Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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This footage was shot in 1955 for a story by Joseph Dembo who was a reporter for WRCA-TV, the predecessor to WNBC-TV, and a Today Show producer. A few months before his death last year, he asked his son Robert, a Senior Producer at NBC News, to transfer some of his old film and audio tapes to DVD. Robert found six news reports by his father and viewing the segment on the Third Avenue El was an amazing moment for him, seeing how young his dad was. This clip features a portion of that report. Although the footage is silent, it visually relates the elevated railway's demise and the changes that were taking place in the adjoining neighborhoods. Third Avenue El service began in 1878 and was discontinued in 1955. Since then the East Side of Manhattan has been left with only one subway east of 5th Avenue, the always overcrowded Lexington Avenue line.

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