New York's 42nd Street has transformed in recent decades from a den of drugs and sex shops to a flashy tourist hub filled with chain stores. People have mixed opinions about whether this was good.
French photographer Gregoire Alessandrini shared some photos of the area during the most dramatic transformation, in the 1990s.
"Some of the photos featured here were taken a few months before all the theaters went down ... The strip shows and peep shows, the porn theaters (Show World, Peep Land, The Playpen, etc.) before they were gone and as destruction had just started, as well as the first signs of the total transformation of this great New York area," he writes.
Just down the street from Port Authority on 8th Avenue, the Show World Center was a complete sex facility, with strippers, peep shows, video booths, and a large selection of adult movies, magazines, and novelties. The center stopped showing live girls 1998, closed in 2004, and today is a haunted house known as Times Scare.
According to the New York Daily News, Peep-O-Rama was the last pornography emporium to survive on 42nd Street, closing in 2002. Today the site houses the Bank of America Tower, the $1 billion skyscraper that is the third-tallest in New York City.
Previously known as the Adonis (which was closed by city health inspectors in 1994 for "high-risk sexual activities"), the sex shop called the Playpen stood where the 8th Avenue Shake Shack stands today. 
Starting in the 1970s, many classic theaters had turned into seedy cinemas specializing in adult and second-run films, and many were either demolished or relocated during Giuliani's revitalization project. In 1998, the Empire was moved further down 42nd Street to serve as a ticket lobby for a new 25-screen cinema.
The historic Selwyn Theatre became the American Airlines Theatre after an extensive renovation project was led by the aerospace giant.
With a total seating capacity of 1,702, the New Amsterdam was the largest theatre in the city when it was built in 1903. After falling into disrepair in the late 1930s, it was converted into a movie theatre before being purchased by Disney in 1993. The newly renovated theater brought in other desirable media companies like MTV and ESPN.
According to USA Today, "Times Square has always lived a double life — even a century ago the 10-block stretch of busy Midtown streets was home to upscale splendor as well as hidden brothels and fetid hotels. With the invention of neon and the rise of Broadway shows, the area slowly became the entertainment center of the city."
Giuliani and his team of developers brought in upscale hotels, theme stores, and restaurants to create the neon Times Square we know today.
SEE ALSO: Incredible Photos From When New York's Hip Meatpacking District Was A Creepy Industrial Wasteland