BusTalk

[JimmiB]

I'm well aware that the two light traffic signals lasted into the mid 60's. I believe it was 1962 that I got stopped in NYC for running a traffic light. The officer said that he bets I didn't even know there was a light there since I was from PA. He told me that even though it's on the wrong side of the intersection and only has two lenses...it is still a traffic light. He said they have a lot of accidents because they haven't all been replaced and to be careful. No ticket, just sent me on my way.

I remember traffic lights in Reading, PA in the 40's that had a large red lens on top and a large green at the bottom but the yellow was two rows of small lens lights in between. I believe it was 8 lights. They "counted down" the time remaining before the light turned red. When the city replaced them they ended up being used as caution lights around the Reading Fairgrounds Race Track.

Another "oddball" light I remember was in the square in Northeast, MD. Showed red-yellow-green in one direction and green-yellow-red in the other direction. Just used three light bulbs, showing yellow in all directions when changing. This was sometime in the late 50's.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Long ago, there used to be "traffic booths" in the bustling Journal Square (Jersey City) area; those were the days of heavy bus traffic, with the buses all loading/unloading out on the Square itself.

Add to that heavy auto (and taxi traffic), and you can see why these instillations once made sense.

An officer would be stationed inside (these might have been Hudson County Police, but I am not at all certain); they would operate the electric signals that were mounted on the roof.

I think that there were at least a few of these, but am not sure.

This was going back many, many years......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The Max Fliescher Studios (Betty Boop, Popeye, etc.), through the 1930's, were located in Manhattan.

So, it is not at all surprising, that many urban elements were frequently seen in these now-classic cartoons (streetcars, elevated trains, tenements, etc.)

Even in the most outlandish settings, the quirky Fliescher animators would often "sneak" a piece of "Noo Yawk" infrastructure into the scene!

A classic (on topic) example of this was seen in the 1937 color POPEYE feature, "POPEYE MEETS ALI BABA AND HIS FORTY THIEVES"; in one scene, we see a parched Popeye, Olive Oyl, and J. Wellington Wimpy trekking across a vast Arabian desert.

As they are on the verge of total collapse, they encounter a "two lighter" traffic light, displaying a green light!

The light changes to red, and the three weary wanders rest until the red changes to green again, and they start thier broiling, dusty journey once more!

What makes this even more unusual, is that the traffic light was actually a miniature model; a number of Fliescher cartoons from that era (especially the "Color Classics") frequently used three-dimensional sets as backgrounds for the animated characters.

The Arabian desert sands indeed were a mighty strange and far-off place to find a "two lighter" traffic light, but, for the animators at Fliescher, it was simoly "business as usual"!

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"TRIBORO TWO-LIGHT NOSTALGIA"......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1329

(courtesy bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"TWO IF BY BUS" (1972)

(Ave. J & Bedford)

The vintage "two lighter" traffic light alongside a Fishbowl truly makes for a classic image of the New York of several decades back.

Like today's buses, modern traffic signals simply do not have the charm nor the appeal of their "ancestors".....

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1693

(courtesy bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Another old "two lighter" cartoon spoof I'd like to mention:

After Fleischer Studio's short-lived move from New York to Miami, cartoon production moved back to Manhattan, where POPEYE, SUPERMAN LITTLE LULU, HERMAN & KATNIP, and many others were produced (PARAMOUNT) from the 1940's through the 1950's.

Many long-time Fleischer men were now working for PARAMOUNT, and, yes, much of the "urban" world could be found in these new theatrical cartoons.

A 1954 POPEYE cartoon, "TAXI TURVY", has Popeye and Bluto as rival taxi drivers, each practically killing the other for fares, especially when Olive Oyl hails a cab to take her home (23 Skidoo Street!)

A behind-the-wheel tug of war between Popeye and Bluto ends up hurling poor Miss Oyl through the air and into an intersection, where she lands, head-first, inside of a "two lighter" traffic light!

Each time the lights change (accompanied by a "DING!") Olive's face turns from green to red to green again, as her arms simulate semaphore arms!

No buses in this cartoon.....HOWEVER, there IS a fun streetcar sequence, sure to delight "juice buffs"!

Aaaahhhh, the golden Age Of Cartoons!

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In discussing bygone traffic signals in New York, at least a brief mention must be made of the warning lights that cautioned motorists to exercise care when approaching a streetcar safety zone (this 1940's-era photo was taken out at Sea Gate)......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117464

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Brooklyn, 69th St., about 1950 (look on the right)......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?142034

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Fresh Pond Rd., 1949......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?142041

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Along the Putnam streetcar line.......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118093

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

5th & Bay Ridge, 1946.....

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118040

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a more "modern" two-lighter signal, still on duty at Grand & Varick, watching the passing of a vintage Avenue B & E. Broadway MACK (1973).....

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[ripta42]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This Brooklyn "two lighter" is mounted on a small concrete "island" in the middle of the street.....

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141942

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[Hart Bus]

Under the heeading ot