Take a Look Back at Philadelphia’s Porn Shops of the 70s and 80s

It's Hard to Believe Porn Was So Out in the Open

Every so often, I find it’s good to look back on where we were and compare to where we are now. While with some things that have gone the way of the dodo (like smoking on airplanes), their disappearance is a good thing, but sometimes something that is no more can bring a little tear to your eye, like all the porn shops that lined the streets of Philadelphia’s Center City throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  

I know there are still some porn shops operating out there, but there is nothing like the old days when entire blocks were filled with porn shops. Even though I wasn’t old enough to visit any of these shops, I have often wondered what it would be like to walk through a place like Times Square or Center City during the golden age of porn. Sure, we can get peep shows or porn movies with a few clicks of the mouse, but can you imagine visiting a porn store, browsing the shelves of movies and magazines, and then turning to your friend and saying, “Let’s go next door. The prices at Circus Book Shop are way cheaper.” I should admit I have no idea if the prices were any cheaper at Circus Book Shop.  

There’s just something about porn and adult entertainment being more out in the open. We didn’t really hide it, even though there were some people we knew would “end the world” (please note the world is still spinning). It’s like that old saying goes: “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who admit they look at porn and those who lie.”

Via Philebrity