America may be a nation obsessed with automobiles, but today the bicycle is giving the car a run for its money. And while New York is just one of many cities that is implementing new bikefriendly policies, the local cyclist population stands out as one of the most diverse, inventive, and stylish in the world.

Drastic inequality is by no means new in New York. Jacob A. Riis was called a muckraker after he chose to spotlight the city’s poverty at the turn of the 20th century by photographing it. Here: Sweatshop in Hester Street, 1889-1890. (Photo by Jacob A. Riis/Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roger William Riis)

Nina Leen, one of the first female photographers to work for Life, took pictures for the magazine from 1940 to 1972. In the mid-1940s, her essay, “City Dogs”, featured actors and artists with their pets on the streets of New York City. In late-March, Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York City, is opening a solo exhibition of Leen’s work that features images from that essay and others. Here: author Fannie Hurst clad in mink coat, enjoying the jumping antics of her Yorkshire terrier Orphan Annie on the street. (Photo by Nina Leen/Pix Inc./The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Camels walk down a street at the end of the Three Kings Day Parade in East Harlem on January 6, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A model has her hair done before The Blonds Spring/Summer 2016 collection during New York Fashion Week in New York September 16, 2015. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Comic Con fans in costume arrive for the 2nd day of the 2016 New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center on October 7, 2016. The four- day event which runs October 6-9 is the largest pop culture event on the East Coast. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Models wait backstage ahead of the Eugenia Kim Spring/Summer 2018 fashion show during New York Fashion Week in New York, U.S., September 10, 2017. (Photo by Amr Alfiky/Reuters)

People participate in the annual Afropunk Music festival on August 27, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)