Times Square

[Bauce]

I just need to put this out there.


Living in NYC, every year I have a bunch of family and family friends (admittedly, olds mostly) who ask me if I went to Times Square for New Years Eve. Around Christmas the ask me if that's what I'll be doing and then if I see or talk to any of them between January 1st and the end of February they may ask if that's what I did. If possible, I try to actually get out of NYC entirely on NYE and spend it in long island or upstate hopefully. That aside, the rest of the year this same crowd asks me if I've hung out in Times Square lately.

NO, OF COURSE NOT.

What I don't get is, even if you've never been to NYC, everyone has seen Times Square on TV. What makes anyone think this is a place they would want to go? Not on New Years Eve (that's another level of demented if you actually go there for the ball drop) but any day. There's a few giant screens with advertisements on them, a bunch of pan handlers dressed as elmo or the statue of liberty, and all the same bland chain restaurants you could find in any suburban strip mall. What makes anyone want to go there? I understand the other tourist stuff like Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, but why the hell do people go to Times Square? What is the appeal?

Any insights would be appreciated.

[exploited]

Personally... Times Square on New Years looks like hell on earth to me. I don't understand the appeal at all.

Also my f**k up mentality makes me think that it is a terrorist attack waiting to happen. You imagine what six guys with AR-15s and a view could do? My god.

[Bauce]

[Darkhorse]

IDGAF about your New York problems.

[Aaron]

This thread sounds like a guy who likes it when people pay attention to the fact that he lives in New York City. The reasons are obvious. Never having been to Manhattan, people will attach every manner of positive associations to the most mundane and plastic aspects of the island. Having never been to the big apple on New Years Eve, one could easily create fantasies about the excitement.

This thread is more "Let's talk about the fact that Philly lives in NYC and is too cool for school"

[Bauce]

[Bauce]

[Aaron]

For every one "seasoned transplant" who complains about how bad NYC is... there is 300,000 others who just watched When Harry Met Sally... and want to see what it's like.

[Darkhorse]

[The Comrade]

times square is absolutely awful. more crowded than new york needs to be, full of people from flyover states who have never been on a sidewalk with more traffic than another person. it's like ground zero for everything that isn't enjoyable about the city.