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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Passing the Time in Times Square

Sitting in Times Square
Photo by myself in Times Square.

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Curious about the new pedestrian area in Times Square, I dropped by Tuesday evening. What I found was a portion of Broadway temporarily blocked off from car traffic. It was scattered with lawn chairs.

I'd read about the lawn chairs in the paper but seeing them was another thing. They were pulled into informal groups and were all over the place. Almost all were in use. Meanwhile the lights of Times Square danced all around. It seemed very odd, as if at any moment, people would break out into song and dance.

I'm sure we're just in the test stages of this space, and that planters and kiosks selling food and drink will soon come. For now, it's just a place where you can catch your breath.

Related posts: Times Square, NYC, Uggs in Times Square and Holiday Greetings from Times Square.

9 comments:

Olivier said...

j'adore cette nouvelle vision de Times-Square. J'espère que cela va rester comme cela tout le temps, mais je me demande comment font les bus maintenant
love this new vision of Times-Square. I hope that it is going to stay as it at all times, but I wonder how make buses now

Washington Cesar Takeuchi said...

What a coincidence! I have read about this new Times Square and its chairs this morning in this week Brazil's major magazine. They say that the view of those chairs is temporarily (since the chairs look like they don’t belong that place) and that in a near future, brand new street furniture will be provided. They also said that this off cars Times Square was approved by almost everyone. Is it true?

Washington

Kitty said...

Hi Olivier!
I'm sure the area will change by the time you visit again, hopefully for the better.

Not sure what you mean by the buses, whether it's a translation issue...they are not terribly complicated. You need a map and patience!

Hi Washington
I'm not sure if the closing was approved by everyone. The Mayor just did it. I think most people, like me, were skeptical about how traffic would be affected.

They say that traffic has been better. Times Square has a triangular intersection of streets (Broadway crosses 7th Avenue there), which caused congestion. Add to that a zillion people and you had a place to be avoided.

I'm sure the new furniture will be more inviting and appropriate. These chairs are just weird.

bananas. said...

awww! this makes me want to go to NYC now. how cool. it would be awesome if everyone broke out into song and dance. i can totally picture that. great photo!

Tiago said...

As always, great photo!

Unseen India Tours said...

Hi Kitty !! This is a real fantastic photograph !!I enjoyed the way people are enoying..Great..Unseen Rajasthan

Mom Knows Everything said...

Is there like a place where you can have lunch and stuff like that. Kinda like a park picnic table place thingy there also?

Anonymous said...

Wow. What a great idea this is. I really like how the people seem to be relaxed and enjoying themselves.

Brookville, were I live, had a downtown day last weekend and lots of people and vendors were scattered over the main street.

Laurent said...

Is the pedestrian zone going to be permanent ?