When New York Was Truly The City That Never Sleeps
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
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