jerseyjunker1 Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 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.
TooOld Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 That's pretty cool . I think I saw an ice cream truck going the other way !
Harry P. Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 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?
Fabrux Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Wow, that's really neat. A different world back then, that's for sure.
gtx6970 Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 I liked that , thanks for posting this it was definitely a different world back then .
rmvw guy Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 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.
TooOld Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 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 .
Guest Johnny Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 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 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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. Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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. Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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. Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 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.
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