Nowadays we get surprised when police officers are controlling traffic at big crossroads instead of traffic lights, although there were times – not even so long ago – when instead of technology, humans served this role. At the busiest hubs of Budapest in the ’60s, policemen watched over traffic from overhead booths, and controlled the stoplights accordingly. Similarly to these booths, we also no longer see tiny city-center gas stations, public weighing scales, and other previously commonplace elements of a cityscape that we now can only see in archive images.

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Petrol stations in the center

Today, gas stations are clustered in the suburbs and alongside major ring roads, and only a few are still found in downtown, where they have to be installed without interfering with traffic. (One example is the petrol station found tucked underneath a building on Baross Street, near Szabó Ervin Library.) When there was less car traffic in Budapest (from the ’30s onwards), a few stand-alone petrol stations operated around town, such as at Damjanich Street 40-42, at Clark Ádám Square, and at Gellért Square as well.

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Accurate weighing scales

When strolling the streets of Budapest in the past, if someone suddenly felt curious about how much they weighed, they always had the chance to face the ugly truth for only 20-40 fillérs at various spots on the street. Rumor has it many people tricked the machines by blowing hard in the money collector – the old Hungarian fillér coins were very light. We just hope they somehow deducted the weight of their shoes and clothes from the frightening outcome, as they hopefully didn’t get undressed right there on the boulevard.

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Newspaper stands

Plenty of often aesthetically pleasing (and sometimes ridiculous) newspaper booths popped up around Budapest in the ’50s, but small kiosks took over in the ’80s. Today, it is pretty rare to buy newspapers and magazines from a booth dedicated only to selling printed press, although they can be spotted at random intersections.

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Overhead traffic-controller kiosks

In the ’60s, traffic lights at the busiest crossroads of Budapest were controlled by policemen sitting in overhead booths. The small kiosks were protected from rain, and policemen inside could see traffic conditions very well from high above. Apparently, policemen used to control traffic while standing in the middle of the road, but after several unfortunate accidents they were given these elevated platforms for their safety.

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Cinema program advertising columns

Today it only takes about two clicks to see all movie screenings citywide, but this was not the case in old Budapest. The cinema programs were displayed at eye level in a weekly breakdown on advertising kiosks found close to the cinemas, and were also featured in Wednesday’s newspaper. Approaching the weekend, there were always smaller groups gathering around the columns trying to get a glimpse of the program, such as in this picture, where young people browse the program while anticipating a 1972 premiere.