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Have been watching reruns of the old television show "The Naked City" on MeTv and am loving seeing so many outdoor shots of Manhattan during the 1950's. For those that don't know the series it was the one that coined phrase "there are eight million stories......." a reference to the population of NYC at that time.
One episode last week showed the old The New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle that has since been torn down for the Time Warner Building.
It is interesting to see how much of "old" New York was still around especially Midtown and Far West Side. Tenement and old brownstone blocks long since demolished for skyscrapers and other buildings. The 65th Precinct as named in series actually is Bronxville which was used for some exterior shots but the precinct as used in the series was the 18th (Mid-Town North) 306 West 54th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Back then this area was smack dab IIRC in Hell's Kitchen which was then still very much Irish. This probably accounts for so many of the NYPD officers and others having thick Irish accents. *LOL*
We lived on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side.
The styles were quite formal by today's standards. My father who worked in Midtown wore a suit, tie and hat every day. In winter he added an overcoat. For shopping in the area, my mother and grandmother did not get particularly dressed up (although indoors they always wore "housedresses"). But when they went to Midtown, they put on their hats and gloves -- and so did we girls! This was in the mid to late 50s.
Very few people had air conditioning. We would go to the movies during a heat wave -- all the marquees had banners with icicles on them, with a sign saying they were air conditioned. And at home, we turned off lights, opened windows for cross ventilation, and turned on a floor fan.
There wasn't even a supermarket in the neighborhood, but rather a separate grocery (dry goods) store, bakery, butcher/ fishmonger, deli, and so on.
That neighborhood west of Broadway looks much the same to me today; Broadway however is now a shopping mall with all the same stores you find everywhere-- plus lots of supermarkets!
Have been watching reruns of the old television show "The Naked City" on MeTv and am loving seeing so many outdoor shots of Manhattan during the 1950's. For those that don't know the series it was the one that coined phrase "there are eight million stories......." a reference to the population of NYC at that time.
One episode last week showed the old The New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle that has since been torn down for the Time Warner Building.
It is interesting to see how much of "old" New York was still around especially Midtown and Far West Side. Tenement and old brownstone blocks long since demolished for skyscrapers and other buildings. The 65th Precinct as named in series actually is Bronxville which was used for some exterior shots but the precinct as used in the series was the 18th (Mid-Town North) 306 West 54th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Back then this area was smack dab IIRC in Hell's Kitchen which was then still very much Irish. This probably accounts for so many of the NYPD officers and others having thick Irish accents. *LOL*
there were no midwest hipsters polluting the boroughs.
I was born in NYC at the end of the decade, so I can't relate anything from personal experience. My parents had moved to NYC mid-decade. I do remember my mom once saying that she loved the 50s, but I don't remember any stories, other than the cheap rent, even accounting for inflation.
I imagine beatniks, or the real authors and artists of the Beat Generation, in coffee houses actually talking about things, rather than being glued to their computers and smartphones.
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