Times Square in NYC is fun!

Despite all the nostalgia, Time Square was really shitty in the 70’s and early 80’s. I actually think it was a great idea to Disney-fy it and make it a tourist magnet. I bet it brings in billions to NYC econony

[quote]Time Square

Oh, dear.

Most natives avoid Times Square at all costs unless there’s a reason to be there or if they’re going somewhere over there. Most of us don’t find it fun.

Times Square is fun only to tourists or transplants, who are both essentially the same. A transplant is just a tourist who decided to stay. But essentially still a tourist and they view this city through the eyes of a tourist.

I don’t think it’s fun, but there is something about it that can stir emotions. I was in NYC for the first time since the pandemic last month. On biz and staying at Sofitel on 6th/44th so not out of Times Square.

One day I walked to the Strand for book shopping and then to West Village for dinner. For some reason had urge to walk up 7th instead of 6th to get back to hotel.

Around 36th the glow of Time Square took over the horizon. Gave me a warm thrill—kind of like the Wizard of Ox when it goes from B/W to full color.

I headed to 6th before hitting Times Square but seeing that glow put a little pep in my step.

It hasn't been the same since the finest restaurant in NYC, Tad's, closed.

I get it, OP.

I've only been to NYC a few times - including a stay in a hotel room near Times Square, where I realized that yes, the cabs WILL literally brush up against your body when you are a pedestrian crossing the street.

I lived in Chicago for a number of years and most people avoid Michigan Avenue or Navy Pier - or really, any place with a clusterfuck of tourists - like the plague. But the energy and wonder of those places, and others, can be fun to explore if you're got time for it. (Although truly, Navy Pier is really.....not all that exciting, other than being near the lake.)

I think every place I've lived has been a bit like that, too, even in smaller cities. You never get to do the "tourist" stuff unless someone from out of town is visiting. Most of the time it's just, ugh, fuck, get these tourists out of my way!

^hotel not far from Time Square (not in Time Square…stupid thumbs)

It hasn't been the same since the finest entertainment venue, The Gaiety, closed.

TIMES Square.

Not Time Square.

TIMES.

TIMES.

TIMES.

Times Square was way more fun in the 1970s and 80s - before they made it into Disneyland. Saying it's like Las Vegas today is a put-down.

It’s not like Vegas though. You see tons of whores and drunks and casinos all over Vegas. It’s known as Sin City with reason.

NYC is boring now. It’s whitewashed to be a Middle American city on the East Coast now.

R11, Times Square was sleazy. Not sure it was fun

Times Square was fun. I don’t see how it’s fun now though. What exactly is fun about it? It’s overcrowded with tourists, and all overpriced food chains and stores now. How is that fun?

It’s fun for the tourists.

[quote]the Wizard of Ox

New restaurant concept?

[quote]It hasn't been the same since the finest restaurant in NYC, Tad's, closed.

It hasn't been the same since the finest restaurant in NYC, Guy's American Kitchen, closed.

Whenever chain restaurants come to NYC, for some reason they REALLY suck. The food is just terrible, particularly in the chains around Times Square.

I was surprised when I tried The Olive Garden and Pizzeria Uno in a flyover state while on a work trip. They were actually pretty good.

I actually liked Tad’s back in the 90s.

I still remember when visiting NYC as a kid with my parents . We’d always eat at the Times Square Howard Johnson Restaurant

R18 I actually got an explanation about that from a manager at Wahlbergers and Olive Garden a few years ago. It’s pretty easy to understand why.

R21, don’t leave us hanging. What’s the explanation?

The wonderful Brooklyn Diner on 59th street opened a site in Times Square a while back. Even though they’re just a few blocks away from each other, the food at Times Square branch is terrible.

[quote]I still remember when visiting NYC as a kid with my parents . We’d always eat at the Times Square Howard Johnson Restaurant

And were you aware of the delights that awaited upstairs?

The reason is because NYC has so many fucking people so the demand is usually higher in restaurants or food chains here. Because there are so many people (especially in places like Times Square, where there are tons of tourists) they have to make a lot more food at a time and at faster pacing. This usually results in the food not tasting as good.

If you go to other cities/towns/states where things are slower the food usually is better because the people cooking can take their time in making sure it’s all done well.

R25, considering they know what the volume will be, perhaps they should plan accordingly—-have a big enough kitchen, staffed with a ton of chefs.

[quote]Most natives avoid Times Square at all costs unless there’s a reason to be there or if they’re going somewhere over there. Most of us don’t find it fun.

I think it can be a lot of fun in small doses, and under the right conditions: If it's not super-crowded and the weather is nice, etc. Crossing the streets in Times Square is NEVER fun, but once you reach one of the newish "pedestrian mall" areas, like the huge one near the TKTS booth, it can be a great experience for a brief visit, though I can't imagine anyone would want to spend more than half an hour there for any reason. A lot of new, super-bright LED billboards (or whatever the current technology is) have been added in recent years, so now, if you go to the area at night, it really does seem almost as bright as day.

r25 That makes no sense. There are plenty of suburban Olive Gardens and the like that have long waits to get in.

It more that these chains want to make a quick profit and know they can feed overpriced shit to tourists

During college, I’d visit NYC and get my cock sucked off a lot at the gay theatres. Fun! Fun! Fun!

It’s a playground of tourists.

My partner’s office is near Times Square. He says every day is a battle to get to and from work

Johns Hopkins

R26 thinks these places have unlimited space and budgets.

NYC had over 8 million people. The 2nd largest city is Los Angeles with over 3 million people.

While you still have waits in other cities it’s nowhere near what restaurants in NYC deal with.

And this is just the people living there. That doesn’t count all the tourists too.

[quote]My partner’s office is near Times Square. He says every day is a battle to get to and from work

And I'll bet he eats at The Olive Garden.

Times Square serves it purpose. I don't hang out there much though. The real gems are scattered throughout the city. Thanks to Google, you can find all the smaller delis, diners, jazz bars, galleries, coffee shops and parks on your phone. NYC is a great city to just roam around and watch things happen. Native New Yorkers are nice though not eloquent. The tourists or transplants are assholes

[quote]It’s not like Vegas though. You see tons of whores and drunks and casinos all over Vegas.

And soon you will see that in Times Square! Sooner rather than later ~

[Quote] [R26] thinks these places have unlimited space and budgets.

So they’re fine charging Times Square prices to shovel out shit?

If you just walk a few blocks outside Times Square in any direction, the food gets better and cheaper

Maneuvering NYC is work in itself now. The social media climbers keep flocking here and now everything is too crowded, which is why they’re building so many new buildings, to fit more and more people in.

Mayor Adams acknowledged this recently, and even admitted there are more people in this city than apartments now. The city grew by over 800k people in 2022. It’s too much now.

[Quote] [R26] thinks these places have unlimited space and budgets.

I’m sure they make sure the seating area can fit as many unsuspecting tourists as possible though

[quote]And were you aware of the delights that awaited upstairs?

Oh, the anticipation as the tacky silver " curtain" was pulled in front of the movie screen.

I was walking just south of Times Square (on Bway, I think) and saw a long line outside of John’s Pizza.

I’d never heard of it. Why is it so popular?

Oh the good times sitting at HoJo's on a cold, snowy January night eating their clam dinner...and the hot guys from 'upstairs' would come down and join me at the counter in their muscle shirts between dances, having a drink and 'making conversation'. Ended up taking a few back to my room to 'warm me up'.

R45 great fan fiction.

r44 A free blowjob with each pie.

[quote] It’s just a NYC version of Las Vegas.

And THAT is the problem.

[quote]especially because NYC is a symbol of liberalism.

Thank you, gurl.

R46 Sounds lie you struck out at HoJos back then.

NYC's issues is that the city became too expensive for the middle class. So they moved to the suburbs in Westchester, Long Island or all of NJ. Only the rich, the upper middle class professionals or the working class with rent control could remain. Cities need thriving middle classes to mitigate crime and invest in the community. When you have very rich and very poor people, there isn't going to be much engagement because they live separate lives which the rich isolate themselves and the poor lack the means to do much. The middle class is a buffer that bridges the lower income to the higher income. NYC needs tourists to fill the gap.

NYC is a mess right now. And I think it’s funny that the people (middle class) who always defended price surges and inflation are now feeling the effects of it and are now speaking against inflation. When low-middle class or poor people complained the middle class would shrug at them and say “supply and demand” etc. with arrogance. Now they feel it and are bitching all over the internet, despite the poor and lower-middle class telling them that eventually it would hit them too.

R51 same thing that happened to San Francisco prior. It’s all wealthy or very poor. No middle class. And that city is falling apart.

And contrary to popular belief about gentrification. The rich don't clean up anything. They move in to their gated apartments and keep their areas clean but ignore everything else. They don't go to community events, block parties, carnivals, eat at the local greasy spoons and they send their kids to private schools. I think old money NYers are different, they ride subways and get their bagels. The rich transplants from Midwest bring their racism and wannabe Carrie Bradshaw attitudes with them. Many are NIMBYs. Big corporations that have moved in and bring in profits also do not invest in city infrastructure as they should. Public spaces like parks are increasingly being privatized or dismantled, there's many limits on building new homes, many foreign investors will buy up unused property and let them sit. The US needs to be like Europe and Asia and invest in our cities and revive them as thriving cultural centers. Corporations have destroyed a lot of American cultural heritage.

When you have such wealth disparities plus tax laws that favor the wealthy, there is less and less money to go into upkeeping the city

R55, also, I've always thought one of the reasons why the subways in NYC are in such horrendous shape in terms of maintenance, crime, etc. is that, for the most part, rich people don't take the subways. So even though millions of people DO take the subways, the powers that be don't care about those people, because they are poor or middle class. You can bet your ass that if rich people DID ride the subways -- which they don't -- the system would be in far better physical condition and crime within the system would be all but eradicated due to increased police presence and action.

There are many valid points in this thread. However, though everyone points out that these big cities no longer have 'the middle class' living in them, no one has said why : because there is no more middle class. Nothing like it was in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. Why ?

Reagan had a campaign promise which turned into his goal to eliminate the middle class during his presidency in the 1980s, and it began to take hold (he just wanted the wealthy, and the poor - to be subservient to the wealthy). Bush 41 continued with that plan. Clinton tried to put the brakes on it (1992-2000) but didn't have much luck. Bush 43 / Cheney gets into office and continues to eliminate the middle class and has better luck then Reagan. Obama steps in, and doesn't have much success of reversing this. Trump - need I say more ? So since 1981, we've been on a road traveling at high speed to do away with the middle class.

R25 thinks people “cook” in chain restaurants.

I miss the porn shops.

What is the point of being rich if you have to take the subway?

R60 the point is they don’t have to. They want to because it’s faster and easier than NYC traffic.

R25 much of the food is flash frozen and are 'cooked' in convection ovens. There aren't any good restaurants in Times Square but travel west to 9th Ave and beyond and there are a number of good places to eat. Times Square is less fun and interesting than it used to be and watching the New's Eve celebration there on TV, it seemed downright tedious.

And food sucks in tourist areas.

I live near a relatively small tourist town and the food sucks like a toothless whore in a hurry here. It's all the most uninventive slop you could possibly imagine, even the so called "local" places.

Machete attacks don't help either, R62

On New Year's Eve besides the attack on police officers there was a man stabbed in the neck on W42nd and 6th near Times Square and another stabbing earlier in the day near 7th Avenue and 40th Street. On Monday 5 were injured in 4 slashings within 2 blocks in Midtown West in and around Crime Square.

So stay to the east?

or just stay away altogether R66 as many are doing

I have lived in NYC all my long life. I have never liked Times Square. It has always been a spectacle of one type of over the top ugliness or another. There are so many distinct and charming ‘hoods in NYC. Times Square is like yellow Cotten candy blowing in your face, and mobbed. It makes the strip in Vegas look classy.

Times Square is as tacky as Branson.

Joseph Cotten ate at Tad's.

Joseph Cotten ate at the Gaiety Theater.

Most of my visits to Manhattan involve staying with friends in tiny apartments far from Midtown, taking the subway almost everywhere, eating in small joints. Without exception, there are irritations, but the visits are generally really enjoyable as they usually involve some sort of milestone event to be celebrated.

Once every 7-8 years I visit Midtown, stay in an expensive hotel (usually the Hilton Times Square, which is not where it is, but whatever), go to shows and museums, eat in touristy restaurants, and plug into the energy of Times Square. It is an escape from reality for a few days.

I think most people's perception of NYC is exactly the hustle and bustle of Times Square and I, admittedly, enjoy doing it occasionally.

I enjoyed Times Square sleaze in the 80s. But it really was sleazy and grim and a warning to keep your shit together and moving up in life because you don't want to end up a desperate character.

I always liked high and low. Experiencing extreme luxury and beauty and languidness, and hot sleaze , grit, neon and fard.

As a lifelong New Yorker I was fine with times Square in the 1970s-1990s. I knew to keep my wits about me and walk with purpose if I was going down 42nd Street or on 8th Avenue. I find it disingenuous and insulting when people argue that the only options were to leave it as a smutty dangerous district or completely Disney-fy it. The area could have been rehabilitated and cleaned up without removing everything that made it uniquely New York. Now it exists only for tourists. New Yorkers avoid it like the plague.

The thing is, if the people who run things had any brains and any taste, they could have RETAINED some of the things that made Times Square what it was -- Howard Johnson's, the Paramount theater, the Astor Hotel, etc. -- and marketed them towards tourists who would like to visit a New York City that didn't look just like a weird variation on Las Vegas filled with chain restaurants and businesses that they could visit far more easily at home.

[quote] Now it exists only for tourists. New Yorkers avoid it like the plague.

That's probably why tourists like it so much.

Is that rock & roll dive bar still around?

R76 - I agree with you 100%. However, the landlords of those buildings realized their properties were worth much more than what HoJos, Astor or Paramount could afford in rent - and went after tenants who could afford the market rate (new, trendy tenants). Those new tenants can pay the rent which pays the mortgages, the upkeep, the renovations and the property taxes. HoJos and the others just couldn't do it.

You felt stories like this were happening being the neon.