1939 New York in HD Color - Looks Like Filmed Yesterday!

Woo.  NYC's streets and sidewalks look depopulated when compared to what these streets and sidewalks are like today.  Yet some of the landmarks are as recognizable from then as from now, fountains particularly, such as Washington Square's, Rockefeller Center's and so on.

NYers rebuild quickly! This is 1939 -- six years after King Kong ravaged the place, recall.  :)

At this point there are entire blocks of sidewalk without room to get through because so many bicycles are parked and locked on them, there's no room left for pedestrian traffic. (Don't get me started on bicyclists riding on the sidewalks ....)  As well, the handle bars and other parts poke out at your vulnerable places -- and you don't see them, due to color, position, one's own poor vision.  Some people set their bikes up perpendicular -- the dark handlebars and wheels jut out into the space you are walking in but you can't see them, particularly in shadows or at night.

There are more bikes everywhere everyday: for one thing the Young and Recently Graduated cannot afford cars in this economy, now the bike share program is in effect, releasing thousands more bicycles, ridden by people who aren't used to navigating this city in the first place, actually riding in this kind of traffic, as opposed to recreational biking, and, of course, have no clue at all as to where they are going.

But this is another of Mommy Dearest Mayor Mike's dearly beloved babies, just as is gun control.  Yet, get this: the Mommy Dearest Mayor has now declared his fiat that medical marijuana is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated upon a gullible public ....

More information about this 1939, French-filmed video here.