New York City Old Photos | Looking Back in 1970s New York

New York City Old Photos | Looking Back in 1970s New York 

Here's what New York City looked like vintage during the 70s, one of the city's most tumultuous decades. These startling 1970s New York photos reveal a city undergoing an unparalleled transformation fueled by economic collapse and rampant crime. Before Times Square was a global attraction, it was home to sex shops and drug dealers, earning a reputation as the sketchiest part of New York City.

Some people come here to enjoy the Broadway shows; others come specifically to shop and dine; and many come simply to see the sites: the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, historic neighborhoods, and numerous world famous museums. Many of the best places to visit in New York are within walking distance of each other, or just a short ride away, making this city a delight for sightseeing.

Today’s Times Square is known as the iconic tourist destination of New York, becoming the most visited place on the globe and attracting over 131 million visitors a year.

In New York City, nostalgia for the Bad Old Days runs especially deep. For some it’s a point of pride, others an affectation, but it’s a commonly articulated lament among New Yorkers that “the city has changed” from its original, rougher, tougher self. Of course this sentiment is cyclical.

In the 1920s people were waxing nostalgic about the Bowery of the late 19th Century; by the 60s they were dwelling on Prohibition-era mob stories that cast the city in dark hues of danger. These days the point of reference for New York at its most real is the 1970s. Convenient, then, that many of the photographers who documented that era have reached retirement age and now have plenty of time to look back on their early archives.