I'm now 71, born in 1951. Seeing this video was amazing. I lived and worked in and around Chicago all my life. I grew up sailing in Monroe Harbor and seeing the old original Chicago Yacht Club is mind blowing. My Grandparents were in their 30's in the 1920's. What a hoot to see a day in their times in moving pictures. Thanks for putting this out ! Really great !
The rivalry of Chicago and NYC goes back. At this point in time, Chicago is a world economic super power and it held it for decades .Thank you for posting this gem.
Indeed it was. The city proper held nearly four million inhabitants in less then one hundred years. The bustling, hustling drive, innovation, and creativity of the city, especially before the first world war was so astonishing and remarkable, it did not escape the notice of the world. So much of what made America a modern and efficient showcase wonder, had its beginnings in Chicago.
@@killingjoke535 If Chicago could compete with other overseas cities. Chicago was completely dethroned when other countries started to make automobiles as well
holy cow... I'm a Chicago courier and I see these buildings everyday. I'm in awe The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower looks just like it did 100 years ago.
5:50 As a 43 year old born and raised lifelong Chicagoan who has lived half his life downtown…..I can’t tell you how unbelievably incredible this is!!! Seeing the iconic Merchandise Mart in the very beginning of its construction. SIMPLY WOW!
Although I've only been here about 10 years, that was the first thing that really struck me, too. Oh, there's the Brittanica building but WAIT, no Merch Mart yet?!
I lived in downtown Chicago for a while, and it's stunning to see several of the buildings I walked past every day appear exactly as they are now on a film that's 100 years old. Such an incredible piece of living history.
Hard to explain in words how incredible it is to be able to watch people over 100 years ago just going about their day. I love this content. Imagine the journey of this video footage over the last century.
what's incredible is it looks so much like it does now, I used to walk all over the area they show for the first 2 mins daily and the city has done a good job of preserving all of that.
Not quite a hundred years yet. The Merchandise Mart construction was featured in this video and the first shovel was turned on the project in August of 1928. My guess it is late in that year in the video.
Wow, I recognize just about everything here. It’s amazing how open everything looks, nowadays everything is so crammed in with so many additional buildings.
My dad was born in Chicago in 1924. They lived at North Clark Street in the building next to the garage where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place.
My mom was born in Chicago in 1925 (West Side), eventually my Dad emigrated to Chicago in 1958 from Eastern Europe via college and early career in New England. I was born @ Edgewater Hospital in 1960. Except for about 11 years (1966-1977), mostly in Cleveland, my Mom lived her whole life in Chicagoland (passed in 2006 along with my Dad).
I noticed that there was little to nothing in the way of traffic lights or stop signs, and yet the traffic was just flowing along. Pretty incredible, really. The other thing I find amazing is how clean it all looks.
Major US cities at the time had begun to develop fairly robust public transport. Combination of peoples love of cars, the US auto industry deliberately destroying public transport, and poorly planned suburbs really screwed us over. If you live in even a small city today its likely you can find somewhere that tram tracks have been paved over. Its is incredibly clean. Despite the smog and industry at least people had dignity.
@@thegheymerz6353 Before the advent of personal vehicles... Public transportation was invented for people who had no other means of transportation. As personal vehicles became the norm, the need for public transportation diminished. Contrary to your opinion... Cars were NOT manufactured for the sole purpose of destroying something that you think should still be in existence. Geez... All of those arcades... GONE... because those undignified gamers couldn't be happy with putting quarters into a robust video machine coin slot. The console manufacturers deliberately destroyed them cuz those same gamers wanted to sit in the comfort of their own homes with their PS5s, and not be burdened with the task of having to run to a store, or a bank to make change for a twenty. I'd bet real money that you couldn't wait to get your first set of wheels. Any chance you'd give up your car, so you could pay a fare to ride the bus, or a trolley instead? Or would it make more sense to you to be able to hop into your car, and go anywhere you want, whenever you please? So... how, exactly, have you been screwed over? And, where did you say you were from?
Magnificent! I lived in Chicago for 25 years (1970-1995) and saw massive construction and changes in the city. This film shows so many landmarks from the late 1800s and early 1900s that are still a vibrant part of the city. Bravo!
It’s kinda weird seeing Chicago without all the huge third generation skyscrapers of international modern style skyscrapers made up of smooth glass facings but at the same time Chicago still looks the same because it has done a good job of preserving the first and second generation of skyscrapers in its skyline.
Disagree. Chicago in fact has treated its architectural patrimony in a very careless, cavalier if not shabby manner. Many examples of uniquely American architectural design and expressions were wantonly destroyed and sacrificed for the flimsiest reasons. Such as tearing down treasures in order to replace them with parking garages or even allow properties to remain fallow for years after notable buildings were demolished. Had the city taken its trove of archtectural heritage more seriously it would have given Chicago a much greater and richer cache of remarkable buildings. Judging from what is currently being built, the city's standards have fallen far below it's predecessors, with much of it's output being quite mediocre and bland. Chicago's setting apparently covers a multitude of architectural sins.
@LUIS What? I see the opposite of what you said. The Chicago in the video is very much recognizable to this day. Buildings with important architectural history are preserved. With that being said, the least important had to make way for growth, just like in any other city. The buildings that replaced them also carry significance. I've read literatures, seen photo illustrations, and watched videos, and still I am amazed at how the layout, the bones if you will had already existed in the late 1800.
@@LUIS-ox1bv I believe Luis is 100% correct. Yes it is indeed amazing to see so much of the cityscape then matching what exists now, but way, way too many beautiful buildings were demolished for no good reason. This video shows many of the major buildings that survived, but they were the exceptions. It is a story very similar to the old Penn Station in New York. Not sufficiently appreciated until it was gone, callously destroyed by people with no appreciation for architectural continuity and history -- and majesty for that matter; just fetishizing the new and modern and "futurism" above all else. Chicago's decimation of its architectural legacy is one of its great tragedies.
@@jev2867 As a former architectural student who upon moving to Chicago sought employment with Skidmore Owens & Merril,( at that time, the world's largest architecture firm), to work in their architecture library, I resolutely stand by my views. The city's record on historical preservation warrants a failing grade. In fact, so high was the level of destruction that occured during the decades leading up to my arrival in 1980, I was shocked and appalled to learn about not only the extremely significant and uniquely Chicagoan treasures that were lost, but what replaced them. People can argue until the cows come home about trade offs and gains made by reducing what made this city stand out in many ways, into a pile of rubble or prairie, but in the end the price paid is the city's soul, identity and cultural, historical patrimony. Before I moved to Chicago, I worked in a company which helped restore historic homes and even save many from demolition by moving them to protected districts. We had a lawyer in our office who was a former Chicagoan who bemoaned the utter destruction of the city's great architectural heritage. The corruption in the city and the lackadaisical, careless and indifferent atitudes that preservation efforts were carried out in Chicago, disgusted him enough to compell him to move out of the city. Did not fully comprehend his views until my 30 year stay in the city, when I witnessed the outrageous destruction of not only individual buildings downtown in the neighborhoods, but large swathes encompassing entire city blocks. Block 37 in the Loop, across from another Chicago trajedy,( the loss of Marshall Field's), proved an explicit example of Chicago's approach to, "preservation." The block once contained a mish mash of structures, but among them was a notably beautiful building dating from the 1870s and built not long after the fire. It also boasted another visually interesting building, which had the offices of Clarence Darrow. Being steeped in historical value meant little to nothing, for the city was won over by developers. Ultimately the proposals fell through, one after another. So this very important and prominent block sat empty for nearly 20 years. The block now contains a sterile mall, topped with mediocre, nondescript towers. The city deserved much, much better. The straw that broke the camel's back, was the tearing down of the former Mercantile Exchange Building in the Loop. By then, I had my fill of a city that is hell bent on erasing its past and not capitalizing enough on what made it great. While the city has accomplished much in improving and embellishing public recreational aspects, so much of this strikes one as mere, " window dressing." The city has lost much of its driving juice when it comes to what its noted for and other cities have picked up its slack when it comes to bold and innovative design. Nevertheless, it remains a city in a beautiful setting, with a remarkabke skyline. Which, while spectacular, when viewed from a distance, promises more then it delivers upon closer inspection at streetlevel.
So cool to see what downtown Chicago looked like back in the 20s, especially Michigan Avenue. It was adorable to see that the Brown Line only had 2 cars!? But wow, that Allerton Hotel sign is still there to this day!
Ok, I'm going to watch here in a little bit. I'm trying to place everything, with out the red building I can't find my bearing lol, and if your from Chicago you know what building I'm talking about. Lol
This is superb restoration work. So amazing to see through a window and at the press of a button or two, we get to see life rewound back to a time many years before. Thanks NASS
Wow! My grandma wasn't born til 1933, so this is how her parents saw Chicago when they migrated from the south. Thanks to my Great Grandparents we were all born here from 1933 - present & I'm sharing this with the whole squad 😁 Thank you so much for this beautiful footage 💪🏾
Priceless, to step back in time is a touch of heaven to me at age 75. To see people going about their lives so long ago, and to think that all have passed away.
This is amazing. My grandfather was raised in Chicago. He was an attorney there during this time. To see this is wonderful. Rumer has it he was an attorney for the mob. My great grandfather was a tailor in Chicago and had his own shop. He and my great grandma came to settle in Chicago after coming here from Italy.
Chi-town never looked better. Really enjoyed watching it. Thank you Nass for all that you do. Please allow me to wish you the happiest of holidays and may the New Year be kind to you and to those you love. 🥰🥰🥰
Capone,Weiss, and Drucci were battling it out around this time, and big band Jazz was coming into its own. Shoeless Joe Jackson was tearing it up for the Black Sox and the Charleston was catching on in the clubs! It was a great city then and its a great city now, even if its always had problems!
This is so very cool! There's the ORIGINAL colonnade designed by Edward Bennett at 7:53 in the video. A replica now stands in the same spot (I think) in Millenium Park. And the Bowman and Spearman statues in place but Michigan Ave and now Ida B. Wells street not quite done. So cool! The Art Institute and lions, the Aquarium and the Field Museum. Wow! The Hilton hotel looks a little no texture but still recognizable. And of course the Metropolitan Tower (with the Blue Beehive on top). Worked Downtown Chicago for 30 plus years. I recognized a lot of architecture in this video - the iconic buildings and views are still there today.
Was expecting to see a couple of shots where I can make out what it is today. Would have never guessed how similar downtown looks here as it does today. One of the best videos I have ever come across.
They did the groundbreaking on the Merchandise Mart in August of 1928. This film footage must have been around that timeframe as the site work was just beginning stage in the film.
I was thinking that also. Footage must be from the very late 20's since Buckingham Fountain (seen in some of the clips) Did not open to the public until 1927.
Yes, that segment of the film. However, it looks like there are different time periods in this video. To my knowledge, the "Chevrolet" sign was not constructed until right before the 1933 World's Fair. It is clearly visible in the video.
Since I'm originally from Chicago, this is one of my favorite videos you have. The era of Capone and the iconic structures, some that are just being built like the Merchandise Mart. I had deliveries to the Mart in the mid 80s, I was in there 2 days making them lol It was so vast inside. IDK if the Kennedy family still owns it. Had to pay for a ticket in the Reid Murdoch building @ 2:55. My wife worked in the Straus building, @ 6:53, 310 S. Michigan Ave., it was the Encyclopedia Britannica building when she worked there. Now Britannica is in the Reid Murdoch! Lol Adler Planetarium was under construction @ 10:33. Soldier Field @ 11:13 behind the Field Museum. All that construction due to the Chicago Plan of Burnham. Everyone can thank him for making Chicago what it is, at least the majority of what we see in The last 8 minutes of this film. Grant Park, the museums, the railroads, etc. It's a great read, he was a visionary.
This is amazing! I grew up in Chicago in the 60's and 70's. I see so many similarities (Buckingham Fountain, Wrigley Building), yet so many differences (El trains with only two cars, parking 50 cents!).
Amazing footage. As I just wrote in a another thread my dad was born in Chicago in 1924. They lived at North Clark Street in the building next to the garage where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place.
It's so great to see Chicago all those years ago. So many of the buildings and sights are still there. With the ones we see, like the Tribune Tower, Buckingham Fountain, Shedd Aquarium, Medinah Athletic Club under construction, I would say the earliest year any of this video could be from is 1927.
Shedd Aquarium looks pretty complete in the shot of Grant Park and that was completed in 1929. You can see Riverside Plaza and the Civic Opera Building under construction in another scene. Both were completed in 1929. As you pointed out, Medinah Athletic Club looks near complete and it was completed in 1929 as well. Merchandise Mart wasn't started in that shot and it began construction in 1928. It seems that this is a collection of shots from the last 2 or 3 years of the 1920s.
Disagree. The industrial impact was awful. This is such an ugly look. Im a photographer and I would not want to shoot any of this today. Of course it looks beautiful today bc the overwhelming industrial crap from this video was taken away and replaced w non industrial buildings. I reqlly dobt like how it looks in this video. Very ugly due to industrial flooding.
@@btnhstillfire Noted. But getting past the obvious carbon footprinting and industrial polluting of which I'm not indicting the people at that time over. Nor am I holding the architecture's stunningsness to a level consistent with cistene chapel. I do respect the time, consideration, and craftsmanship of those that ever drew the blueprints,wielded a hammer, and climbed a set of scaffolding to make it possible. The mystique and historical intrigue in a sense holds it's value and spans across time in a manner consistent Wrigley Field for example. At least to me.
@@carnivalgods4573 agreed. I'm not an expert in architecture, but I can appreciate these buildings and what they represent. Just amazing that Chicago's unique look and feel has been around for so long. Love my city, not a perfect place but it's home.
I love the fact Chicago kept most of their architecture 😍, I've lived here my whole life and as I grow older I'm finding more and more reasons to stay, such awe.
This is simply fantastic. Idk if we’re supposed have this sense of awareness like this but this is insane. I wonder if the man/woman recording knew this would be seen 100 years into the future and admired by all.. probably just how they were amazed at the ability to record and the rate the city was expanding. We are all apart of a higher, forever expanding consciousness if we really stop and think about it.
Right - and today young people are changing their sex - some don't even know what sex they are and our president is destroying America and the country is being taken over by China. Expanding consciousness? You had BETTER stop and think about it, man!
Well said! It is very meditative. These people are all now dead. Yet on this day they were living their daily life in the sunlight. Both the Great Depression and WWII were coming yet they could not see it. Future mind bending folly and idiocy. All out there in the great sea of being. Everyone, like us now, just passing through this way station in the Universe under highly impaired management in the fog of derelict Souls.
What's also amazing is that by the 1920's the contours of the entire 20th Century and even so far into the first decades of the 21st were pretty clear, including air travel, Robert Goddard's experiments with rocket propulsion, the development of quantum physics, and Einstein's theories which by this time were already well over ten years old. Even rudimentary computing. In contrast, compare what a typical city and technology in 1820s Chicago, New York City, or London looked like and what if anything then could offer as a clue as to what the next 100 years would become compared to the same cities by the 1920s.
Especially since as of 1829, Chicago had a population of less than 100. But then between 1870 and 1900 it exploded from 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million, the fastest-growing city in world history. Seriously, consider that it took Rome, London, and Beijing thousands of years to pass the million mark.
15:48 is an unbelievable view of the just opened (1927) Stevens Hotel. 20 Years later it would be the storied Conrad Hilton, and today the Chicago Hilton. Amazing video. Thank you! :)
Thank you for that well restored footage. An ancient relative of my husband ( with the same name) from Germany was a well known citizen of Chicago in the 19th century who founded a brewery (Lill and Diversey). I hope, I will get to Chicago one day. Wish you all happy christmas
Cant believe how fast NY and Chicago were built. First "skyscraper" was like 1888, and 30 years later seems as though they took over! Imagine the construction jobs in that era
yes the story is ludicris... limited heavy machinary, how much skilled labor can one place have? you know the empire state building was built in one year.... LOL
30 years is actually an incredibly long time. Consider that the Empire State Building was constructed in less than 14 months - just apply that to how much can be built in 30 years. Dont forget construction workers weren't paid much then - things were a lot cheaper and easier to build just by throwing incredible amounts of manpower at them.
11:20 The Bowman and The Spearman, also known collectively as Equestrian Indians, or simply Indians, are two bronze equestrian sculptures standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Grant Park, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The sculptures were made in Zagreb by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and installed at the entrance of the parkway in 1928. Funding was provided by the Benjamin Ferguson Fund.
6:40 Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the world. Built in a rococo wedding cake style.
It is sad to think about the fact that everyone seen in this video has now passed away with maybe just a few exceptions. I wonder what legacy they may have left behind. Incredible to see and think about life during those times! Going to a Ballroom in the 20's with Big Band music would have been amazing!
My grandfather worked for the cook county road commission when this was filmed. I've pictures of him in front of crew pouring gravel in an alley. And my grandmother was a telephone operator back when they wore roller skates to run the huge switch board.
My great grandparents came from a small village in Northern Italy. They settled in Chicago after WW1. They must have been amazed when they first set their eyes on a big city like Chicago.
12:20 The Art Institute Building. Flanking the exterior Michigan Avenue entrance stairs are two bronze lions by sculptor Edward Kemeys that were a gift from a Mrs. Henry Field for the Art Institute's opening at its current location in 1893. Although the lions have no official names, the sculptor designated the lions by their poses as "stands in an attitude of defiance" (south lion) and "on the prowl" (north lion).
Its really funny to see those old cars with dirt and mud on them. They are now rarely seen and when you do see one, its restored and maintained perfectly to a point where you forget those were everyday cars. Great video, love it!!
Can you believe guys, we are looking at something 100 years old, and depending when this was filmed maybe, slightly, more. Nearly all the babies born the year this was filmed have now, passed away. Every single, soul we see shown in this is now, gone, and Chicago today, is unrecognizable from the Chicago we see here. All the space though, I can't believe all the open space. Future development for sure.
It's hard to imagine that colorizing & stabilizing old footage, could make these 100 year old films seem so current! Also, we are seeing Chicago in the 'heyday' of Al Capone, the way people then, saw it! Great!
My favorite part of looking back at old footage of everyday life is how, sometimes, things really don't seem all that different. Obviously yes things are different as far as styling, but if you really look at it... it's cars moving down streets, past buildings that don't look that much different today, with advertisements punching you in the face as usual, birds dropping white chocolate bombs everywhere, streetlights, concrete curbs and stairs, local and regional trucks delivering stuff, people walking to work. A good chunk of the flair and design is different, but it's basically the same routine. Now, if footage existed from the 1400's, then you'd really see a different way of life.
The clip at 2:58 was taken near the corner of Wacker Dr. & Orleans St. My father remarried in the building on the left with a clock tower in the middle. Incredible footage!
At the six minute mark we see the construction site of the Merchandise Mart. Wow, what a building that became ! So nice to see large American cities on their way up. I sure would have liked to have been there.
My sister Judie sent me this video. Here's my note that I sent back to her about this SPECTACULAR remastered video: ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you, Poodie Cakes! I remember me and my friends riding our bikes all over downtown back in the 60s, to Oak Street Beach on the regular, always looking forward to seeing all those landmark places that were strewn throughout our historical landscape, from time to time when we were kids!! And, I used to think about how it must've looked when Mom and Dad, and Gramma Becker and all of Dad's family were young ... Have you ever read, The Devil In The White City, a novel by Erik Larson that was written about the time of the Chicago World's Fair/The Columbian Exposition just prior to that time? Just FABULOUS ... SO COOL!!! ❤️❤️❤️
This was intoxicating. I only wish the actual person filming would have been captured, too. That person seemed to have an uncanny sense of the vast changes that would come in the future. Loved this!
this is amazing. seeing the lakefront like that is crazy. they must have just expanded the land out when this footage was taken. the aquarium and the field musuem are brand new, and stand out like the parthenon on the acropolis. those hills going down the right side from the museum look so weird.
I love this work you do as I basically am writing history on my channel and live in the 1920's...my late mother was born 100 years ago in 1922, made to 94. Chicago played a major role during The Summer of 1926...which I've written and vlogged about on my channel. A vicious personal attack on Valentino weeks before he died ... coming out of Chicago with his going there to try to confront the writer, to no avail.
My father was born in 1923 and my mother in 1927 ... in this very city Chicago, as a matter of fact. I can picture both of them as small children during this film, and my grandparents as young adult parents.
@@jody6851 I lived in Milwaukee in the early 80's and would visit Chicago to feel less isolated. Coming from the NYC area WI was not for me, but Chicago 👍. I saw Elton John in an open arena down there during his "Mozart" days, lol.
@@rudolphvalentinoconnection8298 Last time I was in Chicago, the Bears had a home against Green Bay. It definitely, was an experience only equaled to the time I was at a Brazilian's home while Brazil was playing Argentina in the World Cup years ago.
I feel like I’m watching footage of a lost golden age. When we still cared about beauty. We lost something precious in the last 100 years. Cant explain it.
This is exactly why I record what I do on my channel. Not for current viewers, but definitely for some future archive to showcase what the early 21st century looked like in full color. I have so much content that I still need to edit and upload but I think it'll be really cool to show my future generations the era in which I grew up and came into adulthood.
I started recording random videos of me driving down the street or walking down streets in the neighborhood. I don’t post to any site but maybe I should archive them somewhere. I was able to find some from the 70s of my hometown and it’s so cool seeing streets I also went down, with a mix of things that are still there and some that aren’t
While I too can recognize most of the locations, it would be great if someone posted watermarks with approx locations for each shot. But LOVE it as is. So cool to see my city a century ago!
Born and raised, I love my city. I truly believe it’s one of a kind. Thanks for the video. It’s amazing to see things from a 100+ years ago. And look at the roads. Not a single pot hole. What happened? LOL.
My grandfather and his partner had a tour boat that ran the Chicago River from 1912 to 1922, the kept it docked just East of the Clark St bridge. I watched carefully in the off chance that I might see it, but no luck. Wonderful to see so many familiar buildings from over 100 years ago. The colorization makes the time less distant and the added sound brings it to life. I had to laugh when I heard the ahoohgas from the Model Ts. I real life back then, you would of heard the distinct pitch of the whistles from the traffic cops. I didn't realize that the Buckingham fountain spewed lava back then, lol.
This is so cool being from the city to see really it hasn’t changed much . These landmarks are still here which says alot about those who came before us
You sound funny: "The _colonization_ really brings out details to appreciate". I assume you mean the colonization of North America through the White Man.
@@HansDunkelberg1 no, I mean by adding in color to a black and white film it really accentuates details which may have been overlooked had it not had the color added. Like seeing all the advertising, shops, regular people just living life. What does a working bus look like that a movie bus cannot replicate. A view closer to the reality I might see and experience if I were there.
@@MyKnifeJourney Another, even more palatable breakthrough into a reconstruction of how the past has looked is looming in the field of a reconstruction of what people have seen from their brains' activity. Perhaps ruclips.net/video/0o17Zwzam1g/видео.html interests you, in such a sense. Under this link there are shown reconstructions of imagery based on brain activity that's measured while a subject watches a movie. So this is rather crude, still, but it basically shows that you can reconstruct what someone sees in his mind. It's not necessarily much harder to reconstruct from the brain's activity also imagery a person just recollects (remembers) in the mind, subsequently. Once you're able to do this, you can hypnotize a person (that is, bundle his or her attention) into an earlier life while his or her brain currents are measured, and voila...
@@HansDunkelberg1 To be fair, it wasn't the aboriginal peoples of the Americas that created Art Deco and promulgated classical architecture. Teepees are cute, though.
This is so amazing to see. Today I walk in this same space, and some of these structures are still there, looking just as they did 100 years ago. Just think, at the time this was filmed, there were still people who were alive during the civil war.
I love these videos!!!! I just found your RUclips page and subscribed. Thank you for doing this!! I have always, most of my life, wished that I had a time machine!
Haha, if you love America because of cities expect something like this ruclips.net/video/uxykI30fS54/видео.html The real cities here can only be counted on fingers (NY, DC, some parts of Chicago, etc). Whereas most of the "cities" in the US consist of suburban houses, freeways and parking lots. Nothing close to Europe.
I used to fear it but, think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of flights every year, and none crash. I'm just saying this to encourage you to get here. Chicago is a special place.
![Chicago 1940s in color [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WbQ0tVx-DA0/mqdefault.jpg)
in which city in the world do you want to live in 1920s???
Buenos Aires or New York, hands-down.
chicago
London, Chicago or Paris
berlin
Paris
I'm now 71, born in 1951. Seeing this video was amazing. I lived and worked in and around Chicago all my life. I grew up sailing in Monroe Harbor and seeing the old original Chicago Yacht Club is mind blowing. My Grandparents were in their 30's in the 1920's. What a hoot to see a day in their times in moving pictures. Thanks for putting this out ! Really great !
Ever go to Columbia yacht club?
do you like how the world has changed?
I see a number of 1928 Ford vehicles.
ok old man, time to take your meds
well have you seen Chicago nowadays ?
The rivalry of Chicago and NYC goes back. At this point in time, Chicago is a world economic super power and it held it for decades .Thank you for posting this gem.
Indeed it was. The city proper held nearly four million inhabitants in less then one hundred years. The bustling, hustling drive, innovation, and creativity of the city, especially before the first world war was so astonishing and remarkable, it did not escape the notice of the world. So much of what made America a modern and efficient showcase wonder, had its beginnings in Chicago.
Wish we could capture that energy again
@@killingjoke535
If Chicago could compete with other overseas cities. Chicago was completely dethroned when other countries started to make automobiles as well
Super power? Facts. Especially before foreigners moved here.
By the 1950s, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America for a bit over 20 years.
holy cow... I'm a Chicago courier and I see these buildings everyday. I'm in awe The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower looks just like it did 100 years ago.
Just a little more soot on the façades. lol!
Although the Tribune building is much cleaner today.
One word; coal.
They built them well back then. Guarantee most modern buildings won't be around 100 years from now because they are poorly constructed
I had the pleasure of staying in the Athletic Club a few years ago and it was absolutely superb
5:50 As a 43 year old born and raised lifelong Chicagoan who has lived half his life downtown…..I can’t tell you how unbelievably incredible this is!!! Seeing the iconic Merchandise Mart in the very beginning of its construction. SIMPLY WOW!
Although I've only been here about 10 years, that was the first thing that really struck me, too. Oh, there's the Brittanica building but WAIT, no Merch Mart yet?!
I lived in downtown Chicago for a while, and it's stunning to see several of the buildings I walked past every day appear exactly as they are now on a film that's 100 years old. Such an incredible piece of living history.
Hard to explain in words how incredible it is to be able to watch people over 100 years ago just going about their day. I love this content. Imagine the journey of this video footage over the last century.
what's incredible is it looks so much like it does now, I used to walk all over the area they show for the first 2 mins daily and the city has done a good job of preserving all of that.
Not quite a hundred years yet. The Merchandise Mart construction was featured in this video and the first shovel was turned on the project in August of 1928. My guess it is late in that year in the video.
I also liked to think that someone is watching this video not realizing they could be watching an ancestor.
They'll be doing it to us in 100 years
Really wasn’t that long ago
Wow, I recognize just about everything here. It’s amazing how open everything looks, nowadays everything is so crammed in with so many additional buildings.
This is so cool. My mom was born in Chicago in 1926. So now I can see the city the way she saw it.
That's an awesome way to look at it.
My mom born in 1925. Still alive and relatively well at 97. All these scenes were just the day before, the day before yesterday… ❤️
@@mattisnotjoan please hug your Mom for me. Mine’s been gone 25 years.
My dad was born in Chicago in 1924. They lived at North Clark Street in the building next to the garage where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place.
My mom was born in Chicago in 1925 (West Side), eventually my Dad emigrated to Chicago in 1958 from Eastern Europe via college and early career in New England. I was born @ Edgewater Hospital in 1960. Except for about 11 years (1966-1977), mostly in Cleveland, my Mom lived her whole life in Chicagoland (passed in 2006 along with my Dad).
I noticed that there was little to nothing in the way of traffic lights or stop signs, and yet the traffic was just flowing along. Pretty incredible, really. The other thing I find amazing is how clean it all looks.
Major US cities at the time had begun to develop fairly robust public transport. Combination of peoples love of cars, the US auto industry deliberately destroying public transport, and poorly planned suburbs really screwed us over. If you live in even a small city today its likely you can find somewhere that tram tracks have been paved over. Its is incredibly clean. Despite the smog and industry at least people had dignity.
Because the traffic was probably 1/8th of what it is today and cars couldn’t go that fast
@@thegheymerz6353 Before the advent of personal vehicles... Public transportation was invented for people who had no other means of transportation. As personal vehicles became the norm, the need for public transportation diminished. Contrary to your opinion... Cars were NOT manufactured for the sole purpose of destroying something that you think should still be in existence.
Geez... All of those arcades... GONE... because those undignified gamers couldn't be happy with putting quarters into a robust video machine coin slot. The console manufacturers deliberately destroyed them cuz those same gamers wanted to sit in the comfort of their own homes with their PS5s, and not be burdened with the task of having to run to a store, or a bank to make change for a twenty.
I'd bet real money that you couldn't wait to get your first set of wheels. Any chance you'd give up your car, so you could pay a fare to ride the bus, or a trolley instead? Or would it make more sense to you to be able to hop into your car, and go anywhere you want, whenever you please?
So... how, exactly, have you been screwed over? And, where did you say you were from?
@@thegheymerz6353 if the us back, then heavily invested in public transport, it be a lot easier
If you want to go anywhere in the US that isnt a large city you need a car
Magnificent! I lived in Chicago for 25 years (1970-1995) and saw massive construction and changes in the city. This film shows so many landmarks from the late 1800s and early 1900s that are still a vibrant part of the city. Bravo!
This is what MAGA should be. Taking America back to this.
Without diversity America was great!
@@dudebro3250Sure Klan.
@@dudebro3250Without diversity, America would not be America.
Its amazing how much the city changes from only 30 years prior when the Chicago worlds fair was going on the cityscape was drastically different
I liked seeing the works site for the Merchant Building as "coming soon"
@@MyKnifeJourney I saw that too
It’s kinda weird seeing Chicago without all the huge third generation skyscrapers of international modern style skyscrapers made up of smooth glass facings but at the same time Chicago still looks the same because it has done a good job of preserving the first and second generation of skyscrapers in its skyline.
Disagree. Chicago in fact has treated its architectural patrimony in a very careless, cavalier if not shabby manner. Many examples of uniquely American architectural design and expressions were wantonly destroyed and sacrificed for the flimsiest reasons. Such as tearing down treasures in order to replace them with parking garages or even allow properties to remain fallow for years after notable buildings were demolished. Had the city taken its trove of archtectural heritage more seriously it would have given Chicago a much greater and richer cache of remarkable buildings. Judging from what is currently being built, the city's standards have fallen far below it's predecessors, with much of it's output being quite mediocre and bland. Chicago's setting apparently covers a multitude of architectural sins.
@@LUIS-ox1bv I hear you but I disagree with you.
@LUIS What? I see the opposite of what you said. The Chicago in the video is very much recognizable to this day. Buildings with important architectural history are preserved. With that being said, the least important had to make way for growth, just like in any other city. The buildings that replaced them also carry significance. I've read literatures, seen photo illustrations, and watched videos, and still I am amazed at how the layout, the bones if you will had already existed in the late 1800.
@@LUIS-ox1bv I believe Luis is 100% correct. Yes it is indeed amazing to see so much of the cityscape then matching what exists now, but way, way too many beautiful buildings were demolished for no good reason. This video shows many of the major buildings that survived, but they were the exceptions. It is a story very similar to the old Penn Station in New York. Not sufficiently appreciated until it was gone, callously destroyed by people with no appreciation for architectural continuity and history -- and majesty for that matter; just fetishizing the new and modern and "futurism" above all else. Chicago's decimation of its architectural legacy is one of its great tragedies.
@@jev2867 As a former architectural student who upon moving to Chicago sought employment with Skidmore Owens & Merril,( at that time, the world's largest architecture firm), to work in their architecture library, I resolutely stand by my views. The city's record on historical preservation warrants a failing grade. In fact, so high was the level of destruction that occured during the decades leading up to my arrival in 1980, I was shocked and appalled to learn about not only the extremely significant and uniquely Chicagoan treasures that were lost, but what replaced them. People can argue until the cows come home about trade offs and gains made by reducing what made this city stand out in many ways, into a pile of rubble or prairie, but in the end the price paid is the city's soul, identity and cultural, historical patrimony. Before I moved to Chicago, I worked in a company which helped restore historic homes and even save many from demolition by moving them to protected districts. We had a lawyer in our office who was a former Chicagoan who bemoaned the utter destruction of the city's great architectural heritage. The corruption in the city and the lackadaisical, careless and indifferent atitudes that
preservation efforts were carried out in Chicago, disgusted him enough to compell him to move out of the city. Did not fully comprehend his views until my 30 year stay in the city, when I witnessed the outrageous destruction of not only individual buildings downtown in the neighborhoods, but large swathes encompassing entire city blocks. Block 37 in the Loop, across from another Chicago trajedy,( the loss of Marshall Field's), proved an explicit example of Chicago's approach to, "preservation." The block once contained a mish mash of structures, but among them was a notably beautiful building dating from the 1870s and built not long after the fire. It also boasted another visually interesting building, which had the offices of Clarence Darrow. Being steeped in historical value meant little to nothing, for the city was won over by developers. Ultimately the proposals fell through, one after another. So this very important and prominent block sat empty for nearly 20 years. The block now contains a sterile mall, topped with mediocre, nondescript towers. The city deserved much, much better. The straw that broke the camel's back, was the tearing down of the former Mercantile Exchange Building in the Loop. By then, I had my fill of a city that is hell bent on erasing its past and not capitalizing enough on what made it great. While the city has accomplished much in improving and embellishing public recreational aspects, so much of this strikes one as mere, " window dressing." The city has lost much of its driving juice when it comes to what its noted for and other cities have picked up its slack when it comes to bold and innovative design. Nevertheless, it remains a city in a beautiful setting, with a remarkabke skyline. Which, while spectacular, when viewed from a distance, promises more then it delivers upon closer inspection at streetlevel.
So cool to see what downtown Chicago looked like back in the 20s, especially Michigan Avenue. It was adorable to see that the Brown Line only had 2 cars!? But wow, that Allerton Hotel sign is still there to this day!
At what time in the video do you see the Allerton Hotel sign ? I missed it, and the second time too lol.
@@jasonshearer8449 2:09 correct me if I'm wrong, please!
Ok, I'm going to watch here in a little bit. I'm trying to place everything, with out the red building I can't find my bearing lol, and if your from Chicago you know what building I'm talking about. Lol
Your probably right, I live in northern In, I don't get in town up there anymore so I can't say if I even remember it lol. Thanks.
@@jasonshearer8449 I work downtown so I immediately saw the brown building with the sign. Barely changed, I'm surprised.
This is superb restoration work.
So amazing to see through a window and at the press of a button or two, we get to see life rewound back to a time many years before. Thanks NASS
Really great video, well done. Whoever made this had an eye on the future and we're enjoying his work now in 2023! 100 years later.
Wow! My grandma wasn't born til 1933, so this is how her parents saw Chicago when they migrated from the south. Thanks to my Great Grandparents we were all born here from 1933 - present & I'm sharing this with the whole squad 😁
Thank you so much for this beautiful footage 💪🏾
Priceless, to step back in time is a touch of heaven to me at age 75. To see people going about their lives so long ago, and to think that all have passed away.
The footage of them building the merchandise mart is amazing. My mother worked there for a long time.
World's largest building at the time of its completion and for decades afterwards, I believe. Had its own Zip code!
This is amazing. My grandfather was raised in Chicago. He was an attorney there during this time. To see this is wonderful. Rumer has it he was an attorney for the mob. My great grandfather was a tailor in Chicago and had his own shop. He and my great grandma came to settle in Chicago after coming here from Italy.
Really?? That’s interesting
I'll bet you can cook your ass off.
I know the remastering smooths things out, but it's still crazy just how clean and orderly everything was back then. Times have really changed
Chi-town never looked better. Really enjoyed watching it. Thank you Nass for all that you do. Please allow me to wish you the happiest of holidays and may the New Year be kind to you and to those you love. 🥰🥰🥰
thank you very much
All I see is overwhelming industrial impact. Nothing but industrial equipment and buildings hiding all the historical buildings.
A truly extraordinary look at history (again).....many thanks!
thank you very much
@@NASS_0 even back then far from safe because al capone terrorised the city of chicago back then
Capone,Weiss, and Drucci were battling it out around this time, and big band Jazz was coming into its own. Shoeless Joe Jackson was tearing it up for the Black Sox and the Charleston was catching on in the clubs! It was a great city then and its a great city now, even if its always had problems!
This is so very cool! There's the ORIGINAL colonnade designed by Edward Bennett at 7:53 in the video. A replica now stands in the same spot (I think) in Millenium Park. And the Bowman and Spearman statues in place but Michigan Ave and now Ida B. Wells street not quite done. So cool! The Art Institute and lions, the Aquarium and the Field Museum. Wow! The Hilton hotel looks a little no texture but still recognizable. And of course the Metropolitan Tower (with the Blue Beehive on top). Worked Downtown Chicago for 30 plus years. I recognized a lot of architecture in this video - the iconic buildings and views are still there today.
Watching videos like this, I always feel some indescribable pleasure. It was like visiting the past in a time machine.
Was expecting to see a couple of shots where I can make out what it is today. Would have never guessed how similar downtown looks here as it does today. One of the best videos I have ever come across.
The streets looks better then than they do now. 😂
They did the groundbreaking on the Merchandise Mart in August of 1928. This film footage must have been around that timeframe as the site work was just beginning stage in the film.
I was thinking that also. Footage must be from the very late 20's since Buckingham Fountain (seen in some of the clips) Did not open to the public until 1927.
That’s only about 20 years before I was born. Wow, I am really old.
Yes, that segment of the film. However, it looks like there are different time periods in this video. To my knowledge, the "Chevrolet" sign was not constructed until right before the 1933 World's Fair. It is clearly visible in the video.
Since I'm originally from Chicago, this is one of my favorite videos you have. The era of Capone and the iconic structures, some that are just being built like the Merchandise Mart. I had deliveries to the Mart in the mid 80s, I was in there 2 days making them lol It was so vast inside. IDK if the Kennedy family still owns it.
Had to pay for a ticket in the Reid Murdoch building @ 2:55.
My wife worked in the Straus building, @ 6:53, 310 S. Michigan Ave., it was the Encyclopedia Britannica building when she worked there. Now Britannica is in the Reid Murdoch! Lol
Adler Planetarium was under construction @ 10:33. Soldier Field @ 11:13 behind the Field Museum.
All that construction due to the Chicago Plan of Burnham. Everyone can thank him for making Chicago what it is, at least the majority of what we see in The last 8 minutes of this film. Grant Park, the museums, the railroads, etc. It's a great read, he was a visionary.
This is why I love Chicago. 100 years later, I can still walk the same streets & see the same buildings/ landmarks today. So wild.
This is amazing! I grew up in Chicago in the 60's and 70's. I see so many similarities (Buckingham Fountain, Wrigley Building), yet so many differences (El trains with only two cars, parking 50 cents!).
Amazing footage. As I just wrote in a another thread my dad was born in Chicago in 1924. They lived at North Clark Street in the building next to the garage where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place.
It's so great to see Chicago all those years ago. So many of the buildings and sights are still there. With the ones we see, like the Tribune Tower, Buckingham Fountain, Shedd Aquarium, Medinah Athletic Club under construction, I would say the earliest year any of this video could be from is 1927.
Shedd Aquarium looks pretty complete in the shot of Grant Park and that was completed in 1929. You can see Riverside Plaza and the Civic Opera Building under construction in another scene. Both were completed in 1929. As you pointed out, Medinah Athletic Club looks near complete and it was completed in 1929 as well. Merchandise Mart wasn't started in that shot and it began construction in 1928. It seems that this is a collection of shots from the last 2 or 3 years of the 1920s.
Maybe one can't pinpoint the exact year of this footage, but if the title is the 1920's, it can be anywhere from January 1920 to December 1929.
Buckingham Fountain was completed in 1926. I agree.
@@JacobKlippenstein Agreed.
Is that wasteland at 8:20 where modern Millenium Park is today? That looks like Navy Pier in the distance at 8:40.
Absolutely stunning. Hard to take your eyes away. The architecture is just incredible.
Disagree. The industrial impact was awful. This is such an ugly look. Im a photographer and I would not want to shoot any of this today. Of course it looks beautiful today bc the overwhelming industrial crap from this video was taken away and replaced w non industrial buildings. I reqlly dobt like how it looks in this video. Very ugly due to industrial flooding.
@@btnhstillfire Noted. But getting past the obvious carbon footprinting and industrial polluting of which I'm not indicting the people at that time over. Nor am I holding the architecture's stunningsness to a level consistent with cistene chapel. I do respect the time, consideration, and craftsmanship of those that ever drew the blueprints,wielded a hammer, and climbed a set of scaffolding to make it possible. The mystique and historical intrigue in a sense holds it's value and spans across time in a manner consistent Wrigley Field for example. At least to me.
@@carnivalgods4573 agreed. I'm not an expert in architecture, but I can appreciate these buildings and what they represent. Just amazing that Chicago's unique look and feel has been around for so long. Love my city, not a perfect place but it's home.
I love the fact Chicago kept most of their architecture 😍, I've lived here my whole life and as I grow older I'm finding more and more reasons to stay, such awe.
Chicago was a beautiful city when it was full of whYtè people. Diversity has ruined it completely.
This is simply fantastic. Idk if we’re supposed have this sense of awareness like this but this is insane.
I wonder if the man/woman recording knew this would be seen 100 years into the future and admired by all.. probably just how they were amazed at the ability to record and the rate the city was expanding.
We are all apart of a higher, forever expanding consciousness if we really stop and think about it.
Right - and today young people are changing their sex - some don't even know what sex they are and our president is destroying America and the country is being taken over by China. Expanding consciousness? You had BETTER stop and think about it, man!
It was a man recording.
@@user-tc4xy6jl7o K 👍🏾.
Well said! It is very meditative. These people are all now dead. Yet on this day they were living their daily life in the sunlight. Both the Great Depression and WWII were coming yet they could not see it. Future mind bending folly and idiocy. All out there in the great sea of being. Everyone, like us now, just passing through this way station in the Universe under highly impaired management in the fog of derelict Souls.
What's also amazing is that by the 1920's the contours of the entire 20th Century and even so far into the first decades of the 21st were pretty clear, including air travel, Robert Goddard's experiments with rocket propulsion, the development of quantum physics, and Einstein's theories which by this time were already well over ten years old. Even rudimentary computing. In contrast, compare what a typical city and technology in 1820s Chicago, New York City, or London looked like and what if anything then could offer as a clue as to what the next 100 years would become compared to the same cities by the 1920s.
Especially since as of 1829, Chicago had a population of less than 100. But then between 1870 and 1900 it exploded from 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million, the fastest-growing city in world history. Seriously, consider that it took Rome, London, and Beijing thousands of years to pass the million mark.
Yes. They probably talked about how great all of the technological and medical advancements of the time were.
18 minutes 20s video,this is a dream.... This is the most beautiful gift for Christmas 🎄⛄💗 Thanks a lot lot lot....
Hi NASS .....amazing as usual! Happiest of holidays to you .....looking forward to what you have up your sleeve for us in 2023
15:48 is an unbelievable view of the just opened (1927) Stevens Hotel. 20 Years later it would be the storied Conrad Hilton, and today the Chicago Hilton. Amazing video. Thank you! :)
0:37 Kraft Cheese! :D I love old billboards and advertising. And yes, Chicago has done a great job preserving its architectural heritage!
This was ABSOLUTLY BEAUTIFUL!! Thank you so very much.
thanks
Thank you for that well restored footage. An ancient relative of my husband ( with the same name) from Germany was a well known citizen of Chicago in the 19th century who founded a brewery (Lill and Diversey). I hope, I will get to Chicago one day. Wish you all happy christmas
Was it the Berghoff brewery, by chance?
The name was Lill& Diversey brewery
Wow stunning footage. Well refurbished! Thanks a lot.
thank you very much
Cant believe how fast NY and Chicago were built. First "skyscraper" was like 1888, and 30 years later seems as though they took over! Imagine the construction jobs in that era
yes the story is ludicris... limited heavy machinary, how much skilled labor can one place have? you know the empire state building was built in one year.... LOL
30 years is actually an incredibly long time. Consider that the Empire State Building was constructed in less than 14 months - just apply that to how much can be built in 30 years.
Dont forget construction workers weren't paid much then - things were a lot cheaper and easier to build just by throwing incredible amounts of manpower at them.
this is pretty god damn incredible footage. Im still in awe seeing buildings that are still there to this day completely unfazed/
11:20 The Bowman and The Spearman, also known collectively as Equestrian Indians, or simply Indians, are two bronze equestrian sculptures standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Grant Park, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The sculptures were made in Zagreb by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and installed at the entrance of the parkway in 1928. Funding was provided by the Benjamin Ferguson Fund.
6:40 Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the world. Built in a rococo wedding cake style.
And built to honor her brother Clarence Buckingham who was killed in WW1.
Congress Parkway*
It is sad to think about the fact that everyone seen in this video has now passed away with maybe just a few exceptions. I wonder what legacy they may have left behind. Incredible to see and think about life during those times! Going to a Ballroom in the 20's with Big Band music would have been amazing!
That was really the technological entertainment of the time.
It is quite safe to assume that everyone in the video is now dead. Otherwise, they would be in their upper 90s to just over 100 years old
It would have been Ben Pollack in the 20s with Benny Goodman in his band. Then in 1935-36, Goodman's band played the Congress Hotel for six months.
My grandfather worked for the cook county road commission when this was filmed. I've pictures of him in front of crew pouring gravel in an alley. And my grandmother was a telephone operator back when they wore roller skates to run the huge switch board.
This looks so unreal but it's fascinating watching it like if it was a normal day.
THE PAST makes me sad, because one day, I, too, will become THE PAST 😢😢
Grant Morrison does a great explanation of the past. It's awesome to think of the past as a place you might be able to visit.
@@texasscifi3431 being lazy. But any links...
Then you better leave your mark while you can.
@@BudsCartoon Indeed, my friend...
@PJM1 😐yup thxxx
I love how perfect the program always makes the roads look.
1920s Chicago, when Al Capone resided there.. what an iconic time and place to see...
This is wonderful that you can restore old vintage film to look
so amazingly clear. Like to see more of this!
My great grandparents came from a small village in Northern Italy. They settled in Chicago after WW1. They must have been amazed when they first set their eyes on a big city like Chicago.
a black Haitian man founded Chicago Du Sable. your great grandparents would’ve hated him.
Astonishing to see how similar to modern day Chicago! So much is completely familiar - great work!
12:20 The Art Institute Building. Flanking the exterior Michigan Avenue entrance stairs are two bronze lions by sculptor Edward Kemeys that were a gift from a Mrs. Henry Field for the Art Institute's opening at its current location in 1893. Although the lions have no official names, the sculptor designated the lions by their poses as "stands in an attitude of defiance" (south lion) and "on the prowl" (north lion).
Its really funny to see those old cars with dirt and mud on them. They are now rarely seen and when you do see one, its restored and maintained perfectly to a point where you forget those were everyday cars. Great video, love it!!
Amazing footage. So much that is still recognizable. 100 years later, we still have 'Chevrolet' and 'Frigidaire'!
Can you believe guys, we are looking at something 100 years old, and depending when this was filmed maybe, slightly, more. Nearly all the babies born the year this was filmed have now, passed away. Every single, soul we see shown in this is now, gone, and Chicago today, is unrecognizable from the Chicago we see here. All the space though, I can't believe all the open space. Future development for sure.
thank you for the work that it took to put this video together. a real treat down memory lane😊👍
now lets see it in 2020 with skin color added
It's hard to imagine that colorizing & stabilizing old footage, could make these 100 year old films seem
so current! Also, we are seeing Chicago in the 'heyday' of Al Capone, the way people then, saw it! Great!
Insane how advanced and modern Chicago was compared to the rest of the world.
Indeed. I believe Chicago was the first city powered by Tesla energy then the powers that be had it dismantled and erased from history books.
The US in general was,mostly due to rapid expansion of automotive industry and skyscraper culture.
Wow again! For most of this video, I felt like an alien visiting a new world that was both familiar and utterly remote. Keep up the good work!
So cool to see how much it’s changed but also still the same in 100 years.
Kind of crazy as a Chicagoan of how are downtown feels the same but bigger. This was a cool video to watch.
It looks like people drive the same too. And without any traffic lights!
@@digby_dooright lol yep
My favorite part of looking back at old footage of everyday life is how, sometimes, things really don't seem all that different. Obviously yes things are different as far as styling, but if you really look at it... it's cars moving down streets, past buildings that don't look that much different today, with advertisements punching you in the face as usual, birds dropping white chocolate bombs everywhere, streetlights, concrete curbs and stairs, local and regional trucks delivering stuff, people walking to work. A good chunk of the flair and design is different, but it's basically the same routine. Now, if footage existed from the 1400's, then you'd really see a different way of life.
The clip at 2:58 was taken near the corner of Wacker Dr. & Orleans St. My father remarried in the building on the left with a clock tower in the middle. Incredible footage!
At the six minute mark we see the construction site of the Merchandise Mart. Wow, what a building that became !
So nice to see large American cities on their way up. I sure would have liked to have been there.
It's a bit surreal to think that there isn't a single person alive today from this video.
My sister Judie sent me this video.
Here's my note that I sent back to her about this SPECTACULAR remastered video:
❤️❤️❤️ Thank you, Poodie Cakes!
I remember me and my friends riding our bikes all over downtown back in the 60s, to Oak Street Beach on the regular, always looking forward to seeing all those landmark places that were strewn throughout our historical landscape, from time to time when we were kids!!
And, I used to think about how it must've looked when Mom and Dad, and Gramma Becker and all of Dad's family were young ...
Have you ever read, The Devil In The White City, a novel by Erik Larson that was written about the time of the Chicago World's Fair/The Columbian Exposition just prior to that time?
Just FABULOUS ...
SO COOL!!! ❤️❤️❤️
This was intoxicating. I only wish the actual person filming would have been captured, too. That person seemed to have an uncanny sense of the vast changes that would come in the future. Loved this!
well said. I wish that, too.
Indeed
Yes. I wonder exactly who and why they did the filming. Such foresight!
The pan of the lakefront showing Buckingham Fountain, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum is just wild.
Your channel feels like a time machine I'm glad i found you !🔥
this is amazing. seeing the lakefront like that is crazy. they must have just expanded the land out when this footage was taken. the aquarium and the field musuem are brand new, and stand out like the parthenon on the acropolis. those hills going down the right side from the museum look so weird.
I love this work you do as I basically am writing history on my channel and live in the 1920's...my late mother was born 100 years ago in 1922, made to 94. Chicago played a major role during The Summer of 1926...which I've written and vlogged about on my channel. A vicious personal attack on Valentino weeks before he died ... coming out of Chicago with his going there to try to confront the writer, to no avail.
thank you very much
@@NASS_0 Seeing these scenes bring to life what I write about...thank you!!!
My father was born in 1923 and my mother in 1927 ... in this very city Chicago, as a matter of fact. I can picture both of them as small children during this film, and my grandparents as young adult parents.
@@jody6851 I lived in Milwaukee in the early 80's and would visit Chicago to feel less isolated. Coming from the NYC area WI was not for me, but Chicago 👍. I saw Elton John in an open arena down there during his "Mozart" days, lol.
@@rudolphvalentinoconnection8298 Last time I was in Chicago, the Bears had a home against Green Bay. It definitely, was an experience only equaled to the time I was at a Brazilian's home while Brazil was playing Argentina in the World Cup years ago.
I love Chicago vids because I can remind myself I have been to at least some of the locations and I enjoy seeing what they once were.
I feel like I’m watching footage of a lost golden age. When we still cared about beauty. We lost something precious in the last 100 years. Cant explain it.
You are 100% correct
happy black history month!!
Stopped caring about our neighbors and work became way too competitive.
Its amazing how recognizable Chicago was from then to now. 100 years. This was a special treat Thank you!
Absolutely amazing footage!
This is exactly why I record what I do on my channel. Not for current viewers, but definitely for some future archive to showcase what the early 21st century looked like in full color. I have so much content that I still need to edit and upload but I think it'll be really cool to show my future generations the era in which I grew up and came into adulthood.
I started recording random videos of me driving down the street or walking down streets in the neighborhood. I don’t post to any site but maybe I should archive them somewhere. I was able to find some from the 70s of my hometown and it’s so cool seeing streets I also went down, with a mix of things that are still there and some that aren’t
I may start doing the same, thanks for the motive. 😁
tbf, theres billions of records of the early 21st century in full color, but yeah its different when its your personal life you are documenting.
If that technology makes it into the future. People of that time will be saying WTF when they the current generations and the things they did.
@@stvlu733 very much also let's leave tiktok out of thee equation oh boy😅
While I too can recognize most of the locations, it would be great if someone posted watermarks with approx locations for each shot. But LOVE it as is. So cool to see my city a century ago!
Yes, agreed. Will check the comments below for "timecode."
Damn this is the ULTIMATE in time travel! Well done restoration & color of film
Born and raised, I love my city. I truly believe it’s one of a kind.
Thanks for the video. It’s amazing to see things from a 100+ years ago.
And look at the roads. Not a single pot hole. What happened? LOL.
Good video, no annoying music which is great.
Great downtown then and now. Chicago has maintained its look and character. One of my favorite Cities to visit. Was just there last weekend.
Your lucky you didn’t get shot
Like and Share Please
ما عندك مقاطع عربيه قديمه او سعوديه قديمه ابو عثمانيه قديمه عربيه
واكتب المقطع بالعربي
Absolutely
My grandfather and his partner had a tour boat that ran the Chicago River from 1912 to 1922, the kept it docked just East of the Clark St bridge. I watched carefully in the off chance that I might see it, but no luck. Wonderful to see so many familiar buildings from over 100 years ago. The colorization makes the time less distant and the added sound brings it to life. I had to laugh when I heard the ahoohgas from the Model Ts. I real life back then, you would of heard the distinct pitch of the whistles from the traffic cops.
I didn't realize that the Buckingham fountain spewed lava back then, lol.
This is so cool being from the city to see really it hasn’t changed much . These landmarks are still here which says alot about those who came before us
The colorization really brings out details to appreciate. If only time travel were possible
You'd have loved ancient Persia, China, Egypt and Rome then, not to mention the ancient America's...
You sound funny: "The _colonization_ really brings out details to appreciate". I assume you mean the colonization of North America through the White Man.
@@HansDunkelberg1 no, I mean by adding in color to a black and white film it really accentuates details which may have been overlooked had it not had the color added. Like seeing all the advertising, shops, regular people just living life. What does a working bus look like that a movie bus cannot replicate. A view closer to the reality I might see and experience if I were there.
@@MyKnifeJourney Another, even more palatable breakthrough into a reconstruction of how the past has looked is looming in the field of a reconstruction of what people have seen from their brains' activity. Perhaps ruclips.net/video/0o17Zwzam1g/видео.html interests you, in such a sense. Under this link there are shown reconstructions of imagery based on brain activity that's measured while a subject watches a movie. So this is rather crude, still, but it basically shows that you can reconstruct what someone sees in his mind. It's not necessarily much harder to reconstruct from the brain's activity also imagery a person just recollects (remembers) in the mind, subsequently. Once you're able to do this, you can hypnotize a person (that is, bundle his or her attention) into an earlier life while his or her brain currents are measured, and voila...
@@HansDunkelberg1
To be fair, it wasn't the aboriginal peoples of the Americas that created Art Deco and promulgated classical architecture. Teepees are cute, though.
Thank You so much for this colorful treat!! Merry Christmas 🎄 every one!!!
This is so amazing to see. Today I walk in this same space, and some of these structures are still there, looking just as they did 100 years ago. Just think, at the time this was filmed, there were still people who were alive during the civil war.
Gotta be grateful for the person who filmed this. It was a nice gift to the future.
Wow, this bring memories. At 6:35, it's me with that white hat and two of my buddies, Louis and Gerome.
3 minutes in and I forgot it was added sound, so that means it worked!! Nice job on all of this.
thank you so much
everything is so clean, wow!
I live in the Loop. It's unreal to see what it looked like 100 years ago. Haunting, really.
I love these videos!!!! I just found your RUclips page and subscribed. Thank you for doing this!! I have always, most of my life, wished that I had a time machine!
I'm from Germany and I love America because of its cities. I would definitely fly to America every year if I wasn't afraid of flying.😆
Haha, if you love America because of cities expect something like this ruclips.net/video/uxykI30fS54/видео.html The real cities here can only be counted on fingers (NY, DC, some parts of Chicago, etc). Whereas most of the "cities" in the US consist of suburban houses, freeways and parking lots. Nothing close to Europe.
I used to fear it but, think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of flights every year, and none crash. I'm just saying this to encourage you to get here. Chicago is a special place.
Next time you come to Chicago, I would recommend you come in July for “Taste of Chicago”. It’s a great festival!
@@monicarenee7949 Assuming you don't get shot and killed by a dindu nuffin getting some reeperations.