Editing 42nd Street (Manhattan) (section)

=== Theatrical decline ===
West 42nd Street, meanwhile, prospered as a theater and entertainment district until [[World War II]]. According to historian [[Robert A. M. Stern]], West 42nd Street's decline started in 1946, when the streetcars on 42nd Street were replaced by less efficient buses.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 452"/>

[[Lloyd Bacon]] and [[Busby Berkeley]]'s 1933 film musical ''[[42nd Street (film)|42nd Street]]'', starring 30s heartthrobs [[Dick Powell]] and [[Ruby Keeler]], displays the bawdy and colorful mixture of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] denizens and lowlifes in Manhattan during the [[Great Depression|Depression]]. In 1980, it was turned into a successful [[42nd Street (musical)|Broadway musical]] which ran until 1989, and which was revived for a four-year run in 2001.<ref>[http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=1027 "42nd Street"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708233645/http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=1027 |date=July 8, 2015 }} on the [[Internet Broadway Database]]</ref> In the words of the [[Al Dubin]] and [[Harry Warren]] [[42nd Street (song)|title song]], on 42nd Street one could find:

<blockquote>Little {{not a typo|nifties}} from the Fifties, innocent and sweet,

Sexy ladies from the Eighties who are indiscreet,

They're side by side, they're glorified,

Where the underworld can meet the elite

Naughty, gawdy, bawdy, sporty, Forty-second Street!</blockquote>

From the late 1950s until the late 1980s, 42nd Street, nicknamed the "Deuce",{{fact|date=July 2024}} was the cultural center of American [[Grindhouse|grindhouse theaters]], which spawned an entire subculture. The book ''Sleazoid Express'', a travelogue of the 42nd Street grindhouses and the films they showed, describes the unique blend of people who made up the theater-goers:

<blockquote>depressives hiding from jobs, sexual obsessives, inner-city people seeking cheap diversions, teenagers skipping school, adventurous couples on dates, couples-chasers peeking on them, people getting high, homeless people sleeping, pickpockets...<ref name=sleazoid>Landis, Bill and Clifford, Michelle. ''Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. {{ISBN|9780743215831}}. pp. 2–7</ref></blockquote>

While the street outside the theaters was populated with:

<blockquote>phony drug salesman ... low-level drug dealers, chain snatchers ... [j]unkies alone in their heroin/cocaine dreamworld ... predatory chickenhawks spying on underage trade looking for pickups ... male prostitutes of all ages ... [t]ranssexuals, hustlers, and closety gays with a fetishistic homo- or heterosexual itch to scratch ... It was common to see porn stars whose films were playing at the adult houses promenade down the block. ... Were you a freak? Not when you stepped onto the Deuce. Being a freak there would get you money, attention, entertainment, a starring part in a movie. Or maybe a robbery and a beating.<ref name=sleazoid />
</blockquote>

For much of the mid and late 20th century, the area of 42nd Street near Times Square was home to activities often considered unsavory,<ref>Blumenthal, Ralph, [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/27/magazine/a-times-square-revival.html "A Times Square Revival?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016223756/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/27/magazine/a-times-square-revival.html |date=October 16, 2021 }} ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' (December 27, 1981). Accessed September 6, 2010</ref> including [[peep show]]s.

East 42nd Street was, for some time, spared from similar decline, especially east of Third Avenue, where the development of the [[Headquarters of the United Nations|United Nations]] supported a thriving business district and prompted the widening of that section of 42nd Street.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 452"/><ref>{{Cite news|date=December 22, 1949|title=U. N. Approach to Be Beautified By Redevelopment of 42d Street|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/12/22/archives/u-n-approach-to-be-beautified-by-redevelopment-of-42d-street-plans.html|access-date=December 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=August 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827172403/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/12/22/archives/u-n-approach-to-be-beautified-by-redevelopment-of-42d-street-plans.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The demolition of the Second and Third Avenue elevated lines by the 1950s led to increased development on East 42nd Street, such as annexes to the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings, as well as the construction of the [[Socony–Mobil Building|Socony–Mobil]] and [[Ford Foundation Building]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|pp=456–457}}</ref> By the 1960s, East 42nd Street between Park and Second Avenues contained more headquarters of industries than any other place in the United States except Chicago or Pittsburgh.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 457">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|p=457}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Dalton|first=Dudley|date=January 24, 1965|title=East 42d Street Home to Industry: Corporate Headquarters Are on Three-block Stretch|page=R1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/116682516|url-access=subscription|access-date=December 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331|id={{ProQuest|116682516}}|via=ProQuest}}</ref> During this time, there was much development outside the rundown entertainment district of Times Square, somewhat offsetting the perception of that part of 42nd Street.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Gilbert|first1=Felix|last2=Rosen|first2=Lew|date=November 17, 1963|title=Activity Is Brisk Near the River; New Office Buildings and Motels Brighten 42d Street's Tarnished Image|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/11/17/archives/activity-is-brisk-near-the-river-new-office-buildings-and-motels.html|access-date=December 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=August 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827172351/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/11/17/archives/activity-is-brisk-near-the-river-new-office-buildings-and-motels.html|url-status=live}}</ref>