Field Trips To Time Square

Times Square is not a square at all. It is comprised of two triangles formed by Broadway crossing Seventh Avenue between 47th and 42nd Streets. It is also unmistakably one of most exciting and famous parts of New York City, if not the country.

But Times Square wasn’t always as appealing as it is today. Earlier in the century, Times Square was known as the horse-trading center of the city. It then became the heart of the entertainment district, with theaters and cinemas and glitz. Slowly, the gold dust began to fade and darker forces took over the area. Seedy hotels and peepshows became the norm, with prostitutes crisscrossing the once-clean streets at all hours of the night. Suddenly, Times Square wasn’t a very safe or glamorous place to be anymore. Recently, however, thanks in part to efforts by Disney and others, Times Square has experienced a Renaissance of sorts. Gone are the strip clubs and dark motels, which have been replaced by coffee shops, family eateries, a Disney-run theater, and upscale hotels.

Perhaps the first thing one might notice about Times Square is all the advertising. It’s everywhere---up, down, all around. Buildings are actually required to sport ads and slogans, to the point where one cannot help but feel trapped in a commercial. Fortunately, most billboard advertisements are elaborate, even mesmerizing, and rightly so considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to advertise in the square.

In addition to countless (expensive) stores and restaurants, numerous other sights are exclusive to this area. For example, the National Debt Clock is constantly reminding us how far in the red the United States is, complete with the amount it would cost each person in the country to pay it off. There is also a Sony-owned gigantic video screen at 1 Times Square Plaza and a ticker which delivers the very latest stock quotes and world news events. Media-savvy people will be interested to note that both ABC and MTV have studios in the heart of the square, a position which helps the latter network immensely in terms of publicity and proximity to major music and entertainment events.

Times Square is revered the world over for its New Year's Eve celebration that draws hundreds of thousands of people every year.