It has been cleaned up GREATLY in the past few years and has become a lot more family-oriented, with the largest Toys'R'Us in the country, a Disney Store, and the largest Hershey store outside of Hershey Park. Try to go back in the evening when the neon lights are turned on. Named Times Square after the New York Times building which became the cornerstone of the new district. Prices are VERY expensive in this area.

When I stayed as a young 18 year old tourist in a hotel near Times Square in 1979 pimps, prostitutes, junkies and dope pushers prowled Times Square and the Deuce. That was the name for the Times Sq stretch of 42nd Street.

After years of complaints and false starts the redevelopment plan to radically make over 13 acres, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, primarily fronting 42nd Street started in 1980 on authority of NY Mayor Edward I. Koch. Decrepit rundown theaters, peep shows and X-rated movie houses were evicted or compulsory purchased. The development plan included four huge skyscrapers designed to bury Times Square's sordid grubby unattractive past and restore the former dignity. The area became part of a zero crime tolerance zone project and as a result crime is down significantly from the 1980's.

Some people complain about what they call is the Disneyfication of Times Square but what they forget is that it was the Walt Disney Company, that was one of the major players in starting the renovation and cleaning up of Times Square and 42nd Street. Disney wanted its own Broadway theater, but did not want to have it situated in a nasty non-family friendly area. They took over the New Amsterdam theater and encouraged city officials to sign deals with Madame Tussaud's wax museum and the AMC Theatres, which moved in down the block. The restored New Amsterdam theatre has been home to two very successful Disney plays, the Lion King and now Mary Poppins.

The modern times Square area is a kaleidoscope of moving electronic images depicting financial institutions, car manufacturers, films, shows, perfumes and fashion houses, with the best advertising spots on the building called number one Times Square commanding as much as $4 million a year in rent. This is the building atop which the ball drops every New Year's Eve to celebrate the new year. The number of tourists to the area has risen dramatically to over 36.5 million. The attendance at Broadway shows has soared to 12 million.

Travel books