Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetfilms

Countdown: The 12 Most Influential Streetfilms of All Time

With the 10-year benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms coming up on November 14 (get your tickets here!), we are counting down the 12 most influential Streetfilms of all-time, as determined by the impresario himself, Clarence Eckerson Jr. The countdown starts with the second-most-viewed Streetfilm ever.

Lakewood: The Suburb Where Everyone Can Walk to School

Publish date: April 28, 2014

Number of plays: 470,000 (second all-time)

Why is it here? This Streetfilm struck a nerve with people across the United States, perhaps because many people can still remember walking or biking to school when they were kids, or wish their children could do it safely today. In Lakewood, where the city has preserved and actively encourages walking to school, you can see what the trip to class and back home was like when most students did it on foot.

Fun fact: This film nearly didn’t happen. Why? I was in Cleveland to shoot video for three days, and it rained almost the entire time -- except from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on this day!

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

World Day of Remembrance: ‘My Brother Did Not Die in Vain’

A drunk driver killed Kevin Cruickshank while he was biking in New York City. The movement for safer streets showed me that my brother did not die in vain.

November 16, 2025

World Day of Remembrance: The Fight to ‘Stop Super Speeders’ Has Gone National

The bills would require the worst of the worst drivers to at least adhere to the speed limit, which is not too much to ask.

November 16, 2025

Council Members Put Everything But Riders First at ‘Bus Oversight’ Hearing

The Council spent its last bus oversight hearing of its term asking the MTA and city to pull back on bus lane enforcement.

November 14, 2025

Community Board Defies Parents in Vote to Reopen Forest Park to Cars

The Parks Department appears to have given in to a vocal group of Queens drivers. Paging Mayor Mamdani!

November 14, 2025

Opinion: Daylighting Isn’t Anti-Driver — It’s Pro-Common Sense

Listen to a Republican: "The Department of Transportation's negative report on daylighting is like judging the effectiveness of lifeboats on the Titanic by studying the ones that never left the ship."

November 14, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: More Agenda Items Edition

Transportation Alternatives laid out, in 85 chunky bullet points, what the next major should do. Plus other news.

November 14, 2025
See all posts