From Exhilaration to Disappointment – Photos Of New York City In The Mid-1980s

Part 2 of Frank Horvat’s Up and Down, a study of New York City in the 1980s. In the first section we featured years 1980-1983. We now look at 1984-1986.

“…what I tried to convey by the words ‘up and down’. The highs and lows of New York are not just the transitions from Uptown to Downtown, from the darkness of the subway to the view from the top floors of the skyscrapers, from the temperatures in January to those in July. But also the shifts, between one day and the next and sometimes between one minute and the other, from exhilaration to disappointment, from triumph to failure, from fulfilment to defeat.” – Frank Horvat

The pictures in the gallery below capture the sprit and substance of the world’s greatest city.

 

1985, New York, man eating

1984, New York, balloons in the subway

1984, New York, balloons in the subway

1984, New York, Christmas presents

1984, New York, woman in a cafeteria

1984, New York, woman in a cafeteria

1984, New York, uptown West side, at daybreak

1984, New York, uptown West side, at daybreak

1984, New York, private detectives

1984, New York, private detectives

1984, New York, subway entrance

1984, New York, Central Park, two ladies

1984, New York, Central Park, two ladies

1984, New York, father and son in the subway

1984, New York, father and son in the subway

1984, New York, stockroom in a snack bar

1984, New York, homeless person, under plastic

1984, New York, ladies in the sunshine

1984, New York, ladies in the sunshine

1984, New York, picnic in Central Park

1984, New York, picnic in Central Park

1984, New York, building model

1984, New York, building model

1984, New York, steam

1984, New York, steam

1984, New York, homeless person under raincoat

1984, New York, red and grey

1984, New York, red and grey

1984, New York, homeless woman asleep at a table

1984, New York, homeless woman asleep at a table

1984, New York, Times Square in snow storm

1984, New York, Times Square in snow storm

1984, New York, lady in snow storm

1984, New York, steam jet in the morning sun

1984, New York, steam jet in the morning sun

1984, New York, sleeper in the subway

1984, New York, sleeper in the subway

1984, New York, sweater with dolls

1984, New York, sweater with dolls

1984, New York, wall, ladder, graffiti

1984, New York, wall, ladder, graffiti

1984, New York, mural painting

1984, New York, mural painting

1984, New York, World Trade Towers in a cloud

1984, New York, World Trade Towers in a cloud

1984, New York, bus in snow storm

1984, New York, bus in snow storm

1985, New York, elevated subway

1985, New York, two couples

1985, New York, two couples

 

1985, New York, funeral home's delivery boy

1985, New York, funeral home’s delivery boy

1985, New York, reflections

1985, New York, reflections

1985, New York, dripping on the asphalt

1985, New York, dripping on the asphalt

1985, New York, sandwich man

1985, New York, sandwich man

1985, New York, small restaurant

1985, New York, small restaurant

1985, New York, the World Trade Center in a puddle

1985, New York, the World Trade Center in a puddle

1986, New York, money is everything

1986, New York, money is everything

1986, New York, vacant lot and graffiti

1986, New York, vacant lot and graffiti

1986, New York, woman in a park

1986, New York, woman in a park

1986, New York, old ladies in a snack

1986, New York, reference to Pollock

1986, New York, running in the rain

1984, New York, lady

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