Along with my copy of the latest
Sleaze Fiend Magazine (Issue #3.5, a combination best-of/new material, out now), my Editor in Chief Nick “Bat32” Canales also included a little slice
of New York City's grotty past for me – a Show World token.
Show World was located in NYC's
Midtown area on 8th Avenue, close to the notorious 42nd
Street (hallowed ground for grindhouse cinema fanatics), and was opened
in 1977 by Richard Basciano, sometimes nicknamed 'The King of Porn'. Show World
was the adult emporium against which all others measured themselves, and
featured a variety of x-rated pursuits. Those who dared to enter into the
neon-streaked building could buy these octagonal brass tokens for a quarter –
20mm in diameter – and feed them into coin slots, which would raise a partition
and reveal a live nude performance on a stage, flanked on one side by a series
of private booths (and a mirrored wall on the other)...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue...
During the 1970s New York City
went bankrupt, which saw a reduction in the police force and, naturally, a
surge in criminal behaviour which continued to worsen throughout the 1980s. One
extreme begets another, of course, and the 42nd Street Development
Project came into being and saw the systematic closure, sale, and even eminent
domain seizure of the buildings in the Times Square area – particularly on and
around 42nd Street.
While many of the grindhouse
cinemas and sleaze joints in the area were gutted or even torn down entirely (having
fallen into a near-derelict state in some instances), certain pockets of
adult entertainment persisted: Show World included. However, after the election
of Rudy Giuliani as Mayor of NYC, zoning laws were tightened in 1995 (forcing
the closure of numerous businesses). Further pressure was placed on
emporiums of grot such as Show World when live performances were shut down in
1998. All this was on top of the 60/40 rule, which meant that 60% of what was
on sale had to be non-adult in nature, usually cheap tourist tat, t-shirts, and
even wholesome family films on VHS & DVD – now that must have quite been an
incongruous sight, but perhaps an ideal alibi for customers visiting on-the-sly!
Numerous movies which were shot
in New York during the 1970s and 1980s featured glimpses at 42nd
Street, such as Taxi Driver, The New York Ripper, and Nightmares In A Damaged
Brain, the latter of which features a whole sequence actually filmed inside
Show World itself.
Show World was closed in 2004 and
demolished in 2008, and was one of the few remaining hints of New York's sordid
and dangerous past from when the metropolis' Midtown area was otherwise known
as 'Fear City'. In addition to the fancier and more expensive Silver Dollar
tokens (which tended to be used for the 'Private Fantasy' booths – imagine
two telephone kiosks stuck together with performer on one side and customer on
the other), Show World also at one time utilised circular tokens with a
'Fun & Fantasy' banner slogan printed on them, but the octagonal brass
tokens are the most synonymous with its lurid history. While the tokens
originally cost $0.25, today they can go for as much as $10 to $20 on eBay.
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