Brutal New York - 1965/95

[decmetalhead]

Your point is valid indeed. Maybe I could elloborate on my perspective. Back in those days i feel the attitude then was the 'shoot first, talk later, nobody fucks with us' kind of attitude. I feel this saying kind of puts it into perspective -

"People from LA, will stab you in the back. But People from New York will punch you square in the mouth. People from LA will say Hello and mean fuck you, but people from New York will say Fuck you, and mean hello!"

Sorry to all you Los Angeliens out there. But my point is, back then it was that kind of attitude. But I see where your coming from, today's attitude is very arrogant, 'aren't we a superior race, because we have effectively pushed all the homeless out and provided an unimaginabley expensive metropolis all for ourselves and any one else rich enough to live here.'

[Sakiale]

This thread is amazing. It really impacted me. I actually wrote to the guy on the site, and even better, he actually responded. There should be more people like this.

[Jhun]

absolutely breath-taking, also a bit depressing. Everybody is saying how the city has changed, but I personally think NY is still a place full of scumbags, compare to Europe and Asian metros, and it will remain that way until the attitude of America changes( Right of bear arm; hedonism,etc.)

[Jhun]

But somehow, I do kinda like the John Gotti feeling of the old new york, though

[HarlemLove71]

I lived in Harlem my entire life.
The ghetto had it's own nasty beauty, for instance on 136th street there we're burnt out brick-walk ups (that are totally redone now) that we're ugly to start out with, but the teens and kids would spray paint murals and pictures on them, the "crack-kills" was around alot because, childrens parents or friends would die, or spend all their money on the cocaine. And the sad part was, being addict, knowing it, and not being able to bring yourself to fix it, and fix it for your families, and all there familes could do was watch them slowly eat up there low incomes in drugs. But even though Harlem is a somewhat expensive part of New York now, I miss the way it used to be. No offense to white people but, before they ran out of space in Lower Manhattan, we lived in Harlem in harmony and I still dont understand how but...it was better. I think in some odd way, we grew to like the 3 feet of trash and stripped cars. I miss it. I've lived in the same tenement since the 70's, and it's been retro-fitted, and the buildings around me torn down and a huge condominium built in there place, and the streets lined with Mercedes, that's what I dislike.

[Jhun]

Originally Posted by HarlemLove71

I lived in Harlem my entire life.
The ghetto had it's own nasty beauty, for instance on 136th street there we're burnt out brick-walk ups (that are totally redone now) that we're ugly to start out with, but the teens and kids would spray paint murals and pictures on them, the "crack-kills" was around alot because, childrens parents or friends would die, or spend all their money on the cocaine. And the sad part was, being addict, knowing it, and not being able to bring yourself to fix it, and fix it for your families, and all there familes could do was watch them slowly eat up there low incomes in drugs. But even though Harlem is a somewhat expensive part of New York now, I miss the way it used to be. No offense to white people but, before they ran out of space in Lower Manhattan, we lived in Harlem in harmony and I still dont understand how but...it was better. I think in some odd way, we grew to like the 3 feet of trash and stripped cars. I miss it. I've lived in the same tenement since the 70's, and it's been retro-fitted, and the buildings around me torn down and a huge condominium built in there place, and the streets lined with Mercedes, that's what I dislike.

Well,I can never undestand that, maybe it's about where u grew up. I childhood mainly spent in Beijing uptown, and my dad is a hotel,clubs owner, so I just love Tokyo, Paris, place like that. And even compare to the Italian era of New York, ghetto is whole another world. I just can't say I like it at all, and it's not because it's too tough.

[Oxyon84]

In NYC there are beter things to do then to rebuild the amercian icon. Leave ground zero and start taking care of you people, its a treu shock to me that this is possible in america.

[TomD'07]

fantastic thread, unbelievable that all that strife went on in a major world city. i assume its still got 'ghetto' areas but nothing like that anymore?

[Locust]

Apocalyptic images... is this how the world will look like after one or two nuclear wars?

[drunkenmunkey888]

It is crazy how far NYC has come along in the past decade. I remember as recently as '93 when NYC was still notorious for being a very dangerous, crime-ridden city, unsafe for outsiders to venture after dark. Times Square was a red-light district. Violent crime was an ever present threat. No one dared to enter central park at night.

Now, fifteen years later, it is amazing how NYC has now a reputation for being the safest city in America and one of the safest in the world. You see rich Upper East/West side residents jogging in central park well into the evening with their ipods strapped to their arms with impunity. People the subway without the slightest feeling of insecurity well past midnight. Of course, there are certain places to avoid when its too late like Jamaica, South Bronx, or some parts of Brooklyn. But all in all its nice to hear NYC's well-known for its extremely low rate of crime (same rate as Boise, Idaho). I mean I used to think certain neighborhoods along the Grand Concourse, in Long Island City, or in Brooklyn were bad. Once I passed through the ghettos during my visits to Chicago, DC, and Philly, it felt like NYC's bad neighborhoods do not deserve being called ghettos. They are very clean, well-maintained, and orderly (even Jamaica) compared to the decaying, hopeless ghettos of West Philly, East DC, or Southern Chicago

[yamota]

on kinda the same note, just released on DVD is the first season of "The Equalizer", one of my favorite shows of all time. "The Equalizer" is about a tough old retired secret agent who spends his time helping people with their problems. The show ran in the 80s and was shot entirely on location on the streets of New York City.

[bobbycuzin]

if anyone remembers that show NY undercover that aired during the 90's on fox, everything was shot on location mostly in the uptown areas but many others as well

[6-6-6]

mexico city is currently looking like nyc in the 70,80, 90's, tha city has over 20 millions of people now.

[dom]

2000 murders a year must have been like civil war. I imagine large parts of NYC in the 70s, 80s and early 90s were just complete no-go areas.

Even though murders have been cut to 500 a year, NYC with a population of 8million still has more murders than the whole of Britain which has 60 million people.

I went to New York in 2001 and my mum told me about what it was like in the city from 1975 when she went there on holiday. She described it just like it was in the pictures, a city which in parts looked like a post-nuclear apocalyptic wasteland. She did say that despite of this, Manhattan had this unmatchable romance and grandeur that impresses all old-worlders when they come to this city.

When I went most of Manhattan had been cleaned up, Times Square was in the process of being rebuilt and the lower half of Manhattan felt safe, even at night. The whole place looked rejuvanated.

But the northern bits of Central Park and the area above that that felt very dangerous, which was quite exotic for a Londoner. I'd never really felt in danger of getting mugged before as there were all these guys playing basketball on the street corners looking at me with an expression of 'what the xxxx are you doing here?!'

It kind of felt like being in a movie when i was in New York. I guess that is one of the things that makes it magic.

This thread is pretty shocking though, I have just returned from India and the poverty in these photos looked worse than Calcutta.

[fifivs]

On a linkdump. As I was looking at these pictures, I saw my life in front of my eyes. Even though my reality was in East New York, Brooklyn. The visuals are much the same. Those pictures made me smell the match heads and feel the fear of daily life in my neighborhood.

I was a heroin abuser from 1968 till 1995. I was inside those gallerys and met "The Claw" in Harlem in the 70's. I think it was Gil Noble that interviewed him.

I was totally brought back mind, body and soul with this thread.

Thank You for reminding me thats Its A Good life!

fifivs

[santiarg]

I like this kind of theaths we don't have to foget that big cities have this problems, go on (Y)

I made the same with Buenos Aires

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=623467

[robert44444uk]

Intense post!!!

First time I visited NY (1980) it seemed a scary place. It is much improved, every time I went back after that I got more comfortable with the Apple.

Saw scenes like this more recently in Central and South America - not a single city without something rotten.

[ZZ-II]

wow, never seen such shots from NY before

[lokinyc]

A true testament to the greatness of this city that it has been reborn.

[philvia]

Originally Posted by Castle_Bravo

Has somone statistical informations about crime in NYC from the '80 and from 2005??

in 1990 the total murders for NYC was 2,262
in 2007 the total murders for NYC was 496
So far in 2008, there has been 200 murders

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloa...ics/cscity.pdf