The 42nd street area will never be the same...All its amazing theaters (think Selwyn, Lyric or Empire, Ziegfeld follies, Houdini shows, etc.) were brutaly destroyed to make room for a "family friendly" environment. Giuliani's clean up time had come and all of this old NY had to go.
Only the Amsterdam Theater still stands (and a couple of theather fronts that were miraculously saved)...completly transformed by Disney. Some of the photos featured here were taken a few months before all the theaters went down...as the city had commisioned artists to display messages on the old time canopes.
You will also find here images of 8th avenue (the "Deuce") and Times square, all were taken between 1993 and 1997. The strip shows and peep shows, the porn theaters (Show World, Peep Land, The Playpen, etc.) before they were gone and as destruction had just started.
- © G.Alessandrini - All rights reserved -
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| North west corner of 8th avenue and 42nd street |
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| The remains of The Nugget. Just before total destruction. |
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| Here and below, the 42nd street theater fronts |
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| North west corner of 8th avenue and 42nd street...again |
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| And after the destruction... |
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| A new era has begun. Cranes and construction everywhere. |
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| 8th avenue, The Deuce, is dead. All the porn shops have closed. |
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| Mc Hales - An institution... |
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| Show World, still in activity with its infamous "triple treat" theater ! |
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| The Smiths Bar on 8th avenue...A must for a real Times Square late night experience at the time ! |
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| A couple of views of the old Hot Dog and soda fountain shop on the 42nd street strip |
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| 8th. ave and 42nd street...one more time, later on...with a giant ad for the Godzilla movie. |
Thanks for sharing this amazing set of photos of the end days of a Times Square I never got to experience.
ReplyDeleteActually, just one little correction - the Selwyn still stands. The interior was completely refurbished although the facade of the building is gone (it actually fell of it's own accord at some point - not via demolition but because it was in such poor disrepair). The Selwyn is now the American Airlines theater, one of the Broadway homes of the Roundabout Theatre Company.
ReplyDelete(LOVE these pics though - and the entire blog - well done!)
Anonymous, you're absolutly right about the Selwyn, I read something about its renovation after posting these images. Thanks for the details about this landmark theater of the old 42nd street.
ReplyDeleteKind regards and thanks for your interest in this blog !
Actually, the Selwyn was basically demo-ed and combined with another theater to create the American Airlines theater.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this amazing photos
ReplyDeleteWONDERFULL!!
ReplyDeleteMy heart aches
ReplyDelete....for all the "Repent or Perish" sign carriers
who have been displaced!
Perhaps ...they perished anyway?
Great photos, brings me back to my first visit to NYC in 1988.
ReplyDeleteWere those messages on the theater marquees part of an art project?
Thank You ! Yes, it was an art project proposed as a transitional event before the 42nd street complete rehabilitation. The theaters and shops were all still standing but everything was closed. The 42nd street strip was totally empty, waiting...the old soda shop was still functionning...
DeleteI think Show world is still there, you just have to access it from the storefront nest door to the old entrance. The booths and stuff are the same.
ReplyDeleteWell,the side entrance on 42nd st. might still exist...but I can garantee you that the place is nothing close to what it once was...I heard that it's supposed to become (or already became) some kind of comedy club.
DeleteMarvelous photographs! You really did capture a time of change in NYC, I remember it well...
ReplyDeleteHow nice of you to use black and white, instead of color photos that would have revealed just how shabby the area actually looked like back then
ReplyDelete