5:58 "what do you want to do? "I just wanna have a good time" Is that from that famous song? Did it inspire the line in the movie? th-cam.com/video/j2977XhEKXw/w-d-xo.html
I love everything you do David. Or have done I should say. I had no idea how cool you were until this latest few you've been letting out. You were on the cusp of things. It's funny how when we get older nobody knows how cool we were when we were younger. I'm saying this from experience of course.
I wish there was a place for youth to mingle today. So many of us are trapped in our parents' isolated suburban homes, with no option to connect unless its online. I truly believe we would leave our rooms/houses more if it was truly practical and if the spaces existed. Now you get kicked out for loitering and kids are simply untrained to be social. "Remember kids, school isn't for making friends, its for working your a55 off to get into a good uni." Then school disappears and we have no where to meet anyone but online. And it works. So we don't feel the desire to leave our bedrooms. There's never "nothing to do" these days with the weight of the world's information on your shoulders. Thank you ❤
That is so true. I remember in the 90s when coffee houses were a thing we had bands play ( mostly alternative mellow rock) and the cops where I live started shutting them down. Mind, there was never a problem. We sat and drank coffee for god's sake. But they just didn't want youth congregating.
@@lauriesolis1074 same here, when I was in school, there was 100 things we go do and have fun just walking to from school. Now?? Now? Shiiiet. I don't even see people doing anything anymore.
Works completely different to home life and University as well. They're not prepared for it they used to do two weeks work experience which gave employers a chance to meet them I don't know what they do now.
I feel this, but it's on us to make the effort --- join or start in person clubs, bands, sports, churches, projects, whatever the system wants us atomized, alone, communicating via social media that makes sure we think and act in the correct manner. If we wait for a global change it's not going to happen, but we have control of our lives locally.
I think people have been looking for the same thing for a long time now. The sentiments these kids express may not sound at first like the youth of today, but I believe we all want a place to congregate and just exist and play. Loneliness and misunderstanding is multi generational
these type of people still exist. teens are still intelligent. culture is still out there. trashing on a younger generation because of your disconnect from them is literally what these people were talking bad about.
You're talking about maybe 5% of the "younger generation" now. The other 95% rely on their smartphones to think for them, and I'm not beibg ironic. Smartphones are the current generation's valid excuse to not expend the effort required to feed intelligence. And those same youngsters have been absolutely conditioned to believe that one's only real validation comes from the approval of strangers in the virtual world of "look at me" on a screen in the palm if a hand. They have no ideas how truly empty their lives are, because they can't relate to the actual immersive REALITY of pre-Internet life.
@@gavinvalentino1313 uh no. that's so ignorant. they're very smart kids today, they're very aware of many things and very intelligent. having smart phones doesn't mean your culture is 'look at me' but it means you have access to resources none of us had access to - so many books, papers, tutorials. you sound like a man without a phone. you need to stop projecting. you have no idea if their lives are empty or not.
I was a teenage runaway in the mid 80’s… while the lingo/vernacular/60’s teen-patois might’ve been different, we were also pondering the same kinds of themes such as self-discovery, family dysfunction, miscommunication or familial impasses, survival, cops (lol). So wishing we knew what the future looked like for the group portrayed in your video! Your channel is an absolute treasure trove of Americana history, especially when it comes to counter culture, socioeconomics, race, religion… I could go on and on. Thanks so much for sharing such fascinating content!
Wow I wanted to comment but you really said it better than I ever could. I was a runaway/vagrant for years in the 2010's but the same issues have remained, bringing all the street kids together with a shared sort of turmoil, or unrest.
Figuring out your surroundings is not limited to an era in time. As long as we have the same problems we will have the same reactions over generations, regardless if we perceive them as "new".
4:11 the person with the guitar in the background is playing Alice's Restaurant, which came out on record two months prior to this interview. I grew up with that song during the 2000s, and it's so cool to hear someone playing it contemporaneously
Not exactly the easiest song for a teenager to transcribe two months after its release either, particually with their limited resources compared to today.
I love the attitude of the young man at the end who came to the coffeehouse with a goal in life to be a social worker I hope he had fulfilled his dreams and not let the system and red tape get him down in life.
I was homeless in my teens, including in NYC. We had a pretty decent community of streetkids/youth that would meet up in the mornings in Thomson Square Park, go out to our respective panning spots, and then recongregate at the end of the day before heading out to wherever we hid ourselves away to sleep (for me and a few others, it was on the courtyard grass of a church not too far from Stuyvesant park, behind a gate we would climb over). While most of them were a little closed off to outsiders, they were smart, resourceful, kind and looked out for each other.
@@lorenfulghum2393 Yeah. Basically everyone. And a lot of needle sharing, unsterile water, etc. I came from a city where harm reduction outreach and supply access was incredibly strong (Toronto), so it was a bit of a surprise to see when I first got there (not all the down, but the unsafe approaches).
@@sophiophile by 2010 the harm reduction had gotten a little better. There were several reliable places to get free works, but honestly a lot of the tompkins crowd just didnt seem to care, they seemed fine with the puddle water, sadly.
I love listening to the way young folks talked in this era because you can really tell people thought as they spoke and were very mindful of their ideas, you can hear it in their voice.
“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.” I was hugging my little boy earlier tonight and that line went through my head. I don’t even know how I ended up watching this clip tonight but it was cool to hear the young poet say it.
@@richiecuna5781 you mean the quote is a form of collective thinking (like “we are all one?”) or did you mean something else? It is crazy/awesome to me because my parents are about his age so I listened to all of their Beatles records growing up. And so I was hugging him thinking about how it’s sad someday we won’t be together, and that’s what made the line come into my head. Maybe it doesn’t apply exactly as it was intended to. But yeah, like 56 years, to hear not only the line (because that wouldn’t be a big coincidence) but this kid finding it meaningful and sharing it- wow.
@@guffmuff90 Oh they read. Books don't teach you how to speak though. The problem these days is that schools don't care about what you have to say. There is no discussions in school anymore over what was read just test on what was read. Kids are losing their voice and that's probably why they are so anxious and dependent these days.
@Sorry Mom I'm Floppy gen z reads more than previous generations, plus, speech changes overtime anyway, none is best, none is worse, im not even a zoomer either, and also not a native english speaker, so dont even try to throw my bad grammar at my face.
Thanks for sharing David. I was born 30 years after you spoke to these people, yet I share a lot of the same ideals and thought patterns. It’s almost comforting knowing we relate more than we differ across generations.
As a young guy today, i swiftly caught on to the fact that these young people were more articulate and better speakers, i think this is a consequence of people spending less time talking and socializing today, people who socialize today take breaks every 5 minutes to look at their cellphones, but when they are taken out of the equation, you have an easier time learning to be thoughtful and hold up a conversation, when the only thing you can look at is other peoples faces. This is only a general observation though, there are ofcourse alot of young people today still being very much social, and have no problem having meaningful conversations instead of being a technology addict, but today it's a conscious decision that may take effort. Btw im danish, so sorry if i misspelt something.
In ‘67 my dad was 16. He grew up in El Paso,TX and was definitely a hippie. I’m sure him and his friends were a lot like these kids. Looking for answers. My dad is artistically inclined and can draw and paint. I even have one of his paintings hanging in my bedroom. He also shared his love of music with me although I’m not gifted at it I can’t live without it!
I'm moved to such emotion listening to these children, these teens, saying what's on their minds. You did a great job recording thoughts and realities in real time. I'm loving listening to the different accents too. That girl with the dark hair has such an accent that nowadays people can only try to replicate
@@vitesse_arnhem The brooklyn accent I think it is, its a NY accent. People do imitate it well, but I think the average person you stop on the street there in NY would not have such a strong accent now as compared to then is what I mean.
I was born in 1994 and it's amazing learning about the attitudes, hardships, hopes and joys people had in times past. I've learned a lot from your videos and appreciate you sharing these candid shots with the world. I hope to keep learning and showing how things were to my children as well. My oldest is 9 years old and often asks if you've posted more content to watch together. Much love from Boise, Idaho.
Thank you for your comments. I would love you to set up a tripod and record a video of your son and you watching one of my videos. Maybe talking about it. Any chance of that? David Hoffman filmmaker
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker That is such a great idea! I wish I'd thought about it before my son graduated and is now in Oregon. I think both of us found you at the same time on YT, and in turn, brought up our discovery. He came from the perspective of a teenager who'd found someone of another generation who really understood people and made cool videos about different times and places. I told him you were a filmmaker that I remembered as making insightful documentaries that impressed me. I know he's watched this, but this would be one of those pieces we really could've commented on together, especially since there's been one particular media trend that was putting kids down, saying they didn't want to work, etc. Your work in capturing humanity and history is priceless, David. Thank you! 💜🌎✌️😎🍀
That guy playing in the background sounds just like I did back then .. love the folk music, finger picking style .. boy do I miss those days .. we're all in our 70s and 80s now..
I was a year old then. It's hard to think that a lot of these kids are in their late 70s now. So, if they were 20, they're 76 or older. Great video... they were all so young.
@@StephaneVorstellung I have to say that the 90’s were the best because it was the safest ❤️🙏thanks to Rudy Juliani and pre 9/11. Wonderful time to grow up as a kid
It will be a shame to see real life community and communion disappear. Social media has a lot of downsides. Learning how to really connect with humans in the physical is most important. I’m sure people wrote a lot about these concerns before but I remain skeptical of anyone getting through to most children. I don’t know how to say it. I think social media is addicting and a hard habit to break especially if you don’t know any better.
Our society today is but a shattered shell of what you see in this video. The way of our world today leaves even less room for American youth to grow in ways that don't souly involve money or production. This video does represent the youth now, but without the last 55 years of decay added onto our minds. - JS (1996)
Now we have social media addicted parents, who are watching screens instead of interacting. Raising kids entirely on screens, so they can look at theirs.
Consider also the takeover of roads, streets, highways and the car-centric society America has become due to industry. How can you go outside, walk to a friends house, or to the store in a place where 9/10ths of the neighborhoods are big ugly asphalt lanes for cars to occupy?
There will be no social spaces. That's valuable real estate that some landlord or developer can use to extract value from workers. Worker drones exist to enrich the upper classes. Capitalism is getting more efficient year on year at moving any excess money up the pyramid.
Crazy…. the kids in this video are my dad’s age. I’m sure it seems like just a blink of an eye ago. Would be amazing if anyone’s kids or grandkids recognize them in this!! So thoughtful and forward thinking of you to record all of this!
Excellently filmed and edited. There was no cookie cutter answer with them. I hope they all did well or are doing well. As they girl at 1:35 said, just searching for themselves. Something that can't easily be done in a home that doesn't understand the generation. I feel for them.
Truly fascinating, parallels the minds of today just in a different way. But the struggle is the same. I love the editing work on this as well. Awesome, you did a terrific job encapsulating this specific experience.
It's wild to hear the teen at 2:58 referencing Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant, considering this is the year that it was recorded! I know that's only a small part of what you've captured here, but still, thank you for documenting that little piece of culture in the time in which it was created.
hearing the house of the rising sun riff in the background of the clip of the guy who wanted to be a singer was so moving, that song had the same meaning for those kids back then as it does for me now as an nyc teen in 2023
If only we had several updates on all these people. Look at now attractive and clean they all looked, and some were on there own (or did I get that wrong?)?! Thanks for another great tape. I found you when I saw the old tapes of Edwin and the other Maine head-bangers. I loved that, and was so happy when you gave us updates on these people!
You Sir David surely must've always had a very real "knack/talent" in documentary film making! Just plain Awesome! Plus it probably didn't hurt that you were there in those early days (in retrospect a seemingly perfect time historically) at least imho! Also I love that in the description you payed homage to Chris Wilson's life, music, & his ch. Thanks again David! This one is so interesting!✌
I enjoyed this video; I was born in Brooklyn NY 1961 and was 6yr olds during the filming of this video. Kids back then paid more attention to adults didn't have all this technology and knew how to interact with each other than today's youths, sadly, and were very polite back then. I miss those days.
To those judging today's teenagers, if you open your mind and actually care enough to listen to them you'll find a lot of them have similar mindsets. Trashing on new generations is a tale as old as time and starting to do it is a big sign you're getting old, to be honest. Lovely video by the way!
Yes, but it's also not a satisfying argument to simply point out that something is a pattern that runs throughout history and must, therefore, be somehow "good." For example, when some of the old greek philosophers in 5th century Athens were hating on younger generations, our distanced perspective shows that they were rightfully pointing out first signs of developments in society that ultimately let to Athens relentless imperialism, which was a major cause for the breakout of the Peloponnesian War that, ultimately, destroyed much of Athens cultural life and prosperity - a defeat from which it never recovered after it lost the battle at Sicily. There are many other periods where young generations collectively developed movements that drove out terrible wars, stirred hatred against minorities, or established religions in ways that destroyed freedom and culture. I'm not trying to imply that this is necessarily the case with today's young generations, but it should remind us that there are times when it is warranted to criticise the thinking of doing of younger generations. Besides, the digitalisation, and the resulting shift in how information is shared and accessed, introduce unprecedented changes is society which is why it might be more important than ever to stay critical and expect shifts in thinking and behaviour that cannot be anticipated by simply looking at the past. Some of them might be great, but we cannot know for certain how any of this will restructure our world.
Mr Hoffman, I don't watch all your videos, but I've been subscribed to you for several years now, I believe. I just want to give you credit for all these amazing interviews, recordings, footages- essentially memories of the souls that once were. Thank you for doing all of these, and I'm very happy you are sharing them online for everyone to experience a time before.
What’s so striking about this is how well spoken, and articulate they are. They take the time to pronounce every word they speak. You don’t hear that from people anymore.
HOLY MOLY I HAVE WATCHED YOUR ORIGINAL RUNAWAY TEENS VIDEO SO MANY TIMES AND SHOW IT TO ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE. SUCH AN AMAZING GIFT TO HAVE YOU OFFER US THIS NEW CLIP!
I love watching these films and learning more about where people are coming from. I really enjoyed listening to this older music back in my youth and often connected in my early 20's with older people who would have been about this age back then. It was great to talk to them and get their insights. I would love to see where these people are now.
So sad how so many other agendas push us away from this human need to create, to experience, to meet, to sew, for variety, newness, change, and love. The guy talking about materialism amd it's changes is so right. Somehow it feels so fitting that house of the rising sun was playing I'm the back
Enjoyed that! Thank you for posting. The song toward the end was touching. I can't help but wonder what happened to these kids...and what they truly found over the course of their lives.
Very cool footage. In 1976 I hung out in a very interesting part of Northeast Ohio where it was a bunch of hippies and they had an actual beatnik coffee house with poetry readings and folk music acts
1967 - The year I graduated from La Jolla High. I feel so privileged to have lived in that America in its final decades. We'll never get it back. I didn't get to NYC until 1969. Truly a magical time and yes... I also finger-picked that Arlo Guthrie tune... didn't we all? Finally bumped into him at the Caffe Lena in 1972. Such great memories.
Interesting, I was growing up in NY at that time, and her accent was pretty typical for most teens in NYC. And it was much more typical even in mass media- most comics and character actors had a similar accent, it would not have occurred to us that it was a regional accent, we were being provincial, but maybe New Yorkers kind of set the tone for U.S. mass culture back then more than today...
Those guys were SLICK . they knew how to Talk 🔥🔥🔥 ❌📱❌ This Channel is a such a Treasure. Thank you David Hoffman for taking the time to document these moments, you were truly on the front lines of History 😎
Scott. Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
Thos reminds me a lot of the german documentary "Herbst der Gammler" (Autumn of the Bums) by the wonderful german filmmaker Peter Fleischmann who died recently unfortunately. If you speak german I strongly recommend watching it. Cheers from Munich (where this film was shot bt). Great material here, too!
Thank you for this. I see people who are young, scared and trying to make do with what they have, which is one of those things that transcends the ages. The clothes and lingo may have changed , but the spirit of what it is remains the same. Makes me wonder what happened to all these people, a lot of them would be probably in their late 60s to 70s by about now. These are just some of the baby boomers. I am 30 years old, I may feel like I am disconnected from people that are younger than me, but I feel like in the same retrospect I am disconnected from the people older than me. The cyclical nature of things, is fascinating. And just like it, the tradition of people dunking on other people they don’t understand continues as much, myself for a while included, I hope it’s not too late though to continue to connect. Some of the people in this comment section have a very rosy colored glass of what people were before and what they are now, yet there are so many things that get left out from the experience, because we’re only seeing a small part of it, nostalgia is a funny thing, it praises the small moments, yet erases the pain on why we anted to leave it behind. I’m grateful that the newer generations have a lot more access and transparency than what we had before.
Haven’t watched you for awhile. Good to know you’re still around. A wise man you are. A person I’d love to sit with on a bench and talk about things. The documentary, we all think we’re so aware and relevant. Life kicks our ass and puts us in our place. We live god willing and we hopefully do good and are humbled. Life is pretty local and we effect little.
I do not disagree with much of what you have written but I do disagree that we effect very little. We in fact effect plenty when we do our best. David Hoffman filmmaker
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker thank you David. I can’t disagree. In the context we do effect but often in ways we don’t realize. It’s a great thing you’re doing preserving these small pieces of personal history. What a gift TH-cam and others like it to share these things with persons.
Fascinating. These kids are smart, eloquent and you can see that they had to grow up quicker. Times were hard but there are new challenges facing young people today, such as heavy atomisation via social media, everyone glued to their phones and stuff. But the same old issues exist: boredom, alienation, drugs, casual violence, abuse, a gap in generational understanding and a combination of any of these things can really f*ck a kid up. I know this first hand. However, I see a lot of great aspects in the up and coming generations. There are always kids that are trying to be switched on or to find new ways and we should always try to understand them and sympathise with them.6 Thanks, as always, David Hoffman - your archives offer invaluable insights.
David, your work is priceless! You have a "listening eye", a deep respect for people so that they emerge, both in what they say and how they present themselves. This is a a kind of space that people today do NOT have, at whatever age. It's certainly long gone from NYC. I wonder where these 'kids' are now.
Really dug the poet and the singer. Seems cliché, but you wonder what became of the budding talent there. Thank you, always, for these beautiful gems ❤ ✌️ ☮️
We used to have a hang out spot back in the 90s. It was always full of fun people and music. All we did was talk, eat and laugh. I feel bad for kids today, they'll never have that.
Somehow with much less access to information, they seem significantly more intelligent. These “street” teens look more well put together than a lot of average folks these days.
It just proves that human beings need community even the ones that choose to give up everything they own they will not give up the community people need to come together more and they’ll be happy. Separation of people is always been a bad thing.
i watch this video whenever i feel lost. these kids were born in a completely different era and world then me yet, i relate to them more then anything. Thank you for sharing this with us
@@bryant475 counter culture will always be co opted by the parent culture so individualism as a push back against conformity became the cult of the individual which fuelled capatilist greed. I agree with everything you said. I just find those ideas interesting, sort of paraphrasing adam curtis though.
wait are these the same kids from the runaway video? I really liked both of those videos. I’ve had a fascination with the 60s and 70s for a good couple of years now, and i always loved how people talked back then. as a shy kid, I’d like to take inspiration from these well spoken young people! 😊
I think it's the same everywhere in the world,here in Denmark it's also interesting to listen to old recordings of people from the 40-50-60's , they really were much easier to understand
@@clifford7594 Good point, that damn Democrat LBJ and his damn democrats in Congress killed tens of thousands of Americans and Vietnamese and Chinese on the battlefield with their vote to go to war and stay out of it. I wont forget, either. Thanks for the reminder, Clifford! FLBJ
Love the ending of this Video. Absolutely beautiful performance by the guy with the glasses. I remember seeing this footage on another channel before or maybe it was on your channel actually and you just reuploaded it maybe? Anyways great video
❤ it when they are passing the match around... for the children, for the future! We need more places like this today specially in the city.. thanks for this
Here are American Teens just a few years later - th-cam.com/video/6XoZXNb62ts/w-d-xo.html
Earlier. Three years prior.
5:58 "what do you want to do? "I just wanna have a good time"
Is that from that famous song?
Did it inspire the line in the movie?
th-cam.com/video/j2977XhEKXw/w-d-xo.html
1967 > 1964. Guess you dropped too much acid back then, rabbi.
Do you know if he ever became a social worker?
I love everything you do David. Or have done I should say. I had no idea how cool you were until this latest few you've been letting out. You were on the cusp of things. It's funny how when we get older nobody knows how cool we were when we were younger. I'm saying this from experience of course.
I wish there was a place for youth to mingle today. So many of us are trapped in our parents' isolated suburban homes, with no option to connect unless its online. I truly believe we would leave our rooms/houses more if it was truly practical and if the spaces existed. Now you get kicked out for loitering and kids are simply untrained to be social. "Remember kids, school isn't for making friends, its for working your a55 off to get into a good uni." Then school disappears and we have no where to meet anyone but online. And it works. So we don't feel the desire to leave our bedrooms. There's never "nothing to do" these days with the weight of the world's information on your shoulders.
Thank you ❤
That is so true. I remember in the 90s when coffee houses were a thing we had bands play ( mostly alternative mellow rock) and the cops where I live started shutting them down. Mind, there was never a problem. We sat and drank coffee for god's sake. But they just didn't want youth congregating.
I can confirm, feels like my generation is not social
@@lauriesolis1074 same here, when I was in school, there was 100 things we go do and have fun just walking to from school. Now?? Now? Shiiiet. I don't even see people doing anything anymore.
Works completely different to home life and University as well. They're not prepared for it they used to do two weeks work experience which gave employers a chance to meet them I don't know what they do now.
I feel this, but it's on us to make the effort --- join or start in person clubs, bands, sports, churches, projects, whatever
the system wants us atomized, alone, communicating via social media that makes sure we think and act in the correct manner. If we wait for a global change it's not going to happen, but we have control of our lives locally.
I think people have been looking for the same thing for a long time now. The sentiments these kids express may not sound at first like the youth of today, but I believe we all want a place to congregate and just exist and play. Loneliness and misunderstanding is multi generational
depends on the society you live in.
Today it's called the mall.
I would guess these days a lot of runaways & homelessness is due to extreme & powerful addictions?
@@Mo-yd8xc gross
Agreed. That's what mankind yearns for anyways. A lot of the demonic dark energies here today.
these type of people still exist. teens are still intelligent. culture is still out there.
trashing on a younger generation because of your disconnect from them is literally what these people were talking bad about.
Maybe skate culture
but structurally the spaces are gone
maybe it isn't trashing it's pity
@@scythermantis you’re wrong. There are so many spaces for creative youth. You just have to interact in real lifr
You're talking about maybe 5% of the "younger generation" now. The other 95% rely on their smartphones to think for them, and I'm not beibg ironic. Smartphones are the current generation's valid excuse to not expend the effort required to feed intelligence. And those same youngsters have been absolutely conditioned to believe that one's only real validation comes from the approval of strangers in the virtual world of "look at me" on a screen in the palm if a hand.
They have no ideas how truly empty their lives are, because they can't relate to the actual immersive REALITY of pre-Internet life.
@@gavinvalentino1313 uh no. that's so ignorant. they're very smart kids today, they're very aware of many things and very intelligent. having smart phones doesn't mean your culture is 'look at me' but it means you have access to resources none of us had access to - so many books, papers, tutorials. you sound like a man without a phone. you need to stop projecting. you have no idea if their lives are empty or not.
@@gavinvalentino1313 What you’re saying is true, but highly exaggerated.
I was a teenage runaway in the mid 80’s… while the lingo/vernacular/60’s teen-patois might’ve been different, we were also pondering the same kinds of themes such as self-discovery, family dysfunction, miscommunication or familial impasses, survival, cops (lol).
So wishing we knew what the future looked like for the group portrayed in your video!
Your channel is an absolute treasure trove of Americana history, especially when it comes to counter culture, socioeconomics, race, religion… I could go on and on.
Thanks so much for sharing such fascinating content!
Thank you for the comment… And the support.
David Hoffman filmmaker
Wow I wanted to comment but you really said it better than I ever could. I was a runaway/vagrant for years in the 2010's but the same issues have remained, bringing all the street kids together with a shared sort of turmoil, or unrest.
Figuring out your surroundings is not limited to an era in time. As long as we have the same problems we will have the same reactions over generations, regardless if we perceive them as "new".
4:11 the person with the guitar in the background is playing Alice's Restaurant, which came out on record two months prior to this interview. I grew up with that song during the 2000s, and it's so cool to hear someone playing it contemporaneously
Not exactly the easiest song for a teenager to transcribe two months after its release either, particually with their limited resources compared to today.
I love the attitude of the young man at the end who came to the coffeehouse with a goal in life to be a social worker I hope he had fulfilled his dreams and not let the system and red tape get him down in life.
I do too, if he is still living, hope he is a happy grandpa today.
I was homeless in my teens, including in NYC. We had a pretty decent community of streetkids/youth that would meet up in the mornings in Thomson Square Park, go out to our respective panning spots, and then recongregate at the end of the day before heading out to wherever we hid ourselves away to sleep (for me and a few others, it was on the courtyard grass of a church not too far from Stuyvesant park, behind a gate we would climb over).
While most of them were a little closed off to outsiders, they were smart, resourceful, kind and looked out for each other.
Tompkins Class of 95-01 hope you’re well.
Was everyone on Heroin? Because that's how it was in Tompkins in 2009-2010 when I was homeless there.
@@lorenfulghum2393 Jim, Frenchie, slug, Susan, hotdog, swamie. Backpack Steve, so many nicknames so many stories. Dawn was nice hope she made it out.
@@lorenfulghum2393 Yeah. Basically everyone. And a lot of needle sharing, unsterile water, etc. I came from a city where harm reduction outreach and supply access was incredibly strong (Toronto), so it was a bit of a surprise to see when I first got there (not all the down, but the unsafe approaches).
@@sophiophile by 2010 the harm reduction had gotten a little better. There were several reliable places to get free works, but honestly a lot of the tompkins crowd just didnt seem to care, they seemed fine with the puddle water, sadly.
I love listening to the way young folks talked in this era because you can really tell people thought as they spoke and were very mindful of their ideas, you can hear it in their voice.
“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.” I was hugging my little boy earlier tonight and that line went through my head. I don’t even know how I ended up watching this clip tonight but it was cool to hear the young poet say it.
Is that "I am the Walrus?"
Ope, nevermind. Hadn't watched the entire video yet, haha.
its a form of collective thinking but thats nuts cause of the time diffrence so idk but idk
@@richiecuna5781 you mean the quote is a form of collective thinking (like “we are all one?”) or did you mean something else? It is crazy/awesome to me because my parents are about his age so I listened to all of their Beatles records growing up. And so I was hugging him thinking about how it’s sad someday we won’t be together, and that’s what made the line come into my head. Maybe it doesn’t apply exactly as it was intended to. But yeah, like 56 years, to hear not only the line (because that wouldn’t be a big coincidence) but this kid finding it meaningful and sharing it- wow.
@@elizabethhawkins2415 like as in it was seen and thought of and somehow got to you yeah im nuts
Your channel makes me worry less about all the things we're supposed to be worrying about
What I like the most about the people from the 60's and 70's is the way they speak, it's so easy to understand and articulated.
I agree
everybody sounds like paul simon…
i feel the same about portuguese of that era
@@guffmuff90 Oh they read. Books don't teach you how to speak though. The problem these days is that schools don't care about what you have to say. There is no discussions in school anymore over what was read just test on what was read. Kids are losing their voice and that's probably why they are so anxious and dependent these days.
@Sorry Mom I'm Floppy gen z reads more than previous generations, plus, speech changes overtime anyway, none is best, none is worse, im not even a zoomer either, and also not a native english speaker, so dont even try to throw my bad grammar at my face.
you have one of the coolest youtube channels man
Hell yea! He does! ✌
It is great🍻
Agreed 👍 I give it ten thumbs up
"...ditto! AMEN"
100%.
Thanks for sharing David. I was born 30 years after you spoke to these people, yet I share a lot of the same ideals and thought patterns. It’s almost comforting knowing we relate more than we differ across generations.
As a young guy today, i swiftly caught on to the fact that these young people were more articulate and better speakers, i think this is a consequence of people spending less time talking and socializing today, people who socialize today take breaks every 5 minutes to look at their cellphones, but when they are taken out of the equation, you have an easier time learning to be thoughtful and hold up a conversation, when the only thing you can look at is other peoples faces. This is only a general observation though, there are ofcourse alot of young people today still being very much social, and have no problem having meaningful conversations instead of being a technology addict, but today it's a conscious decision that may take effort. Btw im danish, so sorry if i misspelt something.
In ‘67 my dad was 16. He grew up in El Paso,TX and was definitely a hippie.
I’m sure him and his friends were a lot like these kids. Looking for answers.
My dad is artistically inclined and can draw and paint. I even have one of his paintings hanging in my bedroom. He also shared his love of music with me although I’m not gifted at it I can’t live without it!
I'm moved to such emotion listening to these children, these teens, saying what's on their minds. You did a great job recording thoughts and realities in real time. I'm loving listening to the different accents too. That girl with the dark hair has such an accent that nowadays people can only try to replicate
@@vitesse_arnhem The brooklyn accent I think it is, its a NY accent. People do imitate it well, but I think the average person you stop on the street there in NY would not have such a strong accent now as compared to then is what I mean.
It’s fun seeing teens from back in the day. Nothing is new under the sun (coming from a teen)❤️
David you have lived a very interesting life! Thank you for recording it and sharing it.
I was born in 1994 and it's amazing learning about the attitudes, hardships, hopes and joys people had in times past. I've learned a lot from your videos and appreciate you sharing these candid shots with the world. I hope to keep learning and showing how things were to my children as well. My oldest is 9 years old and often asks if you've posted more content to watch together. Much love from Boise, Idaho.
Thank you for your comments. I would love you to set up a tripod and record a video of your son and you watching one of my videos. Maybe talking about it. Any chance of that?
David Hoffman filmmaker
Oh wow, you had your first kid at 19 then?
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker That is such a great idea! I wish I'd thought about it before my son graduated and is now in Oregon.
I think both of us found you at the same time on YT, and in turn, brought up our discovery. He came from the perspective of a teenager who'd found someone of another generation who really understood people and made cool videos about different times and places. I told him you were a filmmaker that I remembered as making insightful documentaries that impressed me.
I know he's watched this, but this would be one of those pieces we really could've commented on together, especially since there's been one particular media trend that was putting kids down, saying they didn't want to work, etc.
Your work in capturing humanity and history is priceless, David.
Thank you! 💜🌎✌️😎🍀
Eyyy 94 crew
@@OCDGeek128 double income no kids life ftw
That guy playing in the background sounds just like I did back then .. love the folk music, finger picking style .. boy do I miss those days .. we're all in our 70s and 80s now..
I was a year old then. It's hard to think that a lot of these kids are in their late 70s now. So, if they were 20, they're 76 or older. Great video... they were all so young.
This is beautiful. Brings back alotta Tompkins Square memories. Thanks for sharing
Born and raised in New York
It's funny because I lived in NYC in the 80's and everyone told me, "You should have been here in the 70's.
@@StephaneVorstellung I have to say that the 90’s were the best because it was the safest ❤️🙏thanks to Rudy Juliani and pre 9/11. Wonderful time to grow up as a kid
@@keithkaiman922 I live here now, and wish it was more like the 90s.
Whoa….these kids are in their 70-80’s now. Wow. Time is so short. 🤯
I’m sure they did a lot of living in the 5 or so decades since they were filmed.
very interesting, I was born in 2003 but the atmosphere I pick up from 60’s footage is always very thought provoking. Thanks for this video david.
So much history. I'm glad there are people like you that archive life as it was at that time, among other times and places.
The audio sounds real nice on this, like wow. You do it best for video and audio Mr. Hoffman. Thanks for sharing this video from the past 1967. 🎞️🎥🙏🙂
Yes the audio quality on your videos is top notch.
David Hoffman with young people 1967 NYC appreciate your videos Listening 🌼 From Mass USA TYVM 🇺🇸 David Blessings for everyone ♥
It will be a shame to see real life community and communion disappear. Social media has a lot of downsides. Learning how to really connect with humans in the physical is most important. I’m sure people wrote a lot about these concerns before but I remain skeptical of anyone getting through to most children. I don’t know how to say it. I think social media is addicting and a hard habit to break especially if you don’t know any better.
Our society today is but a shattered shell of what you see in this video. The way of our world today leaves even less room for American youth to grow in ways that don't souly involve money or production. This video does represent the youth now, but without the last 55 years of decay added onto our minds.
- JS (1996)
Now we have social media addicted parents, who are watching screens instead of interacting. Raising kids entirely on screens, so they can look at theirs.
Consider also the takeover of roads, streets, highways and the car-centric society America has become due to industry. How can you go outside, walk to a friends house, or to the store in a place where 9/10ths of the neighborhoods are big ugly asphalt lanes for cars to occupy?
There will be no social spaces. That's valuable real estate that some landlord or developer can use to extract value from workers. Worker drones exist to enrich the upper classes. Capitalism is getting more efficient year on year at moving any excess money up the pyramid.
@@unknown6390 in some cities in the US it’s too dangerous to walk around. I’d rather drive. LA is a mess.
Crazy…. the kids in this video are my dad’s age. I’m sure it seems like just a blink of an eye ago. Would be amazing if anyone’s kids or grandkids recognize them in this!!
So thoughtful and forward thinking of you to record all of this!
Excellently filmed and edited. There was no cookie cutter answer with them. I hope they all did well or are doing well. As they girl at 1:35 said, just searching for themselves. Something that can't easily be done in a home that doesn't understand the generation. I feel for them.
Truly fascinating, parallels the minds of today just in a different way. But the struggle is the same. I love the editing work on this as well. Awesome, you did a terrific job encapsulating this specific experience.
Interesting to see how views in different decades change. Thank you for preserving all of this footage!
It's wild to hear the teen at 2:58 referencing Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant, considering this is the year that it was recorded! I know that's only a small part of what you've captured here, but still, thank you for documenting that little piece of culture in the time in which it was created.
You can hear someone playing it on the guitar too. Love it.
It's an ragged blues line, you can hear it on some old Piedmont style blues tunes. Arlo borrowed it
Did you not hear someone playing the Alice Guitar riff at around 4:30?
@@bearhall4919 The riff in question pre-dates Arlo's tune by decades.
@@jamesfetherston1190 OK So what?
Hearing dylan and arlo songs being played in the background really made this!
hearing the house of the rising sun riff in the background of the clip of the guy who wanted to be a singer was so moving, that song had the same meaning for those kids back then as it does for me now as an nyc teen in 2023
If only we had several updates on all these people. Look at now attractive and clean they all looked, and some were on there own (or did I get that wrong?)?! Thanks for another great tape. I found you when I saw the old tapes of Edwin and the other Maine head-bangers. I loved that, and was so happy when you gave us updates on these people!
You Sir David surely must've always had a very real "knack/talent" in documentary film making! Just plain Awesome! Plus it probably didn't hurt that you were there in those early days (in retrospect a seemingly perfect time historically) at least imho!
Also I love that in the description you payed homage to Chris Wilson's life, music, & his ch. Thanks again David! This one is so interesting!✌
I enjoyed this video; I was born in Brooklyn NY 1961 and was 6yr olds during the filming of this video. Kids back then paid more attention to adults didn't have all this technology and knew how to interact with each other than today's youths, sadly, and were very polite back then. I miss those days.
To those judging today's teenagers, if you open your mind and actually care enough to listen to them you'll find a lot of them have similar mindsets. Trashing on new generations is a tale as old as time and starting to do it is a big sign you're getting old, to be honest. Lovely video by the way!
Right on. I was part of those people who did that because I just did not understand, but you can only dismiss people for so long.
Exactly
Yeah but getting old is AWESOME
Thank You.
Yes, but it's also not a satisfying argument to simply point out that something is a pattern that runs throughout history and must, therefore, be somehow "good." For example, when some of the old greek philosophers in 5th century Athens were hating on younger generations, our distanced perspective shows that they were rightfully pointing out first signs of developments in society that ultimately let to Athens relentless imperialism, which was a major cause for the breakout of the Peloponnesian War that, ultimately, destroyed much of Athens cultural life and prosperity - a defeat from which it never recovered after it lost the battle at Sicily. There are many other periods where young generations collectively developed movements that drove out terrible wars, stirred hatred against minorities, or established religions in ways that destroyed freedom and culture. I'm not trying to imply that this is necessarily the case with today's young generations, but it should remind us that there are times when it is warranted to criticise the thinking of doing of younger generations. Besides, the digitalisation, and the resulting shift in how information is shared and accessed, introduce unprecedented changes is society which is why it might be more important than ever to stay critical and expect shifts in thinking and behaviour that cannot be anticipated by simply looking at the past. Some of them might be great, but we cannot know for certain how any of this will restructure our world.
Mr Hoffman, I don't watch all your videos, but I've been subscribed to you for several years now, I believe. I just want to give you credit for all these amazing interviews, recordings, footages- essentially memories of the souls that once were. Thank you for doing all of these, and I'm very happy you are sharing them online for everyone to experience a time before.
What’s so striking about this is how well spoken, and articulate they are. They take the time to pronounce every word they speak. You don’t hear that from people anymore.
Languages change how they sound throughout history. It has nothing to do with level of intelligence how things are pronounced.
Yeah ! I can't speak more than 3 or 4 words in a single sentence 😂
Thank you for sharing your films :)
HOLY MOLY I HAVE WATCHED YOUR ORIGINAL RUNAWAY TEENS VIDEO SO MANY TIMES AND SHOW IT TO ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE. SUCH AN AMAZING GIFT TO HAVE YOU OFFER US THIS NEW CLIP!
Thank you for your enthusiasm and your complement and for sharing my film with your favorite people.
David Hoffman filmmaker
I love watching these films and learning more about where people are coming from. I really enjoyed listening to this older music back in my youth and often connected in my early 20's with older people who would have been about this age back then. It was great to talk to them and get their insights. I would love to see where these people are now.
This is immensely touching. Thank you so much for sharing.
Man these videos, amazing archives you have.
No one was walking around with cameras in those days!
So sad how so many other agendas push us away from this human need to create, to experience, to meet, to sew, for variety, newness, change, and love. The guy talking about materialism amd it's changes is so right. Somehow it feels so fitting that house of the rising sun was playing I'm the back
Enjoyed that! Thank you for posting. The song toward the end was touching. I can't help but wonder what happened to these kids...and what they truly found over the course of their lives.
That song and his delivery was just beautiful ❤😭
Very cool footage. In 1976 I hung out in a very interesting part of Northeast Ohio where it was a bunch of hippies and they had an actual beatnik coffee house with poetry readings and folk music acts
I lived in NE OH for years. Just curious what town this was?
1967 - The year I graduated from La Jolla High. I feel so privileged to have lived in that America in its final decades. We'll never get it back. I didn't get to NYC until 1969. Truly a magical time and yes... I also finger-picked that Arlo Guthrie tune... didn't we all? Finally bumped into him at the Caffe Lena in 1972. Such great memories.
Fascinating. Love those regional accents, especially that 14-year-old Laura Nyro-looking girl at 8:47.
Interesting, I was growing up in NY at that time, and her accent was pretty typical for most teens in NYC. And it was much more typical even in mass media- most comics and character actors had a similar accent, it would not have occurred to us that it was a regional accent, we were being provincial, but maybe New Yorkers kind of set the tone for U.S. mass culture back then more than today...
Wonderful articulate young people. I hope some of them are still alive and happy.
Those guys were SLICK . they knew how to Talk 🔥🔥🔥 ❌📱❌
This Channel is a such a Treasure. Thank you David Hoffman for taking the time to document these moments, you were truly on the front lines of History 😎
Can't get enough of your channel David.
Fascinating.
Thank you for your work then and now.
~ Scott
Scott. Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts.
David Hoffman filmmaker
Hey David. My mom grew up in the Bronx and was a teenager when this was filmed. She left NYC soon after. Take care.
I love this. Thank you for sharing. Somehow, filled me with joy and great to see this kind of interactions
Thos reminds me a lot of the german documentary "Herbst der Gammler" (Autumn of the Bums) by the wonderful german filmmaker Peter Fleischmann who died recently unfortunately. If you speak german I strongly recommend watching it. Cheers from Munich (where this film was shot bt).
Great material here, too!
BEAUTIFUL. I didn't know there were so many Runaways back then, So much trauma. I hope we can do something to heal the old mistakes.
Thank you for this. I see people who are young, scared and trying to make do with what they have, which is one of those things that transcends the ages. The clothes and lingo may have changed , but the spirit of what it is remains the same.
Makes me wonder what happened to all these people, a lot of them would be probably in their late 60s to 70s by about now. These are just some of the baby boomers. I am 30 years old, I may feel like I am disconnected from people that are younger than me, but I feel like in the same retrospect I am disconnected from the people older than me.
The cyclical nature of things, is fascinating. And just like it, the tradition of people dunking on other people they don’t understand continues as much, myself for a while included, I hope it’s not too late though to continue to connect. Some of the people in this comment section have a very rosy colored glass of what people were before and what they are now, yet there are so many things that get left out from the experience, because we’re only seeing a small part of it, nostalgia is a funny thing, it praises the small moments, yet erases the pain on why we anted to leave it behind.
I’m grateful that the newer generations have a lot more access and transparency than what we had before.
Haven’t watched you for awhile. Good to know you’re still around. A wise man you are. A person I’d love to sit with on a bench and talk about things. The documentary, we all think we’re so aware and relevant. Life kicks our ass and puts us in our place. We live god willing and we hopefully do good and are humbled. Life is pretty local and we effect little.
I do not disagree with much of what you have written but I do disagree that we effect very little. We in fact effect plenty when we do our best.
David Hoffman filmmaker
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker thank you David. I can’t disagree. In the context we do effect but often in ways we don’t realize. It’s a great thing you’re doing preserving these small pieces of personal history. What a gift TH-cam and others like it to share these things with persons.
Is there a way to reach you via email?
my office email is allinaday@aol.com.
David Hoffman Filmmaker
They all sound like adult New Yorkers and now they’re parents, grandparents, and great parents
Fascinating. These kids are smart, eloquent and you can see that they had to grow up quicker. Times were hard but there are new challenges facing young people today, such as heavy atomisation via social media, everyone glued to their phones and stuff. But the same old issues exist: boredom, alienation, drugs, casual violence, abuse, a gap in generational understanding and a combination of any of these things can really f*ck a kid up. I know this first hand. However, I see a lot of great aspects in the up and coming generations. There are always kids that are trying to be switched on or to find new ways and we should always try to understand them and sympathise with them.6 Thanks, as always, David Hoffman - your archives offer invaluable insights.
David, your work is priceless! You have a "listening eye", a deep respect for people so that they emerge, both in what they say and how they present themselves.
This is a a kind of space that people today do NOT have, at whatever age. It's certainly long gone from NYC. I wonder where these 'kids' are now.
The clothing, the style, the accents, the vintage look. All so cool
Really dug the poet and the singer. Seems cliché, but you wonder what became of the budding talent there. Thank you, always, for these beautiful gems ❤ ✌️ ☮️
We used to have a hang out spot back in the 90s. It was always full of fun people and music. All we did was talk, eat and laugh. I feel bad for kids today, they'll never have that.
Somehow with much less access to information, they seem significantly more intelligent. These “street” teens look more well put together than a lot of average folks these days.
Because you had to have a thirst for knowlege to learn. Today infomation is spoonfed to us, there is no struggle to get it which weakens the mind.
“Somehow” L O L
This channel is a gold mine.
The song the one kid sang is haunting and beautiful.
Wow ! This is so shocking and sad at the same time and in so many ways💔
As usual thank you for sharing , your treasures with all of us Mr. Hoffman🙏🏻
It just proves that human beings need community even the ones that choose to give up everything they own they will not give up the community people need to come together more and they’ll be happy. Separation of people is always been a bad thing.
This!!!
i watch this video whenever i feel lost. these kids were born in a completely different era and world then me yet, i relate to them more then anything. Thank you for sharing this with us
Back when individualism was progressive. We need more art like this. Thank you, David.
When the young were able to get the fruits of the new deal era.
Yeah now it's group think that dominates unfortunately
@@bryant475 counter culture will always be co opted by the parent culture so individualism as a push back against conformity became the cult of the individual which fuelled capatilist greed. I agree with everything you said. I just find those ideas interesting, sort of paraphrasing adam curtis though.
A lot of the guys have that John Sebastian of The Lovin Spoonful look.
Another wonderful clip, almost 56 years ago, the year i was born.
Cheers David.
It’s comforting to know that no matter how times change, teenagers still do teenage shit. (both good and bad)
Your video contributions are superb. I never miss your posts. Thanks!
wait are these the same kids from the runaway video? I really liked both of those videos. I’ve had a fascination with the 60s and 70s for a good couple of years now, and i always loved how people talked back then. as a shy kid, I’d like to take inspiration from these well spoken young people! 😊
Love your thumbnail man, huge Dylan fan myself. Definitely a cool cat.
@@paranoidplane9799 hahaha thank you!! funny you’re the first one to recognize him! :D
I think it's the same everywhere in the world,here in Denmark it's also interesting to listen to old recordings of people from the 40-50-60's , they really were much easier to understand
I was a 17 year old street kid and an orphan in 1970. The Judge told me to join the Marines or he would send me to jail for a year.. He saved my life.
1970? I take it you opted for jail.
@@clifford7594 Good point, that damn Democrat LBJ and his damn democrats in Congress killed tens of thousands of Americans and Vietnamese and Chinese on the battlefield with their vote to go to war and stay out of it. I wont forget, either. Thanks for the reminder, Clifford! FLBJ
Geez the MARINES? That's the hardest part of the military? You couldn't go into the Army?
how come you were a street kid?
Do I know you? LOL you sound extremely similar to my mom’s ex boyfriend. Did you grow up in Boston by chance?
Wow Mr. H, footage is incredible! I can't believe it survived. Good audio too. Fascinating.
Love the ending of this Video. Absolutely beautiful performance by the guy with the glasses. I remember seeing this footage on another channel before or maybe it was on your channel actually and you just reuploaded it maybe? Anyways great video
Thank you for sharing this. I’m excited to see more of your work from the archive.
Thank you for the support.
David Hoffman filmmaker
Wow. These kids are in their late 60s and 70s now.....
Thank you for sharing! I enjoyed it!
I hope some of the people who were in this video find this and watch it now.
Speaking plain and clear, I like that. I am 31 and I still speak the same way they did in the video, trying not use trendy slangs as much as possible
The Grey Wizard Am I was the name of the L.P. Great footage here. Thanks.
I want to be able to _get with it_ again. This video is a wonderful time capsule.
New Yorkers were once considered 'friendly' - wow! 😮
this is a gem. very prolific.
this is wholesome af compared to today
Thanks so much for posting this ❤
Always enjoy your uploads. Hope had a
Great weekend 🙌
This channel is awesome. Thank you for documenting history!
this is amazing
same frustration, lack of direction, and apathy that the youth have today. They were a novelty back then, now it's the norm.
Late-stage modernity.
❤ it when they are passing the match around... for the children, for the future! We need more places like this today specially in the city.. thanks for this