In the heart of Midtown, a disco ball cast its glow as hips moved rhythmically and a woman nearing her 80s spun with the energy of the late ’70s.
Meanwhile, over at Coney Island, a 91-year-old woman enjoyed a leisurely stroll on the boardwalk with her husband, rekindling memories from their long-ago date nights.
These scenes, though reminiscent of bygone days, are unfolding in the present, thanks to the creative efforts of millennial TikTok influencers Johnny Gaffney and Vin Nucatola.
The pair have launched the viral “Like Old Times” series, a project that revives cherished experiences for seniors by revisiting New York City’s dance halls, concerts, and bowling alleys — offering a nostalgic journey for the elderly residents eager to relive their younger years.
With a heartfelt question — “What’s something you used to love doing that you haven’t done in years?” — they transform fond memories into tangible adventures.
Gaffney and Nucatola, both 38, eagerly fulfill each senior’s nostalgic wish, amassing millions of views and receiving enthusiastic praise along the way.
“Younger people often lament about how amazing the New York of yesterday seemed,” Gaffney told The Post. “Vin and I want to show that ‘old New York’ is still accessible through the seniors who lived in it.”
“Many of them are still here,” he stressed. “If we want to tap into what made the city so great then, we have to connect with them and ask them about it now.”
One of those special retro nights belonged to Elizabeth Katz, 79, a senior lifestyle model from the Upper West Side, who was whisked out for a night of disco dancing in Times Square.
Studio 54, revisited
“Not all seniors are gray-haired and frail, have bad teeth, or need a cane,” Katz told The Post.
The glamorous Upper West Sider — who once spent her nights at Studio 54 in the 1970s — said she hadn’t been inside a nightclub in more than 30 years before Gaffney and Nucatola showed up at her apartment, helped her pick out an outfit, and arrived in a taxi with Gaffney dressed as her “date” in a tux.
At Disco Sally’s in Midtown, she said the pair danced, mingled with strangers, and turned the night into a full-circle moment.
“What I loved about shooting ‘Like Old Times’ is that I really got to be seen,” she said.
Katz added that dancing to syncopated beats and lush pop melodies again felt liberating, like she was no longer “performing for anyone else” or “worrying what anyone thought” of her, as she did in her 20s.
“I felt like my true self this time at 79,” she said. “It was even better than old times.”
The show is “less about nostalgia and more about reconnection,” Gaffney told The Post.
“I’ve learned through making the show that many seniors just want to connect with their younger selves and other people more than doing one specific activity,” the Lower East Sider added. “There are less and less invitations to hang out with other people as you get older.”
For Nucatola and his production company, Snackish Media, his first series under the banner was rooted in something personal.
Inspired by his late grandfather — who loved revisiting familiar pastimes like bowling and Yankees games with his grandchildren in his final years — Nucatola set out to create a series centered on helping seniors relive those “good ol’ days,” tapping Gaffney for his charisma and rare ability to connect with older adults on and off camera.
Unlike typical viral content, the goal wasn’t to turn seniors into “punchlines or soundbites,” Nucatola said, but to give them something “truly meaningful in return.”
The Staten Island director, producer and writer stressed, “We really just wanted to give back to the senior community of New York — and now here we are with millions of views and hearts touched.”
That authenticity is by design. The duo keeps their production lean — often just a couple of cameras and an iPhone — to help seniors feel at ease, with Nucatola adding that “things that look and feel real also resonate more with people on social media.”
5.7 million views and counting
Their approach is working: What started with zero followers in November quickly snowballed into a viral hit, with seven videos racking up more than 5.7 million views.
Their first clip alone topped 100,000 views in a day before climbing into the millions.
Many of the seniors already know Gaffney from his off-camera work. The actor-comedian — a fixture in New York’s downtown comedy scene known for his high-energy, zany antics — launched Senior Centertainment last year, a program bringing live arts and creative workshops into senior day centers, where he’s been working with older New Yorkers for years.
Others are nominated by loved ones through a submission form in the series’ Instagram bio, which Nucatola said receives hundreds of entries daily.
The feel-good content is also striking a chord with younger viewers, with roughly 40% of the audience between ages 25 and 34 — proof that the stories resonate far beyond their own generation.
“These episodes are evergreen and timeless — they keep finding meaning with younger viewers as they are rediscovered months after we uploaded them,” Nucatola said.
He added that many users say the videos inspire them to connect more with grandparents and older neighbors.
“There’s a loneliness problem in this country, and there’s definitely a senior isolation problem,” Gaffney said. “So many seniors want to connect with other people and be invited to something.”
The overwhelming response of “Like Old Times” — and comment sections filled with positivity — suggests the message is landing.
Along the way, it’s the unscripted, emotional moments that stick.
Gaffney recalled a moment that made him “emotional,” bringing a 78-year-old Bronx woman, Elsa Lugo, to see her favorite band, The Temptations, where she danced, sang along, and was ecstatic when she got a shoutout onstage before meeting them backstage.
‘My Girl’ in real time
“We get to see each senior feel more like their true selves and feel more free and open in our time with them,” he said. “It really warms our hearts.”
Lugo, a retired special education teacher from the Bronx, told The Post, “My granddaughter nominated me for the show, and I’m so grateful for her.”
Her request was simple: a concert — something she hadn’t attended in years.
But for Lugo, it meant more than that. She grew up listening to The Temptations on the radio as a teenager, with “My Girl” still her favorite song decades later.
When the “Like Old Times” duo arrived to pick her up — even surprising her with her brother joining the outing — she said she immediately sensed something special was coming.
“When we pulled up to the concert venue, I saw a sign with ‘The Temptations’ on it, and I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
The group dedicated “My Girl” to her mid-performance — a moment she said left her stunned in front of thousands of fans.
“I grew up listening to them on the radio. Years later, there they were, in front of me, dedicating my favorite song to me.”
Backstage, the moment became even more personal. Lugo said the band members greeted her warmly and hugged her.
For Lugo — who spent 23 years working as a special education teacher and retired in 2015 after a back injury forced her out of the classroom — the night hit especially hard.
“I loved my students and was so sad to say goodbye to them when I had to retire because of my injury,” she said. “‘Like Old Times’ made me feel excited and joyful again.”
Gaffney and Nucatola’s outings aren’t just about solo nostalgia — sometimes, they double as love letters.
Married couple Bill Weeden, 85, and Dolores McDougal Schaeffer Weeden, 91, were chauffeured from Woodstock, New York, back down to Coney Island, Brooklyn, for a date night they hadn’t experienced in decades.
A date night decades later
“Johnny and Vin picked us up in a limo and took my wife, Dolores and I all the way from Woodstock to Coney Island,” Bill told The Post.
The couple — married for 31 years — spent the night eating hot dogs, riding the carousel and dancing under the stars.
“We got to laugh and feel like children with the amusement park games,” he said.
“I always say the key to a long marriage is laughter and feeling childlike again, and ‘Like Old Times’ helped us do that. I can’t believe how viral our video went.”
For Dolores, the night carried an emotional weight that lingered long after the boardwalk lights dimmed.
“I cry when I think of that night, and how amazing it was to dance on the Coney Island boardwalk with Bill,” she said.
Even the weather couldn’t derail the moment — when fireworks were canceled due to wind, she recalled Gaffney pulling up a video of fireworks on his phone as they danced.
“It was touching to see him and Vin make such an effort for us to have a great date night,” she said.
