{"id":8813,"date":"2009-01-14T09:33:51","date_gmt":"2009-01-14T14:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=8813"},"modified":"2022-10-16T16:11:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T20:11:05","slug":"scanning-wednesday-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=8813","title":{"rendered":"Scanning Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking of a New York that is dying …<\/p>\n

Here are some photos of a New York that is now completely dead, and Disney is dancing on its grave. Once upon a time, not too many years ago, if you walked through Times Square, you would see smut and girlie shows and strange old-school burlesque palaces – right on 42nd Street (so hard to believe now – if you’ve been to Times Square recently you will know what I mean). There was a dingy carnival atmosphere, like Coney Island in March … working girls (or: girls working their way through college) and peep shows and pimps – a block away from Broadway. Unreal.<\/p>\n

When I moved to New York in 1995, that New York was still alive – although quickly dying. I did not take these pictures realizing what would happen to 42nd Street, I didn’t see the future – I just know I like dingy urban scenes, I love smut, I love all that Diane Arbus stuff – the underbelly. I love it. It’s part of the reason why I moved here.<\/p>\n

At the time I took the following photos, the writing was already on the wall. Many of the burlesque houses were boarded up – but nothing had opened in their places – so Times Square looked like a ghost town. Truly eerie. This is the hubbub, the tourist mecca of America – and it’s boarded up end to end, with vestiges of that old world (strange murals, peeling signs) still visible.<\/p>\n

So strange.<\/p>\n

And now I am so so glad I wandered around that freezing day taking pictures, because those days are GONE now. You can’t find much of this anymore in New York anywhere. The smut industry has moved on to greener friendlier pastures.<\/p>\n

I love these photos. So so strange … things look jerry-rigged, pasted together – things don’t make sense – the huge DKNY sign next to the model of some ancient Greek building stuck into an alcove … signifying what? It’s fabulous whatever it is.<\/p>\n

These photos, I must reiterate, are all on 42nd Street proper<\/i> – they are not creepy little side streets. This is what you saw on the main drag. What a welcome mat.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of a New York that is dying … Here are some photos of a New York that is now completely dead, and Disney is dancing on its grave. Once upon a time, not too many years ago, if you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[161],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182186,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions\/182186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}