To quote Grandmaster Flash “New York, New York big city of dreams, and everything in New York ain't always what it seems”, a perfectly concise summary of what makes New York such a great place to be a misfit.
The New York we know today is far more gentrified, visually scrutinized and whitewashed in the media, and is actually becoming a less nightmarish place to live- if you can afford the rent.
But back when most anyone could afford to live there, circa the 1980s, the New York City streets were a seedy, drug-fueled and very “alive” place.
NYC was truly a 24-hour town- and usually not in the good way.
The NYC street scene was full of crime, drugs and police corruption, but the extreme economic inequality resulted in something rather surprising- hope, and community pride.
The citizens of NYC managed to keep hope alive by banding together, coming out of a long, dark decade stronger as a community because they stuck together through it all.
See more photos from When Crack Was King: 1980s New York here