Meryl Meisler arrived in New York in 1975, when she was on the cusp of turning 24 and the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. Times Square had yet to be tamed, streets were dirty and all the federal government could do when asked for help was to tell the city — in the memorable formation of The New York Daily News — “Drop dead.”

Ms. Meisler loved it.

“I felt like I belonged,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, even though I had a teaching degree. Maybe because the city itself was out of joint. I had just come out as a lesbian, but I felt like I belonged here. I felt safe.”