tourists in Times Square — Page 2

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#26

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 7:39pm

I agree that taking 6th or 8th Ave is always a better way, if you can avoid Broadway and 7th....

The worst is the TRL crowd midsummer. UGGHGHGH

JOHN LITHGOW I just realized, your last name is Butz! Both "Norbert" AND "Butz" are in your name! You must have gotten picked on a lot as a child!

#27

Am I the only jaded tourist that never openly gawked at Times Square? Woohoo, a bunch of billboards and lights. Maybe it was because the first time I was there it was daylight and I was trying to get to a show at the Marquis Theatre.

Just saying, I hate to be an obvious tourist and would NEVER stop in the middle of the sidewalk- that's just rude.

Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

#28

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 8:15pm

I like Times Square - not because it's particularly "pretty" in the visual sense of the word, but because the ambiance and business is so attractive. I love the bustle, the sounds, the smells, and the array of people and activities down there. When I went to NYC in April with a first-timer, she said, "Why are you standing there with a stupid grin on your face? This is just like the metro section of Tokyo or Hong Kong?"--it's just because it's so New York.

"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)

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#29

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 8:16pm

What constitutes being a tourist? I don't live in NYC, I don't live there, but I live in NJ and its about a 30 minute train ride for me to get there. I am in and out quite frequently (more so in the past couple months). Am I a tourist?

I want to write music. I want to sit down right now at my piano and write a song that people will listen to and remember and do the same thing every morning...for the rest of my life. - Jonathan Larson. Tick, Tick...BOOM!

#30

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 8:19pm

Heh. Good point. I have, at various points, interned and studied in the city, but I've never lived there. Do you stop being a tourist after your first 100 visits?

#31

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 8:20pm

When I think of "tourist," I think of someone who is there on vacation... I wouldn't call you a regular, but I wouldn't call you a tourist either.

According to dictionary.com... tourist -- One who travels for pleasure.

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Updated On: 4/12/05 at 08:20 PM

#32

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 9:16pm

I love times square, I'm there all the time. But when I am trying to get somewhere and am slowed down by tourists, it bugs me.
When I am sitting outside of Spamalot for 3 hours tomorrow morning to get standing room tickets, I hope there are lots of tourists to look at, otherwise I will be quite bored.

#33

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:00pm

It's definitely a love/hate relationship! I mean, thank god they exist, for otherwise there would be so little theater, way less than there is now, and NYC just couldn't be the same without them tourists.

On the other hand, when they stop and bring out the maps and I need to get somewhere...then I get pissy.

Deet: Shira, I Love You!

#34

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:02pm

OR you could offer to give them directions and send them on their merry speed-walking way, Miss Customer Service.

#35

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:03pm

bg2, you're in NY and you didnt tell me? Im hurt!

As for the Broadway Theatre, The Mambo Kings will be going in there with an August opening.

Liotte, have fun tourist watching in Shubert Alley.... it's actually one of my favorite places to be/hang out. Someone joked once and called it the center of the universe -- if you stand there long enough, you'll always run into at least one person you know. And what's funny is that's where I ALWAYS run into people I know (and no, that's not counting anyone I know who works there!)

I both love and hate tourism.... love it because it keeps my city alive and thriving..... hate it because there are annoying tourists who stop in the middle of the street, or are intent on walking down the street, arm in arm, 4 across the sidewalk so that nobody else can get through. If all tourists were intelligent, I'd love them lol

"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA

If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...

#36

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:04pm

You know...I imagine that someone who lives in Illinois-an suburbs like me would love all the money that I would save on gasoline if I lived in Manhattan. (Assuming I drive....of course...)

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#37

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:06pm

Ah, but you really wouldn't be saving money.... the cost of living is FAR more expensive here..... you'd probably want to be back in IL with your car and gas bill!

"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA

If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...

#38

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:09pm

Tiff, I actually do!

I admit, when I lived in NYC last year, I was miffed, but I graciously offered to tell people where things were. And hey, I still ask for directions sometimes (especially below 10th).

Deet: Shira, I Love You!

#39

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:13pm

A major drawback to the Disneyfication of Times Square was that the life of NYC was removed.

Who ever thought that one would look fondly back to the days, 20 years ago and more, when Times Square was filled with actors making the rounds, office workers, day trippers from NJ & CT, pimps, hookers, 3-card Monte dealers, sex shops and video stores, and more? These days the personality of the place is so bland you could be anywhere in the states. Do we need one more restaurant that serves huge portions? The only distinguishing feature of Times Square that says "it ain't I-o-way" is the proliferation of theatre marquees.

#40

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:14pm

Darn right, Shira! Here, I'll offer to take a photo of a couple if they're blocking the sidewalk trying to frame the damn thing so they'll get on their way quickly too.

Plus, I can see where everyone's coming from about the annoyance of people walking slowly and blocking sidewalks. I'm an irritable person and it bothers me as much - if not more - than anyone else. But again, as Plum said, I don't think this is just tourist-exclusive behavior. Just, you'll notice walking around the guy with the camera or the guy with the map before you'll notice the guys clustered together, loitering and hanging out. And I, being an indiscriminate person, hate them all equally.

#41

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:16pm

Awww..I feel bad now, guys. When I went to NY last Spring Break, and I stopped to take a picture with this big Escalade limousine. I thought it was the coolest thing at that time...so...blah. I was 13..heh. BUT IT WAS STILL COOL! >___<

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#42

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:17pm

I usually offer to take pictures of people in Times Square if I am not in a hurry, but I ignore people with maps who are lost unless they come up and ask me for directions.
And Aigoo- I love driving but it is very nice not to pay for a car, gas, insurance, etc. And I live 3 blocks from work, so unless I want to go somewhere lower than times square or herald square, I can walk.

#43

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:21pm

Oh, yeah, I'm a car fanatic, so I'm happiest when I'm behind the wheel. (when I get the chance), but gas prices are rising up so much and we're just outgrowing the earth. It'd be smarter to move to a city where I could just walk everywhere. I'd rather do that, too. Fight obesity, w00t. :pumps her fist:

But yeah, whenever we go on vacation, I tell my parents not to act like such tourists. I try to blend in as much as I can. Especially a place as New York.

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#44

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:26pm

aigoo, what IL town are you from? I went to college in IL and am there all the time

#45

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:30pm

I think Tiff has the right attitude. Why limit yourself to hating tourists when you can be an all-around misanthrope and hate indiscriminately?

#46

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:32pm

St. Charles . Very suburban "city". We're about an hour away from Chicago, half an hour away from Schaumburg, and...I'd say atleast an hour and a half from Champana (U of I Urbana/Champaign).

Where did you go? I'm assuming either Northwestern or Champana.

"I think Tiff has the right attitude. Why limit yourself to hating tourists when you can be an all-around misanthrope and hate indiscriminately? "

I'm not racist! I hate everyone EQUALLY!
^^^ I donno where that came from, but it's very true. ^^^

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Updated On: 4/12/05 at 10:32 PM

#47

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:35pm

I went to Bradley down in Peoria actually...

I'm in chicago a lot though. I've never heard of your town, except the one by st louis...

#48

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/12/05 at 10:52pm

Jose, I would have to disagree with you. I think that when someone sees TS, they know it is NYC. Where else looks like TS? I certainly know exactly what it is and don't think that "personality" of the place is lost because there aren't hookers and sex stores anymore. But maybe that's just me.

"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife

#49

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/13/05 at 12:08am

Totally off the topic, but I have friends who live in Champaign/Urbana......

BTW, parts of Japan resemble Times Square.

"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA

If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...

#50

re: tourists in Times Square

Posted: 4/13/05 at 9:01am

Tourists have a tendency to piss me off. Though they may be on vacation, they don't realise that other people work, and while I am running to get to work, I have to push past the fat a$$ family of five that insists on taking up the whole sidealk as they look at the buildings on their leisurely stroll on a crowded sidewalk!

"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive. "Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot." "No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one." Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.

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