pictures of 1980's nyc from the gothamist

Photojournalism, like all forms of eyewitness testimony, cannot be trusted. New York City, and Boston for that matter, were not nice places in the 1980's. Urban conditions were romantically bad, and we're fortunate that many photos were taken during this era. They give the impression of a disaster, which conceals the fact that cities were still engines of prosperity and represented significant concentrations of wealth.  This condition has expanded markedly since then, to the point where inequality is masked by the visual improvements in such places.