New York in the 1980s

Story time.

So my family moved to New York City in late 1983, settling in a neighborhood called Rego Park for about four years. In 1988, my parents, deciding that they didn’t want to raise a family in Queens, moved to Toronto, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I will admit that this reflection on my time as a child in New York City was brought upon by a wonderful set of photos by Ken that detail New York in the 1980s that I recently found through Kottke’s Remaindered Links. It is striking to see those photos now, especially since the NYC subway system now is remarkably different from the system of the 1980s, which is indicative of a general change in image and city structure that was championed by Giuliani in the 1990s.

Queens, and New York City on the whole, was a very different place in the 1980s, possibly explaining why my parents (who have not returned to the city for a significant amount of time since leaving) still associate the city as being decrepit and dirty. The crime rate had just began its slow descent, but public services were still in shambles: both private and public areas suffered a lack of care and maintenance, and the quality of the social environment reflected this physical deterioration. Still, the neighborhoods were lively and diverse, and there was a strong sense of community among certain areas of the population.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, New York has experienced a rejuvenation that I have been able to witness first-hand with my several visits to the city. Streets have been cleaned up, social structures have been put in place to strengthen community work and neighborhood activities, and the city has made a conscious effort to realign its image. The crime rate has fallen, the poverty rate has fallen, tourism has increased, and creative output has flowered. This is not to say New York in the 1980s was bad; rather, New York City was a very different place in that decade, and has since shed that image in order to portray itself as a progressive, vibrant, and creative metropolis.

I miss Rego Park, Queens, and New York City of the 1980s: after all, I discovered baseball during the Mets’ World Series win in 1986, I was there when the Knicks drafted Ewing out of Georgetown University, and it was in NYC where I discovered the glory of fast food ($0.99 Whopper!). At the risk of repeating myself…the rest, as they say, is history.