This is mostly scenes of the Lake Street and Dan Ryan routes (the West-South Line back then)...Lake Street is now part of the Green Line and the Dan Ryan is the south half of the Red Line. At the beginning and end are a few shots of the Congress Line (now Blue Line) subway portal near Halsted and Harrison Streets, and a few scenes along the Ravenswood (Brown) Line at Chicago Avenue, and passing the subway portal at Armitage Avenue.
OH! MY GOD! I miss those wonderful days. Notice the passengers are calm and quite enjoying their ride. I remember how the man would come in to punch a hole on your transfer and give you change..I see No fights at all between passengers. No Cell phones. Passengers are reading newspaper and minding their own business. You can see how their is respect. WOW! I Miss those good old days.
Lived in Chicago from 1940 until 1970. The elevated trains were called the "El" rather than the "L". There were A and B trains plus the Evanston Express.
Anyone looking to see these old L trains with the red and blue, like at 3:12, go drive down Oakton heading West from Chicago. You'll see the CTA train car working lot where they keep a bunch of Ls on the side, including a couple with this old design. Pretty cool easter egg if you ask me and I love seeing it when I drive everyday.
I rode this system in June of 2003. Cars in this film were built by Pullman-Standard, Boeing, The Budd Corporation. Later cars built by Morrison/Knudson and Bombardier.
The scene at 1:36 was taken from an Eastbound Lake Elevated Train. The railroad area with the crane now has the Boeing Aircraft Corporation Headquarters in a building at about 420 W Washington--over the rail lines. Ironic.
This is the time when I was riding the “L” pretty often. Mostly on the Howard and Ravenswood lines, traveling between the Streeterville neighborhood and my girlfriend’s apartment in what would later become known as Wrigleyville. Around the time this footage was shot the fare had just increased from 50 to 60 cents.
OMG/G!!! This brings back soooo many memories! OK I'm going to have look at this on my big computer monitor to see if I see myself in one of these shots on my way downtown to classes at Columbia College. HA!!! Wait, that also means Nick's and the "Pitt Congress Hotel" was still around in this. Does anyone remember Nick's Restaurant on Wabash around the corner from Columbia College? Ahhh memories... 🙂
Actually they might have been cleaner back then, not one person in this video is engrossed in their cell phones and everyone isn't wearing headphones, ear buds or Bluetooth... An era when people actually read books and newspapers on the L...
Old-Style 86 I was born in 92 and istill reminisce my childhood and how my neighborhood looked like iremember watching the boys busting out with the rammers and use to think to myself I can't wait to turn saint lmao 😂😂 SAINT MOTHAFUCKING LOVE NIGGA
My mom wasn't even born she was born in 1989 and my grandma was born around the 60's she was probably like in her 20's or 30's Wow! Im in middle school
It was great if you enjoyed petty abuse and cruelty from surly cashiers and conductors. The conductors would watch passengers run for a train and close the doors just as they reached them. They’d also stop the train for 15-20 minutes in the hot sun with no A/C, and also, in driving sleet, move out from under the shelter, open the doors and stand until everyone was good and wet.
This is the CTA of my childhood. When they still had A and B trains. Memories!
Jake: *How Often Does The Train Go By?*
Elwood: *So Often You Won't Even Notice.*
The CTA should bring the train conductors back!
Is it me or did the Chicago and the trains looked so clean compared to the crap one's today? I wish I lived in the 80's.
awwww the good ole days!! wish the cta would bring back a and b stops on the red line as well as the super Sunday transfer!😂😉😎🤣🤣
Watching this while on Green Line on 63rd & Ashland going towards Harlem and Lake
In 1977 I rode that train plenty.
I was 13 yrs old.
Strong in my memory.
I was a negative 3 years old when this was filmed( wasn't born yet)---the cta has changed so much.
This is mostly scenes of the Lake Street and Dan Ryan routes (the West-South Line back then)...Lake Street is now part of the Green Line and the Dan Ryan is the south half of the Red Line. At the beginning and end are a few shots of the Congress Line (now Blue Line) subway portal near Halsted and Harrison Streets, and a few scenes along the Ravenswood (Brown) Line at Chicago Avenue, and passing the subway portal at Armitage Avenue.
M1903A1 Yeah, they used to have names describing where they went, but that was to confusing so they switched to colors.
OH! MY GOD! I miss those wonderful days. Notice the passengers are calm and quite enjoying their ride. I remember how the man would come in to punch a hole on your transfer and give you change..I see No fights at all between passengers. No Cell phones. Passengers are reading newspaper and minding their own business. You can see how their is respect. WOW! I Miss those good old days.
FBI 2230 Most of my daily train rides are respectable. It’s the hoodlums that come out at night after 9PM that are moronic!
I believe you, Nathan. LOL...
Lived in Chicago from 1940 until 1970. The elevated trains were called the "El" rather than the "L". There were A and B trains plus the Evanston Express.
nice I love Chicago
Nice high quality movie clips, of a great system…. Thanks for the memories!
1:43 333 wacker drive being constructed
Used to buy the Supertranfer on Sundays and ride all day
Tampa Red was still alive at this time, only around a year before he passed away. Nice footage!
liked the red and blue on the trains
Craig McDonald They painted the trains for the bicentennial of America. Now all the trains are plain and all look the same.
packr72 yeah I'm in chicago visiting friends just now, would be nice if the trains go back to the paint job. Thanks for the reply
The train is the life blood in a city when your a teenager. Loved taking the ‘L’
Anyone looking to see these old L trains with the red and blue, like at 3:12, go drive down Oakton heading West from Chicago. You'll see the CTA train car working lot where they keep a bunch of Ls on the side, including a couple with this old design. Pretty cool easter egg if you ask me and I love seeing it when I drive everyday.
I rode this system in June of 2003. Cars in this film were built by Pullman-Standard, Boeing, The Budd Corporation. Later cars built by Morrison/Knudson and Bombardier.
The scene at 1:36 was taken from an Eastbound Lake Elevated Train. The railroad area with the crane now has the Boeing Aircraft Corporation Headquarters in a building at about 420 W Washington--over the rail lines. Ironic.
Wow! All the way back to 1980? How historical!!
0:43 former Brach's Candy Factory in West Garfield Park.
wow! notice all the people with their heads held high, not staring at a cell phone
Used to be more paper readers
No one was reading the paper?
Nice shot of some vintage 6000 series "L" cars in their older white over green colors at 5:53
This is so neat! Ty
Wow what an amazing video, thanks for sharing!
Something about the vibe of L, it just ingrains itself in you after you travel on it daily, no matter what part of the city you were living in.
This is the time when I was riding the “L” pretty often. Mostly on the Howard and Ravenswood lines, traveling between the Streeterville neighborhood and my girlfriend’s apartment in what would later become known as Wrigleyville. Around the time this footage was shot the fare had just increased from 50 to 60 cents.
OMG/G!!! This brings back soooo many memories!
OK I'm going to have look at this on my big computer monitor to see if I see myself in one of these shots on my way downtown to classes at Columbia College. HA!!!
Wait, that also means Nick's and the "Pitt Congress Hotel" was still around in this. Does anyone remember Nick's Restaurant on Wabash around the corner from Columbia College? Ahhh memories... 🙂
The Sun-Times bldg in the background on the Wabash L, now gone.
Drove through Chicago recently, looks like they are still using the same train cars.
I miss the red, white & blue
lol the L looks barely any different today
Actually they might have been cleaner back then, not one person in this video is engrossed in their cell phones and everyone isn't wearing headphones, ear buds or Bluetooth... An era when people actually read books and newspapers on the L...
1980? Geez, I wasn't even born then? No wait, I was 19 years old then, I'm getting OLD!!!
Child's Play Chucky made riding the L Train infamously legendary!!! (Is that the music from Austin Powers-shaggy baby!)
you're video is awesome
Wow... I miss those days..... Pilsen. Area
Old-Style 86 I was born in 92 and istill reminisce my childhood and how my neighborhood looked like iremember watching the boys busting out with the rammers and use to think to myself I can't wait to turn saint lmao 😂😂 SAINT MOTHAFUCKING LOVE NIGGA
Back then we didn't need trains because gas prices was so cheap.
That Green line...
i was yet to be born but still so familiar.
I went on the L train back in 2016 and the interior looks almost the same as it did in 1980?
Confined coverage !
Ah, the world of the Blues Brothers....
It's completely different since then
Sounds like they ripped off the music from Austin Powers
It was groovy baby!1
Nice austin powers music
i was only a baby
My mom wasn't even born she was born in 1989 and my grandma was born around the 60's she was probably like in her 20's or 30's Wow! Im in middle school
brings back memories in the late 70's when I was the only white kid on the train bringing a knife to school and making sure my wallet is chained
That place is cold as shit
Except when it is hot and humid and horrible. (I lived there for many years.)
still looks like shit too
It was great if you enjoyed petty abuse and cruelty from surly cashiers and conductors. The conductors would watch passengers run for a train and close the doors just as they reached them. They’d also stop the train for 15-20 minutes in the hot sun with no A/C, and also, in driving sleet, move out from under the shelter, open the doors and stand until everyone was good and wet.
Where is all the graffiti???????
It's called "the el."
Why is that a wonder?
Readers of a Chicago newspaper voted the "L" as one of the seven urban wonders of Chicago.
Not private anymore
I miss the way Chicago used to be. Now it is a shittier version of Detroit only more dangerous. And New York blows us away and soon so will Houston!
Homesick