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Incredible. I pulled up my neighborhood, a vibrant lovely neighborhood in Brooklyn. I moved here when I arrived in NYC four years ago. The first thing I notice

Incredible. I pulled up my neighborhood, a vibrant lovely neighborhood in Brooklyn. I moved here when I arrived in NYC four years ago. The first thing I notice is all the trees are not there in the 1980s. Amazing how much more bleak things are without the big leafy trees. The building where I live now is boarded up and much shorter (three stories were added c.2003 for housing and the retail levels were renovated). The avenue where I do most of my shopping, filled with restaurants and cafes and pocket gyms and salons and bars and real estate offices and corner stores, is just desolate. There is a church and a butcher and a salon but there are also lots of empty storefronts and whole vacant multi-story buildings with windows boarded up or just missing. What's interesting is most of the structures have not changed. They are lovely old buildings now, as they were in the 1980s. But the context could not be more different. Today they are full — the buildings full of tenants and businesses, the streets full of shoppers and locals, bikes and buses and cars. The neighborhood in the pictures looks so much more stark and empty.

toyg 8y ago
And still, that NY spawned hip-hop, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, the Ramones, Talking Heads, and more incredible movies than I can list... in many ways, it probably was a more “desperately creative” place than its modern gentrified self. Orson Welles said it better with his comparison of Swiss and Italian histories and their consequences.
- cbnotfromthere 8y ago
  The work of Andy Warhol is a vomit. Nothing creative.
  - toyg 8y ago
    De gustibus non est disputandum, but it's undisputed that Warhol had a massive influence, directly and indirectly, on Western art and culture -- among others, on a famous newyorker of the time: Lou Reed.
  - dang 8y ago
    Please don't do this here.
ghaff 8y ago
I lived in Manhattan briefly in the mid-eighties and have been a regular visitor over the years. I think the first time I properly set foot in Brooklyn (I walked on the Brooklyn Bridge a few years prior) was less than a decade ago. Simply never occurred to me there was a reason to.
- digitailor 8y ago
  To quote KRS-One in 1987, "Manhattan keeps on making it, Brooklyn keeps on taking it."
grouseway 8y ago
Some of the bleakest and surprising photography I have ever seen has been Jacob Holdt's photo of the American underclass in the 80s. I never imagined that a city like new york was at this level of decay. It gives me hope that we can always turn these kinds of conditions around. I don't know who deserves the credit in the case of NY. http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/usa/pages/usa-00524.htm http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/usa/pages/usa-00524... Note: Some of these images are NSFW. That link contains photos from various states - I'm not sure how to link to just the NY/NJ albums.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Poor people don't use wood stoves as much anymore. A lot of the more rural areas look about the same. The cars are 30yr newer but still 30yr old. The captions remind me all the stories you accumulate when you hang around with poor people that are completely unbelievable and unrelatable to more well off people. A lot of this has to be earlier than the 80s. There's a lot of pictures of blacks with guns in public and semi-public places sprinkled in there. After they passed all sorts of gun control nobody was gonna stand around and let a white man, from Denmark or not, take pictures of them with their piece. There's a lot of pictures that look like they might be from late 60s anti-war protests as well. I think the photographer didn't like the cold. None of his pictures are in poor areas in northern states in the winter. Edit: I think most of these pics are late 60s to early 70s but some definitely go up to the late 80s and early 90s
rayiner 8y ago
Thank Wall Street, Rudy Giuliani, and gentrification. While the pictures from the 1980s seem desolate, the population of Brooklyn was not that much less in the mid 1980s when these pictures were taken: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6E%2f&id=F1E4BA81EF2F7813BF521B606E457726C59F3E21&thid=OIP.ScGoR6E_Xc6NQ8ROvSoKnAHaEL&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dailydetroit.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f02%2fPopulation-of-Brooklyn-vs-Detroit-Brooklyn-Kings-County-City-of-Detroit_chartbuilder.png&exph=676&expw=1200&q=brooklyn+population&simid=608047658110946257&selectedIndex=12&ajaxhist=0 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6.... There were people there, they were just too poor to support a robust ecosystem of gyms, cafes, and restaurants. The growth of finance and its satellite industries provided the money to support satellite businesses like restaurants and cafes. Meanwhile, in the mid-1980s, the city was overrun with crime. In 1985, there was a mob hit at 5:30 pm on 46th and 3rd in Midtown, outside a popular steakhouse. The area looks like this today: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6E%2f&id=F1E4BA81EF2F7813BF521B606E457726C59F3E21&thid=OIP.ScGoR6E_Xc6NQ8ROvSoKnAHaEL&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dailydetroit.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f02%2fPopulation-of-Brooklyn-vs-Detroit-Brooklyn-Kings-County-City-of-Detroit_chartbuilder.png&exph=676&expw=1200&q=brooklyn+population&simid=608047658110946257&selectedIndex=12&ajaxhist=0 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6.... Guiliani's aggressive prosecution efforts decimated the mob in the city. That's the unfortunate mechanics of a society where there has been no income growth for the bottom half in decades. If a place was sketchy before and now it's nice, it's because yuppies moved in and pushed the previous residents out. In Brooklyn the percentage of low-income residents plummeted from 45% to 15%, while the percentage of upper-income residents jumped from 5% to 25%: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/20/nyregion/census-traces-radical-shifts-in-new-york-city-s-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/20/nyregion/census-traces-ra....
- pimmen 8y ago
  But where did the poor people end up? Has New Jersey and other surrounding areas seen an increase in people under harsh conditions?
whiddershins 8y ago
Old school Brooklynites were often VERY anti-tree. They buckle the sidewalk, can damage expensive water piping, and "muggers hide behind them." Believe it or not.

toyg 8y ago

And still, that NY spawned hip-hop, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, the Ramones, Talking Heads, and more incredible movies than I can list... in many ways, it probably was a more “desperately creative” place than its modern gentrified self. Orson Welles said it better with his comparison of Swiss and Italian histories and their consequences.

cbnotfromthere 8y ago
The work of Andy Warhol is a vomit. Nothing creative.
- toyg 8y ago
  De gustibus non est disputandum, but it's undisputed that Warhol had a massive influence, directly and indirectly, on Western art and culture -- among others, on a famous newyorker of the time: Lou Reed.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't do this here.

ghaff 8y ago

I lived in Manhattan briefly in the mid-eighties and have been a regular visitor over the years. I think the first time I properly set foot in Brooklyn (I walked on the Brooklyn Bridge a few years prior) was less than a decade ago. Simply never occurred to me there was a reason to.

digitailor 8y ago
To quote KRS-One in 1987, "Manhattan keeps on making it, Brooklyn keeps on taking it."

grouseway 8y ago

Some of the bleakest and surprising photography I have ever seen has been Jacob Holdt's photo of the American underclass in the 80s. I never imagined that a city like new york was at this level of decay. It gives me hope that we can always turn these kinds of conditions around. I don't know who deserves the credit in the case of NY. http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/usa/pages/usa-00524.htm http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/usa/pages/usa-00524... Note: Some of these images are NSFW. That link contains photos from various states - I'm not sure how to link to just the NY/NJ albums.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Poor people don't use wood stoves as much anymore. A lot of the more rural areas look about the same. The cars are 30yr newer but still 30yr old. The captions remind me all the stories you accumulate when you hang around with poor people that are completely unbelievable and unrelatable to more well off people. A lot of this has to be earlier than the 80s. There's a lot of pictures of blacks with guns in public and semi-public places sprinkled in there. After they passed all sorts of gun control nobody was gonna stand around and let a white man, from Denmark or not, take pictures of them with their piece. There's a lot of pictures that look like they might be from late 60s anti-war protests as well. I think the photographer didn't like the cold. None of his pictures are in poor areas in northern states in the winter. Edit: I think most of these pics are late 60s to early 70s but some definitely go up to the late 80s and early 90s

rayiner 8y ago

Thank Wall Street, Rudy Giuliani, and gentrification. While the pictures from the 1980s seem desolate, the population of Brooklyn was not that much less in the mid 1980s when these pictures were taken: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6E%2f&id=F1E4BA81EF2F7813BF521B606E457726C59F3E21&thid=OIP.ScGoR6E_Xc6NQ8ROvSoKnAHaEL&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dailydetroit.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f02%2fPopulation-of-Brooklyn-vs-Detroit-Brooklyn-Kings-County-City-of-Detroit_chartbuilder.png&exph=676&expw=1200&q=brooklyn+population&simid=608047658110946257&selectedIndex=12&ajaxhist=0 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6.... There were people there, they were just too poor to support a robust ecosystem of gyms, cafes, and restaurants. The growth of finance and its satellite industries provided the money to support satellite businesses like restaurants and cafes. Meanwhile, in the mid-1980s, the city was overrun with crime. In 1985, there was a mob hit at 5:30 pm on 46th and 3rd in Midtown, outside a popular steakhouse. The area looks like this today: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6E%2f&id=F1E4BA81EF2F7813BF521B606E457726C59F3E21&thid=OIP.ScGoR6E_Xc6NQ8ROvSoKnAHaEL&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dailydetroit.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f02%2fPopulation-of-Brooklyn-vs-Detroit-Brooklyn-Kings-County-City-of-Detroit_chartbuilder.png&exph=676&expw=1200&q=brooklyn+population&simid=608047658110946257&selectedIndex=12&ajaxhist=0 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ScGoR6.... Guiliani's aggressive prosecution efforts decimated the mob in the city. That's the unfortunate mechanics of a society where there has been no income growth for the bottom half in decades. If a place was sketchy before and now it's nice, it's because yuppies moved in and pushed the previous residents out. In Brooklyn the percentage of low-income residents plummeted from 45% to 15%, while the percentage of upper-income residents jumped from 5% to 25%: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/20/nyregion/census-traces-radical-shifts-in-new-york-city-s-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/20/nyregion/census-traces-ra....

pimmen 8y ago
But where did the poor people end up? Has New Jersey and other surrounding areas seen an increase in people under harsh conditions?

whiddershins 8y ago

Old school Brooklynites were often VERY anti-tree. They buckle the sidewalk, can damage expensive water piping, and "muggers hide behind them." Believe it or not.