So there I was, maneuvering through Times Square on a bustling Saturday afternoon. I typically avoid TS unless absolutely necessary; I can’t handle the droves of gawking tourists staring skyward at giant glossy sneaker ads and chain restaurants, but unfortunately, this was an “absolutely necessary” situation. I took a deep breath and darted through the crowds. Waiting to cross Broadway, I stared blankly at the billboard up, up and ahead of me, among souvenir stores, theaters and a McDonald’s. I’d seen the image hundreds of times before—two bikini-clad buxom blondes standing superimposed before close-ups of their faces, in front of a red and yellow background. The billboard had probably been up for ages, I assumed, probably an ad for a clothing company or energy drink. It took me over a full minute to realize, after crossing the street away from the enormous sign, exactly where I’d seen it before. I hadn’t been staring at a nameless model on that billboard; I was looking at porn superstar Jenna Jameson—the ad was for her film “Krystal Method.”

“It’s porn!” I yelled out. A giant, glossy porn ad, smack in the middle of The New Times Square, the Disneyworld of New York City. Sure, such a billboard would have fit right into the Times Square of the seventies and eighties, adult-entertainment center that it once was. But in post-Guiliani NYC, such an ad is unexpected. Are things changing back to the scandalous days of old, or is porn (of the Vivid Video genre) getting that mainstream and Disney-fied itself, so as to fit comfortably in with Planet Hollywood and the Olive Garden?