The oldest hackies tell it like it was (1966) | Hacker News Reader

The oldest hackies tell it like it was (1966)

thestacksreader.com

75 pointspleaser14 comments

> They remember waiting behind pushcarts, horse-drawn wagons, stalled trucks and old electrics in need of a charge.

This is a fascinating insight into the diversity of road vehicles at the beginning of the 20th century. Internal combustion engines and electric motors of comparable prevalence on the roads is a situation that we are only now beginning to witness again - after a period of a hundred years. It seems as if horse-drawn vehicles are still around in New York City as tourist attractions, but in this century I don't think anyone would even fathom enlisting an equine associate for goods transport within NYC. As for pushcarts, I would posit that the sacktrolley has probably displaced any other form of wheelbarrow or pushcart, but I've never been to NYC myself, so that's just a hunch.

There are human-drawn bicycle carriages for two.

Upcoming are bigger pedal-assist cargo bikes, https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/nyc-cargo-bikes-cou...

> pushcarts [...] sacktrolley [...] NYC [...] hunch

Around midtown, convertible hand trucks in cart-dolly-platform mode are commonplace, piled high with boxes, sometimes inside collapsible box-bags.[1] Upright hand trucks are mostly short range delivery from a parked truck (automotive) to inside. Grocery delivery is plastic bins on carts, often u-boats, or Whole Foods does e-bike trailers. Hmm, and food carts[3] are towed.

[1] https://www.alamy.es/new-york-ny-usa-22-de-julio-de-2023-tra... [3] https://www.flickr.com/photos/time-to-look/30128059361

The underlying quote from a driver is even better:

> And you’ve got to remember there were elevated lines on Sixth Avenue as well as Third Avenue and Second Avenue and Ninth Avenue and all those el pillars and all the trolley cars underneath and the chain-drive trucks breaking their linkage and horse-drawn wagons and electrics that needed a charge

The four wheels on the ground, low fixed platform, arches for handles and support at both ends, is often the form preferred by delivery companies bringing stuff into buildings with big enough elevators. I think what you call sacktrolley is typically known in the US as a hand truck? That form limits the number of packages that fit too much for larger office buildings, and is mostly used for residential delivery, needing to cross less even driveways, curbs, etc.

Note: This article, about long-time taxi drivers in NYC, was originally published in 1966.

> Traffic, according to Salit, is better today than it was 30 years ago, except that he has a plan which would make city driving a “thriving pleasure.”

> “The trouble is the law. They’ve got no teeth in them. What they should do is make every fourth street an express street cross town and localize it in the afternoon for deliveries. That way you wouldn’t get bottle necks.” Before he could explain “localize” Salit saw a woman walking toward his parked cab.

I imagine that "local" is the negation of "express", as with Subway services. So to localize an express street is to make it not an express street. Perhaps a sensible thing to do in the afternoon, when there is not so much traffic, but a lot of deliveries.

I don't know what he meant by an express street, though!

Guessing longer green lights or maybe limited legal turns? Latter wouldn’t make as much sense though since the north-south avenues are already far fewer in number already.

My guess is that to “localize” a street is to use it as a street - primarily for interacting with the storefronts, offices or residences along it. To make it “express” is to use it as a road - primarily for transit.

Check out the Strongtowns definitions of street, roads, and stroads: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/2/15/how-to-turn-a-...

The way the cabbies talk reminds me of a Cormac McCarthy novel.

This is a good companion read about the taxi vehicles of that time too: http://tlc-mag.com/archive_issues/amer_taxi_oct06.html

The author of this piece (Nicholas Pileggi) later wrote the books that became the Martin Scorsese films Goodfellas and Casino (and wrote the screenplays for these as well). More than anything, he seems keen on capturing exactly how these guys talk (or at least presenting a memorable version of it).

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