Shuffling down Broadway through the crush of tourists gaping into TV studios and craning their necks to the latest giant billboard, it's hard to remember that this gaudy enclave was once littered with sex shops and suffered the highest crime rate in New York City. While Times Square has changed drastically in the past decade, a reputation for razzle dazzle and spectacle attached itself to the area from its very inception.

Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square entered the nation's consciousness in 1904, when it was renamed after the New York Times building that became the cornerstone of the new district. Just a few short years before, the crossroads of Broadway and 7th Avenue was considered a dangerous place where only those of ill repute would venture.

As the famous Gangs of New York's hold on the Five Points slowly passed away so did the notoriety of the lower districts. Throughout New York's history the slow migration of the wealthy further up Manhattan meant that the places they vacated became the new slums. Longacre Square started as a few brownstones erected by a property developer who saw potential for a thriving new 'uptown' neighborhood to cater to the upper middle class. People thronged to the area but with them came what they had fled: the brothels, pickpockets and streetwalkers that proliferated only a few blocks south moved in as well. Slowly the area turned itself over and became a tightly held Red Light district with dozens of brothels. No sooner would one fold than another three or four would open. Police and public officials did little to correct the situation. The very people who complained were often those who lounged on a brothel's steps waiting for their favorite lady. Brothel owners paid off police and officials to turn a blind eye to the public outcry.











 

But in 1895 Longacre Square had a new tenant. Buoyed by ambitious dreams, newly arrived immigrant Oscar Hammerstein developed his plan for a complete entertainment complex. Occupying an entire block on 42nd Street, the Olympia held three theatres and a remarkable roof garden. The Olympia flourished, and within two years Hammerstein had built two more theatres that were linked together by the glass enclosed Paradise Roof Garden, an exotic garden populated with swans, monkeys and a tinkling waterfall as a backdrop for diners and dancers.

While Hammerstein was not the first to erect theatres in the district, his decidedly high class expansion did help a proliferation of new theatres on The Great White Way, so named for Broadway's constantly beckoning light show. The vaudeville circuit thrived alongside legitimate theatre. Early showstoppers who performed on Times Square stages were Fred and Adele Astaire, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Dorothy and Lillian Gish, among countless others.

In 1904 the New York Times held a New Year's Eve celebration to commemorate their successful lobbying effort to rename Longacre Square. Although the newspaper outgrew their new building within a decade, the building was the second tallest in Manhattan and symbolized a new, vibrant era. Every year since, hundreds of thousands of people gather and wait for hours in the cold of a New York winter for the famous ball drop ceremony. It is estimated that one billion people around the world now watch the tradition via satellite.

During the First World War, Times Square became the premiere theatre district in the nation. During the 1914-15 season alone 113 productions were staged at 42 theatres, all within the three avenue, 13 block area. The year 1915 also saw the premiere of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Once a novelty amusement, film was now becoming a mainstay of popular culture and with it came a new growth of film theatres in and around the square.

With the onset of the Great Depression, the theatres and restaurants clustered around Times Square initially seemed immune from the troubles. People were drawn to the playhouses for moments of escape from their new, grim realities. But as the Depression grew, the fortunes of the theatre owners plummeted, and many were forced to sell or close their theatres. The theatres were converted to show popular and vastly cheaper fare: the silver screen fantasies that poured out of Hollywood. Ironically, a slew of lavish Busby Berkley musicals were centered around the enduring stage magic of Times Square, where anyone with a dream and an ounce of hard work could end up being a Broadway star.

The reality was far different. Businesses needed something to draw people in and Times Square's era of vice was born. It was predominantly during the 1960's and 1970's that live nude shows, erotic bookstores, and X-rated movie houses occupied the area. By 1975 Times Square was described as a 'sinkhole' by many newspapers. With the new commerce came a sky-rocketing crime rate that turned Times Square into one of the most dangerous places in the city. Tourists stayed away. In the 1980's, businesses and public officials began to band together to change the square's reputation. With a combination of new legislation and building condemnation, Times Square began to reverse its decline. By 1993 there were 36 adult establishments, down from a high of 140 in the late 1970's.

By the late 1990's, Times Square was a symbol again for the vibrancy of Manhattan--it is the only zone in the city where tenants are required to display big, bright signs. The NASDAQ sign is one flashier example, costing over $37 million to build: at 37 feet high it is the largest LED sign in the world. With 27,000 residents and an estimated 26 million annual visitors each year, Times Square has changed a lot since it's inauguration 100 years ago. Part of the change is what has been called the 'Disneyfication' of Times Square. Walking down Broadway you can stop to shop in a Toy's R Us while on your way to a matinee of Disney's The Lion King on 42nd Street, a far cry from the area's squalid years but entirely within the area's tradition of entertainment and commerce.