Chicago Illinois-1957: Bustling Chicago Street with Aragon Ballroom

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1957
Decade1950s
LocationChicago, Illinois, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Bustling Chicago Street with Aragon Ballroom — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1957, this vintage clip captures a bustling Chicago street scene with pedestrians walking along sidewalks, classic cars parked along the curb, and period signage including the Aragon Ballroom and New Lawrence Hotel. The footage shows mid-century urban life with people in 1950s attire, including women in dresses and men in short-sleeve shirts, moving through a vibrant commercial district. The film exhibits natural grain, slight color fading, and authentic Super 8 home movie characteristics, offering a nostalgic glimpse into everyday life in Chicago during the late 1950s.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 124936305

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: Yes
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 2302 · 8mm · 3″ reel
Original reel label: tw ross
Reel-level year note: 1957
Reel-level location note: morton illinois
Date: 1957 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Supports 1950s Chicago urban street-life requests for documentary inserts, neighborhood history, transit-era context, or mid-century commercial-district atmosphere.
Period detail: Visible clues include late-1950s cars, summer street clothing, dense storefront signage, and supported metadata identifying Chicago in 1957.
Home-movie behavior: The clip has a visitor-shot street perspective, observing pedestrians, traffic, and theater-district signage without staged action.
What appears in frame: Frames show sidewalks, pedestrians, parked and moving cars, tall commercial buildings, the Aragon sign, hotel signage, traffic lights, and music-store signage.
Film character: The 8mm image has soft focus, visible grain, mild color fading, handheld framing, and contact-sheet artifacts consistent with scanned home-movie film.
Edit role: An editor could use it as a brief establishing insert, street transition, neighborhood cutaway, or memory beat for mid-century Chicago.
Historical context: The footage documents everyday commercial-street activity, with pedestrians and cars sharing a busy urban corridor in a 1950s American city setting.
Research note: People and recognizable business signage are visible, so likeness, trademark, and location-identification review may be needed separate from footage copyright status.
Research search match: Useful for searches such as 1957 Chicago street scene, 8mm Aragon Ballroom exterior, mid-century city pedestrians, and vintage urban traffic footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with the same reel, then other 1957 Chicago street material, then broader 1950s American downtown, theater-district, and pedestrian footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1957 Chicago street view with pedestrians crossing near parked cars, tall commercial buildings, and visible Aragon-area signage. — Pedestrians and cars move through a busy Chicago commercial street.

Chicago street scene from 1957 with people in summer clothing, mid-century cars, and visible drugstore and ballroom signage. — People walk along a commercial block lined with mid-century cars and signs.

1957 Chicago view showing pedestrians near the curb, traffic, tall buildings, and signage for Aragon and nearby businesses. — A handheld street view captures pedestrians, cars, and dense storefront signage.

Chicago commercial block in 1957 with traffic, pedestrians, a hotel sign, and a large Howard music and records sign. — Cars and pedestrians pass beneath hotel and music-store signage.

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