Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
The Knicks last won an NBA championship in 1973. Here’s what NYC looked like 53 years ago.
By
Matthew Schnipper
Published Jun 3, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Bettmann/Getty Images contributor
By
Matthew Schnipper
Published Jun 3, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The New York Knicks open the NBA finals on Wednesday, taking on the San Antonio Spurs. It’s their first trip to the finals since 1999.
But this year’s dominant playoff run has anxious fans eying something bigger – a prize that’s eluded the team for decades.
The last time the Knicks were crowned NBA champions was 1973. That was 53 years ago — more than half a century and nearly a fifth of the time the United States has existed.
In 1973, the team’s current star player, Jalen Brunson, was 23 years away from being born. His father, current Knicks Assistant Coach Rick Brunson, was only a year old.
Were baby Rick to have watched the 1973 NBA finals, he would have seen Knicks star center Willis Reed, one of the team’s greatest players of all time, score an average of 16 points per game and go on to be named finals MVP. He’d have watched Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley decimate the Los Angeles Lakers in five games, with the Knicks winning four in a row after losing the first in the series. It was an amazing time to be a New York City basketball fan.
A lot has happened to the Knicks in the decades since. Like Patrick Ewing's entire career, for example. Carmelo Anthony. Linsanity. The “Go New York Go” song that you can’t get out of your head. Superfan Spike Lee. Timothée Chalamet. The fans have been through a lot.
So has New York itself. Fifty-three years is several lifetimes in the cycle of this fast-paced city. To give you an idea of how long it’s been since we tasted glory, here’s a look at the very bygone state of New York the last time the Knicks won the NBA championship.
Real estate
Reports vary, but the average New York City rent in 1973 was around $100. That’s about $750 after adjusting for inflation, quite a bit less than the current median of about $2500. A two-bedroom luxury apartment in Manhattan could be had for $51,750, or $404,000 after inflation. We’ll spare you the average price in today’s dollars.
Subway fare
One ride costs 35 cents. Adjusted for inflation, that is $2.67, which is still less than the current cost of $3. You paid that fee with a token. Tokens themselves still had 30 years to go before their elimination in 2003.
Grand openings
Many culinary trends have come and gone, but hot dogs at Gray’s Papaya have been going strong since 1973. Only one location of the once ubiquitous spot remains. CBGB, originally standing for “country, bluegrass and blues,” opens, soon to become a punk petri dish. The club closed in 2006. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe opens in the Lower East Side, where it still stands, though it has been closed for renovations for several years. And the world’s largest co-op complex, Co-Op City in the Bronx, opens. The World Trade Center also opened, after seven years of construction. At the time, the Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world.
John Lindsay in Gracie Mansion
John Lindsay ended his second term as mayor in 1973. His tenure included oversight of the city in the midst of the Vietnam War, which was the cause of the so-called Hard Hat Riots, where construction workers attacked antiwar protesters. He was also the mayor during a sanitation worker strike. Lindsay, who switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat while in office, was succeeded by Abe Beame, elected late in 1973. Beame presided over the city’s budget crisis, which almost led to bankruptcy. Most famously, he was mayor during the city’s 1977 blackout. Four years after their championship win, the Knicks had 40 wins and 42 losses that year.
A very Trump introduction
The New York Times ran the first of many, many quotes from future Donald J. Trump, in a story titled “Major Landlord Accused of Antiblack Bias in New York City.” The piece outlined a lawsuit filed against Trump and his father. Trump denied the charges. “They are absolutely ridiculous,” he said. The suit was eventually settled with no admission of guilt.
Hip-hop is born
At a party in the Bronx, a teenager named Kool Herc, using two turntables, elongates the drum breaks on soul records and makes calls to the audience to dance. The sound is a precursor to hip-hop. On “Rapper’s Delight,” the first rap commercial successful rap record released a few years later in 1979, Sugarhill Gang shout out the Knicks, saying, “I got a color TV so I can see the Knicks play basketball.” It will be another four decades until one-time Knick Iman Shumpert begins his own short-lived career as a rapper.
New York on film
New York featured in several films, including “Serpico,” a fictionalization of police whistleblower Frank Serpico’s uphill battle to expose corruption. Star Al Pacino was 33 years old. “Mean Streets,” about the mafia in Little Italy, was released. It was directed by Martin Scorsese, who, at the time, was 31. In the years since, he’s directed 23 feature films. “Soylent Green” was also released, featuring a dystopian, cannibalistic New York City set far in the future: 2022.
Tagged
Existing in New York City
sports
Matthew Schnipper
Matthew Schnipper is Gothamist & WNYC's culture editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Sep 26, 2026
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
By
Hannah Frishberg
How a Harry Styles pop-up in the East Village led to a nearby bookstore owner's arrest
By
Sonia Rao
NYC’s creative workers are increasingly self-employed, report says
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .