This Is What It Was Like To Be A Teenager Living In New York City in the 1970s

If you ever wondered what it was like to be a teen in New York City back in the crazy 1970s, by the look of these incredible black and white photos shot by Joseph Szabo, it was a total riot.

There's not a smartphone in sight and smoking seems to be a pastime that many youths enjoyed.

There was a lot of hanging around on sidewalks and making out too. And generally looking like they don't have a care in the world, because they probably don't.

But not everyone was as carefree as the teens. New York was a different place back then, it had to deal with a fiscal crisis which brought it to near bankruptcy.

And it also suffered the mad chaos of a power outage that lasted 25 hours.