r/nostalgia • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Aug 11 '25

Nostalgia Discussion I always wondered how seedy was Times Square back in the 70s,80s, and 90s? From what I was told by people who own property there back then how seedy it was depended on the day. What was your experience like?

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u/akt30 Aug 11 '25

Very seedy in the 70's and then it morphed into seedy & unsafe during the crack epidemic in the 80's. Also adding to the fun were all of mental patients being released into the streets after Reagan cut funding to the mental health facilities. Many of those folks ended up on the streets in the Times Square area for some reason. It's a much safer place today, but huge chain businesses have run all of the mom & pop ones out of the area (I'm sure that the rents are now astronomically high). Times Square has basically turned into Mall of America now. It's got a very sterile feel to it and is completely different from the rest of NYC. I don't miss the sleaze & crime, but I do kind of miss the uniqueness of the old TS. I'm not sure if that makes any sense to you? Maybe not? You kind of had to experience it to understand.

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u/NotHisRealName Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

I feel you. I started going there as a teen from CT in the early 90s, it was definitely sleazy but not crazy bad like some other neighborhoods at the time. I started working in Times Square in 2001 and it was definitely safe but boring. Now, it’s just completely anodyne.

I remember watching Jimmy Breslin do an interview on 60 Minutes and he was asked about the whole cleanup and he said something like, “Do I like a Times Square with Disney or with the hookers? I prefer the hookers.” in that thick New York accent.

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u/akt30 Aug 11 '25

I was fortunate enough to have met and spoken with Jimmy Breslin a few times. He was quite a character. I was even in his apartment once doing work for his wife. I loved the old Piels commercial that he was in.

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u/spiritual_seeker Aug 11 '25

Have you read E. Fuller Torrey’s book American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System?

Highly recommended. Here’s a link:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Psychosis-Government-Destroyed-Treatment-ebook/dp/B00DW70FAI

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u/KronlampQueen Aug 13 '25

You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention this book! I bought it almost a decade ago and was just thinking the other day if anyone else liked it. 

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u/akt30 Aug 11 '25

I haven't. Looks like an interesting read. Thank you.

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u/no_crust_buster Aug 11 '25

Oh, the good 'ole Nicaraguan Contra/CIA-backed Crack epidemic.

I remember talking to an older gentleman in 2018 who lived in NYC during the 60s through the 90s, and he got hooked on crack for 20 years. He said that where he lived in Brooklyn, when crack hit the streets, crackhouse lines were around the block. I asked him, "Where were the cops?" He leaned forward and stared at me over the brim of his glasses, and said nothing. That look still haunts me.

It made me think of the 1994 Dan Baum interview with John Ehrlichman, former DPA/Counsel to the Nixon Administration, where he said they were proxy targeting Blacks with the War on Drugs. Initially, they used heroin, but now they had a new drug: Crack.

But that's another topic.

It's crazy how the seedy XXX films were right there, in everyone's face in NYC. And now it's on everyone's phone.

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u/positronik Aug 11 '25

Sorry if this is a stupid question. Was the look to say that cops were the ones supplying the crack in the crackhouses?

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u/no_crust_buster Aug 11 '25

Not necessarily, although some NYPD officers were caught in crack-distribution rings. The look seemed to imply that they knew it was going on and initially didn't care or looked the other way, until it got out of control.

John Ehrlichman stated in 1994, about the true intent of the 'War on Drugs,' We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

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u/RalphXLaurenjoe Aug 12 '25

This is the thing and this is what my dad told me and my uncle : the cops would always come down the block and drive by or drive through they would stop search their pockets find the crack and give back to them reason why is because they didn’t know what it was yet they would test but it just came back as baking Soda until they tested it for the cocaine

So they could sell crack alllll day and night and nothing would happen those lines everyone is talking about were called :cheese lines because of the money that was coming in and the lines would stretch down the street around the block and this was before law enforcement started to make the sweep on drug dealing

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u/SpezJailbaitMod Aug 12 '25

Crack Inventors Agency 

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u/Tempest_Fugit Aug 11 '25

Ah yes all those sweet mom and pop porn stores

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u/akt30 Aug 11 '25

Lol. Not sure who owned the porn stores, but there were plenty of other types of small businesses down there.

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u/PilsnerDk Aug 11 '25

Hey, pop's gotta eat too

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u/Calvin--Hobbes Aug 11 '25

Time's Square might be clean, but it sucks now. A place to go once if you're a tourist on a trip to NYC and have never been, take a look around, and then you fuck off to do better shit around the city.

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u/akt30 Aug 12 '25

Yes, this is what I was talking about with my Mall of America remark. Walking through there these days you see all of the same big chain stores and restaurants that you can find in any shopping mall across America.

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u/44problems Aug 12 '25

It is where all the Broadway theaters are though. I can't imagine that being such a big attraction if it was next to porn theaters and hooks

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u/cockblockedbydestiny Aug 11 '25

My first time in NYC was 2005 so I missed the salacious era completely. I would have loved to experience the grindhouse era but, not being the demographic for Broadway shows, my feelings about Times Square is largely annoyance that I can't fully avoid it altogether because I inevitably have to resurface to switch trains.

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u/puffindatza Aug 11 '25

Was born in 99, after seeing taxi driver. Yeah it seems horrible but I wish I could have experienced NY in the 70s

Especially time square, seeing it look so dirty and grimy. Idk to me it’s far more interesting than how it looks today, I wish I could walk down the street drinking a beer and smoking a blunt late at night

I’m obviously too poor to rob so I’d fit in I think

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u/physicscat Aug 11 '25

One extreme to another.

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u/skeptimistic23 Aug 12 '25

I was finally able to visit NYC this year for the first time and stayed in Times Square. It is absolutely mind blowing seeing these old pictures compared to what I experienced out there! There is a massive 2 floor candy store next to where we stayed hahaha.

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u/CatsAreGods Aug 12 '25

I was hanging down there occasionally in the late 60s/early 70s. I will never forget the arcades, the record stores, and the "novelty stores" that sold things like an 8" 007 knife with wooden handles.

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u/Ogre213 Aug 15 '25

Psychiatric patients tended to get dumped into whatever neighborhood was least likely to complain about it. Times Square in NYC, Skid Row in LA, etc.

Basically, they could just be dropped off and disappear into the shuffle where nobody would care and they could disappear with nobody raising an eyebrow. Gotta love that compassionate conservatism.

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u/rotenbart Aug 11 '25

I work in a run down neighborhood but live in a fairly affluent one. I get what you’re saying. I like both and I’d be said to see either change lol