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This 1980s image shows Club 66 (center), The Naked I (right), and The Pilgrim Theatre (left), all of which were located in the heart of Boston's once thriving red light district known as "The Combat Zone."

The "Combat Zone," in Boston, Massachusetts, was the name given to the adult entertainment district in downtown centered on Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street. It extended up Stuart Street to Park Square. The name "Combat Zone" came from a series of exposé articles on the area published in the 1960s in the Boston Record-American newspaper. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Boston redirects here. ... Adult entertainment is entertainment restricted from people under a specified age in by a community, religious group, or government. ... Washington Street is a street in Boston, Massachusetts and its extension southwest to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border. ... The Boston Herald is a tabloid newspaper (not to be confused with tabloid press periodicals), the smaller of the two big dailies in Boston, Massachusetts, with a daily circulation of 230,543 in September 2005. ...

The Combat Zone began to form in the early-1960s, when city officials razed the West End and former red light district at Scollay Square, near Faneuil Hall, to build the Government Center urban renewal project. A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution is a common part of everyday life. ... Government Center is a city square and plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and Sudbury Streets. ... [[Media:Example. ... Government Center circa 2000 Government Center is a city square and plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and Sudbury Streets. ... Urban Renewal redirects here. ...

Lower Washington Street was already part of Boston's entertainment district with a number of movie theaters, bars, delicatessens and restaurants that catered to night life. It was located between the classic, studio-built movie palaces such as the RKO-Keith and Paramount theaters and the stage theatres such as the Coloniale on Tremont Street. A typical megaplex (AMC Rolling Hills 20 in Rolling Hills Estates, California). ... This article is about the film production company. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle &#8212...

With the closing of the burlesque theaters in Scollay Square many of the bars began to feature Go-Go dancers and later nude dancers. During the 1970s when laws against obscenity were relaxed many of the smaller movie theaters that ran second-run films became adult movie theaters. Photograph of Sally Rand, 1934. ... Government Center is a city square and plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and Sudbury Streets. ... Go-Go dancers are scantily-clad erotic dancers who dance on stages in an erotic revue, or on elevated platforms or in bird cages above the crowd in clubs, bars or discothèques to set the tone or increase the energy of a dance floor. ... The word nude may refer to: The state of nudity. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... {{}}#redirect pornographic movie ...

During the Combat Zone's heyday, some of the larger strip clubs were the "Teddy Bare Lounge", the "Two O'Clock Club", "Club 66" and the "Naked I" which featured local celebrity Princess Cheyenne. Besides the strip clubs and X-rated movies theaters, numerous peep shows and adult bookstores lined most of Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street. LaGrange Street, which runs between Washington Street and Tremont Street, was the gathering place for street walker prostitutes. Most congregated in front of, or near "Good Time Charlie's" at 25 LaGrange Street. All of these establishments are now gone and the buildings are being demolished. The Pilgrim Theatre, at 658 Washington, showed X-rated movies and was a cruising site for men to have sex with men. [1] For the book or movie Striptease see Striptease (book) and Striptease (movie) A striptease is a performance, usually a dance, in which the performer gradually removes their clothing for the purposes of sexually arousing the audience, usually performed in nightclubs. ... Louise (Lucy) Wightman is a former exotic dancer who used the stage name Princess Cheyenne. ... For the book or movie Striptease see Striptease (book) and Striptease (movie) A striptease is a performance, usually a dance, in which the performer gradually removes their clothing for the purposes of sexually arousing the audience, usually performed in nightclubs. ... X-rated, X certificate, X classification or similar terms are labels for movies implying strong adult content, typically pornography or violence. ... A sex show is a form of pornographic performance, where the customers pay to see live persons in the nude or perform sexual activity. ... A sex shop is a shop that sells products such as sex toys, pornography, erotic lingerie, erotic books, and safer sex products such as condoms and dental dams. ... Street prostitution is a common scenario for prostitution. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

The Combat Zone's demise can be attributed to a number of factors. Among them are the rising property values that made the downtown locations more attractive to real estate developers. In 1974, the Boston Redevelopment Authority began a containment policy by designating the existing businesses to be part of the official adult entertainment district known as Liberty Tree Park. The highly-publicized 1976 murder of Harvard football player Andrew Puopolo focused attention on crime in the area. In the 1980s the former Playboy Club and the strip clubs in Park Square were replaced by the building of the Four Seasons Hotel and State Transportation Building. A new Emerson College dormitory (and eventual relocation of the entire campus), Suffolk University administrative offices, a relocated branch of the MassachusettsRegistry of Motor Vehicles, a new $300 million development which includes a Ritz-Carlton Hotel and a Loews cinema, and a renovated Boston Opera House all opened in the area in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A new luxury apartment tower is currently under construction at the corner of Washington and Beach streets. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is the municipal planning and development agency for Boston, working on both housing and commercial developments. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... Andrew Puopolo was a Harvard University football player and the victim in one of the most highly publicized Boston murder cases of the 1970s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the book or movie Striptease see Striptease (book) and Striptease (movie) A striptease is a performance, usually a dance, in which the performer gradually removes their clothing for the purposes of sexually arousing the audience, usually performed in nightclubs. ... Four Seasons The Four Seasons Hotel TSX: FSH.SV NYSE: FS chain consists of many hotels and resorts aimed at the top of the hotel market, as well as the wealthy. ... Emerson College was founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a school of oratory, in Boston, Massachusetts. ... Suffolk University is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, situated on Beacon Hill. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... The Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), in Massachusetts and some other US States, is the branch of state government that regulates the registration and licenscing of cars and drivers. ... Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotel and resort with 63 properties that are located in major cities and exclusive resort destinations of 21 countries worldwide. ... Loews Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey Loews Theatres, founded in 1904 by Mark Loewsburgenstein, was the oldest theatre chain operating in North America until it merged with AMC Theatres on January 26, 2006. ... The first Boston Opera House was built in 1901 on Huntington Ave. ... This article is about the first decade of the 21st century. ...

The introduction of home video and the Internet made it possible to view adult movies and other erotica at home without going to a possibly dangerous red light district. Zoned out of the rest of Boston, the strip clubs have moved to the suburbs and become more up-scale. The home video business rents and sells videocassettes and DVDs to the public. ... Pornographic movies appeared shortly after the creation of the movie technology that made them possible. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution is a common part of everyday life. ... For the book or movie Striptease see Striptease (book) and Striptease (movie) A striptease is a performance, usually a dance, in which the performer gradually removes their clothing for the purposes of sexually arousing the audience, usually performed in nightclubs. ...

Years of grassroots activism by neighboring Chinatown residents, aggressive police work and massive urban renewal projects instigated by the Boston Redevelopment Authority helped to stem crime and close most of the adult businesses. Bostons Chinatown 42. ...

All that remains of the former Combat Zone as of 2005 are two small strip clubs, Centerfolds and The Glass Slipper, along LaGrange Street and a few adult book and video stores on Washington and Kneeland streets. Prostitution and drug sales are still issues in nearby Chinatown, the Theatre District, Bay Village and Park Square. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

• Angier, Roswell (1976). A kind of life : conversations in the combat zone. Danbury, NH: Addison House. ISBN 0891690026. 
• Lewen, Lauri (1984). Naked Is the Best Disguise: My Life as a Stripper. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0688029299. 

Wiliam Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. ...

External links

• "Taming the Combat Zone", Time, September 19, 1977.
• The combat Zone by Richard Mellor (photo gallery)