1980's New York City - better or worse than today?

Chiparus

I remember Times square in 1980, it was seedy; full of peep shows, prostitutes and electronic stores. Saw a full on fight between two orthodox Jews - start right beside me, very exciting for a 10 year old.

Went last year, and it has all been gentrified, much, much safer, nicer and a lot more expensive.

bo0li5eumx12kp

Muahahaha wrote: »

A mate remarked to me before that New York must be the most written about city in the world in terms of song writing. He made the observation that every song about NY is like some sort of PR/Marketing campaign about how great the city is. Im reminded of Alicia Keys/Jay Z Empire State of Mind

When I hear celebrities talk about it also, feels exactly the same.

"Such an awesome city, unique" etc etc - more lame bullshinanigans.

For the fabulously wealthy maybe it's okay (making the assumption there but again, nightlife blows - what about NY exactly do they love?)

One of my personal favourites was this classic,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDsbN3zKYlI

50 cent used to sing about it constantly also.

lol - what a fraud.

Igotadose

My bro reminded me that when he worked the late night shift downtown, they'd watch the ENORMOUS rats scuttle into hiding under the piers along Water street near the East river. "Big as small dogs" was what he remembered.

Do we want to talk about Cockroaches?

bo0li5eumx12kp

Chiparus wrote: »

I remember Times square in 1980, it was seedy; full of peep shows, prostitutes and electronic stores. Saw a full on fight between two orthodox Jews - start right beside me, very exciting for a 10 year old.

Went last year, and it has all been gentrified, much, much safer, nicer and a lot more expensive.

Which version did you prefer?

Of course an unpoliced dump, no one wants that but - I went just almost directly after reading Floyd Pattersons (former HW champ) biography.

It was all about NY, the gyms, 5th street boxing gym, champs being turned out by the dozen, million dollar gates at MSG, glamour, the fight capital of the world with nasty girls on every corner.

.....

What an absolute let down.

It's turned into a bunch of NYC fitness gyms with every PT on roids and a bunch of cardio-fit boxing classes.

Sorry but, it's generic, lame, boring - zero character to be seen.

hynesie08

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

Which version did you prefer?

Of course an unpoliced dump, no one wants that but - I went just almost directly after reading Floyd Pattersons (former HW champ) biography.

It was all about NY, the gyms, 5th street boxing gym, champs being turned out by the dozen, million dollar gates at MSG, glamour, the fight capital of the world with nasty girls on every corner.

.....

What an absolute let down.

It's turned into a bunch of NYC fitness gyms with every PT on roids and a bunch of cardio-fit boxing classes.

Sorry but, it's generic, lame, boring - zero character to be seen.

5th street gym was miami....... Yeah you've never been to new york.

J DEERE

hynesie08 wrote: »

No, I mean bars, wanna get **** faced for cheap - Rudy's, rock and metal - blue ruin, craft - house of brews, country music - the waylon, chick from offaly who overstayed her j1 and misses her mammy - mean fiddler....... All these bars are less than 10 minutes from times square....

Webster hall was nyu central...... 25000 college chicks living their best life (too young for me though)

You have k-Town, a 2 block radius where resteraunt workers go for cocktails and karaoke....

You can accuse manhattan of a lot of things, lack of nightlife is not one of them......

Sounds like you had a ****ty guide or no game.....

Hop on the L and get off at Bedford Ave. 10-15 bars on that stretch. Some dive bars. This lad sounds like he missed the boat

rossie1977

Parts of NYC were like hell on earth during the 1980s.

If i find the photo thread from scraperpage forum posted few years back I will link.

matchthis

Ninja turtles did a great job cleaning it up and the big rat was Master Splinter

bo0li5eumx12kp

hynesie08 wrote: »

5th street gym was miami....... Yeah you've never been to new york.

Hold up, 5th st gym was mentioned in Patterson biography cause Ali trained there.

Point being, I read pattersons book, how he'd ride the NY metro, train here, train there, gyms on every corner, that was the point.

"NY used to be bad", just like was told to me.

And now it's not, now it's just another overcrowded metropolis where every cat wants to be a wall St broker.

Hell "The Bronx bull", the raging bull, even his gym is now defunct.

Now NYC is just a playground for the rich.

bo0li5eumx12kp

J DEERE wrote: »

Hop on the L and get off at Bedford Ave. 10-15 bars on that stretch. Some dive bars. This lad sounds like he missed the boat

That's Brooklyn.

Sounds lame.

Nobody cares for bars where you go with mates, sip pints and listen to traditional jazz.

Don't you know grampa, that that shit is lame?

hynesie08

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

That's Brooklyn.

Sounds lame.

Nobody cares for bars where you go with mates, sip pints and listen to traditional jazz.

Don't you know grampa, that that shit is lame?

How would you know, you've never been there......

riclad

Most big TV networks had a studio there, alot of talk shows we're filmed there, snl is filmed there at 30 rock studio. If you were any rising star music or TV you had to go to New York at some point to appear on tv or do a live concert at Madison Square garden. Artists and singers would go there in the 80s, rents were low. Of course it was a dangerous place to live. If you could sell out venues in New York as a singer or a rock group you had made it.
It's hard to say will it recover from the covid crisis. A lot of retail shops are closing now, rents are high and every rich person seems to be leaving new York. Many big retail chains are going out of business. Alot of shops are boarded up to prevent looters from robbing them
New York and LA were always the 2 centres of media in America.
Developers who sell new apartments are reducing prices by 50 per cent just to break even.

hynesie08

riclad wrote: »

Most big TV networks had a studio there, alot of talk shows we're filmed there, snl is filmed there at 30 rock studio. If you were any rising star music or TV you had to go to New York at some point to appear on tv or do a live concert at Madison Square garden. Artists and singers would go there in the 80s, rents were low. Of course it was a dangerous place to live. If you could sell out venues in New York as a singer or a rock group you had made it.
It's hard to say will it recover from the covid crisis. A lot of retail shops are closing now, rents are high and every rich person seems to be leaving new York. Many big retail chains are going out of business. Alot of shops are boarded up to prevent looters from robbing them
New York and LA were always the 2 centres of media in America.
Developers who sell new apartments are reducing prices by 50 per cent just to break even.

There's a line in the musical hamilton


Or did you know, even then, it doesn't matter
Where you put the U.S. Capital
'Cause we'll have the banks
We're in the same spot

As long as the banks have their headquarters in manhattan, and wall street exists. New York will continue to thrive.

bo0li5eumx12kp

hynesie08 wrote: »

How would you know, you've never been there......

lolwut?

Are you on your bicycle now, "ummm, you've never been there, what do you know?"

hynesie08

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

lolwut?

Are you on your bicycle now, "ummm, you've never been there, what do you know?"

Nah, just don't believe you've ever been to new york..... Why don't you tell us some of your favourite spots we might not know about....

J DEERE

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

That's Brooklyn.

Sounds lame.

Nobody cares for bars where you go with mates, sip pints and listen to traditional jazz.

Don't you know grampa, that that shit is lame?

Nah it's not really like that. Theres places like that for sure if that's what ur looking for. That's the beauty of it I guess, the diversity of the place. Something for everyone. But you should go out there some night. It's a hive of activity. Bedford Ave basically becomes a pedestrian street. U might like it. U might even get ur little mickey wet

Muahahaha

One thing I remember from family who had been there in the 90s was they always said how cheap NY was, things like you could get a huge hotdog from a cart for $1 and that would do you for lunch. Big slices of pizza for a couple of dollars too, it was always said you could work there and get a very good wage but the cost of living was still cheap.

Nowadays everyone I know who has been comes back saying just how expensive it is. A friend was saying they paid $100 for the two of them to go up the Empire State building whereas the year before they were in Paris and it was 40 euro for the two of them to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Was just looking at a menu of an Irish bar on Manhatten and it does seem pretty expensive, burger and chips is $19 so with a tip not much change from $25. I believe even a small 300ml bottle of beer will cost you $10 and thats before a tip too.

What happened that it lurched from being a really cheap city to one of the worlds most expensive? Was it because of Guilianis 'clean up' meant wealthier people then moved to Manhattan once the crime problem was solved and that drove up the price of everything?

hynesie08

Muahahaha wrote: »

One thing I remember from family who had been there in the 90s was they always said how cheap NY was, things like you could get a huge hotdog from a cart for $1 and that would do you for lunch. Big slices of pizza for a couple of dollars too, it was always said you could work there and get a very good wage but the cost of living was still cheap.

Nowadays everyone I know who has been comes back saying just how expensive it is. A friend was saying they paid $100 for the two of them to go up the Empire State building whereas the year before they were in Paris and it was 40 euro for the two of them to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Was just looking at a menu of an Irish bar on Manhatten and it does seem pretty expensive, burger and chips is $19 so with a tip not much change from $25. I believe even a small 300ml bottle of beer will cost you $10 and thats before a tip too.

What happened that it lurched from being a really cheap city to one of the worlds most expensive? Was it because of Guilianis 'clean up' meant wealthier people then moved to Manhattan once the crime problem was solved and that drove up the price of everything?

It's as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. If you just blindly go into bars/resteraunts around times square/MSG you're going to pay for it....... But you can just as easily head 2 blocks over to hells kitchen, find a burger fries and a beer for $12, get **** faced on 4 dollar beers and $5 margaritas, then grab a couple of dollar slices on the way back to the hotel.

Same as many other cities to be fair....

Joe_ Public

It is bracingly expensive to go out in nyc, undeniably true. Of course you can dine on dollar pizza slices and drink 5-6 dollar beers in dive bars to your hearts content but times gonna come when you have a night out with pals in a decent restaurant and bar and it's going to put a serious dent in your wallet. And no matter how many times i go there, the us tipping culture still gets to me. Yeah, you can budget ok, avoid wholefoods and upmarket west village or midtown bars, but it can wear you down after a while.

hynesie08

Joe_ Public wrote: »

It is bracingly expensive to go out in nyc, undeniably true. Of course you can dine on dollar pizza slices and drink 5-6 dollar beers in dive bars to your hearts content but times gonna come when you have a night out with pals in a decent restaurant and bar and it's going to put a serious dent in your wallet. And no matter how many times i go there, the us tipping culture still gets to me. Yeah, you can budget ok, avoid wholefoods and upmarket west village or midtown bars, but it can wear you down after a while.

Oh yeah, I always try to have one big night out, and in a nice resteraunt (not even a steakhouse) and you can drop 100+ without blinking, especially if your having cocktails or wine.

I like dive bars, so I'm OK, but I went once with an ex....... I'm still feeling that in my wallet.

I actually found Boston to be more expensive than NYC.

Joe_ Public

hynesie08 wrote: »

Oh yeah, I always try to have one big night out, and in a nice resteraunt (not even a steakhouse) and you can drop 100+ without blinking, especially if your having cocktails or wine.

I like dive bars, so I'm OK, but I went once with an ex....... I'm still feeling that in my wallet.

I actually found Boston to be more expensive than NYC.

I'm happier in dive bars too....would often go on my own to American dive bar on 1st Ave and drink beer listening to great live music for the night, always end up chatting to people which is one thing i do like about the city, very easy to meet folk there i find. But my pals who all have good steady jobs have more sophisticated taste and 100 wouldn't get you far on a night out with them. Just a tough city on a budget, boston could well be as bad, havent been there since the 90s.

bo0li5eumx12kp

hynesie08 wrote: »

Nah, just don't believe you've ever been to new york..... Why don't you tell us some of your favourite spots we might not know about....

My favourite spot in NYC is JFK airport, fastest way to put as much distance as possible between me and the place.

Granadino

NYC would be great place to live if you had a lot of money (maybe the same anywhere in America) Forget about it otherwise.

bo0li5eumx12kp

Granadino wrote: »

NYC would be great place to live if you had a lot of money (maybe the same anywhere in America) Forget about it otherwise.

Was looking into Las Vegas and Miami also.

Same deal.

Nightmare on low end of the payscale.

Health insurance alone could bankrupt a man.

riclad

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8679723/Fleet-moving-vehicles-seen-NYCs-troubled-Upper-West-marking-mass-evacuation.html
upper west side is like the ballsbridge of nyc. An upper class area.
of course maybe if rents in nyc fall it will attract more young people and artists to move there .
It seems like any one who is rich or middle class is leaving new york.
The moving business is booming.
i read people will take a mediocre job in the us just because it has health insurance .

Yyhhuuu

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

Was looking into Las Vegas and Miami also.

Same deal.

Nightmare on low end of the payscale.

Health insurance alone could bankrupt a man.

Health insurance or health expenses?

CrankyHaus

Muahahaha wrote: »

One thing I remember from family who had been there in the 90s was they always said how cheap NY was, things like you could get a huge hotdog from a cart for $1 and that would do you for lunch. Big slices of pizza for a couple of dollars too, it was always said you could work there and get a very good wage but the cost of living was still cheap.

Nowadays everyone I know who has been comes back saying just how expensive it is. A friend was saying they paid $100 for the two of them to go up the Empire State building whereas the year before they were in Paris and it was 40 euro for the two of them to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Was just looking at a menu of an Irish bar on Manhatten and it does seem pretty expensive, burger and chips is $19 so with a tip not much change from $25. I believe even a small 300ml bottle of beer will cost you $10 and thats before a tip too.

What happened that it lurched from being a really cheap city to one of the worlds most expensive? Was it because of Guilianis 'clean up' meant wealthier people then moved to Manhattan once the crime problem was solved and that drove up the price of everything?

The states as a whole has gotten fairly pricey, relative to here. In the 2000s Ireland was quite expensive compared to the US. But we haven't had much inflation in over a decade, seriously a pint hardly costs more than it did in 2007, while the US has.

hynesie08

Adelina Repulsive Tournament wrote: »

My favourite spot in NYC is JFK airport, fastest way to put as much distance as possible between me and the place.

So you've never been, that's cool, no need to lie about it.

rossie1977

Harlem is unrecognisable from the 80s https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149448

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Muahahaha wrote: »

Nowadays everyone I know who has been comes back saying just how expensive it is. A friend was saying they paid $100 for the two of them to go up the Empire State building whereas the year before they were in Paris and it was 40 euro for the two of them to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Was just looking at a menu of an Irish bar on Manhatten and it does seem pretty expensive, burger and chips is $19 so with a tip not much change from $25. I believe even a small 300ml bottle of beer will cost you $10 and thats before a tip too.

Are you serious? That is an insane ticket price. I thought the Guinness Storehouse was bad. And at least a drink is included there.