As a 61 yr old, I watched the video and didn't notice anything strange but then I read a lot of comments about the kids on the elephant. Back in those days, your safety was your own responsibility, even from an early age. If you fell into an unmarked hole in the pavement, your mother would slap you and tell you to watch where you're going, but mothers today would blame whoever dug the hole and didn't put signs and fences all around it. Society has changed
You are so right. There is so much nonsense everywhere you look today. Everything is upsidedown. People are offended by others opinions and everybody sues one another. One person is given rights and at the same time another one is stripped of theirs. We've chosen the wrong path as society. We need to toughen up and learn to ignore things instead of fighting everything that doesn't suit us.
A junkie would fold in two if he tried to cycle a bike. The "junkies" you're referring to are nothing more than disrespectful little c*nts that do fek all other than collect their dole and try to rip society off all their lives.
s j because people were respectful back then and the community was a lot more linked, people looked out for each other. People avoid each other now. I’m guilty of doing it too, society now makes you nervous and it’s hard to take part in.
Parasmunt Life was so tough for ordinary people. It was not uncommon for a working week to be Mon to Fri plus half day Sat. So people put on their Sunday best when going on an excursion anywhere. Incidentally, a trip to Dublin Zoo was a big deal. It cost money to get in ... and to buy ice creams ... for everyone.
How poor though??? They could afford a house on one wage. They had better family and community support..so they probably couldn't afford a lot of rubbish but they had food on the table
Sara the elephant and Komali the baby (with the First Communicants riding on him (her?). The "azoo" was a favorite with everyone. And Phoenix Park a wonderful asset for Dublin City.
I remember in the late 1950's when the highlight of the year was a 2 week holiday with my Auntie in Dublin...to me it was the most exciting place on earth. Every year I climbed Nelsons column, visited the Zoo, spent at least 2 days plane spotting at the Airport, walked up and down Moore St. and spent hours gazing at the toy soldiers in Woolworths. Best of all was the fish 'n' chip shop near my Aunties...food for the Gods served in that days newspapers!
@@simonholyoak8869 On the 8th day of March 1966. . . .”at one thirty in the morning, without a bit of warning” 🎶. Nelson had to be gone before the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. 🤪
In 100 years time Japan will be there with it's culture intact for Japanese children, Pakistan will be there with its culture intact for Pakistani children Nigeria will be there with it's culture intact for Nigerian children obviously I can go on like this but ask yourselves will Ireland still have it's own culture for Irish children?It's not about racism, every race is entitled to their homelands and culture. If every country on Earth dropped it's borders and all had free movement so a piece of clay was just a piece of clay then it wouldn't matter who lived on it but it is unfair for that just to apply to white countries. Call me a racist for my opinion if you like I don't care what you think of me.
Maybe because it’s edited to be. They forgot to put all the crime and alcoholics. Dublin is a much safer city now, something many right wingers will never want to believe even though it’s a fact.
The common denominator was that they were mostly spiritual. People had morals, values, a code for life. Life was simple, kindness prevailed to neighbours and strangers alike.
Happier? Not sure lol, tell that to novelists, playwrites, mixed-race children and most importantly women of the era. No sex education, no uncensored film releases, banned books and the intense stranglehold of the Catholic Church: religion and state should be kept separate. There are bad things about modern society, every iteration of human society will always have its flaws, but I think the pros of this era far outweigh those of the past, especially when many of the pros of '60's living were things that people should be able to take for granted anyway, like being able to comfortably afford a house in your twenties, being able to freely marry whomever you please, continue to work after having a child and live equally among each other regardless of gender.
No tracksuit wearing scumbags, junkies and thugs. Unique, individual family run shops instead of the characterless, sterile chain stores you see in every town in Ireland now (and beyond). Less of the aggressive and near pornagraphic advertising. You could just leave your bike unlocked and most likely find it still there when you returned. Less crowded, cleaner and tidier looking. And, despite the church's grip, more of a relaxed vibe than nowadays. It is sad what has become of Dublin since then, what an extreme downward slide. It has been torn apart by drugs, criminality and aggression and has lost all of that character now, forever. Personally, I think it was ruined by a) the pc brigade completely doing away with the discipline of the youth by parents, teachers, police etc, which has resulted in the most unruly, greedy generation of youth ever witnessed, and b) the aforementioned drug culture, which has spawned several wars and a lot of killing and grieving, and which has made some extremely nasty people very rich. All very sad.
Families with 5 and 6 children probably able to live on one wage living in a house in Dublin. 1. The average family can't afford 5 children now. 2. Most people can't afford to live in Dublin now. 3. It takes 2 wages for a family to love now and that's often with just 2 children living in commuterland.
@@Elle_Gowing It's the downside of letting massive companies set up huge apartment buildings for extortionate prices. There's little to no regulation on them. Dublin looks like hell now, and gets more expensive every year. You're better off avoiding living in it altogether.
It's strange looking at this footage. I get some kind aching nostalgia yet i wasn't born nor lived in Dublin and I wasn't born until 72. It's amazing footage. It seems life was a lot simpler. You can't help but wonder if we are worse of today in some ways despite all the technological advancements, secularization and 'improved living standards'. Improved is very debatable. The M50 is a car park in the mornings and evening with many people spending 3 -4 hours a day in their cars commuting in and around Dublin. The more I think of it, it's not an aching nostalgia I'm feeling, it's more a realization that I'm perhaps suffering from a sense of anomie and dislocation living in postmodern times. We've lost a deeper sense of connection and sense of community that this footage seems to portray better. I think that i experienced more of this sense of connection from growing up as a child in the 80's.
What surprised me was the number of kids each family had. There seemed to be 5 or 6 in each family and the parents were quite young. Is it the same now?
God damn, 2:18 really struck shivers down my spine. What an amazing quality vid for the mid 60s, the cinematography and sense of how to make a video feel like a community of peace and safety is present! Amazing! I’m 23 this year and remember when my parents used to bring me to the Dublin zoo and we’d sit around Phoenix park close to that spot on 2:18, there a family ate and chatted some 50 years ago and I have as a child 15 years ago and as I most likely will with my family in perhaps another 15 years and another family again in 50 years! Gives me a weird feeling! Them children in the video are now about 57-58!
I remember as a kid being brought into town was a great treat, interesting shops, a sense of community, feeling safe. Now i dread going into town, full of undesirables, dirty rundown streets, and chain stores you can see in any city in europe.
Same everywhere ro eng..I am not from Ireland but Harworth near Doncaster, S. Yorkshire. It too is bad just like other villages all over the UK. Used to be incredible here back in the 50s, 60s 70s. All factories gone, mainly the coal mine where I worked, so now we have housing estates being thrown up on every bit of spare land there is..but still no more jobs to go to here, for school leavers.
How do we get back to a time where a bus driver can safely go about his daily business. Oh yes round up the big drug dealers that have garda protection would be a start.
Yes because there were no fast(junk)food shops them times.People ate what Mother made for dinner and if you didnt like it then youl have to wait till tomorrows dinner.
Watching this because the city centre is too depressing to visit these days-feel like a foreigner in my own country- not one word of English or native Paddy to be seen!
I left Dublin in early 1964(just after Christmas '63) for Boston. Plenty of Jobs back then. I was in the US Army during the height of the Vietnam War. I have four children, three grandchildren and counting. I'm glad that I came over. I;m retired now but worked for the Electrical Company for 35 years. C'mon the Dubs!!!!
@@bfc3057 famine is understandable, but people emigrating from a country in my eyes are traitors, it's ok to emigrate but don't claim or display any patriotism or nationalism towards a country you left behind years ago, left for a better life? yes arguably but to a true Irishman or true countryman of any country home is home. When you need to seek success from another country in my opinion you are selling out.
I don't think the baby boomers will ever realise what they threw away. What future generations will never enjoy because of their selfishness and divisive behaviour. This was paradise, and it was snatched and snuffed out.
We didn't have baby boomers in Ireland. We were neutral in WW2 so there was no post-war population explosion similar to the 'baby boom' in America. But if you're referring to people in Ireland born in the late 40s and early 50s, all I have to say to you is they did their best and they were never selfish or divisive and they didn't 'snatch paradise' from anywhere. Ireland in the 60s was not paradise. Maybe in the U.S. you might accuse your own people of that.
Look at how undeveloped Dublin Docklands was @ 1.00. Just warehouses and that huge gasometer (long since demolished) and the two chimneys at Poolbeg hadn't even been built yet
Yes it was the Irish who called for more immigration,(because of their history) especially into the UK. Now many are complaining because they are being asked to practice what they preach. And all of a sudden many are anti immigration.
@@niamhnidhalaigh5861 The Irish demanded that England should welcome immigrants, now the Irish are being called upon to welcome immigrants themselves and you are saying someone else imposed it? No Neeve you don'r demand someone else do it while not bothering to do it yourselves... .
It is up to each country to let in whoever they want, if people of the past let Irish in - their choice. If we decide we don't want to let masses of people in today, our choice. The two are not connected.
By 2050 the Irish will be a minority in Dublin. Another 100 the Irish will be a minority in their own country. How is it racist to want your people to inherit your own country, for your people to not become extinct?
StealthyMonk look at the demographics. Importing foreign races with 3rd world birthrates into your first world country (with a declining first world birthrate)
"it doesnt matter really why does it matter" This nihilism makes me sick. What gives you the right to give away your children's future? Do you honestly think that if whites become a minority, in our own lands, that we will be treated fairly? Look at south Africa. This is our homeland, not an international hotel. When you say you don't care about demographics, you are saying you don't give a shit what happens to white people. Not one place on the planet where we can live in peace by ourselves.
"your talking like other races are not even human beings" They are human beings, doesn't mean all human beings are the same or even equal. That's the harsh reality of our world. Nobody deserves to suffer because of what they were born as. "If we did get rid of all other races" I never said that. Why does me wanting to protect my country, family and culture, make me a war monger?
Jesus did I just see two kids riding on a baby elephant. Lol. That really was Dublin In the 60s. You'd never see the like of that now. This is wonderful footage. Thanks so much for posting.
Thank you for this vid.....people commenting about the elephant rides.....it was a different time....and may I say the elephants were treated kindly by one and all...nowadays thugs think that animals are fair game....also the fact that people dressed properly...even going to the local shop....a lot of people go out nowadays as if they’re ready for bed...the man casually parking his bike outside the pub...no lock...you could put 10 locks on your bike now and it would still be stolen...I’ll finish now before I become totally depressed 🤩
Used to live in Ballyfermot. Every Saturday I'd visit my two aunts - Pearse House and Boyne Street. A lovely stew in both places and they'd also give me a few bob. Blow the money in Fun palace then get the 78 to home where I'd have another stew waiting for me ! I used to make up scramblers and race them in the California Hills ( The Calliers ). Crime ? If you call nicking an orchard or going on the hop from school a crime, well I apologize. Thanks for reading this.
@@memorybliss Thank you memorybliss. Yes those were the days of innocence, still wet behind the ears and a slap of a leather glove across the face from LUGS ! When you got that you NEVER wanted to get arrested.
In my memory, I will always see The town that I have loved so well. Going home in the rain, running up the dark lane. Those were happy days in so many, many ways In the town I loved so well
When Dublin💚 was charming Beautiful 💚easy going yeah it all vanished for the celtic tiger🐯 and the european union 🗼 I remember dublin city in the rare ould times ⌚⌚⌚⌚⌚
Damn Dublin looks so different I grew up in the early 2000s (won't say what year because privacy) but I sorta wish I grew up in the old Dublin, where things seemed more simple
there was good and bad to it, I can't speak for the mid-60s but to me the best decade (objectively) in my lifetime was the 90s especially as the decade went on, the country became more prosperous, the dereliction of the city centre had been replaced with new developments that were still cheap and attractive to live in, we were opening up to the outside world with the first immigration of mainly Nigerian and then East European people bringing life and colour to Dublin, we were becoming more tolerant and open minded, the 60s might look idyllic but we were still in a theocracy, absolutely ruled by the Catholic Church. Culturally we opened up, from a monoculture of U2 style stadium rock and trad/folk to a boom in pop music, the rave and dance phenomenon, hip-hop and rnb (again brought in, in some cases, by immigrant people). Third level education became free. Arts and culture were funded properly. I could go on and on, even avoiding the obvious stuff like rent and house prices before they were grossly inflated
Still is . Back then there was lots of poverty , people living in tenements . Unemployment was high . Don’t fool yourself looking at the nice side of Dublin.
The big difference is people in Ireland were Christians and believed in God now it seems he is ignored and surplus to requirements. How they talked and treated each other, the f word not used as it is used in every utterance today. God it seems has left Ireland and has been replaced by something else. The Mobil phone (internet)
Wow Great video for the era! the aul one kicking the ball was deadly,people looked so Close, not a care in the world.unlike nowadays, Everyone with text neck..The pheeno looks exactly the same as it did only yesterday. 👍 (Not a mobile phone in sight) 😀 good times I'd say...
England was pretty much the same. One culture all living happily together (well except Protestants and Catholics). Women in skirts and dresses. Fewer tattoes and piercings, and no-one staring at cellphones.
Sadly dublin has been hollowed out, every suburb now has a large shopping centre, leaving the centre of dublin full of tacky tattoo parlours, sex shops, and charity shops. The dreadful boring apartment blocks built during the boom have also scarred a city that was noted for its Georgian buildings.
The young ones don't know what they've missed .those days people cared for each other today it's dog eat dog and I'm alright Jack and everyone was more or less on the same wave lenth and you didn't have to worry about how the Koran was going to affect our children and grandchildrens future
I was thinking... the bus driver looks like a young version of my grandad. Then I remembered - aparently he drove buses for CIE for years. I am nearly certain it must be him! Incredible. Does anyone know where this footage is from?
If you mean specifically the footage of the bus departing, that is definitely from Busáras in the city centre. You can tell from the angle of view of Liberty Hall in the background. And the Custom House would be on the left of this scene but this is not shown in the video. Later you can see the bus travelling up what I think is Talbot Street. You can see Guineys shop on the left and Nelson’s Pillar straight ahead. All regional buses departed (and still do) from Busáras which is the main bus station in Dublin city centre.
I am 70, in fact in the 60s the economy began to improve and people were generally optimistic about their and their childrens' future. I am from a working ckass bacground from a family that suffered chronic unemployment in the 50s. My dad found permanent employment at the beginning of the 60s when he was in his late 40s. I remember my parents being optimistic about our future. In 1967 free secondary education was introduced of which I was a beneficiary. Couples wirking in factories were abke to buy a house with a council loan I knew of many of them , also council housing estates were built in the 60s whic took a lot of people out of tenements, although they were still in use until he 89s.
Me too! back then, all my friends with ordinary "manual" jobs could buy cars in the late 60s, and one man's salary plus half his wife's income (if she had one) could get a mortgage for a 3-bedroom house. Most of my neighbours had 3 children, the husband worked and the wife minded the children. Doctors made house calls, we repaired our own cars, workers were paid in cash (nobody had bank accounts) and there few people with mental health issues. A journalist, Terry Prone wrote a book about murders in Ireland, a thin paperback. Now it would be ten times thicker.
Murder rate in Ireland then was non existent. Irish people living happily in there own culture no Multiculturalism . yes they where poor but they knew there neighbours and looked after eachother . Today you can live beside someone for years and not know them
These comments are so rude and unnecessary jesus. Beautiful video but the stupidity of the commenters is really off putting. Blaming everybody else as if the Irish aren’t just as bad, shame.
Hi, great footage. I am making a video about how re-vision O'Connell Street. Wondering where you got this old footage and if I could get a copy? Thanks.
Loved the freedom we children had back then. For example, look at the two young ones riding unsupervised on the baby elephant as it strolls through the zoo. What an awesome First Holy Communion day out....brilliant! I remember the Kiddies Corner there where we could play amongst all the young animals....sadly, that's all stopped years ago.
Wow that’s great film I wonder have the people who are in it seen this .it would bring back lots of memories to them or there family’s .the girl and boy making there communion on the elephant that would be special for them to see .it should have been longer film .
I was born in 1965,but that bus and the cars,the way people dressed etc,are strong in my memory.I think things didnt change as quickly until the 70s.I wouldnt agree that Ireland was very repressed back then,although things where stricter,but the people in general where used to that,it was like that worldwide,and the Catholic church was no different to other institutions,the abusive priests where a minority,as many where absolute saints.
exactly,... the Church wasn't that strict, and it guided people for a better society and happier life, some people might not like it, but it's good for the majority, and that's what makes a society and nation function. I personally think things started going down when the churches grip/influence lessened and they became less assertive... oh and 1958 Vatican, the real church and pope were Pius XII and that's where it changed after.
Maybe for straight white men.. Let's just ignore the gay people that suffered, the women that couldn't get divorced from abusive husbands, the racism against any minorities at the time, and generally violence against women. I'm sure it was just so safe & rich 😍😍💚💚💚
@Ozzwald Boland Not exactly Marxist, this whole SJW thing is more tied up with capitalist individualism, and if you look at their targets, they're actually mostly working class, but on all other points, yes!
Riding an elephant on your Holy Communion! - Hilarious! - how times have changed - I remember the People's Gardens in the Phoenix Park just like this, full of families and kids playing games, there was even a nice old house where the public toilets were, it was closed unfortunately,, lack of staff saw it become a place for drug use.
Check out the British Pathe website for info on how to license this footage. Probably shot on 35mm film by professional camera-people hence the lovely sharp quality, excellent vantage points and clever selection of images.
Pretty insane to see how Dublin used to be, honestly I think the biggest thing we lost was our sense of community, this looks like a utopia you'd see in a movie compared to dublin now. look at everyone in the park, everybody is connecting and smiling and playing, now everyone sits as far apart as possible and looks at their phone. couldn't believe when the guy left his bike outside too, these days a junkie would rob it straight away. so sad
But don't you think that's a function of technology more than anything? You can't really fault Dublin for it...and in fairness every city changes dramatically after 50 odd years. People are on their phones EVERYWHERE. Try going to any major city for a month-there isn't one "connected" anywhere. Every single person stares at their phone all day long.
@@kateSullivan3927 Yeah my comment wasn't really exclusive to Dublin since times have changed everywhere. it's still a shame to see how disconnected we've become though
