The Big Apple seemed to be rotting from within during the 1970s.
Crime was everywhere and the city was struggling to deal with a major fiscal crisis.
The city's subway system wasn't faring much better. Crime, graffiti, and frequent mechanical breakdowns were mainstays of New York subways throughout the decade.
Photographer Erik Calonius snapped several shots of the bleak situation in April of 1973. These pictures, along with many others, can be viewed in the Flickr album of the U.S. National Archives
These 13 photos allow us a glimpse into what it was like to ride the New York City subway system during this troubled time.
The fares may have been cheaper, but the subways were also more dangerous back in the day. In December of 1977, an operation to combat rampant crime on subways resulted in the arrest of 200 robbery suspects.
Source: NYC Subway
In 1975, visitors at New York City's airports received pamphlets welcoming them to "Fear City." The skull-emblazoned documents advised tourists "not to take the subways under any circumstances."
Source: The Guardian
Robbery was so pervasive on the Lexington Avenue Express that is was nicknamed the "Mugger's Express."
Source: Business Insider
To discourage crime, the Transit Police closed the rear half of subway trains between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. in order to make cars easier to monitor.
Sources: New York Daily News
The 1970s were also the age of graffiti in the New York subway system. Modern day graffiti spread to New York from Philadelphia in the early 1970s.
Source: PBS Newshour
So many cars were spray-painted that New York City Mayor John Lindsay declared war on graffiti in 1972.
Throughout the decade, stagnating wages for transit workers and New York City's fiscal crisis caused the threat of transit strikes to loom over the subway system.
Source: NYC Subway