I went to high school in Times Square in the ’70s. Back then, it was seedy with porn shops everywhere. Now it’s seedy and crawling with big businesses everywhere. Don’t know which is worse.” - Suzanne Vega
Via a Newsday email interview with native New Yorker Suzanne Vega.
I vote for the old Times Square instead of Gulliani’s Disney-fication of it. That said, old Times Square scared the sh*t out of me the first time I randomly stumbled into it…at 9 a.m. in September 1985. Of course my friend Jimmy & I were asked if we wanted heroin, coke, guns, knives, a “party’ or little boys on 42nd Street. That last one messed me up… We picked up the pace and ran into Bryant Park which was a mistake because at the time it was Crack Park but that’s another story.
Once you knew what you were dealing with in Times Square it was kinda “manageable scary.” I just remember thinking, “Whoa - this looks just like “Midnight Cowboy” or “Taxi Driver.”
12.11.10
