Since the dawn of cultural-New-York-time, New Yorkers have complained that the city isn't what it used to be. I wondered how the media has reflected this anecdotal, local truth through the past few decades. I searched the phrase "New York used to be" on Lexus Nexis for results going back as far as their databases go (roughly 1980). I then sifted through the data, edited each example down to the central lines where the phrase is mentioned, and categorized them by subject matter.

"New York used to be" was created as part of the School of Visual Arts' Data Visualization Intensive, summer 2012.