet come up for renewal. To me, barring any further evidence, all of those clues added together point to the film clip being made in late January, 1957.
My mother's family were the original land developers of Hollywood, CA. I lived in West Hollywood in the mid-1950's and distinctly remember these kinds of street scenes.
YOUR FAMILY HAD A VISION,UNFORTUNATELY NOW PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING BUT MAKING MORE MONEY AND DESTROYING ANYTHING THAT GETS IN THERE WAY, I FIND IT REPULSIVE
@@jcp012000 at the end of the mexican war as part of the truce we paid them for alot of land and a few years later more some more land- alot of texas calif and arizona.. now they want it back after we developed it
I grew up in so- cal had orange groves in our back yard from Santa Ana to Riverside now they are all gone miss the smell of orange blossoms and free oranges 🍊 those where the days 😊
Lived in Chatsworth from 66 till 75, it was all orange 🍊 groves, and Horse 🐎 ranches. Jimmy Cagney had a Horse ranch there, raised Clydesdales. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez also had a Horse ranch there, as did Dale Robertson, Chad Everett, Jack Oakie, Leonard Nimoy, Chill Wills, William Shatner, and a whole host of others. It was California's Golden years. And yes I can still smell the orange 🍊 Blossoms, just talking about them... Florida had nothing on Southern California when it came to oranges. There was a giant orange grove that started about a block from our house, and went on for miles. In Spring and Summer what an aroma, I can smell and taste it right now just talking about it...
@@daleandrews3552 manners, signage, new feelings and shining example of polished effort, different dialects we all had, transit forms, services were faster, outfittery the average folks was wearing, less bad ideas about how racist they guess the 1950s of Los Angeles was, and the stature of excitement the city once had upholded. Now is horrific and makes me want to die, and these weren't even my gooddays in los Angeles however incredible they were. The real days of the city of angels was the 1930s, grand great 1935 inspired a movement of generous life, white neoclassical buildings of art deco appeal, modern homes at low prices of $4000 (it felt around 13,000 in 1935, while in modern day it would average to $4 million). Refrigerators were popular in the 1930s, leaving the ice box age.. however nice they were. Now the freezer makes your ice for you, a constant cycle. Its a horrible shame that the war overcame what could have been a grand life in the 1940s, then becoming a war horrified nation.
@@daleandrews3552 and the wannabe rappers trying to sell you their music, homeless and drug addicts everywhere... the smell of pee and weed..instead or the orange groves lol
Be careful what you wish for. Remember, the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam war was coming up. Smallpox and polio had no vaccine. Wages were VERY low and there was no economic safety net.
Hagerty lists a 1956 Thunderbird as currently being valued at between $49,000 and $76,000, for #2 and #1 condition, respectively, though rare options can effect that.
Or like I had said a while back that they were shooting the accident on purpose to be used in a TV Show or film at the time. They get to the point seen in the clip, add screeching break sound, cut to the driver reacting then cut to the cars set up showing the result from a different angle.
WOAH, bro wtf seriously I looked at it from a bunch of different angles. There is no one in that car! The sun is shinning through the steering wheel onto the seat, there is no head in the window from the front view. This is either some weird Back to the Future, Mandella, butterfly effect and that person has been erased from history, that's one short old lady, or this is Herbie's cousin.
I'm from the 90s, and I miss it already. Already alot has changed, for example ofcourse the mobile phones, everywhere where you look you see them. TV, their were so much better shows on it then todays. I'm not gonna cry that I'm born in the wrong time but I wish I could go to the 40s/50s/60s/70s.
***** This isn't only to you but to anyone who is still subscribed to this: Maybe you've been looking for these things you've been talking about? I mean, any time I suppose something's true I end up seeing more of it as I focus on it. There do still happen to be good things and attitudes around even now, so I suggest you have a look for it.
i as born in 70. what did u miss (besides the music). no internet in homes til i was 25, bro. cells not popular til i was 27. no way to research anything except for libraries (omg, i'm fucking old). no gps. HIV killed babies, gays, etc. fuck the old days except for the music. fuck em.
The strangest part is there is no driver visible in the T-Bird at any time. I've captured this video and looked at it frame by frame. When the T-Bird is broadside and at its closest in front of the camera car, you can clearly see the top half of the steering wheel, plus the shadow of the rear view and the steering wheel on the seat where the driver should be. There are no hands on the wheel. And no driver. Nothing. My best guess is that the T-Bird driver saw the camera while still at the red light and ducked way down out of sight for some reason. And when the light changed and traffic on his right started out, he started to make the left completely blind! As if he was completely panicked. This dufus really didn't want to be on film!
zomby woof At 3:41 I can see the driver , but before I could just see the steering wheel, like he was ducking down like you said. Back then (1957) they did however have handheld video cameras even though I doubt that is what he is using.since it is in color, unless someone remastered it recently. It just looks too dam good not to be retouched.
CajunMetalHead1994 This is a large 35mm film camera mostly likely mounted on a platform just ahead of the grille of a pickup truck. It's not like you wouldn't see it. Sorry, I don't see the T-Bird driver.
The title on the screen says "1953," but I agree with Craiglaca1 that this was very late 1956 or early 1957. There are four movie theaters shown: The Iris is showing the Gary Cooper film "Friendly Persuasion" (advertised in big blue letters), which was released around Thanksgiving 1956. Across the street, Warner's is showing "Cinerama Holiday," which was released in 1955, but Cinerama was such a sensation that it's reasonable to think it was still showing nearly a year later. Around the corner on Vine St. was a "second-run" theater, The Admiral, showing a double feature of John Wayne's "The Searchers" (released March 1956) and Donald O'Connor in "Francis in The Navy" (released August 1955). TeeBee Overdahl reported seeing a 1957 Cadillac in this clip-- that makes sense, because the 1957 model year began appearing in showrooms in summer 1956. All of that to say, this clip was likely filmed in November or December 1956, or possibly even January 1957.
i saw a couple 57 chevys . what year was the tbird that made the left in front of the other traffic . looked like the phone truck made a left in front of the traffic also.
1956 Ford Thunderbird - external spare was unique to that year. Produced I believe from late 1955.. Thunderbirds started production in late 1954, so film is definitely later than 1953.
Hollywood Blvd. looks somewhat the same. I truly LOVED living in Hollywood in my early days. Every spring the smell of the Sycamore trees was the sweetest smell in the world. I lived 2 block from Manns theater and the streets were crowded with people out to have a good time. Those were the days...
I’m a lifelong Los Angeles resident born in 1989. My parents weren’t even born when this video was taken, and I long for and feel nostalgic for this 50s Hollywood. I wish we could go back. NO traffic! There is always traffic galore in Hollywood today 😭 it’s very run down too in a lot of areas.
I didn't pay attention for that in this video, but back then, THE LEFT TURNER was the big problem. Most streets even 4 lanes wide had no left turn lane, and if someone wanted to go left, they ended up waiting and blocking all traffic behind sometimes for the entire duration of a traffic signal, if there happened to be a traffic light at that corner.
@@AlonsoRules actually by the late 70s, the Hollywood neighborhood area was looking pretty gritty and deplorable, streetwalkers, pimps, trash on the street, x rated movie houses, just watch the movie Foxes from 1980.
I can instantly recognize and identify the year, make and model of every car seen I watched the entire drive and didn't see myself anywhere. Used to cruise those Blvds, mostly at night, in a new red body white top 57 Chevrolet Belair hardtop. Worked for a while near all these shots as a new car get ready mechanic at Nugent Chevrolet on LaBrea Avenue. Ricky Nelson sometimes joined me at night and we cruised. He was driving a white 57 Plymouth Fury. Underage though so his folks made him come home at nine weeknights. Ricky had an album cover, forget the name, but it showed his face with a shot of a red 57 Plymouth Fury. His personal car was white, and probably used a red one on the cover so less people would recognize him on the street.
@@crimestoppers1877 I'm still around, driving a much modified Mazda Miata, a Prius, yes, a Prius, and a hot Victory Octane motorcycle. But no longer in California, thank goodness.
@@johnhand871 Those old films are fun to watch. i used to drive "slowly" from west on Sunset or Hollywood blvd, turn around after Doheny and return East for hours. Sometimes you could take Doheny South for restaurant row. In LA, If you didn't see it here, it didn't happen. I forgot. Add a few beers and a bowl of chili at Barneys. I also moved and now "drive" a horse.
I lived in Hollywood, right around the corner from Manns Theater in 1982 for about 5 years then moved to Seward Ave in Hollywood. I very much enjoyed my days there. People who haven't actually lived there talk a lot of stuff about the place but for the most part don't know what they are talking about.
@@totallysmooth1203 Jimmy Carter and the Democrats F***ed up the middle east. Islamic revolution of Iran, President Jimmy Carter and the democrats stabbing the King Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran in the back destabilized the whole region. Women went from wearing mini skirts, forced to wear burkas and hijabs. Killed millions upon millions, and threw that region of the world back into the dark ages.
Totally agree. American cars of the 50s, 60s and 70s are the sexiest cars ever made. Even the compact cars they made were better looking than what we had over here in the UK. The only sexy cars were had were the ones that copied the Americans, like the Vauxhall Cresta PA. Thank God for American aesthetics I say, I dread to think what Britain would have looked like without its influence, but what's happened to it now? Shame. All down to world over population I think. If there weren't so many people on this planet there'd be no energy crisis and no global warming.
Ooops, watch out! I'm in trouble. I like the Mk 1 Cortina actually (American influenced), but only the Riley / Wolseley Mini. I went for the Fiat 126 instead as my diddy first car. Lovely little bug.
@@55tumbler like to hear you say that when you are at that age! Have you seen a front ender between these and a modern car. These oldies drive away and the new cant even be towed have to be loaded onto a low bed!
I was born in the 1950's, wish I could have been in high school in the 50's. Love those cars and the way people dressed. Really classy. Thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed this video.
I don't think many people who watch these know what they are. Most were shot on 35mm film by a '2nd Unit crew" driving up and down the city streets, none were shot on video because in 1957 video equipment was big and not portable and not in color. They are called process shots or process plates. They were made for shots that required outside window views as actors were talking. There was a front, back, passenger side, driver side and sometimes shots looking to a back angle outside the rear window for the actors in the back seat. A lot were made for specific movies or TV shows, some were just meant to be stock footage. Some were made for a specific movie or TV show then sold to a stock footage library later. The shots were either projected on a screen set up near a car on a soundstage or used as a plate, which was added later. The shot of the T-Bird pulling in front of the camera car may well have been a specific shot intended to be inserted into a movie or TV show. We see the T-Bird pull in front, and then we could cut to the interior of the point of view car (camera car) and have the actor slam on his break, stop and get out of the car and go over and talk to the T-Bird owner. That’s why the face of the person in the T-Bird would be hidden because it’s the stunt driver and not the actual actor in the scene. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was a police escort around the camera car to clear traffic and an assistant director to cue those ladies crossing the road in front of the car. They would have had to sign releases. If these films were just hastily shot, the footage would not be as clear and either be shot on 8mm or 16mm film. They would also tend to be jerky and abrupt. Also there would be pans and tilts. There are none on this film and no attempt to capture signs or specific buildings because very little of the frame we see on this You tube video was actually seen. Remember everyone didn’t have professional movie cameras back then.
I think you're correct on all counts. I grew up not far from there. In 1965 my Dad began working in that industry making commercials. Interesting work, but long hours, repetitive shots, uncooperative lighting, etc. I do believe, along with you, that this could have been stock footage. Also, all of us who own Thunderbirds don't drive like the guy in the '56.
There is/was a similar film clip in black-and-white of the old 'Bunker Hill' area of L.A., filmed from a camera-truck (looking back into traffic) in the late'40s, almost certainly for back-projection use in a movie. Much of the area seen in the clip, land and buildings, had gone by about 1970.
@@johnk6598 I don’t think so. There was a camera mounted either front, rear, left side, right side. The people on the street usually were the people who happened to be on the street.
I knew Alan Hale Jr. (skipper on Gilligan's Island.) In between gigs in movies and TV shows he sometimes worked as a Maitre D (sp?) (greeter) at Musso and Franks.
Oli S Those cars had fewer parts to them, I'll tell you that. My grandfather's 1940s Dodge has an engine on it so simple; a 4 year old kid could replace the spark plugs on it.
Depending on what MONTH this was shot, I was busy being born a few blocks from where some of this footage was made: Ceders of Lebanon hospital (now an HQ for Scientology.) The address on my birth certificate, my first home on planet earth, is now a Korean electronics store. It's amazing someone took the time and, given the film technology of the era, effort to record these small frames of daily life.
So Mister cruse went and brought it did he? I bet he probably added a helli pad to all of his scientology churchs, so he could practice his death defying stunts for the next mission impossible and top gun movies🤭 Also let me guess, the Korean electronics store is a sammy store where they would sell those crazy flip phones that the kpop fans go mad for😂
Glad the person had the foresight to do this film to show future generations like myself of what exactly it was like back then. The details like how the people dressed, the names of the shops, the cars. What a wonderful time capsule and yes if only we had a time machine , I think a lot of us would go back and relive those times. Thank you for uploading ......
ONLY someone white would return to those times. Wages for skill laborers up thru tech, medical and office professionals ranged from $50 to $200 a week. No "equal opportunity"...only white women in the office and they only for payroll, secretaries. No women or non-white men in the corporate world. Terrible times.
@@weedermannMost women didn't need to work outside, one salary was enough for the whole family. Make no mistake about the reasons who force women to work outside nowadays
Some of those old women crossing the street in this film were born in the 1800s. Some of the newborns today will live to see the year 2100. I always find it fascinating how just a few generations can link together several centuries like that.
my great grandma was born in 1880s east tennessee and i remember visiting her in the nursing home as a kid in 1978, and im only 45. she would have lived around civil war vets for sure and i knew her. trippy connections!
I was born in 1938, can remember much of WW2 and I remember when the last Civil War veteran died ( a drummer boy) and I can remember of course, when the last WW1 veteran died.
But you and I are watching this fascinating stuff because of all this "social media crap". What is being recorded on smartphones today maybe regarded as trivial, silly, annoying, laughable, but in sixty years time it will take a whole different perspective. It will be FASCINATING!!!!. Make no mistake about that.
i wasn't there in 1957 i was conceived in 1959 but this video of the cars & buses is exactly what I remember seeing everyday in the 1960's. The 1950's culture spilled into the '60's & by the mid '70's the '50 cars were getting scarce & ending up in the graveyards. Whenever I see '57 Chevy's I think of my dad because he bought a '57 Bel Air brand spanking new & kept it 11 years & sold it cheap to a kid in 1968. I was there during the sale. My next door neighbor best friends relatives would pull up in a black '57 Bel Air Nomad wagon with a red interior. Beautiful car. On my way to grade school were 2 '59 Chevy Bel Airs parked in a driveway. Kids dropped off to school in a '55 Chevy Nomad wagon. How cool is that ?? i saw '60 Chevy taxicabs. The 1960's were a continuation of the fabulous '50's rock n roll culture & just as cool. Too bad the big 3 cars makers can't bring back all those great cars again. Be nice.
Watch the blue T-Bird at 3:39, The driver mysteriously disappears as it moves off! Pouff he disappears into thin air!! Watched the film over and over but cant figure it out!
I don't know what you're looking at, but the driver of the blue T-bird is visible the whole time. He momentarily goes into a shadow as he turns the corner, but he can still be seen.
Nolo C I see what you mean. I think his head is obscured by the rear view mirror, then the windshield reflects so you cant view him. If you pause you can see a white collar. I am not sure why you disappears after that, maybe slammed on his brakes and was out of view.
Wow, to have a camera to film the times on that day on Hollywood blvd . Good video quality for that time. Good to remember the good old days with swing music on the car radio. Over 60 years ago.
Such a simpler time without the extreme concerns that all of us face these days. Sometimes I wish I had been born sooner so that I could have experienced what generations before me did.
The era of prosperity and peace between 1945 and 2007 was a historical aberration. Most of human history is the history of war, plague, and social unrest.
@@bigboineptune9567 According to the Communists... Most of history is the story of people living peacefully with occasional wars. Do some reading, maybe you'll lose your dependence on those who control your mind.
At 0:32 on the right hand side, a white building on the corner is Mandel's ladies shoes. My wife's family (Grandfather and father). My mom who went to HHS, said she bought her prom shoes there in '41, when I told her I was dating the granddaughter. This is the first time I've been able to spot the store in a old motion picture clip! Thanks for the memories!
This is absolutely shocking! That somebody had the wherewithal to film this is AMAZING. It's so fun to immerse yourself in it, especially if you play traffic sounds along with it! SO COOL!!!
+leonard bolton Yep. "Civil rights," which are not constitutional rights because they had to be legislated, pitted constitutional rights against concocted "rights."
"Racism" is a form of primitive tribalism. It has always existed in humans and always will. These days however the term is being watered down by overuse. It's become just another knee-jerk put-down term to call someone and try to demonize them for having a different point of view even when the word doesn't fit. If you're judging decades solely by race relations however, the 1950s sure beat the 1850s. Whether they'll beat the 2050s remains to be seen. Maybe not. We seem to be losing ground in some ways.
This is all the between March 17 to March 20, 1957. March 17th is when the double bill at the Admiral began playing and only ran to the 20th. Friendly Persuasion had just come back to the Iris after its Oscar nominations, and the Egyptian is playing a double bill of Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden.
@TuffBud..Nothing like today with BLM and Antifa burning down cities, looting and murdering innocent people (Jennifer Whitacre in Indianapolis for example), Einstein.
@@mryusuf9607 Yes all the brown and black skinned "multiculturalists" are the racists, along with the brainwashed libtards who believe the lies taught in the Public Fool System and sold out media. The globalists are using them as brainwashed pawns to destroy white Christians and to dismantle America to form their New World Order Police State of communism and misery for everyone....
Traffic was very agressive in those days. Drivers didn't give pedestrians right away on crosswalks; oncoming traffic made unsafe turns and crosses when oppossing traffic had the right away. People were well dressed when they went out in public. The streets were much cleaner. RTD bus was slow and non aggressive. No bums on the sidewalks, pan handling or prostituting.
Montery12 the population of Los Angeles was much smaller then. Less smog and congrstion. No era is idealic. Every decades had it's problems, big and small. The 50's and 60's were prosperous coming after WWII. Yet much more sexist, racist and intolerant but not mentioned in polite company.
Montery12 really, unemployment was considered vagrancy and the pigs did a job on locking them away: also drinking in public: notice no sidewalk cafes, L A was under consruction. Notice the smog free day (rare as I was born on melrose between lillian way and cahuenga).
Montery12 Yeah but there wasn’t a road rage like there is now in people shooting one another. There is still aggression in a different way, a much worse way.
I know the 1950's wasn't perfect, but if I could bring back the cars, clean streets, and architecture from that era and earlier I would. Imagine taking the aesthetics of that time, and just implementing the tech we have now
The cars look good, but the smog they produced/contributed towards was pretty awful. The smog was full of all sort of nasty stuff like ozone which meant the air tasted and smelled like bleach on a bad day. Maybe keep the catalytic convertors and emission standards of today. But those cars do look good
Chris Platt that's only true if they started on walk sign if they did not have the walk light and they are in the cross walk they are in violation though if it is not regulated by a light and they are in the cross walk the vehicles must yield to Pedestrians. Though if the vehicle has a green light and it is not regulated by cross walk light pedestrian must yield.
At 2:20 the car turns right and you can see a small part of a movie theater on the right. That is the Pantages Theater, not sure if still there, but in 1968 I dated a girl who sold tickets in the front and that gal became world famous years later. Not Hollywood famous, WORLD famous. I won't go into the details on that one but a very interesting story. In 1971 I think it was the premier week of the movie called TORA TORA TORA and as a journalist for some major auto and motorcycle publications, the company asked me to show two visiting Japanese motor journalists around, and they could not speak English, nor me Japanese. So in one day I took them to that movie at the Pantages among other things like Griffith Planetarium and my kick boxing school while they watched me work out with an instructor from Thailand. Anyhow, the movie TORA TORA TORA worked out to be strange, because when they spoke in Japanese, there were English sub-titles, and of course they could understand the language, but when they spoke in English, no sub-titles, so I was trying to help them understand what the Americans were saying. What a night.
It's amazing that someone actually filmed this back in those good ol' days, and in color too. Kind of like "Google Street View in the 1950s and Early 1960s". Great!
I sure love the architecture of Los Angeles . My dad was born there 1937 & my uncle attended Hollywood high in the end of the 60's . Grandma had a 2 bedroom craftsman bungalow in Monterey park east L.A. Thanks 4 video .
Wow... Really great. My hometown the year before I was on Fountain Ave at the old Cedars hospital in the heart of Hollywood. At 1:25, on the left, can see the sign for the giant Pickwick Books that closed in late 70s. At 1:45 Musso Frank's sign. At 2:00 one of the old green busses. Just after that, I think the turn was onto Cahuenga maybe... Most of these stores were gone 10 years later... The Egyptian theater was still there but a different front design.. This was a wavy lime green thing! Excellent music. Loved the pedestrians! Oh, and the near collision at 4:00 after that a-hole made the stupid rude left turn! Some things in LA never change!
Definitely after 1954, the streetcars have been removed. The Woolworth's and Newberry's were still there well into the 1990s, and of course Musso and Frank's is still there, approaching its 100th anniversary...
Nice to see how people dressed so nicely in public back then. Most men in suits, women in dresses. Hair neat, nicely combed and styled. Nowadays both men and women go out looking like slobs in sweats, shorts, t-shirts, etc. Sigh!
Just brilliant, Lovely. Kudos to you for sharing these beautiful videos. Best part no tents and crazy homeless people cluttering the sidewalks. I bet the people from these days whom are still with us today are shaking their heads in dis belief of what dump Los Angeles have become.
lander4545 Sure. Left turn lanes existed. They existed to keep traffic from backing up, just like today. Again, look at where the traffic lights are. They are on the sidewalk corners. Not overhead crossing the street, where one can nowadays place a left turn arrow. On the corners. I remember when they were that way- on the corners. There is no "left turn arrow" on those lights. You can see the lights in several views. There were no left turn arrows in that video. That blue t-bird DID NOT YIELD the right of way. Geez.
I think the T-bird guy tried to get a jump on the oncoming traffic and beat them through the intersection but he had to stop for pedestrians crossing Ivar Avenue with the green light just off camera. If the T-bird had a green left turn arrow it wouldn't have given a green light to the traffic going the same way as the camera car. Definitely a failure to yield by the blue T-bird.
This is classic car heaven. Plus, people seem to have a briskness in their step which is lacking nowadays. I always feel like I’m walking behind zombies.
Clean, nice cars everywhere, everyone dressed well, all the storefronts had businesses in them, and hardly any overweight people. Just awesome. Edit: thanks for turning this comment into a thread full of political bilge, guys.
@doctordonuthin this has nothing to with politics. It's called technology and culture. As time goes on things change. We just see it as cooler back then. Got nothing to do with politics. So shut the hell up. You're part of the reason today's world is so divided.
@doctordonuthin every damn thing that's happening now happened back in the day murder, racism, killing of gays. Nothing has changed it's just harder to cover up now because of the internet. This has nothing to do with the bullshit you stated its evil people on both sides of the party and white and black racism. Stop blaming partys because that statement in false.
So many small businesses thriving, so different downtowns in most cities deserted building's nowadays, almost wish I could have been there then as adult or kid.
I knew Alan Hale Jr pretty well. First met him at a party in El Sereno in 1957. Then, between movies, he was selling Buicks. Ran into him again in the 70s and he was working as a Maitre de at Musso and Franks. That was quite common with stars back in those days because they had no income from residuals such as TV like today. Interesting thing was, he remembered me from years before, and came out with details of when we met, so not only was he a great outgoing personality, he had a memory to match.
My mother worked with her mother at Schwab"s Pharmacy at Hollywood and Vine where the movie stars would drop in. My mother's mother married the Pharmacist and won the West Coast Ballroom Dancing Championship at the Aragon Ballroom. I inherited his diamond and platinum wristwatch which I still have.
Actually, the drugstore at the corner of Hollywood and Vine was The Owl Rexall Drugstore - Schwawb's was located in a totally different area on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.
My error. I was Schwabs but as the building is not around anymore I just guessed. Looked on Google Satellite and it seems to be a residential area now?
I saw at least two vehicles making left turns in front of the driver when the light turned green. Since the sound was edited I wonder how much they laid on the horn.
Fantastic quality. To think those older ladies crossing the street were likely born in the 1880s or 1890s..and here we are just checking in on YT.
so what 1880 is just numba stop thinking deep
It's amazing to think that a lot of them felt ''out of their time' by the 1950s. They would be fortunate if they died before the 1960s.
@@markhenley3097 Would you feel fortunate to die before you turn 75 because it's not your time anymore? Seems odd 🤔
I was thinking exactly the same thing as I watched the older people crossing the streets.. About all of the changes they had seen since they were young..
I always think about the people I see in these videos. Who were they, why were they rushing around that day, when did they die.
Was 18 years old in 1957 and really excited by cars back then, but now, just transportation and a necessity. So getting my fill by watching Perry Mason reruns. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks. Think I’ll finally give that show a view.
Wow, 84. I was born in 1959 and I feel old
Nice to see someone here apart of the Silent Generation! (1925/1928-1945).
I had two more years till the great happening
@@davidharris7235 Me too..lot of great movies in 59
In the mid to late 1950's my dad owned and was sole mechanic of an auto repair shop on Coldwater Canyon in LA. These are the cars he would have been repairing.
Cool!!! I used to live in Benedict Canyon under the Hollywood sign
For a while I managed a brake shop on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. (Brake Service Boys, Inc.) This was late 1956 and the Hollywood Freeway came through Cahuenga Pass into the valley and turned left into Ventura Blvd. End of freeway. Then it was was U.S. 101 on street surface all the way up the Valley.
They all seem to be running perfectly well, so he did an outstanding job!
@@rmorris1904 You mean Bronson Canyon? Benedict is out west of the Sunset Strip, north of Holmby Hills.
big deal who cares
Cars in the 50s all looks so gorgeous. Every car looks different. So many choices. Today's cars...bland as hell. Soulless.
Golden era gone.
Yeah Golden Era and brown smoggy skies
@@comfeefort The skies were clearer than today.
well, to be fair the cars are beautiful but they also look the same :)
Agree. 21st century cars all look the same and they are all ugly.
Welcome to the new era where profits have overtaken all.
We are the only people in all the history of mankind that can look back in time through these magic windows. Thanks for sharing.
true (i'm from nov. '70)
Most people in this video are in their 80's or 90's or are dead!!
Hhhhhh yes you are great people
and it just adds to the dissatisfaction of living in the 21st century :(
tim warren: we ourselves are time travelers not just video's
Love the transitional opening music at the beginning of this video, the music during the radio announcing is so nostalgic.
This is the SoCal I grew up in. In was eleven in '53. It was a wonderful time.
There are several definite 1957 cars and at least one possible '58, so contrary to what it says at the beginning, the clip is from late '57 or maybe even early '58.
It has to be the winter of '56 - '57 because of the many '57 model cars in the film, which did not become available until September of 1956.
Also, all of the cars with visible license plates have the 1956 black on gold California plates (1951 - 1955 CA plates were gold on black). I could find none with the red 1957 renewal validation sticker on them yet, but most of the plates in the film are not turned toward the camera, and of the ones that are, poor resolution or purposeful obscuring of the plates makes it difficult to tell conclusively whether any of them have a red sticker along the top of the plate.
The best indication of the "no earlier than" date of the film clip is the fact the theater at 0:38 is showing the movie "Friendly Persuasion", which was officially released on November 25, 1956. If this film clip had been made between November 25th and the end of 1956, I think we would see tons of Christmas decorations on the shops, strung over the streets, etc. However, there are no Christmas decorations visible in the entire film clip, which would seem to indicate that a sufficient amount of time had passed since Christmas of 1956 that all of the Christmas decorations had already come down.
On the other hand, people are still wearing coats and jackets and the convertibles have their tops up, meaning it's still chilly at least in a SoCal sense of the word. That combined with the apparent lack of red '57 renewal validation stickers on any of the license plates indicates that it probably wasn't very long into 1957, meaning few license plates had yet come up for renewal.
To me, barring any further evidence, all of those clues added together point to the film clip being made in late January, 1957.
+d23g32 jesus christ. lol you are hardcore bro!
Holy shit, fucking Cole Phelps over here.
Lucky man.
My mother's family were the original land developers of Hollywood, CA. I lived in West Hollywood in the mid-1950's and distinctly remember these kinds of street scenes.
YOUR FAMILY HAD A VISION,UNFORTUNATELY NOW PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING BUT MAKING MORE MONEY AND DESTROYING ANYTHING THAT GETS IN THERE WAY, I FIND IT REPULSIVE
did they invite and make money fom poor mexicans
That’s so cool Greg!
@@bradleysmall2230 Shuuuuuuut up
@@jcp012000 at the end of the mexican war as part of the truce we paid them for alot of land and a few years later more some more land- alot of texas calif and arizona.. now they want it back after we developed it
It was so nice back then. I remember visiting Disneyland in 1960 and the wonderful smell of the orange groves.
I grew up in so- cal had orange groves in our back yard from Santa Ana to Riverside now they are all gone miss the smell of orange blossoms and free oranges 🍊 those where the days 😊
Lived in Chatsworth from 66 till 75, it was all orange 🍊 groves, and Horse 🐎 ranches. Jimmy Cagney had a Horse ranch there, raised Clydesdales. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez also had a Horse ranch there, as did Dale Robertson, Chad Everett, Jack Oakie, Leonard Nimoy, Chill Wills, William Shatner, and a whole host of others. It was California's Golden years. And yes I can still smell the orange 🍊 Blossoms, just talking about them... Florida had nothing on Southern California when it came to oranges. There was a giant orange grove that started about a block from our house, and went on for miles. In Spring and Summer what an aroma, I can smell and taste it right now just talking about it...
My first trip to Disneyland was in 1960. I remember it well!
Hollywood still looked a lot like this when I lived and worked there in the 70's, but you woudn't recognize it now.
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yes it did I remember it in "73
What is so different now, besides the cars?
@@daleandrews3552 manners, signage, new feelings and shining example of polished effort, different dialects we all had, transit forms, services were faster, outfittery the average folks was wearing, less bad ideas about how racist they guess the 1950s of Los Angeles was, and the stature of excitement the city once had upholded. Now is horrific and makes me want to die, and these weren't even my gooddays in los Angeles however incredible they were. The real days of the city of angels was the 1930s, grand great 1935 inspired a movement of generous life, white neoclassical buildings of art deco appeal, modern homes at low prices of $4000 (it felt around 13,000 in 1935, while in modern day it would average to $4 million). Refrigerators were popular in the 1930s, leaving the ice box age.. however nice they were. Now the freezer makes your ice for you, a constant cycle. Its a horrible shame that the war overcame what could have been a grand life in the 1940s, then becoming a war horrified nation.
@@daleandrews3552 and the wannabe rappers trying to sell you their music, homeless and drug addicts everywhere... the smell of pee and weed..instead or the orange groves lol
Big beautiful cars, no traffic. I want to live in 1957. Unfortunately couldn't find time machine on Amazon )))
I did I was 10 years old!
I was born in '58, I miss the 'Leave it to Beaver' days very much.....
move to Cuba
Be careful what you wish for. Remember, the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam war was coming up. Smallpox and polio had no vaccine. Wages were VERY low and there was no economic safety net.
And so much Smog your lungs hurt!!!
When Holly Wood had style and real movie stars.
Nothing about it is different now besides the people on the video are all dead.
@@sailorforlifebestti3366 wrong ,were Elvis ,were Rachel welch were beach boys were were marilyn Monroe at , were great songs ,crap now
@@sailorforlifebestti3366 I imagine a couple were bumped off by the driver of this car!
True dat
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3:38 we almost witnessed a vintage accident
watch this :
Sunset Strip 1964. "VINTAGE LOS ANGELES" ..at the end..
How much will that T-Bird be worth today ?.
Hagerty lists a 1956 Thunderbird as currently being valued at between $49,000 and $76,000, for #2 and #1 condition, respectively, though rare options can effect that.
Happened then, still happens now.
Or like I had said a while back that they were shooting the accident on purpose to be used in a TV Show or film at the time. They get to the point seen in the clip, add screeching break sound, cut to the driver reacting then cut to the cars set up showing the result from a different angle.
3:38 WHY NOBODY IS IN THE BLUE CAR?
It was one of the first self-driving cars
WOAH, bro wtf seriously I looked at it from a bunch of different angles. There is no one in that car! The sun is shinning through the steering wheel onto the seat, there is no head in the window from the front view.
This is either some weird Back to the Future, Mandella, butterfly effect and that person has been erased from history, that's one short old lady, or this is Herbie's cousin.
I watched that one part multiple times, and thought what!?!? Glad I wasn't the only one to see it!!
The driver is a politician determined to be completely transparent.
@Dan Becker actually not, the first selfdriving car that functioned appeared back in the 1980s
by the 50s there wasnt even selfdriving cars
Somewhere in that city Ritchie Valens is playing his heart out about to become an immortalized legend forever. 🎤🎸
In pacoima
C.J. THA DON yes sir.
yeah, about 17 miles north of Hollywood, in Pacoima...
@Gabriel Martinez they were not even from California you dumb fck!
@Gabriel Martinez YOUR THE ONE BEING BIASED YOU LITTLE BITCH, NO WONDER YOU GOT DROPPED AS A CHILD
I'm from the 90s, and I miss it already. Already alot has changed, for example ofcourse the mobile phones, everywhere where you look you see them. TV, their were so much better shows on it then todays. I'm not gonna cry that I'm born in the wrong time but I wish I could go to the 40s/50s/60s/70s.
***** I feel the same way!!!!!!! I wish i could have seen the 50's, 60's and 70's too!!!
Mister E. True!
***** This isn't only to you but to anyone who is still subscribed to this:
Maybe you've been looking for these things you've been talking about? I mean, any time I suppose something's true I end up seeing more of it as I focus on it. There do still happen to be good things and attitudes around even now, so I suggest you have a look for it.
+Mister E.
Well put, dude!
i as born in 70. what did u miss (besides the music). no internet in homes til i was 25, bro. cells not popular til i was 27. no way to research anything except for libraries (omg, i'm fucking old). no gps. HIV killed babies, gays, etc. fuck the old days except for the music. fuck em.
3:38 - Some things never change, like trying to make a left turn in LA.
A nice blue Thunderbird though.
The strangest part is there is no driver visible in the T-Bird at any time. I've captured this video and looked at it frame by frame. When the T-Bird is broadside and at its closest in front of the camera car, you can clearly see the top half of the steering wheel, plus the shadow of the rear view and the steering wheel on the seat where the driver should be. There are no hands on the wheel. And no driver. Nothing. My best guess is that the T-Bird driver saw the camera while still at the red light and ducked way down out of sight for some reason. And when the light changed and traffic on his right started out, he started to make the left completely blind! As if he was completely panicked. This dufus really didn't want to be on film!
zomby woof At 3:41 I can see the driver , but before I could just see the steering wheel, like he was ducking down like you said. Back then (1957) they did however have handheld video cameras even though I doubt that is what he is using.since it is in color, unless someone remastered it recently. It just looks too dam good not to be retouched.
CajunMetalHead1994 This is a large 35mm film camera mostly likely mounted on a platform just ahead of the grille of a pickup truck. It's not like you wouldn't see it. Sorry, I don't see the T-Bird driver.
I lived there from '58 when you had to take "Old Sepulveda" to get to the Valley from Westwood. Traffic was terrible in those days.
It's always been a dream for me to have a few classics like those what beautiful time.
The title on the screen says "1953," but I agree with Craiglaca1 that this was very late 1956 or early 1957. There are four movie theaters shown: The Iris is showing the Gary Cooper film "Friendly Persuasion" (advertised in big blue letters), which was released around Thanksgiving 1956. Across the street, Warner's is showing "Cinerama Holiday," which was released in 1955, but Cinerama was such a sensation that it's reasonable to think it was still showing nearly a year later. Around the corner on Vine St. was a "second-run" theater, The Admiral, showing a double feature of John Wayne's "The Searchers" (released March 1956) and Donald O'Connor in "Francis in The Navy" (released August 1955). TeeBee Overdahl reported seeing a 1957 Cadillac in this clip-- that makes sense, because the 1957 model year began appearing in showrooms in summer 1956. All of that to say, this clip was likely filmed in November or December 1956, or possibly even January 1957.
Excellent deductive sleuthing!
i saw a couple 57 chevys . what year was the tbird that made the left in front of the other traffic . looked like the phone truck made a left in front of the traffic also.
1956 Ford Thunderbird - external spare was unique to that year. Produced I believe from late 1955.. Thunderbirds started production in late 1954, so film is definitely later than 1953.
I saw some '57 Chevs and a '57 Ford Courier (panel station wagon), so we are looking at late '56, early '57.
Not to mention the 56 Tbird.
Hollywood Blvd. looks somewhat the same. I truly LOVED living in Hollywood in my early days. Every spring the smell of the Sycamore trees was the sweetest smell in the world. I lived 2 block from Manns theater and the streets were crowded with people out to have a good time. Those were the days...
I’m a lifelong Los Angeles resident born in 1989. My parents weren’t even born when this video was taken, and I long for and feel nostalgic for this 50s Hollywood. I wish we could go back. NO traffic! There is always traffic galore in Hollywood today 😭 it’s very run down too in a lot of areas.
I didn't pay attention for that in this video, but back then, THE LEFT TURNER was the big problem. Most streets even 4 lanes wide had no left turn lane, and if someone wanted to go left, they ended up waiting and blocking all traffic behind sometimes for the entire duration of a traffic signal, if there happened to be a traffic light at that corner.
@@johnhand871 Left turns are still an issue like this in LA!
that beautiful neatness lasted up til 1980's
Now, a cesspool.
Thanks alot Bush sr. The biggest cocaine smuggler in the states . Just say no to prosperity & dignity you flaming bastard .
AS THE LATE 80'S ARRIVED EVERYTHING SORT OF WENT DOWN THE DRAIN.
1992 was the end
@@AlonsoRules actually by the late 70s, the Hollywood neighborhood area was looking pretty gritty and deplorable, streetwalkers, pimps, trash on the street, x rated movie houses, just watch the movie Foxes from 1980.
I can instantly recognize and identify the year, make and model of every car seen I watched the entire drive and didn't see myself anywhere. Used to cruise those Blvds, mostly at night, in a new red body white top 57 Chevrolet Belair hardtop. Worked for a while near all these shots as a new car get ready mechanic at Nugent Chevrolet on LaBrea Avenue. Ricky Nelson sometimes joined me at night and we cruised. He was driving a white 57 Plymouth Fury. Underage though so his folks made him come home at nine weeknights.
Ricky had an album cover, forget the name, but it showed his face with a shot of a red 57 Plymouth Fury. His personal car was white, and probably used a red one on the cover so less people would recognize him on the street.
Why the ww2 music if this clip is 1957?
Thats what adults listened to. It was their rock roll when they were young. Rock of our generation will fade away just as big band did
I say you, next to the 1956 T bird
@@crimestoppers1877 I'm still around, driving a much modified Mazda Miata, a Prius, yes, a Prius, and a hot Victory Octane motorcycle. But no longer in California, thank goodness.
@@johnhand871 Those old films are fun to watch. i used to drive "slowly" from west on Sunset or Hollywood blvd, turn around after Doheny and return East for hours. Sometimes you could take Doheny South for restaurant row. In LA, If you didn't see it here, it didn't happen. I forgot. Add a few beers and a bowl of chili at Barneys. I also moved and now "drive" a horse.
Back when every single car and truck looked absolutely beautiful
I grew up 3 miles from here between 1954-2007. Most of this looked the same up until about 1978.
What happened 1978?
I lived in Hollywood, right around the corner from Manns Theater in 1982 for about 5 years then moved to Seward Ave in Hollywood. I very much enjoyed my days there. People who haven't actually lived there talk a lot of stuff about the place but for the most part don't know what they are talking about.
@@totallysmooth1203 Jimmy Carter and the Democrats F***ed up the middle east. Islamic revolution of Iran, President Jimmy Carter and the democrats stabbing the King Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran in the back destabilized the whole region. Women went from wearing mini skirts, forced to wear burkas and hijabs. Killed millions upon millions, and threw that region of the world back into the dark ages.
Such a magical time this was. Marvelous. The sweet spot among all eras.
I was born in 1951, and I remember these great old cars.
How Was 1969?
50s cars are hot and modern cars look too boring
I would never buy the cars they make now. I drive a 1998 truck. lol
Totally agree. American cars of the 50s, 60s and 70s are the sexiest cars ever made. Even the compact cars they made were better looking than what we had over here in the UK. The only sexy cars were had were the ones that copied the Americans, like the Vauxhall Cresta PA. Thank God for American aesthetics I say, I dread to think what Britain would have looked like without its influence, but what's happened to it now? Shame. All down to world over population I think. If there weren't so many people on this planet there'd be no energy crisis and no global warming.
Yep I had two 55 chevy’s and a 56 Chevy
All metal not the plastic crap out there now
Easy to work on to
Ooops, watch out! I'm in trouble. I like the Mk 1 Cortina actually (American
influenced), but only the Riley / Wolseley Mini. I went for the Fiat 126 instead as my diddy first car. Lovely little bug.
Just thinking the same thing myself.
Fantastic footage - the cars are just beautiful
ugly cars 100k and there toast lol
@@55tumbler like to hear you say that when you are at that age! Have you seen a front ender between these and a modern car. These oldies drive away and the new cant even be towed have to be loaded onto a low bed!
I was born in the 1950's, wish I could have been in high school in the 50's. Love those cars and the way people dressed. Really classy. Thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed this video.
I don't think many people who watch these know what they are. Most were shot on 35mm film by a '2nd Unit crew" driving up and down the city streets, none were shot on video because in 1957 video equipment was big and not portable and not in color.
They are called process shots or process plates. They were made for shots that required outside window views as actors were talking. There was a front, back, passenger side, driver side and sometimes shots looking to a back angle outside the rear window for the actors in the back seat. A lot were made for specific movies or TV shows, some were just meant to be stock footage. Some were made for a specific movie or TV show then sold to a stock footage library later. The shots were either projected on a screen set up near a car on a soundstage or used as a plate, which was added later.
The shot of the T-Bird pulling in front of the camera car may well have been a specific shot intended to be inserted into a movie or TV show.
We see the T-Bird pull in front, and then we could cut to the interior of the point of view car (camera car) and have the actor slam on his break, stop and get out of the car and go over and talk to the T-Bird owner. That’s why the face of the person in the T-Bird would be hidden because it’s the stunt driver and not the actual actor in the scene. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was a police escort around the camera car to clear traffic and an assistant director to cue those ladies crossing the road in front of the car.
They would have had to sign releases.
If these films were just hastily shot, the footage would not be as clear and either be shot on 8mm or 16mm film. They would also tend to be jerky and abrupt. Also there would be pans and tilts. There are none on this film and no attempt to capture signs or specific buildings because very little of the frame we see on this You tube video was actually seen.
Remember everyone didn’t have professional movie cameras back then.
I think you're correct on all counts. I grew up not far from there. In 1965 my Dad began working in that industry making commercials. Interesting work, but long hours, repetitive shots, uncooperative lighting, etc. I do believe, along with you, that this could have been stock footage. Also, all of us who own Thunderbirds don't drive like the guy in the '56.
Ahhh, I was wondering why the guy was driving a lil crazy-Lol.
There is/was a similar film clip in black-and-white of the old 'Bunker Hill' area of L.A., filmed from a camera-truck (looking back into traffic) in the late'40s, almost certainly for back-projection use in a movie. Much of the area seen in the clip, land and buildings, had gone by about 1970.
So some of those people were actors? Dings the authenticity just a little
@@johnk6598 I don’t think so. There was a camera mounted either front, rear, left side, right side. The people on the street usually were the people who happened to be on the street.
Wow, I love it, it's like an old-timey movie set that keeps going and going! I wish I could jump in and wander around a while
Musso & Frank Grill (green sign on the left) is still there !!! And their food is still amazing in 2020 !!!
God bless everyone.
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When I saw it I had to comment . I am glad I am not the only one who saw it.
God Bless you!!
I knew Alan Hale Jr. (skipper on Gilligan's Island.) In between gigs in movies and TV shows he sometimes worked as a Maitre D (sp?) (greeter) at Musso and Franks.
That's cool to know!
1:02 - He didn't even stop for the ladies crossing the street at the intersection.
lmao
They were whoring
Not cool . Those chicks had class.
@@bryanleovy2163 your mom?
Pedestrians didn't have the right of way... yet.
Cars were so sexy back then!
This is coming from a person who is born in 97'. Amazing footage, amazing cars, amazing lifestyle.
Haha! Right?
If time travel were possible...
Oliver Leonce If time travel were possible, we'd all choke in that smog.
Ibhenriksen
With today's technology, we can remake classic cars, with modern upgrades.
Oli S Those cars had fewer parts to them, I'll tell you that. My grandfather's 1940s Dodge has an engine on it so simple; a 4 year old kid could replace the spark plugs on it.
Depending on what MONTH this was shot, I was busy being born a few blocks from where some of this footage was made: Ceders of Lebanon hospital (now an HQ for Scientology.) The address on my birth certificate, my first home on planet earth, is now a Korean electronics store. It's amazing someone took the time and, given the film technology of the era, effort to record these small frames of daily life.
So Mister cruse went and brought it did he? I bet he probably added a helli pad to all of his scientology churchs, so he could practice his death defying stunts for the next mission impossible and top gun movies🤭 Also let me guess, the Korean electronics store is a sammy store where they would sell those crazy flip phones that the kpop fans go mad for😂
Glad the person had the foresight to do this film to show future generations like myself of what exactly it was like back then. The details like how the people dressed, the names of the shops, the cars. What a wonderful time capsule and yes if only we had a time machine , I think a lot of us would go back and relive those times.
Thank you for uploading ......
I'd love to but I would have to stay there like "Ground Hog Day." It would be very sad to live then and know what was in store for the USA.
Yeah just imagine this country in 20 more years.
ONLY someone white would return to those times. Wages for skill laborers up thru tech, medical and office professionals ranged from $50 to $200 a week. No "equal opportunity"...only white women in the office and they only for payroll, secretaries. No women or non-white men in the corporate world. Terrible times.
@@weedermannMost women didn't need to work outside, one salary was enough for the whole family. Make no mistake about the reasons who force women to work outside nowadays
This is great!!!!! I love seeing old films like this. Just seeing the old vehicles is a treat!!
Utterly amazing, this wonderful, pristine quality time-capsule gem!! Thank you for posting this precious, little video!
Wonderful footage! It's sad to see how the same streets have deteriorated today. (Great music for this video, by the way.)
Some of those old women crossing the street in this film were born in the 1800s. Some of the newborns today will live to see the year 2100. I always find it fascinating how just a few generations can link together several centuries like that.
my great grandma was born in 1880s east tennessee and i remember visiting her in the nursing home as a kid in 1978, and im only 45. she would have lived around civil war vets for sure and i knew her. trippy connections!
I was born in 1938, can remember much of WW2 and I remember when the last Civil War veteran died ( a drummer boy) and I can remember of course, when the last WW1 veteran died.
And some of the widows of the Confederate soldiers lived on a lot longer than that.
My grandma was born in 1914 and she still lives.
Newborns today will get much older and even pass the year 2100 which is already within 81 years.
All before I was born but I believe I must have lived as someone els back then I just love it and I dream most of stuff like this
I love this era so much! And this guy was vlogging for youtube in the 50’s
Life was truly beautiful before all this social media crap...
But you and I are watching this fascinating stuff because of all this "social media crap". What is being recorded on smartphones today maybe regarded as trivial, silly, annoying, laughable, but in sixty years time it will take a whole different perspective. It will be FASCINATING!!!!. Make no mistake about that.
And blacks
@@joebrown9895 ....black people in the 1950's were productive citizens...their family unit was still intact...
And population replacement ...
@@Funeeman doubtful. These vintage videos are rare. Future generations won't care about the past like we do since it will be well documented.
i wasn't there in 1957 i was conceived in 1959 but this video of the cars & buses is exactly what I remember seeing everyday
in the 1960's. The 1950's culture spilled into the '60's & by the mid '70's the '50 cars were getting scarce &
ending up in the graveyards. Whenever I see '57 Chevy's I think of my dad because he bought a '57 Bel Air
brand spanking new & kept it 11 years & sold it cheap to a kid in 1968. I was there during the sale.
My next door neighbor best friends relatives would pull up in a black '57 Bel Air Nomad wagon with a red interior.
Beautiful car. On my way to grade school were 2 '59 Chevy Bel Airs parked in a driveway.
Kids dropped off to school in a '55 Chevy Nomad wagon. How cool is that ?? i saw '60 Chevy taxicabs.
The 1960's were a continuation of the fabulous '50's rock n roll culture & just as cool.
Too bad the big 3 cars makers can't bring back all those great cars again. Be nice.
1957 may go down as the single greatest year of American history.
Really outstanding ! Thanks for posting this invaluable footage!
3:37 Even back then people still couldn’t drive in LA
Who Say that car was driven by someone.
Check out the driver seat closely.
sebastian garcia dude there’s someone inside it, look closer.
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@@sebastiangarcia-rw1tf
Watch the blue T-Bird at 3:39, The driver mysteriously disappears as it moves off! Pouff he disappears into thin air!! Watched the film over and over but cant figure it out!
I never could see any diver myself
I don't know what you're looking at, but the driver of the blue T-bird is visible the whole time. He momentarily goes into a shadow as he turns the corner, but he can still be seen.
Nolo C
I see what you mean. I think his head is obscured by the rear view mirror, then the windshield reflects so you cant view him. If you pause you can see a white collar. I am not sure why you disappears after that, maybe slammed on his brakes and was out of view.
+twoslices shit that is weird alright
+twoslices creepy, looks like a ghost! Maybe a film problem??
That’s exactly how I remember Hollywood in the 50’s.
History got to love it,videos are better than a book full of photographs. Bring on more.thank you.😊
Wow, to have a camera to film the times on that day on Hollywood blvd . Good video quality for that time. Good to remember the good old days with swing music on the car radio. Over 60 years ago.
Such a simpler time without the extreme concerns that all of us face these days. Sometimes I wish I had been born sooner so that I could have experienced what generations before me did.
The era of prosperity and peace between 1945 and 2007 was a historical aberration. Most of human history is the history of war, plague, and social unrest.
@@bigboineptune9567 That's so true ... unfortunately. Perhaps there is more intelligent life on other planets ... ???
@@bigboineptune9567 According to the Communists... Most of history is the story of people living peacefully with occasional wars. Do some reading, maybe you'll lose your dependence on those who control your mind.
It wasn’t simpler for everyone, just white straight people, in fact I’d say it was more dangerous for anyone who wasn’t white or straight than today
At 0:32 on the right hand side, a white building on the corner is Mandel's ladies shoes. My wife's family (Grandfather and father). My mom who went to HHS, said she bought her prom shoes there in '41, when I told her I was dating the granddaughter. This is the first time I've been able to spot the store in a old motion picture clip! Thanks for the memories!
What a great place and time in history, sunny LA, booming 1950s.
...Wow...All Those Classic Cars !!!
Now they look like soap bars on wheels. No style at all.
Which WEREN'T "classic" in the 1950's.
Love it if radio stations could have opening music like this again makes your driver soothing ❤😊
This is absolutely shocking! That somebody had the wherewithal to film this is AMAZING. It's so fun to immerse yourself in it, especially if you play traffic sounds along with it! SO COOL!!!
The 1950's were a great time in America
Except for the racism and Jim Crow laws.
+leonard bolton
Yep. "Civil rights," which are not constitutional rights because they had to be legislated, pitted constitutional rights against concocted "rights."
"Racism" is a form of primitive tribalism. It has always existed in humans and always will. These days however the term is being watered down by overuse. It's become just another knee-jerk put-down term to call someone and try to demonize them for having a different point of view even when the word doesn't fit.
If you're judging decades solely by race relations however, the 1950s sure beat the 1850s. Whether they'll beat the 2050s remains to be seen. Maybe not. We seem to be losing ground in some ways.
No, that was the great part, idiot.
I heard Korea was a blast in 1951. Fun was had by all. 1950-53.
This is all the between March 17 to March 20, 1957. March 17th is when the double bill at the Admiral began playing and only ran to the 20th. Friendly Persuasion had just come back to the Iris after its Oscar nominations, and the Egyptian is playing a double bill of Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden.
I grew up in Hollywood and went to Hollywood high school and enjoyed the area great people and nice parties with no violence good oldDays
No violence in the 50's? Talk about living in DENIAL!!!
@TuffBud..Nothing like today with BLM and Antifa burning down cities, looting and murdering innocent people (Jennifer Whitacre in Indianapolis for example), Einstein.
I was born in the late 70’s, but I wish I could go back to the late 40’s and escape people, tastes and the societal realities of today.
Racist generation we now live in half of America is gone lol
@@mryusuf9607 Yes all the brown and black skinned "multiculturalists" are the racists, along with the brainwashed libtards who believe the lies taught in the Public Fool System and sold out media. The globalists are using them as brainwashed pawns to destroy white Christians and to dismantle America to form their New World Order Police State of communism and misery for everyone....
No shit....
A great time to be alive. I was several months old when this was filmed.
Traffic was very agressive in those days. Drivers didn't give pedestrians right away on crosswalks; oncoming traffic made unsafe turns and crosses when oppossing traffic had the right away. People were well dressed when they went out in public. The streets were much cleaner. RTD bus was slow and non aggressive. No bums on the sidewalks, pan handling or prostituting.
Montery12 the population of Los Angeles was much smaller then. Less smog and congrstion. No era is idealic. Every decades had it's problems, big and small. The 50's and 60's were prosperous coming after WWII. Yet much more sexist, racist and intolerant but not mentioned in polite company.
Although that is very slow traffic.
Montery12 really, unemployment was considered vagrancy and the pigs did a job on locking them away: also drinking in public: notice no sidewalk cafes, L A was under consruction. Notice the smog free day (rare as I was born on melrose between lillian way and cahuenga).
no prostituting in the 50s, haha dream on.
Montery12 Yeah but there wasn’t a road rage like there is now in people shooting one another. There is still aggression in a different way, a much worse way.
love how he turned right into that intersection full of cross-walkers; ah, the good ol' days!
Then the payback at 3:35
Guess he's gotta poop.
I get excited seeing all those old cars and trying to identify them. and seeing places i have been before I was born.
I know the 1950's wasn't perfect, but if I could bring back the cars, clean streets, and architecture from that era and earlier I would. Imagine taking the aesthetics of that time, and just implementing the tech we have now
I agree. I think that the aesthetic and feel of the late 50s early 60s should be restored, but with modern laws and equal rights
The cars look good, but the smog they produced/contributed towards was pretty awful. The smog was full of all sort of nasty stuff like ozone which meant the air tasted and smelled like bleach on a bad day.
Maybe keep the catalytic convertors and emission standards of today. But those cars do look good
@ 1:00 Failure to yield to pedestrians.
Stopping for pedestrians who cross middle of the street is last ten years.
Yeah. Noticed that, too. People understood the meaning of respect back then.
@@xxcelr8rs The pedestrians were in the crosswalk and had the right of way.
Chris Platt that's only true if they started on walk sign if they did not have the walk light and they are in the cross walk they are in violation though if it is not regulated by a light and they are in the cross walk the vehicles must yield to Pedestrians. Though if the vehicle has a green light and it is not regulated by cross walk light pedestrian must yield.
where are the homeless?
Thanks for a great trip back in time! I thought that little blue thunderbird was gonna get hit!!😮
A wonderful look back in time.
Both of my parents lived -- and met eachother -- in LA in the late '50s. Wow, and here I am, watching this film, 60 years later.....
Thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, that brought back so many memories.
I know every inch of Hollywood Boulevard shown in this film.
Wow. What could have captured a video so clear as such. Very nice and to see nothing has changed much in over 50 years. WOW
I guess pretending "nothing has changed much" is how some people cope with the reality that a lot has changed.
Gaius Octavius looks like upgrades. Nothing much more.
Definitely 1957!! I counted about nine 1957 cars and nothing newer than that. There were two 1957 Cadillacs!
@Greg Hayes He died in 1955.
There were some 57 Chevys there too!
at 0:39 the marquee says "FRIENDLY PERSUASIAN". Movie was released Nov. 25th 1956. Another 1957 indicator.
All brand new when that was filmed, really awesome.
At 2:20 the car turns right and you can see a small part of a movie theater on the right. That is the Pantages Theater, not sure if still there, but in 1968 I dated a girl who sold tickets in the front and that gal became world famous years later. Not Hollywood famous, WORLD famous. I won't go into the details on that one but a very interesting story.
In 1971 I think it was the premier week of the movie called TORA TORA TORA and as a journalist for some major auto and motorcycle publications, the company asked me to show two visiting Japanese motor journalists around, and they could not speak English, nor me Japanese.
So in one day I took them to that movie at the Pantages among other things like Griffith Planetarium and my kick boxing school while they watched me work out with an instructor from Thailand. Anyhow, the movie TORA TORA TORA worked out to be strange, because when they spoke in Japanese, there were English sub-titles, and of course they could understand the language, but when they spoke in English, no sub-titles, so I was trying to help them understand what the Americans were saying. What a night.
Strange to think Elvis Presley was all the talk during this time, especially in Hollywood. What a legendary man.
Yep! Jailhouse Rock, All Shook Up, and Big Hunk O love were his 3 biggest hits of 1957.
It's amazing that someone actually filmed this back in those good ol' days, and in color too. Kind of like "Google Street View in the 1950s and Early 1960s". Great!
It has been edited originally a black and white video but ha been colorized through computer software.
I sure love the architecture of Los Angeles . My dad was born there 1937 & my uncle attended Hollywood high in the end of the 60's . Grandma had a 2 bedroom craftsman bungalow in Monterey park east L.A. Thanks 4 video .
Wow... Really great. My hometown the year before I was on Fountain Ave at the old Cedars hospital in the heart of Hollywood. At 1:25, on the left, can see the sign for the giant Pickwick Books that closed in late 70s. At 1:45 Musso Frank's sign. At 2:00 one of the old green busses. Just after that, I think the turn was onto Cahuenga maybe... Most of these stores were gone 10 years later... The Egyptian theater was still there but a different front design.. This was a wavy lime green thing! Excellent music. Loved the pedestrians! Oh, and the near collision at 4:00 after that a-hole made the stupid rude left turn! Some things in LA never change!
It makes you wonder how many of those cars in the video are still on the road, or even still exist in someone's yard, garage, or field.
+Jonathan VanVerdegem Such beautiful cars.
+Michael Trosak . And beautiful pastel colours too. What an elegant time to be alive.
1:58 that car crossing the intersection with the two tone color on the side, what make/model is that?
Definitely after 1954, the streetcars have been removed. The Woolworth's and Newberry's were still there well into the 1990s, and of course Musso and Frank's is still there, approaching its 100th anniversary...
Nice to see how people dressed so nicely in public back then. Most men in suits, women in dresses. Hair neat, nicely combed and styled. Nowadays both men and women go out looking like slobs in sweats, shorts, t-shirts, etc. Sigh!
Or worse, their pajamas. Outright deplorable.
SpitfireBoy86 Yes! I saw a woman in her pyjamas, slippers, shopping at Wal-Mart the other day. Omg.
I know. It makes me sick to see the way people dress today.
And that woman in Wal-Mart was one of the better dressed ones.
No, just business men. But we did wear shirts, not T shirts, and even the T shirts had collars then.@Kaempfer M
Just brilliant, Lovely. Kudos to you for sharing these beautiful videos. Best part no tents and crazy homeless people cluttering the sidewalks. I bet the people from these days whom are still with us today are shaking their heads in dis belief of what dump Los Angeles have become.
Amazing!!! What a blessing to see all of this!!!
Beautiful film! I wished it was longer. Thanks for posting.
that blue t bird at 3:57 turned left right in front of the camera car then stopped! proof there were stupid drivers even back in 1957.
lander4545
They didn't have arrows back then. Notice the stoplights are on poles on the corners.
f
lander4545 Sure. Left turn lanes existed. They existed to keep traffic from backing up, just like today. Again, look at where the traffic lights are. They are on the sidewalk corners. Not overhead crossing the street, where one can nowadays place a left turn arrow. On the corners. I remember when they were that way- on the corners. There is no "left turn arrow" on those lights. You can see the lights in several views. There were no left turn arrows in that video. That blue t-bird DID NOT YIELD the right of way. Geez.
That's interesting. We never had anything like that here in Maryland.
I think the T-bird guy tried to get a jump on the oncoming traffic and beat them through the intersection but he had to stop for pedestrians crossing Ivar Avenue with the green light just off camera. If the T-bird had a green left turn arrow it wouldn't have given a green light to the traffic going the same way as the camera car. Definitely a failure to yield by the blue T-bird.
This is classic car heaven. Plus, people seem to have a briskness in their step which is lacking nowadays. I always feel like I’m walking behind zombies.
You are!!! It's the millennials that are hypnotized by social media and the internet their brains are fried
@@rmorris1904 and what exactly are you accomplishing by complaining on UA-cam?
@@rmorris1904 speak for yourself old fogey
@@rengab137 I'm A Gamer Teenager And I Agree With R Morris.
Yea, I find that problem at Walmart all the time.
The cars alone bring back childhood memories
I think they misidentified Wilcox Avenue at 0:33 and called it Shrader.
Clean, nice cars everywhere, everyone dressed well, all the storefronts had businesses in them, and hardly any overweight people. Just awesome.
Edit: thanks for turning this comment into a thread full of political bilge, guys.
@doctordonuthin this has nothing to with politics. It's called technology and culture. As time goes on things change. We just see it as cooler back then. Got nothing to do with politics. So shut the hell up. You're part of the reason today's world is so divided.
@@abexity4982 That doesn't mean things should change for the worse. Modern fashion is beyond repulsive.
@doctordonuthin Yes, you are absolutely correct in all that. Liberalism created this disaster.
@doctordonuthin every damn thing that's happening now happened back in the day murder, racism, killing of gays. Nothing has changed it's just harder to cover up now because of the internet. This has nothing to do with the bullshit you stated its evil people on both sides of the party and white and black racism. Stop blaming partys because that statement in false.
@@abexity4982 You sound. Dumbmo.
So many small businesses thriving, so different downtowns in most cities deserted building's nowadays, almost wish I could have been there then as adult or kid.
Musso and Frank Grill, The Pantages, and The Hollywood Methodist Church have stood the test of time! Great video!
I knew Alan Hale Jr pretty well. First met him at a party in El Sereno in 1957. Then, between movies, he was selling Buicks. Ran into him again in the 70s and he was working as a Maitre de at Musso and Franks. That was quite common with stars back in those days because they had no income from residuals such as TV like today. Interesting thing was, he remembered me from years before, and came out with details of when we met, so not only was he a great outgoing personality, he had a memory to match.
@@johnhand871, right! Perhaps that gig prepared him for opening his "Alan Hale's Lobster Shanty" on La Cienega. Met him there, and he was really nice.
Yeah Alan got NOTHING from all those Gilligan's Island reruns for years on TV. Nor did any other cast memeber.@@houdannycomedymagic8642
Back when Los Angeles was apart of America...
Hey, all of California was.
Then it turned commie
pssh you dont even know what that is.
jbloun911 typical troll. Gtfo LA better than your pathetic town.
Stay at the Kwik-E-Mart Apu..
Was the soundtrack of Harry James from 1057? Because it sounds older.
Great video! Lol some cars were cutting it close when making a turn. I love seeing all the old automobiles. Thank you for sharing.❤️
My mother worked with her mother at Schwab"s Pharmacy at Hollywood and Vine where the movie stars would drop in. My mother's mother married the Pharmacist and won the West Coast Ballroom Dancing Championship at the Aragon Ballroom. I inherited his diamond and platinum wristwatch which I still have.
Actually, the drugstore at the corner of Hollywood and Vine was The Owl Rexall Drugstore - Schwawb's was located in a totally different area on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.
My error. I was Schwabs but as the building is not around anymore I just guessed. Looked on Google Satellite and it seems to be a residential area now?
I saw at least two vehicles making left turns in front of the driver when the light turned green. Since the sound was edited I wonder how much they laid on the horn.
1:43 Mussos and Franks Grill. "oldest in Hollywood". Featured in the opening scene of "Once upon a time in Hollywood" film
Amazing movie. The final act gets into alternate dimension stuff.
3:38 nobody is in the blue car!!
Except the driver that is clearly visible just as the car turns.
@@shrimpflea there is no driver
@@ethanwood9124 At 3:40 you can see the driver. Get your eyes checked.
@@shrimpflea hahahha
@@shrimpflea You almost can't