New York's Golden Age

New York in the 1970's was a chaotic and 'gritty' place to live. But it was also perhaps the most creative time the city ever experienced.

1 minute read

January 9, 2005, 1:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"The city 'was a wreck; it was going bankrupt. And it was pretty lawless; everything was illegal, but no laws were enforced. It was a city for city-dwellers, not tourists, the way it is now.' Laurie Anderson, a well-known New York artist and performer, admits the '70s were considered 'the dark ages' but 'there was great music and everyone was broke.'

...Many of the city's most creative people in the 1970s (as now) were high IQ boys and girls from Smalltown who fled to the Apple and had the smarts to survive and thrive in a city beset with drugs, welfare dependency and housing stock distorted by World War II rent controls."

Thanks to Laura Kranz

Read the full story: The Golden Age Of New York City Was . . . the 1970s?

Friday, January 7, 2005 in Wall St. Journal

Social / Demographics New York

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