Ghosts of 42nd Street - A History of America's Most Infamous Block

Imagine shuffling down Broadway through the hustle and bustle right into the nonstop, neon heart of New York City: 42nd Street.Once a quiet neighborhood of brownstones and churches, the area was transformed in the early 1900s into an entertainment hub unlike any in the world. No place has ever evoked the glamour and romantic possibility of bigcity nightlife as vividly as did 42nd Street. It was the dazzle of "naughty, bawdy, gaudy" 42nd Street that put Times Square on the map and turned the Broadway theater district into the Great White Way. Ghosts of 42nd Street stirs your imagination as it takes you on a historical journey of this glamorized strip still known today as the Crossroads of the World. From the bold innovations of Oscar Hammerstein and Florenz Ziegfeld through the porn-laden 1960s and 1970s to the present-day "Disneyfication" of New York's bright lights district, Ghosts of 42nd Street is as fascinating as a tabloid frozen in time. "Anthony Bianco's Ghosts of 42nd Street is the dramatic and definitive story of this legendary strip, told through the people involved in its founding and its current renaissance - from the bosses of the world's top media companies to premier property developers to the city's powerful political interests to the small-business proprietors, drug dealers, pimps, pornographers, and slumlords who have all called it home." "Larger-than-life characters such as Oscar Hammerstein I, Florenz Ziegfeld, Billy Minsky, and other show business stars bring the street's history to life. But at the heart of this fast-paced urban adventure is 42nd Street itself and its ten theaters: the Apollo, the Lyric, the Harris, the New Victory, the New Amsterdam, the Times Square, the Selwyn, the Liberty, the Empire, and the Rialto." "Beginning in 1899, a burst of construction on the mid-Manhattan block of West 42nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue created the greatest concentration of theaters America had ever seen, giving birth to today's Broadway theater district. When the New York Times built a slender twenty-five-story tower on an odd, triangular site formed by the convergence of 42nd Street, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue, the city named the square facing the tower Times Square, which quickly became New York's gathering place for all important civic events." "In its heyday, 42nd Street was excessive, expensive, unpredictable, loud, fun, and, at times, dangerous. Forty-second Street's Golden Age of entertainment ended by 1930 and the street quickly devolved from the nation's first show business capital into its first retail porn center, becoming even more infamous for its squalor. Its denizens rechristened 42nd Street as "Forty Deuce" or simply "the Deuce." This downward trend continued into recent decades, when 42nd Street was largely demolished and rebuilt in the largest urban renewal project in New York history, creating the Times Square we know today - still known far and wide as the "Crossroads of the World.""--Jacket Imagine shuffling down Broadway through the hustle and bustle right into the nonstop, neon heart of New York City: 42nd Street. Once a quiet neighborhood of brownstones and churches, the area wastransformed in the early 1900s into an entertainment hub unlike any in theworld. No place has ever evoked the glamour and romantic possibility of bigcity nightlife as vividly as did 42nd Street. It was the dazzle of "naughty, bawdy, gaudy" 42nd Street that put Times Square on the map and turned the Broadway theater district into the Great White Way. Ghosts of 42nd Street stirs your imagination as it takes you on a historical journey of this glamorized strip still known today as the Crossroads of the World. From the bold innovations of Oscar Hammerstein and Florenz Ziegfeld through the porn-laden 1960s and 1970s to the present-day "Disneyfication" of New York's bright lights district, Ghosts of 42nd Street is as fascinating as a tabloid frozen in time. Traces The Events And Personalities That Have Shaped The History Of The Famous Manhattan Strip, Citing The Contributions Of Media Companies, Property Developers, Politicians, Pornography Producers, And Historic Theaters. Overture -- Fathers Of Times Square -- The Great White Way: Pleasure Zone Supreme -- Flo Ziegfeld And The Cult Of The Chorus Girl -- Last Suppers And Final Curtains -- The Grind House Phoenix -- Birth Of The Cool: Hipster 42nd Street -- Milking An Ugly Cow: Speculating On Redevelopment -- Marty Hodas And The Rise Of Xxx -- Bob Moss And Fred Papert: Urban Moonwalkers -- Turning The Corner In Hell's Kitchen -- The Theater Preservation Follies -- Down And Dirty On The Deuce -- Midtown's Dead Zone -- Rebecca's Magic Wand. Anthony Bianco. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [341]-349) And Index.