The current exhibitions at Steven Kasher Gallery, featuring the works of Vivian Maier and Weegee, are both ending this Saturday at 6 p.m., and they're both worth a visit. (Though the must-see Weegee show at the International Center of Photography is running through September 2nd). more ›

In the years between Stonewall and the AIDS crisis, New York City was something of a hotbed of homosexual activity. Especially in the West Village and on the piers lining the Hudson. The piers especially were regularly used for sunbathing, cruising and more. So what did that look like? On a sunny day, something like this: more ›

We've seen 1970s New York City cops laughing it up on the job, but the Bad Old Days weren't always so hilarious. Starting this week the Museum of the City of New York is unveiling their latest exhibit, titled Police Work: Photographs by Leonard Freed, 1972-1979. The expansive collection of vintage prints from the Brooklyn-born photographer show "life on the beat" during the "tumultuous" time, revealing "the complexity, the harshness, and the camaraderie of the city's public safety servants and the people they protected." more ›

It's almost 2012, which means the world is probably going to end and we can safely reflect upon the past without someone telling us to stop living in the past. The past is all we have in a world with no future, right? Or, whatever, maybe there is a future... but that doesn't change the fact that these photos of 1970s New York aren't fun to look at. more ›

Two dozen men snaked out of the bathroom line at the Beacon Theater Tuesday night, most swigging plastic 16-ounce beers. The women's side, however, was completely empty. "This is a Steely Dan concert for sure," one man noted, "19 men for every woman." Our knowledge of Steely Dan was limited to hearing parents belt out "Peg" at weddings and the fact that the band is named after a sex toy. Urged by a certain editor who claimed we were making a "big mistake" if we missed it, we caught Steely Dan's performance of their 1976 album The Royal Scam, with completely open ears to unlock the mystery of The Dan and their many, many dudes. more ›

As the fan bases of bands from the '70s and '80s get older, it means that they generally have more money to spend on crap that their idols sell them. Purveyors of Cro-Magnon rock AC/DC now join the ranks of KISS, Motörhead, Whitesnake and Warrant in releasing their new line of fine wines, according to the Australian Associated Press. Our sources tell us that the wines will all have notes of "heavy sexual innuendo, a 4/4 time signature, zero cymbals, and will all taste exactly the same." more ›

Graffiti-covered subway cars! Graffiti-covered buses! It's New York City in the 1970s, as seen through the eyes of disgruntled straphangers. The below clip has choice soundbites from locals at the time; one woman declares, "The subways are crummy, and they're dangerous. You get pushed, you get shoved, sometimes you get mugged in the subway... during the daylight.” And people weren't happen with the way the MTA was running things then, either. Another woman says, "I can remember when public transportation was one of the prides of New York... what's happened?" Indeed. more ›

We'll present today's Flashback without much comment. Here's a look back at New York City from the late 1970s to mid-1980s, when everything was so gloriously gritty. The photos will bring you from the Garment District to Alphabet City—and there's even an appearance by the Astor Place cube. (Warning: the last photo may not be SFW.) more ›

We've looked back at 1970s New York before — but that decade sure did produce amazing photos, including some of these newly resurfaced ones (many recently posted in the Wired NY forum). Many corners of the decade are documented: from Women's Lib to Miller High Life-fueled gatherings to shredding apart Yankee Stadium in 1973. more ›

The Bronx Museum recently opened an exhibit featuring Bronx "artifacts" from 1971 to present day. Urban Archives: That Was Then This Is Now is "the first of a new, multi-year series of exhibitions that look at contemporary culture as a living archive.” This one was drawn primarily from personal collections of artists that have been working in and on the Bronx for decades, and "in their collections, the testimonies of long-time residents and occasional visitors coexist in the form of mementos, documentation, artwork and other sort of cultural artifacts." Check it out sometime between now and March 1st. more ›

Finally, photographer Allan Tannenbaum is releasing a new book of photographs that will transport you back to NYC as it was in the '70s. Sex, drugs, street gangs, disco divas, politicians, homeless, celebrities, musicians, hookers, and literally every other thing (and person) that went down during the decade are amongst the images included. It's nearly impossible to narrow down just a few from the book, but consider this a preview (minus all the sex club, disco orgy, x-rated shots). The book is out April 2nd, and the preface is written by Yoko Ono, with a foreword by P.J. O’Rourke. more ›

Photographer Bruce Barone has a treasure trove of old photographs he snapped in the late 1970s and early 1980s, while working at Hearst Magazines. He tells us he is now self-publishing a book featuring some hand-selected images, which should be ready by the end of February. For now, here's a look back through his lens at an older New York. more ›

Paterson: I'd say I was about 22-23. I tried it a few times, yes. Where's all the hemming and hawing about what the definition of "using" coke is? Smoking it? Snorting it? Speedballing? Paterson was sniffing a fine chablis and some cocaine fell up his nose? Bill Clinton could spend years of an independent counsel's time trying to wriggle out of those questions. George W. Bush could say it's irrelevant since he's found Jesus. Our Governor just cops to being a young man in the 1970s with an indiscreet, if not unusual past. Has NY found its first honest politician--willing to accept some responsibility for indiscretions on the way up, rather than falling back on them as an excuse (sex addict) on his way down? more ›