Of course Times Square in the 40s and 5os was a notorious adult entertainment mecca. But apparently there was some x-rated spillover into the quieter, much more residential east 40s.
These ads for two now-defunct strip clubs appeared in a December 1980 New York Post (in the sports section, of course).
141 East 45th Street, the site of Adam & Eve, is a smushed-in brownstone that doesn’t look like it could fit 25 hostess-dancers. Same with the former home of The Living Room at 151 East 49th Street.
I wonder what “Dalia” the China Doll is doing now?
Tags: Adam & Ever strip club NYC, adult entertainment in NYC, East Midtown, porn in NYC, strip clubs in New York City, the Living Room strip club NYC, Turtle Bay businesses
Ephemeral New York 
August 26, 2010 at 2:30 am |
It may be hard to believe, but 3rd ave between 49th and 50th was a pretty sleezy block. In the late sixties, (I was around 13) I had a friend who lived around the corner and I remember passing hookers (mostly male) hanging out on that block. The strip clubs and the working folks were probably servicing all the hotels in the area.
August 26, 2010 at 12:01 pm |
The Ramone’s song “53rd & 3rd” alludes to this fact.
If you think you can, well come on man
I was a Green Beret in Viet Nam
No more of your fairy stories
‘Cause I got my other worries
53rd and 3rd
Standing on the street
53rd and 3rd
I’m tryin’ to turn a trick
53rd and 3rd
You’re the one they never pick
53rd and 3rd
Don’t it make you feel sick?
Then I took out my razor blade
Then I did what God forbade
Now the cops are after me
But I proved that I’m no sissy
August 26, 2010 at 12:35 pm |
I WONDER WHAT SEVERAL OF THE GORGEOUS LADIES I MET AT BILLY’S TOPLESS, THE BABY DOLL LOUNGE & THE HARMONY CLUB ARE DOING NOW? IF GORGEOUS RAVEN HAIRED ANTONIA & VERY SWEET & FEMININE EMILY FROM THE BABY DOLL LOUNGE READ THIS, I HOPE ALL IS WELL WITH THE BOTH OF YOU!!! IF ADORABLE HUGE TITTED TONYA FROM BILLY’S TOPLESS IS READING THIS, I LOVED YOU FROM THE START & I LOVED YOUR “LITTLE GIRL” VOICE!!! IF BLOND HAIRED SYLVIA FROM THE HARMONY CLUB IS READING THIS, I STILL REMEMBER YOU TOO!!! I WISH ALL OF YOU LADIES MY BEST!!!
August 26, 2010 at 1:47 pm |
Up and down Lexington Ave in the 40s were girls who stood in doorways then went upstairs with their customers. They weren’t whores but working girls that commuting to their Midtown jobs. What a farce that was haha!
August 26, 2010 at 4:42 pm |
there was also an adam and eve near nyu, but it was a cheap burger-and-jug-of-sangria place. they would serve slightly underage people, and my friends and i went there a few times. when lou from brooklyn told his parents he was going to adam and eve he had to explain himself.
November 28, 2010 at 10:49 pm |
Maybe the real estate at 141 East 45th Street was simply too valuable to house “Adam and Eve” for long. The defunct Tenderloin district to the west of the Adam and Eve certainly was too valuable to cede to porno places. David Freeland, who wrote Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville, did a really good interview with me for Bookpod where he talks about this very subject: http://www.bookpod.org/echoes-of-tenderloin-past/
Incidentally, an editor I once wrote for in the early 1980s asked me to meet him for lunch at a dive called A Little Table in the Corner for Two, or something like that. This “restaurant” was in the East 40s too. I wouldn’t call it a porno place exactly, but couples came to dine and do whatever. I never forgave that editor for taking me there!
March 16, 2011 at 2:30 am |
Has anyone got a picture of the old brownstone at 144 East 45th Street? If so, can you post it?
June 6, 2012 at 4:15 am |
Oh wow, raunch and ghosts of the past. Yah, I wonder what the two are doing now …