80s.NYC is an interactive map created by Brandon Liu and Jeremy Lechtzin that makes use of a unique source: photographs taken by New York City's Department of Finance in order to access the property value of buildings in the city. Today, these photographs, which are freely available via the city's online Municipal Archives, document what the city looked like three decades ago. On this website, visitors are invited to browse a number of photographs through an interactive map. Best of all, many of these photographs are accompanied by short stories that provide context and history. For example, one photograph captures J&R Music World: "the place to go to buy L.P.s, cassettes, and, starting in the 80s, CDs." Another photograph features four photographs depicting a street corner that plays a role in Tom Wolfe's novel The Bonfire of the Vanities.
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