Remember that Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was on the south side of the Thames, surrounded by pickpockets, prostitutes and beggars. If all you talked about today is how dangerous it was for "nice people" to attend the Globe back then, you would be missing the point entirely.
So having theaters in seamy Times Square seemed natural in the 1970s.
The surrounding squalor also meant that ticket prices were lower in the 1970s than they are now, and it meant that the neighborhood was filled with inexpensive places to eat--not chain restaurants or fast-food joints but small restaurants frequented by actors and stagehands as well as theatergoers.
It also meant that the scale of the buildings was lower. There were a few high-rise hotels, but most of the buildings between Broadway and Eighth Avenue from 41st Street to 54th Street were no higher than the theaters themselves, which made the architecture of the theaters more impressive.
And the lights were impressive but distinctive. Today, Times Square at night looks indistinguishable from Las Vegas or Tokyo's Shinkjuku district.
Back then, the illuminated Times Square looked like nothing else in the world.
Updated On: 6/4/12 at 07:40 AM
