A NYC friend of mine posted a link on her Facebook page that is sooooooo amazing that I needed to share it! Back in the mid-1970s, New York City was one of the most dangerous cities to visit. So much so that NYC's Council for Public Safety (police, firefighters, and other unions) created a pamphlet called "Welcome to Fear City: A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York". This pamphlet is one alarming brochure ... and it's kind of hilarious!
If you were planning on visiting NYC and saw a copy of this brochure, you might rethink your vacation plans and go...well, anywhere else - particularly with the image from the cover of a skull. Things that I used to do on a daily basis when I lived there from 1994 through 2011 seems to be unheard of back in the mid-1970s. What was the Council's advice?
- Stay off the streets after 6 p.m.
- Do not walk — "If you must leave your hotel... summon a taxi by telephone."
- Avoid public transportation — "You should never ride the subway for any reason whatsoever."
- Remain in Manhattan — "If you remain in midtown areas and restrict your travel to daylight hours, emergency service personnel are best able to provide protection."
- Protect your property
- Safeguard your handbag
- Conceal property in automobiles
- Do not leave valuables in your hotel room, and do not deposit them in the hotel vault
- Be aware of fire hazards
One of the best lines is: "...some New Yorkers do manage to survive and even to keep their property intact...Good luck." Bah hahahahahahaha!!!
Unsurprisingly, this pamphlet never actually got distributed due to the negative publicity, but I'm certainly glad that someone kept a copy for our enjoyment today. You can check out the entire pamphlet on the Gothamist website. I'm not sure which of the advice given is my favorite, but I really find it interesting that they did not recommend putting valuables in the hotel vault. What the heck was going on with the hotels in NYC during the 1970s??
I'm thrilled that the City rebounded and it is now a great place to live or vacation ... although I would never live there again!
4 comments:
So like this Joe Mantegna SNL sketch: http://www.hulu.com/watch/198094, including the pamphlets "So You've Been Shot," "So You've Been Stabbed," "So You've Been Doused with Gas and Lit on Fire," and "The I Love NY Guide to Avoiding Eye Contact.
OMG this is hilarious!!!! I've never been a fan of Joe Mantegna but this is just brilliant!
"NY ranks no. 1 in only one type of homicide, which is a person walking up to a stranger on the street and shooting him." An all-time favorite sketch.
I lived through that!
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