Prior to the Great Depression, Times Square baited crowds with wholesome, affordable productions. Burdened with unassailable debts, theatre owners scrambled to make ends meet and endure the Depression. In the 1930s, owners repurposed theatres for adult entertainment and constructed burlesque halls, vaudeville stages, and dime houses.

By the early 40s, most Depression-ravaged theatres closed and reopened as X-rated movie houses, “a staple of Times Square for many years to come.” The 60s, 70s, and early 80s saw further decline in theatre attendance and an increase in number of movie houses and adult stores. ¹

In the late 80s, chagrined city and business owners “slowly joined together” to refine Times Square and renovate landmark buildings. Times Square BID (Business Improvement District) invested nearly $4 billion “to create the new Times Square,” a safer, more enjoyable destination. ²

Since 2000, New York City international and domestic visitors surged from 36 million to 51 million, 80% of whom passed through Times Square. Annual Broadway ticket sales are higher than ever – now at $1.3 billion (over 100 million tickets). Times Square employs 170,000 workers, a figure that will likely rise to 200,000 by 2014. Due in 2014, Times Square Alliance works on the “modern, minimalist sprucing up” project. Now a “dumpy-looking plaza,” Times Square will receive a face-lift, “a futuristic, streamlined look and a noirish quality that evokes the square’s colorful and occasionally illicit past.” While its façade will change, Times Square will continue to abide by district-maintained commitments to public welfare and visitor gratification. ³

P.S. Sample a few of Times Square’s current offerings!

Recommended: M&M’s World; Ripley’s Believe it or Not; Toys ‘R’ Us

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