Hacker Cinema
NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell
2007 · Film · documentary · 87 min
Directed by Henry Corra
New York City, 1977 - It was a time when the city had fallen into decay, with too few jobs, money, police, schools, and social services. There was a city wide blackout with major looting, a serial killer on the loose, and the Bronx was burning. And yet out of the chaos emerged one of the most creative times any city has ever encountered.
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3 comments on Hacker News
which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default.
Indeed. NYC in the '70s and '80s was a dangerously magical (and magically dangerous) place.
Some good resources:
VH1's (no, seriously) "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/)
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B0051O9YCU/)
I'd be interested in anyone can recommend good books or movies about the NYC art scene of the late '70s or '80s. (I've seen Downtown 81; it's good, but not a documentary. It does capture the downtown NYC of that time, though.)
The whole loft scene was a result of squatting in empty industrial facilities, thanks to economic downturn.
Or was it Grandmaster Flash? I wish I could find the TV documentary I remember this from.
Was this in the movie Scratch? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143861/
Only other source I can think of is NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/
(Both of these are well worth watching. NY77 describes the amazing cultural events in NYC, 1997.)
Also well worth watching, both for the hip hop history and a study of New York showing its best and worst:
"NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/
When I first heard about this project I was positive it would be a VH1 suckfest, but when I saw it was stunned. It's really good, quite accurate. Those were wild times in New York.