text: A  reporter once described it one of the 'dirtiest, wildest, toughest neighborhoods anywhere', though the grime around New York City's Times Square has since been replaced with the shine of electric advertisements and thousands of tourists. But photos of the area's 'notorious' dive bar,Terminal, have been preserved by the bartender and photographer who served drinks to pimps, prostitutes and destitute New Yorkers floating around the Port Authority bus terminal. Sheldon Nadelman, 80, who worked at the bar from 1973 to 1982, would meet and photograph the women as they came in at eight in the morning for three shots of cognac before going out to walk the streets. Photos taken from behind the bar at Terminal Bar, a 41st Street and 8th Avenue watering hole open until 1982, show a side of Times Square that has disappeared in the glare of Coca Cola advertisements . Sheldon Nadelman, a young bartender who is now 80, would watch as prostitutes hid behind newsstands and trash cans to avoid being seen. Reflections in the bar windows show pictures of boxers hung on the walls . Terminal Bar, which was located on the block now occupied by the New York Times headquarters, saw an combination of people floating around the Port Authority bus terminal . Nadelman, whose thousands of photos have been digitized by his son Stefan, watched as pimps and prostitutes gathered outside of his bar . 'It was a zoo. You had every hustler, every pimp, every wino. They were all at Terminal Bar,' Nadelman told the Daily Mail Online by phone. His amateur work, which includes thousands of portraits from the period, often focused on the street trash can he could see from the bar, where a cross section of Times Square's hustlers and homeless stopped for a rest. Nadelman, who lived in Greenwich Village before leaving the city to raise his children, snapped genuine  shots as sex workers hid behind newsstands to avoid police at the terminal across the street and watched as the lives of many who entered his bar slowly fall apart. 'The street eats them alive,' Nadelman said of his bar's clients, which included a combination of gay men, cross-dressers, actors and alcoholics all mixing together in a small patch of Midtown Manhattan not yet known for commercial glitz. The photographer said that women would come in to the bar early in the morning to get shots of cognac before going out to work the streets . The area around Times Square used to be known for violence and prostitution. Though there are still sex shops on 8th Avenue, grime in the area has been replaced with chain restaurants and tourist attractions . Nadelman's voyeuristic shots were often captured through the open door of his bar, allowing him to see a candid cross section of 1970s New York not available in project that took place over a shorter time period . Hundreds of photographs from the 1970s and early 1980s capture the mood and fashion of a New York in Midtown Manhattan that no longer exists . He would hang portraits of his customers on the wall, and made a little pocket money selling them or $5 a pop. Three decades later, the photographer now lives in southern New Jersey, and visitors to Times Square are more likely to be asked if they want to see a Broadway show than propositioned by a prostitute. However, his son Stefan decided to digitize his father's shots, keeping alive the stories of bar regulars and passersby that would be lost to history as selfie sticks became more common in the neighborhood. The trash can outside of Terminal on 41st Street and 8th Avenue played a supporting role in the stories of many passersby, who used it as a place to rest . Nadelman, who would meet many of the pimps, prostitutes and others who gathered around Terminal Bar, watched as many of their lives took turns for the worse . The bar's clients included a combination of gay men, cross-dressers, actors and alcoholics who mingled together in a neighborhood described as the 'dirtiest, wildest, toughest anywhere' A prostitute nicknamed Red (right) was one of the luckier stories captured by Nadelman. She received enough money to stop working on the street after her 'john' (left) died . While the fate of many of its customers is uncertain, Terminal Bar itself closed in 1982 after Nadelman's father-in-law and bar owner Murray Goldman decided that $125,000 a year rent was too expensive. Nadelman then completely took himself out of New York  'It was like circumcision, gone', he said of his move to suburbia, and now views his time at the bar as a 'different world', though is reminded of the 70s by the occasional sex shop still on 8th Avenue. The building where Terminal once stood is now occupied by the New York Times, which paid $24million for its first year at the 41st and 8th Avenue juncture in 2010, according to Bloomberg. Art gallery owners have talked of bringing Nadelman into the new, expensive New York for a show, though he is uninterested in recognition and says going back to his old stomping grounds is a 'schlep'. The photographer keeps his photos, as well as his paintings, up on the walls of his house  for his personal recollections. 'Yesterday, it's always on my mind,' he said. Terminal Bar closed in 1982, when Nadelman's father-in-law Murray Goldman decided that he did not want to pay $125,000 per year in rent . 'It was a zoo. You had every hustler, every pimp, every wino. They were all at Terminal Bar,' Nadelman said . The area formerly occupied by the dive bar is now taken up by the New York Times, which pays millions of dollars to lease floors on a block that includes upscale grocery store Dean & Deluca . Times Square is now often mobbed with tourists from all over the world and features advertisements on bright electronic screens rather than signs for dingy bars . Nadelman lived in a Greenwich Village apartment when he worked at Terminal but moved to New Jersey to raise his children. The photographer now lives in southern New Jersey and hangs his photos and paintings on his walls .
target: Sheldon Nadelman, 80, captured images of New Yorkers while working at Terminal Bar on 41st Street and 8th Ave .
  Photos between 1973 and 1982 show prostitutes, pimps and homeless people around Port Authority bus terminal .
  Sex workers would come in to  drink cognac at eight in the morning before going out to walk the streets .
  Terminal Bar closed when owner didn't want to pay $125,000 a year rent on property that now leases for millions .
  Block with bar in neighborhood described as 'dirtiest, wildest and toughest' now has an upscale grocery store .