The Rubble of the 70's and 80's

Check out this amazing video montage of Melrose and the surrounding neighborhoods during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  It is a really powerful video especially for those of us who, like myself, lived through these times.  We lived in a war zone amongst rubble, rats, drug infested streets, garbage everywhere with no one caring for us except ourselves and our families. So many politicians forgot about us as did the landlords…the later who just cared about receiving their monthly rent and could care less that the residents lived in squalor and third world conditions.  Buildings that collapsed with the arsonist fires that were set by gang members paid by landlords to torch them just lay where they fell.  


Please take the time to see this video.  How could an entire geographic section of New York City be left to decay like that?  This almost 10 minute video is a rather personal and emotional journey for myself because having lived through this and the stigma that one felt for living there because the rest of the city and the world treated us like some sort of freaks of nature for living there but what they always forgot is that it was not that easy to leave there.  Some of us made it out and moved away, others died through the violence or old age and then there were those who chose to stay and try to make a difference. 

Next time you see someone who lived in Melrose and the South Bronx during the 70’s, 80’s and even early 90’s you should congratulate them for making surviving such a horrific time which most certainly left an indelible mark on Melrose, The Bronx, New York City, state and country and most importantly on those of us who experienced it first hand.


Not sure who gets the credit for this video but it was posted by YouTube user TheBerlin09.


A big Melrose THANK YOU to all who endured it and survived as well as a moment of silence for all the lives lost.