# 1970s New York City **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110 "2010-08-31T08:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/41 "2010-09-01T01:28:26Z")
Found that anti-gentrification blog. It’s called [Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York.](http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/) It doesn’t have a list of terms on the front page - just one: [yunnie](http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/08/young-urban-narcissists_08.html), for young urban narcissist - but it calls itself “a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct.” ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/42 "2010-09-01T11:47:43Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Found that anti-gentrification blog. It’s called [Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York.](http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/) > > It doesn’t have a list of terms on the front page - just one: [yunnie](http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/08/young-urban-narcissists_08.html), for young urban narcissist - but it calls itself “a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct.” Ah, I see. My own interest is almost the opposite of that guy’s in that I’m more interested in seeing/ reading about stuff that’s **not** there anymore or has changed out of all recognition rather than finding the stuff that still is there. The contrasts, you know? But it was interesting in its own right - thank you for tracking it down for me. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/43 "2010-09-01T11:51:14Z")
Quite a few movies from the period. Just off the top of my head: **The Godfather** and **The Godfather II** (portrayed the city in earlier periods, too, but had 1970s shots from the 1970s \*\*The French Connection Cops and Robbers Hair\*\* – Interesting, since it was filmed in the 1970s (1979), but sought to portray the city ten years earlier, so they excluded a lot of 10-speeds and the like. Filmed later, but tried to show the city as it was in the 1960s and 1970s \*\*Born on the Fourth of July Forrest Gump\*\* ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/44 "2010-09-01T13:26:06Z")
I don’t know if these two books/movies would be useful to you. they are two of my very favorites, though, little chronicles of the lives of a single woman, and a married woman, in days gone by. Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York by Gail Parent. A chubby Jewish girl from Scarsdale who is desperate to get married moves to the Big City. Eventually tries to commit suicide. Hilarious, heartbreaking, witty and bright. (Avoid the horrendous movie version, if you can even find it on on old VHS tape somewhere, which has nothing to do with the novel whatsoever and really stinks and is boring to boot.) I love this. girls from well- off parents gonna make it on their own living in a…a…a kind of space in a building in Greenwich Village. Hey, it’s the Village! Cool! The single life in the 70’s. Diary of A Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman. A middle class (on the upper side) woman married to a pretentious boob tries to live a normal life, raise her children, reaches a breaking point and has a short, passionate affair with a mean author…(The movie version is excellent, starring Carrie Snodgrass, Richard Benjamin, and Frank Langella. This movie seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Good luck.) I love this book, written in the days when a middle class family actually could live and raise children in NYC, a real glimpse of the past. If nothing else, you will laugh reading the prices of things, the salaries they made. Regular people living in and enjoying NYC. Those days are long gone. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/45 "2010-09-01T18:52:14Z")
Classic gritty NY 70’s movie - [**The Panic in Needle Park**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067549/). Other not so gritty, but still good '70s NY: **The Hot Rock** \*\*Marathon Man \*\* ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/46 "2010-09-01T20:37:56Z")
_3 Days of The Condor_, is a wonderful movie from 1975. I love the phone technology from the past. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/47 "2010-09-01T21:41:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I don’t know if these two books/movies would be useful to you. they are two of my very favorites, though, little chronicles of the lives of a single woman, and a married woman, in days gone by. > > Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York by Gail Parent. A chubby Jewish girl from Scarsdale who is desperate to get married moves to the Big City. Eventually tries to commit suicide. Hilarious, heartbreaking, witty and bright. (Avoid the horrendous movie version, if you can even find it on on old VHS tape somewhere, which has nothing to do with the novel whatsoever and really stinks and is boring to boot.) I love this. girls from well- off parents gonna make it on their own living in a…a…a kind of space in a building in Greenwich Village. Hey, it’s the Village! Cool! The single life in the 70’s. > > Diary of A Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman. A middle class (on the upper side) woman married to a pretentious boob tries to live a normal life, raise her children, reaches a breaking point and has a short, passionate affair with a mean author…(The movie version is excellent, starring Carrie Snodgrass, Richard Benjamin, and Frank Langella. This movie seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Good luck.) I love this book, written in the days when a middle class family actually could live and raise children in NYC, a real glimpse of the past. > > If nothing else, you will laugh reading the prices of things, the salaries they made. Regular people living in and enjoying NYC. Those days are long gone. I think the books sound delightful, especially the first one. I’ll give them a go. Thanks! Also, thank you all for the movie suggestions. There’s a couple in there that I don’t think I ever _heard_ of even, Like Cops and Robbers so that’s exciting. Fresh finds! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/48 "2010-09-01T22:37:04Z")
I grew up there and then, and my first adult nightmares were about Son of Sam trying to stalk and kill me. I was 13 and had long dark hair. Fun times. 😃 If you weren’t wealthy enough for discos or old enough to live on your own in Manhattan or Brooklyn, like me in the Bronx, the glamour of the 70s was somewhat…diminished. Those carefree suburban kids buying pot in the Village were doing it from guys in my neighborhood, who were slowly turning it into hell on earth for the rest of us. Some more must-see movies: [The Warriors](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4cgs-bPic). There’s the harrowing subway of my childhood! Anyone who thinks graffiti was cool never had their clothes ruined by it. Lots of early Woody Allen, although his world was a bit more rarefied. Yep, that’s [Stallone](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsrakdT-skg) in that scene from BANANAS. and above all–[The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNGagEjsdVM). The original, with the grit and bad language and ineffable attitude. Finally, [here’s](http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=261719) some great pix. Note how things were just–scruffier–sidewalks often broken, phones not working, windows broken, grass growing in cracks, stairs unswept, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/49 "2010-09-02T03:40:13Z")
This [BBC documentary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex-iMzSNcrE) about the financial crisis in New York in the '70s is quite interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/50 "2010-09-02T04:01:21Z")
**Summer of Sam** , by Spike Lee. It covers the summer of 1977 when the Son of Sam murders were terrorizing the city. **The Bronx Zoo** by Sparky Lyle covers the disfunctional New York Yankees during a time of great professional success. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/51 "2010-09-02T04:05:07Z")
A couple more NYC movies from the seventies: _The Conversation_ and _Mean Streets_. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/52 "2010-09-02T07:43:06Z")
**The Conversation** is set in San Francisco, as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/53 "2010-09-02T07:47:05Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > **The Conversation** is set in San Francisco, as I remember. [Yup](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071360/locations) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/54 "2010-09-02T15:50:37Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > **The Conversation** is set in San Francisco, as I remember. You’re right. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/55 "2010-09-02T19:10:46Z")
[Born To Win (1971)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066856/) has some scenes that capture the feel of '70s NYC. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > – Times Square still _was_ the big advertising shrine it still is, but it was mostly billboards. The old “moving headline” sequenced lights were still going around what had been the Time-Life building (that had once, long ago, been the Times Building, and was later the Allied Chemical Building), with the “LIFE” logo still in one side. The Timex animated display was still going, and New York saw its first computer-controlled “TV Screen” on that building. It wasn’t real TV, as the screens are today, but animated pixellation. They used it for the opening credits of Saturday Night Live for its second year. The [smoke rings billboard](http://citynoise.org/upload/37629.jpg) was still around, too. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/56 "2010-09-02T19:59:46Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > [Born To Win (1971)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066856/) has some scenes that capture the feel of '70s NYC. > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > – Times Square still _was_ the big advertising shrine it still is, but it was mostly billboards. The old “moving headline” sequenced lights were still going around what had been the Time-Life building (that had once, long ago, been the Times Building, and was later the Allied Chemical Building), with the “LIFE” logo still in one side. The Timex animated display was still going, and New York saw its first computer-controlled “TV Screen” on that building. It wasn’t real TV, as the screens are today, but animated pixellation. They used it for the opening credits of Saturday Night Live for its second year. > > The [smoke rings billboard](http://citynoise.org/upload/37629.jpg) was still around, too. :eek: Is that pic of Times Square back in the day? Cool! Also, just on the off chance that anyone shares my interest in seeing New York City on film in the '70s besides me, another one I liked for its use of location shooting to create mood was _Live And Let Die_ (1973). Bond does quite a bit of driving into the city and around it, especially around Harlem. I recall there being truly epic amounts of rubble on screen, especially in the scenes where Bond is taken into an alley to be executed by the thugs of Mr Big. (Spoiler: he escapes!) I’m guessing somehow I probably wasn’t seeing exactly documentary realism here but it was still pretty interesting to see such big chunks of the city on camera - they gift the viewer with a lot of establishing shots. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/57 "2010-09-02T20:22:56Z")
I can remember the smoking billboard. I can remember Time Square when it was still the center of the sleaze district. And I can remember eating at the Automat which I thought was great when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/58 "2010-09-02T20:43:18Z")
I thought the Automat was great when you were a kid too. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/59 "2010-09-02T21:02:46Z")
My Grandpa _worked_ for the Automats! He was an account executive and used to travel all over the city to consult with them. He could pick out a Horn & Hardart by just the configuration of the building (hint: most 70s Burger Kings were ex-automats, since their parent company bought out H&H). It was fast food before fast food, although by the 70s now-familiar chains were growing like kudzu. But portion sizes were a lot smaller and we all had skinnier bodies–and tighter clothes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110/60 "2010-09-05T09:18:32Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > How about **Serpico**? It was also a book too…not sure if the book was first or if the film and book were co-created. Just to let you know that I watched **Serpico** last night. As an emotionally engaging experience, I found it fell a bit flat for me but for delivering what I asked to be in the tin, namely 1970s New York, I think this excelled. Seriously, it was like Lumet looked around NYC and said, “You know, we really should get this place all on film. You never know when some pasty English chick might want to see it how it all looked.” It was awesome! The film travels all over town :)The clothes that Al wears throughout were also _fantastic._ Thanks for the recommendation! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-new-york-city/552110.md?page=4)