Your description of 1970’s New York reminds me of a movie “City by the Sea” with Robert De Niro it was actually filmed in 2000 in Asbury Park New Jersey, I don’t think they needed to make any changes to the scenery it conveyed a sense of total hopelessness.
Actually, I owned a condo in Ocean Grove when City by the Sea was filmed. My dog actually broke away from me and ran onto one of the sets. Highly embarrassing. But they had to graffiti Asbury Park & the Grove to make it look much worse than it was. Many of us who worked to bring these towns back were very upset and protested the movie.