YESSS!!! When Chicago WAS Chicago!! Movie theaters downtown, the S curve on Lakeshore Drive, the Howard Johnson on 294, Ronnie's Steakhouse, Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) AND there were only two train lines, an A train and a B train that took you all over the city!! Super transfers on Sunday for $1.50 you could ride all day anywhere!! That's the Chicago I grew up in!!
@@josefkay5013 ...Yes I know. I just started working in the federal building down the street from MCC. The inmates still wave at you from the top of the building.
In 1978, I lived at McClurg Court Center and worked at the Playboy Building. Shopped at Marshall Fields and Carson’s. Went to all the bars on Rush and Division Streets. Took cabs everywhere. It was a swanky life for a girl just out of college!
That you for posting this! I was 23 years old in the summer of 1978. Sadly, I moved to Los Angeles 1 year later in 1979. This brings back a flood of wonderful memories! L.A. can't hold a candle to the endless class, culture and vibrancy of Chicago.
@@robertpreston2220 Man, do people even go to actual LA? Whenever I go to "LA" it's always the surrounding areas, like Hollywood, or Venice Beach, Pasadena, even Anaheim, etc haha
Chicago in 1978 was the second largest city in the USA after New York...both cities look alike with the very tallest buildings in the world at that time which lasted in the 90s..before Asian cities and Dubai took over today...chicago is my all time favorite city skyline...i love you Chicago.
The city has grown a lot since those years. I miss the neon that used to be downtown and is really needed today. It's like it grew and got more and more buildings but lost it's nightlife. Rush street was also bright back then and now nothing.
Now, this is the REAL 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'! I was 17 and graduating H.S. in Palatine in 1978 when this was filmed. This is the Chicago I truly remember and not the faster paced version of today. Thanks SO much for posting this and sharing. "Sherman, set the WABAC Machine for the year: 1978. "Sure thing, Mr Peabody"
When I was in &th grade my social studies teacher asked us what did we think we’d be doing when we grew up. I said I would live in Chicago one day. I was fascinated by the fact that Ebony/Jet magazines ,, Afro Sheen and Soul Train originated there. I was there for over two years and loved it. Brutal winter and messed up political system. But I’m glad I experienced it...
This was and still is the most wonderful year of my life: 78 I used in my 📧 and on my password. I used to work on The Gaslight Club inside the Palmer House at the Fifth Floor. Ahhh wonderful memories!
In 1974 and for a short while I worked at the Knickerbocker Restaurant in the basement of The Conrad Hilton. Later on, at Chez Jovan Restaurant across the Gaslight Club on E. Huron St. The simple and beautiful memories of these times still linger on my mind. Thank you for posting.
1978 was the year I left college and got my first job downtown, so this film is just how I remember it. I took my daughter downtown just the other day to see the Bean, then we walked up Michigan Avenue to Water Tower Place, which I used to go to all the time back then. When I met my wife in 1981 we had many dates at WTP, going to a movie there and then up to D.B. Kaplan's on the 7th floor for a great sandwich and a beer. It seems kind of junky now, with a crowded food court on the small mezzanine level. I didn't see a single store I'd bother to go into. (We still miss Kroch's & Brentano's.) It made me sad.
There was a Kroch's on Randolph east of Wabash, across from the Chicago Public Library that is now the Cultural Center. It closed sometime in the 70s but there was another Kroch's on Wabash a few blocks south. Great stores. I worked in the Hancock throughout the 80s, then in the highrise behind Neiman Marcus, so I went to WTP all the time. Kaplan's was the best. I don't visit Michigan Ave anymore, it's changed too much since I worked there from the mid 70s to mid 90s and it's kind of scary these days. But my memories of Chicago's 70s heart and soul still shine.
This bring back so many memories. I was seven years old when this was filmed and my mom worked at the Continental Plaza now the Westin Hotel on 909 N. Michigan and she use to take me and my uncle to the Water Tower movie theaters and take us to Gino's East or Gino's on Rush st. I saw Ronny's Steak House on Randolph & State st. and it's still their today. The movie theaters United Artist and Oriental Theaters on Randolph st. I'll will always love that city. The wife and I moved away in 2013 for Tampa but we go back once a year to see family and friends and to visit our favorite restaurants.
I was born in '75 at Christ Memorial in Oak Lawn. This video is by far the best yet that Ive seen. I think I saw my grandma's car. I saw the Howard Johnson's where I took photos in the photo booth with my dad. Oh my goodness the memories!! Thank you so much you made my day!
I was 20 years old living in NW Indiana. Though the year began in the worst snowstorm which snow lasted for almost 2 months in some areas, the Spring and Summer were Gorgeous . Worked at supermarket and Newspaper Circulation . 'What's Happening ' on ABC was my favorite show. Family went out to western Nebraska and South Dakota to visit relatives and went to Rushmore and Black Hills Passion Play in Spearfish. Got involved with Circle K that year. Went on some great canoe trips near Turkey Run Indiana. The miniseries 'Centennial' was on NBC. I was top of my game, . 2nd Best year of my life. 1978 !!
Although I Moved to L.A. in September of 69, I have Fond Memories of Chicago when I was A Child, as Well as Negative Memories, but it Still My Kind Of Town, & I Hate the Politics, & Weather, & The Ghettoes of Chicago, Love the El, The Loop, Hyde Park, O'Hare Airport, Lake Shore Drive, & the Old Days of Channel 2 News with Then Bill Kurtis, & his Sidekick Walter Jacobson, & over at ABC 7 (WLS), the Late Fahey Flynn, Showing his Irish on the T.V. News, Wearing his Famous Bow Tie.
Wonderful cinematography! Love the jazz music too! Fits the film perfectly! Great to see people capturing this great city at all different times of its growth! It's wonderful that people like you have these wonderful films to capture Chicago's history!
I was 22 years old and working at Travelers Aid Immigration at 327 South LaSalle Street. I used to take either the Jackson Park "L" or the Illinois Central Electric (now Metra) trains from the southside to get to work in the morning. Now, I am in my retirement home town in Southern Arizona; been there ever since July 1996.
Thank you for posting this!! (Love the music, too!) This footage is priceless. I was in my early teens in 1978 and I remember going downtown back them.
I worked in the building that comes into view at the right at 2:08..the Monadnock Building..from 1975-1979. The south end of it was on Van Buren, which was pretty seedy in spots at the time as it was right under the el tracks. Very different these days! What memories of downtown!
I was a guest for a good minute at the MCC you see at 1:44 , kitty-corner from the Monadnock. The view of the Monadnock from across the street and 17 storeys up is permanently printed on my retinas.
I began working in downtown Chicago in February 1978 and did so for 11 years. One thing which played out in the 1980s were the disappearance of those large Marathon Cab vehicles along with many of the classic theaters; Steak houses and prominent stores downtown. The city made a walking mall out of State Street in 1978 which I believe hastened the process.
Awesome video! As a kid around this era, my grandmother used to take me on the CTA bus up from 84th and Pulaski to Archer, transfer, and we'd go to the Loop.. Remember watching the cars parking in the Marina Towers and walking around by the river. Great days..
Those Pintos and similar Vegas just corroded away rapidly from the road salt. Same with the Datsuns. But the big V-8 engined GM cars lasted somewhat better in that environment. Ford and Chrysler big V-8s didn't last as long. Lots of Chryslers due to there being an Illinois Chrysler factory. My much older cousin had a big Imperial sedan. In college a guy had a 1970 Oldsmobile 98 sedan we rode in on LSD(Lake Shore Drive). Six people in plenty of comfort with the split front bench seat.
Chicago is one of my favorite places!This captured so much of its 70s charm! The Howard Johnson's at the beginning,caught my attention,that was my first job as a kid😊 Thanks for the memories❤️!
I was 10-years old in 1978. I grew up in the North Shore, but was born in the downtown area -- at Northwestern's Passavant Memorial Hospital -- and my parents always took us into the Loop as much as possible, especially for Gino's East Pizza at their original location just across the street from Passavant and a block down from the Hancock Tower. This is exactly Chicago as I remembered it. Except for the traffic and a lot more retail space, it really hasn't changed that much, either.
I was 20 in '78. We had a grey stone near Humboldt Park. My best memory from this year was David Bowie playing the Arie Crown Theater for 3 nights and I went to all the shows being the huge fan I am. On the last night I was able to get next to the stage and hand deliver a letter and artwork I made for him. My sister took a great picture of him reaching out to me.
I remember billboards back then for cigarettes that has the arm of a man holding a light and his arm moved to his lips and the it would light up as if lighting the cig then the arm would move away and smoke would come out of his mouth.
Remember Beaver cleaver (leave it to Beaver TV show) went up into the billboard to see if the soup was really steaming or not? And the old days they had billboards that had smoke and steam coming from them..
Thats the Chicago I remember I was 21 then what a beautiful skyline now all of that great architecture is being obscured and over shadowed by ugly towering slabs of glass.
VERY cool. 1978....A nothing year really, but a year before the blizzard, a couple years after the bi-centenial. Boom boxes. The big old yellow checker cabs. That Standard gas station on Clark(?) and something. Smoking in elevators. Afros. The busses and Els still used 1920's tokens. Bums on Wells St. AMC Gremlins. State St BEFORE the mall....What a time.
+Paul Gronemeier I was 22yrs old, working at Traveler's Aid Society at 327 South LaSalle Street in 1978. Yeah, alive, young and healthy. But, little did I realize how short-lived my young adulthood would be as I am now staring my early sixties in the face........AND THEY'RE STARING BACK AT ME every time I look in the mirror!!! However, it's all good as I am enjoying my later years living in Arizona.
In 1978 I lived on N. Magnolia Street--a two block walk to Wrigley Field. Both living in the neighborhood and attending a Cubs game were very affordable then. (And the number of night games was still zero.)
In 1978 I was a 16 yo living on the corner of Waveland and Pine Grove, only 3 blocks from Wrigley, past LeMoyne public school, where the Latin Eagles hung out all the time. Long ago in a galaxy far away.
It's crazy in Wrigleyville now, when the Cubs are in town it seems like some kind of Mardi Gras bacchanal going on there; worry about being trampled by raucous drunks.
Look at all that Detroit iron roaming the streets! This is the image I remember of Chicago. 1978 was about the time I left that city for Los Angeles. Looking forward to visiting this week. And please tell us the name of that awesome jazz tune!
Any one remember Stuart Brent's bookstore on Michigan Avenue a bit south of the Water Tower? Not sure if it was around as early as '78; may have opened up a few years later in the early 80's.
The actual Super-8 film has seen better days. Either many views, too much handling, improper storage, maybe not always kept in the can. Still wonderful to see!
It all depended on the time of day and the day of the week. At the proper meeting of rush hours with thunderstorms you crawled on LSD. IF there were Grant Park, Soldiers Field, Art Institute, or Museum of Science and Industry events LSD was packed.
Yup, that's a Tollway Oasis, which still exist today, though a couple have been demolished. Now you will find McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Auntie Anne's, and KFC there instead of Howard Johnson's.
Michael Bilandic was finishing Richard J Daleys term who died in December of 1976. Bilandic was mayor in 1978 until his defeat in the 1979 primary to Jane Bryne. Today we Brandon Johnson as Mayor of Chicago and he's much worse than Lori Lightfoot.
Of course it was common. Cigarettes were around a dollar a pack then and if you didn't have a smoke, all you had to do is ask someone if you could bum one and there was no shame in doing so, people were like, of course you can. I'm a smoker who's sick of this politically correct era which condemns smokers.
Actually very few drove a import. It was the day and age where if you drove a import you were un-American and often were ridiculed for driving a "rice burner"
@@MrRichlisa Also the imports rusted out from under you in two years. It was before rustproofing was standard, and that cheap Japanese steel was no match for Streets and Sanitation salt trucks.
