Way back when, before naff chain restaurants soaked up all the real estate and the fixie-riding ‘creative consultants’ planted their flags, Times Square, the epicentre of New York, was a hotbed of scuzz, sleaze and smut, rampant with crime and, for a while at least, thought to be beyond salvation.
In short, a zone bursting at the seams with character.
Alright, maybe not the first place you’d be hankering to book a family holiday to, but you get the picture.
While this period of NYC’s history has been negatively depicted on celluloid time and time again, Maggie Hopp was one keen-eyed shutter-snapper who cottoned on pretty early to the low-brow charms of ‘The Deuce’s’ many porno theatres, grindhouses and peep shows.
Without further introductory waffle, here’s those photos…
If these snaps have whet your proverbial whistle for more sleaze, here’s a pretty illuminating interview with Abel Ferrara, NYC’s finest movie-making madmann, about his Times Square hijinks in the late-70s.