The Mean Streets of New York City in ’70s, ‘ 80s, ’90s

We are all familiar with the dark side of New York City in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It has been depicted in films like ‘Taxi Driver’ and recently, in David Simon’s HBO show ‘The Deuce’.  Time Square was infamously known for being a seedy place filled with criminals,prostitutes and X-Rated theaters. But the photographs taken by Carrie Boretz, offers her audience a bigger bite to the Big Apple.

Her new book, Street: New York City – 70s, 80s, 90s focuses less on the drama associated with the time. Boretz was more interested in the subtle and familiar moments of everyday life in the neighborhoods where she lived, a time when the city was filled with graffiti and less sanitized. The body of work shows a city filled with contradictions where all walks of life shared a common space. Her photos of children playing, daily commuters, demonstrations and parades and other joys and pitfalls of humanity are timeless subjects.

See New York City of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s from a whole new perspective.

No. 2 IRT Subway, 1980 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

No. 7 Subway line, Queens, 1984 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Orchard Street, 1975 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

63rd Street and Madison Avenue, 1994 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Dinosaur Playground, Riverside Park and 97th Street, 1993 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Couple on subway, 1978 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Sisters, West 12th Street and Sixth Avenue, 1978 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Beaver and Wall Street, 1994 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Playground, West 43rd street and Ninth Ave., 1993 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Homeless teenagers, West 42nd Street, 1985 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Women’s Conservancy Luncheon, Conservancy Garden, 1993 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Church and Chambers Street, 1994 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Teenage mother playing video game, Brooklyn, 1983 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

Fire, Hudson River pier, West Village, 1978 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

59th Street and Fifth Avenue, 1980 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

50th Street and Lexington Avenue, 1980 (Carrie Boretz/ powerHouse Books)

Carrie Boretz

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