Mean Streets

In the Seventies and early Eighties, New York reached some kind of nadir. Bankrupt and crime-ridden, the subway dirty and covered with graffiti, it was a city whose streets were left to hustlers and bums. Photographer Edward Grazda was there to record it:

Bowery, 1971

Bowery, 1970

Chrystie Street, 1975

Bowery, 1976

Houston Street, 1973

Bowery, 1971

Midtown, 1970

Broadway & 55th Street, 1970

Bowery, 1973

Bowery & Bleecker Street, 1981

Bowery, 1971

Bowery, 1971

D Train, 1980

Bleecker & Elizabeth Streets, 1980

Midtown, 1970

Delancey Street, 1976

6th Street & Bowery, 1973

[Photos © Edward Grazda]

And he has a new book out...Mean Streets NYC 1970-1985.

Comments

[Dom]

The Delancey Street photo is a card scam called “find the lady”. They still play that in philly, and maybe NY too. It’s kind of a shell game.

[Gene]

It's interesting to watch American movies of the 1970s, set in NYC. The sense of grim hopelessness in many of them was startling.

One good example is the original version of The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three, with Walter Matthau. It painted the picture of a worn-out city run by worn-out people.