Life in the Concrete Jungle: Hustle and Bustle of Seventies New York City As Seen Through The Eyes of One Gifted Photographer (Photo Essay)

M2RB Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

Concrete jungle: Central Park Pond - Kids in Tree, 1973 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Photographer Paul McDonough captured scenes of New York City in the late 60s and early 70s. The collection is at the Sasha Wolf gallery in New York.   It is full of contrasts from lovers lounging calmly on the grassy pastures of New York to pedestrians scurrying down the sidewalk - the natives of New York are anything but typical.

Author Agatha Christie once said. 'It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.'

 

The  scenes captured by Mr McDonough show the mysterious movements of New Yorkers inhabiting the concrete jungle and he made it his life work to try and record that mystery.  In an 2011 interview with Visura magazine, the photographer said he was drawn to street shooting because the flexibility it gives to the photographer.

'My studio can be anywhere. Part of both the pleasure and the frustration is not knowing just what you’re going to encounter and when. You have to have the belief that you will see something on the contact sheet later that rewards your faith,' he said.

Clergy with swag: Priest with Dark Glasses, NYC, 1970 

Love is in the air: Couple, Central Park Cafe, 1973

On the sidewalks of New York: Small Person with Bookbag, NYC, 1968

Double the fun: Two Women in White Shorts, 1973

Rising from the ashes: Woman in Steam, NYC, 1969

Ladies who lunch: Women in Fur Coats, 1974

Make love, not war: Hari Krishna and Blind Man, 1973

Out and about: Pregnant Woman Crossing 85th Street, NYC, 1969

 

A Couple in Central Park, 1969

Hustle and bustle: Portrait of a Man in Hat, NYC, 1969 

Ready for business: Three Car Salesmen, 1973 

Nature: Girl and Woman Touching Horses, 1973

Romance: Central Park, Couple Kissing, NYC, 1972 

Family: Central Park, Couple with Baby in Newspaper, 1973

Street encounter: Couple Kissing on Street Corner, 1973 

Lighting up: Bryant Park Concert, NYC, 1970 

Scenes from the streets: Asian Girl with Hand to Hair, NYC, 1968

Self portrait: Me and Woman on Crutches, 1973 

 Neighborhood gossip: Woman in Wheelchair, NYC, 1969 

Photo Essay Links - Page I

Empire State of Mind

Yeah, yeah, I'ma up at Brooklyn, now I'm down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra, and since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere

I used to cop in Harlem, all of my Dominicanos
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonald's
Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street
Catch me in the Kitchen like a Simmons whipping pastry

Cruising down 8th Street, off-white Lexus
Driving so slow, but BK is from Texas
Me, I'm up at Bed-Stuy, home of that boy Biggie
Now I live on Billboard, and I brought my boys with me

Say what up to Ty Ty, still sipping mai tai
Sitting courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high fives
Nigga, I be spiked out, I can trip a referee
Tell by my attitude that I am most definitely from

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York
(I made you hot, nigga)

Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game
Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can
You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip though
But I got a gang of niggas walking with my clique, though

Welcome to the melting pot, corners where we selling rock
Afrika Bambaataa shit, home of the hip hop
Yellow Cab, Gypsy Cab, Dollar Cab, holla back
For foreigners that ain't fifty, they act like they forgot how to act

Eight million stories out there, and they're naked
Cities is a pity, half of y'all won't make it
Me, I gotta plug, Special Ed "I Got It Made"
If Jesus payin' LeBron, I'm paying Dwyane Wade

Three dice, Cee-lo, three-card Monte
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace, Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade
Long live the king, yo, I'm from the Empire State that's

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

Lights is blinding, girls need blinders
So they can step out of bounds quick
The sidelines is blind with casualties
Who sipping life casually, then gradually become worse

Don't bite the apple, Eve, caught up in the in crowd
Now you're in style, end of the winter gets cold
En vogue with your skin out, the city of sin is a pity on a whim
Good girls gone bad, the cities filled with them

Mommy took a bus trip, now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her just like a bus route
Hail Mary to the city, you're a virgin
And Jesus can't save you, life starts when the church ends

Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feeling like a champion
The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

One hand in the air for the big city
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty
No place in the world that can compare
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(Come on, come on)

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York
New York, New York

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