The Times Square I remember was full of wonder, spectacle, excitement, and ecstasy a 7 seven year-old like me could simply never find again—and by that, I mean the huge indoor Ferris Wheel in the flagship Toys R Us. In 2018, when all Toys R Us were announced to be shutting down, a pivotal part of my upbringing and normalcy went with it. Reflecting on what I had lost, I came to the realization that the urban metropolis that is New York City has undergone so much change, especially Times Square. Through anecdotes from my grandma (who was a young adult during the 70s and 80s), I learned about the rich and thick history of a sexually awakened NYC. Having only seen depictions of the area in movies like Cruising with Al Pacino, the tales on 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue allured my curiosity about the sexual promiscuity of a 1970s Times Square. There’s no better time than now to revisit the sexual past of Times Square, and peek into the peep shows and sex shops that once were.
PLAYPEN
Located in what was once Ideal Theater at 693 8th Avenue and then relocated between 43rd and 44th street, Playpen—a live peep show venue—was one of the longest lasting trails of NYC’s promiscuous past. Home to a plethora of toys, movies, accessories and “video-viewing booths offering thousands of choices for a rate of about $1 per minute” with a variety of content styles to choose from, Playpen made a lasting name for itself as an adult shop. Located above the shop are independently contracted women, who perform sexual services for customers in booths depending on the price they are willing to pay.
Anecdotal accounts from one of these performers talks about the discrepancies she faces now as a performer versus how it was in the height of the Times Square sextopia. Classifying her profession as something of a dying art only the most loyal and consistent customers consume, the highlight of her career was making anywhere from $200 on a slow night to $600, whereas now reaching $100 is considered an achievement. Recognizing the competition she faces with live peep shows and unlimited internet pornography at one's disposal, it seems as if Playpen is a mere reminder of what once was Times Square’s sexual history.
RICHARD BASCIANO
The “man’s man” Richard Basciano is credited with creating the staple of 1970s-1980s adult content: Show World. A former boxer turned pornographic connoisseur, Basciano created an empire for the sex industry selling porngraphy with partner (and mobster) Robert DiBernardo. Fusing all three of his areas of expertise, Show World became Basciano’s staple, where his boxing past, real estate success, and commercial sexual prowess came together to create “the McDonalds of Sex.”
SHOW WORLD
22,000-square-feet in all its glory, Show World was a porn emporium. Using his boxers as cashiers, Basciano’s Show World had it all. For a quarter, customers were able to watch women perform various sexual acts minutes at a time or watch x-rated movies for the same price (and duration), picking from a catalogue of 10 or so movies for their pleasure. Around the 80s, Basciano removed peep-show windows, leaving performers free to physically touch the customers. Described as a sexual circus for “cheap, illicit thrills,” Show World served as a space for sex positivity and for sex enthusiasts to divulge in their deepest, wildest, and darkest desires. While many previous performers and visitors of the venue recall much more grim memories, those filled with uncertainty about what they were actually doing or consuming, the consensus at the time was that Show World was the pinnacle of sex in Times Square.
Yet the height in success for the supermarket of porn would not last forever: the increasing paranoia from consumers deterred people from coming as AIDS cases were becoming more prevalent. People were more interested in obtaining the local street drug popular at this time: crack cocaine. Coupling this in with new regulations on X-rated shops, the demise of adult retail shops would be felt not just for Basciano and Show World, but for the sex industry in NYC as a whole.
GIULIANI + CO
The 1980s marked a turning point for Times Square. The Department of City Planning (DCP) started looking into rezoning Time Square and created the Special Midtown Zoning District in 1982 with the intention of winning over developers with tactics like tax breaks and subsidies. When that did not work, then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the city council created zoning rules that would directly affect x-rated video stores and topless bars. Taking effect in 1995, these changes would prevent adult entertainment businesses from operating within 500 feet of residences, schools, churchs, and other sexual establishments while limiting their size to 10,000 square feet. By doing this, the hope was to redirect these sex shops to industrial areas.
In addition to this, a 60-40 rule was implemented, where adult establishments must have at least 60 percent of their shop dedicated to non-pornographic media. Some shop owners complied with this by offering magazines and movies, but as the years went on stricter regulations made it hard for these places to stay open. For many, 2001 felt like the nail in the coffin, when adult shops were barred from operating in areas that were not zoned for adult businesses.
The booming real estate value possessed by Times Square—along with Disney’s unwillingness to invest in the revamp of theatres with the presences of adult entertainment nearby—ensured that the eradication of the peep shows, Show World, and Times Square’s sextopia was inescapable. The adult shops that once stood where the heart of The City That Never Sleeps is are symbolic of a time where sexual promiscuity, curiosity, and desire were celebrated. While there is little that remains concretely of this time, there are still sex shops in NYC that do exist such as Rainbow Station and Empire Exotics—and the back of Spencer Gifts is always inviting and taunting with sexual ooze.
Written by Destiny Maldonado
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