I used to visit my father in Yonkers, NY every summer during the 70s , and I remember a lot of what was in those photos, except, I remember it being worse.
In 76, I was 14 years old, and I’d go into the city several times during my stay, to visit the Museum of Natural History & Hayden Planetarium, and being in a band, I had to visit music lane on W. 48th street (home of some of the best known musical instruments stores in the world.) The subway stations, Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station were filthy and smelled like open sewers. Time Square was the home of porn shops and live sex shows. At 14 years old, I was repeatedly propositioned by hookers near Times Square.
After Rudy cleaned up NYC, I was shocked at what a nice place Grand Central Terminal had become (I actually used a restroom there, something unthinkable in the 70s.) Times Square had been turned into a family friendly shopping district.
Mark