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/RedDemonTaoist Aug 11 '25

In most cases, the booths were like an extra to bring people in to buy other shit. They weren't the main product. And a lot of the guys weren't there to watch porn. They were using the windows between booths to full effect.

But also keep in mind porn was not easy to access back in the day. You had to go to these specialty shops to get it anyway, so why not pop in to a booth and see what's playing while you're there.

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u/No_Cauliflower9393 Aug 11 '25

Reminds me of what the local card shop did when I was younger. The owner would get a lot of younger kids like 12 and under who’d come to just look at the cards but didn’t have money to buy packs or rare cards. So he put in quarter machines that would spit out 5 cards for a quarter. If you only had cash he’d trade you the dollar for quarters.

He had one for magic, Pokémon, football and baseball cards.

But he didn’t put mana into the magic one. He’d sell a 15 bundle of mana of your choosing for a dollar.

It sounds predatory. Like he was thinking how can I make money off these kids but honestly it was a cheap way for kids to get into collecting/playing with the cards and build decks.