I was born and raised in Rochester (don't live there any longer) and my heart breaks watching this. The mall is exactly my age and I remember going there as a child with my grandmother. So vibrant, full of life and promise. That was the place to be. Watched this video and thought hard of the promise at the time, the hope for the future. I pray for the best to downtown Rochester. It was once a bustling, exciting place. Haven't been there in a long time, sadly. Thanks for posting.
clockworktim I'm also from this city it's still beautiful. There is nothing like home. Atlanta is nice but the traffic is terrible people is not too friendly like Rochester and plus places are super far to get too. Rochester is still home to me
@@ny9972I also ended up in Atlanta and I don’t really enjoy it here. I miss Rochester dearly. I just wish it could be the city it used to be and the city it has potential to be once again.
My dad supervised the construction of Midtown. He passed away in Sept. As a little girl, I was in the building when it was just steel beams. I'm glad he never found out it was being taken down. I grew up in Brighton and my mom didn't drive. We did all our shopping downtown. Bus service was good and we went everywhere in the city. Midtown was a happening place in the 60s. The city planners should read some of the very positive suggestions and comments made on this site.
Delightful. I remember well this construction. That it would last only 40 years is sad. No matter how far away we have moved, there's still something about Rochester.
I remember being little my mother was a buyer for Mccurdy's. We always came up the exculator into the little wegmans and went through the secret door in the shoe shop to get to her office. I remember Magic mountain and the monorail and looking at the fountain while eating a doughnut. I had no idea what in important roll that mall played in urban developments everywhere until i recently did research on it. Even here in Nova Scotia Canada we have a down town mall based on the concept of this one.
Your father retired in January of 1999 after managing Midtown Plaza for 36 years. I was born in 1985 and have very fond memories of the holidays at Midtown back in 1988. Three-year-old me walked up Magic Mountain to see Santa Claus. I even rode the monorail. My uncle's girlfriend at the time took so many pictures of that day. Sadly, they've been missing for many years now. It was very hard for me to let go of Midtown because it was a reminder of my life before everything went haywire. I tried for years to get a documentary off the ground, but was told that I had zero credibility as a filmmaker. Unfortunately, WXXI stole my idea and my opportunity. We both started filming footage during the 2007 holiday season. I met you and your brother on July 25, 2008, the day that Midtown Plaza officially closed. You showed me a wooden case with newspaper articles in it pertaining to your father. I met your niece as well. She was just a little girl at the time. Your brother gave me his business card and mentioned that he would agree to be interviewed for my documentary. When I befriended both you and him on FB, I never expected such disrespect and rudeness. According to you, Midtown Plaza was "a pretty insignificant mall." Not to us it wasn't. At one time, it was a big part of Rochester.
It has been announced that the clock of nations will be going to the Rochester airport until 2012 and then it will be donated to the childrens hospital to be put in an atrium that is yet to be built. I remember going to see that when I was younger and thought it was pretty cool. I'm glad it's staying local.
I have actually seen this clock before. It is currently at the Rochester Airport. I thought it was just a tacky art installation, but had no idea the history behind it. Mind is blown!
pocketpunkie Oh yeah, man. Midtown Plaza was the place to be and the clock tied it all together. Of course, they ruined it all with White Flight and Urban Renewal. Smh.
This video makes an interesting and remarkable contrast to the documentary film "Summer of '64," which depicts the levels of poverty and joblessness that existed for the people you can't see in this film. The message of "quality" people, "quality" jobs and "quality" incomes is clear. No wonder this city (that I have grown to love) was called Smugtown!
This video nearly brought tears to my eyes. As a born and bred Rochestarian, I remember vividly what Midtown was in the 70's and 80's, and I cannot believe what this city has come to as a whole, let alone what has become of Midtown. About 3 years ago at Christmas time, I went back to Midtown for the first time in ages, and brought my kids with me, hoping to see some of the magic it held for me as a child. I left there, heartbroken and disappointed. Losing Midtown will really be a shame.
I was born in Rochester NY nad had some cool memories of Midtown (especally Xmas) both there and Sibley's across the street were very fashionable at the time. the decline began in the mid 1970's w./ inner city crime growing and suburbian offerings. it was finally closed in 2008 and is scheduled for demolition.
I love this video - all of it is hysterical and beyond corny. Best part of it (which may be posted elsewhere on youtube) is shows a bulldozer pushing a pile of dirt for construction - and the narrator says, "The bulldozer...tough, but gentle." What the HECK is gentle about a bulldozer? LOL
The mall has been demolished along with much of what was McCurdy's. The skywalks entering the mall have also been demolished. Very little retail remains downtown.
Rochester in the 60-70s was a good place to grow up. i made my escape, but it wasn't crime or the economy, it was watching my cars rust away. so i moved to phoenix. now i can take my family downtown at night and be fairly safe. fairly with 4+ mil ppl means a ccw and .40 cal.
I think the Sibley's cheese bread you refer to was actually Salt Rising Bread. We used to call it Stink Bread. You can find sources by googling "Where can I buy Salt Rising Bread." I got some, and it was just like I rememembered from Sibley's.
@tedtw It was the first URBAN indoor mall. The first indoor mall, Southdale, opened in Minnesota in 1956. That one's still there, on account of it being built in the country (which eventually turned into the classy suburb of Edina).
There's a so-called "Shopping Mall" in my city's downtown section called the "Spitzer Arcade", unfortunately that closed up some time ago, though hopefully whoever buys the place will do something nice with it. www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/36891254392
This wasn't just ANY old Mall - but the VERY FIRST INDOOR MALL IN AMERICA! Up on the mezanine level was a bronze plaque bolted to the wall. The famous clock is now in the Rochester, NY airport. Unfortunately for the public, it's on the secured side where only passengers can go. (Dumb move.) The mall was leveled in 2011, to make room for a local company's new HQ. Then they got bought out and it may never be built. Dumb move #2.
No it wasn't. The first indoor mall was the original Reynolds Arcade that opened in 1829 and closed in 1933. Problem is that Victor Gruen probably knew about these arcades which were all over America at one time and stole the idea. Victor Gruen was born in 1903. While Midtown Plaza was revolutionary for its time and unique to the nation, I would hardly call it the first urban indoor mall in America.
@@ptownpal That's what most people think. The older generation who saw Midtown Plaza in 1963 when this video was filmed probably would have told you about the original Reynolds Arcade.
Jeffrey Rust I Rochester is still beautiful, Atlanta is a mess, especially with the school system not enough teachers and students falling behind. Traffic is terrible, also too much digging and building so many apartments plus the minimum is still 7. 00. Don't move here. So home in Rochester is not so bad until you move away.
what a shame..ive watched this plaza go from "the place" to go shopping to a pit of bums, panhandlers, and scumbags....no one wants to go downtown anymore....
Well, Rochester is still a "City of Quality" in my book. This is really cool, but depressing. To think its gonna be turned into another telecom so sad. As for Rochester being dangerous, the majority of the crimes happen in just a few neighborhoods. Stay out of them and its a great place.
@gravijiga: In 1974 my parents (I was in Jr High) bouth me a sports coat at McCurdy's the one in Pittsford Plaza! Perhaps your mother selected the "line" it was from.
I was almost too late to see the plaza for the last time - and I wouldn't have, if I didn't go to the one-day charity auction which cleared out most of the remaining furniture and fixtures remaining in the place. Kinda sad - seeing the whole place empty and devoid of people. I almost wish I had made my last visit when it was still open.
A shame it was all torn down, looks fierce! What stands in it's place now? SLC just spent $5 Billion on a new downtown mall. I'm sure in 40 years it will be bulldozed.
The real problem with midtown is a) it is surrounded by poverty b) people work downtown but live in the suburbs. Until those obstacles are addressed, a mall was going to have no chance. Im curious to see if the idea to turn midtown into an office park surrounded by a pretty walking area will ever come true. Its such a shame how run down downtown rochester has become.
So your earliest/only memories of Midtown are from when it was already shit. Sad. How long could you have been living out of town at your young age to "miss" the city so much, unless you moved away with your family while you were still a kid?
cont'd from below... Does anyone even care or have they given up and said lets just focus on the suburbs? And they wonder why nobody stays there after graduation...College grads want to live in the city and enjoy their 20's not commute a half hour from the suburbs each day.
It was like that at Greece Ridge Mall up until 2006-07. Mostly white families and hardly any black people around. I'd assume that back in 1963, Rochester was exactly like the suburbs as they once were. These days, both Gates and Greece are mixed race suburbs. My how times have changed.
Silly posts..racist sad posts for the most part...very little was burned down in the 1964 riots...my last trip to Roch was a sad one...Kodak, Xerox, Bausch, Frenchs..mostly gone...people fled the city for the suburbs...downtown after dark is now fairly ...frightening....its what america does..leaves its downtowns for dead...while Europe rebuilds their city centers like they are museums...I moved out of Roch in 1979,,saw the handwriting on the wall
It’s remarkable how some people don’t know how to use periods and commas. Not to mention stringing a legible sentence together is very difficult for dumbasses like this guy
I'm really disturbed at this kind of racism in 2013, and surprised to see so much of it in upstate NY. One might think, reading these disgusting comments, that we were living in Alabama in 1955. You all should GTFO.
Please, let's give the racism card a rest. How about the fact that Kodak going under, Bausch & Lomb and Xerox both severely cutting down their presence in Rochester. I've lived in the actual city of Rochester for 20 years and you can't tell me that closed-mindedness is the downfall of Rochester. Economy is the villain here.
I was born and raised in Rochester (don't live there any longer) and my heart breaks watching this. The mall is exactly my age and I remember going there as a child with my grandmother. So vibrant, full of life and promise. That was the place to be. Watched this video and thought hard of the promise at the time, the hope for the future. I pray for the best to downtown Rochester. It was once a bustling, exciting place. Haven't been there in a long time, sadly. Thanks for posting.
clockworktim I'm also from this city it's still beautiful. There is nothing like home. Atlanta is nice but the traffic is terrible people is not too friendly like Rochester and plus places are super far to get too. Rochester is still home to me
so sad to see what it is today
@@ny9972I also ended up in Atlanta and I don’t really enjoy it here. I miss Rochester dearly. I just wish it could be the city it used to be and the city it has potential to be once again.
My dad supervised the construction of Midtown. He passed away in Sept. As a little girl, I was in the building when it was just steel beams. I'm glad he never found out it was being taken down. I grew up in Brighton and my mom didn't drive. We did all our shopping downtown. Bus service was good and we went everywhere in the city. Midtown was a happening place in the 60s. The city planners should read some of the very positive suggestions and comments made on this site.
Delightful. I remember well this construction. That it would last only 40 years is sad. No matter how far away we have moved, there's still something about Rochester.
I remember being little my mother was a buyer for Mccurdy's. We always came up the exculator into the little wegmans and went through the secret door in the shoe shop to get to her office. I remember Magic mountain and the monorail and looking at the fountain while eating a doughnut. I had no idea what in important roll that mall played in urban developments everywhere until i recently did research on it. Even here in Nova Scotia Canada we have a down town mall based on the concept of this one.
That was touching. thanks. My dad ran Midtown until the from 63 mid 90's-- it made me smile to see it again like that.... I do miss Smugtown!
Your father retired in January of 1999 after managing Midtown Plaza for 36 years. I was born in 1985 and have very fond memories of the holidays at Midtown back in 1988. Three-year-old me walked up Magic Mountain to see Santa Claus. I even rode the monorail. My uncle's girlfriend at the time took so many pictures of that day. Sadly, they've been missing for many years now. It was very hard for me to let go of Midtown because it was a reminder of my life before everything went haywire. I tried for years to get a documentary off the ground, but was told that I had zero credibility as a filmmaker. Unfortunately, WXXI stole my idea and my opportunity. We both started filming footage during the 2007 holiday season. I met you and your brother on July 25, 2008, the day that Midtown Plaza officially closed. You showed me a wooden case with newspaper articles in it pertaining to your father. I met your niece as well. She was just a little girl at the time. Your brother gave me his business card and mentioned that he would agree to be interviewed for my documentary. When I befriended both you and him on FB, I never expected such disrespect and rudeness. According to you, Midtown Plaza was "a pretty insignificant mall." Not to us it wasn't. At one time, it was a big part of Rochester.
@@classiccarbuff❤
It has been announced that the clock of nations will be going to the Rochester airport until 2012 and then it will be donated to the childrens hospital to be put in an atrium that is yet to be built. I remember going to see that when I was younger and thought it was pretty cool. I'm glad it's staying local.
Thanks for the memories. I miss Midtown Mall..
I love your Malls of America website!
I have actually seen this clock before. It is currently at the Rochester Airport. I thought it was just a tacky art installation, but had no idea the history behind it. Mind is blown!
pocketpunkie Oh yeah, man. Midtown Plaza was the place to be and the clock tied it all together. Of course, they ruined it all with White Flight and Urban Renewal. Smh.
I've read a hospital took it.
This video makes an interesting and remarkable contrast to the documentary film "Summer of '64," which depicts the levels of poverty and joblessness that existed for the people you can't see in this film.
The message of "quality" people, "quality" jobs and "quality" incomes is clear. No wonder this city (that I have grown to love) was called Smugtown!
Thanks for posting. Quality work!
This video nearly brought tears to my eyes. As a born and bred Rochestarian, I remember vividly what Midtown was in the 70's and 80's, and I cannot believe what this city has come to as a whole, let alone what has become of Midtown. About 3 years ago at Christmas time, I went back to Midtown for the first time in ages, and brought my kids with me, hoping to see some of the magic it held for me as a child. I left there, heartbroken and disappointed. Losing Midtown will really be a shame.
I was born in Rochester NY nad had some cool memories of Midtown (especally Xmas) both there and Sibley's across the street were very fashionable at the time. the decline began in the mid 1970's w./ inner city crime growing and suburbian offerings. it was finally closed in 2008 and is scheduled for demolition.
I love this video - all of it is hysterical and beyond corny. Best part of it (which may be posted elsewhere on youtube) is shows a bulldozer pushing a pile of dirt for construction - and the narrator says, "The bulldozer...tough, but gentle." What the HECK is gentle about a bulldozer? LOL
I remember the monorail ! My uncle had his wed reception @ Sibley's in 86.
The mall has been demolished along with much of what was McCurdy's. The skywalks entering the mall have also been demolished. Very little retail remains downtown.
I grew up in Rochester (albeit over 20 years after this) and this is so cool! Too bad Midtown Plaza is such a mess now. :(
Rochester in the 60-70s was a good place to grow up. i made my escape, but it wasn't crime or the economy, it was watching my cars rust away. so i moved to phoenix. now i can take my family downtown at night and be fairly safe. fairly with 4+ mil ppl means a ccw and .40 cal.
These are great! Thanks
I think the Sibley's cheese bread you refer to was actually Salt Rising Bread. We used to call it Stink Bread. You can find sources by googling "Where can I buy Salt Rising Bread." I got some, and it was just like I rememembered from Sibley's.
@tedtw It was the first URBAN indoor mall. The first indoor mall, Southdale, opened in Minnesota in 1956. That one's still there, on account of it being built in the country (which eventually turned into the classy suburb of Edina).
There's a so-called "Shopping Mall" in my city's downtown section called the "Spitzer Arcade", unfortunately that closed up some time ago, though hopefully whoever buys the place will do something nice with it.
www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/36891254392
This wasn't just ANY old Mall - but the VERY FIRST INDOOR MALL IN AMERICA! Up on the mezanine level was a bronze plaque bolted to the wall. The famous clock is now in the Rochester, NY airport. Unfortunately for the public, it's on the secured side where only passengers can go. (Dumb move.)
The mall was leveled in 2011, to make room for a local company's new HQ. Then they got bought out and it may never be built. Dumb move #2.
the first indoor URBAN mall- the first indoor mall was in Minnesota in 1956.
No it wasn't. The first indoor mall was the original Reynolds Arcade that opened in 1829 and closed in 1933. Problem is that Victor Gruen probably knew about these arcades which were all over America at one time and stole the idea. Victor Gruen was born in 1903. While Midtown Plaza was revolutionary for its time and unique to the nation, I would hardly call it the first urban indoor mall in America.
@@ptownpal That's what most people think. The older generation who saw Midtown Plaza in 1963 when this video was filmed probably would have told you about the original Reynolds Arcade.
I loved Midtown as a kid. This video is a reminder of what was.
What has happened since 1963?
I remember 4 Wegmans at that time, The Manger Hotel (where President JFK stayed and left his boxers), and Donuts Delight. and Loblaws.
I've got the entire DVD of this video. It's about 20+ minutes long. GREAT video. It was put out (sponsored?) by RG&E.
8 dummies who just dont know a thing ,,,i mean really what in gods name is there to dislike?
Some people are losers.
Wow, Pittsford was considered "the wide open spaces" back then!
I moved in 2009 and have only been back once since.
Jeffrey Rust I
Rochester is still beautiful, Atlanta is a mess, especially with the school system not enough teachers and students falling behind. Traffic is terrible, also too much digging and building so many apartments plus the minimum is still 7. 00. Don't move here. So home in Rochester is not so bad until you move away.
Pittsford Plaza had an A&P? Damn.
what a shame..ive watched this plaza go from "the place" to go shopping to a pit of bums, panhandlers, and scumbags....no one wants to go downtown anymore....
Well, Rochester is still a "City of Quality" in my book. This is really cool, but depressing. To think its gonna be turned into another telecom so sad.
As for Rochester being dangerous, the majority of the crimes happen in just a few neighborhoods. Stay out of them and its a great place.
so what area in midtown mcurdys and formans used to be? was mccurdys 1st floor? its been so long since i have been in midtown before it went downhill.
Mall were so differnent back then
@gravijiga:
In 1974 my parents (I was in Jr High) bouth me a sports coat at McCurdy's the one in Pittsford Plaza! Perhaps your mother selected the "line" it was from.
I was almost too late to see the plaza for the last time - and I wouldn't have, if I didn't go to the one-day charity auction which cleared out most of the remaining furniture and fixtures remaining in the place.
Kinda sad - seeing the whole place empty and devoid of people. I almost wish I had made my last visit when it was still open.
Charity? The proceeds went to Rochester City Hall who purchased Midtown Plaza in 2008. Honestly, it wasn't that lively when Midtown was still open.
so why is kodak going downhill now? is xerox and our other famous companies still staying?
which nation was the music at 1:16
A shame it was all torn down, looks fierce! What stands in it's place now? SLC just spent $5 Billion on a new downtown mall. I'm sure in 40 years it will be bulldozed.
I don't suppose the new mall has room for the clock though.
The real problem with midtown is a) it is surrounded by poverty b) people work downtown but live in the suburbs. Until those obstacles are addressed, a mall was going to have no chance. Im curious to see if the idea to turn midtown into an office park surrounded by a pretty walking area will ever come true. Its such a shame how run down downtown rochester has become.
That's so strange ....why aren't people wearing pyjamas at the mall in that video?
1963 was a strange place
Anybody else look for themselves or their family members? November 30th 2022
Midtown is a ghost town of what it was, not dangerous at all though. Not like Gang activity at Greece Ridge. I dont know about Irondequoit
Oh how I remember Bob Loblows
To bad there really isn't anything in Midtown anymore. It is as baren as the Irondequoit Mall. Now that Kodak is going downhill, so is Rochester.
whose the guy and the lady?
Yes! And Rochester will sink back into swamp mud and be forgotten forever!
YAY!!!XD
So your earliest/only memories of Midtown are from when it was already shit. Sad. How long could you have been living out of town at your young age to "miss" the city so much, unless you moved away with your family while you were still a kid?
cont'd from below...
Does anyone even care or have they given up and said lets just focus on the suburbs? And they wonder why nobody stays there after graduation...College grads want to live in the city and enjoy their 20's not commute a half hour from the suburbs each day.
so sad
Apparently there were no Black people in Rochester in 1963.
It was like that at Greece Ridge Mall up until 2006-07. Mostly white families and hardly any black people around. I'd assume that back in 1963, Rochester was exactly like the suburbs as they once were. These days, both Gates and Greece are mixed race suburbs. My how times have changed.
Silly posts..racist sad posts for the most part...very little was burned down in the 1964 riots...my last trip to Roch was a sad one...Kodak, Xerox, Bausch, Frenchs..mostly gone...people fled the city for the suburbs...downtown after dark is now fairly ...frightening....its what america does..leaves its downtowns for dead...while Europe rebuilds their city centers like they are museums...I moved out of Roch in 1979,,saw the handwriting on the wall
Mike Dempsey stfu weasle
It’s remarkable how some people don’t know how to use periods and commas. Not to mention stringing a legible sentence together is very difficult for dumbasses like this guy
KODAK
Gosh, that place used to be white bread!
I'm really disturbed at this kind of racism in 2013, and surprised to see so much of it in upstate NY. One might think, reading these disgusting comments, that we were living in Alabama in 1955. You all should GTFO.
Please, let's give the racism card a rest. How about the fact that Kodak going under, Bausch & Lomb and Xerox both severely cutting down their presence in Rochester. I've lived in the actual city of Rochester for 20 years and you can't tell me that closed-mindedness is the downfall of Rochester. Economy is the villain here.
Too bad it's turned into "Thugtown".