Posted on 04/30/2019 3:34:35 PM PDT by NRx
Rare Footage of New York City in 1911 shows everyday life in New York City over 100 years ago. The film features famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Flatiron Building, and showcases what life on New York streets looked like. The early 1900s were a period of rapid change for New York City. The city's population was ballooning as an influx of immigrants passed through Ellis Island. Massive skyscrapers began popping up seemingly overnight, many of them among the tallest in the world at the time. And new technology such as automobiles and elevated trains made the city more accessible than ever. In 1911, Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern produced a nine-minute film showing everyday life in Manhattan. The remarkably clear footage, released by the Museum of Modern Art last year, includes recognizable modern-day landmarks like the Flatiron Building and the Statue of Liberty, as well as buildings that no longer exist, such as the New York Herald Building. "Produced only three years before the outbreak of World War I, the everyday life of the city recorded here — street traffic, people going about their business — has a casual, almost pastoral quality," the museum wrote. The film shows a boat arriving at New York Harbor with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. The harbor is still used by cruise lines, commuter ferries, and tourist boats. And the Statue of Liberty is as popular a tourist destination as ever. The Flatiron Building, completed in 1902, was one of the tallest buildings in the world when it was built. Today, the Flatiron Building isn't among the tallest 1,000 buildings in New York City. But its distinct appearance has made it one of the most popular and photographed landmarks in the Big Apple.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Thank you
Thanks much....I am going to look for that book :)
It reads like a great novel. At the end of every chapter, there is a stinger, and you can’t help yourself. You have to turn the page.
There was literally no such thing as casual dress in those days. It was also not uncommon for a man to only own one suit. He would wear the same suit day after day for years, having it repaired as needed and sometimes even washed.
When at the beach, men had the option of renting a "bathing suit" at a bathhouse. That was probably the only time in a man's life when he was seen in public without a full dress suit.
Ah, when New York was still New York and America was still America...pre Bloomberg.
People did NOT have as many clothes back then, as most people have today. Even in the 1920s, closets in very expensive apartments and houses were smallish; though there tended to be somewhat more of them, than in less expensive homes. There were cedar closets too, because people had summer clothes and winter clothes, which were moved in and out of these different kinds of closets, depending upon the season.
The streets look cleaner then, for one thing!
Where are the homeless and other bums?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.