August Alpern

The

“Crossroads of the World”

By,

August Alpern

There is a place unlike any other in the world, Times Square. It is a place where nobody knows your name, and everything seems strange and new even on one’s hundredth visit. Although New York had already defined itself as one of the most influential and important places in the world, Times Square helped define New York, and made it what it is today. As Times Square develops more and more, New York becomes an increasingly commercial culture. Times Square is not only literally in the center of New York, but becomes the center of New York for the rising number of people who believe that it is what they wear, play, eat, read, listen to, or other that defines who they are. New York became the center of, most notably, the entertainment industry, and provoked an incredible increase in the amount of money that was spent in New York. New York is the home of power and money because of Times Square, due to the ever-increasing amount of businesses, and it could not be any other way. In addition to simply taking people’s money, Times Square fed upon something else, time. It simply took time away from people, and fed upon the free time that people had. To this day, Times Square itself is just “something to do.” Times Square feeds on the leisure of New Yorkers, something that no other place can do. Times Square, “the crossroads of the world” shaped New York into what it is today: a monster of incomparable size that feeds upon the money, and time of New Yorkers. It influenced the development of the entertainment industry, economy, and New York culture, by adding theaters, restaurants, and various other businesses to the area. These businesses all contributed to what Times Square has become: a “leisure consuming,” money gobbling behemoth. It is a place that sets the standards for dress, speech, and manner. Without Times Square, New York might have been no more than New Jersey.

Times Square started out as trees and grass, which moved onto becoming Longacre Square, and finally Times Square in 1904 after the New York Times persuaded the city to change the name of the area, which came to be known as “the largest, brightest stage for the presentation and sale of commercial culture.”[1] It’s progression from the rural setting it once had, to the urban jungle that it is today, is an interesting story unlike any other place in the world. In terms of its regional geographical position, it is in the center of the East Coast and at the end of one of the best sets of rail and canal routes to the interior. It was also at the central point for imports and exports from Europe. Within Manhattan itself, it is in the center of the city, and readily accessible from almost all parts of the city.

New York’s urban qualities provided special support for many industries, and offered a great variety of specialties and skills through the many different people that inhabited the city. But how does one get all these different types of people into one place? Eventually, various groups who made economic and political decisions, decided to make the center of the transportation networks in Times Square. Grand Central Station, located at Forty-second Street and Park Avenue (then Fourth Avenue), was the first of mid-Manhattan’s transport facilities, with a rail yard in the 1840’s, enlargements to the station in 1884-1886 and 1900, and construction of the present building was finished in 1913. Other subway lines followed the construction of Grand Central Station, all converging on the general area of Times Square. So, in a way Times Square, no matter how big or important it gets, owes its existence and popularity to mass transit, and the infrastructure of New York. Once New York supplied the means of getting to and from Times Square, the demand to go to such a place increased exponentially.

At this point, the purchase of real estate in mid-Manhattan shot through the roof. There were many economic advantages that this new location could offer commercial entrepreneurs. By locating (or relocating) to the Times Square area, owners of theaters, hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments paid lower rents for more space, built new “modern” facilities, and captured increased customer traffic. However, this was not simply the new place to move your business. Developers had to predict the behaviors and needs of the people who were now occupying Times Square, and had to be sure that they could survive in this new and hostile environment, where everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

Now that people were able to get to and from Times Square, and businesses existed so that whoever went there would have something to do, advertisers and other businesses needed a way to lure people to go there. O.J. Gude, who first coined the phrase, “The Great White Way,” gave people a reason to come to Times Square. He was known as the “Napoleon of publicity,” and was an entrepreneur who invested millions of dollars in new sign technologies. Some of the new signs that he manufactured included the first “sky signs,” that allowed merchants or other businesses to change reading matter from day to day, and have it move from right to left along a board of lights. He is quoted to have said that electrical signboard advertising, “literally forces its announcement on the vision of the uninterested as well as the interested passerby…. Signboards are so placed that everybody must read them, and absorb them, and absorb the advertiser’s lesson willingly or unwillingly…. The constant reading of “Buy Blank’s Biscuits”… makes the name part of one’s sub-conscious knowledge.”[2] To this day Broadway and Times Square are known for their neon lights, and how no matter what time it may be, there always seems to be daylight. O.J. Gude contributed one of the most significant and important factors of Times Square, that will characterize it forever.

Now Times Square was this booming town in the most diverse and unique city in the world. But who would come see it? The businesses and aesthetics of Times Square intrigued and held New Yorkers in its grasp, but more importantly captivated the attention of foreigners as well, and provoked them to visit this place of wonder, and more importantly, visit it more than once. New York’s image was largely defined as this country’s major tourist center. By the 1890’s, mass tourism would contribute a vast amount to the city’s income, create some of its reputation, and helped mold its self-image. Although many tourists in Times Square’s history have come for the businesses in it, tourism has become a business in itself. For example, Railroad companies offered discounts to New York, which proved to be an enormous success in the number of tourists who visited New York. Tourism was a business which New York as a whole ran, and it continued to further New York’s popularity throughout the world. New York attracted tourists for very simple reasons that appealed to everyone: “…to see good plays, hear good music, and buy good clothes…. Though they often use business as pretext for these frequent visits, their real object is to have a good time.”[3]

Yet, the neon lights of Broadway are not the only characteristic of Times Square that will remain forever. A major industry that took off in Times Square was the entertainment industry. Since the construction of “the grandest amusement temple in the world,”[4] the Olympia Theater, New York has dominated the entertainment industry, and has become to be known as the “crossroads of the world.” However, the entertainment industry did not suddenly appear as it is today. Entertainment in Times Square got its start in vaudeville. Vaudeville involved many different aspects, and was a group of acts compiled to make up one big show. Times Square, like the areas that came before it, did it’s best to encompass many different levels of vaudeville, in order to appeal to different groups of people. In 1916, George Gottlieb who booked shows for the Palace, one of the most prominent theaters of the time, described his techniques of how to pick the smaller individual shows in order to keep people interested throughout the whole show.[5]

First: a “dumb act,” possibly dancers or trick animals, to make a good impression that “will not be spoiled by the late arrivals seeking their seats.”

Second: anything more interesting than the first act; perhaps a man and woman singing, to “settle” the audience and prepare it for the show.

Third: something to wake up the audience, perhaps a comic dramatic sketch that builds to a “laughter-climax,” or any act distinct from the preceding turn, to keep the audience “wondering what is to come next.”

And so on until he reached the ninth act of the night that was supposed to send the audience home pleased. It is quite clear that the business of vaudeville was a rather tricky one, because one had to please a huge group of people, with possibly very different tastes. Yet somehow it was done, and people loved it. Vaudeville brought a hugely diverse crowd together under one roof, and allowed people of all classes to join in on the fun; similar to what Times Square strives to do today. Vaudeville and the entertainment industry was one of the main factors that gave Times Square its personality. Because, a person either walking along the street outside, or sitting in a theater watching a vaudeville performance did not know what to expect next.

Yet, under all the glamour of the theaters, and in the dark alleyways where the neon glow did not reach, there lived a business unlike the others that have been previously discussed. The business of prostitution and sex played as big of a role in the development of Times Square as did the other businesses. For most of the nineteenth century, prostitution was common, and in fact somewhat accepted in everyday life. Sexual pleasure for men of all classes was bought and sold in Times Square. The Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. said that his church was in “the most notorious red-light district in New York City.” There “harlots would stand across the street on Sunday evenings in unbuttoned Mother Hubbards soliciting men as they left our service.”[6] As people began to move farther north, prostitution moved too. Places such as the Five Points and the Bowery, which used to be referred to as the worst parts of the city, were not as bad. As prostitution declined little by little, legitimate sex businesses arose, satisfying the sex crave that mainly men had. In 1977 there had been ninety-six sex-related businesses in Times Square, and by 1987 they had declined to and stabilized at thirty-five. Although today the “sex industry” is not as prominent, Times Square continues to be a place where people can show off what they’ve got, and try to wear as little as possible without getting arrested. Sex in Times Square has been evident throughout its history and continues to be a trademark symbol of it today as well.

Yet another trademark symbol of Times Square is the massive amounts of restaurants. The entertainment industry is what Times Square is known for best by far, but the restaurants there are fairly important as well, to say the least. As it is in most industries, the restaurateurs were always in constant competition with each other, each one always trying to beat-out the other one. Restaurants began springing up in Times Square because they followed the entertainment industry northward, beginning around 1890. As more restaurants appeared in the area, restaurant owners were forced to present increasingly elaborate meals, and spectacular décor. In restaurants that catered only to the wealthy, one could “feast his eyes on an artistic and authentically exact reproduction of the most beautiful features of Rome’s most ornate homes, of the palaces, villas and pleasure resorts of her wealthiest and cultured citizens.”[7] Restaurants served as yet another way of simply eating up leisure, and making money, the two most important qualities of Times Square.

Times Square has helped to define New York as a liberal, entertaining, and exciting city. It has helped shape our culture in so many ways, and has contributed to New York’s economy tremendously. But, how much has it really changed over the years? Sure, it has gotten bigger, brighter, more colorful, more high tech, and more crowded than it has been in the past, but that is just the cover of New York. What is underneath is the same New York consumer culture that had emerged in the late nineteenth century, and has continued right through to today. But so what? Why has Times Square remained essentially the same? Because the people that have, and still visit Times Square today want the same things that they always have, leisure activities that Times Square provides. New York will always be a city based on commerce, and Times Square will always be in the center.