the 1970's

For a graphic example I was considering a shot of John Travolta marching down the sidewalk with a can of paint, but was too lazy to search for it. (On a side note, I've never bothered to figure out if the images I post on this blog are subject to restricted use. I'm not sure I care--anyone who sues me can take over my mortgage.)

According to some books I've read recently, and a multi-novel book review in the most recent issue of the Nation, America hit rock bottom in the 1970's. My own personal connection to that decade is well, pretty personal, it was the decade of my birth. I have no memory of that period, so I have to rely on second and third hand accounts in a effort to put together a picture of things.
Architecturally, things were at low ebb. Inflation, modifications to FHA lending, and stylistic frustration with "High Modernism" all conspired to make it a challenging period.

Joe Flood's The Fires, and Michael Patrick MacDonald's All Souls do an effective job of describing the social and physical breakdowns of Bronx, N.Y. and South Boston, respectively. The Friends of Eddie Coyle is an older novel (and movie) that takes some compelling snapshots of the period.
I found The Fires to be the most shocking. We, the American civilization, did essentially nothing while a major section of our largest city burnt to the ground. Flood builds a large part of his narrative on Caro's biography of Robert Moses and the social environment that made Moses so effective.