As you’ve probably figured out by now, I love old footage of New York City. And it’s not just that I’m romanticizing my youth. Sure, I love looking at images of the Manhattan I grew up in during the 70’s, 80’s and beyond, but I’m as equally captivated by pictures of Manhattan that predate my 43 years here. For example, I loved that photo in my last post. It’s 105 years old, but I could still immediately recognize the topography. I’m captivated by the idea that many of the buildings and landmarks that surround us as we go about our busy little lives here have stood for generations before us and will ideally be standing long after we’re gone.
In any case, Jeremiah Moss made an excellent find today and posted a great entry about some films posted by the Anthology Film Archives that capture New York in some of its previous incarnations. Jeremiah chose to concentrate on an admittedly haunting, silent black and white clip of Astor Place shot presumably sometime in the early 60s (it’s hard to pinpoint). From the same collection, though, I was hooked in by another mysterious clip. Dubbed “W 8th Street, Heading West,” this short, 16mm film details just that – a casual stroll down an unusually busy West 8th Street – from 5th Avenue to 6th Avenue on the north side of the street -- probably on a Summer day during the early-to-mid 1970s.
I’ve written about my own associations with the strip in question many times here. As a teenager, I was a regular visitor to West 8th Street, frequently giving my patronage to its once-thriving array of record shops and rock curio emporiums. Most of those spots are long gone now and the street has gone through several transformations since. In more recent years, West 8th Street has struggled to climb out of a period of decline and transform itself into a new restaurant destination (with varying degrees of success). While watching this clip, it’s striking to see how much has changed … and how much has remained the same.
To see more clips from the vaults of the Anthology Film Archives, click here.
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