The 1970s heyday of Boston’s seedy Combat Zone is the subject of a photography exhibit opening Friday.
“Boston Combat Zone: 1969-1978” at the Howard Yezerski Gallery chronicles the former adult entertainment district as viewed through the lenses of photographers John Goodman, Jerry Berndt and Roswell Angier.
Their 33 black-and-white photographs depict the street energy of the Combat Zone – from its neon-lit nudie palaces and adult movie theaters to the prostitutes and others prowling them – as well as the strippers who worked inside clubs such as the Naked i Cabaret and the Teddy Bare Lounge.
Gallery owner Howard Yezerski thought it was the right time, more than 40 years after the first shots were taken, to recall the red-light district, which is now all but relegated to the Glass Slipper and Centerfolds strip clubs.