A Most Violent Year | NYC, 1981 | A Documentary Short
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- čas přidán 28. 01. 2015
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A24 and A MOST VIOLENT YEAR present NYC, 1981. An original short documentary featuring stories from one of the most dangerous years on record for New York City.
Featuring Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, performance artist and former Warhol Factory fixture Penny Arcade, actress Johnnie Mae, Harlem street-style legend Dapper Dan, auto body shop owner Nick Rosello, and trucking union rep Wayne Walsh.
RELEASE DATE: December 31, 2014
WRITER/DIRECTOR: J.C. Chandor
MUSIC: Alex Ebert
CAST: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, and Albert Brooks
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As a small child growing up in Chicago in the 70's and 80's, I was tired of all the gang fights, shootings, robberies!! I asked my parents if we could just move!!! They asked me where do I want to move to! I said let's move to New York!! They both started laughing really loud!!!
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂
Lmao
Well it’s worse now so be happy 😂
@@gotem4741 Lmao! No way is it worse. It's only half the crime today. But it still needs to be improved.
The 70's through the mid 90's were horrible in NYC but technically the worst year for homicides and violent crime rate for NYC was 1990 the height of the crack epidemic !
E VT I was born in the 80s. From Brooklyn. I would hear stories about how NYC went from an oasis full of wealth and culture to being on the verge of bankruptcy in the 70s. I can recall a time there were kids showing each other uzis in the 90s and they would hold up corner stores with them.
E VT sounds like modern day Hartford, Connecticut lol
The difference was in the 80's and 70's, the whole city was dangerous, by the 90's the 'nice" parts had been cleaned up quite a lot but the ghettos got more isolated and way more violent
Not saying Hartford, Connecticut is the best city to live in but it came in as #50 in the nations most violent cities to live, it has between 30-40 murders on a average year, NYC had over 2000+ murders during the height of Crack epidemic ! Think about that for a min its 3rd world Latin america / sub saharan Africa esc , Just Crazy !!!
dccmaj man so true I remember dat era 90s,I was part of it...
Born in Brooklyn in 1980. I remember being a small child and my mother was raising us two boys all by herself. She got fed up with all the bullshit and became a guardian angel in the mid 80’s. They would have these meetings during the week and we would go with her. She was so strong and loved the city and just wanted to do something positive. All the angels treated us like family and Curtis was really awesome back then. He told me a story years later about how my mother saved a girls life that was overdosed on heroin. I never knew she did that until I heard the story. She wouldn’t talk about the shit she would see to us kids. I can only imagine the stories I haven’t heard. Strongest woman I have ever known, my mother. She did brag about how she was certain that Prince named the song ‘Raspberry Beret’ after her because the angels patrolled one of his concerts in NY and then he came out with the song later that year haha. It was pretty much a shithole growing up there in the 80’s, but as a kid it was my playground and I wouldn’t have changed those experiences and lessons I learned for anything.
I always admired the Guardian Angels when I was growing up. We need more ppl like them & your mother.
Thanks for sharing that. ❤🗽
"New York, New York ,so bad they had to name it twice" love that 👌😂
Another version of this was graffiti I once saw in a New York elevator - "New York, New York - so bad they warned you twice." It was 1982, my first time in New York. I had to work up my courage to go down into the subway the first time.
You know a place is bad if it is named after a deposed king: New York from James Duke of York, later, the disgraced James II who was kicked out of England
I thought it was "New york, new york" for the "New york city, New york state".
"New York New York big city of dreams but everything in New York ain't always what it seems."
- Grand Master Flash
also because they have to up the price twice
"You can't be in it, and not of it"
That is a brilliant saying...very astute.
Drum44er stay out tf hood if u ain't hood
STFU
Stevie Wonder- As
That's the fattest bit of truth I've ever heard
People in the comments are really complaining that New York is no longer like this.
Syed Ahmed
Right tho
We don't miss the crime but the culture back then
Because its FACTS AF
Ayanna Horton the crime and culture were linked.. the culture sucked.
Gentrification has erased NYCs identity. The crime sucked but the culture it's people brought along with it didn't.
And today you have to be a millionaire to live there.
Lmao so true!!!
Probably a good thing
Bullshit
And in NYC today there's a lot of homelessness and SJW turds running the city.
that's only in midtown and Dumbo, Brooklyn
I was in those streets in 1981. There wasn't a word of exaggeration in this documentary. Thank God we all lived to tell the story.
Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues
Thank you.
@IntrestingThings lol! check out the entire album, 'What's Going On'. It's really good and considered one of the best by many.
Makes Me Wanna Holler !
God bless you man
Neil G. You really are a true G my man
Shoutout to my old teachers that said I would work at McDonalds
- I start tomorrow..
So how was your first day?
soufean laabouss lol really
Congrats
Hahaha
Dude I can tell you now.
It's a damn good career and you're treated well.
NYC was a very dangerous place, back in the 70s & 80s, and the Guardian Angels made the citizens of New York feel a lot safer by patroling the streets and subways. They were courageous and the real hero's. Curtis Sliwa is a prime example of what it means to be a humanitarian. He got involved in his community and made the streets of New York better. We owe him and all the Guardian Angels our utmost respect and gratitude.
they were just a presence not a resolution.
Made them feel safe but didnt do anything
ToonieMama I meet Curtis Sliwa one time back in 2017 for a local 5K race on Long Island, NY.
Sliwa's an attention seeking goombah.
Today Kaper and the rest would be against the Angles.
They came up here to Albany, Ny and the same happened here. They tried though. Certain areas need to be burned and reset from ground zero.
“I liked the bleakness because you could dream in that...”
Really struck a chord with me
I make music and yeah bleak really brings out your best stuff, it's the struggle
Probably more troubled and impoverished cities like Baltimore, Memphis, and St Louis would be better and more sustainable urban venues for you musician and creative people.
Me too, I love that quote.
She just revels in degeneracy. It's nothing to be proud of.
Same, I totally agree with her 😊
I am a Manhattan native. Born in 1970. Yes, the city was a dump and we had over 2,000 murders a year in the early 90's. But the soul of the city has been erased. I still live here. But it sure was nice when artists could still afford to live here. It's basically a playground for the rich these days. Yes it's safer. But it's also very vanilla now. C'est la vie - Sunrise, sunset. NYC has always been about constant change....................
Exactly what I thought. The city pretends to be alive, now it's just... Not York vs New York...
Yes even though the 70's and 80's were just horrible,technically the worst years for violent crimes and homicides were in the early 90's the height of the crack epidemic
Edwin Rivera thx for the honest observation
I feel you, man. But, the heart and soul of New York never dies. Just reinvents itself.
scanny I live in Ontario but i stayed in Van for a few months a couple years back and couldnt believe the price of EVERYTHING. Met alot of people in recent years who moved to ON from BC and said they couldnt stand the not only the cost of living, but also the mentality of the people out there. Idk what they meant about the people, but i can totally understand the $$
"You can't be in it and not of it." 4:29 Deep on so many levels.
Real shit.
That old man who's a OG, double OG, triple OG (LMAO) , that man right there has some wisdom, street wisdom.
so deep i can't grasp the measning of it, thats when u know it's deeep.
@@chinohuerta1718 I believe that's dapper dan
Shout out to the guardian angels they save me from getting robbed
What year was this
Gabriel Afonso 😂🤣
They didnt use weapons, so how did that work?
magzire I think most were trained in Martial Arts and patrolled in groups.
@@magzire Just by being there.
I was in NY in 1989 as an exchange student from another country. The violence and drugs reminded me of a movie set and I was an extra.
How so?
Where are you from what country??? & What movie were you ab extra on???
@@goblinkillahd8396 ???
@@goblinkillahd8396 okay... 😂😂
@@goblinkillahd8396 Gay
I lived in NY in the 90´s and, despite I was coming from a violent country like Colombia, I felt afraid of walking alone in some parts of NY. Back in the 90´s Brooklyn had real shitholes were there was no law at all. I also lived in the Bronx, near Tremont Av, and the place just looked like a war zone, with abandoned buildings that were burned from bottom to top and gangs around ready to kill you because you were white or latin or whatever... Anyway, despite all the bad things I cannot recall those days without feeling a bit nostalgic.
And where did you move afterwards? Back to Colombia? Or elsewhere....Nyc must be a tough city
I used to buy my weed on Jerome Ave in the Bronx in the early 90's. It was a rough area.
@Luis Homes bullshit
@Luis Homes whole family from lambert the worst projects in The BX! PEOPLE GETTING THROWN OFF BUILDINGS AND MACHINE GUNS AND SHIT GTFO. OUR FAMILY HAD MAD LIGHTSKINS AND HISPANIC FRIENDS AND SHIT GTFO. WE HAD WHITE JAZZ AND DOOWOO MUSICIANS MAKING MUSIC WITH MY GREAT GRANDFATHER "ARTHUR CRIER" AND UNCLE "SABU CRIER".
White people always making some bullshit alternative history!
A really interesting documentary I like that it was shot on film and looked like it was from the 80s.
What happened. ,
I’d like to see some behind the scenes footage on how this was shot, I love the look of this doc
You'd be surprised how close to film you can get shooting digital. I'm a Videographer and use a plugin that makes it pretty hard to tell the difference.
"At this moment, I decided you can't be in it and not of it" !
The realness.
3:08. So true. My father was a sanitation worker during the 1970’s in Brownsville/East New York. He carried a gun strapped above his ankle everyday with knives strapped around his other leg
Much respect to your father. My husband was a NYC san man, retired in '17. Most ppl dont realize its one of the most dangerous jobs in NYC.
@@lynnski-ex3zk Respect to him I retire next year.
@@lynnski-ex3zk when they step out of the truck they could get run over that's the most dangerous part and their dark uniforms don't help the situation either besides things exploding and the garbage scoop it does happen from time to time
Scary
Yes, I lived on Flatbush Ave by the Circle and the north side of Brooklyn into Queens was pure ghetto mess. And yes, garbage guys carried guns.
The real life Gotham
N. Y. C was Gotham City {Gotham was N. Y. C} Fatcz
The real Gotham is in Nottinghamshire England ;)
@Simon Spibey
Now I'm aware as I go to Nottingham Trent haha
Good, go visit and read up about the history and why it was chosen for Batman
Oh wow that's actually fascinating
I moved to NYC in September of 1981 and thought the streets were made of gold. By the time I left in 1991 the "Disney-fication" of Times Square was beginning, and I knew I was ready to move on.
There's an old saying that you never step into the same river twice. NY is like that, always in a state of being created, constantly adopting the mood and the dynamics of the people who innovate there. Maybe that's the saddest thing about what's happening now, as only the ultra-wealthy can afford to move there. The young and the inspired need access to low-income housing in order to realize their dreams and contribute to the culture.
What culture?
Garbage art, stupid fashion and shitty rap music?
Kiril Bellic maybe but still the best in the world
@@kirilbellic3602 That fashion and music is still relevant today, over 20 years later. That is the culture that was created in the 70s. Would you rather hear bland pop music and and see casual modern clothing everywhere?
Bethany NW, I’m born and raised in Brooklyn NY. From Red Hook Projects, which got the nickname “Gunsmoke” from all the shootings of the mid eighties stemming from the astronomical amounts of money to be made with the influx of crack to the city. I remember it being really bad from about ‘86 to ‘91. From that point on things slowly started to get safer. And that “Disney” shit (The cleanup of the “Deuce” (42nd) Street) didn’t start until about late nineties to 2000, not early 1990 or ‘91 like you stated! Shit, as they were bringing in resources to try to fix the area up, we were stealing and taking them as soon as they were delivered!!!! Those are the times of the “real” New Yorkers! Not all the transplants and tourists and fake ass non born New York Mutha F*#%^er’s you have out here representing NY now!!!! Not to mention the “powers that be” driving up the cost of living so much that us “native” NYers can’t even afford to live here, our home, anymore!!!
A A Why do you think it has become bland? It’s way more diverse now and if you want boom bap, you can find it. Want stoner rap, look it up. Want atlanta trap, well go listen to migos. Maybe the boom bap isn’t as innovative anymore because other styles became popular, but don’t tell me Kendrick, Cole, Jay Rock, Q, Joey Bada$$ or anyone from the A$AP Mob are bland
The next Grand Theft Auto theme. All these are main characters.
🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
A charismatic and non-satire GTA?
I'd actually be a bit interested in that.
SadisticStang
It’s called GTA 3, GTA IV and Liberty City Stories, GTA IV was an incredible step forward in story telling for GTA but then they did a 180 and turned into something else, in fact GTA IV features the same Marvin gayne song in this documentary, it captured this atmosphere perfectly.
@@ayylmao8562 Well GTA3 was set between 1999 and 2001. GTA4 even later around 2008. The only GTA that is set in the 1980s is Vice City but that doesnt fit because it is set at a different place.
@@ayylmao8562 Absolutely loved gta 4 growing up, or maybe it was the map that made me love the game so much, in fact. Rockstar did such an amazing job capturing the smallest of details of New York, from homeless people walking up to you asking for money, to those small tornadoes of trash in sketchy alleyways, while also dumbing-down actual aspects of life to make it enjoyable for the player.
I moved to NYC in 1983. It was truly brutal. Sometimes I don't know how I survived it.
this mini doc gives me chills! I had always heard about NYC in those decades it sounded so scary but intriguing
yes
The city was grimy in the late 80’s when I went as a kid. I was born in 82 so I witnessed the nightmare era of NYC. The smell of garbage, urine and vomit was everywhere. The druggies, the homelessness everywhere. Everything was just flat out dirty and now when I walk around the city with my wife and seeing the new family friendly environment and actual fresh air, I wouldn’t want the city to go back to what it used to be.
@@AvenueD417 what do you think about people who say that the NYC culture is gone?
CATHOLIC THOT it is because of the high taxes, we lost a lot of New Yorkers in the last two decades, even the accent is dying. They were replaced by wealthy out of staters who started gentrifying once affordable neighborhoods. Most of Manhattan was taken by them and the same is happening to Brooklyn. Queens is still holding it down, the true New York culture is still strong there. But who knows for how long
Oh it was, they didn't call it Gotham for nothing 😆
In fact, the crack epidemic is the reason people have metal bars and cages on their lower level windows and doors around the city, particularly in Brooklyn...sch!t was REAL 😬😥
What a fantastic piece. I’m absolutely fascinated by NY in that time period
I love the color grading and visuals when they show the guardian angels
crybabies, kevin mccalister went by himself and was just fine
he always went to neverland
WATCH IT KID! AHAHAHAHAHAHA
🤔 😊 😁🤣🤣🤣
That was in the 90's
Priceless😂😂
NYC is safe now but it's very hard to find affordable apartments. It's almost impossible. Many people spent almost the whole salary just for rent. It's insane.
That's a real misery...
Jeez... Pull up your boots and get out...
Or you end up sharing a 1 person apartment with 5 people and share 1 bathroom...
FACTS...it's how I ended up in Pennsylvania. Straight bullsch!t 😤😤😤
@@NubianNemesisArise So people who can't afford to live in New york are pushed to live in the countryside?
I love how she says, the bleakness made it possible to dream. Amen. I'll take a gray backdrop over a mall, any day of the week.
Sometimes chaotic places are diamonds in the rough, Dapper Dan is visionary because he stuck it out and became a millionaire when things got better
NY native my entire life. Born in Brooklyn in 1960 and lived Queens in the 60s-80s. It was a really tough town to live in at the time. You always needed to be on guard for your own safety. Scary thing was that half (or more) of the people were armed when you went to a bar or club in the evenings. It was a gritty place to live in, but certainly more colorful than today.
"There was also an incredible kind of positivity, that there's something very important about being in a culture of authenticity."
true
There's nothing authentic about New York now.
Hip hop don't stop.yoo
There's something POSITIVE about it alright
The artisti gang thought it was all fun and games back then. I, on the other hand, was fighting crime nonstop and it was a nightmare. Until I met Giuliani, the Special Prosecutor and we took down all the crooked Democrats ruining the city and voila: crime went way down in the following years and Giuliani became mayor.
props to A24. from a filmmaking perspective its difficult to make a great compelling short.... and a great documentary for that matter... but a compelling short documentary? fantastic job.
MobileMickey no they are all actors I’m pretty sure, it’s not an actual documentary it’s just an advertisement for a tv show
A24 I‘m not joking, you’re one of the BEST movie production companies out there and I hope you gonna stay there!!!
Still a walk in the park compared to some of the war zone cities in Mexico and Brazil, those place are a nightmare
You mean the ones where there are pictures of Brazilian armed forces (yes, the army of Brazil) engaged in shootouts with local gangs, because the Brazilian Police are ridden with corruption themselves?
@@rixille Yes those ones lol, they are a nightmare...
Yea but 1981 in New York was worse than any place.
@@rixille Brazil is a massive country. America is the most violent countryn9n the planet.
In Brasil we have the same problem as NYC & Chicago - the average citizen can't carry a weapon, at night women walk in fear even during the day you can't walk around with a cheap watch or you'll get attacked by some animal, that's why Brasilians love our new president he has been talking about gun rights . . . 🖐🇵🇹🇧🇷
Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen. There's more crime then ever before in NYC although you wouldn't know it, the ones breaking the law settle out of court on Wall Street.
Sovereign Rebellion yup cuz it's swept under the rug so tourist could come
Then the taxpayers foot the bill and no-one goes to prison. Good old bankers.
Difference is they just take what's in your pocket with a gun, but with the pen? They take your whole pension.
@@yarambamba9253 You got that right!
reckless why tf are u everywhere
I remember the chaos in nyc as a kid in the 80's. I loved it! My Dad would bring me around and teach me about this and that how to avoid getting robbed about hustlers pimps all that shit. He's an enormous dude with a giant knife so I guess I never felt scared.
Really liked that! ...beautifully photographed....gritty, honest & engaging!
This is of very high quality. Wow, thank you.
y’all really complaining bout crime like spider-man don’t live there😐😐
Right?! I stay throwin up that Bat signal 😅
😂😂😂
Carlos Prieto this is the most underrated comment
Isn’t batman from new york too
True
Curtis Silwa is a real one. He’s about as New York as you can get. Dapper Dan too
Amazing story, incredible lighting and production... superb!
I actually like that the footage for this documentary was shot present day, because it shows how gritty a lot of NYC still is. I live here in NY, and this documentary was shot over the Winter of 2013/2014, which was a brutal, cold, vicious winter, one of the worst in recent NY history. So watching this documentary always reminds me of that winter....I would take the J train over the East River into Lower Manhattan, I worked off Canal Street by Chinatown...the wind, snow and ice blew straight down Canal St from the Hudson River. Obviously New York is a bit safer nowdays, but it's still a very exciting and sometimes dangerous place. Just ride the AC line any night of the week between 11 PM and 5 AM, you'll see plenty of exciting NY life.
The gritty side from what I've seen in videos of New York is what has always attracted me to it, yet I never visited. Is it still worth visiting? Maybe getting a glimpse of the old soul of New York that survived?
@@justinmeijer2097 sorry for the late reply here, but yes, the old soul of NY is definitely alive! Especially during the past few years. I document the grittier side of modern NYC in my music videos, check them out and you can get an idea. You should definitely visit the city, just walking around different neighborhoods is interesting.
It's a few years earlier, but the movie Taxi Driver epitomizes a lot of the tensions felt in the city at that time.
Who remembers pulling through the tunnel or coming over Brooklyn bridge and they’d damn near jump on your hood and through the window to wash it with used crappy newspaper and dirty water.
I wouldn't know i always took the subway
If you miss that go drive thru Baltimore... 😂
Tristana Fiscella Baltimore is a tough city. Never knew it until I experienced it for myself
no i don’t live in the ghetto
With nick names like B more careful, and Bodymore, u know Baltimore tough.
THANK YOU Curtis and all your Angels!
NYC has definitely lost its edge and grittiness.
William M it sucks now
U want grittiness bring back lead gasoline and leadeed paint in places where. Kids are growing up and you will have generations of people who make really bad decisions and are aggresivr
Theum i lived through that shit. No it was not a guy put a knife to u and robbed u. It was a guy shot u in the head then grabbed whatever u had. Kids Growing up in those neighborhoods had a recent sales because their parents abandoned it was fucked up dude and you want to bring it back to so you could lie to your friends in Ohio that you live in a fucking bad neighborhood but they made u a honarary black person because u keep it real.
Go move to south africa if u want griity and dangerous
George Cahill no it doesn't, it got way better
@@FreeportHometown nyc has lost all of its culture now idk about the crime but in terms of stuff like the music scene nyc got WAAAYY worse
@@ughman7694 it's completely fake now
I'd rather watch a full length version of this documentary than the movie
Yo... Is that Dapper Dan??
Yes
He still look very young
HYDERABAD FITNESS crazy he’s 75
I didn’t know Dapper Dan’s shop was there in 81
Remember the fight between Mike Tyson and Mitch Green at Dapper Dan's ? All of the rappers and dope dealers used get customer leather jackets and suits from him. I think that's him in New Jack City
@2:21..."I like the bleakness, 'cause you could dream in that..." I understand that. And that was the vibe, absolutely.
I left new york 17 ago years and these are the days I miss 80s. Nice documentary short
Back then it was millionaires, murderers, and stunning ladies walking the same blocks.
Now it's got more of a mall feeling.
So... Living amongst murderers is considered a quality of a city?
@@rixille he just a typical black person
rixille Where’d ya come with that?
Mamadou ly you are racist , why did you just assume he was black, when there is no indication of his race
@@moeglizzy6277 wow.. why are there still ignorant racists in this world in th eyear 2020? Better question is, Why is it we ant get all of you racist fucks together on a cruise ship.. send that xruise ship deep deep into the fucking ocean, and just sink that mother fucker through and through. goddamn, we got no time // no love for yall people out there who literally have no heart for other human beings born of a differnt fucking skin color.. Like holy shit its 4am rn and i legit just got so angry reading your dumbass comment i think i even lost a few brain cells reading it... fucking can we alll just imagine hating someone else that we never even fucking met because of the color of their skin/ ethnical background? HOW & WHY IS THIS A THING// WAS THIS EVER A THING???!!!??? and yes. im fucking white my goddan self and you best believe im embarrased most days to be.. due to you people like yourself. pos/
Goosebumps! I remember going to NYC in 1990 when I was 14 years old and this is the way that I thought of the city. Even so, I fell in love with the city and to this day I wish I lived there at least for a period of time. I've only been back a couple of times since then, the last time in 2017, and I can see how much it has changed.
I found this short amazing! I grew up in the period that NYC at the time was violent and had a scary reputation!
This is so well edited and filmed
amazing
It still amazes me to this to how nyc shifted from one of the most dangerous cities in the us, to now one of the safest cities in the world. During the 90s, 2000 people were murdered a year, in 2019 at least 200 people were murdered. It is actually quite amazing how much New York has changed.
The mob was also very violent in those days compared to today..
You had killers like Gravano, Tommy Karate and the whole DeMeo crew out on the streets, they were responsible for hundreds of murders..
Rat
How dare you Mr. President?!
Mr. Brown Tommy Karate lol
thomas"tommy karaté" pitera a member of bonano's crime family
They were pussys compared to real ghetto gang members
Really a good video I keep coming back to it, love the cinematography.
Great documentary ! Thanks
Penny Arcade is a very real person. Has a ton of amazing stories. It is crazy to think that New York is so different now
Curtis is truly an American hero who deserves the Medal of Freedom. Hope he's elected NYC's next mayor.
Beautiful cinematography.
sad, authentic, deep human documentary . Love real authentic people faces, opinions, moods. thanks for the upload.
I was 15 in 1981,and my life was so sheltered that looking back on it I am shocked at how sheltered I actually was while growing up..I know this has nothing to do with this documentary other than the fact that I am reminded how blessed I truly was growing up in the middle of nowhere Virginia..
It's coming back! Thanks diblasio
Superb documentary.
Great mini doc.
Feature was great too. Saw it when it first opened.
My father's and older brother's business was trucking and delivering produce starting from the Hunts Point Market in the South Bronx and then unloading to stores throughout the Bronx, Harlem and mostly northern Manhattan. I was already working summers on my Pop's truck from the late 1970's and into the 1980's. In 1981, I was in my second year at NYU. Working during this time was interesting to say the least. Crack had taken over the streets, and good guys that worked for my Pop and brother could turn into different people overnight once crack entered their lives. A homie one day and a thief/thug the next steeling even from my Pop's business. Waking up in the dark each day to start loading and many times getting done in the dark, those long summer days were filled with great and sometimes scary memories of how gritty and dangerous NYC was at that time. Both my Pop and brother carried guns for protection. I know my father's was not registered and I also know he did not have the best vision, so I'm happy he never had to use it! My brother had a gun shoved up under his back ribs one day just after collecting money at a stop. He had his gun on him but could not pull it, which thankfully never happened when you look back on all the bad consequences that could have occurred.
One thing that was a constant that summer was the "Three Louie's". Little Louie, Big Louie and "Light Finger" Louie who were the street hispanic guys that worked on the trucks with us. There was also an old school black gentleman named John who knew me since I was a baby and worked with my Pop for years. All of these guys took me under their wings to guide me from getting into any bad situations. I was only 19 that summer and had a trigger temper of a crazy Italian kid, so I am grateful to this day of all of their street savvy and lessons they taught to me! The Louie’s were characters to say the least! Little Louie always had a cheshire grin and some smooth talking ammunition to get us out of sticky situations. Big Louie had huge hands and large shoulders with a small waist and a man of not too many words, but he was the kind of dude you would want on your side and got respect simply by his presence and ultimate actions if needed. "Light Finger" Louie had something called an exotropia (I'm an eye doc now!), which means that one of his eyes was always pointing outwards so it was hard to see where he was looking! One eye on you... the other looking at what he could steal!! At the end of the day, after all the produce was emptied from the truck, there might be someone's bike or boombox or whatever now part of his day’s booty. …And who knew what would happen the next day??
Well, I’m sure I could come up with some funny stories and some sad ones too from those days on the truck. Maybe one day I will… Both my father and brother made sure that I stayed in school to get off of those streets, but I would never trade one moment of those times because of all that I learned. As a matter of fact, the summer education on the truck in NYC during 1981 taught me more than anything that NYU tried to push at me!! I am forever grateful for living there in that time and to all the hard work and experience gained! I am also thankful to that moment in history which had such a gritty background and such colorful characters who played their parts perfectly… Cheers to my real life professors: My Pop, my older brother, John, and of course the Three Louie’s!!
NY was pretty bad in the 80's. I grew up in Jamaica, Queens, but I would hang out all over the boros. As bad as it was, there was a freedom and adventurous atmosphere about NY. Nowadays crime is down(at least in the open), but it's such a police state in NY that it ruins what NY is all about.
Go to Stuphin and Archer today and you will feel like it is still the 1980s.
@@QBRikan77 yup Jamaica didnt really get the memo
@@QBRikan77 Sutphin and Archer? Its gentrifying like crazy...... Building mad high rises over there
@@QBRikan77 That's not true. They gentrifying that area too. The got 3 massive apartment buildings that nobody can afford to live in going up right down the block.
New York during the crack epidemic was a super scary place. There were 150,000 robberies one year
Great documentary!
I remember every day asking as young boy who got killed last night it was as normal as riding bike mind you I was only 7 years old. I knew some always got killed in my hood . A crying shame
Our goal should be to never let this happen to NY or any city again. Unfortunately, some American cities are in decline or never bounced back from their broken past. We need to break the cycle.
Bring back so much memories
Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel, French Connection...two of my favourite movies.
I was THERE for a few weeks in the summer of 1981. NYC had a reputation for violence, seediness, open air crime, etc. All true. What struck me was the folks all working and NOT engaged in gambling/prostitution/drugs/scams but who were right there among those who were. There were many more crazy people than I had expected. SF (where I hailed from then) had more than a few as well, but New York had them beat by a mile.
New York had it's good and bad times. It started out good, in the 1800's then the latter part of 1800's it became bad! And then new York became a great place until the mafia came in around the (1920's-1930'a) also with the depression.
NYC gotten itself clean up and a nice place to live in the 1950's! The latter 60's is when New York city became a dump all the way until late 90's! In the 2000's NYC really change for the better!! But don't forget sadly the deadliest day happen in that state in (2001) 9/11!!!
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The latter 1800s was when the city gotten really bad. And what is the point that you are making with ,9\1?
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Thank you! But just saying"In a no argument way of saying" But still it was a hard time for new York no matter HOW or should of or shouldn't. It was awful!
diasgree, the 60's were relatively safe…70's were awful and the mafia has nothing to do with it. mafia neighborhoods were some of the safest. Early 00's were pretty bad up until 2006-2009 the city became very very safe but early 00's were mean
poopmcscoopface
60s were bad... it not like it hit 1970 then all hell broke loose. Early 60s were probably good. But around 1966 is when the city went down hill. You should watch "Midnight cowboy (1969)" it kinda shows you the darkness of new york
My first visit to NYC was in 1980. I had a blast!!!
Great video. Was working for the City, and saw how things were. 1981: the year I left. Never went back.
Rasin in the sun huh high school memories hitting hard
I loved New York in the eighties. The theater scene was wonderful and so was the party scene. I was a kid. Had some scary experiences but the people were great, the friends I made and have to this day.
Great video
I spent a week in the Y on 34th in May 1981, walked all around Manhattan. Day and night. I had zero problems. It was an amazing week of art, music, boxing and i saw Raging Bull.
Talked to someone that grew up in NYC during 70s~80s, he said everyday you would see bodies floating down the East River. I was like WTF, and asked "Why didn't you call the police?" He said "Sure you can, if you want to end up there yourself" LOL
Does that mean the police did it themselves?
@@Krist_Mal008 - No. During that time, the mob pretty much ran the city. They had their hands in the pockets of the local PD, city hall, judges, etc...If you called PD and said: "Hey, there's a body floating down the East River.", it's most likely you'd be joining that poor idiot floating. You kept to yourself, didn't see anything, and if someone asked you if you saw a robbery happened right in front of you, you simply said: "What robbery?"
@@someguy510bayarea You speak the truth. I grew up there. And you are right. What robbery?.......shooting, I thought it was firecrackers.....
That’s the spirit of America right there: “in the bleakness it made it possible to dream”. The whole world needs this kind of spirit now.
Awesome video
ppl tend to forget how extremyl violent the 80s was, now they only focus on how good the 80s music was to somehow distract you from the truth
Athens Greece is still how New York was back in the 80's.
Dark - Dirty - full off collapsed buildings and abandoned public spaces.
Back in the 90's when i grew up drugs was all over the city and you could also
got in a fight for no particular reason and get beaten really bad. Very violent years.
STILL ARE...
Despite that if i could go back in time, i wouldn't change a thing from what things was at that time.
Peace!!!
That Rebetika vibe of the 1920s and 1930s
I wanna see more like this ! everything about it was dope.
Loved it!
NY was wild, exciting and had a lot of beauty about it back then as far as the people..... Even the air felt like it was electric... FACTS
people really have no idea how shitty life was in the 1980s
This documentary looks dope!
I want to see and hear more of these people and their amazing stories...
One could say there was more crime but you could actually afford to live there, where the corporate hotels now stand once stood small family owned low income apartments above the proudly owned mom and pop shops. They didn't just have street vendors, they had entire street shops with all the windows and doors busted out where they'd sell handmade art, t-shirts, and vinyl. You could actually put part of your store on the sidewalk, so when walking by you were forced to stop. All the cars you'd see were made in America up until the 90's, there were spots to graffiti and paint on the walls. No police up your ass with their stop and frisk and you weren't surveillanced 24/7, you could smoke pot or even snort coke on the sidewalk and no one would care or bother you; not to mention jaywalking was legal. Music and comedy basement clubs were everywhere that seem to have disappeared, and Greenwich Village was more then just a tourist attraction. Times Square was a place to go for streetwalkers and porno clips and folks still had the distinguished New York and Jersey accents, people were happy to talk to one another. You could find a good paying job no problem without a college degree, now it's sadly a place to live if you are the best of the best Harvard material to work on Wall Street so you can afford to live there; the freaks who built the city were kicked out and it happened in San Francisco too.
You actually had honest mayors like Ed Koch who cared about the people in his city, love Koch! One more thing, they'd have you use tokens on the subway instead of cards which totally makes sense. You lose one token no problem, you lose your entire card and you can't get on. People used to mind their own business, live and let live in a carefree world; too many over sensitive wealthy entitled snobbies overtaking the city today. I don't know what it is people weren't in such a rush and they were happy, loitering was allowed and hey the magazines weren't glossy and half filled with ads! Can't resist one last shout out; wow they actually gave you real silverware and ceramic coffee mugs at real coffee shops, instead of plastic and styrofoam at the Starbucks chains that have taken over. One could say the 1950's and early 1960's of NYC was great and the start of the beatnik movement, and the 1980's NYC was only destroyed because of Reagan's war on drugs. You know he dumped crack cocaine into the minority neighborhoods to fuel his drug war, he was working with corrupt cops and it happened in all major cities in the 1980's. So I guess if you were white and from Queens you had no problem, but the minority groups were just destroyed from mass incarceration; and the city promoted that type of institutional discrimination.
woah
great perspective of old New York. Never thought of it that way.
Damn!! whens chapter 2 comin? lol... remember seeing old footage of the subway and trains, the inside of every car just riddled with graffiti
Holy shit
Sovereign Rebellion you are a very smart dude! N.y was a place so interesting it stemmed many many cult classic movies. Them days are long gone maybe in some ways for the better. To some folk maybe not.
Old nyc was dangerous but a lot more fun than it is now
It's amazing the story you can tell in 6 minutes.
I love this. Also what is the intro song which also players later in the movie?
Born in the Bronx( Lincoln Hospital) lived on 189th Grand Concourse raised in Corona Queens NYC. NEW YORK NEW YORK AINT NO OTHER PLACE LIKE IT. GOTTA LUV IT
Alberto Rodriguez you already know popo
Born in Morrisania hospital in BX.....it not there anymore.