Why You Should Visit Times Square

September 20, 2006 - Why shouldn't you visit Times Square? Located in New York City and the Manhattan borough, Times Square is one of the most communal areas in the world. In the fashion of Moscow's Red Square, Beijing's Tiananmen Square and London's Trafalgar Square, Times Square is a place where anybody can congregate and come together. It is an open space that attracts millions of people every year, and it generates billions of dollars. In fact, if you have yet to have visited Times Square you are probably in the minority.

Being in Times Square is a culture shock for many of its first time visitors. If you are not from places like SouthBeach, Hollywood or Downtown Chicago, and are from relatively small cities or suburban environs, then the lights and density of Times Square are definitely going to astound you. At times, it feels like you are enclosed in a theme park with crowds of people, vendors of all sorts, shopping, extravagant outdoor beautification and bright lights. In fact, the bright lights of Times Square are required by required by a zoning ordinance that requires tenants to flaunt bright signs on the outsides of their buildings. And while staring at the bright lights and just walking around in the mass public gathering can be a night in and of itself, there is plenty more to do in this tumultuous square.

One of the things people in love the most is food and Times Square has plenty of it to offer. And of course the biggest attraction in New York has some of the biggest names in dining. Ruby Foo's Chinese Food, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Planet Hollywood and Virgil's Barbeque are all just a few of the notable eating places in the area. My favorite place is actually Carmine's, which is a beautiful Italian-style restaurant with beautiful scenery and huge portions of food that anybody would love and enjoy. However, restaurants are not the only source for food. Not in this unique area, where eating outside is just as popular as eating indoors. Cold Stone is a popular place where people buy ice cream to walk around with. There is also an onslaught of vendors who serve famous New York hot dogs, pretzels, and hot gyros.

If it were not for something fun to do in Times Square, there probably would not be a Times Square at all. Home to franchises like the ESPN Zone, Dave and Buster's, Lowe's Cineplex, and the Virgin Records, you can always find something fun to do in this entertaining district. You can also locate the Iridium Jazz club right on the edge of Times Square. And there are several Broadway Theaters located in, or just around, Times Square where you can see traditional plays and musicals that you cannot find in other city.

There are also a ton of corporate offices and headquarters that offer their own flare to the Times Square district. NBC Universal has a huge flat screen television located in the middle of Times Square, and it displays an array of national interests reporting and anybody can watch the NBC Nightly News on any given weekday. You can also watch ESPN's 24 hour scoreboard and the NASDAQ stock market values at any point during the day. MTV Networks has its main office in Times Square where TRL is broadcasted and pedestrians can be a part of the audience.

The one thing that is most expected of Times Square is the unexpected. It is only in Times Square where you can possibly see a guy with a snake around his neck, dancers boogying in the subway and people being carted around on a 5 person bike all in a span of 2 minutes. You can have your face painted realistically or in an animate manner. You can buy hot roasted peanuts on just about every block. You can listen to a 40's style quartet or watch 80's style break dancing. You can listen to a radical political activist, or a conventional religious traditionalist. These things are why trying to experience everything that goes on in Times Square is impossible. You just can't plan to get to the core of it all, because you never know when and where things will happen or how they will happen. Visiting Times Square can be a lot like licking a tootsie roll pop...you never know how many licks it will take to get to the center.