UPDATED! Photo Flash! MORE photos of Broadway circa September 1980!- Page 2

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 10:19pm

Wow! These are awesome! The Broadway Theatre is funny to look at, after that they threw on it now. It actually looks like it blends in with the rest of the theatres.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:24pm

Thank you for sharing these!

SUCH memories....

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:54pm

Young-uns may not know that for its early years, "Les Miserables" only played seven shows a week at the Broadway, not eight like every other show. (Ah, how many more performances would its run have been.......)

They didn't play Wednesday matinees because of the noise from the construction of the skyscraper next to and above the theater. There was no construction allowed on the weekends, as part of the deal.

I think the building was finished before "Miss Saigon" pushed "Les Miz" to the Imperial.
Updated On: 10/24/08 at 11:54 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:57pm

I can remember meeting Stephanie Mills on the fire escape at the Broadway before that building went up. She was eating a PB&J before a performance.

[crushgroove]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:09am

It's amazing that the large Blues Brothers billboard is used today...and in the same formation. It's above the Toys R Us in Times Sq. I look at it everyday from work. It's amazing to see how such an iconic area has changed so much.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:39am

Thanks Brody! Call me a youngin' but I never knew that Times Square came so far in 20 years. That's amazing. Wow. I mean it's a double edged sword. I think it's done a lot for NYC and for the theatre district, but it's also taken away.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:42am

20 years?! Those pictures were taken in 1980 -- 28 years ago (almost 30!).

What's insane is that I'm still young enough to remember all that. I was 15 years old when I took those photos.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 2:53pm

Okay... a little gem from 1977 -- 46th Street and Times Square. I LOVE MY WIFE, THE WIZ and BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR were on Broadway as was the 2-level Burger King:

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:03pm

Wow, that is an amazing glimpse back. Thanks for sharing, and keep 'em comin'!

[Elke]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:08pm

Brody, these pictures are fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing them with us.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:29pm

I had a boyfriend in that 42nd Street production. My one-and-only time of being a full-fledged Stage-Door Johnnie, for a show that had a song that mentioned Stage-Door Johnnies.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:36pm

And just around the corner from that Howard Johnson's you show was this little sliver o' fun...



up a steep and very narrow stairway...

[BrianS]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:38pm

Best thread on here in a long while...

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:42pm

I had forgotten about the HoJo on 46th and B'way until it was mentioned in another thread today. I couldn't figure out what was missing from that lot! I wasn't consciously aware of it until the late '90s but it is still missed.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 3:46pm

I don't share the same fond nostagia for sleazy old 70s/80s Times Square. I much preferred it in the late 50s and early 60s. But the Mamma Leone's sign in that photo brought back some wonderful memories. Of course, by the time that photo was taken, Mamma Leone's was a bit of a garbage can, but a decade or two before that, it was a wonderful place, and it actually served good food!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:11am

Billboards on the west side of Times Square:



The hit musical BARNUM, which brought us Jim Dale and Glenn Close:


The Mark Hellinger Theatre on West 51st Street, home to SUGAR BABIES. This was also the theatre used for the multi-award winning 1985 film classic A CHORUS LINE. In 1989 it was sold and became the Times Square Church:



The Mark Hellinger Theatre 2 years earlier when TIMBUKTU was on Broadway:

[NGD2225]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:22am

When I go to sleep at night every now & then, I imagine living in 1980's New York. I don't know why but it almost makes me cry to think that the closest thing to being there is watching NYC movies from the 80's.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:25am

OH
MY
GAWDNESS

That photo of Times Square (from Duffy looking south) is incredible. Loving those checkered pants and the struttin' stuff... why does everything from the 70s look so brown and yellow? I mean, when I close my eyes and think, that's all I see!

I can't believe how different and transformed it is. Now I know why people are nostalgic. Today's "snow-globe" is just... OW MY EYES!

Thanks for these!!!

In all seriousness, I know I could Wikipedia it, but I'm enjoying the "I was there when..." intimacy of these photos and stories. Aside from the nudity (an obvious local and tourist draw), what did OH CALCUTTA! have of quality that kept it running for so long? What the devil was it about?

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:30am

The same people that kept "Cats" going kept "Oh, Calcutta" going--Japanese businessmen.

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 9:20am

When I look at these pictures, the song My City from Seesaw gets stuck in my head. That 1973 show and these 1980s pictures just seem to fit together. Thanks for sharing the pictures and the memories!

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 10:28am

Does anyone have any pictures of the block with the Morosco and the Hayes. I'm interested to see what the area looked like pre-Marquis (gag!).

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 10:48am

FANTASTIC, TRULY FANTASTIC PICTURES!
Reminds me of my very first trip to New York and my first Broadway Show in 1979-'Sugar Babies'!
The place had so much atmosphere at that time now it has very little sole.
The Broadway Theatre looked like a real Broadway theatre back then and not the movie theatre it looks like now!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 11:10am

>Does anyone have any pictures of the block with the Morosco and the Hayes. I'm interested to see what the area looked like pre-Marquis (gag!).<

Here's the Marriott Marquis site, circa 1982, with the remnants of the Helen Hayes still standing.



This shot is from 1967, but it's the only thing that I can find of the massive billboard that occupied the site on Broadway, between 45th and 46th Street, where the Astor and Victoria movie theatres once stood, and where the Marriott Marquis now stands. (Notice the small billboard for Walking Happy in the lower right hand corner)

Updated On: 10/25/08 at 11:10 AM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 2:44am

Thanks Smaxie. I've seen that picture before and it always makes me so sad. I love seeing all the marquees with the names of musicals past on them. The 42nd Street and Barnum pictures are great! If anyone has anymore old marquees, please post them!

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 3:13am

What a truly incredible time. Thank you so much for the pictures.