Late 90s hit hard for me because they feel so close, so around the corner. By that we had everything we needed as teenagers: Internet, cool music, awesome video games, blockbuster movies, hi-tech devices, CDs, cellphones, lots of friends, we had the best of both worlds, past and future, without drowning ourselves in the toxicity of social media, Twitter, absolute invasion of our privacy, an epidemic of mental health problems, complete lack of common sense. It was a nice time to be young and alive.
True indeed I've always said this we had a balance best of both worlds. I remember we used to make fun of kids that stayed in like an aim chat all day like u dont gotta life. Now its like ur life is the damn phone
I love that the radio, including ads, is included. Commercials are some of the least preserved things but formed such a large part of the experience of certain eras.
The nostalgia is killing me. NYC in the 90s was a magical place, full of adventure, classy people, no social media and no smartphones. There was a certain special vibe in the atmosphere of the city back then, that you just don’t feel anymore.
What I wouldn't give to have experienced NYC in the 80s and 90s, when it really was the epicentre of global popular culture. Footage like this is priceless.
@21:25 Smith Houses.. I was born and raised there . Through that time. The stories that a NY'er from the LES have might sound crazy because at any given moment you're elbow 2 elbow w/celebs doing blow right in the open, Gay, straight, Trans, Sub-doms walking around freely, bj's in the bathroom and no one gaf cause the drugs were easily available and all of this while the birth of hip hop was taking hold...I wouldn't pick another era.. When I leave this plane, I get to take those memories w/me. It's what I put into my music... every single time.
I was 19 in 1997. Visited NYC a couple of times that year. I remember thinking “What I wouldn’t give to experience NYC in the 1950s, to see Charlie Parker play or walk through the old Penn Station.” The past is *always* preferable to the present.
Peak fun in NYC was in the 80s and 90s. NYC's highpoint, cleanest and safest streets was probably during Giuliani's mayoralty, shortly after this video was shot.
This video captures how alive and vibrant things used to be - not just NYC, everywhere, before the digital age or whatever this is now (apparently still enough human compatible analog around in 1997.) wonder why they wanted to destroy it? The chain stores in the beginning threatened to spoil the mood but thankfully they went away! People were still cool and had style - or if they didn't they had something to emulate and they tried to look good. Today is shield your eyes, cover your ears, cringe personified.
As a native NYer, this video hits deep. For me, 1997 was one of the best years of my life. So sad seeing and living in what NYC, the country, and the world has become. I don't think NYC will ever be the same. Thanks for sharing this.
@@johnwaffleh2p70 I agree. NYC has gone really downhill since Giuliani left. I wasn't a fan of Bloomberg, but at least he kept most of Giuliani's policing policies. The last two socialists, both mayors and governors? Not so much.
Back when NYC was cleaned up enough to live a decent life, but still rough around the edges enough to be fun. And rent while not cheap, was still affordable.
Excellent way to put it! Manhattan was cleaned up and the LES was truly experiencing the start of transition. Miss these days. Graduated high school in 96.
Such a great era, great decade. Nothing is perfect of course. But the 90's had it all. Tech boom, music was amazing, movies were amazing, sports. Just everything was still in that non-social media time period and it ROCKED
Literally say everything you said here 24 hours a day now. This will be known in history books as the greatest period of time to have ever lived. Your comment is spot on!! 90s Forever!!
One could argue now that the results of the tech boom turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. It can't be said that the world is entirely 100% better off if you think about it.
Yeah I was born and raised in Philadelphia and then we moved down to the Washington DC area but I was a kid in the '80s a young teen in the 90s and a young adult in the 2000s. And like you said the music during those times was awesome whether it was pop, rock, R&B, hip hop, reggae etc. And like you said about tech we got to see how tech evolved especially from the mid-90s to the present day. About cell phones how we watched cell phones evolved from the late 90s to what we have now and in the 2000s watching other electronics like laptops and computers evolved was a great thing. Where at a point now technologically where everything is kind of stale we hit the peak. Cell phones over the last what 8 years is basically the same thing over and over. Same thing with laptops and PCs it was cool to see cell phones go for them huge brick phones in the 90s to the Nokia's in the late 90s and you know then the flip phones in the mid-2000s and then you start having the touch screen phones coming around and the late 2000s and early 2010s. We got to see the evolution of when the original iPod came out in like 2000 and and MP3 players. I remember everybody had either iPod or MP3 players in the 2000s and then we saw how those went away when those started getting replaced by the cell phone in the early 2010s.
I was living in NYC at this time (on the Upper East Side) and it has to be one of the best eras ever for the city. Crime was dropping rapidly, the economy was booming, it was pre-9/11, pre-Columbine, cell phones were new, no Twitter. It was a fantastic time and place to be young and carefree. Looking at this footage really takes me back, especially those flea markets in the parking lot!
Ehh... " The lower east side was a BAD area. Desolate and bombed out. Feral dogs ambling about. You never went to Brooklyn except for Brooklyn Heights or Williamsburg " "Crack vials on the streets; rats hanging around garbage cans, peep shows and strip clubs in Times Square; the meatpacking district was an accurate description of the area; fewer tourists, less gentrification " "You could get anything in pre-9/11 NYC, whether it was fireworks off the street by Canal or a blowjob over by 10th avenue. Crime was out of control - you'll hear the 90's quoted frequently as 'better' wrt crime, but that was when crime was starting to pull back. Until well into the 90's, we were still living with the post-crack crime epidemic, which meant anything not nailed down (notably car stereos) was likely to be swiped. " Take off the nostalgia goggles and have a proper look...
@@benjammin8510 yep. Best episode of the Twilight Zone isn't any of the creepy ones, but "Walking Distance" where the guy realizes his nostalgia for a past he can never return to is keeping him from living a fulfilling life in the present.
I agree with you. And I know that people like to say that missing what is in the past, means we are not enjoying our lives in the present. But I can personally say that it is entirely possible to appreciate our lives in the present, while also acknowledging that the past was indeed better. Our world is on a downward spiral now, and time is drawing to a close, spiritually speaking. Our way of life in the 90's, and even early 2000's was distinctly different, and yes, better than present day. I don't understand people who act like just because we miss the past, that means we cannot appreciate the present. With each passing year, and as decades elapse, life truly has gotten less enjoyable and more stressful. It's the truth, and anyone living today should be able to see that, I would think.
it's because there weren't cameras and social media everywhere. You could goof around or have a bad day without a million strangers filming it and posting it everywhere. people lived in the moment, not lived for the internet.
@-RoyBatty- Unfortunately, technology will continue to progress by further interweaving the spiderweb of connectivity. Pretty soon, you'll be able to have cars drive you around while you shop for products on the web. Everyone forgets that what we put in is what we get out. I'll give you another good example you can look up, ghost kitchens, which spawned from businesses simply getting way more take out orders than dine in. And that was driven by the decisions society made, or put in. Look it up, very interesting topic. But to summarize, you just have to trace what we do as a whole down the road and you'll get your final product. I just hope that everyone shopping online doesn't eventually lead to all retail stores closing down.
We didn’t have to work quite as much as we do now. College was way more affordable. All the major sports leagues were killing it. Capitalism & its greed has made it all worse.
@@MyAlishka Yeah a lot of things. The old New York had cooler people. The subways was older. The Twin Towers was up. There was a lot of Rockstars and medal heads. There was a lot of stores that are not big companies. It was just a whole different time. New York used to be its own city. Now New York has changed so much after 9/11 and now Covid19
1:42 Allure - All Cried Out (1997) 2:43 unknown 5:26 Company B - Fascinated (12" Inch Club Mix) (1986) 6:38 Monica - For You, I Will (1996) 7:38 Club 69 feat. Suzanne Palmer - Much Better (1997) 7:52 Az Yet ft. Peter Cetera - Hard To Say I'm Sorry (1996) 9:12 Love Tribe - Stand Up (1997) 12:42 Soul II Soul - Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) (1989) 13:08 Call Me - Le Click (1997) 13:41 Ricky Martin - María (1996) 13:55 Captain Hollywood Project - More and More (1993) 15:43 No Authority - Don't Stop (1998) 18:44 Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - Joy and Pain (1988) 20:28 unknown 21:16 Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart (Classic Radio Mix) (1996) 24:04 Yo No Se - Pajama Party (1989) ______________________ Thank you, Shazam.
@@ZenithAstrology yes, I love too. It's a reason I wanted to find these into Shazam. It was first track (5:26) I found. I really like how it blends seamlessly into the next trick (6:20), just beautifully flips to next track. I created a playlist of these songs on Spotify.
I grew up across the river during this time. I couldn’t make it through this video without getting really sad. For some reason that world still feels more real to me then this one. I can’t explain it, everything looks/feels familiar. The cars, business, the radio in the background. I always knew I would get older but I didn’t quite realize that while I changed, so did the world. I’m not going to say one time is better than another. People have been saying that for all of recorded history. But, I don’t think the world will ever feel as optimistic and familiar than it did when I was younger. I bet the youth of today will feel the same way when they get older too. Last thing, I used to think I was born in the wrong time. I wished I could have grown up in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70’s. All of those decades seemed so much better to me when I was younger. Now, I want nothing more than to go back to the 90s. It was a golden age for me and I didn’t even know it.
I think its fair to say social media and the internet led to less real life social experiences making people psychologically more stressed and depressed if you don't find a balance. This problem didn't exist back then. People had to leave the house to hang out with friends to find something to do.
You were younger, experiencing new things more often than now, it was more intense. Sometimes I feel the same about my childhood and teenage years. But it was also a simpler world than now, without the internet and social media.
I moved to NYC in 1997 at age 23. I stayed for almost 5 years. Good times. The internet was new, the world was less depressing, there was A LOT more human interaction and there were new forms of music and art coming out each year. Culture was not so stagnant like it is now.
A big reason is just everything, in particular housing, is so much more expensive. Hard to be free when you're worrying about paying out of your ass for rent every month (I say that as a 20-something year old living in similarly expensive London)
It both pains me and makes me feel grateful I got to grow up even for just a glimpse of the 90s. It was truly the best era. The world with no social media was the best world.
I think it all comes back to how we all use it. It has it's benefits of staying connected, but the problem is too many people are TOO overly obsessed with its use, and that's taking away from creating within our current present times. It's causing more stress, mental delusions, and a sense of detachment from the real world. I'm going to be optimistic and say that in the next 10-20 years we'll have learned to teach how kids how to use social media properly without abusing it the way all of us did growing up without any restrictions.
I was 14 when this was filmed and spent every other weekend in NYC with my dad. I remember the KTU radio station thats playing throughout the video as that was my mom's favorite station in the 90s. One of the many things I miss most about 90s NYC was all the cool little shops that sold the most unique things, things that you couldn't find in big chain stores. My favorite shop was in the East village, they sold all kinds of rare and vintage posters, blacklight stuff, candles, body jewelry and even had a licensed piercer with a booth in the back. Got my nose pierced there for my 13th birthday, still have it, lol. Went to visit NYC in the 2010s and all the cool little shops were replaced by either a Starbucks, CVS or some other big chain store :(. Seeing the twin towers here really made me sad, but still great footage of a great era!
This video is beyond awesome. I turned 18 in 1997. This hits in all the right spots. Wouldn't give up my life now for anything but if I had to go back to any part of my live to relive the 90s and in particular 1997 would be it for me! Thank you.
I was born in 96 in Portugal but because my mom collected a lot of American magazines with NY Skyline photos in them it really made me dream about living in NY. The tall buildings, The smoke that came out of the chimneys, the sky when it was getting dark, the music, movies etc ... I love The 90s...
Born in 86 in Guadeloupe but I feel the same fascination for the same things as you. Also seeing Christmas movies in NYC made me want to experience snow over there especially since there’s no winter where I’m from. I have a huge poster of the city 🏙 by night in my purposely loft-shaped apartment to give me the impression of living in a skyscraper 😅 Listening to SmoothJazz when it’s raining…. Aww NYC
I visited there for a month in 1998. It was magical. I went to the top of the towers. I would not want to go back now, as I think it could never live up to my beautiful memories.
@@maywalker997 NYC Native born and raised and I'm still here (born in 75). NYC is going through some structural difficulties at the moment due to the pandemic, inflation, etc. the result is many store fronts have closed because of skyrocketing rents (that the current city hall could not care less about. Crime has come back in a noticeable way, if not statistical.) The current mayor is a complete jackass beholden to the NYPD, his ego, and his staff is based on nepotism and cronyism. The subways have lost ridership- on their best day they only reach 40% capacity. And ASSHOLE OLD MEN sit in the train and blast they're fucking phones inside the subway cars as if the pieces of shit were sitting in their own living room, because fuck everyone else around them. ...The downward spiral, starting with the large rents came to a crash March 2020 when the Pandemic started and the city basically shut down. Since then things have improved. But NYC is nowhere near it's 90 and early 2000's peak.
@@maywalker997 Everything is a lot more expensive. Every interesting and unique shop/store turned into a Chase or Starbucks. NYC nowadays is so much more corporate and bland where the only thing to do is go out to overpriced bars and restaurants.
NOVEMBER 16TH, 1997 was my 16th Birthday. Watching this version of NYC makes me shed a tear. I was born and raised in The Bronx. A trip Downtown was like a fun adventure for me and my family.
Dude, people had to figure it out how to deal with each other in a positive way, instead of staying behind a screen all day. Now that would be impossible to achieve in the way people in 97 did. Unless you take people's gadgets away from them for good 😂 even children nowadays do not know how to play with each other. With so many gadgets around them, they have a harder time to develop both emotionally and cognitively... and to think these children will be the adults of tomorrow gives me goosebumps 😂 Ps: this video was shot 3 days after the infamous Montreal Screwjob I believe LOL
I was born in 2003, unfortunately. There are times when I wish I lived through the 90s; everything about that decade seemed exciting and beautiful. I envy my parents - they got to live in that era. Either way, I'm glad I get to watch videos of that decade, to at least feel as if I was alive in that era.
I remember this. I was 19 years old. Growing up in DC I’d just hop on 95 and just figure it out. No GPSno cell phone. I was partying, shopping, hanging out. It was the best without internet. Meeting people everywhere you go. There was more soul back then. ❤ I’m grateful to be the age I am.
So funny you say this bc it was the opposite during this time for me, and I would go down to visit friends in DC… but everything you say is 100% …the entire vibe I think that if ppl then could see what was coming with the cell phones/internet… ppls heads would be on a spike
I was born in the 00s,I must say I wish I could go back in time to the 90s just for one day to see how people lived without internet or phones and how the music was back then.
@@innosyde7188 the internet wasn’t as insidious and the cellphone wasn’t as invasive then. They also weren’t packaged into one forming an insidious and invasive object.
There was internet in 1997, with 130 million users - as well as cell phones. Internet was just slower and cell phones were bigger. In other words, there was internet, but it wasn't a huge part of our lives - and cell phones were pretty big, so kind of cumbersome. If you want to travel back before ANY internet or cell phones, that would be the EARLY 90's, but there were even cell phones in the 1980's.
I was born only couple of weeks before this was filmed. Never been in the US, hope to see it some day although I know it nowadays is nothing like this.
I moved to NYC in 1995 & just moved away 1 year ago. I truly miss the 90’s NYC & this made me shed a few tears… I was young & had so much fun back then running around Manhattan & boroughs… I wish I had a time machine cause I’d go back in a heartbeat
Thank you , thank you so much and god bless your father! This magical NYC is gone - but the memories, the sounds, sights, smells, people, fun, partying, good times, good vibes, relationships, real human interactions all will live on in our hearts, minds and souls. I arrived in NYC in August 1997 as a teenager from 9,000 miles away. For 3 days straight my neck hurt as I was looking at the tall buildings in Manhattan non stop. What a feeling it was!!! Man, you made me shed some tears this afternoon. Those day ain't never coming back.
Really? Not the 50s-80s? 90s and early 2000s were really nothing special. Everyone makes it seem that way because those are the last times before 9/11 changed the world
I hated the 90’s because I grew up in a horrible situation but 97 was a good year for me. It was the year that I got my first apartment in Minneapolis mn. I’ll never forget that year. 💜
This is the best footage of New York in 1997 I've seen so far... Very clear and what a cozy day that was back then too. The cars look more relaxed than the future and the city looks calmer lol. Cheers!
This type of drive through videos might be my favorite on UA-cam, it’s all an atmosphere, an era, songs, advertising, a different way of living captured in a video.
New York always goes through different eras. The 90s in NYC was my childhood, but it would be wrong to say it was the best era. NYC is a place that always re-invents itself every decade or two, some things get worse and other things get better. But it always seems to come back stronger than before.
What things are getting better recently? Nothing is eternal, not even N.Y.C as it has been known for a good hundred years. I really can't see the city "coming back stronger than before" considering the very dark times ahead...
@@Fritha71 Dude, NYC has survived the crack & aids era of the 1970s & 1980s, Rampant crime throughout the 1990s & Ofc September 11th in the early 2000s, Im most certain NYC will be fine in the years to come
@@Fritha71 This isn't even in the same category as 9/11 and it's far less bad than the 2008 economy. I think in a few years, things will normalize again.
Stumbled upon this a few weeks ago but saved it to watch now, exactly 25 years on from the day it was filmed. Really beautiful to see pure, unedited camcorder footage like this, thank you for uploading (and to your father for filming). I was born in 1993, so I only have a childhood view of the (late) 90s, but I heartily echo others' comments about it here. It really was a special time and I'm glad to have even hazy, rosy memories of it. It's also really nice to see others' warm reflections and stories in this comments section. Plus this is a new source of 90s songs I'm unfamiliar with!
@@rowdyelitehater8595 Early nineties or early noughties? If 90s, I couldn't say from personal experience being either not born or a baby, but I definitely prefer the late 90s vibes to early 90s. If 00s... I still have a lot of love for the early 00s too, it was still part of my childhood. But I understand as an adult how 9/11 was a cultural watershed moment and the world started to change from there on. I do subscribe to the "2004 was the end of the 90s" idea/meme, though. Seems to be the point where that late 90s stuff finally faded out.
@@MallaWallaZoom the 90s ended for me in 2001, I think after 9/11 , something didn’t feel right, I’ll be honest my memory isn’t that sharp , I more remember the feelings I had around 98-99, I’m 30 now , so you can work it out I was a toddler threw most of it.
@@rowdyelitehater8595 I get you with the 9/11 aspect. I'm British so I don't think the effect was quite as acute as it was in the US, but I can definitely see the change in hindsight. It's like 2001-2004 was kind of a transition, I guess. I'm 30 too, so I'm right there with you in having more of a general sense of the late 90s than a whole tonne of clear memories. Some of that appreciation will be because we were kids and everything was warm and exciting, which is why it was nice to see so many people older than us speaking fondly about the late 90s in this comments section. Makes me know it's not just us 30-year-olds with our childhood nostalgia.
@@MallaWallaZoom I’m English too, but I watched a lot of wwf when I was a kid , it was always in MSG so I saw the twin towers a lot, it’s why it changed it for me.
The thumbnail to this video is freaking beautiful… reminds me of when I was young on those beautiful rainy dusk days in NYC. Just that image made me feel it
As a New Yorker growing up in the 90s, this is amazing! Thank you for sharing and for the memories it brought. I truly hope others like me feel the same.
The world was so different back then. Disney wasn't buying every studio they could. The internet was at it's infancy (perhaps still is in a lot of ways). No social media. No smartphones. No streaming services. DVDs were just being released. Emma Stone was 9 years old. Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston were alive and well. World Trade Center still stood. Pro-wrestling between the Attitude Era in WWF and nWo in WCW saw a boom. I was in my junior year in high school.
Sadly with how terrible WWE is these days & how embarrassing that company on Wednesday is, we’ll never see another awesome boom for Pro Wrestling ever again
@@DougieYT you just don’t know wrestling, the style has changed in the course of all these years. Triple H just took over the WWE creative team. So wrestling could well be back.
Wow I was 9 days old when this was filmed! (Born Nov 21 1997). My mom is a native New Yorker, it’s cool to see what the city looked like around this time period
@@badgerden7080 nah but I’m in Brooklyn all the time bc most of my mom’s family is still up there if not in Jamaica. I grew up near Baltimore, 3 hours south
I will be saving this video. This is the closest I will get to a time travel machine. This video reminds me of my childhood. I’m from CT but I was 10 in 1997 and my stepfather would always bring me to NYC during Christmas season. He’s from there so we would go visit his family and he would take me to all the things like arcades, FAO Schwartz, Times Square, rocafeller center etc. nothing beats it I’m almost tearing from nostalgia.
I was thinking the exact same thing, Roxanne. I still shed tears in their glaring absence since that fateful day, ever grateful to the first responders and to New Yorkers for showing true resilience in the face of this senseless tragedy.
I was born and raised in nyc. Queens. My mom raised 7 kids driving and owning a yellow taxi cab. I drove in the 90s. I got some crazy stories. These days are gone for ever. Thank you for posting this video ❤
when he went thru downtown i almost started crying I grew up on 27th street and spent so much time exploring. I was obsessed. And the musicccccc wow that brought me back. I miss the old NY so much. We lost it a while ago.
It amazes me how much I can observe and learn just from watching people’s everyday activities from the past. If anyone’s reading this please don’t stop filming or writing about your life just because it seems mundane. It’s a piece of history we take for granted.
Dear diary: eleven thirty AM: I pooped, likely a result of the usual caffeine intake. Consistency soft but solid with regard to the integrity of the loaf
I know everyone feels strongly about the era they came up being "the best" but it's really tough to beat the 90s. Music, movies, culture, and sports. It was an amazing time for a lot of things. I was 20 years old in 97. Seriously great times. Thank you for this upload.
I completely agree with you Sir. You and I are exactly the same age and videos like this make me happy and sad in equal measure. Happy because we got to live through these times and sad because I know they will never come back.
New York loved their dance music station 103.5 KTU. In 1996, after 4 years of no dance music on the radio, the madness was resolved, and the beat of New York at 103.5 was born, instantly the top radio station for open-minded decent people under 50 years old. A simple honest reflection.... Prior to February 1996, dull adult contemporary, angry rock and rap music, a less angry than the rock and rap, but still angry talk radio, and radio stations that went out of their way to exclude listeners because they weren't the right type of people. Why don't we take the Country station that no one in New York wants and or listens to and try inclusion, let's invite everyone to the party no matter what language they speak, no matter where they might have came from, no matter the color of their skin or their ethnicity. Instead of being angry and divisive, let's feel good and be positive, let's smile and promote decency, respect, commonality. That is what was done with the birth of 103.5 WKTU (a new version of the original KTU that did these things 15 or so years prior). Instantly it was #1. Instantly millions of New Yorkers were linked together by the common interests of enjoying life, having fun, and being nice to each other. It lasted for almost 2 years, and why it was destroyed makes no financial sense, it was making a ton of money, but it had to go because it ran counter to the plan of divide and conquer for which has been our trap for over 20 years now.
Thank you for posting this. I had just moved to NYC from Yonkers and my father's friend had an apartment available - a one bedroom for my best friend and i - for $750 a month - on 106th street in the Columbia university neighborhood. It was an incredible time.
@@Gofroze And Baby Boomers in the 70's & 80's were nostalgic for the 50's & Early 60's. That's what Motown-revival and the show Happy Days was all about. "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" was also retro-50's media that showed the gang as kids in the 50's. There were also a lot of references to Elvis back then. Uncle Jesse's character in Full House was a tribute to him and artists like Daryl Hall and Rick Astley copped a pompadour. Many artists in the 80's like Stray Cats, Billy Joel, Roman Holiday and Culture Club (in "Church of the Poison Mind") all dabbled with a retro-50's vibe. ("When Smokey Sings" by ABC is the most blatant example, the whole song is a tribute to Smokey Robinson) And Michael Jackson was pretty much Elvis Presley's replacement. Then Justin Bieber was the new Elvis/Donny Osmond in the 2010's, K Pop is currently the new 1960's British Invasion and BTS are the new Beatles & NSYNC. Austin Powers revived Beatles Hair and thick Buddy Holly glasses in Goldmember, Emo bands were the British Invasion of the 2000's and The Jonas Brothers were the new Beatles. History always eventually repeats itself in subtle ways most people wouldn't notice.
@@kareemestwani2400 Yeah, I'm 36 and I hate to say it, but we do live in a crummy time. It's not just nostalgia, I know things were never perfect, but the world really was a different - and better - place in the 90's. I would give anything to go back.
Safe to say, I’m in tears. So many memories. So many wonderful memories. So many wonderful times with my family and friends. I’ll never get it back, but I thank God I had those experiences and can look back on them.♥️
Seeing all the cars and remembering how interesting they were design wise and seeing how everyone in Manhattan is basically in a yellow can or black caddy is such a stark change
I was a senior in high school in 1997, this video makes it feel like it was yesterday. All we did was drive around listening to the radio just like this.
Oh my god... look at how clean the streets are, and how everything isn't completely swamped in rain due to the terrible irrigation system of today. The roads are in better shape, there's no "For lease" signs in every window, shops look nice. I'm not one to live in the past, but it is a shame I will never know this time and place.
Give your father a huge thank you from all of us! Being the year I was born, this is a depiction of the world I never got to see, changing all too fast with the times and having to adapt ever-so to the whim of innovation. Take care and hope all is well.
I wasn't alive during this time (born in 2004), I don't even live in America (live in Sydney), but I do get the strongest sensation of walking through these NYC streets in the 90s. This type of nostalgia is called 'anemoia', which is nostalgia from a time in which you have never existed. Obviously this is most common from places near me, but I found it fascinating how I can feel this way for a place that I've never even been to before. Watching these types of videos I see a city in the center of the once hustle and hurry world, a city where the vibrant night lights once fascinated you, a city where technology was only housed in tall buildings and not in our pockets, a city where everyone was so uniquely different yet all connected at the same time, A city where things just worked. For those who have actually lived in NYC or Sydney during the 90s, what's changed?
Ironically all 3 times I went to NYC were before you were alive. 1998, 2001, and 2002. I rubbed the bulls balls on September 8th 2001. I went back to NYC in spring 2002 for a bike ride with over 30,000 people. You could feel that the city had changed. The entire spirit of the 90s had been snuffed out. The terrorists didn't succeed in breaking America or NYC, all they did was unleash the modern monster we have today. The only thing they managed to change was breaking the laidback fun loving attitude of the 90s. You'll never see that 90s side of NYC again except in 90s TV shows.
I'm in my 30s now. Lived in NYC back then. Still come and go. What changed? people hang out less outside now. Friendships don't mean anything cause of social media. You think everyone's your friend until you realize, they don't even hang out with you. Friendships were more real back then. Economy was better. 20 bucks meant a lot more. You felt like America was on top. Now you feel we are doomed. The vibe was dark, but positive back then. Like hopeful. Now it's dark and negative.
Gosh. You're making me feel old and I will be turning 28 on the 28th of this month. I know what you mean- I feel very strong nostalgia watching videos from the 1920s - 1970s.
i was born in 2006 but i feel like I was there, in New York in the 90's. everything seems so familiar, life was so simple, I would give a million lives to be able to live once there in the 90s.
90's America - what Agent Smith chose to plug us into, because it was the peak of civilization.. before everything slowly became worse... then not so slowly.
As someone born in 1995 in Germany, this reminds me of movies I watched in my childhood, like The Day After Tomorrow, the 1998 Godzilla movie, Madagascar, Stuart Little. Even for people in europe growing up in the 2000s this is very nostalgic because of all the 90s and early 2000s american movies we watched in our childhood.
The video is still great in stabilization considering 1997. which shows how flat and good the roads are built. Great video and very advanced development even if you compare it to 2022
A radio shack, Monica playing on the radio, crowded retail stores … NY is nothing like this now. I love NY today but this is some great footage. I was only 1 here
@@matthew8153 it would have been recorded onto a sony video8 cassette, then captured on a PC or other device via an s-video cable. video8 cassettes were of high quality and transfering over s-video (instead of composite) gives the cleanest transfer with no RGB artefacts.
This is amazing. That sounds like the unmistakable growl of a GM 3800 V6 too in the car with the camera! What a fabulous video of simplier, happier times. Haunting to see the Twin Towers too
My mother was pregnant with me when this was filmed. My father was from Brooklyn, but lived in Philadelphia, where he and my mother met a few years earlier, (and where I was born less than three months after this video was taken). They visited the city about a week after Princess Diana died. Nice to know that this was what they would have seen on their trip.
@@Aliali-yo1oh LOL, I can see how my wording tripped you up. My father and his folks moved from Brooklyn to Philly in '88. He and my mom met in Philly in '93, and started dating the following year. Their trip to NY was in September '97, and I was born in February '98 in Philly. Hopefully the edit of my original comment makes more sense.
For all the complaints people have about NYC now, riding your bicycle in the city is probably more enjoyable now than it was in the 90s. Far better and safer bike infrastructure
Was born in 92’ Brooklyn. Didn’t really start exploring NYC until my college days in 2011. This looks and feels the same as i know it to be the last 10 years honestly. I do remember going to chi cation often with my mom/aunt to buy jewelry and seafood in early 2000s that’s about it lol . I’d love to see some price comparisons of daily things in these videos that would be super dope 🔥
Everything seemed so simple compared to how things are now. Nobody's bombarded with influencers or feeling pressured to be something they're not. People living their lives and that's how I remembered America before the new millennium. I was a lot younger so that may just be my perspective as an adolescent. But I feel like this country was a lot more united in the 90s than it is now.
100% that's because it was deemed an unwritten rule of politeness in society to never discuss religion or politics back then - but then 9/11 happened, and overnight people were more outspoken in their views and we realized how divided we all _actually_ were. It's not that we were more united back then, it was just hidden from obvious plain sight that we weren't :/ You miss the *illusion.* It's the same heartbreaking conversation that I had with my grandmother years ago when she tried to insist to me that things were so much better back in the 1950s. Maybe for her, the pretty heterosexual Christian white girl - but not for the poor black boy being lynched in the south, or for the gay athiest being chemically castrated by the Christian homophobic men in power. I say this all as a Millennial who VERY MUCH misses the 90s, oh my god. Ever since 9/11 happened, it was never the same... but that being said, it wasn't perfect back then, either, and people like my grandmother (as I mentioned) despised the late 20th century and considered them to be classless and crude. Victorians considered the 1920s and beyond to be the same. It's all relative... and most of us who miss it were also young back then, too - so in large part, what we also miss is our youth. One day, the children of today will shed tears that _this_ era was better, and so on and so on. I'm eternally nostalgic for the 90s and I wish so often that I could take a vacation in that time and experience it all again, trust me - I *know* it was special. I used to be depressed/in denial that it was over for so long... I've had a hard time letting go of things that have meant a great deal to me for most of my life. But it helps to remember that it's really all a matter of perspective, which is also why we need to appreciate the present (for whatever it's worth) while it's still here... it won't always be.
This was filmed on the day that I turned 17. Cool In the following year my friend and I would have a very interesting trip to NYC and stayed in a hostel ... Wow crazy
@@Karuska22ps I know what you mean lol. I'm using mine constantly but the "phone" feature is the thing I use it for least. Remember when you could pretend to be unavailable!
A lot of these stores are still in business too. What a time 🥹🫶🏽. Almost feels like a dream. Hearing all of these songs from the past is surreal to me as well. Didn’t realize some of them were that long ago🥹
![Harlem, New York 1930s in color, [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zyD3HbpvTNs/mqdefault.jpg)
![Harlem, New York 1930s in color, [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](/img/tr.png)
Late 90s hit hard for me because they feel so close, so around the corner. By that we had everything we needed as teenagers: Internet, cool music, awesome video games, blockbuster movies, hi-tech devices, CDs, cellphones, lots of friends, we had the best of both worlds, past and future, without drowning ourselves in the toxicity of social media, Twitter, absolute invasion of our privacy, an epidemic of mental health problems, complete lack of common sense. It was a nice time to be young and alive.
Beautifully stated. Excellent work.
So true
100%
True indeed I've always said this we had a balance best of both worlds. I remember we used to make fun of kids that stayed in like an aim chat all day like u dont gotta life. Now its like ur life is the damn phone
I wish I was born in 1985-1990 than in 2000 bcoz I only fondly remember such era till 2009-10 but even here in India things changed
I love that the radio, including ads, is included. Commercials are some of the least preserved things but formed such a large part of the experience of certain eras.
right? it really adds to it
I wanted Howard Stern to come on
I love it, I forgot about some of these songs that are playing
@@jeremybarcelo6486 hey now
Finally SOMEONE gets it!!
"The World you grew up in no longer exists"
Sadly no .. and it ain't coming back :(
@@tejayschwartz7681 we can try and aim for a good future. This century is going to be wild
"You will own nothing and like it" - Klaus
@@the_free_mind Klaus Schwab seems to think so....
Dang, Saint Jeremy beat me to it 🤣
it persists we are in fact in the same time frame of 2000s even though it don’t feel like it, that’s the power of gen x
The nostalgia is killing me. NYC in the 90s was a magical place, full of adventure, classy people, no social media and no smartphones. There was a certain special vibe in the atmosphere of the city back then, that you just don’t feel anymore.
No one wanted to live in nyc until 1985.
Best Times to live were from 1994 to 2001
@@rusav81Rudy Juliani's NY was the best.
thats the 2000s period smartphones and social media ruined evrything
whats wrong with social media and smartphones? get with the times-smartphones have put a computer in your hands with internet
@@KingoftheRoad-2023 there was italo disco
“You will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory” - Dr Seuss
so, hindsight is 20/20... thanks Dr. Seuss for making that saying unnecessarily longer lol
@@BMFstudiosNYC 🧆
Definitely true 🥹
What I wouldn't give to have experienced NYC in the 80s and 90s, when it really was the epicentre of global popular culture.
Footage like this is priceless.
I was there in part of the 70's, 80's and 90s.
@21:25 Smith Houses.. I was born and raised there . Through that time. The stories that a NY'er from the LES have might sound crazy because at any given moment you're elbow 2 elbow w/celebs doing blow right in the open, Gay, straight, Trans, Sub-doms walking around freely, bj's in the bathroom and no one gaf cause the drugs were easily available and all of this while the birth of hip hop was taking hold...I wouldn't pick another era.. When I leave this plane, I get to take those memories w/me. It's what I put into my music... every single time.
I was 19 in 1997. Visited NYC a couple of times that year. I remember thinking “What I wouldn’t give to experience NYC in the 1950s, to see Charlie Parker play or walk through the old Penn Station.”
The past is *always* preferable to the present.
Peak fun in NYC was in the 80s and 90s. NYC's highpoint, cleanest and safest streets was probably during Giuliani's mayoralty, shortly after this video was shot.
This video captures how alive and vibrant things used to be - not just NYC, everywhere, before the digital age or whatever this is now (apparently still enough human compatible analog around in 1997.) wonder why they wanted to destroy it? The chain stores in the beginning threatened to spoil the mood but thankfully they went away! People were still cool and had style - or if they didn't they had something to emulate and they tried to look good. Today is shield your eyes, cover your ears, cringe personified.
Dude really traveled all the way to 1997 and back just to upload a UA-cam video. That’s dedication👍
Waiting for a comment to say *nO hE dIDn'T sTuPid*
@Astro Jenkins Will Smith runs in and smacks JayyT
@@enzodriver *thunderous applause and laughter* 👏😆
@Astro Jenkins Not really. Crickets for you tho.
@Astro Jenkins Oop, looks like the ratio isnt in your favor buddy.🤷
As a native NYer, this video hits deep. For me, 1997 was one of the best years of my life. So sad seeing and living in what NYC, the country, and the world has become. I don't think NYC will ever be the same. Thanks for sharing this.
Same here. I just had got a brand new Honda Accord that summer and went on Phish tour.
Dee Jimenez because you had a real mayor who actually gave a crap and no lazy socialist politicians wake up
@@johnwaffleh2p70 I agree. NYC has gone really downhill since Giuliani left. I wasn't a fan of Bloomberg, but at least he kept most of Giuliani's policing policies. The last two socialists, both mayors and governors? Not so much.
@@CorruptionDee bloomberg sucked and still sucks he set the stage for nyc today that’s when it all started
@@henripentant1120 Trust me, I didn't vote for him either. He became mayor to use political power for permits to help further build his empire.
this is oddly relaxing
Yo wassup Crispy
yooo crispy
What r u doing here u sillygoose wait a minute he was watching 9/11 videos. I’m always watching.
It is
More relaxing than hanging out with capybaras?!!
Back when NYC was cleaned up enough to live a decent life, but still rough around the edges enough to be fun. And rent while not cheap, was still affordable.
Excellent way to put it! Manhattan was cleaned up and the LES was truly experiencing the start of transition. Miss these days. Graduated high school in 96.
Lol the same can be said for every other place
@@Eighk47 Not the Midwest. Not for the margins New York provides due to the high cost of Real Estate.
Literally the most dangerous time in NYC. The crime and trash was out of control.
@@paulmanfredi9473 yep the 90’s were roughy in New Orleans too
Such a great era, great decade. Nothing is perfect of course. But the 90's had it all. Tech boom, music was amazing, movies were amazing, sports. Just everything was still in that non-social media time period and it ROCKED
Literally say everything you said here 24 hours a day now. This will be known in history books as the greatest period of time to have ever lived. Your comment is spot on!! 90s Forever!!
hell yeah everything was more real and pure now everything is fake and all about money
Yes, well said.
One could argue now that the results of the tech boom turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. It can't be said that the world is entirely 100% better off if you think about it.
Yeah I was born and raised in Philadelphia and then we moved down to the Washington DC area but I was a kid in the '80s a young teen in the 90s and a young adult in the 2000s.
And like you said the music during those times was awesome whether it was pop, rock, R&B, hip hop, reggae etc.
And like you said about tech we got to see how tech evolved especially from the mid-90s to the present day.
About cell phones how we watched cell phones evolved from the late 90s to what we have now and in the 2000s watching other electronics like laptops and computers evolved was a great thing.
Where at a point now technologically where everything is kind of stale we hit the peak. Cell phones over the last what 8 years is basically the same thing over and over.
Same thing with laptops and PCs it was cool to see cell phones go for them huge brick phones in the 90s to the Nokia's in the late 90s and you know then the flip phones in the mid-2000s and then you start having the touch screen phones coming around and the late 2000s and early 2010s.
We got to see the evolution of when the original iPod came out in like 2000 and and MP3 players. I remember everybody had either iPod or MP3 players in the 2000s and then we saw how those went away when those started getting replaced by the cell phone in the early 2010s.
I was living in NYC at this time (on the Upper East Side) and it has to be one of the best eras ever for the city. Crime was dropping rapidly, the economy was booming, it was pre-9/11, pre-Columbine, cell phones were new, no Twitter. It was a fantastic time and place to be young and carefree. Looking at this footage really takes me back, especially those flea markets in the parking lot!
81st n 3rd
Ehh...
" The lower east side was a BAD area. Desolate and bombed out. Feral dogs ambling about. You never went to Brooklyn except for Brooklyn Heights or Williamsburg "
"Crack vials on the streets; rats hanging around garbage cans, peep shows and strip clubs in Times Square; the meatpacking district was an accurate description of the area; fewer tourists, less gentrification "
"You could get anything in pre-9/11 NYC, whether it was fireworks off the street by Canal or a blowjob over by 10th avenue. Crime was out of control - you'll hear the 90's quoted frequently as 'better' wrt crime, but that was when crime was starting to pull back. Until well into the 90's, we were still living with the post-crack crime epidemic, which meant anything not nailed down (notably car stereos) was likely to be swiped. "
Take off the nostalgia goggles and have a proper look...
Man, I miss the 90s. You never realise you're living in the "good old days" until they're gone.
The good old days could be now if your attitude wasnt holding you back.
@@benjammin8510 yep. Best episode of the Twilight Zone isn't any of the creepy ones, but "Walking Distance" where the guy realizes his nostalgia for a past he can never return to is keeping him from living a fulfilling life in the present.
Nostalgia is a drug your memories distorted
@@benjammin8510 so insightful, so profound.
I agree with you. And I know that people like to say that missing what is in the past, means we are not enjoying our lives in the present. But I can personally say that it is entirely possible to appreciate our lives in the present, while also acknowledging that the past was indeed better. Our world is on a downward spiral now, and time is drawing to a close, spiritually speaking. Our way of life in the 90's, and even early 2000's was distinctly different, and yes, better than present day.
I don't understand people who act like just because we miss the past, that means we cannot appreciate the present. With each passing year, and as decades elapse, life truly has gotten less enjoyable and more stressful. It's the truth, and anyone living today should be able to see that, I would think.
this really captures the 90s energy, there was a certain electricity in the air back then
it's because there weren't cameras and social media everywhere. You could goof around or have a bad day without a million strangers filming it and posting it everywhere. people lived in the moment, not lived for the internet.
@-RoyBatty- Unfortunately, technology will continue to progress by further interweaving the spiderweb of connectivity. Pretty soon, you'll be able to have cars drive you around while you shop for products on the web. Everyone forgets that what we put in is what we get out. I'll give you another good example you can look up, ghost kitchens, which spawned from businesses simply getting way more take out orders than dine in. And that was driven by the decisions society made, or put in. Look it up, very interesting topic. But to summarize, you just have to trace what we do as a whole down the road and you'll get your final product. I just hope that everyone shopping online doesn't eventually lead to all retail stores closing down.
Huh? what are you guys talking about lol i was done with highschool around this time
We didn’t have to work quite as much as we do now. College was way more affordable. All the major sports leagues were killing it.
Capitalism & its greed has made it all worse.
Power of The Twin Towers But remember guys at the end of the Day The Twin Towers were Twin Tall Office Buildings but they had a Magnetic Pull to them
That's the NYC I grew up in. I miss that NYC. I miss the Twin Towers.
They should have rebuilt them, the skyline and city was destroyed forever when they fell.
Is there huge difference between todays New York and that period?
@@MyAlishka Yeah a lot of things. The old New York had cooler people. The subways was older. The Twin Towers was up. There was a lot of Rockstars and medal heads. There was a lot of stores that are not big companies. It was just a whole different time. New York used to be its own city. Now New York has changed so much after 9/11 and now Covid19
@Mastnaer Ceef I'm jealous, i'm from the UK and i would have done anything to see them, the most extraordinary buildings.
I'm sure at the time you probably didn't feel that way though lol. You never know what you'll miss until it's gone.
This date was my mom's 43rd birthday. Now I'm watching in 2022 and I'm 44 and she's been gone for 2 years.
❤
❤️
Which makes it double difficult to watch this so many loved ones who were with us then but no longer with us now I'm sorry for your loss ❤
@1121barbara thank you
1:42 Allure - All Cried Out (1997)
2:43 unknown
5:26 Company B - Fascinated (12" Inch Club Mix) (1986)
6:38 Monica - For You, I Will (1996)
7:38 Club 69 feat. Suzanne Palmer - Much Better (1997)
7:52 Az Yet ft. Peter Cetera - Hard To Say I'm Sorry (1996)
9:12 Love Tribe - Stand Up (1997)
12:42 Soul II Soul - Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) (1989)
13:08 Call Me - Le Click (1997)
13:41 Ricky Martin - María (1996)
13:55 Captain Hollywood Project - More and More (1993)
15:43 No Authority - Don't Stop (1998)
18:44 Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - Joy and Pain (1988)
20:28 unknown
21:16 Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart (Classic Radio Mix)
(1996)
24:04 Yo No Se - Pajama Party (1989)
______________________
Thank you, Shazam.
I love this fascinated one 🕺🏼
@@ZenithAstrology yes, I love too. It's a reason I wanted to find these into Shazam. It was first track (5:26) I found. I really like how it blends seamlessly into the next trick (6:20), just beautifully flips to next track.
I created a playlist of these songs on Spotify.
Lmao captain Hollywood project. Completely forgot that even existed.
This playlist is just as interesting to me. I know all these songs but dont remember half these artists names.
Thank you, Eric!
I grew up across the river during this time. I couldn’t make it through this video without getting really sad. For some reason that world still feels more real to me then this one. I can’t explain it, everything looks/feels familiar. The cars, business, the radio in the background.
I always knew I would get older but I didn’t quite realize that while I changed, so did the world.
I’m not going to say one time is better than another. People have been saying that for all of recorded history. But, I don’t think the world will ever feel as optimistic and familiar than it did when I was younger. I bet the youth of today will feel the same way when they get older too.
Last thing, I used to think I was born in the wrong time. I wished I could have grown up in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70’s. All of those decades seemed so much better to me when I was younger. Now, I want nothing more than to go back to the 90s. It was a golden age for me and I didn’t even know it.
I think its fair to say social media and the internet led to less real life social experiences making people psychologically more stressed and depressed if you don't find a balance. This problem didn't exist back then. People had to leave the house to hang out with friends to find something to do.
@@JM-kv2kn I agree 1,000 % makes one sad at times to see what one had to now this bizarre reality
You were younger, experiencing new things more often than now, it was more intense. Sometimes I feel the same about my childhood and teenage years. But it was also a simpler world than now, without the internet and social media.
@@JM-kv2kn I think smartphones, combined with social media is one of the worst things to happen to society.
Less people
The 90s had the special 'raining nostalgia' effect on camera that no one can describe. I can even smell the air and its unique aroma. What an era!
The air literally felt and tasted different in the 90s. It feels so dry and harsh today.
Man dat NY air smelt and tasted like 💩 then and still do
@@7evenLandGmoneyManTaliban 😂😂
@@7evenLandGmoneyManTalibancrusty dry shit now😂
@@Wippzi shit went from crunchy to crusty
All of humanity and civilization came together for this moment right here.
I moved to NYC in 1997 at age 23. I stayed for almost 5 years. Good times. The internet was new, the world was less depressing, there was A LOT more human interaction and there were new forms of music and art coming out each year. Culture was not so stagnant like it is now.
Culture wasnt also so commercialized/corporate like it is today
That human interaction part just makes me sad. I bet great cities like NYC were amazing places to be back then, full of life and spirit.
Culture now is not stagnant. Now we just go downwards every year unfortunately.
A big reason is just everything, in particular housing, is so much more expensive. Hard to be free when you're worrying about paying out of your ass for rent every month (I say that as a 20-something year old living in similarly expensive London)
Stern Show was still funny…
It both pains me and makes me feel grateful I got to grow up even for just a glimpse of the 90s. It was truly the best era. The world with no social media was the best world.
I think it all comes back to how we all use it. It has it's benefits of staying connected, but the problem is too many people are TOO overly obsessed with its use, and that's taking away from creating within our current present times. It's causing more stress, mental delusions, and a sense of detachment from the real world. I'm going to be optimistic and say that in the next 10-20 years we'll have learned to teach how kids how to use social media properly without abusing it the way all of us did growing up without any restrictions.
80s was the best era but 90s were good to
The early 2000s were also great.
They were kind of tacky @@chardiemacdennis7218
To think without social media we wouldn’t b able to look back at memories like this
I was 14 when this was filmed and spent every other weekend in NYC with my dad. I remember the KTU radio station thats playing throughout the video as that was my mom's favorite station in the 90s. One of the many things I miss most about 90s NYC was all the cool little shops that sold the most unique things, things that you couldn't find in big chain stores. My favorite shop was in the East village, they sold all kinds of rare and vintage posters, blacklight stuff, candles, body jewelry and even had a licensed piercer with a booth in the back. Got my nose pierced there for my 13th birthday, still have it, lol. Went to visit NYC in the 2010s and all the cool little shops were replaced by either a Starbucks, CVS or some other big chain store :(. Seeing the twin towers here really made me sad, but still great footage of a great era!
Bodegas right?
Yep it has lost its charm to big comp. So sad! Super gentrified in NY now
Well...i was 3 😂👌🏻
my mom was also 14 when this was filmed and had me 8 years later
I was born this year
This video is beyond awesome. I turned 18 in 1997. This hits in all the right spots. Wouldn't give up my life now for anything but if I had to go back to any part of my live to relive the 90s and in particular 1997 would be it for me! Thank you.
We're the same age! Class of 98, the 90s Ruled!
Class of 1997...The good ol days
@@kennyb.729 preach man
Class of 2000. Remember how the millenium seemed brand new?
@@kennyb.729 yes but we all have our Era's u know. Mine was the 80s. 👍🇬🇧
I was born in 96 in Portugal but because my mom collected a lot of American magazines with NY Skyline photos in them it really made me dream about living in NY. The tall buildings, The smoke that came out of the chimneys, the sky when it was getting dark, the music, movies etc ... I love The 90s...
I was born in 96 too! We are age twins!
Born in 86 in Guadeloupe but I feel the same fascination for the same things as you. Also seeing Christmas movies in NYC made me want to experience snow over there especially since there’s no winter where I’m from. I have a huge poster of the city 🏙 by night in my purposely loft-shaped apartment to give me the impression of living in a skyscraper 😅 Listening to SmoothJazz when it’s raining…. Aww NYC
I was born in 1984, and lived the 90s, the 80's were the better era by far.
@@renaldsunset Christmas movies like Home alone 2, lol. Everybody liked it.
I was born in 85
Wow! I know you’ve heard this a million times but New York City in the 90’s was an amazing place. I miss it.
I visited there for a month in 1998. It was magical. I went to the top of the towers. I would not want to go back now, as I think it could never live up to my beautiful memories.
It was in the 80s too👍😀😍
I've never been there. How has NYC changed since the 90s?
@@maywalker997 NYC Native born and raised and I'm still here (born in 75). NYC is going through some structural difficulties at the moment due to the pandemic, inflation, etc. the result is many store fronts have closed because of skyrocketing rents (that the current city hall could not care less about. Crime has come back in a noticeable way, if not statistical.) The current mayor is a complete jackass beholden to the NYPD, his ego, and his staff is based on nepotism and cronyism. The subways have lost ridership- on their best day they only reach 40% capacity. And ASSHOLE OLD MEN sit in the train and blast they're fucking phones inside the subway cars as if the pieces of shit were sitting in their own living room, because fuck everyone else around them. ...The downward spiral, starting with the large rents came to a crash March 2020 when the Pandemic started and the city basically shut down. Since then things have improved. But NYC is nowhere near it's 90 and early 2000's peak.
@@maywalker997 Everything is a lot more expensive. Every interesting and unique shop/store turned into a Chase or Starbucks. NYC nowadays is so much more corporate and bland where the only thing to do is go out to overpriced bars and restaurants.
Would be neat to see a split screen of this same route taken today.
One thing that pleases me is the correct way of writing the date. Day, month, year. That’s how we do it in Australia. It makes sense to me.
NOVEMBER 16TH, 1997 was my 16th Birthday. Watching this version of NYC makes me shed a tear. I was born and raised in The Bronx. A trip Downtown was like a fun adventure for me and my family.
Scorpio Got Going on💯
@@Lilugh and now u old man. Damn
damnn
Mine is November 15th, 2006
I am 364 days older than you
it feels like that era had a much bigger vibe than today.
Sure did...still remember some good days in the late 90's...I miss it. My family were more connected in a positive way back then....before facebook.
That's because people spent enough time in moments to actually feel things.
Dude, people had to figure it out how to deal with each other in a positive way, instead of staying behind a screen all day. Now that would be impossible to achieve in the way people in 97 did. Unless you take people's gadgets away from them for good 😂 even children nowadays do not know how to play with each other. With so many gadgets around them, they have a harder time to develop both emotionally and cognitively... and to think these children will be the adults of tomorrow gives me goosebumps 😂
Ps: this video was shot 3 days after the infamous Montreal Screwjob I believe LOL
@ Kurt Yes, no doubt.
@@fiskerboy2011 Thanks for the honest comment. You said it very well.
Back when everyone wasn't looking down at their phones 🤳
People were just living in the moment.
I miss this version of us 😔
I was born in 2003, unfortunately. There are times when I wish I lived through the 90s; everything about that decade seemed exciting and beautiful. I envy my parents - they got to live in that era. Either way, I'm glad I get to watch videos of that decade, to at least feel as if I was alive in that era.
Early 2000’s was great too
Well you saw the 2000s
Every decade's got its own strengths and weaknesses.
I remember this. I was 19 years old. Growing up in DC I’d just hop on 95 and just figure it out. No GPSno cell phone. I was partying, shopping, hanging out. It was the best without internet. Meeting people everywhere you go. There was more soul back then. ❤ I’m grateful to be the age I am.
I'm from DCand the first time we drove up to NYC in 98 and I saw those tall buildings come into view, I thought we were in another country.
So funny you say this bc it was the opposite during this time for me, and I would go down to visit friends in DC… but everything you say is 100% …the entire vibe
I think that if ppl then could see what was coming with the cell phones/internet… ppls heads would be on a spike
I was born in the 00s,I must say I wish I could go back in time to the 90s just for one day to see how people lived without internet or phones and how the music was back then.
There were phones (even cellphones) and the internet back in the 90s. The early 1800s and before was when there wasn't either.
@@innosyde7188 the internet wasn’t as insidious and the cellphone wasn’t as invasive then. They also weren’t packaged into one forming an insidious and invasive object.
There was internet in 1997, with 130 million users - as well as cell phones. Internet was just slower and cell phones were bigger. In other words, there was internet, but it wasn't a huge part of our lives - and cell phones were pretty big, so kind of cumbersome. If you want to travel back before ANY internet or cell phones, that would be the EARLY 90's, but there were even cell phones in the 1980's.
@@redadamearth Mobile phones in '97 were smaller than the iphones and androids they sell today.
I was born only couple of weeks before this was filmed. Never been in the US, hope to see it some day although I know it nowadays is nothing like this.
I moved to NYC in 1995 & just moved away 1 year ago. I truly miss the 90’s NYC & this made me shed a few tears… I was young & had so much fun back then running around Manhattan & boroughs… I wish I had a time machine cause I’d go back in a heartbeat
Where did you move
yes to time-machine....I want to go back to 1986/1987 into 1990's till 2000's
@@kosomkosom2616 Someone really start make this happen
You do have one. Its your mind.
@@feilongish Nah living in the past will only give u depression
Thank you , thank you so much and god bless your father! This magical NYC is gone - but the memories, the sounds, sights, smells, people, fun, partying, good times, good vibes, relationships, real human interactions all will live on in our hearts, minds and souls. I arrived in NYC in August 1997 as a teenager from 9,000 miles away. For 3 days straight my neck hurt as I was looking at the tall buildings in Manhattan non stop. What a feeling it was!!! Man, you made me shed some tears this afternoon. Those day ain't never coming back.
I wish I could time travel to the late 90s and early 2000s.
It was real fun back then...no worries. Then World Trade Center happened.
@@TacoJ1LLWorld Trade Center was bombed in 1993, I wouldn’t exactly say New York had no worries
@J Boukis exactly these people have no life. Sad really!
90s were best than 00s
Really? Not the 50s-80s? 90s and early 2000s were really nothing special. Everyone makes it seem that way because those are the last times before 9/11 changed the world
90s NY was something else
indeed
Ehhh, i guess. Gentrification was already happening at this point, and it would be a short while before NYC became disneyland and lose it's edge
You should have seen it between 1930s and the 1970s! That was something else, too! The ever changing scenes!
@@brendadrew834 not now
Brenda
@@Super122291 what are you 9?
This is the closest thing we have to a Time Machine
Facts 😂
For real. 😊 We didn't know how good we had it. 😢
I hated the 90’s because I grew up in a horrible situation but 97 was a good year for me. It was the year that I got my first apartment in Minneapolis mn. I’ll never forget that year. 💜
This is the best footage of New York in 1997 I've seen so far... Very clear and what a cozy day that was back then too. The cars look more relaxed than the future and the city looks calmer lol.
Cheers!
Cause there was alot of money being made in the streets dudes were more calm and no social media
Looks can be deceiving. Ny was the wild west back in the day. Dont fool your self.
It probably looks calmer because November 30th, 1997 was a Sunday.
Search for: "new york dvhs"
@@bikelifepov9617 not in 97
This type of drive through videos might be my favorite on UA-cam, it’s all an atmosphere, an era, songs, advertising, a different way of living captured in a video.
New York always goes through different eras. The 90s in NYC was my childhood, but it would be wrong to say it was the best era. NYC is a place that always re-invents itself every decade or two, some things get worse and other things get better. But it always seems to come back stronger than before.
Finally someone that isn’t worshiping the place solely because of a decade
That's some facts. I could imagine other type of people saying older decade is better than 90s
What things are getting better recently? Nothing is eternal, not even N.Y.C as it has been known for a good hundred years. I really can't see the city "coming back stronger than before" considering the very dark times ahead...
@@Fritha71 Dude, NYC has survived the crack & aids era of the 1970s & 1980s, Rampant crime throughout the 1990s & Ofc September 11th in the early 2000s, Im most certain NYC will be fine in the years to come
@@Fritha71 This isn't even in the same category as 9/11 and it's far less bad than the 2008 economy. I think in a few years, things will normalize again.
Stumbled upon this a few weeks ago but saved it to watch now, exactly 25 years on from the day it was filmed. Really beautiful to see pure, unedited camcorder footage like this, thank you for uploading (and to your father for filming). I was born in 1993, so I only have a childhood view of the (late) 90s, but I heartily echo others' comments about it here. It really was a special time and I'm glad to have even hazy, rosy memories of it. It's also really nice to see others' warm reflections and stories in this comments section. Plus this is a new source of 90s songs I'm unfamiliar with!
I was born in 93 also, the late 90s were better then the early nighties.
@@rowdyelitehater8595 Early nineties or early noughties? If 90s, I couldn't say from personal experience being either not born or a baby, but I definitely prefer the late 90s vibes to early 90s. If 00s... I still have a lot of love for the early 00s too, it was still part of my childhood. But I understand as an adult how 9/11 was a cultural watershed moment and the world started to change from there on. I do subscribe to the "2004 was the end of the 90s" idea/meme, though. Seems to be the point where that late 90s stuff finally faded out.
@@MallaWallaZoom the 90s ended for me in 2001, I think after 9/11 , something didn’t feel right, I’ll be honest my memory isn’t that sharp , I more remember the feelings I had around 98-99, I’m 30 now , so you can work it out I was a toddler threw most of it.
@@rowdyelitehater8595 I get you with the 9/11 aspect. I'm British so I don't think the effect was quite as acute as it was in the US, but I can definitely see the change in hindsight. It's like 2001-2004 was kind of a transition, I guess. I'm 30 too, so I'm right there with you in having more of a general sense of the late 90s than a whole tonne of clear memories. Some of that appreciation will be because we were kids and everything was warm and exciting, which is why it was nice to see so many people older than us speaking fondly about the late 90s in this comments section. Makes me know it's not just us 30-year-olds with our childhood nostalgia.
@@MallaWallaZoom I’m English too, but I watched a lot of wwf when I was a kid , it was always in MSG so I saw the twin towers a lot, it’s why it changed it for me.
The thumbnail to this video is freaking beautiful… reminds me of when I was young on those beautiful rainy dusk days in NYC. Just that image made me feel it
Thank you !
This was the golden age!! PlayStation 1, N64, great tv shows & cartoons, music….greatest time to be a kid/teenager during this era!!
Yeah, everything didn't seem to have a brainwashing agenda back then.
Facts
@@bluemagic8601 nah.
@@Super122291 Yah
That's your nostalgia talking.
Fall in the northeast is just so beautiful. Especially a rainy day in NYC in the 90s. Thank you so much for sharing this.
These are the best times, there will never be another like it.....90's❤
As a New Yorker growing up in the 90s, this is amazing! Thank you for sharing and for the memories it brought. I truly hope others like me feel the same.
The world was so different back then. Disney wasn't buying every studio they could. The internet was at it's infancy (perhaps still is in a lot of ways). No social media. No smartphones. No streaming services. DVDs were just being released. Emma Stone was 9 years old. Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston were alive and well. World Trade Center still stood. Pro-wrestling between the Attitude Era in WWF and nWo in WCW saw a boom. I was in my junior year in high school.
Sadly with how terrible WWE is these days & how embarrassing that company on Wednesday is, we’ll never see another awesome boom for Pro Wrestling ever again
I was 7 years old 😑😑
@@DougieYT you just don’t know wrestling, the style has changed in the course of all these years. Triple H just took over the WWE creative team. So wrestling could well be back.
Who is emma stone
@@Gottabeclips The ratings of WWE the same year this video was filmed in say other wise lol, wresting fell off badly
Wow I was 9 days old when this was filmed! (Born Nov 21 1997). My mom is a native New Yorker, it’s cool to see what the city looked like around this time period
ain’t it something? i was born in february of ‘97 across the atlantic, wtf is time man
Do you still live in NYC? I grew up there too. Brooklyn.
@@pabloescobarschanclas crazy! Already at or damn near 25, life is crazy haha
@@badgerden7080 nah but I’m in Brooklyn all the time bc most of my mom’s family is still up there if not in Jamaica. I grew up near Baltimore, 3 hours south
I visited New York from the UK aged 9 with my mum just a week or so after this video was filmed. Will never forget that time.
I will be saving this video. This is the closest I will get to a time travel machine. This video reminds me of my childhood. I’m from CT but I was 10 in 1997 and my stepfather would always bring me to NYC during Christmas season. He’s from there so we would go visit his family and he would take me to all the things like arcades, FAO Schwartz, Times Square, rocafeller center etc. nothing beats it I’m almost tearing from nostalgia.
I was 12 in 97. I miss those days too.
NYC in the best city in the world and nobody does Christmas like NYC. You are allowed to feel this way.
@@RippedfromVHS I agree. I've always wanted to go to NY more so at Christmas. Never got there . I won't fly now. I'm wary. I'm now 68 in UK
👍🇬🇧
It sounds lovely. I always wanted go NYC. I'm 68 now.. I'm a Londoner.wont go now. Took scary. 👍🇬🇧👋
no one will never forget those gorgeous towers
Rest in Peace to the Firefighters, Police Officers, and Employees in the tragic event
I was thinking the exact same thing, Roxanne. I still shed tears in their glaring absence since that fateful day, ever grateful to the first responders and to New Yorkers for showing true resilience in the face of this senseless tragedy.
you know, it takes 21 years for something tragic happen be funny, so in 2023, are ppl gonna meme about 9/11 ? i hope not.
@I forgot never seen a meme+ i would rlly hate it if ppl meme it
@I forgot like memeing the holocaust
@@Johannesburg_ Wow, you are really out of touch
God I miss the 90s
I dont
Floop Floop Awesome👍🏽
Wasn’t alive yet
Amen
@@floopfloop4774 🤨 You prefer the 2010s and early 2020s?
I was born and raised in nyc. Queens. My mom raised 7 kids driving and owning a yellow taxi cab. I drove in the 90s. I got some crazy stories. These days are gone for ever. Thank you for posting this video ❤
when he went thru downtown i almost started crying I grew up on 27th street and spent so much time exploring. I was obsessed. And the musicccccc wow that brought me back. I miss the old NY so much. We lost it a while ago.
Even in the 90's, Manhattan has that charm to it. It's never boring.
It amazes me how much I can observe and learn just from watching people’s everyday activities from the past. If anyone’s reading this please don’t stop filming or writing about your life just because it seems mundane. It’s a piece of history we take for granted.
Dear diary: eleven thirty AM: I pooped, likely a result of the usual caffeine intake. Consistency soft but solid with regard to the integrity of the loaf
I know everyone feels strongly about the era they came up being "the best" but it's really tough to beat the 90s. Music, movies, culture, and sports. It was an amazing time for a lot of things. I was 20 years old in 97. Seriously great times. Thank you for this upload.
Exactly. Look at what the world’s come to be in the damn 2020s. All the music nowadays is just noise.
Could even listen to 80s music and not seem old
😂😅
I completely agree with you Sir. You and I are exactly the same age and videos like this make me happy and sad in equal measure. Happy because we got to live through these times and sad because I know they will never come back.
@@rockyro777 right, if we could just go back to appreciate it a little more.
The 80s were the best decade. The music and movies from that time never gets old
The driver loved freestyle music
New York loved their dance music station 103.5 KTU.
In 1996, after 4 years of no dance music on the radio, the madness was resolved, and the beat of New York at 103.5 was born, instantly the top radio station for open-minded decent people under 50 years old.
A simple honest reflection.... Prior to February 1996, dull adult contemporary, angry rock and rap music, a less angry than the rock and rap, but still angry talk radio, and radio stations that went out of their way to exclude listeners because they weren't the right type of people.
Why don't we take the Country station that no one in New York wants and or listens to and try inclusion, let's invite everyone to the party no matter what language they speak, no matter where they might have came from, no matter the color of their skin or their ethnicity. Instead of being angry and divisive, let's feel good and be positive, let's smile and promote decency, respect, commonality. That is what was done with the birth of 103.5 WKTU (a new version of the original KTU that did these things 15 or so years prior).
Instantly it was #1. Instantly millions of New Yorkers were linked together by the common interests of enjoying life, having fun, and being nice to each other.
It lasted for almost 2 years, and why it was destroyed makes no financial sense, it was making a ton of money, but it had to go because it ran counter to the plan of divide and conquer for which has been our trap for over 20 years now.
oh man, the 90s were really something
I loooove this video. The nostalgia is hitting hard 😢
What bagina mean?
I'm truly a nostalgic person.
lol, a bit too hard, the music, the stores, what used to be the seaport :(
Would you like to dance to the song More and More by Captain Hollywood Project with me?. 😏🎶💃
Wow, so many memories. Even if this world still lives in my mind through memories, watching this video feels like a glimpse on a half forgotten dream.
Thank you for posting this. I had just moved to NYC from Yonkers and my father's friend had an apartment available - a one bedroom for my best friend and i - for $750 a month - on 106th street in the Columbia university neighborhood. It was an incredible time.
I miss back when things were affordable.
I hope that was a big apartment for two persons.
Damn that's still super expensive, i pay 380€ for a 54m² appartment where i live
Social media didn't exist back then and life was simple and sweet.
Life was far from simple or sweet
@@unholylemonpledge9730 exactly. Best believe it was ppl complaining in 1997 saying the world was better in the 70s. It’s a cycle
So were the porn theatres of the time lol
@@Gofroze And Baby Boomers in the 70's & 80's were nostalgic for the 50's & Early 60's. That's what Motown-revival and the show Happy Days was all about. "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" was also retro-50's media that showed the gang as kids in the 50's.
There were also a lot of references to Elvis back then. Uncle Jesse's character in Full House was a tribute to him and artists like Daryl Hall and Rick Astley copped a pompadour.
Many artists in the 80's like Stray Cats, Billy Joel, Roman Holiday and Culture Club (in "Church of the Poison Mind") all dabbled with a retro-50's vibe. ("When Smokey Sings" by ABC is the most blatant example, the whole song is a tribute to Smokey Robinson)
And Michael Jackson was pretty much Elvis Presley's replacement. Then Justin Bieber was the new Elvis/Donny Osmond in the 2010's, K Pop is currently the new 1960's British Invasion and BTS are the new Beatles & NSYNC.
Austin Powers revived Beatles Hair and thick Buddy Holly glasses in Goldmember, Emo bands were the British Invasion of the 2000's and The Jonas Brothers were the new Beatles.
History always eventually repeats itself in subtle ways most people wouldn't notice.
@@Galidorquest really? Ugh. In what way is history repeating itself in blm?
Holy crap, what a time machine this is. I can practically smell the rain.
I was 7 years old and jeez life was just so amazing. 90’s were such a great era to grow up in
Great footage! We need a damn time machine already. I miss the 90s so much it’s beyond ridiculous.
Yeah well still have to think about Space 'n Time Laws that could Destroy the Entire Universe 😆
@@mrandrossguy9871 of course. There's always some kind of risk as nothing is as easy as ABC 123.
🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️
I’m a 2004 whenever I see videos of the past I feel like I live in a crummy time😭
@@kareemestwani2400 Yeah, I'm 36 and I hate to say it, but we do live in a crummy time. It's not just nostalgia, I know things were never perfect, but the world really was a different - and better - place in the 90's. I would give anything to go back.
I was 16 back then and I miss it. The '90s were exciting and magical.
I’ll make you fee 16 again
@@jahclspuyess3108 u old. Fool
@@jahclspuyess3108 lolol hahah 😹
@@jahclspuyess3108 FBI open up!
Safe to say, I’m in tears. So many memories. So many wonderful memories. So many wonderful times with my family and friends. I’ll never get it back, but I thank God I had those experiences and can look back on them.♥️
Back when people looked up at people around them and talked…….instead of always looking at a screen that rots your brain and soul.
Compared to today this was paradise. So sad what's happened.
Wait what’s happened?
@Notrius 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Seeing all the cars and remembering how interesting they were design wise and seeing how everyone in Manhattan is basically in a yellow can or black caddy is such a stark change
70s landyachts and japanese cars parked on the same street, surreal
I was a senior in high school in 1997, this video makes it feel like it was yesterday. All we did was drive around listening to the radio just like this.
Same here
Me too! 17 at the time. My fave times! God, it was awesome in the late 90s.
I LOVE THIS! NYC / NJ / PHL guy, est. November 1982. Thank you filmer and or uploader so so much.
Oh my god... look at how clean the streets are, and how everything isn't completely swamped in rain due to the terrible irrigation system of today. The roads are in better shape, there's no "For lease" signs in every window, shops look nice. I'm not one to live in the past, but it is a shame I will never know this time and place.
NYC was a mess at the time. You just haven't lived through it.
Clean? 42nd might’ve been cleaned up but Brooklyn was not somewhere to be after dark
@@jeff4362 it wasn’t as bad at later years
@@jeff4362 only some areas like east village
NYC is kinda becoming sketchy again after COVID. I’ve seen rats the size of cats in Central Park.
Give your father a huge thank you from all of us! Being the year I was born, this is a depiction of the world I never got to see, changing all too fast with the times and having to adapt ever-so to the whim of innovation. Take care and hope all is well.
You got to see it, and it was changing slower than today.. You just didn't perceive and/or remember it.
I was 2years old when this video was recorded.
I love your comment because it describes the 90s so well.
Made me tear up, this is very emotional and the music adds to it. Memories.
I wasn't alive during this time (born in 2004), I don't even live in America (live in Sydney), but I do get the strongest sensation of walking through these NYC streets in the 90s. This type of nostalgia is called 'anemoia', which is nostalgia from a time in which you have never existed. Obviously this is most common from places near me, but I found it fascinating how I can feel this way for a place that I've never even been to before.
Watching these types of videos I see a city in the center of the once hustle and hurry world, a city where the vibrant night lights once fascinated you, a city where technology was only housed in tall buildings and not in our pockets, a city where everyone was so uniquely different yet all connected at the same time, A city where things just worked.
For those who have actually lived in NYC or Sydney during the 90s, what's changed?
Ironically all 3 times I went to NYC were before you were alive. 1998, 2001, and 2002. I rubbed the bulls balls on September 8th 2001. I went back to NYC in spring 2002 for a bike ride with over 30,000 people. You could feel that the city had changed. The entire spirit of the 90s had been snuffed out. The terrorists didn't succeed in breaking America or NYC, all they did was unleash the modern monster we have today. The only thing they managed to change was breaking the laidback fun loving attitude of the 90s. You'll never see that 90s side of NYC again except in 90s TV shows.
I'm in my 30s now. Lived in NYC back then. Still come and go. What changed?
people hang out less outside now. Friendships don't mean anything cause of social media. You think everyone's your friend until you realize, they don't even hang out with you. Friendships were more real back then. Economy was better. 20 bucks meant a lot more. You felt like America was on top. Now you feel we are doomed. The vibe was dark, but positive back then. Like hopeful. Now it's dark and negative.
Gosh. You're making me feel old and I will be turning 28 on the 28th of this month.
I know what you mean- I feel very strong nostalgia watching videos from the 1920s - 1970s.
Born in 2002, I understand what you mean.
Sydney, poofter capital of Australia
i was born in 2006 but i feel like I was there, in New York in the 90's. everything seems so familiar, life was so simple, I would give a million lives to be able to live once there in the 90s.
Smartphones and social media ruined everything. Shame people just can't give up that shit
@@nickolas6060 it’s a drug no surprise
The 90s was by far the greatest decade.
definitely not in the balkans lol
90's America - what Agent Smith chose to plug us into, because it was the peak of civilization.. before everything slowly became worse... then not so slowly.
@@veeeen nor in Russia
I would have been 4 years old... its a strange feeling seeing a world you only have brief flashes of memory of.
Same
Life is just a spark
same,its crazy how the 90s are a flash.
As someone born in 1995 in Germany, this reminds me of movies I watched in my childhood, like The Day After Tomorrow, the 1998 Godzilla movie, Madagascar, Stuart Little. Even for people in europe growing up in the 2000s this is very nostalgic because of all the 90s and early 2000s american movies we watched in our childhood.
The video is still great in stabilization considering 1997. which shows how flat and good the roads are built. Great video and very advanced development even if you compare it to 2022
A radio shack, Monica playing on the radio, crowded retail stores … NY is nothing like this now. I love NY today but this is some great footage. I was only 1 here
Pretty clear quality for 1997. About as good as 2006.
That’s the advantage of using film instead of tape.
@@matthew8153 this is video tape, not film
@@BabyFawnLegs
How? I’ve never seen anything from tape this clear.
@@matthew8153 it would have been recorded onto a sony video8 cassette, then captured on a PC or other device via an s-video cable. video8 cassettes were of high quality and transfering over s-video (instead of composite) gives the cleanest transfer with no RGB artefacts.
Nah, it makes me think they took 100 potatoes, made vodka for themselves with 99 of them, and used the last one to record this
This is amazing. That sounds like the unmistakable growl of a GM 3800 V6 too in the car with the camera! What a fabulous video of simplier, happier times. Haunting to see the Twin Towers too
Yup! And with 103.5 KTU playing on the radio. Life was great back in the 90's
I love how mundane things become nostalgic with time!
My mother was pregnant with me when this was filmed. My father was from Brooklyn, but lived in Philadelphia, where he and my mother met a few years earlier, (and where I was born less than three months after this video was taken). They visited the city about a week after Princess Diana died. Nice to know that this was what they would have seen on their trip.
I was a year old :)
so your parents met and in three months you were already born HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE
@@Aliali-yo1oh LOL, I can see how my wording tripped you up. My father and his folks moved from Brooklyn to Philly in '88. He and my mom met in Philly in '93, and started dating the following year. Their trip to NY was in September '97, and I was born in February '98 in Philly. Hopefully the edit of my original comment makes more sense.
DAMN! It's been a quarter century! I remember SO well riding my bicycle through Midtown in the 1990s!
For all the complaints people have about NYC now, riding your bicycle in the city is probably more enjoyable now than it was in the 90s. Far better and safer bike infrastructure
you’re lucky you got to live to see it back then
bikes existed back then?
@@ifane8683 u’r not funny
Was born in 92’ Brooklyn. Didn’t really start exploring NYC until my college days in 2011. This looks and feels the same as i know it to be the last 10 years honestly. I do remember going to chi cation often with my mom/aunt to buy jewelry and seafood in early 2000s that’s about it lol . I’d love to see some price comparisons of daily things in these videos that would be super dope 🔥
2011 was a great year! I remember visiting NY and got to ride in a Hummer limo for $50.
Everything seemed so simple compared to how things are now. Nobody's bombarded with influencers or feeling pressured to be something they're not. People living their lives and that's how I remembered America before the new millennium. I was a lot younger so that may just be my perspective as an adolescent. But I feel like this country was a lot more united in the 90s than it is now.
I, wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said. Well said.
I wouldnt say united… more like….glued together.
Well put
ok boomer
100% that's because it was deemed an unwritten rule of politeness in society to never discuss religion or politics back then - but then 9/11 happened, and overnight people were more outspoken in their views and we realized how divided we all _actually_ were. It's not that we were more united back then, it was just hidden from obvious plain sight that we weren't :/ You miss the *illusion.*
It's the same heartbreaking conversation that I had with my grandmother years ago when she tried to insist to me that things were so much better back in the 1950s. Maybe for her, the pretty heterosexual Christian white girl - but not for the poor black boy being lynched in the south, or for the gay athiest being chemically castrated by the Christian homophobic men in power. I say this all as a Millennial who VERY MUCH misses the 90s, oh my god. Ever since 9/11 happened, it was never the same... but that being said, it wasn't perfect back then, either, and people like my grandmother (as I mentioned) despised the late 20th century and considered them to be classless and crude. Victorians considered the 1920s and beyond to be the same. It's all relative... and most of us who miss it were also young back then, too - so in large part, what we also miss is our youth. One day, the children of today will shed tears that _this_ era was better, and so on and so on.
I'm eternally nostalgic for the 90s and I wish so often that I could take a vacation in that time and experience it all again, trust me - I *know* it was special. I used to be depressed/in denial that it was over for so long... I've had a hard time letting go of things that have meant a great deal to me for most of my life. But it helps to remember that it's really all a matter of perspective, which is also why we need to appreciate the present (for whatever it's worth) while it's still here... it won't always be.
Whoever uploaded this, thank you !
That Energy, that Allure, that Nostalgia from the Great city during its Golden Years exudes just from this video.
I'm 16 but I bet the 90s must've been one of the best decades to live in and experience
It was
Ditto....it was
Oh, to be in NYC during the holidays in the late 1990s. 🥺
I was there in the late 80s..amazing memories.
This was filmed on the day that I turned 17. Cool
In the following year my friend and I would have a very interesting trip to NYC and stayed in a hostel ...
Wow crazy
Today you are 41)
@@Erix442 damn. U old man
@@Super122291 it soon I'll be 24 y.
The best thing about seeing this video is watching everyone walking around and not a single cell phone! What a wonderful world we used to live in.
Oh right !!! Not a damn phone in sight, of course!!! Such a different reality!
Wasnt for social media for family friends girlfriends / emergency service green screen days
@@goldie862 I miss not having phones
dawg get off youtube then if you hate it that much????
@@Karuska22ps I know what you mean lol. I'm using mine constantly but the "phone" feature is the thing I use it for least. Remember when you could pretend to be unavailable!
A lot of these stores are still in business too. What a time 🥹🫶🏽. Almost feels like a dream. Hearing all of these songs from the past is surreal to me as well. Didn’t realize some of them were that long ago🥹