Noticeable Changes to the set over the years

[D'Snowth]

Just to add my own half-cent's worth to the discussion based on my studies of the set over the years...

Ironically from 1979-1988 there wasn't really any changes made to the set.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that...

I've noticed throughout the 80s, various elements of the set seemed to be slightly spruced up over that decade, like for example...

1. Big Bird's doors were repainted during the mid 80s, even though they had the same pre-1993 color scheme (dark red, dirty green, pale grayish blue, and brown, opposed to pale red, minty green, turquoise, and orange), they didn't look quite as weathered and such.
2. The carriage house/garage looked a less weathered, as did 123 by the mid 80s; and as ssetta pointed out, those number "stickers" over the garage doors kept pealing off over this period of time.
3. The backdrop of the brick wall behind Big Bird's nest with the alphabet and number paneling and such was repainted, making it look a little brighter, and I think it was painted at a smaller perspective, as we could now see more of the paneling, that was once concealed by the small fence. This was by the late 80s.

Going past Big Bird's nest away from the arbor, there used to be a painted backdrop depicting the view of looking down the street. (It never looked very good to me because the perspective was wrong--the sidewalk seems to go uphill a la San Francisco. They should have painted it to better work with the angle it was usually shot from.) Today, there is just a bricked side of a big building taking up that space, with a window (I think) and some vines for a touch of realism.

I honestly believe the reason the backdrop looks to be going uphill is because of the angle we're used to seeing it on screen... I bet if you were to look directly at that particular backdrop from, say, right in front of Hooper's, the perspective would be more realistic, in making the street look longer than it really is. But one thing I have noticed, and wonder if anyone else has, is that it seems like during the years when the set was assembled in the Teletape studios, that maybe the studio floor wasn't completely level, because past 123, it seems like everything does kind lean a little bit like it's going up a hill... I mean, don't Big Bird's doors and such during that period look like they lean to the left?

Is it just me or does that tree in front of Oscar's can keep appearing and disappearing depending on whether the story calls for it to be there? Or whether the staging makes it an obstacle? Same with that mailbox.

You're absolutely right, and it's the same with the tree in front of the tenement building that houses Hooper's and the Fix-It-Shop, though I've noticed that tree seems to disappear more than the one in front of Oscar's can.

The apartment building right next to Hooper's, which today is officially where Elmo lives. Until 1998 I think it was always the same painted backdrop. It's hard to tell, though, if parts of it were three-dimensional, like a relief. (Its windows were lit up at night at least once.)
Since '98 it's been a different building, and I think it's three-dimensional now, like a relief sculpture sticking out from the wall. The buildings in the distance. I think it was 1989 when those painted buildings first appeared in the background of the arbor area, in the space that until then had always been a patch of plain blue sky. Those same buildings were there until 1998, when completely different ones took their place. I can't tell if the new ones are a painting, or a relief-sculpture. Anyone?
I like having buildings there, personally, although I liked the '89-'97 ones better. Their being there is more realistic than the plain blue sky was, since that suggested that there were no other tall buildings nearby.

Yes, from 1970 to 1987, the backdrop had two distant apartment buildings, with maybe a smaller building wedged between them, with nothing but a patch of blue sky inbetween them, and the alphabet factory wall... though early in the 70s, there was a group of palmtrees painted on the patch of sky, I guess to give the small bit of foliage in that part a fuller feel, because afterwards, the painted trees disappeared, and we always had a couple of sad looking palm trees dangling over the fence (and this backdrop was originally behind Big Bird's doors on the straight 1969 set). But yeah, by 1988, the buildings were changed: there were three different buildings in a row, and I guess to give it more depth, they added the top of a skyscraper behind them, but we still had that patch of blue sky, until the very early 90s where the additional buildings were added, filling up that once empty space, which I agree, did add more realism.

Now one thing I would like to bring up, that I'm surprised no one else has... everybody has been complaining about the sacrifice of the fire escape on the side of 123, but I can't believe that no one has mentioned the tire swing... the tire swing had been a fixture all throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, but during the 2000s, it had pretty much been phased out. In fact, by 2002, it was completely gone, except for maybe an occasion or two where we would see a little kid actually swinging on it, but other than that.

 

[D'Snowth]

On the subject of noticable changes to the set over the years, when do you think the set has looked the most realistic (as in you feel it really does look just like an actual inner city street, as opposed to a set on a sound stage)?

I kind of feel the very late 80s and very early 90s is when the street looked its most realistic... a lot of elements had been built-up and texturized (notice before then, the brick siding on the buildings were simply painted on), backdrop flats were updated, like the commonly mentioned one behind the arbor fence adding more buildings. All the while, the entire set still had the old, run-down, gritty look to it before it was all brightened up for the ATC era.

I will also say that the set circa 2005-2008 seemed a bit more realistic as well, because of the attempts to re-add the gritty touch to it (scattered leaves, dark smudges on the sidewalks, etc). I haven't seen too awful much of the last three years to give a valid opinion, but looking at pictures, the current look for the tenement building housing the laundromat and Hooper's Store does resemble today's modern storefronts and such, so kudos for that.

 

[mr3urious]

Hooper's Store also had a Bell Telephone sign up until 1998.

 

[D'Snowth]

Here's something else that has occured to me... where in actuality would the tire swing be hanging from?

Illustrations of the street in storybooks and magazines and such were never entire accurate to the set, and usually have a large shade tree behind the fence, overlooking the arbor, which is where they have the swing hanging from; on the set, however, there is no such tree, and they actually usually have it hanging from the lighting grid (which I can't imagine would be entirely safe, but I guess it's safer than it seems).

 

[Canadian Fan]

I grew up watching Sesame Street in the 1980's. I felt that the set in that era had the most realistic look of a inner-city street, lots of garbage around Oscar's can and peeling paint on the buildings; now the street set has been cleaned up (something I don't think Oscar likes too much). The space between 123 and Hooper's has changed a lot from the era I grew up in.

 

[D'Snowth]

I grew up watching Sesame Street in the 1980's. I felt that the set in that era had the most realistic look of a inner-city street, lots of garbage around Oscar's can and peeling paint on the buildings; now the street set has been cleaned up (something I don't think Oscar likes too much). The space between 123 and Hooper's has changed a lot from the era I grew up in.

I LOVED the way the set looked in the 80s, but then of course, as a lil' one, that was the era I came to really identify, thanks to those My Sesame Street Home Videos.

And I think just about everyone here would agree that you're right -- I think all things considered, the arbor area has probably gone through more changes than the rest of the set over the years. I prefer the arbor of the 80s, particularly when the set moved to the Unitel studios: by then, the arbor wasn't as small and cramped as it used to be, but still was nowhere near as vast as it's become in recent years, and still had that nice, simple look of a tall fence with a couple of sad-looking palm trees hanging over it, and the carriage house with the pealing number posters on it.

 

[D'Snowth]

I remember as a kid, I used to kind of spazz out a little bit during Herry's "Furry Blue Mommy of Mine", because I didn't understand why the arbor fence behind him was so busted up, like someone crashed through it, and did a lousy job trying to repair the hole.

Has the fence appeared like that at any other time, or just for that number?

 

[D'Snowth]

I know I've essentially killed this thread, but I've got to ask: has anyone else besides me noticed that during the waning days of the old-school set at Unitel (the early 90s, before the ATC era) that the arbor looked kind of dark and shadowy compared to the rest of the set? The backdrop of distant buildings behind the fence looked like it was glowing in the arbor.

 

[mr3urious]

The studio's name is Teletape, not Unitel.

 

[D'Snowth]

The studio's name is Teletape, not Unitel.

They were at Teletape from Season Two up until 1983 or so, then they moved to Unitel Studios up until Season 25 when they moved to the Kaufman Studios when the ATC era came into play, and they've been there ever since, only moving one more time from one floor of the studios to another before Season 40.

You can kind of notice because throughout the mid 80s into the early 90s, the set didn't seem quite so cramped, and a lot of the elements seemed slightly freshened up (mostly the painted flats and such). Even later still, by 1989 or so, they started actually building some elements up, like the brick side walls of 123 and the carriage house itself were made of actual bricks, rather than painted to look like bricks and such.

But still, for some reason, in those final years at Unitel, the arbor just always looks kind of dark and shadowy, with the backdrop behind the fence looking like it glows and such.