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Having been born in the 1980s, the first time I visited Times Square was in the late 1990s when I was 12 and I remember it not being any different than it is today so the pictures of the seedy, dirty, and crime ridden Times Square seems surreal to me. How bad was Times Square and New York City altogether in the 70s and 80s? Was the area crime ridden where Broadway Shows were playing? I know that the subways were bad but that's nothing new to me.
well 1998 was pretty much like it is now because Disney and others opened on 42 street in 1997, the year the street was transformed. 42 street was purged in 1992 of all but one XXX theater. the street stood almost empty until 1996 when the last XXX theater closed.
the area bounded by 7th and Broadway between 41st and the mid 50's was always commercial, a little seedy and a bit intimidating (especially in the upper 40's where there was a lot of XXX places) but for the most part it was OK during the day and at night during theater hours, in the 70's and 80's
one of the most dangerous subway stations was the IND line at 42nd and 8th. there was some kind of penny arcade under there (I think it was where the jeans stores and barbershops are now under neath the passageway to 44th street). it was certainly a frightening experience to be under there or to be in the area around 42nd and 8th at any time of the day
it wasn't the area where the theaters were on 7th and Broadway that was so bad, it was the sidestreets that were bad, the most notoriously dangerous were 42 street between 7th and 8th, 41st street, 43rd street, the streets surrounding the Port Authority Bus Terminal and 8th avenue from 40th up to about 50th or so. lots of run down and boarded up buildings, flop houses/welfare hotels loaded with vagrants, addicts, alcoholics, hookers. often this atmosphere spilled over onto the sidestreets, causing restaurant owners and hoteliers to lose business
area started to decline in the late 60's. i think crime was highest in the period between 1978 and 1981. in the 80's several construction projects were completed in the area making it a little more attractive. after the 1992 cleanup things gradually got better. by 1997 it was a totally different place
I remember passing by 42nd st as a kid loved seeing the pimps with the big cars getting their shoes shined on 8th ave. I used to test my "fear level" by walking down 42nd street. It was like walking into a prison yard......people getting mugged by razor blade bandits. They would run up on someone and slice their trousers with a razor blade..get that wallet and AUDI 5000..LATERZ !
back in those days i was on the infamous 42 street a grand total of twice--once in 1977 walking back to the Port Authority and once in 1981 to go to Modells. i always avoided the block, until 1996 when it became like a ghost town. I always felt scared walking past the boarded up buildings and flop houses along 8th Avenue. nowdays i never think twice about going to a concert at BB Kings--its like a family Carnival out on the streets
During the 60s, the barkers would beckon customers to come into the "clubs." The doors would be open and you could see the girls dancing in their cages. People would stand on the street handing out leaflets to advertise their brand of "theater."
It was seedy and filled with thugs lined up on 42nd st. It wasn't dangerous, just annoying. The fun factor was better then, though, because of its original people. There was Studio 54 close by. It was busy at Times Square then as it now. The low point for Times Sq. was back in the late 80's to early 90's because of all those homeless people and the mentally ills. It was worst than the late 70's because of even higher crime rates and more homeless people, especially at the Penn. St..
In the 70's it was seedy and fun, but by the late 80's(1988), it was really going to the dogs! I've never seen NY so filled with mentally ill people and homeless people all over the city by the parks and bus stations. It was so bad and annoying. In the late 70's it was just crime ridden, dirty and sleazy with thugs lined up on 7th Ave and even on 5th Ave, but the late 80's took the cake after a brief improvement in the early 80's. Now, it's fine but very sterile and disneyfied by Times Square with families and their babies in strollers.
Let's add the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the mix.
If you think it's creepy today - you should've seen how it was back then.
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