In 1979, there were 250 serious crimes reported in the New York subway system – per week. There were six murders in the first two months alone. No other subway in the world was more crime-ridden and infamous.

New Yorker Willy Spiller braved the labyrinth transport system for a photography series that says so much about the modern tone and texture of the world's most iconic city.

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A worker in the assembly plant of car maker Iran National, Tehran, 1977 @facethenation

Elvis Presley waits for his breakfast while a lady, who can't sit at a segregated lunch counter, waits for hers, 1956 @facethenation

On April 25, 1945, American and Soviet troops met at the River Elbe, marking an important step toward the end of World War II in Europe @facethenation

Last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II, just after his trial in Delhi and before his departure for exile in Rangoon, 1858. He is the only Mughal emperor to be photographed @facethenation

Confetti pours from skyscrapers in Chicago's financial district on May 1, 1970, as Apollo 13 astronauts ride in a motorcade during a parade in their honor @facethenation

Soviet girl Maria Shalneva, corporal of the 87th separate Road Maintenance Battalion, regulates the movement of military equipment near the Reichstag in Berlin, May 2, 1945 @facethenation

U.S. combat soldiers reading newspapers with 'Hitler Dead' headline on May 2, 1945 @facethenation

German stormtroops training in a dummy trench system near Sedan, France, May 1917 @facethenation

In 1922 Iranian government purchased its first aircraft from Germany. Junkers over Tehran, 1925 @facethenation