Times Square - History

When the New York Times erected a new building on 43rd Street at the turn of the 20th century, the neighborhood took on the name "Times Square."

A decade later, theater, vaudeville and cabaret migrated to the streets nearby, attracting much tourism by the 1920s. But the market crash of 1929 led to a sharp decline in theater attendance, and to the transformation of performance halls into cheap "grinder" houses that screened sexually explicit films. By the 1970s, blockbuster Broadway shows kept Times Square heavily trafficked by visitors, but the area was still considered vile and undesirable.

In the early 1980s, the city made major efforts to restore the neighborhood to its former, more wholesome, glory. New Yorkers have dubbed the area's transformation "Disneyfication," due to the opening of the Disney Store, the dominance of Disney-inspired Broadway shows and the general sanitization of the district. Although some resent the makeover, most will agree that it has made Times Square, for better or worse, more family- and visitor-friendly.