NYC in the 80s was truly a different city from the NYC of today. Pictures from that time look like a different place entirely. There were burned-out buildings that looked like they had exploded, rampant crime, and graffiti blanketing every surface, even inside subway cars. Anybody who spent time in New York in the 1980s will tell you just how wild it was.

But they’ll also tell you about the positives, how gentrification hadn’t yet taken hold, there were many unique and eclectic small businesses, and people were authentic. This was ‘real’ New York, before the hipsters and yuppies took it over and built a thousand artisanal coffee shops.

Check out these vintage pics that show New York City at its most New York, with good and bad in equal measure.