Interview · moment 11 of 15

Street Walkers, Prostitution, and Cheap NYC Rent in the 90s

from Antiseptic New York · #9

Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.

3 min

Guest

They discuss the disappearance of street prostitution, Ralph's childhood memories of transvestites in the Village, and how absurdly cheap NYC apartments were in the early 90s compared to now.

In this bit9 moments
  • 32:05Tim asks how big of a deal prostitution was in New York in the 90s.
  • 32:24As a kid, driving by street walkers and asking them ridiculous questions was something people did for entertainment.
  • 32:42Tim was an actor in the 90s doing auditions in Greenwich Village, performing in black box theaters and small venues.
  • 33:01His father called a transgender person a "shim" as an attempt at being politically correct.
  • 33:22Being in Greenwich Village around people different from what he'd seen before was a cool experience.
  • 33:39Two movies captured that era: Limelight (documentary) and Party Monster, about the club scene with Michael Alig and others.
  • 33:54Tim was a DJ every Sunday night at the clubs and people would hand him drugs constantly, which he'd pass to friends instead.
  • 34:14His friend Jennifer had a nice studio apartment in the city for $400 a month—a five-floor walk-up.
  • 34:27Tim's first apartment was a two-bedroom, one-bath split with his brother in Murray Hill for $1,200 a month around 1990.
Mentioned here

Greenwich VillageNew York City nightlifeLimelightMurray HillLong Island Rail RoadParty Monster

All 15 moments in this episode →