Times Square in the 1970s was a raw and restless place. The bright lights were still there, but the area pulsed with a different kind of energy—gritty, unpredictable, and alive with characters who defined the streets. It was a hub of cheap thrills and bold personalities, and Kenneth Siegel’s lens captured it in full detail.
This was before the chain stores and tourist crowds turned the square into a polished attraction. In the 1970s, Times Square had rows of adult theaters advertising X-rated films in bold, flashing marquees. Neon signs stacked high above doorways shouted out names of peep shows and live girl revues. Sidewalks were crowded with small stores, fast food joints, and street vendors selling everything from cigarettes to bootleg records. Noise filled the air—honking horns, blasting music, and the constant hum of traffic mixing with the chatter of hustlers and performers.
The people on these streets were as striking as the signs. Siegel photographed faces that carried stories—pimps in fur coats leaning against lamp posts, sex workers in towering heels waiting for customers, and street musicians playing for loose change. Many wore tattoos long before body art was mainstream. Hairstyles were wild, outfits loud, and expressions carried confidence mixed with hard-earned toughness. Everyone moved with purpose, but rarely in a hurry. The square was their stage, and they played their roles with pride.
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Siegel knew these people. They weren’t strangers to him. They welcomed his camera because it didn’t judge them. His photos show comfort in the way his subjects look back—some smiling, others with sharp stares, but all with a sense of belonging. He photographed them not as outcasts but as the heartbeat of a city in flux.
Beyond the neon, the protests of the decade sometimes spilled into the streets. The Vietnam War, civil rights, women’s liberation—New York absorbed it all, and Times Square was no exception. Young activists marched with handmade signs, voices echoing between theaters and hotels. They were surrounded by a landscape of temptation and survival, but their presence added another layer to the city’s story—a place where politics and pleasure collided in plain sight.
