Vintage Footage of the Empire State Plaza Being Built [VIDEO]

Sometimes I get lost on YouTube and waste a bunch of time on stupid stuff. Other times, I stumble upon great vintage videos like this: 'The Making of the Mall.'

This one is really interesting. It is video of a vintage movie, showing the Empire State Plaza being built.

The most striking thing about this video is the skyline pre-plaza, or lack thereof. It's pretty amazing seeing how Albany looked before it was built and how much this changed the city. As detailed in the footage, it was not an easy process for residents going through the upheaval of such a large project but it turned into a point of pride for the city when completed. Also, some of the stats are staggering. 3 million cubic tons of mud and dirt had to be removed for the project - wow!

It's very interesting taking a look back at this footage, and makes you appreciate how much easier it is to take video today! I will say this - there is something very nostalgic about old film footage though...