Tell me about living in NYC during the 80s
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Anonymous
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Central Park, the Village, UES & UWS etc.
I graduated from high school in 2000 so New York was already gentrified and sort of like Disney World but growing up everyone just stayed in Connecticut. 
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Anonymous
| What do you want to know? |
Anonymous
| Fun, except for that whole AIDS thing. |
Anonymous
Did you do a lot of coke? |
Anonymous
| DH grew up on the Lower East Side and he's 34 now. He was mugged 3 times as a child headed to school. You couldn't walk through Central Park. He hated it. Finally left for a NE boarding school in 9th grade. |
Anonymous
If he's 34 he knows not of what he speaks. I started high school in '79 - the City was a DISASTER in those days. We lived on the LES in the 60's before it went to hell, but a contemporary friend of mine's family stuck it out. He used to get beat up almost daily and is still pissed off at his parents for staying - they had options, not everyone did. |
Anonymous
| I was accepted to Barnard in the early 80s and my parents wouldn't let me go there because the neighborhood seemed so unsafe to them. |
Anonymous
| My parents have lived on the Upper West Side since 1979. A lot fewer yuppies back in the 80s and a lot fewer families. Think Dupont Circle around 1993. No chains, lower rents, pizza places instead of upscale restaurants. |
Anonymous
| My husband remember homeless people burning trash in barrels in Tomkins Square Park. We visit now and he just can't get over seeing a dog run and kids playing there. |
Anonymous
| It was amazing. Yes there was crime and AIDS was exploding but the city had energy and character. Yes, it was dirty. You had to be smart about where you went and at what time. Drug use among certain groups was prevalent.(all the rich upper east side kids)There where also great little funky dive and dance clubs. Mom and pop stores, not just chains. Cheap places to eat. Free entertainment in the parks and street fairs. I'm glad I was able to live there before it became a city for only the rich. |
Anonymous
+1,000 Manhattan is a basically a theme park compared to what it was back in the day. |
Anonymous
If anyone can remember that time, they clearly didn't live hard enough. |
Anonymous
| In the LES in the early 90s we had to kick junkies off our cars to leave after going out at night. |
Anonymous
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God, it was fun. Lots of coke, went out every night, Mon- Friday. The weekends were for the bridge and tunnel crowd. Hung out with a club promoter and his posse. Went to 3-5 different places a night. Had a crap job that paid nothing at Hearst publishing and lived off of free canapés.
My brother who did his internship at Beth Israel saw the beginnings of the AIDS crisis. So fucking sad. |
Anonymous
And what are you doing now? |