Classic New York: Times Square

The Times Square area, famously cleaned up from its XXX days, to some people's chagrin, still attracts visitors like lemmings. I don't have many occasions to walk through this dizzying streetscape, but when I happen upon Times Square, my stress level hits at least the orange zone.

It's hard for my brain to handle all the multiple moving images projected onto jumbo screens, the crawling ticker of news items, the flashing colors, and the onrush of pedestrians. One day I will spin into a vortex, collapse upon the pavement, and succumb to massive trampling by high heels, boots and sneakers. If I survive, I will move to Iowa.

Leaving Macy's, I headed up Broadway at 34th St. and then through Times Square to 44th Street. I wandered around the Theatre District for awhile, fighting for a bit of the pavement with those leaving the theaters after matineés. I encountered many tour guides attempting to keep their groups together, confusing when everyone seems to be a part of some tour. It would be easy to get lost and switch tours accidentally, winding back up at the wrong hotel with a different group of strangers.

Images: Daytime nightmares at Times Square. Walking Off the Big Apple, April 9, 2008. I hope this picture is big enough for everyone to see.

See related posts:
Classic New York: A Walk, and a Map
The Classic New York of Mame Dennis: A Coda, on Bank Street
Classic New York: 59th and Fifth: A Slideshow
Classic New York: The Algonquin
Classic New York: A Visit to Macy's, in April
Classic New York: Henri Bendel
Classic New York: The King Cole Bar at the St. Regis
The Classic New York of Mame Dennis
A Walk in Turtle Bay: Beekman Place, the U.N., Tudor City, and E. 42nd St.
The Liberation Theology of Mame Dennis
Grand Central Theatre, and A New Walk Begins

Walking Off Gramercy/Flatiron With Canadian Women

View Larger Map

A couple of weeks ago I took a large group of charming, adventurous, and educated women from Vancouver, Canada (and its extended geographical area) on a walk through the Gramercy/Flatiron neighborhoods. I am just now writing up an account of our stroll, and I've worried that I would forget some of the details. This modest walk works just as well, I think, for individuals who are not women from British Columbia. It's fun, though, to walk around with Canadian women who stop and notice beautiful buildings, ask a lot of questions and take about a million digital photographs. See if you can go find some.

Members of a book club, these women have known one another for years and so could handle the pressure of cramming every major New York tourist attraction into five days, sleep four to a room and still manage to stay friends. This group trip, a kind of Extreme Girls Night Out, was organized by a New York-crazed woman who had discovered Walking Off the Big Apple during the preparations for the trip and then had forced the others to read it. ("Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee!"). She wrote and asked if we could all meet and walk around, and I had to think about it because I don't give tours in real life. I decided I was honored enough by her letter and so would make an exception for her group.

We met on a bright Sunday afternoon at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, and there we all exchanged lively introductions. If you care, I wore a bright red coat, dark sunglasses and a black hat. Highlights of the walk included the Met Life Building, the New York Life Building, Gramercy Park, a high-end pet boutique, and the Block Beautiful on 19th St. Somewhere along in there members of the group spotted a gigantic parrot in the window of a townhouse, and it looked to us like it occupied its own room.

At the end of the stroll, I led the group into Pete's Tavern. I rushed toward the kindly host and explained that I had sixteen women behind me and we just needed to stand at the bar and drink. He said, "The bartender will take care of you." And so there we stayed for a round of drinks, and then another, with the tavern providing the perfect backdrop for our happy new mutual acquaintance and the promise to one day walk off Vancouver.

(Quick note: The interactive map above misspells Gramercy.)

The NYC & Company Quiz: No One Flunks

Following up on the previous post, I just now visited the refreshed NYC & Co. website and took their online quiz. The test is designed to help visitors plan a trip to NYC based on their personal interests and styles. After answering the multiple choice quiz, which I thought was hard because I needed more choices, I clicked for my results. This is what I found out. Drum roll, please. And I quote:

"YOU ARE A CULTURE BUFF.
You are a fixture on the arts and culture scene. You hold season tickets to The Metropolitan Opera, know every Chelsea gallery and attend all the buzz-worthy screenings—and parties—at the Tribeca Film Festival."

No kidding! I am that exciting, busy, and important? Wow! Hooray for me!
I would love to do all this, but this is some kind of commitment, if you ask me. For example, I just visited the Chelsea Art Galleries website, and I see that 65 shows close this week, 47 shows open in the next 7 days, and 63 galleries will host receptions in the next 14 days. I plan on attending about 5 of these.

I did go to one event at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, and it was "buzz-worthy." I love the Metropolitan Opera and plan to go very soon.

NEWS: NYC Now Wants 50 Million Visitors

I've been out all day, and so I've come home just now and opened the email. I have a few things to pass on to you, but I'd like to share some of the contents of an email that pertains to travel tourism.

You may have scanned my post concerning the demographics of visitors to the city. I noted that 43.8 million tourists arrived in 2006 to enjoy all that is the Big Apple. The email I just received announces to the press that Mayor Bloomberg announces to everyone that 43.8 million doesn't cut it. We need 50 million annual visitors by 2015. Read the press release from NYC & Company here. The PR campaign is designed to reach the span of the globe but especially concentrates on advertising efforts in Europe. WOTBA has already explained the why of all this in my post.

Suffice it to say that the planned TV spots and outdoor advertising will work. I advise New Yorkers who plan to eat at Blue Hill or The Little Owl in 2012 to make their reservations today.

Of course I am happy to help all these visitors enjoy New York by sending them down charming unknown streets. It's best to wander down E. 52nd St. than to stand in line at the Empire State Building behind 50 million people.

"The Pain Threshold," Or, Maintaining Dignity with Our Euro-spending Friends

Or, alternative post title: "Who's Wearing the Fingerless Gloves Now?"

New Yorkers know only too well that it's expensive to live here. According to the latest census numbers, large numbers of New Yorkers shell out a large percentage of their income for mortgage or rent. Other dollars go to the utility company, the cable company, mass transit, and to caffe lattes grandes. That leaves precious little for a movie and brunch.

With the dollar now so deflated in relationship to the euro, New Yorkers have to work hard to maintain dignity with their euro-rich friends visiting from overseas. Vacationing friends will disappear for a spree in SoHo and bring home a bounty of goods to show off. "And it's all so cheap," they say. Or, I'll go out for a nice dinner with visiting friends, and while I'm looking for the thing on the appetizer part of the menu that's under $12 dollars, the friends will say, "And it's all so cheap!"

The weak dollar means that Americans will think twice about visiting Europe and also limit purchases of European goods. At some point, European companies arrive at "the pain threshold," and there comes a knocking at the door. Many articles in the business pages, such as this one, indicate the threshold has already been breached. It could get worse, though, and someone's hand could get caught in the door after it's open and then slammed back shut.

U.S. officials don't mind, because a weak dollar eases the trade deficit. It's kinda pitiful, if you ask me.

More from NYC & Co:
"Total visitor spending from New York City tourism in 2006: $24.71 billion
Total wages generated by New York City tourism in 2006: $16 billion
Total NYC jobs supported by visitor spending in 2006: 368,179
Total taxes generated by visitor spending in 2006: $6.24 billion"

NYC Tourists: Crunching the Numbers

On many days I can't get around fellow travelers crowding the sidewalks, so I find myself muttering, "Who ARE y'all?" Just yesterday, a large group of men jammed the sidewalk outside The Red Lion on Bleecker St., so I had to veer out into oncoming traffic in order to get back home. These men were watching a rugby match on the TV near the window. They made all kinds of noise that I could still hear after I got back to the apartment.

A visit to the website of the city tourist bureau, NYC & Co., answered the question, "Who ARE y'all?" The figures for 2007 have not, of course, been finalized, but facts reveal that 2006 was a big year for the tourist trade.

Let's begin with the number of people who call the city home:

New York City RESIDENTS: 8,214,426

Now, let's look at the annual number of VISITORS to NYC:

VISITORS (international and domestic) to New York City in 2006: 43.8 million
Domestic visitors in 2006: 36.54 million
International visitors in 2006: 7.257 million

Now, from whence cometh the international visitors? Asked and answered:

1. United Kingdom 1,123,000
2. Canada 840,000p
3. Germany 420,000
4. Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland) 350,000
5. Italy 317,000
6. France 305,000
7. Japan 275,000
8. Ireland (small sample estimate) 270,000p
9. Spain 256,000
10. BeNeLux (Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg) 248,000

I AM SHOCKED! SHOCKED! Especially by the top 2.
So, no wonder the sidewalks are crowded. That's OK! WOTBA enjoys extending Texas hospitality no matter where she lives.