19 replies to this topic

[jerseyjunker1]

film from rumble seat w/sound

An early "dashcam" style film, showing a trip along Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, California in the mid 1930's. The rear facing camera captures many classic vehicles from the 1920s and 1930s including a Rolls Royce, a tow truck with a vehicle clearly damaged from an accident, and of course many Ford and General Motors vehicles that were so common during this period.

 

[Casey]

Traffic lanes?? What traffic lanes? 

[TooOld]

That's pretty cool .  I think I saw an ice cream truck going the other way !

[Hollywood Jim]

Very cool !! 

Thanks.

[Harry P.]

Wow! No lane markings! No traffic lights! No stop signs on any of the cross streets! No turning lanes!

 

How did they manage to avoid killing each other? 

[kataranga]

Wow, that's really neat. A different world back then, that's for sure.

[gtx6970]

I liked that , thanks for posting this

 

it was definitely a different world back then .

[slusher]

Nice look into the past....

[rmvw guy]

What I thought was strange I only noticed about three cars from the mid '30s, all the rest were older.  I figured there would have been more new cars, it appears to be around 1936.  Thanks for sharing that with us Manny.

[George]

Wow! No lane markings! No traffic lights! No stop signs on any of the cross streets! No turning lanes!

 

How did they manage to avoid killing each other? 

 

 

In my old man's voice imitation I'll explain:We had no cell phones,MP3,CD's to divert our attention to the task at hand.We as drivers respected one another and paid attention while we were driving and we knew one day these automobiles we were driving would be turned into cool hot rods(well maybe not that one).We knew if we wrecked our fine automobile that we would have to walk to work or school and shoes back then were not very comfortable to walk in for the miles we would have had to walk.

 

Now where is that Listerene,my throat hurts because of the old man's voice.

[TooOld]

What I thought was strange I only noticed about three cars from the mid '30s, all the rest were older.  I figured there would have been more new cars, it appears to be around 1936.  Thanks for sharing that with us Manny.

 

Around that time automobiles were still a luxury item and not a necessity .  Not a lot of people could afford them .   In 1936 we were still recovering from the depression .

[Johnny]

Wow! No lane markings! No traffic lights! No stop signs on any of the cross streets! No turning lanes!

 

How did they manage to avoid killing each other? 

Maybe people back then just had more common courtesy (and maybe common sense).

[Skip]

My Grandfather had worked the oil-fields from Santa Paula clear down past L.A. area from about

1928 to 1938-ish when he packed up and moved to Washington.  Whenever he or my Grandma

would talk about living in California they would always take a sidetrack to commet on what maniacs

the drivers down there were.  Seeing Wilshire Blvd. without any traffic markings of any kind just

added to their stories.  Even if it does show rather well behaved drivers in the clip.  Thanks for

sharing it brought back a flood of memories!

 

If this was 1936 it would have been in pretty much the middle of the depression. Most historians

agree that the beginning of the lend lease program an the beginning of World War II was the end

of the Great Depression.  Lasting from 1928 - 1929 (with government economic stimulation) until

1938 - 1940 or 1941.  That's why we have whole generations who grew up during the depression

who saved everything from string to bailing wire never ever throwing away anything that could

have a second life as something useful.  It was that "make do" mentality that made our Grand-

parents and Great-Grandparents some of the most creative in our history!

[Harry P.]

Wilshire Boulevard at Rodeo Drive (Los Angeles)... looking west, 1930s.

 

 

No lane markings.

No turning lanes.

No traffic lights.

No stop signs.

No posted speed limit.

No traffic control devices of any kind!

 

How did they survive???

[martinfan5]

Simple Harry,  if I am not mistaken, automobiles then did not have a very high top speed correct, so that is a factor, and I think the other is people were a lot nicer, and considerate back in those days as well.

[Harry P.]

Even if they were all going only 20-25 mph... no lights? no traffic controls of any kind at intersections? It seems amazing to me that they just didn't play bumper cars all day long!

[Harry P.]

Here's a similar video. This is Market Street in San Francisco. This was filmed from a cable car just 4 days before the great earthquake and fire that destroyed the city in April, 1906 (original is silent, the music was added later):

 

[TooOld]

That's pretty wild !   I saw a couple people almost get run over .   I bet an accident would've drawn quite a crowd !

 

Thanks Harry .

[2002p51]

Like George said Harry, people just did a better job of driving in those days. They paid attention to what they were doing and respected the other drivers on the road. Many cars in those days only had a single, small taillight/brake light and that was good enough.

 

Today we have huge taillights, third brake lights, (and some even flash several times) and we still have rear end crashes because people aren't paying attention.

[Steven Zimmerman]

Actually, statistics show that accidents PER MILE DRIVEN have gone down for several years. And there were a lot fewer drivers on the road then, the speed limits were a LOT lower and today's vehicles are about a thousand percent safer.