Much ado has been made about how Times Square has transformed itself from a hellish pit of Travis Bickleian despair into the tourist-baiting (and personality free) destination it is today. But what of Philly's own seedy past? In the 1970s and '80s Center City also had more than its fair share of porn palaces. With the exception of a, er, handful, most of these stores have vanished, replaced by establishments that cater to more than just the trenchcoat set. Through Temple University's extensive records, this forgotten era of our recent past lives on. Culled from the George D. McDowell Philadelphia Bulletin Photographs archive at Temple, the above gallery transports you back in time to an age when you really had to work to get your pornography.
