One reason I listen so often to Sinatra's Capitol recordings from the 1950's is that they depict a time when New York actually had a romantic glamour about it. On his "Come Fly With Me" album he does the song "Autumn in New York", which contains the lyric:
"lovers who bless the dark
on benches in Central Park"
I can't imagine a young couple taking their lives in their hands by smooching on a bench in Central Park after dark.
Back then, not now. My grandad used to run around NYC alone when he was 9 - nobody bothered him; took buses and the subway alone.