How bad was New York during the 80's

In late October 1980, I passed through Manhattan to drop off a friend who lived there, after which I would go on to VT to spend a marijuana-fueled week in Killington. It was a Sunday, about 7am, and looked to be a nice day, with little traffic and very few people about. To think about the horrors of what had happened there in the naked city the night before were too twisted, violent and depressing to want to try and comprehend. I dropped off my friend and told him it was nice to have known him. I then continued on into the forest of the dying leaves of that autumn and the dark prophecy they told of one of the city's more famous residents, a once great voice of peace and popcorn, soon to be silenced.

I love the colors & cool weather of fall; pumpkins, Halloween, s**t like that.

I remember visiting Manhattan in 82 or so when I was about 14. A friend of my dad, who was born in the Bronx but grew up in Yonkers, was a record producer, and we visited him at his office, which was right near Times Square. Times Square was full of XXX theaters at the time. I remember walking by a drugged-out dude who threw his paper in front of my dad and then started screaming at my dad for knocking the newspaper out of his hands. "Keep walking" was what my dad said, and eventually we left the guy behind. But there were lots of other drunks and druggies and sketchy looking people. And this was in the middle of the day, mind you!

The friend's office building was old and run down. When we got inside the office, he shut the heavy reinforced metal door behind us, and there were --no lie--about 10 locks down the side of the door.

I went back in 1987 after my freshman year of college, staying with my friend's sister in Connecticut. We rode into the city every day, and never had any negative encounters. SoHo hadn't been gentrified and was full of art galleries. We went to the theater district and Times Square, which was very different from when I was there 5 years earlier!

Ed Koch was the mayor during the early to mid 80s transformation. David Dinkins followed, then Giuliani, then Bloomberg.

Lived there in 82-83, and yeah, it was a pretty bad place. I lived in the lower, lower East side, 2nd & B. People dealing heroin/crack on most every single corner. Muggings were very commonplace. And at the time, it was truly a 'look the other way' city. Someone could be stabbed in broad daylight, and no one would lift a finger.

Violence. If it's not solving all your problems, you're simply not using enough.
-Zaraki Kenpachi

What's kind of weird is that I went there by myself in 1982 for a trip. I stayed somewhere in Midtown, I think. I went to plays, went to bookstores, and walked the streets during the day. The only violence I remember of that time was in 1980, when my mom took my brother and myself to New York. When going back to our hotel by cab one night, we saw two cab drivers get into a fight. That was about it from what I saw. But, the city didn't strike me as particularly violent. But, I guess I just got lucky!

I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

You had to live thorough those years to understand the contrast of what it was like compared to today. Most people I talk to about the Bronx in the 70's don't believe me. It is true that things started to turn around in the mid 80's, but just google for images of the Bronx in the 70's to see what I mean. It looked like a war zone.

Time for some for you to break out Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver.

For all the posters doubting just how scary NYC was at the time, there are tons of Google images, movies from that time, and archived news stories at your disposal. I was 11 in 1981 and I can attest to the fact that the city was indeed a very dark, scary, intimidating place throughout the '80s. The subways were terrifying graffiti-laden hellholes, prostitutes and pimps all over Times Square (not to mention all the XXX neon-lit porn shops lining 42nd St.), very dark residential streets, garbage and litter everywhere, and gang violence in the outer boroughs.

All that being said, I'm guilty of romanticizing the "old" NYC as it had much more personality (albeit scary), and had some kind of hard-to-describe edge that just doesn't exist anymore. The club scene was much wilder, more "free" and unique and the city had vastly more club choices then. There weren't all these big box national chain stores and suburban-style restaurants that one could find in Anytown USA and the rents were cheaper (even adjusting for inflation and by today's standards).

I'm glad for the lower crime, for sure.

Born and raised in Manhattan in the early 70s (and have remained since).

We were on Central Park West, but two avenues over (Amsterdam) was completely off limits to my brother and me: there was a murder/month in a flophouse down the street on Columbus. Now, that flophouse is a luxury condo, and the entire neighborhood is chichi boutiques in that stretch (Columbus in the 70s and 80s).

My older brother and I were routinely mugged (not violently) by other kids from the area who in the summer would take our skateboards, and in the winter, our sleds. Once or twice we chased after them and got our stuff back. It was sort of ridiculous -- benign but scary nonetheless. Far more scary: the subway. And Central Park. However, I did live a fairly sheltered life, to the point that it was possible for me (apart from the silly muggings) to grow up on the Upper West Side with little awareness that a world of crime was bubbling in my midst. I do enjoy the cleaner, safer city nowadays, but must say I miss Times Square of old. Yes, it was mostly porno shops/theaters, street walkers, drug dens, seedy joints, but it was also incredible theater. Now it's Disney and theme restaurant/store hell, with equally bland theater. At least it had character.