On a recent night out in Midtown, a disco ball shimmered, hips swayed — and a woman in her late 70s twirled like it was 1976 again.
Across town, a 91-year-old strolled the boardwalk at Coney Island with her husband, reliving a date night decades in the making.
The moments may look like scenes from the past, but they’re playing out in real time — thanks to nostalgia-minded millennial TikTokkers Johnny Gaffney and Vin Nucatola.
The duo is behind the viral “Like Old Times” series, which invites seniors back to New York dance floors, concerts, bowling alleys and other long-lost joys — giving Gothamites of a certain age a second shot at the city they remember.
Armed with one simple question — “What’s something you used to love doing that you haven’t done in years?” — they turn nostalgia into action.
Gaffney and Nucatola, both 38, are happy to make each senior’s vintage request a reality — racking up millions of views and glowing feedback 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.
“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.
At Disco Sally’s in Midtown, she said the pair danced, mingled with strangers, and turned the night into a full-circle moment.
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.
Elizabeth (79) hasn’t been to a disco since her days at Studio 54…until now. 🪩💃🕺🏻 HUGE thanks to @discosallysnyc for letting us take over the dance floor for Elizabeth’s big return! 🥂 Like Old Times – Episode 6 •Hosted by @johnnygaffney_ •Featuring @Elizabethkatz212 •Makeup up by @hannah lauren •Vintage taxi rental: The Checker Cab •A show by @Snackish Media #likeoldtimes #seniors #wholesomecontent #disco #studio54