Times Square of the 1980's: A Short Documentary

A Film by Steve Siegel. Pre-Disneyfied Times Square at night -- as it existed in the 1980s. As seen from a teenager's point of view. Includes voice-over interviews of teenagers.

Music by Von Cello. Contact: http://www.youtube.com/user/voncello

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Times Square
• video arcade
• subway
• New York City
• teenagers

[bpeck77]

@yuukeiful If what you mean by "progress" in Manhattan is studio apartments that cost $3000 a month and more banks than grocery stores, then I'd have to say yes, I am hindering it. New York might have been "disgusting" in the suburban eye in the 1980s, but at least it was affordable. It also used to have real spirit. Now it's just a bunch of chain stores and boutiques for people lucky enough to find employment here.

[OldSchoolNYCGamer]

If you lived through this and still walked off that block in one piece you were invincible, the one thing I truly missed was when Playland closed in the early 90's. Between that and Guiliani cleaning up that area... a true part of New York City died.

You had to live, breathe and survive that era to truly understand it. Granted it wasn't safe but most of these adrenaline junkies would love it then cause you didn't know if you were going to be robbed, stabbed, hustled, murdered, etc.

[Booze129]

scary shit

[jester1cp]

I got the knee sliced open with a straight razor in ' 87.What a sh*t hole.G-d i missed the place.What do you have now days.The Disney store and other family friendly crap.

[Rach84]

I wonder what year this was.

[Rach84]

I lived in NYC as a kid in the late 80s. I was pretty small, but I remember it being like this.

[grindhousejunky79]

Kinda fitting for a video on 42nd street how the views meter in the corner currently hovers around 42,000 lol.

[rumberoprimero]

That's when NYC had true character...I remember going to the movies in times square and you can smell people smoking weed in the balconies...going to an actual live peep show, the arcade and getting the fake ID's..Colony records, Nathans on 43st... true new yorkers don't set foot on Times Square anymore...its become an over priced, tourist trap benefiting corporate america..Sure many will argue, how about the crime...crime still exist in the form of price gouging, high rent, and bank fees.

[pyrogyra72]

Wow, what a difference. You see Times Square on TV now, it's hard to believe this is the same place.

[FukGlobalWarming]

@bpeck77 OH YEAH! OH YEAH! AMEN BROTHER! LEDDEM KNOW!

[THYRDEYE]

Great video, who doesn't love seedy! Also check out THE URBAN EYE on The Thyrdeye Channel.

"Join your host Jerry Rio as he takes you on a nostalgic tour exploring and documenting the disappearing icons of this metropolis. Find out what New Yorkers think about unchecked development and the corporate homogenization that has altered and destroyed much of the uniqueness of the New York City landscape"

[rich107s]

It was filthy.......It was slutty.......It was Dangerous.......It was Paradise..