See what Brooklyn looked like before the hipsters moved in and gentrification took hold.

Nostalgia for the 1980s has been widespread in recent years. Perhaps those who grew up during that decade are looking back fondly on their childhood, or maybe there really was something magical about that time. Regardless, it’s hard not to think of things like big hair, neon leg warmers, and shoulder pads when the 1980s are brought up.

But for New York City, and especially its most populous borough, those things didn’t paint the full picture. While Wall Street boomed and a new wave of artists colonized downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn was being pulled in two vastly different directions: prospering creativity and urban decay.

To put it simply, 1980s Brooklyn was a place in transition. Though the borough

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