A Day in New York 1940s in color [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added

Which city in the world would you like to live in the 1940s?

The people looked so much nicer back then and everything is so clean and orderly.

Magnificent flick. I was born in N.Y. July, 1940. Am a youthful 83 now. Bought an around the world ticket and traveled for 7 months in 1960. My entire perspective was transformed thereafter. It was as if I was in these video scenes again. Time passes rapidly & having experienced a collage of numerous endeavors & global lifetime experiences in China,, Taiwan, South America, Carribean, and USA-SFO/LAX/PS/ S.Florida, I look back and reminisce what a wonderful life I had growing up in N.Y.'s renaissance 40'-50's era..The whole world is a mess now. Live in MBeach

The city looked so clean back in those days.

NYC was so advanced back then. It’s amazing that within a few decades or within one lifetime we went from reading by candles and traveling by horseback to electricity, lightbulbs, telephones, phonographs, automobiles, airplanes, television, movies and the atomic bomb. One person born around 1860 and blessed with a long life could’ve easily witnessed the birth of some of the most significant technological advancements in human history.

Look at all these people just living their lives. Not a single phone in sight.

It’s impressive how well developed New York was in the 1940’s, imagine you’ve come from Belfast or Liverpool, you’ve never seen a megalopolis like this before in your entire life, and the awe you feel from the view.

I was born in’55 and have often thought that I was born 20 years too late. Aside from war, some of the most wonderful times in and around a city like NY (I grew up in the northern burbs) were in the 40’s (Big Band music, Broadway), 50’s (Beat poetry, Lenny Bruce, recognition and appreciation of blues music, birth of rock and roll), 60’s (the whole age of aquarius/flower power/psychedelic music—San Francisco would have been great to be a young adult in the 60’s). By the 70’s and 80’s rock music was peaking out. I would have been satisfied making it until the turn of the millennium. Nothing today has very much interest, and the world seems to be coming apart. I’d hate to be a young person today.

The video of the kids playing stickball in the street and bouncing the Spaldeen off of the stoop were the highlights for me. My dad was a city kid doing just that in those days, and I must have heard him reminisce about playing with his buddies in the neighborhood dozens of times. To see it was wonderful.

The modest clothing that the ladies are wearing is a beautiful sight!

Kudos to whoever had the foresight in 1940 to record this.

I am a native New Yorker and I LOVE , this film . Some times the ghost of the 40' s working class would walk on the sidewalk , and I wouldn't mine .

Love this video!! Made when people valued life and took pride in what we had in this country. Very refreshing! Thank you for sharing. 😊

How beautifully dressed all the women were and the men so smart. People certainly took a pride in their appearances in those days.

Wow, I love the cars and how the ladies dress so elegant. No glass towers anywhere! Not a single piece of plastic on the plant. The food market only used natural packaging. I enjoyed seeing this wonderful world. I imagined that Louis Armstrong was singing.

This is really beautiful. Probably late forties as nobody in uniform. These people had pride and class and are dressed beautifully. People looked happy, kids were playing, there is an innocence which has been lost forever.

I know every street on video. It's given me a glimpse into the beauty NYC was. It saddens me to see the change. The kids played on fire hydrants was a way for us all to cool off. Everyone swam in the Hudson River. Thank you for these beautiful shots, and memories ❤

I have seen about 175 or more videos in historical archives of varying quality and to be honest this is absolutely stunning. Because of the intimate nature of the camera in juxtaposition with the everyday life of the people. As a New Yorker all these sites are amazing to see as some of them still stand the test of time. This is the closest you have to taking a time machine! Truly remarkable. Thank you.

I was born in NYC in 1971 (Gen X), so by the time I was teen in the early 1980s, all those movie palaces in Time Square in the 1940s had turned into X-Rated Live peep shows and bargain adult video store warehouses (in the 50s/60s they had turned into live burlesque and jazz clubs, and in the 1970s they became dirty "grindhouse" cinemas showing Kung Fu and Blaxploitation films). By the mid 1990s Mayor Guiliani had cleaned it up and returned it back into family friendly Disneyworld tourist hub. Well its 2023 and I can't help but see the deterioration and decline happening again. But it has been truly fascinating seeing an area transform itself again and again throughout my lifetime!

In spite of the war , these were better times for New York. Great footage.