365 Places: Times Square, NYC

Day 61: Times Square, New York City, NY, United States of America

In my earlier post about the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, I talked about my fascination for this city.

When I stayed in NYC, I stayed in a hostel on 45th Street, The Big Apple Hostel, which was just around the corner from Times Square, a site that attracted me for its role in so many films I had seen growing up.

One of the films that impacted me greatly was a 1980 film of the same name – Times Square. The story is about two girls who become friends and start a punk band. One of the girls is a street kid and the other one is from a wealthy background. At the time, I was a young teenager myself and the energy of the music, the story of the girls and the city itself captured me.

To walk around Times Square is like being in a film, there are people everywhere, the lights flash brightly, yellow taxis flood the streets and the steam rises from the pavement.

Mr Wikipedia says that:

Times Square is a major commercial intersection and a neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the junction of Broadway (now converted into a pedestrian plaza) and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square – iconified as “The Crossroads of the World”,”The Center of the Universe”, and the “The Great White Way” – is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, one of the world’s busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world’s entertainment industry.

According to Travel + Leisure magazine Times Square is the world’s most visited tourist attraction, hosting over 39 million visitors annually.

I understand that in 2009, Times Square is now primarily a pedestrian only area, which would make it an even more entrancing place to visit. Maybe it is time to go back.

For more information check out the Times Square Alliance website, or drop in virtually via the Times Square cam.