Noticeable Changes to the set over the years

[SwedishChefCook]

1970: The Arbor area is created with a Garage Door and Tire Swing. There is now a Briefcase by Oscar's Trashcan and not a box. Big Bird now has his own Nest and his Nest Area which is full of colored barrells.

1973: The set has a somewhat different look to it. It looks a little more colorful now.

1974: Oscar seems to take on a newer look. He looses that Bright Toxic Green color and that puffy look and his fur becomes more madded down and slightly darker. Also there is now a Brown Box by Oscar's can instead of a briefcase.

1978: The Briefcase by Oscar's can comes back.

1979: The Briefcase by Oscar's can disapears once again and the Brown Box used from 1974-1978 is back and this time to stay. The New Fix it Shop is built.

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

1988: The Colored Barrels are now gone from Big Bird's nest area.

1989: Hooper's Store gets a New Sign.

1991: Hooper's Store is rebuilt

1992: The set moves from Manhattan to Queens, and gets a brighter look.

1993: The Around the Corner set is created, and Big Bird's nest area now leads into the around the Corner area and not just a brick wall with the Alphabet on it.

1995: The No Parking Sign on the Garage door is gone. Gina opens up a Daycare center in an empty building in the around the corner area.

1998: Hooper's store changes it's look. It is now Sky Blue, and the around the corner set is gone.

2002: Hooper's store is now red, the Stairwell in the arbor area is red not Green and same with the doors of the 123 Building. Oscar now has shapes in the back of his can in the walls that seperate his can and Big Bird's nest. The Mail it Shop replaces the Fix it Shop, which was part of Sesame Street for exactly 30 years.

2004: The Doors are back to their old green color again

2006: The Stairwell in the Arbor area is back to green once again. The Fix it shop is back, and the shapes behind Oscar's can are gone. (Things are looking up once again for us classic fans!)

If anyone has anything to add to this please do so. I'm sure there were more changes to the set over the years I just cant think of anymore at this time.

 

[minor muppetz]

What is the difference between the original Fix-It Shop and the new one that was rebuilt in 1979?

 

[mikebennidict]

From what I recall Luis did some remodeling on the inside, there were some episodes about that. Don't recall any outside changes.

 

[littleboy]

The picture in Bert and Ernie's room changes. Bert used to be on either left or right, and then they changed it to be on the other side.

 

[SesameMike]

On the first episode, Ernie and Bert had a bathtub that was in a common room in the apartment, or at least as the pre-Solomon Grundy sketch seemed to suggest. (Actually, I'm told that it was fairly common for tenements in Greenwich Village to have the bathtub in the kitchen, privacy concerns notwithstanding.) Later skits, like the flashlight-umbrella-bowling ball sketch, showed the tub in a bathroom to the right.

Whatever became of "Ernie's Room", where the laundry basket skit took place? Of course, who's to say it doesn't still exist, even though it hasn't been televised in decades. Afterall, when was the last time we saw the inside of the 123 residence, whereas we were in there lots of times in the early years.

On the street, the first episode seems to suggest that Mr. Hooper's store was side-by-side with the 123 tenement. Was this what SCC meant by the arbor area being created the following season?

The mailbox in front of the stoop was painted in about 1972 from red and blue to a solid blue (with a "U.S. Mail" banner down the side). Actually, this paralleled a similar move by the U.S. Postal Service, though they used the USPS bird logo instead. An old two-tone letter box may be seen on that film where letters of the alphabet are zoomed in on all around the city -- letter "M" for Mail, I believe.

In the earliest episodes, Oscar's can was shiny and new. Later episodes had it tarnished and more dented. Whether this was a deliberate weathering effect done by the prop guys (to make Oscar's can look more the way he'd prefer it), or just a normal effect of oxidation and wear-and-tear with time, I'm not sure. There was one episode in about 1972 in which Oscar's can disappeared mysteriously, and it was returned by a do-gooder who shined it. As you might imagine, Oscar was not pleased.

Speaking of trash cans, the cans outside of Ernie and Bert's window somehow seemed more "pronounced" in the earlier years.

 

[superboober]

Did Big Bird's barrells, while we're talking about them, ever serve any real purpose other than to look attractive?

 

[ssetta]

I can actually think of another change that happened in 1988. As well as the barrels being gone, they got rid of some of the number stickers in the arbor area behind the steps. And then in 1993, they were all gone.

 

[mikebennidict]

On the first episode, Ernie and Bert had a bathtub that was in a common room in the apartment, or at least as the pre-Solomon Grundy sketch seemed to suggest. (Actually, I'm told that it was fairly common for tenements in Greenwich Village to have the bathtub in the kitchen, privacy concerns notwithstanding.) Later skits, like the flashlight-umbrella-bowling ball sketch, showed the tub in a bathroom to the right.

Whatever became of "Ernie's Room", where the laundry basket skit took place? Of course, who's to say it doesn't still exist, even though it hasn't been televised in decades. Afterall, when was the last time we saw the inside of the 123 residence, whereas we were in there lots of times in the early years.

On the street, the first episode seems to suggest that Mr. Hooper's store was side-by-side with the 123 tenement. Was this what SCC meant by the arbor area being created the following season?

The mailbox in front of the stoop was painted in about 1972 from red and blue to a solid blue (with a "U.S. Mail" banner down the side). Actually, this paralleled a similar move by the U.S. Postal Service, though they used the USPS bird logo instead. An old two-tone letter box may be seen on that film where letters of the alphabet are zoomed in on all around the city -- letter "M" for Mail, I believe.

In the earliest episodes, Oscar's can was shiny and new. Later episodes had it tarnished and more dented. Whether this was a deliberate weathering effect done by the prop guys (to make Oscar's can look more the way he'd prefer it), or just a normal effect of oxidation and wear-and-tear with time, I'm not sure. There was one episode in about 1972 in which Oscar's can disappeared mysteriously, and it was returned by a do-gooder who shined it. As you might imagine, Oscar was not pleased.

Speaking of trash cans, the cans outside of Ernie and Bert's window somehow seemed more "pronounced" in the earlier years.

Well Hooper's store wasn't really side by side with the apartment building though the street certainly didn't cuve and the play area the 1st season.

 

[minor muppetz]

Did Big Bird's barrells, while we're talking about them, ever serve any real purpose other than to look attractive?

Well, Big Bird did have Snuffy pretend that a barrell was a chimney in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, so that he could try to see how Santa Clause can get inside the chimney.

 

[SesameMike]

Did Big Bird's barrels, while we're talking about them, ever serve any real purpose other than to look attractive?

Are you referring to the 55-gallon drums between the door and Big Bird's nest? The ones that are/were painted bright colors and have round holes in them?

I always thought that was just a creative playground setup. I'm pretty sure I've seen children playing in them. I think one of the adults, probably Bob, even said something to one of the kids in reference to "playing in the barrels".

They looked like fun to me back in the day, as I used to enjoy crawling through "tunnels" and such. I doubt that 55-gallon drums would be permitted today as such a plaything, what with sharp, unsheathed metal edges, and rust; though arguably, the inner city areas wouldn't be monitored by the "safety police" the same way, say, a suburban playground might be. Of course today, most fast-food joints have extensive "safe" crawling tunnels, done over with plenty of plastic and padding along with the ball pits and tube slides.