Pedestrian Newsletter 07
Times Square, Tourists, and the Iowa State Fair.
Hello Pedestrians—
Today I’d like to share a very special edition of the Pedestrian Newsletter. This month you’ll join me in Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, where I spent two afternoons walking around and talking to fellow New Yorkers. I’ve included a brief audio clip of these conversations below. I hope to include them in a longer audio story in the near future. Stay tuned…
Before we get started, I’d like to thank Sasha and Mel for making this month’s newsletter possible. It means a whole lot. Thank you.
Be in touch:
pedestrianmagazine@gmail.com
Walking Around the Center of the Universe
Times Square is no place to be if you are a New Yorker. Deemed the "Center of the Universe" by some, it's better known as "Hell on Earth" to most. There is no reason to visit unless you unfortunately work in the area, bought tickets to Broadway, or you’ve been dragged along by family and friends visiting for the first time.
To consider Times Square a tourist trap is nothing short of an euphemism to those who call New York City home. Everything is overpriced (yes, we know everything is already overpriced here), the food will give you a heart attack, and good luck trying to find a place to pee (although this might help). Worst of all, once you arrive, it's almost impossible to leave. The sheer amount of people congregating in the same place at the same time makes walking a couple blocks feel like a couple of miles.
I grew up in Iowa (a state with a population less than half of New York City), and the closest thing I had to Times Square happened once a year at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Over the course of 11 balmy days in August 2019, the fair boasted a record attendance of 1,170,375 visitors. To put things in perspective, 450,000 pedestrians can walk through Times Square on a busy day alone (which in just over of 2 ½ days would shatter the Iowa State Fair's record.) In 2013, Times Square had a greater attendance than Disney theme parks worldwide and has roughly 131 million visitors annually.
However in the age of COVID and social distancing, foot traffic and tourists haven’t really been much of a problem. Signs of life are slowly beginning to return to the rest of the city since the peak in April, yet Times Square remains a shell of its former self. Business is bad, street performers play for no one, Broadway is canceled, office spaces remain empty, and storefronts continue to close. In other words, Times Square has come to a grinding halt.
Tourists no longer flock from every corner of the world just to get their picture taken in a sea of digital advertisements while wearing an “I ♥️ NY” shirt. There is just no reason to come anymore. For some New Yorkers, this has given the pandemic new meaning and perhaps a renewed interest in Times Square: one can walk freely down the street without being asked for directions, there are finally places to park, and plenty of seats available on the train. As one older gentleman bluntly said, “it’s like you can finally enjoy the city.”
Do New Yorkers really not miss the tourists? Last week, I grabbed my microphone and took the Q train up to Times Square to find out. Listen below (for those viewing in email: scroll down once again if redirected when pressing play).
As a New Yorker, Do You Miss the Tourists?
As you might have guessed, it’s not an easy question to answer. Tourism is a complicated subject for most New Yorkers. On one hand, they bring a livelihood for many residents, while on the other, they just add another layer of stress for those living here. It doesn’t help that tourists stick out like a sore thumb. There is just a look about them. They move and act in ways that are antithetical to the typical behavior demonstrated in New York. They walk slowly, crowd the sidewalks, and stare into the sky with a look of utter confusion as if they’ve no place to go. It’s a wonderful sight to see.
I think what many find so annoying about tourists in this city, and perhaps anywhere that tourists like to go, is just how vulnerable they are and how willing they are to surrender to the awe of the sights surrounding them. It’s not everyday that one gets to feel that way and maybe we should more often. Most New Yorkers have grown overly accustomed to the sights that keep visitors coming back. If anything, tourists are a friendly reminder.
No matter how annoyed I become when I’m politely asked how to find “HYOO-stən” Street or if this Brooklyn bound J train goes to the Empire State Building, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the tourists. I have to admit, I actually love Times Square too, pandemic or not. In a city where it can take an entire lifetime of living here to be considered a “real” New Yorker (if that’s even possible for someone born outside of the city), it’s always humbling to remember that you were once a tourist too.
If anything, the pandemic has given me a moment to be in awe of the city once again and if feeling that way makes me a tourist—so be it! I’ll consider myself a permanent tourist until the day comes when I can actually call this place my home. In the meantime, feel free to ask me for directions when you finally come visit. I’ll gladly help you out.
‑Alex Wolfe, Permanent Tourist
PEDESTRIAN
P.O. Box 1292
NY, NY 10013
Note: All images of New York City are from post cards purchased from souvenir shops around Times Square. Want one? Shoot me your address and I’ll write you a note.
If you’d also like to support the work of Pedestrian, consider joining the Patreon for as little as $2/month. There are no strings attached and you can cancel at any time. To those who have already joined—I thank you for your ongoing support. It means a whole lot.
Pedestrian tells stories about the people, routines, and connections we make as a result of moving throughout one’s everyday surroundings. It began as a quarterly magazine in 2018 by Alex T. Wolfe and is occasionally released as a podcast.