I got a google alert a couple of days ago that directed me to an article about working on “The Deuce” the documentary series being made by George Pelecanos, David Simon and James Franco about life in Manhattan around 42nd street (The Deuce) in the 70s and 80s. It was interesting because in the typical David Simon (The Wire, NYPD Blue, Treme) desire to get it right consultants from the industry have been hired, including Sharon Mitchell, Annie Sprinkle and others who were there during the time. I and others have huge expectations for the HBO series, it is a historic setting that is ripe with good stories as anyone who remembers the time can tell you.
I visited 42nd Street many times in the 80s, I remember Show World and the seedy nature of the area, it was an interesting place, drugs, prostitution, porn stores, live sex shows were everywhere. I was relatively young, I turned 30 in 1987 and whenever I was in the area, which was frequent as a part of my job, I always visited, I remember the feel, the smell even….it’s weird how smells can evoke such strong memories the steam coming out of the manholes mixed with Sbarro and the sidewalk vendors selling sausages, brats, whatever….Oddly I never felt the least bit threatened, I didn’t make eye contact, I walked upright and with a purpose, I knew how to blend in with new York City….save for my southern accent.
The link took me to a website called The Rialto Report and I was blown away by the site, it is oral history, audio, photo, and documentary archives from the golden age of adult film in New York, and beyond the site is where David Simon found the people he hired as consultants for “The Deuce” and it is good, the writing is excellent, the history is accurate and it is honest.
By all means if you want to understand the roots of porn and get a glimpse of what the business looked like when it had a soul this site has it. There are scripts, interviews, photos, video clips, I think the site by itself is worthy documentary.
Oddly the article that brought me to the site has been pulled, it probably leaked something the filmmakers didn’t want out yet or something but if you remember the real golden age of porn, or just want to learn about it I highly recommend The Rialto Report
I know I have spent hours on the site amd I expect I will be spending many more there, it really is that good. And Kudos to David Simon and the team behind “The Deuce” for making the effort to get it right, I have a feeling that this may surpass “The Wire” and becoming his crowning achievement.
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Back in those days I went to NYC with 2 of my friends one Saturday to spend the day looking at the erotic sites. We saw a live sex show which was a very surreal moment. There was a huge theater in the round with a couch/padded bench in the middle of the room. The place was packed and a pretty young brunette with large boobs came out and did a striptease. Then a skinny young well endowed black male came out and they gave each other oral pleasure, then they had sex and finished with anal sex. After that she said she would do anyone in the audience for $50 a pop and thats when my friends and I bounced out of there. Being young hicks from the country we were afraid of the place being raided and wanted no part of that scene. I think the place was named the Merry Go Round (or something similar to that). Was an interesting day. Don’t think you wanted to go in them places without some friends for backup in case their was trouble.
Great pic of Tiffany Clark and the good old days – Barry “Suitcase” Kalfin should be getting a kick out of seeing this old shot of his better half!
Sounds to me like you are describing The Mitchell Brothers OFarrel Street Theater in San Francisco…not that I would know LOL
DB you should hit that site I bet they would LOVE to have some of your pics and stories.
It was NYC. We decided to have lunch at a Soul Food BBQ. Did not know what soul food meant but we knew what BBQ is. We went in got a tray and went thru the line Cafeteria style and got some BBQ and sat at a table to eat it.
Took us a while to notice we were the only white faces in the restaurant of about 75-100 people. I was raised so people are people and it don’t matter what color you are but some of the folks eating were unhappy that we were there. Luckily nothing bad happened other then us getting some mean, angry, stares.
The Rialto Report’s podcasts are amazing. So are their articles and photos. I love their segment on revisiting filming locations from classic adult films. Anyone that enjoys the golden age of adult cinema would love the Rialto site.
Lived down the shore and spent a lot of time in the city at father’s restaurants through the 70’s. Boom boxes blasting Ray Stevens ‘They Call it the Steak’…. to this day I chuckle over how funny shoes look on naked people 🙂
I think it is “They Call it the Streak” but that is a funny song. Shoes would look funny on naked people, too.
Show World in NYC had live sex shows back in the 70’s (not that I would know). Well, OK, I would know. When I saw them, the audience was in booths behind glass and not in a room with the performers. I was once at the Mitchell Brothers theater in San Francisco, and, while I don’t remember live sex shows – male/female – I did go into the theater to watch an X-rated movie and a “hostess” offered me a hand job, blow job or intercourse, right there in the theater. Fortunately – or unfortunately – I was a poor 20-something and didn’t have enough money to take her up on the offer.
Wow, I saw some rare pics of Lysa Thatcher. That alone was worth the price of admission!
Mike: This post has ruined my life – after going to The Rialto Report, I’m spending all of my free time (and some time that I really should be working) reading the amazing Golden Age stories those folks have put together and listening to the podcasts. It takes me back to the first time I walked into an adult theater – in my case, it was 1972 and it was one of those former movie palaces in my home town that had fallen on hard times because of its location, losing customers to the multi-plexes at the malls, and had been converted into an “art house.” I remember watching Lisa de Leuw, Gloria Leonard, Veronica Hart, Marilyn, and others on the big, big screen – pussies and cocks larger than life. It not only brings back memories, but its tinged a little with the sadness that sometimes comes with nostalgia as I see photos of Jennifer Welles looking a little bag ladyish in a Walmart; Richard Bolla sitting in a down-on-your-luck cluttered apartment, in sweat pants and a dirty tee-shirt, nearly broke after paying for cancer treatments for his cat; Eric Edwards requiring a fund-raiser because he can’t pay his bills; remembering that Marilyn Chambers was found several days dead in a double-wide trailer; and realizing that Erica Boyer, Lisa, Kandi Barbour and others died under tragic circumstances. More recently, Herschel Savage revealed that he’s basically broke. The movies then were glamourous, and yet so many of the golden age era actors not only failed to just fall into boring middle class lives, they’re leading somewhat desperate lives.
Porn eats its young.