Did street lights really use to be orange/ Amber?
Posted by neuro_space_explorer@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 151 comments
Yes… and it was glorious…
Posted by neuro_space_explorer@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 151 comments
Yes… and it was glorious…
eat_like_snake@reddit
I still see it here and there.
I miss the warm glow.
TragicDog@reddit
Me too. I can sleep with the old street lights on and shining in my window. These new ones are way too bright
eat_like_snake@reddit
I've had to resort more and more to wearing sunglasses at night (and not just to keep track of the visions in my eyes).
Between that, the headlights on cars nowadays being brighter than a nuke, device screens, and the ones in stores, I just get too many headaches anymore.
ryhoyarbie@reddit
I thought it was just me with people’s lights being brighter. Apparently, I WAS blinded by the light.
TheLastGenXer@reddit
i dont have migraines, and between needing an app for everything and a new passwork every 6 weeks, im ready to move to portland for the dream of the 90s
Kellzy1212@reddit
madsci@reddit
I sell fancy LED hula hoops and know a lot of circus people in Portland and every time I see that video I realize that there's no way I'm more than one degree of separation away from someone in that bit. I think someone on Facebook actually confirmed that once.
Kellzy1212@reddit
Never knew Portland was a circus town! 😹 I grew up in Sarasota, Florida where Ringling had a summer home.
guitar_stonks@reddit
Sleep till 11
RFKJrJr@reddit
You and Corey Hart
jenesia-CakeEatnNPC-@reddit
sounds like you may have Photophobia.. i do.
TragicDog@reddit
Yeah I wear glasses full time. Driving at night is sometimes impossible.
eat_like_snake@reddit
There's definitely a point where these things shouldn't even be street legal, and we've far surpassed it. It's an actual, literal driving hazard.
Key-Demand-2569@reddit
Made the mistake of flashing my brights at someone as they were heading into town and I was leaving it. Figured they forgot they had their brights on.
They proceeded to flash me with the blinding power of the sun.
Was not great.
Sub_Zero_Fks_Given@reddit
Would you happen to be kin to Jason Bourne?
probablyatargaryen@reddit
I wish r/fuckyourleds would catch on
shayes7826@reddit
I’m okay with LED bulbs in my house if they’re warm white, but yeah LED headlights can go straight down to the boiler room of hell.
blondeviking64@reddit
Those bright lights mess with the wildlife too. Its not good.
Grizzl0ck@reddit
💯
Devium44@reddit
I’m on Jekyll Island and tall the lamps like this because they don’t mess with the sea turtles.
PositiveMaster8236@reddit
A legacy of the 1970s era energy crisis, sodium bulbs were , pre LED , the best for energy saving and longevity
Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit
They still are in a lot of places.
nvmls@reddit
Some still are.
itslonelyinthevoid@reddit
Amber is the color of your energy
NathanForJew@reddit
Wo-oah
M3talhead@reddit
Rainstorm
Tetris_Pete@reddit
Keep me away from the norm...
OldCreezy@reddit
I iiii got to tell you something
jenn363@reddit
And I put it in a song
funatical@reddit
And it goes like
Danbarber82@reddit
::BONG RIP::
Adrasteia-One@reddit
Who-oah
natxavier@reddit
Black Betty, AMBER LAMPS
6thBornSOB@reddit
Criminally underrated
koalasarentferfuckin@reddit
TIL my energy is actually sodium vapor
MoonGrog@reddit
MadPopette@reddit
Damn you....
okieboat@reddit
Wo-oah!
emotyofform2020@reddit
Every streetlight reveals
A picture in reverse
Still it’s so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the
Water edge
The moon is low tonight
dinosandbees@reddit
And they all used to point down! We have a bunch of these artsy-fartsy type lights where the bulb points UP at a disc that reflects the light back down (theoretically), as if urban areas don't have enough incidental light pollution...
/rant
neuro_space_explorer@reddit (OP)
Films will never look the same.
sexual__velociraptor@reddit
Sodium lights could also be that terrifying green....
winnower8@reddit
I used to work for the City Parks. There was one park in a very nice neighborhood that still had yellow lights, specifically because the residents nearby asked for it and they had pull with the councilman. There was one incident of violence in the park and it was order to brighten it up and change it to LED white.
GravyPainter@reddit
It was comfortable
Humbled_Humanz@reddit
Before they were amber they were white. Full circle I guess.
sdcasurf01@reddit
Where I grew up in North County San Diego we were always told our lighting was more orange than usual due to the proximity of the Palomar Observatory.
red286@reddit
The changeover wasn't even all that long ago. White LEDs weren't commercially viable until 1996, and you can be certain most cities didn't switch over immediately. Hell, I'd wager there are probably a lot of smaller cities out there that still haven't switched.
My city, which isn't some podunk rural town, didn't switch until 2015.
And by 2019 the phosphor lining had flaked off so the formerly-white street lights became fucking purple.
drfinale@reddit
Technology Connections did a video about this!
https://youtu.be/U1dMlVwUsrA?si=yY44BfTu6OqVYoYm
Dr-Richado@reddit
I remember a time before a time.
They were Mercury vapor lamps before sodium. For most of my early childhood (1980s), they were bluish white. At first I didn't like the change but it grew on me in the 1990s. I really dislike the new ones. Too bright.
CemeteryWind213@reddit
Yes, the orange color is from sodium's strong D lines near 589 nm. Side note: Refractive indices are usually specified at this wavelength, hence the n_D notation.
knowone1313@reddit
they were like that only 5 or 6 years ago... this is why people keep electing criminals...
jenesia-CakeEatnNPC-@reddit
UGH. my name is amber and i hate all the colored stuff from the 80s & early 90s. 🙄 my gma was obsessed with it!
Tyenkrovy@reddit
If you go to the right places, you can still find them, IIRC.
Professional_Heat973@reddit
Amber is the color of our energy. 😎
stryst@reddit
Yeah, and it made nights after it had snowed fucking *weird*. Like, the whole world had this amber/orange glow.
Battle2Intense@reddit
Op should watch Collateral for an idea of what LA looked before LEDs.
Temporary-Library597@reddit
Ah yes, the old color of your electrical meter spinning at mach 4.
Stralau@reddit
There was an interesting phase in Berlin‘s history when the lights in the old east were still amber and the lights in the west weren’t.
Darwyn_Strangehand@reddit
Yeah, man. That's the color of walking home from the bar/parties late at night. Always will be!
rangeroverdose@reddit
Themoosemingled@reddit
You can still see east and west Germany from space because they used different lights behind the iron curtain.
rangeroverdose@reddit
You are right. Here in Chicago the stumble home was much nicer back then
QuietNene@reddit
Weird I don’t remember this at all
GarminTamzarian@reddit
Headlights used to be this color as well, back before they fucking blinded you.
mattskibasneck@reddit
RIGHT?! I want to say I can't believe they haven't regulated the lumens and CRI of these new LED headlights but then I remembered that this is America and we do nothing about real problems.
Fun-Preparation-4253@reddit
I don't specifically remember the world being orange, but all evidence definitely points to it. For the most part, all street lights were Halide. HPS (High Pressure Sodium) and MH (Metal Halide). They were SUPER efficient and lasted forever, but produced really low quality light. Municipalities didn't care if you could read with these lights. You just needed to be able to see. I learned about all this in Design school. CRI or Color Rendering Index was a way of measuring clarity in visible spaces (kinda). Incandescents were the standard in homes, but when all you care about is foot candles, go cheap.
mattskibasneck@reddit
idk about lasted forever - we used to replace those lamps & ballasts about every 2-3 years. it was kind of the lifeblood of our company.
I remember when lighting reps first started coming into our office to tout LED lighting. my bosses reaction was "why would I want to install something that doesn't need servicing?" 15 years later and now we're replacing LED drivers or boards every 3-5 years.
schenkzoola@reddit
As a point of clarification: They are inefficient compared to the LED’s that replaced them, but very efficient compared to incandescent.
Fun-Preparation-4253@reddit
Yup. Fair clarification here in 2026.
absentlyric@reddit
I don't miss them, here in the rust belt, they just made everything look "rustier".
I like the new LED lights, even in my industrial part of town, things look more lit up and vibrant.
djevilatw@reddit
Very much so. In the winter, you could tell it was snowing because everything as an orange glow from all the reflected street lights off the clouds and snow.
Dark_Tint@reddit
Yes they were
R0botDreamz@reddit
I wish we could go back to soft office lighting from the 80s.
Jestris@reddit
Yep!!
ONROSREPUS@reddit
Only until a couple years ago did the one in front of my mom's house get changed from an orangish one to a new white led style.
mikemclovin@reddit
High Pressure Sodium.
Yes they all looked like that and I miss it.
mattskibasneck@reddit
I was more of a metal halide girl myself. Cooler than the HPS ones but nothing like the blue/white of the LEDs.
virtualglassblowing@reddit
Also great grow lights!
Mission-Ocelot-4511@reddit
Dulles airport parking lots had all these orange lights, and after a long trip coming back at night, back in the day most cars looked a lot alike in body, and boy was it hard to see any color under those lights. Sometimes took a while to find your car…a long while.
KawaiiMaxine@reddit
They still are in alot of places
CubesFan@reddit
There are some kids who will remember the purple glow of youth due to a bunch of bad lights in the teens and early 20s lol.
Evilswine@reddit
Yes! For the absolute best example google "East vs West Germany Lights" East Germany still (or used to) uses the orange lights and West Germany used newer white lights and it is visible from space. Obviously one country now but the divide still remains from space.
username__0000@reddit
We still have some that are not switched over here. I think they wait until they die to replace them.
It’s weird walking under two next to each other that are different.
The yellow ones are so much nicer. They make the snow look extra glittery and pretty and the light is just nicer on the eyes.
I hate the new ones.
We also have some street lights that are LED and it’s so dumb for a place that gets as much snow as we do.
The other kind of lights melted the snow. A few times this winter I couldn’t see if I had the green arrow because the entire light was snowed over and it was a storm so visibility was already rough.
Hallgaar@reddit
My only time i got a traffic ticket was when I was driving in the snow to watch the ball drop at a downtown party. I couldn't see the traffic light and drove right through it, the cop right behind me however could.
General_Departure583@reddit
These looks so much better than dehumanizing white LED look
DarkenL1ght@reddit
I can hear the mild buzz sound coming from these street lights.
Hallgaar@reddit
Or when they went out as you walked past them, turning off as you can and on as you left.
Trashbagok@reddit
I didn't think I'd miss sodium vapor lights as much as I do.
GenderOobleck@reddit
MST3K understands the importance of sodium: https://youtu.be/FTECX5QB6jw
ManateeNipples@reddit
Probably not as much as the moths lol poor bastards
ryguymcsly@reddit
Yeah the blue/white lights just don’t give you the same “night time” vibe.
PIG20@reddit
Altough, when they're defective, I think they give off a really cool, purple "Vaporwave" vibe.
Matty_D47@reddit
Wait, they're not still? I haven't been out after dark for a while because the other cars headlights are blinding. Oh shit, did I just become old?
knowlessman@reddit
If you wanted the best experience you went to San Diego, California, where they had an agreement to only use low pressure sodium lights (even more orange) because the light from low pressure sodium is easier to filter out by the Palomar Observatory. Most places used high pressure sodium that is more yellow.
tiddayes@reddit
Yes those were high pressure sodium lights
always_thirsty@reddit
You mean they are not anymore? Man, I should go outside.
donutseason@reddit
My first thought was “are they not now?” so I’m going with YES
8last@reddit
I remember the buzz of the street lights.
emjay144@reddit
I saw the photo and immediately heard this in my head.
Riker_Omega_Three@reddit
Where I live they at least are using...I would say 3500K LED streetlights
But nothing beats High Pressure Sodium
They still have it in my parents neighborhood and it's so comforting to just go out to the street after dark and sit there like I did when I was a kid...and enjoy the orange amber light
fromthedarqwaves@reddit
Yes. My home town still has them. There was a push to install LED lights but people were stealing the copper wires.
al_rey503@reddit
Yes before LED
Sharp-Echo1797@reddit
Sodium Vapor lights.
rundabrun@reddit
warm tungsten light is much better at night than that cool led blue lighting. It is more psychologically relaxing and promotes better sleep.
DiamondDavey83@reddit
Still are in my dreams
Floundering_Dad_43@reddit
I remember when, driving in to Las Vegas at night, there was a tapestry of orange, green and yellow, based on the age of neighborhood and whether they had mercury or sodium gas inside
tuezdaie@reddit
I remember being an elementary school kid and occasionally being out past dark. Our street lights were further apart…so when I’d solo ride home, I’d ride soooo hard in the dark patches to get back into that sweet safe amber lighting…
hudsoncress@reddit
They're sodium lights and being phased out. There's some cool before/after switch to LED that are pretty neat.
Hehateme123@reddit
They still are in many countries. France is famous for its beautiful sodium vapor lamps which give a warm yellow glow.
Ingonyama70@reddit
Still are, in a lot of places
Unhappy_Performer538@reddit
It was beautiful. I hate the new lights
WaveTableSaw@reddit
Miss those old sodium vapor vibes.
ProverbialBass@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp
GeneralEi@reddit
I miss my Mexico filter streetlights. Down with the cold and unfeeling whitelights
Kurfaloid@reddit
I really hope my retirement home has a fake alley lit with sodium vapor lights.
ConnectKale@reddit
Yes. In 2016-2017 I worked on a campaign on light pollution. The primary focus was how almost all cities had orange light domes.
With LED ‘s light domes have reduced in intensity and the light is more white/blue
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Interestingly, Hawaii's big island uses low pressure sodium lights (orange) because they reduce light pollution for the nearby observatories. When I went there a couple years ago, I thought it was really cool that the streets were lit up bright orange but the sky was still perfectly black.
dirtyasseating@reddit
That's neat.
I had to Google it, because I would have assumed red would have been better, since red doesn't mess with night vision but Amber (orange/yellow) is better for reducing light pollution both because it doesn't produce blue light and scatters less in the atmosphere.
Very cool.
ConnectKale@reddit
Yeah. We have an observatory in my city. Before the LED swap they talked about the types of stars they would realistically see, since the telescope was essentially in the middle of the light domes. They also do an entire night sky presentation in the planetarium using different levels if light pollution based on studies done at the observatory. Incidentally I was able to see Saturn in the telescope and that was very cool.
Antithesis-X@reddit
They usually limit color temperatures of lighting to 3000-3500 near observatories.
necbone@reddit
And it sucks for a human on ground level..
AaronfromKY@reddit
Which always tripped me out because I thought they were anti-injection lights, but then I started seeing them on the highway and that really seemed weird.
Independent_Shoe3523@reddit
Could be a conscious choice for visibility or possibly the type of lighting source.
Jadekintsugi@reddit
I miss these, both for the fact that they were much more efficient than an LED, but also that they didn't destroy your night vision, didn't have as bad light pollution, and real a lot easier on the eyes.
All of these LED street lights make it feel like I'm on a movie set, and it can really mess with me.
RealCauliflower773@reddit
I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate. HPS is ~130 Lumens/Watt at the higher end of the wattage packages, with efficiency reducing as you go down the wattage range. LEDs typically start at 130L/W and increase up to around 170.
I do miss the HPS, though.
phillyrat@reddit
However, wouldn't a factor of efficiency involve needing to replace HPS more often than LED?
Trashbagok@reddit
I miss the sodium vapor lights but LEDs are way more efficient.
youshantnome@reddit
Man my cousin and I used to walk along a street and kick each one until it went out. It would go back on about 5 minutes later.
redditcreditcardz@reddit
It was such a better lighting color. Love the old sodium bulbs
OtherAcctWasBanned11@reddit
Yep. I can still remember being a teenager, walking home at night, smoking cigarettes thinking this was the best it could ever be.
mac117@reddit
I’m currently listening to some synthwave and then I see these pictures? About to head into full nostalgia mode
Treadingresin@reddit
They were. It was beautiful.
rjcpl@reddit
Pretty much all lights except office fluorescents…
DreamsAndSchemes@reddit
The one outside my house still is
DrMcJedi@reddit
They still are on most of my street…
postitpad@reddit
I read a blurb probably on Reddit somewhere that baby driver was one of the last movies filmed in LA before they switched over to led street lights and as such is kind of a time capsule for an LA aesthetic that doesn’t exist anymore.
j4pMan@reddit
High pressure sodium bulbs. Definitely a thing.
mist_kaefer@reddit
Beats the broken purple lights
evenifihateit@reddit
It was so much nicer when they were
inthevelvetsea@reddit
We still have them where I live because we have sea turtles nesting on our beaches.
DaveyJonesFannyPack@reddit
The high pressure sodium lights were more yellowish and metal halide had a bluer tint.
Paper_Street_Soap@reddit
JFC this can’t be real…
ElPeroTonteria@reddit
I remember when we switched to the amber street lights
Sodamyte@reddit
yes the lights were orange.. however that effect only showed up on camera. It gave off a warmer yellowish glow
bUrNtCoRn_@reddit
I worked at a large utility about 10 years ago and we still had quite a few of these out in the wild, especially in HOAs where they were being leased.
Texas_Kimchi@reddit
Depends on the city. Growing up in LA, LA County had white lights and all those rich Orange County kids got the cool amber lights.
LooksLikeAWookie@reddit