Wednesday, July 21, 2010

New York, New York, part 3

No tourist trip to NYC is complete without a visit to Times Square. It's insane - like Disney on speed. They even have a viewing area! I never visited NYC when Times Square was still seedy but I'm sure I'd prefer that version to today's version. Today's Times Square is a combination of Disney, The Mall of America, and Las Vegas. It's still fun to visit and people watch but it's also very jarring. I went both in the afternoon and at night.




I like New York. I've already got a list of things I'd like to see/do next time I visit. I feel like even if I lived in NYC I could never know it as intimately as I'd like. I've never felt this way about any other city. Maybe because I've only been twice in my adult life? Or maybe because it's not really the city of my dreams. Speaking of dreams, I saw this sign in MOMA. Sage advise from NYC.

3 comments:

  1. Hey! Nice posts. Have grown up near NY, I have been to Times Square when it was seedy. My parents would tried to shield our eyes from the XXX theatres, and such. But, the current state of Times Square is too much like a mall or Disney. *sigh* It's not that I am a proponent of seediness, it's just that the character of the area is gone.

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  2. I agree, even though I've never seen the "seedy" version of Times Square, either. I think it ties in at least tangentially with my feelings about the Grove/El Paseo and similar new shopping/living centers. They aren't authentic, and their true point is commerce, not community. All the bright and shiny makes me feel gross and depressed.
    But, great posts and I've enjoyed my vicarious visit to NYC through your pix. That bus sounds great!!! You can barely buy a cup of coffee in NYC for $9--so wow!

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  3. Agreed. It's the character I miss, not necessarily the seediness. The current Times Square is all about buy, buy, buy rather than having its own flavor and feel no matter how seedy. In some ways you could almost be anywhere while you're there, not necessarily NYC.

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