55 Revealing Photos Of 1980s Brooklyn That Show How The Borough Changed Throughout The Decade
Nostalgia for the 1980s has been widespread in recent years. Perhaps those who grew up during that decade are looking back fondly on their childhood, or maybe there really was something magical about that time. Regardless, its hard not to think of things like big hair, neon leg warmers, and shoulder pads when the 1980s are brought up. But for New York City, and especially its most populous borough, those things didnt paint the full picture. While Wall Street boomed and a new wave of artists colonized downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn was being pulled in two vastly different directions: prospering creativity and urban decay. To put it simply, 1980s Brooklyn was a place in transition. Though the borough struggled with crime and economic issues, it was also a time of cultural booms and vibrant celebrations. And as the pictures below show, it was one of the most dynamic, challenging, and energetic places to be.Click here to view slideshowUrban Decay, The Crack Epidemic, And The Fallout From The 1970sThe dawn of a new decade doesn't erase the years that came before it, and although we might now think of the 1980s as louder, brighter, and more glamorous than the 1970s, the scars of those previous years were still visible. New York was in crisis in the 1970s. Economic and political troubles caused unprecedented levels of stress. The city nearly went bankrupt, industries were declining, middle-class families fled to the suburbs, social services were cut, and waves of arson and an increase in other crimes left a terrible mark on Brooklyn neighborhoods like Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant. By the early 1980s, parts of Bushwick almost looked like a war zone. The 1977 blackout riots had accelerated the ongoing decline, leaving behind rubble-strewn lots and hollowed-out buildings in some communities.As writer Denis Chavez pointed out in a blog post for the NYC Department of Records: "By 1975, Bushwick already had suffered 4,000 fires; 900 most likely from arson by landlords trying to make a fast dollar. The blackout [happened] on July 13, 1977, but the scene for looting and arson had long ago been established. The damage done during the 24 hours of the blackout in Bushwick alone accounted for 88 stores looted and 48 set on fire."NYC Municipal Archives1 Bushwick Place in the 1980s, a former brewery that was temporarily abandoned.In the 1980s, Mayor Ed Koch invested $58 million into new public housing in the Bushwick area, which led to a small amount of recovery, but it wasn't enough to restore it to how it had been in decades prior. At the same time, all of New York City was dealing with the widespread crack epidemic. Crack cocaine tore through vulnerable communities with especially terrifying speed, turning some street corners into open-air drug markets. For many people, their daily routines became a lesson in survival, and ordinary citizens were forced to step up to address crime when authorities wouldn't, leading to organizations like the Guardian Angels.Oliver Morris/Getty ImagesA Guardian Angel talks to founder Curtis Sliwa's then-wife Lisa on the subway.Brooklyn effectively teetered on the edge of becoming an East Coast Detroit.Additionally, the racial tensions that simmered throughout the decade sometimes exploded into horrific violence. In 1989, for example, a Black teenager named Yusuf Hawkins was shot to death in the then-predominately Italian neighborhood of Bensonhurst, sparking demonstrations led by Hawkins' parents and activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton. The protesters were often harassed with jeers and racial slurs, and Sharpton was even stabbed in the chest with a steak knife at one point as he prepared to protest.Brooklyn's Cultural Richness Amidst The ChaosEven as Brooklyn struggled with crime and economic problems, the borough's immigrant communities maintained strong cultural traditions. The early 1980s was an especially fruitful time to witness these celebrations.The Brooklyn Rediscovery Folklife Study Project, conducted from 1980 to 1983, documented this cultural boom. The project focused on neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Bay Ridge, and documented various traditions from different communities, including celebrations like the Italian American Giglio Feast, the Caribbean American West Indian Day Parade, and the Jewish Sukkot holiday.Some of these traditions were and still are massive events. The Italian American Giglio Feast in Williamsburg runs for 12 days in July, culminating with the dancing of the Giglio, a flower-laden steeple of wood over 80 feet high, carried through the streets by hundreds of men. Library of Congress A man crafting a steel drum to celebrate the West Indian Day Parade.The West Indian Day Parade, meanwhile, occurs over Labor Day weekend and brings elaborate costumes, steel pan ensembles, and countless spectators to Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.The project documented African Americans, Greek Americans, Polish Americans, Puerto Ricans, Irish Americans, Chinese Americans, Ukrainian Americans, and many other Brooklynites, capturing uniquely urban folklife practices such as pigeon flying and games like boccie and skelly. These cultural celebrations represented a profound act of placemaking, transforming Brooklyn's streets into stages for traditions carried on from distant homelands. However, other factors would cause many of these close-knit neighborhoods to struggle financially including gentrification. The Quiet Rise Of GentrificationWhile established immigrant communities maintained their cultural traditions, a different demographic was quietly reshaping Brooklyn's future. Beginning in the 1960s and accelerating throughout the 1980s, educated middle-class professionals who were priced out of Manhattan became drawn to Brooklyn's tree-lined streets and historic architecture.These so-called "romantic urbanists" were looking for organic connections to history and hints of rural life, settling in Brooklyn neighborhoods, which they gave rustic names, living uneasily among their less privileged neighbors. Some writers and artists had already settled in Brooklyn by the time professionals started arriving in neighborhoods like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens. By the 1970s, Brooklyn was undergoing a "brownstone movement," which involved newcomers renovating brownstones in various neighborhoods, tearing down the aluminum awnings, ripping up the linoleum floors, and, in some cases, completely transforming entire properties.Wikimedia CommonsBrownstones in Park Slope in 2008.By 1982, middle-class couples with modest finances had moved into areas where they lived alongside Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, and Puerto Ricans, who played a key role in giving Brooklyn its working-class identity.As realtor Austin K. Haldenstein told The New York Times, this new wave of brownstone occupants included "young professionals who either band together in groups and split up a house, or couples who live in one or two floors and rent the rest of the space out. Since prices are high, few single families can afford to buy a brownstone just for themselves." That hadn't always been the case, though. As rents increased in these previously affordable areas, tensions increased between the families who were now being priced out and the white-collar workers moving in. Many of these same tensions remain in Brooklyn to this day. How The 1980s Sowed The Seeds Of Change In BrooklynDespite the challenges, the 1980s planted seeds that would eventually transform Brooklyn into one of America's most desirable places to live. The borough's rich cultural diversity, festivals, and traditions brought communities together and became a prime example, in a way, of the promise of America. The brownstone movement, meanwhile, proved that Brooklyn's historic architecture could attract newcomers who were seeking alternatives to Manhattan's high costs and towering apartments.Neighborhoods such as Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, and Park Slope slowly transformed as young professionals and families looked to Brooklyn as a more affordable, low-key alternative to living in Manhattan.This process would accelerate in the 1990s when changes to policing helped bring crime rates down, but the foundations were laid in the 1980s by others who were curious or eager enough for change to settle in the borough.The 1980s also witnessed Brooklyn's emergence as a cultural force beyond its ethnic festivals. The decade saw the rise of hip-hop, with Brooklyn artists contributing significantly to the genre's development and popularity. The decade was an energetic, challenging, intense, and sometimes utterly strange one for Brooklyn. But in the end, it ultimately helped pave the way for what the borough is today for better or worse.After looking through these photos of 1980s Brooklyn, see what life was like in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Then, step into the world of 1980s hair metal.The post 55 Revealing Photos Of 1980s Brooklyn That Show How The Borough Changed Throughout The Decade appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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