Talks to Watch

[60 fps] A Trip Through Paris, France in late 1890s / Un voyage à travers Paris, 1890

9M views · Mar 2, 2020 · 6:07 · 1 HN recommender · 3 mentions · discussed 2020–2024

Denis Shiryaev's neural-network-upscaled, colorized 60 fps version of film footage shot in Paris between 1896 and 1900.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it for the look of pre-car city streets, with pedestrians moving freely among carriages, and as an example of AI film restoration.

“this fascinating video of Paris in late 1890s”HN comment, 2022

What Hacker News said 3

RecommendsduchenneJul 2022

“this fascinating video of Paris in late 1890s”

Footage showing pedestrians walking freely in 1890s Paris streets

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It is worth noting that streets were dangerous even before cars. For instance, Pierre Curie (Nobel prize and husband of Marie Curie) was killed by a horse-powered truck in the streets of Paris in 1906. He was 46. But pedestrians at that time had the freedom to walk in the middle of the street at any time. You can clearly see it in this fascinating video of Paris in late 1890s: this video

in “When cities treated cars as dangerous intruders” · view on HN
Cites itDominikPetersDec 2020

“in general more chaotic”

Old footage of chaotic Paris street traffic

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Old film footage suggests to me that it was just more "lanes" and in general more chaotic, e.g.: this video link

in “Paris to ‘get rid of 70k parking spaces’” · view on HN
Cites itqwertoxJan 2024

“Here's also an AI-upscaled/-colorized video which contains a bit of the boardwalk.”

AI-upscaled colorized old film footage

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There's a video at the bottom of the article apparently shot by Thomas Edison in August 1900. YouTube has a couple more of them link Here's also an AI-upscaled/-colorized video which contains a bit of the boardwalk. this video