A sizzling portrait of Times Square in the 1980s
Miss Rosen, Blind Magazine
July 2022
Although it has always been a hotbed for decadence and debauchery, Times Square maintained a semblance of culture and panache until mid-century, when the Great White Way began a slow but steady descent into the clutches of the bas monde. By the 1970s, pornographers, sex workers, drug dealers, grifters, thieves, runaways, and sundry derelicts had transformed Times Square into the red light capital of the eastern seaboard. Day and night, pimps and hustlers peddled pleasures of the flesh on the street while those who preferred indoor activities could pay to play at local brothels, XXX theaters, strip clubs, sex shops, and massage parlors. […]