In the 1970s, New York City was a broken, ungovernable metropolis barreling into anarchy. New Yorkers remember this decade as the bleakest, most crime-ridden, and most uncertain time the city has ever faced. It was a time of economic, criminal, and cultural shifts occurring at once that changed the city’s prospects.
The New York City of the 1970s was practically bankrupt and hemorrhaging population. Subway trains were covered in graffiti, inside and out. Crime was rampant. Women were warned to remove jewelry while walking the streets for fear that their necklaces would be ripped from their necks. Vast areas of the Bronx and Upper Manhattan were torched. Prostitutes and pimps frequented Times Square, while Central Park became feared as the site of muggings and rapes. Homeless persons and drug dealers occupied boarded-up and abandoned buildings. These fascinating photos captured street scenes of New York City in 1976 and 1977. 
Greenwich Village, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976.
Chinatown, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Financial District, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Greenwich Village, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
House, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Market, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Plaza Hotel, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Times Square, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Trinity Church, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
United Nations, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
Wall Street on Sunday, New York City, photographed by Nicolai Canetti, 1976
125th Street, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Bowery, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Dominoes, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Drug deals in Harlem, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
East 125th Street, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Empire State Building, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Harlem from the air, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Harlem from the air, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Harlem from the ground, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Harlem from the ground, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Harlem, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
NW corner Houston and West Broadway, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Opposite Radio City, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Pike Street mural, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
South Bronx, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Subway, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
Twin Towers, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
West 57th Street, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
West 59th Street, New York City, photographed by Gilbert Millstein, 1977
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