777 Theatre
777 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
777 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
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Showing 26 - 50 of 84 comments
The orange awning next door was an Arbys. The China Club across the street just had a stabbing in January.
I remember reading in one of the Manhattan papers that the Nightshift (described in 1982) was a dangerous place, especially at night, something about junkies
The theatre’s marquee made a brief appearance through a recreation in last year’s Watchmen (which is set in 1985).
al-I zoomed in as close as i could on your american classic images post—the street looks filthy and it looks like a real red light district street. i could read the sign on the marquee about the new nightshift theater “coming soo ” it reads (it’s missing a letter). God does this take me back in time.
Would you say the hotel at 790 between 48th-49th (a Loews Motor Inn in the 60’s, a Ramada Inn up to 1994, a Days Inn up to 2005, and currently a Hilton Garden Inn) had security and safety problems plaguing the hotel because of it’s location back in the days as a Ramada Inn? or did the bad guys tend to stay away from the tourist/traveller hotels that technically were not fleabags?
I think the riff-raff and the porn followed the anonymity made possible by the massive subway exchanges of Times Square. As you moved away from the Deuce it all dissipated.
since the last XXX theater on 8th was the Adonis at 50th, was this the reason why there was no more Minnesota Strip north of 50th? I have actually seen things that said the MS went from 34th street to 59th street but 8th in the 50’s to me was just bland and dull, and i have never seen any action in the 50’s. '
In other words, when the porn disappears, so does the riff- raff?
It was always better on 7th Avenue.
The area declined rapidly after the US entry to WW II when the soldiers boosted the local street prostitution and gay cruising trade, but this was indeed the border of Hell’s Kitchen, a crime ridden Irish slum during the best of times. The Deuce started declining during the depression when the theatres all switched over to film and burlesque.
Although hard-core porn theatres like the Hollywood were a seventies invention, skin flicks and brothels were always around at some area locations.
when you crossed 7th avenue over by Duffy Sq by Tad’s was it any better or safer since you were getting closer to the “domino” skyscrapers along 6th avenue?
i had read an article that sometime around 1972 the cops had put up police barriers along 8th between 45th and 48th streets due to intolerable street conditions and that the owner of the old Acropolis restaurant had lost a significant chunk of it’s business because of the street conditions.
was it the closing of the old MSG in 1968 that caused this area’s decline?
It was almost everywhere but if you didn’t show a key, the hotel security would not let you past the front door after dark. There were small porn theatres and seedy bars down most side streets next to places like Sardi’s and the Edison.
was there prostitution and drugs spillover along the more legit and otherwise fairly decent sidestreets in the theater area and by the legit hotels like the Edison, President, Belvedere, by Schubert Alley and Mama Leone’s, or did that pretty much stay confined to 8th?
that’s supposedly Robert De Niro as Travis walking down 8th in 1976 around the time Taxi Driver came out
View link
go to this link you will see the Hollywood in 1976, check out the corner bldg which looks like it’s falling apart
I think the Deuce had more transient visitors looking for a movie or bite to eat where the Minnesota Strip was more decisively nasty but both could erupt into violence at a moment’s notice.
If you were not looking to do business on the strip you were most likely a lost tourist looking for your hotel, and therefore an even bigger target.
This site has some street by street history of the city.
http://www.nysonglines.com/8av.htm#42st
what was worse say in 1979, the Deuce (42 between 7-8th) or the Minnesota Strip (8th bet 42-50)?
i remember seeing the Hollywood’s revival on the news in 1981 (it was around February) with the newscaster talking about how the old theater showed Debbie Does Dallas and other XXX’s but the new one showed Casablanca, etc.
I don’t think I mentioned that we crossed the street but you’re right we sure hurried away from that scene quickly onto 47th toward the civility of Broadway. I’m sure it probably was a common thing for people to cross the street on 8th
And today that block is soo bland—the firehouse, jeans superstores, medical office, Starbucks
The firehouse at 782 opened in 1974, 3 years after the Hollywood opened. I wonder what was there
in it’s place before it was built
Yes, that west side block is the one where you supposedly crossed the street to avoid the pimp and drug drama. I am not sure what the orange building was but the marquee notice for “NIGHT SHIFT Coming Soon” was not for a movie. It was for this theatre:
/theaters/20841/
al, that 1979 pic of the Hollywood you posted is fabulous. In fact, that was right around the time that I was there and mentioned it in my post above . notice all the trash in the street. i notice an orange looking structure just before the pic cuts off, adjoining the theater, right near 47th, does anyone know what that structure was?
you are saying the block between 770-782 was a well-known problem block?
Eighth Avenue, from 42nd to 50th, was known as the Minnesota Strip. The name was derived from the myth that good girls from Minnesota, with intentions of Broadway stardom, became local hookers instead.
In the seventies it was wall to wall hookers for several blocks although by the eighties they were a little more discreet.
The nadir of the neighborhood was reportedly the block across from this theatre, where the Platinum luxury condominium now stands.
I also wonder how the motor lodge at 790 (48-49th) did business on 8th Avenue and was pretty successful when guests would step outside and see what i saw, i would imagine that based on what i saw in my post above this was an area with lots of characters wandering around, particularly at night?
curious, back in the late 70’s was the immediate blockfront where the hollywood sat(47-48th) a big prostitution and drug sales block? i ask because back then when i was a teen the few times i would walk thru there i didn’t see any activity (kind of quiet) but i do recall one afternoon seeing a bunch of people who were so creepy looking (as well as a transexual hooker out with their pimp) it made me wonder, were the upper 40’s along 8th any better, worse, or as bad as the famous corner of 42nd and 8th. i vividly recall the block across the avenue by the firehouse(old Biltmore property) had a run down and abandoned area with these decrepit brownstones and in subsequent years whenever i would pass there people would always be hanging out who looked really down and out. there was always something going on on that corner (now a Starbucks) not sure if this was what 8th was like all over
how far up did the prostitution and drug sales go before it stopped? was the old parking lot (where Worldwide Plz sits) that replaced the old MSG also a problem block?
fill me in, curious about this section
Do they only use the lobby as the information area? If so, what is the rest of the theater used for?
here is a photo i took around 1992 when it was still the Hollywood Twin
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As the Twin.
View link
Renewing link.
The Moulin Rouge porn triple operated from this address in 1985. Does that jog any memories?