Time Warp! Drive Through Boston's City Streets in 1964!

[southshore720]

Great video via Boston.com of a drive through Boston's city streets in 1964:
http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2014/06/13/here-what-looked-like-drive-through-boston-years-ago/eY3uTHl4aIG2ujOL1OyRpO/story.html

[xcellntbuy]

That was a terrific 50-year old ride!

[thenetwork]

Now we need someone with a GoPro to follow the same route as closely as possible and do a split-screen then & now.

[Alps]

Now we need someone with a GoPro to follow the same route as closely as possible and do a split-screen then & now.

Probably impossible, the way Boston changes one-way restrictions and entire neighborhoods.

[KEVIN_224]

I immediate recognized the area where the South Station bus terminal now is, around the 2:50 mark. The camera man was east on Kneeland Street, takes the left onto Atlantic Avenue and then right on (I want to say) Summer Street, going over the Fort Point Channel.

[bob7374]

I immediate recognized the area where the South Station bus terminal now is, around the 2:50 mark. The camera man was east on Kneeland Street, takes the left onto Atlantic Avenue and then right on (I want to say) Summer Street, going over the Fort Point Channel.

Given that I take parts of Memorial Drive, River Street, and Mass. Ave through Cambridge as part of my, almost, daily commute, was quick to figure out where the video started. Cars and businesses change through time, but much of the scenery on the same drive today would be familiar to someone from 50 years ago. Having seen this video a few times, I have been able to anticipate where route shields appear and was able to identify at least one US 1, MA 3, MA 28 combination when the car was driving the Riverway.

[PHLBOS]

Nice find.  It's too bad the trip didn't include using the Central Artery.  Back then, all the ramps existed and were in use.  Several ramps were removed during the mid-70s near Faneuil Hall & the Callahan Tunnel.

Those old overhead signs along Storrow Drive (I remember those signs quite well) survived through most of the 1980s.

A couple good shots of the then-under-construction Government Center at Scollay Square.

[Pete from Boston]

This popped up years ago on ne.transportation and probably misc.transport.road.  I'm a little surprised at the Glob for being so late to the party, but not really. 

A nice complement to this is the Perceptual Form of the City collection, photos taken in the late 50s as part of the research behind Kevin Lynch's famous MIT Press book Image of the City:

http://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/33656

Search around in it and see what you find.  There are some incredible scenes in there.

[BamaZeus]

That's really neat.   I know they weren't necessarily his fault, but the driver nearly got in 3 wrecks during the first minute alone

For purely selfish reasons, I do wish they could isolate some of the roadgeek features like the roadsigns, etc.  I was able to see some old gas station signs like American (Standard/AMOCO), Esso, Gulf.  The prize for me was a really old Dunkin Donuts sign late in the film (in Brighton maybe?) where it was two rows of neon lights as opposed to the logo of today.  I also noticed an old HoJo restaurant too.

[Pete from Boston]

That Dunkin' Donuts sign, the last of its kind, was taken down in 2008!  Shortsighted corporate dinks.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/04/12/its_time_over_1957_neon_landmark_is_retired/

[agentsteel53]

anyone wanna give me the time stamps of where the old signs are?  it's just way, way too fast for me even though I'm familiar with most of the streets.

I spotted a few on Storrow, and a couple of cut-corners, and the 1-3-28 (cutout MASS-US 1, alas not a red shield) - any more?