Trip To/Through Chicago 1969 - From an old Super 8 home movie - Retro-8 film Scanner. Nighttime city lights from film. RU-vid muted some songs. I may have to mute the whole video, which I'll do, as long as the video can stay up. Enjoy!!!
One of the commenters generously did the time stamps -- is there anyway you can include it up at the top? (see below) "thpass 9 months ago (edited) Huge Thank you to @19king14 Film2Video Memories & Services for posting this video. Much of the film footage shows structures which are either gone or changed in the current Chicago cityscape. Here are some highlights with timestamps: 0:48-0:55 Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens housing projects. These were demolished in 2005-07 1:04 A view of the skyline from the Dan Ryan with the First National Bank building (now Chase) and the Hancock tower as the only prominent skyscrapers. The black train bridge crossing over the river at 21st remains largely the same. 2:30 view from the UP North Western tracks at Park Ridge overlooking Main street headed south 2:50 -3:04 Museum of Science and Industry from 57th st with closeups of the caryatid statue columns from the lawn 3:59 the Travel Lodge in the background during cab ride is now a best western near 49th and Lake Shore drive 4:10 Soldier Field as seen from the east section of northbound Lake Shore drive before the merge of the lanes west of museum campus 4:37 view of Buckingham fountain with Hilton and Blackstone hotels in the background. Torco sign was prominent for years before Columbia College moved into building 4:44 the Geodesic dome at 400 east Randolph is still there. Shown here near the start of the old "S-curve" on Lake Shore Drive. The interior is a swimming pool as seen in the 1969 film Medium Cool 4:50-5:16 views of the Hancock, Time Life bldg and Wrigley bldg from the old S-curve. This area has changed drastically since the new s-curve was built in 1985 5:45-6:00 views of Marshall Field store (now Macy's) from Randolph and Wabash. note the old Trailways bus depot across street(gone 1988). The service driveway thru Fields is now blocked off from Randolph 6:15 nice views of a 6000-series CTA train car turning toward Lake street The green and white cars were in service thru the late 1980s 6:50 Marina towers in the freshly completed state. Renovations followed in the 90s and mid 2000s 7:10 The old Sun-times (and Daily News) bldg near the Wrigley bldg and Tribune tower. The suntimes moved out early 2000s, Trump tower sits where this once stood 7:35 Carbide and Carbon building detail. Antennas were removed from the top of the tower in the 70s and the gold leaf restoration completed the art deco look. 8:05 The Playboy tower (Palmolive bldg) had a high powered rotating light which operated thru the early 1980s 8:26 the old, huge Mandel bldg (demolished in the 90s) and the new construction for Wacker drive east of Michigan ave 9:15 The Roosevelt theater on State between Washington and Randolph currently Block 37 9:25 The United Artists and Woods theaters (demolished late 80s). Marquees were lit up even during the day. 10:24 the view southwest from the rotating restaurant Pinnacle Lounge atop the Holiday Inn (now W Chicago)at Ontario and LSD. a view of the old Mandel bldg, Equitable and newly constructed Time Life bldgs 11:00 The gothic style tower is part of Northwestern University Abbott hall 11:13 old Navy Pier was in a dormant stage after U.I.C. moved into the new near west side campus. Footage of Navy Pier in the early 70s is seen in the movie Cooley High. Ramps leading into building were removed in the 1980s. 11:51 -13:45 Excellent night time footage of the neon signage and marquees from downtown Chicago. The Cadillac sign was near the S-curve. The Theater marquees were lit up brilliantly with thousands of light bulbs for the United Artists and Woods theaters at Dearborn and Randolph. Movies shown at the time were Midnight Cowboy and Castle Keep. This part of downtown has completely changed. Block 37 shops sit where United Artists once was. 13:00 Chicago theater is the only theater remaining of all of these. Showing Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (June 1969) 13:05 State Lake theater is now ABC7 news studios 13:12 the notorious magazine shop and cocktail restaurant with the creepy swing goer, next door to Flo's on Randolph. 13:27 McVickers theater on Madison near Dearborn demolished in 1985 13:54 old Magikist lips sign from the Kennedy expressway. One of 3. There was another on I-290
Thanks for the advice. I just now "pinned" your comment to always be at the top for others to see. Thanks again. If you wish you can edit or remove your first few lines to the time is at the beginning of the comment.
I have to admit, I became VERY emotional watching this. I was 11 years old in 1969, growing up in Chicago, and while the city has changed a great deal since then, it's still very much the same, as well. I saw sights in this video that I distantly remembered, and I want to say a heart-felt thank you for posting this. You've made an old man very, very happy today.
@@youngchristian4540 The only thing he lied about was that he inferred he was "old" and if you read what he wrote he is only 60-61 years old. THAT's not OLD! Speaking as a person who was 13 in 1969... :-)
When a Chicagoan hears "Willis" they think of the "Willis wagons" that were installed on CPS sites to keep the schools racially segregated. Instead of allowing blacks to enroll in all white schools, they made them attend classes in trailers. The name "Willis" applied to real estate has very racist and negative connotations. It's amazing to me that the stupid corporate eggheads missed this when renaming the iconic Sears Tower. No true Chicagoan will EVER call the Sears Tower ANYTHING but the Sears Tower. Suck it, corporate knob slobbers. Do some basic research, you bumbling oafs. It's the Sears Tower, now and forever.
"Hey, let me show you some film from our trip to Chicago!" August 1969, family and friends: "Um, we really need to be going, Stan." August 2021, 162,000 random strangers: "Yes please!"
Isn't that the truth :) I was one of those weirdos who loved watching other people's home movies. My dad would be dozing off on the couch and I'd be fascinated
As a millennial and my mom a boomer(I born ‘91and she in ‘54). She drove a cab for many years so I was able to learn most of the city at a pretty young age. Can’t believe I was able to watch a video 50+ years old and recognize almost every landmark through the city. Wish I could’ve been around to see it lit up at night with all the neon signs. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly I am absolutely in love with this city. Went away to train to become a flight attendant for a couple months. And when I came back as soon as the skyline touched my eyes I cried like a baby I was so happy to be home . Chicago …. What a city ❤️
Beautifully poetic description but I'm not giving up on her. She's outshined and thrived amid her fallen 19th century, so called_rust belt_rivals of Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland etc. Still great cities but none have percervered with magnificence like Chicago!
I know the person who filmed this, and the many other super 8s with the lady in yellow. I know her too. She has her fiancé's large print plaid leisure jacket, folded over her arm. I was her flower girl, all her bridal party wore pastel yellow satin with embroidered white daisy chain straight down the front. The couple gave me my first paperback, it was Peanuts cartoons. They both are photographers. So happy people love this video.❤❤
For those that requested background informatiom; I wish I had some... I have an 8mm film scanner. This was a reel I found somewhere in my flea-marketing. I enjoy it and was never even in Chicago - it is an excellent time capsual. I do believe the rather irritated woman is the wife of the camera owner. The night scenes were a challange to the scanner and myself as monitoring and improving what I could, but I was able to bring it out surprisingly well for old home-movie film. I'm glad so many others are enjoying this and am happy to see so many favorable comments and memories! I'm surprised you-tube doesn't block the music.
Wow did this bring back memories, thank you so much, the music was perfect! When I was 11 and 12 my dad was in the Veteran's Hospital downtown Chicago so we went to see him twice a week for two years, it was at this same time frame as this video. Like stepping back in time.
Thanks so much for posting this movie, it's great work. I'd love to blend some of these shots with a short music clip I'm making, if ok by you. It adds the look I'm searching for.
Not so!!!! In city traffic, motorists did always stop for pedestrians!!! Chicago was known as a city of courteous drivers - and, since many were WWII vets - they were indeed heroic hearts! These days Chicagoans drive like old time " Angelenos", i.e. residents of Los Angeles, who could turn a jaywalker into road kill! But guess what - today many living in Chicago are NOT the longtime citizens native to Chicago... (Most of those have moved away....or passed on...)+
Unbelievable that Chicago was like this in 1969. Way ahead of its time. Very nice video. I was vacationing in Chicago in 2014 with my wife and daughter. (We are from India) and we loved Chicago compared to other US cities. Really amazing to know that much of what we saw in Chicago in 2014 was so there in 1969 itself. Thanks for sharing.
There’s still time for you to step into a real time machine by visiting your nearest mall. But don’t wait because the opportunity is fast disappearing!
The way RU-vid is practicing Revisionism...would not be so sure about the total authenticity of the entire experience they are building... However, With the many advances not only in science but also in depth awareness of the Mysteries of this Creation: would not be so sure that those "who control the powers, principalities and perception" of Creation will perpetually be able to keep their experiences of actual Time Travel to themselves; After all - life was not created exclusively for the 0.0001percenters--- (though they like to imagine it is)!
@@InspectorCallahan.44 Yes, this can be a satisfying and inspiring experience sometimes...especially Lucid Dreams! However, take care with "Remote Viewing" exercises...extended separations of consciousness from one's physical presence can occasionally go awry...⚰️
Im not so sure about that. The more i learn about this universe i realize there is something very interesting about it. Time is linear here on earth to us but there is a link to other times through other dimensions, "heaven" is just another dimension, the (or one) dimension where there is no matter only energy and in that dimension there is no linear time. Supposedly all of time is occuring roughly now though appears linear on earth. I am quite certain many intelligent beings from around the universe can travel in space and time. It may be a long time for us but maybe not.
The sheer amount of people who have traversed those routes, walked along those buildings, and saw those very same sights back then. Most are gone, their memories not much unlike the ones we get watching this now.. Who were they? What were they thinking? Feeling? Life is so short my brothers and sisters, so short. Try to enjoy it while we have the chance..
I was 23 years old in the summer of 1969 attending NIU in DeKalb. I made two trips to Chicago that summer. The first was to watch the parade for astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. I had never before (or since) seen TONS of confetti fall from hundreds of windows. That memory has been etched in my mind ever since. As is, moments later, when Richard Daley, in making an introduction speech, forgot the name of one of the astronauts. The other trip was a week or so later to see the Cubs start their heart-breaking decline out of first place giving that honor the the Mets. I took some pictures during both of those visits but it was with my then-girlfriend's camera-- who is now as much gone from my life as so much of the wonderful Chicago of 1969.
I grew up on the west side of Chicago back in the 1960's. Your video brings back a lot of memories of the city for me. Thank you very much for posting!
Im from 69 growing up in Chicago it has changed alot for many years but would never give up my city I grew up memories that I will cherish for life Amen
One of the biggest changes over the past 50 years is the amount of traffic in Chicago. There really was a rush hour (one hour) of peak traffic in the morning and evening commute by car. The highways were empty compared to today even though the population was higher back in those days. The film brings back a lot of memories for me. Wish I could go back.
When my sister was born in Chicago in this same year, my parents didn't have much money and they would take her in a stroller to Buckingham Fountain and just spend their weekend nights there. I also had a great-aunt who lived in the Corn-Cob apartments at 7:49 . and the Picaso Statue at 9:26 is where my dad proposed to my mom. Life sure was simpler back then.
That's my hometown I got family up there they been up there for decades my father used to own the store their hell I was raised their 1967 how many you all remember that store that you go down in the basement and go out the other end yeah that's was my place Chicago I come up there every 3 years to visit just like coming back home much love to my hometown the Windy City👪👪👪❤❤❤❤❤❤💪💪
@@kylebollmeier154 While enjoying this nostalgic video, I noticed the the smog. There weren't any, or very few emissions laws back then, no catalytic converters to burn off poisonous carbon monoxide for example. All those regulations began in the 70's and increased over time to where we are today. With all the expense and regulations emissions controls required, the air should be cleaner today than in the past. I think most people back then accepted air pollution and smokey rooms( most people smoked back then it seemed) as part of life. Though not a smoker, I never thought twice about going into a room with smokers and I also took the outdoor pollution as part of life. So a few things today are better than the past, but I miss those days.
This brings back memories from '69..I was there to celebrate Christmas with my girlfriend and her family. We had dinner at the Top of the Rock atop the Preudential Building then went to see the just released movie "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" with Redford & Newman. Seeing the cars in this film felt like old times. Enjoyed it!
I was showing a young woman the sights in the early 2000s. When I pointed to the Prudential building and told her it was the tallest building in Chicago when I was a kid, she looked at me like I was Methuselah.
@WheelsAlwaysTurning Started in Summer of 1970 and completed in May 1973. Later Sears sold it and they renamed it Willis tower but to Chgo people, it will always be Sears tower.
I was born in 78’ but throughout my childhood, Chicago still looked very much like this. Hell, the neighborhood I lived in still looks like this today. Very nostalgic.
One of my favorite hobbies is finding the actual locations that appear in TV shows and movies on Google's Street View. I had a BLAST with this video. Surprisingly I was able to identify and find most of the locations in this video...I am surprised how much of Chicago is still there more than 50-years on.
The Magikist and Budweiser sign, the theater district with the Woods, State-Lake and Roosevelt Theaters showing "The Wild Bunch" at one and "Castle Keep" with Burt Lancaster and Peter Falk playing at another. The London House, Oxford House, squat and chubby Yellow and Checker cabs and the latticed-glass dome covering the condo swimming pool on the old LSD. AND the classic midcentury neon Holiday Inn sign. All gone forever. I can see it, hear it and smell the great, gritty odor of old Chicago as if I was back there with my family. Oh, the persistence of memory. Thanks for sharing this gem.
Talk about memory lane... the now iconic images were part of my everyday reality living in Lake Point Tower at age 15 in 1969. I also noticed how light the traffic was, and all the taxis. We walked for miles on Michigan, State, Randolph etc. so the sense of stoic, monolithic high-rise buildings was everyday scenery. We'll never know how this footage ended up in a flea market. Lots of people do not have a drop of nostalgia in them. Thank goodness for youtube!
Kind of sad actually, that this wonderful home movie ended up in a flea market. That couple did a nice job of getting great shots, without zooming too much, or panning the camera too quickly. They captured footage that gives a nice overview of what Chicago "felt like" in the day. Such a nice job, I wish we were able to know more about them and what life had in store in the decades after.
There are so many photographs we own. I think I have 3,000 on my phone. They will disappear from my cloud. I have a medium bin of photos, some taken with a Brownie, others with a Polaroid. A small bin holds small Fuji instant photographs. The day will come when they will wind up at a flea market or landfill.
Turned 14 in July, 69, Fenwick HS. Remember many of these places. My dad's friend from work was newly divorced, shocking in those days, and had moved into Lake Point Tower. How we oohed and awwed at the fews from his "pad."
This brought back so many nice memories. Born in 1958 and lived in area called Garfield Ridge on SW side of city until 1972. Live downstate in Champaign Urbana since then. Went to Our Lady of the Snows grade school. My late Dad worked downtown on Wacker at a financial brokerage firm. So nice to watch this and remember driving downtown to Carson Pirie Scott and Marshall Field's to look at store windows back then at Christmas TY to whomever uploaded this. 😊❤👍
"The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces." Incredible film quality! And no g-d awful background music! Thank you for sharing.
I was born in 1948, NYC. I used to love to shop along the Main Street downtown Brooklyn and look at shoes in the windows of the shoe shops. There were several. The least expensive shoes were in the front…..$2.99 usually. The middle displays were shoes $4.99 to $7.99. The really nice ones were high on the back displays $9.99. I loved them of course. No malls, back then, just nice shops, department stores.
Wow this is cool! Those buildings at:55 is the old Robert Taylor Homes right off the Dan Ryan expressway and the overhead railroad tracks is the Englewood/Howard line.
My family lived in the Robert Taylor Homes for a few years around '65. I remember looking out of the window and reading the railroad names on the sides of boxcars.Walking across the ditch that was was paved to become the Dan Ryan,
This is a real treat! I was born in October, 1969 at Swedish Covenant Hospital and spent the next 48 years in Chicago on the northwest side before moving to the western suburbs. Lane Tech alum!
WOW!!!! Marshall Fields!! Carson Pirie Scot (remember the Christmas displays), Lakeshore Drive!! The old Trailways Bus Station!! The Movie Theaters!!! I could go on...When Chicago was Chicago!!
As kids, we'd take the bus and then the subway and go downtown the day after Thanksgiving, just to see the all the Christmas window displays at Carson's and Field's and all the other stores. Was a great time!
@@jmichna1 It was like a small Disney. The displays were So FESTIVE, they were the talk. It would be on the news. Streets smelled of different foods..mmm!! Marshall Fields, (Beautiful) Carson Pirie Scott, Wiebolts Woolworths 🤦🏿♀️😂🤣NOTHING like that now 😂. Memories 😊😁🧚🏿♀️
Oh man.... I can never forget the sight of the old Dads Root Beer bottling plant lit up at night. Every time I pass it on the Kennedy I picture it in all its neon glory.
I remember that old "Dads Root Beer" sign on the Kennedy. Sometime around 1975, two of the letters in the sign were not working, for at least a year or so. Instead of reading "Dads Root Beer" it read "Dads oot Beep". I laughed so hard I almost had an accident! Hilarious memory from the past 😀😀😀! (I don't recall when they finally fixed that sign.)
Yep. Reminds me a lot of trips I took into Chicago between 1962 and 1970. Mostly from Polo and DeKalb and Freeport in northern Illinois. Chicago was much more safe and beautiful back then.
State Street, Michigan Avenue, Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Science & Industry, the Natural History Museum, the theaters, ... and, of course, Wrigley Field. {I was a big Cubs fan back then} ... Chicago was always a real trip. The Adler Planetarium is a public museum dedicated to the study of astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by Chicago business leader Max Adler. {I visited there as a ranking member of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenonmena}
Starting at 6:30 ... Quick note: Wasn't Francis Sinatra THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME ? of course. Just reminding everybody here. he was a truly amazing performer.
1969, I was 15 and that rarest of birds, a west suburban White Sox fan. All my friends were Cubs fans and in 1969 I had the last laugh. Long time ago. Loved Chicago.
We moved away when I was eight, in the middle of '65. My dad retired and we moved to Florida. I still miss Chicago, but I don't miss what my old neighborhood has become. I lived only about a mile or two west of where all the killing is happening, these days; 66th St and Kedzie Avenue, near Marquette Park.
That was therapy for my Chicago-grown soul. In the downtown theater scene, one of marquees brought to my memory that I saw that movie, with my best friend in 1969. Thank you!!!!
Omigosh, the magazine store! And Flo's restaurant! And all the theaters making State Street Chicago's great white way! Now THIS was a real theater district! Oooh ... the Magikist sign on the Kennedy! And going back to the start: Park Ridge (at 2:22) before "modernization", and then the MSI when you could just park out in front. At about 3:20 what appears to be a large display of the first walk on the moon, which must have just happened. This video is wonderful!
The Magikist sign is actually from the corner of State and Randolph (NW corner)....it was there until the mid 1990s.....there was one where you said too.
I went to boot camp at Great Lakes NTC from Oct to Dec 69 and then "A" school from Jan to April 1970. We used to go to Chicago and Milwaukee on the weekends. Great times...
Wonderful to see this! Brings back lots of memories of how it looked downtown, and of growing up here. My father worked at 620 N Michigan Ave (original building long gone now) and he used to sometimes take me along to work. We'd take the Chicago & Northwestern train, then ride one of the Wendella boats on the Chicago River and get off right by the Wrigley Building.
When my dad took me to "work", all I remember is him putting on a fake mustache and him telling me to let him know when I see a cigarette butt.....he spent the later part of 1975 picking up cigarette butts and smoking them.... The asswipe
1969 Chicago. I lived on the north side around Belmont & Central. My grandparents & extended family all within walking distance. Living my best "Norman Rockwell" life & hanging upside down on the monkey bars at the park. Getting ready to start kindergarten in the fall. It's like it was yesterday. I think of it all the time so fondly.
This is a treasure. Thank you. I was so amazed by downtown Chicago at night. Once upon a time Chicago was a wonder. .(These scenes leave a lump in my throat.)
For those, like me, who grew up in Chicago (I was 10 years old when this was filmed), this brings back fond memories. In those days Chicago was a great and exciting city to live in. It will always be dear to my heart. Thank you for sharing this!
Hi, King. Thanks for sharing this with us. I was born in Chicago at what was then Cook County Hospital in 1969 and have always wondered what life was like back then. Now, I have seen first-hand. My sincerest appreciation for posting this video. Two thumbs up on a presentation well done!
I was 13 in 69 that year my father got a new 442 Oldsmobile! In 79 I drove it to Prescott Arizona for my last year of college then back in August of 80. Drove my girl to Chicago in 1984 so she could go to U of C law school. Thanks!!
My favourite city in the States....I first went there in 2014 and loved it so much I went back 2 more times... Can't wait to go again...Thanks for showing us your family trip so long ago💚💜💚
Born in Chicago at Northwestern University Passavant Memorial Hospital (downtown in the Streeterville neighborhood at Superior & Fairbanks st, near the John Hancock Tower) in 1968 where my dad did his internship and residency in internal medicine in the late 60s. Parents first lived at Intern Housing at Northwestern's Worcester House on Pearson St. near NU's Medical School, then they moved to a third-floor walk-up on the Northside near Lincoln Ave. and Montrose Ave (Berteau & Oakley Ave). Interesting to see what the city looked like back then. Actually, not much has changed.
Was at naval training center Great Lakes in 72. Many of the sights bring back memories. After boot camp I spent 5 days with my aunt at her lake shore drive apartment and saw a lot of Chicago including the navy pier. That was in November
Notice the bottom of the Woods Theatre marquee where it says " fight pay tv". In 1969 cable tv was new and it made theatre owners nervous if one could pay to view a first run movie at home.
They'd be surprised to know that home videos were just a decade or so away, and two generations later those massive computers in their office would bring movies into the home.
As HS kids just getting our license, we'd hop on down to LSD and see how fast we could take the S turn... if you could manage going through at 40 mph you were doing pretty damn good!
I was 5 in 1969 and especially enjoy seeing the cars in these old films. Had forgotten how popular station wagons used to be. Can’t remember the last one I saw one on the road. Checker cabs used to be everywhere. I enjoy watching these videos. Thanks!
crazy to see the park ridge metra station I couldnt believe how familiar I thought that area looked, then to see the sign for it warmed my heart. Grew up in the city, close to Park Ridge but now at 20 spend my time there working as a hairstylist.
I was just up in the Hancock tower a month or so ago, it’s so sad the restaurant is gone. Now it’s just a bunch of people walking around in flip-flops and shorts.
Even better at the time, you could take the express elevator to the 95th Restaurant, then go up one more floor to the bar for free. You could walk around to look out the windows and have a couple of drinks. They weren't cheap, but they were still less expensive than waiting in line and paying to go up to the observatory that was only two floors higher.
Great views and thank you. Reminds me so much of the car trips my Mom used to take us on as a child. Always loved seeing the new place that seemed a world away...
The footage at the end of this video beginning with the SOHIO gas station was filmed at exit 15 of the Ohio Turnpike which served old Ohio SR 18 / Mahoning Avenue in the Youngstown area. The exit was closed after the opening of a new exit 15 at the turnpike interchange with I 76/I 80 once those roads were completed sometime shortly after this film was produced. The footage goes on to show old SR 18 / Mahoning Avenue where it leads to and then crosses the Meander Reservoir west of Youngstown in the Austintown suburb. I think there was a Wonder Boy Restaurant at the intersection of Mahoning Ave. and route 46 in Austintown. The bridge at the end was the old Tappan Zee Bridge up in Sleepy Hollow, NY that was replaced in 2018.
Westside Drive In was in Austintown, OH (Youngstown area) and the blue bridge very near The End spans the Ohio river on I-376 from Youngstown to Pittsburgh.
@@temp2inhou Well, there's just a few things to consider about the I-376 bridge and how it compares with the bridge at the end of the film. The I-376 bridge has only 2 lanes going either direction whereas the bridge in the film has 3 lanes. The bridge at the end of the film has a much longer span than the I-376 bridge and is a much taller structure. Also, the river that the bridge in the film crosses is much wider than the Ohio at the point where 376 crosses it.
That steel bridge at the end looks like the Chicago Skyway bridge ....I had to replay it a few times to see that it was not it....but looks like it down to the 3 lanes on each side.
I was born in Chicago at Jackson Park hospital when it was a good neighborhood. My grandpa who use to work on the trolley was put in a bus to drive when the first came out, crashed the bus and quit cta working for the Chicago school system till he retired. My grandma was born 1912 in Chicago and lived on Wentworth ,her family came from Pennsylvania in 1850 and settled in Chicago.
I can just imagine someone going back in time: "In the future this will be on RU-vid!" "What the hell's that?" "It's a thing that lets you watch videos. You can even watch them on your phone!" "My phone?" "Yeah, your handheld phone, that the government will be using to spy on you." "Okay, now I know you're crazy! They wouldn't do that! Whaddya think this is, Soviet Russia?"
And the. You can tell them that the former president was oranage, bragged about grabbing pussy,, got aid from Russia to win the election, tried to start an insurrection, and was a douchebag.
