New York in 80s or 90s? Before it completely changed (Webster: transplants, real estate)

[L'Artiste]

Can anyone tell me what it was like if you lived it? I have friends who grew up there who tell me its completely different and how they wish they could go back before the transplants took over...

social life? daily life?
apartment prizes,sizes,neigborhoods?
demographics?
what were the people like?
was finding a job easier than?
was new york more possible for people to "make it"?

[nycborn]

It was Filled with hard working people and had reasonable amount of affordable housing especially since many of the areas which are now prime real estate no one wanted to live. But I will say this and I do not care what people think. New York City had a lot of character back than. If you worked hard and kept your nose clean you could of make a decent life for you and your family. Those days are long gone and I truly fear for the younger generation who are not in the corporate world who choose to live here. I do not know one young family (25-32) in new york city who own a home and the reason for that is New York city is no longer interested in middle class families. New York City are building more affordable apartments then they are affordable homes and to me it is very sad because this city was build on the backs of the middle class and now they are becoming a dying breed.

[cokatie]

Back in those days, I would say it was a bigger population of generational renters. I'm saying this in response to nycborn above. Unless you had family out in LI, anyone that I knew that lived in Brooklyn, the Bronx or Queens were renting - and had been for generations. That's just the way it was. Home ownership was not the big thing it started to become in the 2000's.

The city was way grittier - if that's a word. I seem to remember being more on my toes in terms of knowing what/who was around me. Is it just me or did the streets seem more dirty? There seemed to be more homeless people around. And a lot of shoulder pads and big hair! And smoking. Everyone seemed to smoke and it was allowed everywhere - but that was more the 80's. The clubs were great and there was less ID'ing going on to get in. Central Park was great to hang out in during the day, but you definitely cleared out when the sun started to set.

There were still transplants, but it seemed to be more Russian Jews - not Middle Americans. You were expected to work REALLY hard and there was no PC police at work. Anything went and you just flowed with it. I don't even think I was making $30k a year in the late 80's - but somehow that seemed like a small fortune to me and I had a great time with it. Concerts at MSG were awesome.

There was definitely tough times for the city, and there was danger out there - but I didn't actively go looking for it, and was thus able to largely avoid it. The 90's were definitely different. That was when things changed - for better or for worse.

[anon1]

@ nycborn while I agree with some of your points I think they are a bit exaggerated... You obviously haven't stepped foot in most of Queens, Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx because there are plenty of middle class areas for folks of all different colors, shapes and sizes in this city...

Off the top of my head in Queens:

Primarily Black middle class decent areas:

Laurelton
St. Albans
Cambria Heights
Rosedale
East Elmhurst (not as bad as it used to be)

Latino Areas

Corona
Jackson Heights
Jamaica (don't get confused with South Jamaica, this area is much nicer)
Ridgewood
Sunnyside
Woodhaven

Asian areas

Jackson Heights
Richmond Hill
Woodhaven
Ozone Park
South Ozone Park (the areas not pretty, but it's not a bad area)

And working middle class predominantly caucasian areas

Maspeth
Glendale
Kew Gardens (parts of it)
Rego Park
Howard Beach

And these are off the top of my head... Look I agree with you on the first two lines of your statement but there still is alot of character in this city... and despite what people would have you assume, about 90% of the born and bred new yorkers still live here and have been here for more than 5-10 years... That word gentrification and transplant gets hyped up so much in NYC when the reality is that the character of most of the people here hasn't changed, the only difference is that the COL is much higher than it used to be since the crime rates went down so dramatically...

To answer the original OP's question, there is no question that back then was a harder time to live... yes things were cheaper, but people were also poorer... we all talk about high COL in this city meanwhile kids in the hood rock clothes and kicks that my generation could never afford... If you had one nice pair of kicks or one nice pair of shoes you were considered blessed and you would be dense to even show them off cause you'd definitely be walking home in plastic bags... things were much grittier, dirtier, in your face back then... And it wasn't just black and hispanic people committing the crimes most of the times...

While the percentages still favored the minorities being the perps and victims of crimes for the most part, crimes weren't generally isolated to one group which really was why the entire city was worse back then and not just a few neighborhoods... To those who say they wish things were back to the old days, I think they're referring to being a kid and the nostalgia for doing things that today's youth just don't seem interested in doing with all the other time-wasters that are out there... I think they're also referring moreso to the much cheaper and under-developed lifestyle that they were used to living... Nowadays, it seems like every square foot of NYC has to be redone because it's "out of touch" or not "aesthetically pleasing" or "lacking in variety" and that is where the negative views of today come in...

Back then, you didn't have nearly as many folks complaining about lack of organic foods in their local stores or no art shops in their neighborhood because they had bigger things to worry about... Now, especially with this influx of new New Yorkers who want a taste of the hood but have their amenities as well, we have all these new needs and desires that were never a necessity before...

Also on the topic of demographics, the reality was that there were much more white people in the 80s and 90s than today... there were more white people and black people but less hispanics and asians... Now this city is much more diverse and hopefully the diversitywill continue without displacing any races, which to be fair I don't think will happen...

I know sometimes I comment on the fact that displacement is forcing minorities to leave their homes but a reality that I also do realize is that there are many people of color from all different parts of the world that are coming to NYC, the only difference is that alot of these new folks as opposed to previous times, are middle to upper middle class... or at least solid working class... Some of the more popular new faces I am seeing are mainly from Guyana, Trinidad, Grenada, Haiti and parts of Africa... Btw, I don't know what country some of these women are coming from in Africa but wow they are gorgeous...

[Bronxguyanese]

Originally Posted by L'Artiste

Can anyone tell me what it was like if you lived it? I have friends who grew up there who tell me its completely different and how they wish they could go back before the transplants took over...

social life? daily life?
apartment prizes,sizes,neigborhoods?
demographics?
what were the people like?
was finding a job easier than?
was new york more possible for people to "make it"?

I see there is alot of nostalga in the great old days of NYC that people reminist about. Social life and daily life probably revolved around work, school, summer days probably hanging out on the stoop and playing with the fire hydgren. Nightlife was different compared to what people would mimic from shows like sex and the city, Such places as twilo, Tunnel, limelight, sound factory and Websterhall was the places to be. People feared Hiv as they do now but scary part was to step on a needle. Crime was everywhere it did not matter if your were Black, Italian, Irish and Puerto Rican. Dominicans and Jamaicans started to take over the drug trade during that time. Music that was popular back then was House, Freestyle, Hip Hop and Dub. As a Child I used to like Classic soul Music such as Boyz 2 Men and Biv de Voe, That Girl is Poisonnnnnnnnnn. When you heard the Puerto Ricans blasting Salsa music, you knew it was already Summer. Graffitti was everywhere.

Apartments back then was cheap, I know an psychiatrist who bought two bedroom coop for 30,000 in 1983 in midtown west which used to be a redlight district at night. UWS back then was still Jewish as it is now. There was much segregated niegborhoods back then. Harlem and Bedstuy was still African American and Morris park and Bensonhurts were still Italian, Spanish Harlem was Puerto Rican, Hells Kitchen was mostly Irish. You either lived in the PJS or tenements has many average working and poor class new yorkers do now. Middle Class New Yorkers lived much further out in places like Throgs Neck, Howard Beach, Midwood, Woodside, College Point, Country Club, Morris Park, St Albans, Lauralton Bay Ridge, Woodlawn, Beachgate. Those areas I mentioned also varied by race. I dont think there was a big emphesis on homeowner ship unless you lived in Middle Class areas of the city.

As for Demographics the city main ethnic groups back then were mostly African American was probably the largest, after that was Jewish, then came Puerto Ricans then Italians and the Irish. Those were the fab five in my book. They were other smaller groups of people like Jamicans, Dominicans and Chinese but now these groups are huge these days here in the city.

I cant answer your other questions, back then I was child and because of labor laws I could not get a job lol. So I cant answer your getting a job was easy question.

And how where people like, thats a tough one.

I knew many people who improved thier lives back then, some are now retired and moved out of the city for good or moved to upper class areas like UWS and Riverdale, many also managed to buy property before the mid 90s after that the prices started to sky rockect.

All I can say is that old days of NYC are long gone but not forgotten, old New York is still boiled and baked in to our blood and mind and will never be forgotten. Ethnically the city has changed from a AA, Irish, Jewish, Rican and Italian city and quickly turning into a South Asian, Dominican, West Indian, Russian, Chinese, Mexican, and Waspy Transplant City, I think the Jews will remain in NYC for quite sometime.

[bill83]

I came to New York in the early 80s during Reagan’s first term. Each subway token was 75 cents. The first time taking the train, I got an instant headache because of the garbage, bad odor, and EXTREME amount of graffiti. Rent was cheap then. I got a 2-br apartment in Bensonhurst for $300 a month. No one had a cell phone. There was only one phone company, AT&T. A touch tone phone was considered hi-tech and cost extra every month. Those mechanical ring tone were the best, I missed them.

[wawaweewa]

My parents were offered a 2 bedroom coop on the UWS for 200k in the mid 90's.

That should tell you everything .

[twist07]

social life? Spontaneous, fun and sometimes hazardous daily life? unpredictable, dangerous at times inspiring. You didn't want to be coming home from work alone if you got off late.
apartment prizes,sizes,neigborhoods? apartments were cheaper, in the 90's it wasn't hard to find $500-$800 apartments. The partitioning of one rooms into two rooms or converting living rooms into bedrooms were not as common, though they were emerging. Thus apartments were for the most part larger. Neighborhoods were less clean had more crime, but they also had more mom and pop stores, groceries were cheaper, more neighborhood shops less big box stores. But you also had more empty lots and abandoned buildings in several hoods, which made for makeshift shooting galleries for junkies.
demographics? Neighborhoods were more segregated due to previous decades of "redlining" (google it), yet there were more ethnic whites (Poles, Irish, Italians etc...) WASP transplants were mostly confined to Manhattan. There were more African Americans than West Indians (though there was a large # of the latter still.) More Puerto Ricans than Dominicans (still had a large presence). Less Mexicans and Central Americans, Colombians and Ecuadorians made up most of the remaining hispanics.

what were the people like? For the most part people were cool, but those that were grimy, were extra grimy back then.
was finding a job easier than? Too young to know at the time, from what I heard in the 80's no but in the 90's yes.
was new york more possible for people to "make it"? Again, too young to know, but from what I have heard yes. But then again people didn't want to live here like they do now, it was a less attractive city therefore less competitive. But "making it" was still not easy even though the COL was less, making it back then depended alot on quality of life issues, and if you could hang.

Disclaimer*
I was born in the 80's so most of my perspective is from the 90's, anything before '88 I can tell you is second hand. Also I was living in Jersey so most of this is from the summers I spent in Flatbush and in Queens. As a teenager, I spent alot of time in the 90's with my cousins who were involved in neighborhood wars so when I say dangerous or unpredictable this is the perspective I'm speaking from.

[usedtobeanyer]

I moved into the East Village in '91. I haven't lived in NY since '05, so I can't really compare it to today.

The EV was a marginal neighborhood back then. I lived on E. 13th between 1st & 2nd. I don't think I ever crossed 1st Ave towards Alphabet City because it was so bad. I avoided 14th Street partly because it was unsafe but mostly because it was just gross and loud and annoying. I paid $1,000/month for a legitimate 2 bedroom apartment. Was old but pretty nice.

It was probably my age but it just seemed much "scarier" back then. Crack was HUGE at this time and you saw it everywhere. Even in midtown I just felt on edge. Times Square was really scary, even then. It just felt deserted because it was just starting to transition from the dirty old days to what it is now.

Again, it's probably my age but everything then just felt like more of a grind. You'd go underground to the subways and ride the old cars. Some had AC, some didn't. Graffiti was gone at that point but it was still unpleasant. And it's not like you could distract yourself with your cell phone or MP3 player or whatever. You either read a book or a newspaper or you started at the ground. Felt very depressing at times. Dinkins was mayor and the city just felt like a mess--murders were over 2,000 a year, Crown Heights riot was really bad, just felt like everything was falling apart. When Giuliani was elected the economy was improving, crack was disappearing, and you could really sense a change. Once the mid 90's to late 90's hit, everything felt different. Cleaner, better, more efficient, more exciting. It may just totally be my perception and reflective of what was happening in my own life but that was my impression.

Originally Posted by L'Artiste

Can anyone tell me what it was like if you lived it? I have friends who grew up there who tell me its completely different and how they wish they could go back before the transplants took over...

social life? daily life?
apartment prizes,sizes,neigborhoods?
demographics?
what were the people like?
was finding a job easier than?
was new york more possible for people to "make it"?

[wawaweewa]

I forgot to add.

The city has become pretentious beyond belief. It wasn't like this even a decade ago.
This is not the NY attitude. This is more akin to LA.