Times Square: the Centre of the Universe There’S Nothing Pedestrian About One of the World’S Busiest Intersections

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NEW YORK Times Square: The centre of the universe There’s nothing pedestrian about one of the world’s busiest intersections

HADANI DITMARS SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Times Square, “crossroads of the world” and certainly one of its busiest tourist attractions, is the perfect American confluence of art, com- merce and carnival. A cacophony of signage and sex shops, recently san- itized for consumers, it lies on the bones of old horse-trading hangouts. A favourite destination for both cam- era-toting Midwesterners and disaf- fected anarchist bombers, its recent “Disneyfication” has been derided by purists, who long for the days of nos- talgic sleaze. I know what they mean. There is a certain innocence to the few remain- ing sex shops, dwarfed by corporate signage, evocative of a pre-Internet age when smut was something special. They channel the past as much as the classic theatres where the Ziegfeld follies once carried on. But despite the rolled eyes of friends in Gramercy when I told them I was staying in Times Square for a few days, the apotheosis of the American dream and one of the world’s busiest pedestrian intersections did not disappoint. Its colourful history has a new look of late, since its pedestrianization– made permanent in 2010 – has given its Broadway and 42nd Street Duffy Square (named for a Canadian born priest and military chaplain) epicen- tre a kind of piazza feel. Well … make that a piazza on acid, where naked cowboys playing guitar mingle with Mickey Mouse against a backdrop of ads for Panasonic televisions and all under the watchful eye of a George M. Cohan statue. A giant televisual pillar — like a monument to mammon — stands at the centre of a red, pyramidical set of bleachers, at the end of a long traf- fic island. The area has been a stage for new public art, such as the 2010 work called Cool Water, Hot Island PHOTOS: HADANI DITMARS/SPECIAL TO THE SUN that simulated a river on the pedes- American playwright George M. Cohan keeps a watchful eye on the hustle and bustle. Times Square, an area that stretches from Broadway and 42nd to West trian plazas from 42-47th Street. One 47th Street, is one of the busiest tourist attractions in the world and is ﬁlled with recognizable landmarks, like Roxy Delicatessen. critic referred to it as a “Smurf jungle camouflage.” white art movie about “Amerika,” its a plethora of television cameras, but wielding placards saying “Down With I had been warned about Elmo. Times Square is such an arche- circus neon filtered through a more it was hard to tell if it was real, or a the War economy” and “40% of our Apparently he — or one of his many typal piece of Americana, and so cin- sober lens, and rendered serious. film set. budget goes to the military.” As they incarnations — had been caught grop- ematically overexposed, (especially, it Fittingly, I went for my first walk- In the midst of all this, I heard handed out leaflets, I noticed an Elmo ing women, as well as shaking down a would seem, in films with apocalyptic about in Times Square — an area that music. mascot dancing and waving his big Bollywood star after her son posed for themes) it’s often hard to separate the stretches from Broadway and 42nd to Not the kind blasted from giant furry paws in the air, in time with the a photo and she was too slow on the actual from the celluloid. As I strolled West 47th Street — (unbeknownst to screens in the square, but actual live protest band. War and entertainment uptake at the ATM. Disneyland noir, its streets, I kept thinking it would me) on the very day and exact same music. It sounded a bit like a drum — America’s greatest legacies — in my friends, Disneyland noir. have been the perfect place for a Ger- hour of the Boston bombings. and bugle band with a little Rio de perfect sync. Could this be the start man filmmaker — say Wim Wenders It seemed there was more of a Janeiro thrown in. I followed it and of a new anti-military entertainment circa 1971 — to compose a black and police presence than usual as well as saw a few dozen earnest protesters complex? CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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VANSAF15738_1_1 VAN01139650_1_1 Saturday, July 6, 2013 | BREAKING NEWS: VANCOUVERSUN.COM travel || G5

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Back in the luxurious oasis of well as one called Fantasy and the new Times Square Intercon- Desire that includes a restored tinental, safe from the tumult Peep-o-Rama sign from 42nd and the mascots, I had a drink Street’s last peep show. with a Canadian-turned-New Like a showbiz shrine, it’s Yorker jazz musician friend at also home to the Confetti Wish- the lobby level bar. Designed ing Wall, where petitioners can with a large glass vitrine that write down their name, address opens on to street level, it liter- and wishes — all to be added to ally brings the outside in. the two tons of confetti scat- It also offers views of the tered on Times Square on New exterior of the famous Birdland Year’s Eve. — named for Charlie “Bird” Incredibly, this is how one Parker. On a whim, we walked New Jersey couple met and over, where my friend (kind of married, when a woman wrote minor jazz royalty) was warmly down the qualities she hoped to welcomed by the owner, and find in her “ideal man,” and he where none other than the John fortuitously found her wish in Scofield quartet were about to a folded piece of red paper on start their second set. 42nd Street. Around midnight, I headed Later, as I look toward Hell’s back to my lovely room on Kitchen from the rooftop api- the 32nd floor with a view of ary (yes that’s right — they the river, and dreamed I met keep bees there) at the Inter- Ornette Coleman in a Mickey continental, I think of the giant Mouse costume. glittering ball, and New Year’s The next day I had a walk- Eve, and all those hopes and ing tour with a lovely woman desires scattered around Times named Nancy — a Broadway Square on so many tiny pieces hoofer turned part-time guide of paper. — and a group of ladies from No wonder the 19th-cen- upstate New York. tury spiritualists — whose Hers was a tour that gave “descendants” live on at a vari- some insightful historical per- ety of Times Square “psychic” spective on the place. shops that seem as prolific The New Amsterdam Theatre as the sex stores once were — — together with the Lyceum thought New York was the new the oldest surviving theatre Jerusalem. on Broadway — offered some Whether you want to avoid it, architecture as neighbourhood avenge yourself against an abu- metaphor. Its heritage art nou- sive mascot, or catch a show veau exterior had once housed like Bette Midler’s I’ll Eat You the Ziegfeld Follies before it Last (just closed), you can’t became a movie theatre in deny that Times Square has its 1937. own gravitational pull. It closed in 1985 but was And who knows, if you make reopened by Disney to be the the scene at one of the Inter- flagship for their theatrical pro- continental’s famous power ductions in 1997. lunches, you might just meet Today its heritage exterior is The sights and sounds of Times Square have their own gravitational pull. Take in a show, have your picture taken with a mascot, or the right Broadway producer flanked by a sleek new highrise just soak in all that the area has to offer. who could make you a star. and giant billboards for the Or at the very least, a chorus likes of the Lion King. by post-9/11 building codes, bar (the password for entry New York’s “high society” — which features the New Year’s member in the latest Disney Or consider its neighbour, tower behind them. was “Frankie and Johnnie”). it went on to become an all- Eve Centennial ball from 2007, production. the 1914 Candler building, that The Playwright Celtic Pub, They still make a mean rib eye woman run newsreel cinema. video highlights of the area’s was built by a Coca-Cola mag- once a ’70s gay porn theatre at the joint — the second old- Now it’s home to the Times history, an exhibit of hats from www.manhattanwalkingtour.com/ nate and now houses the big- called the Eros, opened in 1996 est continuously operating res- Square Spectacular show, iconic Broadway musicals, as Times_Square.php gest Macdonald’s in the world and boasts brightly painted yel- taurant in the theatre district on its ground floor. low archways. (after Sardi’s on West 44th Over on Eighth Avenue At the far end of the block, Street.) between 45th and 46th Street, Frankie and Johnnie’s Steak- Nancy ends her tour at the All FlIGhtS oFFER SUNwING AIRlINES’ ChAMpAGNE SERVICE at the edge of Hell’s Kitchen, a house channels both its 1920s- former Embassy theatre, now era speakeasy past and its noto- the Times Square Visitor’s Cen- Experience Elite Service and enjoy complimentary: quartet of 1860s era buildings 20 kg FREE checked baggage • BonVoyage glass of Champagne all renovated at different times rious Rat Pack days, when the ter and museum. Opened in Choice of hot meals with wine • Selected Snacks • Non-alcoholic and with distinctive exteriors, likes of Meyer Lansky, Bugsy 1926 as an intimate, 556-seat beverages • Hot towel service • Kids backpack with games & toys stand like a cut-out facade; Siegel and Frank Sinatra used theatre — with ornate French First run movies • Headsets • Leather seating modern skyscrapers approved to gather at a hidden upstairs interiors designed to attract

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