What New York Was Like in the Early ’80s — Hour by Hour (Published 2018) (2024)

A chance encounter with David Bowie at a downtown nightclub. Boozy, drug-fueled parties that lasted until dawn. A walk across the Williamsburg Bridge — just to save a subway token. Mornings spent alone, writing in a studio in the West Village. Afternoon workouts. Dinner on the Upper East Side with a former president of the United States. These are the moments, large and small, recounted by 36 writers, artists, fashion designers, musicians and more who lived in New York City in the early ’80s. Together, this chorus of voices — assembled, edited and condensed — creates a compelling mosaic, revealing a city bustling with creativity but also slowly emerging from its recent near-bankruptcy, with upscale restaurants just blocks away from rubble-filled, graffiti-painted lots. Whether you were struggling, successful or just plain lucky, these stories remind us that in these years New York City — dirty, dangerous, derelict, dazzling — was the only place to be.

12:00 a.m.

Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer

I was in my early 30s, and I had Tatiana and Alex, my children, so I didn’t stay out until dawn like I had in the 1970s. But at midnight, yes, I was often out. Studio 54 was over after the owners, Steve [Rubell] and Ian [Schrager], got arrested in 1980, so we all migrated to the Mudd Club, on White Street. Or I would throw a party. I was living uptown — really the classic “uptown,” which, because I was young, seemed a little wild to some people — with my kids and my mother (also, at that time I was in love with a Brazilian man I’d met in Bali). The apartment, at 1060 Fifth Avenue, at 87th Street, was like a fantasy apartment — huge, with a view of the reservoir. A lot of very creative, brilliant people were living in rough places downtown, which was dangerous but cheap, but I never did. (I might be the only person who never lived in a scary New York apartment. I came here from Europe at age 22 in the 1960s already married and went to Park Avenue.) If I threw a party, by midnight there was probably an especially good mix of people there. Richard Gere was a fixture, as well as Diana Ross and Princess Caroline. I served eggplant parmigiana and a stupendous chocolate cake that everyone always wanted. I suppose I should have loved New York; things were very good for me. But truthfully, I hated it. You could feel it turning, the tackiness beginning to creep in. Reagan really ruined it for me. And shoulder pads. And the hair. And “Dynasty.” I’ve never gotten over “Dynasty.” And then people started dying. I realized I had to leave. By 1984, I’d put my kids in boarding school and left to live in Paris for five years.

1:00 a.m.

Kim Gordon, musician

When I first moved to the city, there was a garbage strike. I was hustling. I had a horrible graveyard shift at a coffee shop, one of the only places to eat in Chelsea, open 24 hours — super crickets, deserted. I worked part-time for gallerist Annina Nosei. She and Larry Gagosian had this space, it was a condo loft in a building on West Broadway. [By 1 a.m.] I’d be somewhere like [the TriBeCa No Wave club] Tier 3, seeing [the electronic Berlin band] Malaria!, and then walking over to Dave’s Luncheonette. A lot of the alternative spaces — Franklin Furnace, A-Space — had music, too. Hearing hip-hop on the street, minimalist new music, free jazz — it all added to this fabric that was a landscape.

I was kind of tomboyish, but also pretty poor. I had glasses, so I put these flip-up sunglass visors on them. But I didn’t feel super cool or anything. The people who were chic, the downtowners, pretty much just wore black — that could instantly give you a look. Our first goal [as Sonic Youth] was getting a gig at CBGB. Then it was getting a good time slot at CBGB, so you weren’t on last and weren’t on first. CB’s wasn’t the best sound; it was such a long and narrow space that if it was crowded you couldn’t really see anything, unless you were standing on the side of the stage, and then you just heard the stage sound. Sometimes it could just be too blasting. It wasn’t actually the best place to hear or see bands, but it was always exciting. Then later, it became about getting a gig at Danceteria, Mudd Club — they were all little milestone achievements.

Hear Kim Gordon recount her first impressions of New York City: