I stumbled onto this video of Syracuse, New York. It’s a video of the town but the first three minutes tell an interesting story about a Topsy-turvy Stop Light in town… I grew up in New York and I was stationed just east of there and visited Syracuse numerous times but never came upon this stop light…
That upside down stoplight is definitely unusual. I wonder if that configuration is compatible with the local traffic codes?
Syracuse itself comes off as a pretty nice looking city in the vdo. Never been there, but I’ve Google-driven some upstate New York area roads, they all seem very nice.
Gotta be careful shooting lights out. We never had sling shots.
Been there MANY times. I used to play softball for a bar 2 blocks from that light. My mom was born in a house 3 houses away from that light. My mom was one of those Irish kids who would knock out the red light. Finally, the city put back the light with Green on top. And you will find cops just sitting there waiting for people to run the light. Too bad if you were color blind.
At Rome Air Base?
I watched the whole video. Several inaccuracies. But overall it was good. When talking about why manufacturing left - They didn’t leave Syracuse to Asia. Most left to other parts of the country. GE Television moved to Kentucky. GM (Fisher Body) just closed shop because what they were manufacturing was consolidated to other plants. New Process Gear was owned by Chryco …and they shut just shut down as part of Chryco’s downsizing. Carrier also moved South.
At the end of video he went to an Irish bar. At the start of the video where he was showing the Green over Red traffic light - why didn’t he go to the most famous Irish bar in Syracuse (Colemans). A beautiful Irish bar. The bars interior was imported from Ireland. Owner went over to Ireland and bought an old bar. Took it apart and shipped it to Syracuse.
Yes, I was stationed in Rome, NY, at Griffiss AFB, 485 Engineering Installation Group (EIG) from 1981 to 1984. Our unit built and installed communication equipment. I liked to say, “We dug holes and climbed poles…” Back then, the Felt Mill and Revere Ware was still open, the base was building up with the advent of the cruise missile, and it seemed like the entire town was employed and prosperous. There were concerts every week outside City Hall during the summer. And they still offered boat tours on the Erie Canal. After the Mill and Revere shut down and later when the base closed, it seemed Rome had blown away. Now when I “drive” the streets with Google Street View, I feel so sorry for the folks who remained.
As I wrote, I grew up in upstate NY, Warren County, on the Schroon River. The disappointing part of that assignment was that the NYS Thruway only went “one-way…” It seems like if we wanted to see family, we had to drive to go see them, they always had excuses why it was too far, or too difficult to pack up the kids for the day and drive out to see us… Actually, for that reason we were glad to leave the base for Offutt AFB, NE…
I also watched the whole video and wondered what day of the week the video was filmed on as the streets were barren and town seemed like a Ghost Town. The sun was up high enough so it was not early morning. He filmed various churches and they all seemed like they were not open for Sunday business… I would also guess that it was during summer break so the college was closed.
I was working at GE Aerospace as a software engineer working on Radar systems part of that time. We had some test radar units there, and I would have to go there every once in a while.