Taste of Times Square

On Monday, June 3rd from 5:00-9:00 PM, Times Square will be hosting an event called, Taste of Times Square, which will be located on 46th Street between Broadway and 9th Avenue.  Right in the center of all the action of Times Square, people will get the chance to taste different foods from New York City's best restaurants!

Taste of Times Square is an outdoor food and music festival, which features international foods from the city's best restaurants. Times Square’s most popular culinary destinations set up tables on the street to offer “tastes” of their signature dishes.

People can enjoy cuisine from around the world including Italian, Chilean, Irish, Latin, Asian and more.  If you love food, you don't want to miss this event!

Click on the link below to view all of the Taste of Times Square  Participating Restaurants:

Taste of Times Square Restaurants

This is not only a great way to get the community involved, but an excellent way to get restaurants to advertise their food to a large number of people.  By getting a small taste of a restaurant's food is an excellent way to get people to come back to you.  Food is always a sure thing when it comes to events, and is always a large crowd draw.  I know I want to go and try all the different food selections!  I think it would be a fun date or afternoon with friends to go around and try everything.  Some of my favorite restaurants are listed to be there as well.  Check it out !

Singing Waiters, Oh My!

If you ever want to go to a fun, family restauraunt, Ellen's Stardust Diner is the place to go.  Located on the corner of 51st and Broadway (my office is convienenetly right next door), this New York Broadway diner is famous for their singing wait staff along with their retro 1950s theme.

 

The diner is named and owned by Ellen Hart, a former Misss Subway back in the 1950s.  "Miss Subway" was a beauty compeition that was held for more than 3 decades, but ended in the 70s.   The winners were featured on Subway trains, and back in the day, riding the subway was considered a luxury where people dressed up.  Below is a great and interesting video which talks about the story of Miss Subway and features Ellen Hart, owner of Ellen's Stardust Diner.

Ellen Hart has photos of all the Miss Subways that won from decades ago featured all over the diner.  The singing wait staff is also dressed up in 50s attire.  It's a great place to go back in time and relive that era!  If you check out their website, you can get a feel of the atmosphere and what Ms. Subway is all about.

Check out the main website:
  Ellen's Stardust Diner

The website features a bunch of articles regarding "Miss Subway" events, as well as photos of the singing waiters.  This diner is not just any restaurant, it's a unique and famous tourist destination.
 

The restaurant itself is known for it's fun energitic atmosphere, not so much the food.  It's your basic American-style food, but nothing out of this world.  I came across a food blog that mentions Ellen's Stardust diner and the blogger's experiences with it.

Adventures of the Foodaholic

The blogger, named Maria, also describes the food and the atmosphoere.  It's a wonderful place for Tourists, but not if you want to eat the best of the best.  You go more for the environment and the singing, not the quality of food.  I personally think they are a bit overpriced, but the salads and burgers are pretty good!

 All of the waiters are aspiring actors, hoping to catch their big break if an agent or manager happens to discover them. Since it is located in the heart of the theater district, is the perfect place for actor's to work! My boss, who is a booking agent, sometimes goes down to the diner if she needs to find a singer for an event we may have. It's essentially a showcase for actor's and at the same time a way for them to make a few bucks.

 

However, if you don't like singing, this probably isn't the place for you!  Check it out, it's a really fun restaurant to be in!

Inside Out

There is always something interesting going on in Times Square. This week, a Parisian street artist and photographer named J R is showcasing his art on the street in the middle of Times Square.  He is leading a huge participatory art concept called Inside Out.

J R set up a photo truck in Times Square, which is taking people’s portraits and instantly printing them on giant posters. People can take the poster home or paste it to the ground with buckets of wheat paste and brushes provided for them.

JR was quoted in an article in NY Times saying,

 “It’s an interesting thing about New York,” J R said in an interview on Friday, “that this is a very busy city, yet so many New Yorkers have come and given their time to the project, to taking their pictures, to pasting them and to being part of an exchange. And if you look at Times Square, you see that there is advertising everywhere, so where in other cities we put the portraits on the walls, and even on roofs, here we put them on the ground. So in a way, it’s people versus advertising. It’s people, amid all this advertising, saying, ‘We exist’ and ‘We’re together. ”

NY Times

A few of the portraits are projected on the electronic advertising screens in Times Square, taking the place of some Advertisements.

JR's request: to assemble a global Facebook, in which people have their pictures taken — or send their own portraits to J R by e-mail — as part of what he hoped would become the world’s largest participatory art project.

About 130,000 people have contributed their images. and the number is still growing.  It's amazing that this many people are willing to contribute in the name of art.  I find it a fantastic and beautiful thing!  Times Square is so full of surprises every single day.

JR's mission to advertise people is such an inspiring and powerful message.  It's so true that advertising has taken over our lives, and we forget about the people in our society.  By putting the portraits on the ground, people have no choice but to look on what they are walking on.  It is a great eye-opener, and a creative way to get a point across.

A History Lesson

Times Square encompasses the diversity of New York City.  However, it hasn't always been the melting pot that it is today.

Times Square has been a source of entertainment. In 1928, about 264 shows were produced in 76 theaters in Times Square. These theaters featured the emerging popular culture – vaudeville and musicals, jazz and the movies. Today, it is still the busiest theater district in the world.

In the thirties, the Great Depression led to a deep decline in theater attendance.  Many business had to close down and were being replaced by peep shows and strip clubs.  Thus, prostitution and sex theaters defined the area for much of the post-World War II era.

The Times Square area went downhill by the end of the 1960s, and by the mid 70s, tourists avoided Times Square all together.  It had become a crime-ridden, seedy, and rough area. By the 1980′s Times Square was a porn haven and drug-ridden area of the city.  And all the theaters you see now were transformed to adult theaters and porn back then.

The "restoration" of Time Square's turned the area around.

In 1976 Fred Papert established the "42nd Street Development Corporation" to revitalize businesses in Times Square. He tried to reestablish theaters, so that when businesses came in there would be support for a clean-up of the area.

Papert realized that reforming 42nd Street would cost a sufficient amount of money. He looked to the Ford Foundation for support.

At first, Mayor Ed Koch rejected the plan. However, due to its success, Koch was forced to put funds into Times Square.

When Mayor Koch rejected the plan of the Ford Foundation, he had to come up with a better plan. Koch created a series of initiatives which cleaned up the subway and historic theaters that were now showing pornographic movies. His administration granted more zoning laws to allow for the development of office buildings around Times Square. Thus, the city got what it wanted, and money finally came in to help clean up Times Square.

By the 90s, Mayor Guilliani, determined to prevent Times Square from plummeting, used tax law and an increased police presence to clear away pornography and prostitution from Times Square. Guilliani hoped that if he could clear up the streets, businesses would move in as soon as the economy cleared. The bright advertisements once again lit up the streets.

In 1990, the city and state teamed up to create the New 42nd Street, a nonprofit organization that repaired seven theaters on 42nd street: the Lyric, the Selwyn, the Apollo, the Times Square Theater, the Empire, the Liberty, and the Victory.

In 1993, Disney signed a 99-year lease with the City and State for the Amsterdam Theater, which they renovated, renamed the New Amsterdam, and opened with the play The Lion King in 1997.  Once Disney entered the area, things began to pick up.  Disney opened up a store on Times square which attracted more family-friendly business to the area.

Taken from a recent New York Times article,

"The plan, to radically make over 13 acres, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, primarily fronting 42nd Street, outlived three mayors, four governors, two real estate booms and two recessions. Success is evident. Crime is down significantly from the days when pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts and dope pushers prowled Times Square and the Deuce, as that stretch of 42nd Street was known. The number of tourists is up 74 percent since 1993, to an estimated 36.5 million last year, and attendance at Broadway shows has soared to nearly 12 million".  (NYTimes.com)

 Disney agreed to take over the New Amsterdam theater in days of Mayor David N. Dinkins. The restored theater has now been home to two wildly successful Disney plays, the Lion King, and now Mary Poppins. Before you knew it, Times Square was once again a magnant for tourists.