Will Times Square ever become pretty again ??

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 10:47am

I have to say, that I consider Times Square my most favorite place on earth ! The energy, the lights and the whole feeling had me mesmerised like a little kid when I finally visited ! So, I have bookmarked the Earthcam page with live feeds from Times Square...

BUT

I can't even look at it any more. This awfully ugly construction site of the new tkts, which looks like it will NEVER be ready and destroyed that beuatiful square, combined with the horrible sight of the empty former Howard Johnshon's building, make my heart and eysight bleed !!!
I am wondering... Isn't there any authority to do something about the destruction of such a popular world-famous spot ?? Doesn't anyone see the ugliness of the situation ? I always thought, that in the USA, problems are solved very quickly and tourist landmarks are a priority ! Is the Howard Johnshon's place still unoccupied ? How can a shop in the busiest place of the world stay empty ? And if they can't build a bloody pre-made plastic booth with some pre-made steps for TWO years, why don't they just restore the square as it was and leave the booth at its new location !!


Updated On: 7/8/07 at 10:47 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 10:53am

I think Times Square is still beautiful. Of course, what attracts me are the colors and the lights, and they're still there in abundance!

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 10:57am

Yes, but the best place to enjoy the lights when I was there was the (Duffy ?) square which is now off limits

[D2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:00am

Construction is a strange thing in NYC - complex buildings can go up in what seems like a matter of hours, while what seems like a simple project can drag on for decades.

And Times Square has NEVER been pretty. Colorful, exciting, perhaps even beautiful in its seedy gaudiness. But pretty? Never.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:02am

Maybe I used the wrong word, D2, but I think the colors and lights are fabulous! I'm dying to go to Vegas for that reason alone~

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:03am

Pretty is in the eye of the beholder. For me, it's gorgeous

And I understand what you say about construction, though I thought that EVERYTHING in NYC would go up speedily, hence my puzzlement !

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:11am

Greek, you're right. I just thought about it, and to me the lights are gorgeous!

[D2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:14am

I don't disagree - it's just to me there is a difference between "pretty" and "beautiful." Central Park is "pretty." Times Square is "gritty." There are aspects of beauty to both. And you are both right, at night with all the lights it is breathtaking!

[D2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:14am

Oops, double post. Sorry.

Updated On: 7/8/07 at 11:14 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:15am

Love your sig, D2~

[mominator]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:17am

Does anyone know what is going in where the HoJo's use to be? Will not miss the HoJo's food was just gross and the service was even worse.

[D2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:20am

Thanks Jane2. It was something Beverly Sills said that I've always agreed with.

I don't know for certain what is going into the old HoJo's spot, but I would assume that the way things are going here that there will be a Starbucks and a bank on the ground floor.

[mominator]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 11:40am

Oh Boy! Yet another Starbucks!

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 1:22pm

I might be one of a minority but I HATE what has happened to Times Square! It has lost all it's New Yorkness and has become like an Epcot Attraction. I personally much prefered the Times Square of the 50's and 60's, gritty, a little dangerous , with the decaying glamour of an earlier time. Marquees with chase lights, old theatres, some giving way to the porn houses. It had flavor then, not the Disneyfield Blade Runner feel it has today.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 1:26pm

thank god the beloved traditional time-honoured Olive Garden has not been affected adversely by the construction.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 1:39pm

SNAFU, I hear that from several other people, too. I guess it's a tradeoff. Would you rather have the old, gritty, crime-ridden Times Square, or the new, cleaner safer one, minus the old New York flavor?

I have no problem with this question because as I said, I still like the way the place looks, and I'm happy with the less crime aspect of it.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 1:43pm

Jane2, Times Square only gives the appearance of being safer. Don't let the bright lights and cleaner streets fool you. The crime element is still very much alive there.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 1:45pm

Well, I obviously don't know about the old Times Square, but I can tell you, from a visitor's perspective, that the place is simply magnificent ! Now, if only, the ladders, fences, machinery, etc. were removed...
And I am fine with ANY establishment, instead of the mess that the old HoJo's building now looks !!

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 2:06pm

SNAFU-I'd like to believe that. How do we know it isn't safer?

If the crime is still the same, I'd also prefer the old Times Square.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 2:19pm

Times Square has been turned into Las Vegas. It will never again be "naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty 42nd Street."

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 2:23pm

I'd never been there until this past May, but it certainly didn't seem ugly to me. Gorgeous? No. But fun and glitzy and more like downtown San Francisco on a much more magnified scale.

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 2:55pm

There was an article in the NY Times on June 23rd (it's archived now and I can't access it) that said that one of the reasons for the slow development of the Howard Johnson site was due to part of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre's concession stand protruding into the Howard Johnson site, and no one knew this until HJ was being torn down. In order for construction to continue as planned at the site, they would have had to break through into the Lunt. Construction had to be halted until all sides could agree on how to proceed. Evidently, the plan now is to break through and destroy the concessions area, and then rebuild it as construction continues on the HJ site.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 3:33pm

I have heard just as many stories lately of people being pick pocketed and mugged in the throngs of Times Square as I did when I first moved into the city in 73'. I have relatives in the police department too who regal us with stories.
Crime on the whole goes up and down in the entire city. Times Square follows that course.
I would prefer they left the old theatres and renovated them, keeping the wonderful nostolgic New York Feel, then tear them down and put up the slapped together buildings with the theme park facades that we can see at Disney World, Las Vegas and other Family Themed Parks through out the world.
Shouldn't New York be the inspiration for these sites rather then becoming a tourist version of New York that they expect after visiting Disney World?

Updated On: 7/8/07 at 03:33 PM

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/8/07 at 5:11pm

I think Times Square is absolutely amazing...the first time you see it, maybe the second and third as well. But once I got used to the glitz and vastness of it, I began to see it as an annoyance. It's too mobbed with slow moving, tourists and traffic. Now I see it more as an obstacle to go around and avoid. When I go to the city, I almost always start in Times Square just to see it and be there. The rest of my time in the city I move over a block or two to 8th or 9th and walk paralell to it. 8th & 9th, now that's NYC.

Updated On: 7/8/07 at 05:11 PM

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:25am

I don't smoke but I miss the sign for CAMELS.