Tour of New York Back in the 1980s
By Lucas Compan
The New York City of the 1980s is quite different from the city we know today. Homicides were at near-record highs, the crack epidemic was raging, and NYC had not yet experienced the wave of gentrification that has marked it in modern times.
The New York City of the 1980s is quite different from the city we know today. Homicides were at near-record highs, the crack epidemic was raging, and NYC had not yet experienced the wave of gentrification that has marked it in modern times.
New York in the 1980s was an altogether different city from the safe, clean (for the most part), cosmopolitan urban playground it is today. These pictures tell a fascinating story of a gritty, graffiti-strewn city that just 20 years later would be in the thrall of gentrification.
New York Public Library’s map of images of New York City, as well as Richard Sandler's photographs, are both a treasure, indeed. Enjoy these photos of NYC from the 1980s, images that depict what New York City was like decades ago.
1 – "Needle Park"
Crack cocaine and heroin infested NYC during the 1980s, effectively increasing street crime, child abuse and spousal abuse. It’s even rumored that the term crack comes from the fact that the drug looks like small pieces of plaster that fall out of cracks in Harlem tenement houses. Outside of Harlem, Bryant Park – and Times Square – got the nickname “Needle Park” because of the widespread heroine abuse.
2 – The Electric Mix
Before it became a tourist mecca, Times Square was an eclectic mix with its legendary grand (though slightly tarnished) theaters, ever-shifting morals fueling an increasingly bolder adult entertainment industry, and the "anything goes" decade itself. It was an intoxicating combination. Dangerous but always entertaining, Times Square was like no other place in the world. Click here to learn more about one of the world's most visited destination now – and some top secrets of Times Square.
3 – Sex machine
Times Square, a modern-day tourist mecca, was full of peep shows and adult video stores, effectively becoming the epicenter of the sex industry by 1981.
4 – Addicted City
With the rise of crack addiction, prostitution spread throughout the city. Men and women addicted to the drug would sell themselves for as little as 50 cents.
5 – Cops and Boobs
The police did little to curb this disturbing trend, as prostitutes worked openly across the city.
6 – The Star Wars fever
“Star Wars” fan Danny Fitzgerald of Staten Island, in Darth Vader costume, poses in front of Loews Astor Plaza movie theater in Times Square in New York, May 25, 1983, where fans are lined up for the premiere of “The Return of the Jedi,” the third in a series of the “Star Wars” saga. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
7 – Jumping over habit
Although it is considered a crime, subway riders used to find their own way to jumping over the turnstile at the subway stations.
8 – The Graffiti Era
Meryl Streep in New York subway, pictured by Ted Thai (The LIFE Picture Collection). This picture carries an intriguing story: That was the moment right after when Meryl had auditioned for the lead in a reboot of King Kong, produced by famed Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. When De Laurentiis brought her to his son, he replied, in Italian, “Why do you bring me this ugly thing?” To which Streep replied, also in Italian, “I’m sorry I’m not beautiful enough to be in King Kong.” Well, history proved the Italian producer was wrong. Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 19 times and has won it three times.
9 – Street (and subway) art
Golden age: The late 1970s and 80s signaled the beginnings of street art as we know it, with subways like this one in 1986 covered in tags by illicit painters.
10 – Twins
The Twin Towers and Brooklyn Bridge in 1982
11 – Short shorts
Short shorts: Two women walk together on 34th Street in 1980, one clad in extremely brief pants and a sweatband (Photo: Richard Sandler)
12 – The Rat(e) Race
The rate race: 'Men and Briefcases' shows rush hour at 57th Street as suited men head to work in 1980. Photo: Richard Sandler
13 – Apocalyptic East Village
Empty streets, boarded up buildings, abandoned lots, and parked cars: this was the East Village area in the 1980s. Now watch this four-minute video Shot out of a car window. you'll cruise slowly through the neighborhood, which is unsettlingly still—it sort of brings to life these photos of the city during that decade, which feature more broken windows than human beings. Savor the apocalyptic calm below:
Explore the coolest street in the United States, in the East Village. Click here.
14 – Surrounded by graffiti
A woman stands in the graffiti-covered carriage of the C train in 1985 as other commuters look on. (Photo: Richard Sandler)
15 – The basketball power
Before the NBA, before high school and college, there was always pick-up basketball on the streets of New York City.
Click in the image below to interact with the basketball history in New York City
Click here to interact with The History of New York City Basketball