The frenetic enchantment of New York City

Manhattan, 1980, with a blacked-out Central Park in the foreground.

(From New York City Up and Down, by Jean-Pierre Laffont copyright 2017, published by Glitterati Incorporated.)But this, of course, is its allure — and what drew French Algerian photojournalis

Brooklyn, Summer 1966.

Jean-Pierre Laffont shares his cameras with children from Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Manhattan, 1965.

Riverside Park and 81st Street. Sophie and Elyzabeth Markevitch look through the gate at a train passing under Riverside Park.

Lower East Side, 1973.

In the early 1970s, the city experienced 250 serious fires a day. The Fire Department of the City of New York has served the city since 1865.

Manhattan, 1969.

On the one-year anniversary of its Broadway debut, the cast of the rock musical Hair gave a free performance in Central Park. Several of its songs became anti-Vietnam War anthems.

Manhattan, September 1981.

Robin Williams does a street performance in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan, Oct. 2, 1979.

A massive crowd packs the inside and outside of the church on Pope John Paul II's first visit to New York City.