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If you told me 30 years ago that DUMBO would become the yuppie projects and that I would be living there, I would have told you to stop smoking crack. I remember as kid when my parents where driving off the manhattan bridge ramp to go the BQE, DUMBO was full of bums and squeegee guys trying to clean the car window. Now I call it home.
There were a lot of artists living in DUMBO in the late seventies and early 80s. I had a number of friends who lived there in great lofts. The city rezoned it commercial later on and a lot of the artists got evicted. But it was a great area back then--my dad and I walked down there every weekend.
I haven't read all the posts so don't know if anyone has mentioned the movie "the Squid and the Whale." That's the Brooklyn I knew in the 70s and 80s, artsy liberals living in Cobble Hill, Park Slope, and Fort Green. When I lived in Carrol Gardens in the late 80s it was getting pretty expensive already, and when I moved to Prospect Heights in the early 90s it was full of people who couldn't afford the Slope.
The Seven Five Pct in East NY Brooklyn had a slogan "Give us 22 minutes we'll give you a homicide" A knockoff from the 1010 wins give us 22 minutes we'll give you the news. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloa...s/cs075pct.pdf
Actually, it's "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world" for 1010WINS.
Absolutely. All of it was not a war zone. I guess it's the stark difference in the how the now gentrified areas (e.g., williamsburg, greenpoint, etc.) are now as compared to what they were then that resonates most with me. I had a sales territory in Queens/Brooklyn in the late 80s/early 90s and saw every corner of each borough. There were many nice, middle class, suburban-style parts of BK such as marine park, mill basin, midwood, flatlands, bay ridge, sheepshead bay, canarsie -- many are still nice!
most of MP, MB, midwood, Madison and the Bay are still nice and were nice in the 80s and 90s. I grew up there during this time and we really never batted an eye worrying about violent crime.
They still are... Don't believe the hype... Along with East NY/Brownsville/Flatbush/Crown Heights/Coney Island... Bushwick/Bedstuy are right there... Difference is, there much safer than they were back then but in relative terms, there still arguably two of the worst areas in Brooklyn...
I thought Flatbush was becoming safer. I was there once or twice in the late 90's and although not pristine it was hardly scary & frightening. Of course I was with a friend & maybe certain parts are better than others but still I got the impression that it resembled a working class neighborhood.
I thought Flatbush was becoming safer. I was there once or twice in the late 90's and although not pristine it was hardly scary & frightening. Of course I was with a friend & maybe certain parts are better than others but still I got the impression that it resembled a working class neighborhood.
Flatbush is huge... Plenty of parts are good to okay but theres plenty of shady spots still there too... East Flatbush close to Bville is probably the worst part of the neighborhood but you're right overall it has improved in recent years...
I am very interested in the recent history of New York City, and especially the culture during the 80s and early 90s. Information on the state of places like the South Bronx in the 80s is very well publicized, but i have heard a lot that Brooklyn was just as bad if not worse in those days. Still, i haven't been able to find much as far as pictures or stories from back in that era as they relate to the borough of Brooklyn. I was wondering if anybody on this board had some pictures or stories about this time period.
Death Wish 3 (1985) was shot on location in ENY. The movie is crap but many street scenes. The landscape is a bombed out mess.
A must have.
Last edited by Northwindsforever; 04-04-2013 at 07:32 PM..
I am very interested in the recent history of New York City, and especially the culture during the 80s and early 90s. Information on the state of places like the South Bronx in the 80s is very well publicized, but i have heard a lot that Brooklyn was just as bad if not worse in those days. Still, i haven't been able to find much as far as pictures or stories from back in that era as they relate to the borough of Brooklyn. I was wondering if anybody on this board had some pictures or stories about this time period.
I grew up in the upper Bronx and yes the south bronx had a lot of abandoned buildings... however the west Bronx was also very wild and it had a lot more people hanging outside with music everywhere because there not as many abandoned buildings. Look up "Kingsbridge" and the Grand Concourse of the Bronx. Central Harlem, Spanish Harlem, and Washington Heights (mostly Dominicans in upper manhattan, on top of harlem) were all worst than the entire Bronx back then, so I don't know why these are not mentioned also. I think it is because no camera men felt safe going to them back then to explore. I am a little familiar with Brooklyn as I visited family there before. I think that Brooklyn is rougher than the bronx, because there was always a reputation of Brooklyn that if you stare at people, you could get shot. Also Brooklyn has the area called Brownsville, which comes with a warning that if you don't know anyone there, don't go there. The Bronx doesn't have an area like this, with this reputation that you cannot go to. Also the Lower East side in Manhattan was also very rough back then... None of the other multiple hoods around NYC are mentioned except for the South Bronx.
Could honestly tell you I had family in both boroughs and people on both sides were scared to go each others borough. People from the Bronx pictured Brooklyn to be the wild wild west while Brooklynites had the same depiction of the Bronx, LOL. Probably was true that they were both as bad in certain areas. What ever you heard about the BX was probably not anymore different in the BK. Even yuppie amusement Park Slope was bad comparable to today’s standards, I remember someone getting mugged looking outside the window from my elementary school PS 282, you should see this block now. I also remember there being a huge shoot out in the heart of Park Slope on 5th avenue one guy shooting at cops from a building. Like mentioned before movies Clockers, Straight out of Brooklyn, Strapped, and ofcourse NewJackCity were movies I watched growing up. Does anyone remember for a long time the two rival gangs in Brooklyn the Decipticons and Autobots, yeah Transformers?
How can I forget "Spike of Bensonhurst" corky movie but I remember it having great depictions of BK of that time.
Ok found a link on the Decipticons, the article on the Girl Gang was pretty intense.
I attended P.S. 282 also...but from 88-95. Which years did you attend? I grew up on Lincoln Place between 5th and 6th avenue (closer to 5th Avenue). 5th Avenue was so different back then. It was definitely grittier. It was mostly middle-class and working class blacks and hispanics. And the drug scene was still alive and well along 5th Avenue up until the early 90s. By the mid to late 90s more restaurants and boutiques started to pop up. Since the late 80s and probably even before that time, 6th Avenue to the Park has always been nice.
Central Harlem, Spanish Harlem, and Washington Heights (mostly Dominicans in upper manhattan, on top of harlem) were all worst than the entire Bronx back then, so I don't know why these are not mentioned also.
I lived in Spanish Harlem during the 1980's. My doorman apartment building was next to Mayor Dinkins's building on Riverside Drive. It was stable and safe.
The closer to the Bronx, the worse Spanish Harlem became. The real difference between Spanish Harlem and the Bronx wasn't the crime, it was the Bronx's landlord burning down their own buildings. It was the burning down of the Bronx which made its reputation.
I also lived around the corner from Pratt in Brooklyn. In the very early 1960's, it was very livable if you used private schools. I have fond memories of the tree lined streets and playing outdoors with friends. We left before Bed Sty fell apart in the late 1960's. In the mid-80's, I visited a pioneering friend who owned a brownstone there. It was my first time back. Wow, it looked like a war zone with burned out building and heaps of bricks where buildings once stood.
I had gone to Europe in 1970's - 25 years after WWII. Europe was pristine like it had never been bombed out. In the early 1990's, 25 years after riots, Bed Sty still looked like a war zone. Unbelievable! (which is why would anyone destroy their own neighbors today?)
My in-laws lived off of Ocean Parkway which remained beautiful. All during the 1980's and 90's, it was well kept with tree lined streets. They finally left in the late 1990's when the increasing Hasidic population made life difficult for them.
I lived in Spanish Harlem during the 1980's. My doorman apartment building was next to Mayor Dinkins's building on Riverside Drive. It was stable and safe.
The closer to the Bronx, the worse Spanish Harlem became. The real difference between Spanish Harlem and the Bronx wasn't the crime, it was the Bronx's landlord burning down their own buildings. It was the burning down of the Bronx which made its reputation.
I also lived around the corner from Pratt in Brooklyn. In the very early 1960's, it was very livable if you used private schools. I have fond memories of the tree lined streets and playing outdoors with friends. We left before Bed Sty fell apart in the late 1960's. In the mid-80's, I visited a pioneering friend who owned a brownstone there. It was my first time back. Wow, it looked like a war zone with burned out building and heaps of bricks where buildings once stood.
I had gone to Europe in 1970's - 25 years after WWII. Europe was pristine like it had never been bombed out. In the early 1990's, 25 years after riots, Bed Sty still looked like a war zone. Unbelievable! (which is why would anyone destroy their own neighbors today?)
My in-laws lived off of Ocean Parkway which remained beautiful. All during the 1980's and 90's, it was well kept with tree lined streets. They finally left in the late 1990's when the increasing Hasidic population made life difficult for them.
Riverside Drive is NOT Spanish Harlem.
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