You mean, NOT because of the crossfire and crackheads?
That all came after the era Rick models. Things really went to he11-in-a-handbasket in 1969 and 1971 when the whole city erupted into riots....
Not long after!
I model the very early 1950s.
I can remember in the late 50s, living in the suburbs, you would wake up many Halloween mornings and the city would be burning following Mischief Night (the night before Halloween).
Helicopters would be overhead directing fire and police efforts.
My Mom used to say that during her younger years Camden was the classy shopping district to go to.
Then they built the automobile bridges (1926 & 1957) across the Delaware and Philadelphia and their large department stores were easy to get to (no longer required a ferry ride).
Camden started a long, painful demise.
The city followed the nation into the riots period in the late 1960s.
I had an uncle who was an officer in the NJ National Guard and they were called up to provide escort to firetrucks responding to alarms.
The police were overwhelmed, so the NJ State Police augmented them for a while.
(I believe one year they actually beat out Detroit as the murder capital of the world.)
The city is fighting back. The waterfront is being rebuilt.
The battleship New Jersey is a great tour, the aquarium is first class and Rutgers University has a campus there (with a minor league baseball stadium).
New stores are building out from there.
The city is served with regular rail/subway commuter service (Patco) and new light rail service up the Delaware River to Trenton.
Campbell Soup has remained a city fixture and the city is served with the best trauma hospital in south Jersey (Cooper).
And, of course, Pavonia Yard is still the largest railroad yard in southern New Jersey, now served by parents CSX & NS.
We have seen all NS's heritage units on the old PRSL rails and engines from as far away as the west coast.
(Looks like the paint conglomerations of the early Penn Central years.)
The city has a future but the road to recovery is not an easy one due to budget restraints and their fare share of corrupt politicians.
During my modeling period, RCA was still a retail powerhouse and the JB Van Sciber (furniture) parapet building was a landmark. Now only Campbell Soup's logo still proudly flies.
RCA_Nipper_Camden_NJ_A - By Smallbones - Own work, Public Domain, httpscommons.wikimedia.orgwindex.phpcurid=11433610.JPG
