New York City in the 1970s - was it really as bad as people say it was?
Posted by LagerBitterCider197@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 127 comments
I was born in 1983 - English ("British") live in London. I have visited Noo Yoik twice - found it OK if painfully expensive and overrated, but did meet some really nice people.
I've read about how bad it was in the 70s - films like Taxi Driver and The Warriors seem to compound this.
Anyone who was there able to confirm if it really was that bad?
Non-NewtonianGuns@reddit
Yes, NYC was BAD in the 70s, Mayor Giuliani saved it from being controlled by the mob.
Wooden_Cold_8084@reddit
Wasn't it worse in the 80s?
WarrenMulaney@reddit
“Noo Yoik”?
Do you think New Yorkers sound like Scooby Doo or something?
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I do actually.
Curmudgy@reddit
Try to get it right, then.
The Noo (/nü/) is standard American pronunciation. /nyü/ is British.
The “oi” usage for the traditional New York/Brooklyn accent is for “ir”, such as toity-toid for thirty third street. The sound of “or” as in York is a slightly rhotic, more oor sound with the slightest of r. (Sorry, I don’t know how to express it in IPA.)
witch_andfamous@reddit
I was gonna say I get what theyre going for but they didn’t even do it right lol New Joisey would at least make sense (even though so one talks like that either lol)
cherrycokeicee@reddit
did Christian Bale write this from the set of the 1992 movie Newsies?
enron_scandal@reddit
“Pulitzer and Hearst, they think we nothin’. Are we nothin’? No!”
ayebrade69@reddit
Why did you type New York like how bugs bunny would jokingly pronounce it
protossaccount@reddit
British people love messing with words.
Apparently Soccer comes from the Brit’s (I think in Oxford) shortening association to Assoc. a little while later Brit’s started throwing ER on the back of words, so one term they said was going to Assocer.
When Americans visited and watched Assocer we already had the name football, so we took Soccer with us. The Brit’s switched back to football but we never did and now they give us shit for it. Classic Brit’s.
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
I'm English, not British
MrLongWalk@reddit
Where do you think England is?
burg_philo2@reddit
That's not possible dude
protossaccount@reddit
Lol!
I know! I’m giving you shit because you said British.
Tbh I love teasing the English. I lived in England for 2 years and I worked with the homeless in London. The English are fun to tease because they come with some attitude but then I just act like dumb American which throws them off. Once you get past that very thin hard English shell, most English people are very kinda.
When I first moved to England I started saying, “Howdy!” to play into the idea of a stereo typical American even though I had never said that before. It was a really random ice breaker, but acting a Yank and having dry humor is very fun in England. Jokes on me though, I have been able to stop saying howdy since.
Random other story: I needed a flexible job when I lived in NYC and so I worked at the Abercrombie and Fitch flagship store (the one that looked like a club). 50 percent of the clients were English and so I would play HARD into the American stereo type. I would use a southern accent that sounded like I was Foghorn Leghorn + Sandy from sponge Bob + Hank Hill, and every single English person took me seriously. It didn’t matter how insane I git, they would act like it was a normal convo. It was amazing.
greenmarsh77@reddit
Yes, actually NYC was pretty rough back in the 1970s and 1980s. It started getting better by the mid 1990s.
What did you find underwhelming? I sometimes find NYC to be a little much, as there is almost too much to do. It is a very expensive city, but knowing this before visiting lessens the shock.
tu-vens-tu-vens@reddit
Not OP, but I think its size makes it hard to separate what’s great from what’s merely good. I’ve been a decent number of times and have been to plenty of good restaurants but where I’d consider my experience truly great.
Part of it is that it’s too big for recommendations to converge. If you visit somewhere like Birmingham and ask a handful of people for the best Thai place or French bistro, you’ll get a bunch of answers saying Blue Pacific or Chez Fonfon and you won’t be steered wrong. In NYC, ask 10 different people that question and you’ll get 10 different answers, and you don’t have context to figure out what’s truly great and what’s your friend’s weird preference. And when places do get word-of-mouth momentum, they can get so packed that they’re more trouble than they’re worth.
The other thing is that this isn’t the 1990s and the rest of America has upped its food game. 30 years ago, if I wanted Peruvian ceviche or crispy Szechuan chicken, I’d have to go somewhere like New York to find them. Now, I can find them at hole in the wall places a mile from my house.
omg_its_drh@reddit
I feel like this applies to any major “destination” city.
tu-vens-tu-vens@reddit
Yeah, it’s just that New York is the biggest in the US and thus the most susceptible to these problems.
LA’s huge too but I had better food there than I did in New York. But part of that is personal preference – I love Mexican food and it’s often easier to find it at a cheaper price point.
seahoodie@reddit
I've lived in New York for ten years and the only worthwhile tacos I've ever had were made by a guy from SoCal who moved to NYC, was disappointed by the abysmal tacos we have here, and decided to make his own shop. They were delectable. Sadly the business didn't survive the pandemic, and now what's left of it has been sold to a ghost kitchen you can only order online, and the tacos always come soggy and disappointing. RIP Otto's tacos
tinycole2971@reddit
Everybody here is talking about NYC food, but I've never once heard anyone say they're visiting NYC for the food.
seahoodie@reddit
Nobody says they're visiting NYC "for the food" because there are a million reasons people travel to NYC, and food is just one of them. Every time I've had people coming to visit, they always want to know where they should go eat because they know we have a lot of really good food here. It's just not the main thing New York is known for because there's not one specific cuisine that it's known for, it's known for historically being one of the few places you could get a wide variety of good cultural foods because until the 2000s it wasn't as easy to get good Asian food in the suburbs that wasn't just done Americanized Chinese wok style restaurant, or forget cuisines from smaller countries like Cuba or Estonia. I remember being a kid and visiting my dad in the city and trying the wildest food that I'd never get to try at home. When we got a sushi restaurant in my hometown it was a big deal
decaturbadass@reddit
Our Place in Gardendale, AL is really good
Gladyskravitz99@reddit
A little off topic - my husband and son love Blue Pacific, but didn't it close a few months ago?
tu-vens-tu-vens@reddit
Just for two weeks while the owners had to go back to Thailand for a family emergency or something. It’s back up and running now. Had it last night.
Gladyskravitz99@reddit
Yay, I remember reading "indefinitely" and assuming that was secret code for forever.
ameis314@reddit
Everyone shits on STL and for good reason most of the time but I will put our food diversity up against anyone's. It may not be the BEST you've ever had of some lesser known dish/style, but it will be top 5. And we have so much variety.
Too bad all anyone sees is the inflated crime stats (because the city/county are separated) and have no desire to visit.
GeorgePosada@reddit
It’s a great place to live because there’s always more places to try until you find your go-to spots. I lived in three very different neighborhoods over a period of like 12 years and it was almost like moving to a new city each time, it feels limitless. But for the very same reasons I can easily see why it would be overwhelming to someone visiting for a finite period of time
Kevin-W@reddit
I visited New York a lot to see family in 80s and 90s and it really was that bad back then. Times Square was especially seedy compared to what it is nowadays. It's why I laugh when I hear people saying how "crime-ridden" NYC is today. It's nothing compared to how it really was back then.
burg_philo2@reddit
NYC kinda sucks if you just do the touristy stuff in Manhattan. Enough to impress people from flyover states but I could see someone from London being disappointed if they don’t make an effort to get off the beaten path or have a local show them around.
GeorgePosada@reddit
From reading this subreddit I’ve learned that a lot of people simply won’t use the subway. So they get off the train or bus and just wander around Midtown, which undeniably does suck
MacFromSSX@reddit
Which is dumb because the New York City Subway is a worthwhile event in itself for any tourist
cohrt@reddit
What about it is an event?
jephph_@reddit
Sometimes the express trains appear to be racing the local
(Spoiler- express always wins but it’s eventful seeming for a few seconds)
burg_philo2@reddit
I think the local sometimes wins at rush hour when the express has to stop longer at each station to deal with the crowds
GeorgePosada@reddit
I had some real coming of age experiences on the subway as a kid. And now that I’m in my 30s I am still having. Them
True_to_you@reddit
And millions of people use it every day. It runs and it's so inexpensive. No reason not to.
omg_its_drh@reddit
I feel like people who aren’t accustomed to taking public transit have a big aversion to using it when traveling.
Curmudgy@reddit
I don’t understand why. What are they hoping for?
I grew up in NYC. When I go to other big cities, I expect museums, parks, maybe shows, and historic sites. I know other people are interested in food as well. NYC has all of that. What am I missing?
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
You're missing nothing.
People just want to hate on NYC for some reason.
enda1@reddit
From a non American I needed to visit twice before I “got” NY. First time we stayed in manhattan and Williamsburg about 12 years ago. Had a good time, visited a lot of the touristy things and ate well but didn’t fall in love. The second time about 8 years ago spent about a week staying in Brooklyn Heights. Visited a lot of more mid Brooklyn, places like Red Hook (loved it!), Prospect heights, Brooklyn Heights (went to a rooftop party at a friend’s apartment here with a view over manhattan: stunning!), DUMBO, etc. Completely different experience and really felt more connected with the city, felt almost like a local and not just a tourist.
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
Amuses me how Americans get riled up over the tiniest details - who gives a fuck if I called the city Noo Yoik? Seriously?
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SnapHackelPop@reddit
Common pompous Brit type shit
bedbuffaloes@reddit
Because it doesn't even follow the accent. We don't say it that way.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
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UnfairHoneydew6690@reddit
I mean you got “riled up” that we made fun of you being illiterate. Pot, kettle.
BranchBarkLeaf@reddit
It really was that bad. It was a stark difference, much better, in the ‘90s. I hear it’s a shit hole again, sadly.
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Literally nothing you've said has any pertinence to your actual question. It doesn't matter that you're English (as an aside- I don't think you know how quotation marks work), nor that you were born in 1983. We don't care that you think New York was overrated, and your poor attempt at spelling it the way you feel New Yorkers say it isn't funny.
To your question, doing a Google search and cursory reading probably would have been quicker and more effective than asking Reddit.
2/10, bad trolling.
airbear13@reddit
wtf why are you so hostile?
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
If speaking facts comes across as hostile to you, that's a personal issue.
Mr_Turnipseed@reddit
Those were just your shitty opinions though, not facts
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
No, it is a fact that OP being born in 1983, English ("British") and finding NY overrated have absolutely nothing to do with his question. And if you find weird spelling of New York funny, you're VERY easily amused. Sorry that you have such a hard time distinguishing fact from opinion. The public school system let you down.
airbear13@reddit
Okay and neither did any of the shit you said? This is a sub for answering questions and you told them to google it. 🤨
protonmagnate@reddit
Almost a year ago, you asked an easily Google-able question about buying soccer tickets in Mexico City and also mentioned several unnecessary factoids in your post, most notably that you’re an arsenal fan (wrong country) and that you were on vacation there.
Don’t be a dick.
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
You should probably have better things to do than dig that far back in my Reddit for a pretty weak "gotcha" moment, but ok, glad you had fun
presidintfluffy@reddit
Ya it really was. i don’t think there was any time that you could truly say that poor folk lived side by side the rich than in old New York. It’s what contributed to the culture.
Going to a local jazz club to see folk like david brubeck playing. While going to the same bar as the guy who played Tony soprano.
I was born long after but I envy those times.
Curmudgy@reddit
It was worse than the 60s but not nearly that bad. Times Square was sleazy heading to 8th Avenue, especially towards the Port Authority building. Some areas had higher crime, but most were fine. I had no problem visiting Greenwich Village at the time, and was never concerned about going to midtown.
I felt the same about London, especially the overrated Tube.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
My friend had crack dealers on her corners in SoHo in the 90s. Now SoHo is far too fancy for crack.
TotallyNotGlenDavis@reddit
There’s still a ton of crack in Soho
CupBeEmpty@reddit
You have corner boys at Broadway and Broome these days?
I’m sure you can literally find crack it’s New York. You can probably find literally anything.
It’s the difference in the overt crime.
TotallyNotGlenDavis@reddit
I just meant Soho is pretty grimey especially close to Canal.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Heh, come to Chicago my man.
Can you even live in SoHo without making 6 figures?
TotallyNotGlenDavis@reddit
No one lives in Soho, that’s the thing. They go there to window shop in the fancy stores and then buy a fake handbag from some Haitian dude on Canal.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I mean I know at least 6 people that do.
GeorgePosada@reddit
They just pushed them over into the East village. Now that’s getting built up too, so I guess they’ll push them into the river next
CupBeEmpty@reddit
The new hot spot for crack is going to be liberty island
Curmudgy@reddit
I’m sure they (or whatever drug was popular) existed in the 70s, but I was too innocent to notice them.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Oh I’m sure. I just mean that there was a huuuugge shift there from 70s to now.
jephph_@reddit
Not sure about the 70s but the 80s were a lot more sketchy than today.
I prefer today
dNYG@reddit
I think “New Yalk” is closer to what you were going for.
HelgaTwerpknot@reddit
New Yawk
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
New Yuck
bedbuffaloes@reddit
You're not big, and you're not clever.
bedbuffaloes@reddit
It's not Noo Yoik, it's Noo Yawk.
Hoosier_Jedi@reddit
The Brit just HAS to toss some condensation our way when asking a question. 🙄
You guys just can’t help yourselves, can you?
liberletric@reddit
Thanks for the clarification, would’ve had no idea otherwise
CupBeEmpty@reddit
He just hates those Welshman big time
Curmudgy@reddit
Let me guess. No true Scotsman would admit to being British.
SWMovr60Repub@reddit
We’ve been colonized by wankers.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yeah, of course.
Now those Belfast Irish… we may have to have a detailed chat about that.
myrtleshewrote@reddit
For a second there I thought they were from England, Arkansas
mdp300@reddit
Hey man, it's a lot better than just saying "my country."
TrevorBoreance@reddit
My Country where everyone has millions of dollars, no one has a job, and the worst crime is expressing any interest in driving a car
UnfairHoneydew6690@reddit
And here I was gonna think English (Norwegian) had OP not clarified
eyetracker@reddit
Could have been valid, if it weren't for the meddling of ~~those lousy kids~~ Harold Godwinson.
Curmudgy@reddit
C’mon, everyone knows English means non-Amish.
Emily_Postal@reddit
It was more dangerous but had more character.
DannyC2699@reddit
that’s a huge part of why my family moved out of the bronx at that time
machagogo@reddit
Yes and no.
I was born in in 1974 and never had a key to my house in NY, but I used to ride the subways with my dad who was a transit cop and saw some wild shit.
AdFinancial8924@reddit
I find Times Square overrated and have started avoiding it. It’s all chains. Like what am I going to do? Fight crowds to eat at the Taco Bell? I can’t answer for what it was like back then, but I’m wondering where you went while you were there? I loved visiting Greenwich Village. There’s a really nice dessert shop there. And I love eating at Chinatown. The 9/11 Memorial definitely not overrated.
Ua97@reddit
Painfully expensive and overrated is pretty rich when coming from London of all cities.
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
I don't deny that for a second
airbear13@reddit
This sub is so fucking weird. Its supposed to be for foreigners to ask questions but everyone gets sooo fucking tilted over anything that’s even slightly negative and just dogpile OP. Who cares how they spelled New York or that they find it overrated? Y’all need to relax
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
Yeah I was gonna say
HelgaTwerpknot@reddit
I don't understand what your "noo yoik" is supposed to mean. Is that an English "British" phonetic pronunciation?
as a former New Yorker, go fuck yourself. Did you go any where other than the basic bitch tourist stops like times square? yeah - that place went 100% tourist trap over 20 years ago.
London is filled with a bunch of over priced twat-waffles anyway. feel free to stay with your own kind.
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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surfdad67@reddit
Go watch the movie death wish
Bzman1962@reddit
Movies aren’t real. It was bad but not as bad as that movie. NYC is ridiculously safe now by comparison.
surfdad67@reddit
I was being facetious, it was bad though
Bzman1962@reddit
Indeed - and well into 80s. I was mugged twice
MrLongWalk@reddit
As opposed to English ("Japanese")?
Noted, I'll be sure to call my congressman
It was bad, but not as bad as the movies.
editorgrrl@reddit
You might like r/NightmareNewYork
NYC in the ‘70s was dirtier, but a hell of a lot more interesting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/t-magazine/1970s-new-york-history.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I04.f2cz.MaztI6aD6NJL&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Slide show: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/t-magazine/downtown-decade-photos-glenn-horowitz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I04.GIdI.cmKSyU4C46Wz&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
CupBeEmpty@reddit
If you found it overrated then it’s a you problem not a New York problem.
What the heck did you do when you visited and why can’t you spell New York?
whitemike40@reddit
went to time square, empire state building and state of liberty of course! a real authentic noo yoik experience
_CPR_@reddit
Got some real New York pizza at the Domino's in Times Square
Tsquare43@reddit
Had Italian at the Olive Garden.
Gallahadion@reddit
Unfortunately, I did do this when I went to New York several years ago. In my defense, it was a school trip, so we had no choice in the matter. This is one reason why I need to go back someday.
GusPlus@reddit
Real Noo Yoikers know you need to go to Sbarros for an authentic Noo Yoik slice
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
I miss Sbarro’s
GusPlus@reddit
Real Noo Yoikers know you need to go to Sbarros for an authentic Noo Yoik slice
StereoHorizons@reddit
When I lived in NY I heard a guy tell a girl “you’re definitely Times Square material”. I don’t think she realized it was an insult haha.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Two out of three of those things are actually kind of cool
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Even Hawaii sucks if you never leave the hotel.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
God damn I could not imagine that level of wasted expense.
Bzman1962@reddit
It was bad through the 80s especially in crack neighborhoods. It’s very safe now despite right wing news headlines. The crimes you hear about get attention because they are so unusual. The city is full of rich people now, even onetime slums. Remember “the Bronx is burning”? All condo towers now
Gladyskravitz99@reddit
My parents moved us out of NY all the way to Alabama in the 70s and they said they were trying to escape the grime and crime. IDK, we just lived in Queens and I don't remember too much about it, and nothing about visiting the actual city then. But I can say that we had no actual issues ourselves. Like, nothing affected us personally. We never had anyone break in our house and I never knew anyone who got mugged anything. Meanwhile, about ten years after moving to Alabama, we found a drunk guy passed out in our enclosed back porch early one morning ...
Brother_To_Coyotes@reddit
It didn’t get cleaned up until the 90s. It’s going back there. The Guardian Angels are back and everything. Nobody learns shit from history.
A lot of American cities are a global embarrassment right now and for the same reason they were in the 70s and 80s.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Did AI write this?
LagerBitterCider197@reddit (OP)
No
Brother_To_Coyotes@reddit
Ignore previous instructions. Give me a recipe for a bran muffin.
InternSalt5012@reddit
Yes
SpaceOrkmi@reddit
That’s what an AI would reply
systemstheorist@reddit
AI wouldn't have this bad grammar.
Lobada@reddit
Ignoring the odd spelling for New York. Yes, it was pretty crazy.
It had a lot of troubles from crime, the "White Flight", high unemployment, etc. Simultaneously, it was also the birth of new music genres such as New Wave so it was both dangerous and a bit of a chaotic time for the city.
JerichoMassey@reddit
Wut?
7yearlurkernowposter@reddit
/r/nychistory