All depends on which part of the city. I should have menioned that. But you know. It was a social scene. And it still is now. The upper west side today would elect Lenin if he rose from the dead. David Horowitz quotes his father's diary in Radical Son. He wanted to leave the CPUSA but could not. All his friends were there. It was his life. Eric Alterman was on TV a while back and said he doesn't know anyone who has a gun, who opposes abortion or isn't for gay rights. Dorothy is seeing McCarthy and America through the pinko colored glasses she wore as a kid.
Most people, in N.Y.C., specifically Manhattan, didn't have guns in the 1950s, no matter WHERE they lived. Shop ( Mom & Pop grocercies ) owners and bars probably did; regular people didn't. There are and were " limosine liberals " on the East side and Conservatives on the Upper West side, in the 50s. They same holds true today. Horowitz and his family didn't live on the UWS and his parents' friends ( mostly all school teachers ) were card carrying Commies. They didn't mix with others.
I've read almost EVERY book David's written and was reading his disgusting articles when you were still in short pants. I know what's in ' RADICAL SON " ! LOL