Need to Know: Scott Ewalt: Back in the Night

Photo by Jeff Gardner

Do you feel like you missed out on the glory hole days of Times Square's sleazy prime time of the 1970s & '80s? For instance, did you know that the McDonald’s you love on 42nd Street used to be Peepland, an erotic emporium where both girls and guys shook their naughty bits for a few bucks?

Take a stroll down mammary lane at New York City's Participant gallery, located in the Lower East Side, and check out artist Scott Ewalt's loving tribute to bare boobs and boys at, BACK IN THE NIGHT: Psychotronic Landscapes, Objects & Souvenirs (through April 14). It’s almost as if Rudy Giuliani and his gang of porn police never swept the seedy neighborhood out, making way for Disney, Hello Kitty, and the goddamned Olive Garden.

Ewalt is a longtime collector and collagist of disappearing New York, and there are lots of actual archaeological remnants from the golden age of the city’s burlesque houses, titty bars, and male revues—like the Mardi Gras Lounge, the Adonis, Peepland, the Gaiety, and even the infamous sign for the original Cock in the East Village. Come pay your respects to some of the finest adult theaters and jiggle joints ever to push a mop. All that’s missing is the sticky floor.

Want to see those double-Ds in 3-D? Get thee to the nearby Slipper Room this Wednesday, March 13, and catch the live show BURLISCO: Times Square Burlesk in the 1970s. Hosted by nightlife goddess Chi Chi Valenti and Go-Go-Goatboy, the night features Kembra Pfahler, Dirty Martini, Perfidia, Amber Ray, Mister Gorgeous, Jo Boobs, Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, Darlinda Just Darlinda, Stephanie Stone, and Little Brooklyn. Fun for the whole family, just don’t forget to bring your dollars.

Participant is located at 253 East Houston Street (betw. Norfolk & Suffolk Sts.). Performance night at the Slipper Room, 167 Orchard St.