Cynthia Shannon asked Richard Sutton:

How was NYC advertising different in the 70s and 80s compared with the NYC advertising we learned about in Mad Men?

Richard Sutton Hmmm... since I actually was working in advertising art in those days, I can best describe NYC in terms of the culture, which was undergoing a major shift on the upper West Side and Lower West Side, from areas of low-income and higher crime, to the almost sedate, friendly family-oriented neighborhoods we know them for today. It resulted in a lot of anger from those displaced and insecurity and frustration from those coming in who thought they were improving things by buying into mixed neighborhoods. By the late seventies, the polarization was fading, but by that time I had met my wife and moved to Long Island. However, despite the tension from those days, New York was a very welcoming place, where anyone would be able to find a comfortable niche, rich or poor. I remember riding the subway to work, getting on at the 72nd Street station and riding downtown with millionaires, actors, mimes, Wall Streeters and homeless, alike. We'd arrive downtown at my stop and there would be mass migrations to each of the office buildings but at 9:05AM, the sidewalks would be deserted, like someone flipped a switch. The booze for lunch crew were always in the floors above where I worked. We put in so many hours we had to remain sober to get the work done.

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