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I would love to experience New York in that era. If I could time travel, I would eschew the Roman Empire, WWII, etc and visit New York in the 50s and 60s. Visually fascinating, still thriving Little Italy, Jazz Age, etc.
Perhaps because wasn't around then and or feed a steady diet of black and white television programs or films have a hard time imagining the 1950's in "color". *LOL*
Also see NYC in particular Manhattan in some sort of film noir gritty background.
Know from old timers who say Manhattan was just so much different then. Most areas still had large numbers of family households (white flight to the suburbs was not yet in full swing) so things were pretty much like Jane Jacobs spoke of; the streets were full of people sitting on stoops, kids playing and so forth.
Know the West and Greenwich Village was still largely Italian and Irish back in the 1950's. Yes, parts were bohemian and of course the gay element, but not like it is today.
Decades channel ran a "binge" marathon of back to back "Naked City" episodes this weekend! Who-Hoo!
Have never seen so much "old" New York City in one television series. Think it was so cool they shot so many scenes right on the streets of the City.
Some things are just wrong, but think you'd have to be a New Yorker to know. For instance the supposed "63 precinct" was supposed to be in Hell's Kitchen/west 50's area. Yet in some episodes you find them investigating homicides outside "Tremont Monuments" located on Washington Avenue, well isn't that in the Bronx?
Was good also seeing so much of late 1950's to early 1960's (when the series ran) streets before they were bull dozed and became large developments. Once you locate a landmark such as the Chrysler Building (those boys from the 63'rd really got around), it became clear they were in/on a building on the East Side (Mid-town east) below 42nd Street.
I've been feeling nostalgic about the Manhattan I grew up in. No one has been interested 'til now!
In 1948 my parents and I moved from Far Rockaway to 201 West 66th Street. It was off the corner down from a coffee shop and was one of the more modern buildings. There was a cobbler around the corner on Amsterdam Avenue who repaired shoes and I loved to go inside and sit on a little leather throne-like chair which was encircled by a low intricately carved wooden wall. I would sit and wait for my shoes to be done all the while being enveloped by smells and sounds like nothing else! The smell of leather, the smell of different substances the cobbler would use like glue, polish and machine oil. The sound of the different belts whining would excite and terrify me - it always sounded as if "the machine" was going to chop me up into little pieces!
Past the cobbler was the German butcher - beef bones were free - liver also - They were supposed to be for the dog or cat but people with limited incomes were glad to get them. The bakery speaks for itself - of course there were free cookies and the SMELLS!! Also owned by a German couple was the delicatessen -they had big kosher pickles in a barrel for a nickel - I forgot to say that at the German butcher was would get "chop meat" - the butcher would take a steak which you would select yourself and after grinding it in a meat grinder he would pass you a sample of the RAW meat - I'm 70 years old now and can still remember the taste - try doing that these days (It was delicious!)
Anyway, I could go on and on but have other things to do today - tomorrow I'll get to the candy store.
Most of the movie, "The Apartment" was shot on a Hollywood sound stage or on its back lot. The scene where Shirley MacLaine is operating an elevator was shot at a Los Angeles office building.
Naked City, the TV series, was patterned after the movie "The Naked City," a 1947 production which was shot entirely in NYC. To enhance realism, street scenes were photographed with cameras hidden in the back of trucks and subway scenes were also shot with hidden cameras. For those who would like a glimpse into the way things were in NYC years ago, rent the movie.
I never really cared for the series, The Naked City back in the day.
There were newstands on ever corner in the subway stations and on the platforms. Some of the subway platforms had vending machines that sold "cold" soft drinks. There were no plastic cups. Everything was in paper. At some places, when you bought a soft drink, it was served in a paper cone shaped cup which fit into a ceramic holder. There were still automats around at that time. I miss the cream cheese and nut sandwich that you could get from Chock Full O Nuts.
Manhattan was a lot more WASP back then. Most of the ethnics lived in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Queens and Staten Island was almost "the country" and Long Island was "the country." Most of the WASPs shopped at places like Bonwit Teller, Saks, B. Altman, etc. Even Macys was kind of waspy. Blacks and Jews went to Gimbels and Klein's. If you lived in Brooklyn or the Bronx, then you shopped in Brooklyn and the Bronx. if you lived in Queens, then you shopped in Jamaica. Besides Woolworths, there was also Lamstons which hung on until around 1990. Manhattan was always more expensive than Brooklyn and Queens and certainly more expensive than the rest of the US. Getting a decent apartment was still difficult. There has always been a shortage of "affordable" housing in reasonable condition.
Most office buildings and large department stores did have elevator operators. The escalators looked like the ones found in Macys on 34th. When I go to Macys, I try to ride them because they are very nostalgic for me.
The Third Ave. El was around until 1953ish?
I remember going to some sort of car show at the Colosseum. Columbus Circle looked differently back then. Went to lots of movies at the Radio City Music Hall. Tickets for Broadway shows were like 4-5 bucks. When it got up to 7 bucks in the 1960s, my parents said it was too expensive. 1950s was definitely the golden age of the Broadway Musical.
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