I do love living in NYC, particularly in Brooklyn! NYC has both stayed the same and changed so much over the last 30-50 years. It is quite enjoyable listening to city old-timers tell their version of how NYC was in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Seeing photos is also great. Here are 2 fantastic photos taken by Wil Blanche in 1973 of cars entering the Manhattan side of the Battery Tunnel towards Brooklyn as part of the Documerica project. Can you recognize all the iron in these pics? I get a good number of them….but a couple here and there which are just guesses!
As much as things change—-looking at these photos remind me of my experiences driving here every day. So i guess not everything changes that much!
src: hemmings
IEDEI 
i’d say the road surface quality is so much worse now than it was then.
we as a country have underinvested disastrously in infrastructure— the city of new york being no exception.
probably….although the roads look pretty lousy in the 1973 photos as well! Brick roads…ugh!
I was there in the 70’s . An apartment in Hell Kitchen ( when it really was Hell ) then a loft in the garment district … back when Lofts were truly lofts . ( large industrial space , minimal bathroom/shower and a Hot plate and fridge if you were lucky Not the pretentious Condos they are today .
Biggest difference from then to today ? Crime ! Back then only fools , drug dealers , masochists and street people went to Central Park … day or night and even the cops wouldn’t dare enter it without a phalanx of backup .
Eyes on the back of your head was the norm ( still have that instinct to this day ) – Broadway after dusk was a crap shoot ( whether you’d walk away alive or not ) and well …….. you get the idea
Parts of me prefers the Gentrified NYC , but to be honest I kind of miss the old .. because just the act of staying alive/unharmed made you a success back then
And brother do I ever wish I’d kept that Loft . Last I saw they subdivided it into four units selling for over $4 million each . Made a ton when I left anyway … but not that much
As to the roads ? Errrr. You’ve always been able to lose a VW Bug ( classic ) in any number of the potholes NYC seems to provide . e.g. The roads have been / always will be … terrible