Tragedy came to the Big Apple long before 9/11 with the arrival of a new four-letter world called AIDS that terrorized an entire generation of New Yorkers. It threw the world's freest, most cosmopolitan and culturally advanced city back into a medieval mindset of fear. Photographer Veretta welcomes us back to the last days of a self-confident city that is always ready to party in effusively decorated nightspots. She shows a generation that sang and danced in garish attire through the carefree days that opened up after the Vietnam War, unaware of sordid doings underway that would radically alter their mindset. This book bears witness to the last days of an era before an entire generation of New Yorkers discovered the grief, mourning and despair that comes with the loss of loved ones. Throughout these pages, there is still music, fun and laughter in vibrant garb. Everyone could live it up in the certainty it would last forever.