TheMinnesota Strip is an archaic name for an area inManhattan comprisingEighth Avenue between 42nd Street and 57th Street. It is now part ofHell's Kitchen.
The name comes from the high volume of teenage Midwestern prostitutes that populated the area from the 1960s to the 1990s[1][2][3][4] and the term only began to disappear as publicprostitution became the target ofNew York City's massive crackdown on prostitution and street crime under then-mayorRudolph Giuliani.
The phrase was used in the title of the 1980 film,Off the Minnesota Strip, starringHal Holbrook and featuringMare Winningham as a teenage runaway who returns to her home in Minnesota after months of working as a prostitute in New York.[5] The made-for-TV film won the 1980 Emmy for 'Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or Special' for writerDavid Chase.[6]
The Minnesota Strip is referenced in the 1978 Broadway MusicalRunaways.[7]
The Dictators' song "Minnesota Strip" from their 1978 albumBloodbrothers is about the area.
40°45′42″N73°59′12″W / 40.7617°N 73.9866°W /40.7617; -73.9866
