Show Center
Show Center, at 247 West 42nd Street, conveniently located on the ground floor beneath the West Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, and a hop, skip, and a jump from the depraved Harem theater, was actually the original location of the very first coin-operated nickelodeon, referred to as a ‘peep show’. Owned by the notorious Martin Hodas (‘The King of the Peeps’), the original mediocre matte-finish signage, with not a hint of neon, stated the facts: ‘ADULT BOOK PALACE’-‘PRIVATE REVIEW BOOTHS-25 CENTS-ADULT BOOKS/MALE RACK-25 CENTS-BOOKS, NOVELTIES, MAGS, 8MM FILMS.’ Richie took over eventually, utilizing the extravagant Showcenter neon bulbs salvaged from the Pussycat, which was demolished in 1986.
Show Center, with the appropriate location on the Deuce (42nd Street) featured the signature Show World smorgasboard of pure smut; pornographic materials vividly displayed on counters to the delight and whet the appetite of those for which fetish is a fact of life. Show Center also included video peeps and Live Nude Girls; that is, until the T.V.’s (transvestites) were banished from Show World and given their own orbit more preferable to the effects of global warming induced by excessive aerosol hairspray. During this period as the story goes, a platoon of Fantasy Booth babies confronted Richie and complained about working their Private Booths alongside the aggressive drag queens, as they were being ‘cut off’ repeatedly and losing customers. Disillusioned, the girls refused to work alongside them, and threatened to quit. Richie dissuaded them. ‘Don’t do that, don’t quit,’ he told the girls. ‘Show World is known for it’s girls; where would we be without the REAL girls?’ Then Richie strategically devised an alternative that would allow the real girls to remain, while granting autonomy to the T. V.’s. He gave the transvestites Show Center down the block, where they could vogue and turn the beat around to their cocks content, without competing anymore with the real girls. However, with the eventual demise of the Deuce and all it stood for, the drag queens were allowed back into Show World with the designation of the basement, which became their primary residence until the end.