A bit of bonafide history.

It is this writer's humble opinion that 39(8/9) should be more than a repository of witty observations and Noel Coward-like repartee. It should include all that, mais oui, but should also be a source of information and elucidation.

That said, put this in your pipe and smoke it, from "The New York Times," July 18, 1998.

"On the gritty block of West 39th Street near the garment district and the ethnic food shops of Ninth Avenue, the police sex scandal rocking the Giuliani administration came as little surprise.

"That's life," a shopkeeper said with a New Yorker's barely perceptible shoulder movement. "Period."

You can read more of this thin slice of 39(8/9) history below.


http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/18/nyregion/scandal-midtown-south-neighborhood-brothel-was-open-secret-around-west-39th.html