Vintage Super 8 Video Shows Manhattan in 1986

CurbedNY via Flaming Pablum has this great vintage 1986 video of New York City showing places lost and still around. The NYC portion begins with an aerial shot over Midtown Manhattan, with closer-ups of the Empire State Building and the original Twin Towers. You can also see part of the World Financial Center under construction.

The video spends a lovingly long amount of time on the Staten Island Ferry with the Statue of Liberty in the background. There are some great ’80s fashion finds on the East River esplanade as the video pans over the Queensboro Bridge and Roosevelt Island, showing the barren southern end of the island which is now occupied by FDR Four Freedoms Park. Then there’s a sped-up shot at the United Nations sculpture Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares.

Moving onto Greenwich VIllage, there’s a filtered looks at the Jefferson Market Library coupled with a reminder that we’re still using some of the same models of the NYC bus. Other highlights from the Village include the freestanding newsstand on 6th Avenue, the 8th Street Playhouse, and a small Barnes & Noble. The video then cuts to the Meatpacking District with a shot of Gansevoort Market and the intersection of 9th Avenue and 14th Street. Signage from the Old Homestead Steakhouse, a restaurant that still exists in the same location, is also in this montage. In a closeup of a traffic light, the building that now houses the Mac store can be seen. Looking north up 9th Avenue, you’ll be struck at how few skyscrapers there are in the Chelsea background.

For more vintage goodness, check out these photos of gritty Meatpacking in the 1990s from our Vintage Photography column.