Albert Jerome Wheeler (April 7, 1895 – January 18, 1968) was an American comedian who performed in Broadway theatre , American comedy feature films , and vaudeville acts. He was teamed with Broadway comic Robert Woolsey , and they went on to fame as Wheeler & Woolsey .
110-603: The Hotel Carter was a hotel at 250 West 43rd Street, near Times Square , in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Opened in June 1930 as the Dixie Hotel , the 25-story structure originally extended from 43rd Street to 42nd Street , although the wing abutting 42nd Street has since been demolished. The hotel originally contained a bus terminal at its ground level, which was closed in 1957, as well as
220-574: A holding company led by Harris Uris, which owned the hotel. This mortgage loan, along with four others on the site, were consolidated into a single lien totaling $ 1.85 million. The bus terminal formally opened in May 1930. The Hotel Dixie opened the next month, with S. Gregory Taylor as the operator and James M. Tait as the general manager. The Central Union Bus Terminal was known as the Short Line Bus Terminal by July 1931. In October 1931,
330-492: A 22-story building with either 650 or 700 guestrooms. The plans had also included an underground bus terminal. The hotel was largely located on 43rd Street, although it also had an alternate entrance through a two-story building on 42nd Street. The hotel contained a bus depot, which opened in 1930 and operated until 1957. The terminal occupied the entire ground floor of the hotel, although its loading platform and waiting room were 5 feet (1.5 m) below street level. The facility
440-646: A bar and restaurant immediately above it. The upper stories originally contained 1,000 rooms but were later downsized to 700 rooms. The hotel was developed by the Uris Buildings Corporation , which announced plans for the site in September 1928. The Bowery Savings Bank foreclosed on the hotel in 1931 and acquired it in March 1932, operating it for the next decade. In 1942, the Dixie became part of
550-400: A bed in room 608; sex offender Clarence Dean was charged with her homicide. 40°45′26.3″N 73°59′18″W / 40.757306°N 73.98833°W / 40.757306; -73.98833 Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City . It is formed by
660-556: A building-code violation against the hotel in January 1998 after inspectors discovered bulging masonry on the facade. The hotel was temporarily closed in December 1998 because an emergency fire exit was damaged. The hotel was still dilapidated in the mid-2000s. According to The New York Times , guests variously reported problems with cleanliness, as well as equipment that sometimes did not work. Online travel company TripAdvisor ranked
770-565: A busy schedule of live performances in nightclubs and on the legitimate stage, in such plays as Harvey (in the leading role of Elwood P. Dowd) and Three Wishes for Jamie . In 1955 Wheeler co-starred with Keith Larsen in the CBS western series Brave Eagle ; Wheeler played the " half-breed " Smokey Joe, known for his tall tales and tribal wisdom. Bert Wheeler died of emphysema in New York City on January 18, 1968. He had been
880-441: A contract with Disney, officials from the city and state evicted the pornographic theaters and contracted with Madame Tussauds and AMC Theatres to move onto 42nd Street. This spurred the construction of new office towers, hotels, and tourist attractions in the area. Prudential and Klein dissolved their partnership for the four office-building sites at Times Square's southern end in 1996. The same year, Douglas Durst acquired
990-482: A cultural hub full of theatres, music halls , and upscale hotels. Times Square quickly became New York's agora , a place to gather to await great tidings and to celebrate them, whether a World Series or a presidential election. Advertising also grew significantly in the 1920s, growing from $ 25 million to $ 85 million over the decade. For example, the Wrigley Spearmint Gum sign, possibly
1100-514: A low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the Olympia , was built by cigar manufacturer and impresario Oscar Hammerstein I . According to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 , "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons." In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved
1210-457: A major center of the world's entertainment industry . Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days. The Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal stations have consistently ranked as
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#17327811039871320-447: A mass yoga event involving up to 15,000 people. Tim Tompkins, a co-founder of the event, said part of its appeal was "finding stillness and calm amid the city rush on the longest day of the year". Architect Mark Foster Gage proposed and designed the original Times Square Valentine's Day heart in 2009. Since then, designing the heart has become an annual competition. In February 2011, Times Square became smoke-free as New York extended
1430-519: A massive crowd celebrated Victory in Europe Day in Times Square; and on August 15, 1945, the largest crowd in the history of Times Square gathered to celebrate Victory over Japan Day , reaching an estimated two million. The victory itself was announced by a headline on the "zipper" news ticker at One Times Square , which read "OFFICIAL ***TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER ***". From
1540-663: A million visitors to Times Square every year, in addition to a worldwide audience of one billion or more on various digital media platforms. Times Square, specifically the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway , the first road across the United States for motorized vehicles. Times Square is sometimes referred to as "the Crossroads of the World" and "the heart of
1650-500: A minimum limit for lighting instead of the standard maximum limit. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square rivals that in Las Vegas . Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called " jumbotrons ". This signage ordinance was implemented in accordance with guidelines set in a revitalization program that New York Governor Mario Cuomo implemented in 1993. Notable signage includes
1760-419: A pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906 but stopped by city officials because of the danger of fire. Beginning in 1908, and for more than eighty years thereafter, Times Square sign maker Artkraft Strauss was responsible for the ball-lowering. During World War II, a minute of silence, followed by
1870-553: A recording of church bells pealing, replaced the ball drop because of wartime blackout restrictions. Today, Countdown Entertainment and One Times Square handle the New Year's Eve event in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance. A new energy-efficient LED ball debuted for the arrival of 2008, which was the centennial of the Times Square ball drop. The 2008–09 ball is larger and has become a permanent installation as
1980-458: A reputation as a dangerous and seedy neighborhood in the following decades. Nevertheless, Times Square continued to be the site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve . The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve in 1942 and 1943 due to lighting restrictions during World War II , replaced by a moment of silence that was observed at midnight in Times Square, accompanied by the sound of chimes played from sound trucks. On May 8, 1945,
2090-568: A site of 16,500 square feet (1,530 m), on which the family planned to build a 25-story hotel with 700 guestrooms. In May 1929, the New York State Title and Mortgage Company gave Percy and his brother Harold a $ 2.2 million construction loan for the Hotel Dixie. Excavation for the new structure began the same month with the removal of six old tenements from the site. Tenements at 250–262 West 43rd Street were razed, along with
2200-450: A source of controversy in the summer of 2015 because of a large number of complaints about the topless women and panhandling characters. Although neither of these activities are illegal, opponents believed that the panhandlers' presence was detrimental to the quality of life in the area. There were calls from Police Commissioner Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio to remove the plaza, although Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer opposed
2310-605: A tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre. Before and after the American Revolution , the area belonged to John Morin Scott , a general of the New York militia , in which he served under George Washington . Scott's manor house was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In
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#17327811039872420-485: A trial until at least the end of the year. The same was done in Herald Square from 33rd to 35th Street. The results were to be closely monitored to determine if the project was successful and should be extended. Bloomberg also stated that he believed the street shutdown would make New York more livable by reducing pollution, cutting down on pedestrian-vehicle accidents, and helping traffic flow more smoothly through
2530-540: A two-story taxpayer at 241 West 42nd Street. The Uris brothers acquired a four-story building at 266 West 43rd Street in August 1929. This land lot was separated from the hotel's site by another building at 264 West 43rd Street, which belonged to the Schulte family. At the time, work on the hotel's foundations was underway. Several floors of steelwork had been added to the hotel by mid-October 1929. The Uris brothers leased
2640-452: A vaudeville act. He continued to work off and on through the 1960s. In 1943 he worked on radio on The Frank Sinatra Show . In 1945 he co-starred with Jackie Gleason in a nightclub engagement; five years later Gleason invited him to appear on his TV variety hour Cavalcade of Stars . Wheeler's last theatrical films were two slapstick shorts for Columbia Pictures , filmed in 1950 and produced by Jules White . Wheeler also kept up
2750-486: A wheelchair lift at the main entrance had been temporarily removed to allow a carpet to be installed. The case was settled in November 2009. Erwin M. Lumanglas, the manager of the hotel since 2006, renovated some of the rooms by 2010 at a cost of $ 5,000 per room. The hotel did not rank among the ten dirtiest hotels in the United States in 2010, but it was ranked fourth in the country during 2011. TripAdvisor stopped ranking
2860-464: A year-round attraction, being used for celebrations on days such as Valentine's Day and Halloween . The New Year's Eve celebrations are usually overseen by thousands of police officers. Aluminum barriers are erected to accommodate spectators; for the 2020 celebration, attended by a million people, barriers were erected from 38th to 59th Street and from Sixth to Eighth Avenue. Typically, the celebrations create large amounts of waste. The waste includes
2970-609: Is a busy intersection of art and commerce, where scores of advertisements – electric, neon and illuminated signs and "zipper" news crawls – vie for viewers' attention. Notable examples include: Major buildings on or near Times Square "Numbered" Times Square buildings Bert Wheeler Wheeler was born in Paterson, New Jersey on April 7, 1895. He began his career performing in vaudeville in an act with Russ Brown . He worked with Robert Woolsey on Broadway until their film debut in 1929, Rio Rita , established them in
3080-501: Is bounded by West 42nd Street , West 47th Street , 7th Avenue, and Broadway. Broadway runs diagonally, crossing through the horizontal and vertical street grid of Manhattan laid down by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , and that intersection creates the "bowtie" shape of Times Square. Times Square is the official name of the southern triangle, below 45th Street. The northern triangle is officially known as Duffy Square and
3190-906: Is famed for the Times Square Ball drop on its roof every New Year's Eve. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association , headed by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher , chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway (at the southeast corner of Times Square) to be the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway . This was the first road across the United States, which originally ran 3,389 mi (5,454 km) coast to coast through 13 states to its western terminus in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Times Square grew dramatically after World War I . It became
3300-467: Is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. About one million revelers crowd Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebrations, more than twice the usual number of visitors the area usually receives daily. However, for the millennium celebration on December 31, 1999, published reports stated approximately two million people overflowed Times Square, flowing from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue and back on Broadway and Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, making it
3410-600: The American Red Cross from opening a shelter there. The hotel's bar, known as Rose of Saigon, was closed in early 1989 after city officials found that crack cocaine was being sold openly at the bar. An official for the New York City Office of Midtown Enforcement called it the "worst bar" he had ever seen, saying that it reminded him "of the bar scene in the Star Wars movie with the worst dregs of
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3520-883: The Disney theme parks worldwide, with 128,794,000 visitors between March 2012 and February 2013, versus 126,479,000 for the Walt Disney World theme parks in Bay Lake, Florida , in 2012. Even excluding residents from the visitor count, Times Square is the world's second most visited tourist attraction, behind the Las Vegas Strip . The high level of pedestrian traffic has resulted in $ 4.8 billion in annual retail, entertainment, and hotel sales, with 22 cents out of every dollar spent by visitors in New York City being spent within Times Square. Times Square
3630-692: The Hollywood film industry . By 1931 Wheeler & Woolsey were so popular that RKO attempted to generate twice the Wheeler & Woolsey income by making two solo pictures—one with Wheeler ( Too Many Cooks ) and one with Woolsey ( Everything's Rosie ). This experiment failed, and they returned to performing as a team. They continued to make popular feature films until 1937, when Woolsey became too ill to work. In 1938, after Robert Woolsey died, Bert Wheeler struggled to restart his career. Their friend and former film costar Dorothy Lee agreed to tour with him in
3740-701: The Macklowe Hotel , Marriott Marquis , Crowne Plaza , and DoubleTree Suites. By 1986, New York City Planning Commission (CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square to include bright signage as well as deep setbacks . The CPC adopted a planning regulation in 1987, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about 5 percent of their space for "entertainment uses". The regulation also required new buildings on Times Square to include large, bright signs. The buildings at 1540 Broadway, 1585 Broadway, and 750 Seventh Avenue were completed at
3850-522: The State of New York took possession of six of the nine historic theaters on 42nd Street, and the New 42nd Street non-profit organization was appointed to oversee their restoration and maintenance. The theaters underwent renovation for Broadway shows, conversion for commercial purposes, or demolition. Opposition to the towers on Times Square, along with Prudential and Park Tower's inability to secure tenants for
3960-685: The Toshiba billboard directly under the NYE ball drop, the curved seven-story NASDAQ sign at the NASDAQ MarketSite at 4 Times Square on 43rd Street, and the curved Coca-Cola sign located underneath another large LED display owned and operated by Samsung . Both the Coca-Cola sign and Samsung LED displays were built by LED display manufacturer Daktronics . Times Square's first environmentally friendly billboard powered by wind and solar energy
4070-668: The Vince Lombardi Trophy . The area was under increased security and witnessed over 400,000 people during the period. In October 2022, casino operator Caesars Entertainment and commercial property developer SL Green submitted a joint proposal to open a casino at 1515 Broadway , along Times Square. The New York state government has yet to act on the proposal. On February 26, 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along Broadway from 42nd Street to 47th Street would be de-mapped starting Memorial Day 2009 and transformed into pedestrian plazas as
4180-552: The remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors have countered that the changes have homogenized or "Disneyfied" the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower-income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as Hell's Kitchen . The changes were shaped in large part by the actions of The Walt Disney Company , which bought and restored the New Amsterdam Theatre after several attempts at redevelopment had failed. As part of
4290-654: The 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. However, it was also during this period that the area began to be besieged by crime and corruption, in the form of gambling and prostitution; one case that garnered huge attention was the arrest and subsequent execution of police officer Charles Becker . The general atmosphere of Times Square changed with the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. City residents moved uptown to cheaper neighborhoods, and many popular theaters closed, replaced by saloons, brothels, "burlesque halls, vaudeville stages, and dime houses". The area acquired
4400-525: The 1960s to the early 1990s, the seediness of the area, especially due to its go-go bars , sex shops , peep shows , and adult theaters, became an infamous symbol of the city's decline. As early as 1960, 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues was described by The New York Times as "the 'worst' [block] in town". Later that decade, Times Square was depicted in Midnight Cowboy as gritty, depraved, and desperate. Conditions only worsened in
4510-687: The 1970s and 1980s, as did the crime in the rest of the city, with a 1981 article in Rolling Stone magazine calling 42nd Street in Times Square the "sleaziest block in America". In the mid-1980s, the area bounded by 40th and 50th Streets and Seventh and Ninth Avenues saw over 15,000 crime complaints per year. The block of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues had 2,300 crimes per year in 1984, of which 20% were felonies. In this era, formerly elegant movie theaters began to show x-rated films , and peep shows hustlers were common. In 1984,
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4620-518: The 2001–02 New Year's celebration. Approximately 500,000 revelers attended. Security was high following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, with more than 7,000 New York City police officers on duty in the Square, twice the number for an ordinary year. Times Square started hosting other major annual events in the 2000s. Since 2002, the summer solstice has been marked by "Mind over Madness",
4730-500: The 3,000 pounds of biodegradable confetti dropped at midnight, a tradition of which started in 1992. The New York City Department of Sanitation estimated that by 8 a.m. on New Year's Day 2014, it had cleared over 50 short tons (45 long tons; 45 t) of trash from the New Year's celebration, using 190 workers from their crews and the Times Square Alliance. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City during 2020 reduced
4840-496: The 42nd Street Redevelopment Corporation called it "Nightmare Alley". By the end of 1985, the number of homeless families in the Carter had declined from 300 to 61, and the hotel began to make an effort to attract tourists once again. New York City removed all homeless families from the Carter in 1988 due to difficulties with plumbing, electricity, security, and vermin. The conditions at the Carter and at Tran's other hotels had dissuaded
4950-767: The Bowery Savings Bank moved to foreclose on the hotel's mortgage, for which the Jerrold Holding Corporation owed $ 1.98 million. A federal judge appointed the Irving Trust as a receiver , and James B. Regan, former proprietor of the Knickerbocker Hotel , was another appointed receiver. The Bowery Savings Bank scheduled a foreclosure auction for the Dixie but withdrew the planned auction in February 1932. The auction for
5060-521: The Carter Hotels chain, which rehabilitated the hotel several times. The hotel was renamed the Carter in October 1976 in an attempt to rehabilitate its image. The businessman Tran Dinh Truong operated the Carter from 1977 until his death in 2012, after which GF Management took over. The Carter closed in 2014 and was sold to Joseph Chetrit , who planned to renovate the hotel as of 2022. While it
5170-464: The Dixie Hotel's Central Union Bus Terminal on February 14, 1930. The Dixie Hotel was originally supposed to open on May 1, 1930, and the bus terminal was planned to formally open at the same time. That month, M.C. Levine was recorded as having incorporated the Hotel Dixie with 10,000 shares. The Bowery Savings Bank gave a $ 350,000 mortgage loan the same month to the Jerrold Holding Corporation,
5280-455: The Dixie Hotel's former bus terminal into a parking lot for the hotel's guests in 1961. The space included a secondary lobby with features such as a registration desk, baggage check-in area, and a communications system; according to The New York Times , drivers could contact the front desk via closed-circuit television and could summon a bellhop without going to the main lobby. In 1964, local civic group Broadway Association proposed demolishing
5390-422: The Dixie Hotel, as well as ten nearby theaters on 42nd Street, to make way for a large convention center between Seventh Avenue, 41st Street, Eighth Avenue, and 43rd Street. Carter Hotels finished renovating the Dixie Hotel in 1965; the project included restoring all 700 rooms, as well as adding a CCTV system and automated elevators. By the mid-1960s, the hotel was managed by William Benson of Carter Hotels, who ran
5500-492: The Great White Way ". Times Square functions as a town square , but is not geometrically a square . It is closer in shape to a bowtie, with two triangles emanating roughly north and south from 45th Street, where Seventh Avenue intersects Broadway . Broadway similarly intersects other north–south avenues at Union Square , Madison Square , Herald Square , and Verdi Square , none of which are squares. The area
5610-547: The Midtown street grid. The pedestrian plaza project was originally opposed by local businesses, who thought that closing the street to cars would hurt business. The original seats put out for pedestrians were inexpensive multicolored plastic lawn chairs, a source of amusement to many New Yorkers; they lasted from the onset of the plaza transformation until August 14, 2009, when they were ceremoniously bundled together in an installation christened Now You See It, Now You Don't by
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#17327811039875720-538: The New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. Four towers designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee were to be built around 42nd Street's intersections with Broadway and Seventh Avenue. These towers would have been redeveloped by George Klein of Park Tower Realty, though the Prudential Insurance Company of America joined
5830-514: The Plantation Room, serving Southern food throughout the day. The hotel was planning to add another room for live performances by 1945. The Plantation Room began hosting live music shows in 1946, replacing what Billboard magazine called the "silly hat-nursery rhyme phase at this room". In the room's heyday, its performers included Al Trace 's band and Teddy Powell 's band. The Plantation Room stopped hosting shows in early 1947 because it
5940-476: The area was so derelict and dilapidated, that the entire Times Square area paid the city only $ 6 million in property taxes (equivalent to $ 17.6 million in 2023). In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the western parts of Midtown as part of a long-term development plan developed under mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins . These included office buildings such as 1540 Broadway , 1585 Broadway , and 750 Seventh Avenue , as well as hotels such as
6050-426: The artist Jason Peters, and shortly afterward were replaced by sturdier metal furniture. Although the plaza had mixed results on traffic in the area, injuries to motorists and pedestrians decreased, fewer pedestrians were walking in the road, and the number of pedestrians in Times Square increased. On February 11, 2010, Bloomberg announced that the pedestrian plazas would become permanent. The city started rebuilding
6160-417: The beginning of the early 1990s recession , when 14.5 percent of Manhattan office space was vacant. Furthermore, some 9 × 10 ^ sq ft (840,000 m ) of office space in the western section of Midtown had been developed in the 1980s, of which only half had been leased. Consequently, 1540 Broadway was completely empty, while 1585 Broadway and 750 Seventh Avenue had one tenant each, despite
6270-496: The biggest electric sign "in the world," cost $ 9,000 per month to rent. Some contemporary critics, such as Thorstein Veblen and G. K. Chesterton , disliked the advertising at Times Square. Fritz Lang , after seeing Times Square in 1923, used it as inspiration for his dark industrial film Metropolis . Entertainment icons such as Irving Berlin , Charlie Chaplin , and Fred Astaire were closely associated with Times Square in
6380-429: The buildings having over 2 × 10 ^ sq ft (190,000 m ) of office space between them. Entertainment conglomerate Bertelsmann bought 1540 Broadway in 1992, spurring a revival of Times Square in the early 1990s. This was hastened when financial firm Morgan Stanley bought 1585 Broadway in 1993, followed by 750 Seventh Avenue in 1994. The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), an agency of
6490-442: The bus slips. Two sets of doors, one on either side of the terminal, led from the loading area to the terminal's waiting room. The terminal was arranged so all slips were within 100 feet (30 m) of the waiting area. The waiting room had a cafe, newsstands, ticket booths, and elevators leading to the hotel's lobby. Both the waiting room and the loading area were heated using a forced draft system. Ventilation openings were placed at
6600-482: The busiest in the New York City Subway system, transporting more than 200,000 passengers daily. Formerly known as Longacre Square , Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square . It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop , which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over
6710-442: The columns were decorated to resemble trees. The nightclub, along with the adjacent Plantation Room restaurant, could fit a combined 500 people. The Bert Wheeler Theater opened at the hotel in 1966, ten steps above its entrance. The theater was variously cited as having 220 or 225 seats; it occupied the former Plantation Room and measured 60 by 45 feet (18 by 14 m). A circular bar, 50 feet (50 ft) in circumference, adjoined
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#17327811039876820-525: The company, wanted to change the hotel's name to give one of the establishments in the chain a corporate identity; at the time, the company operated several additional hotels in the Northeast United States. At this time, the Dixie was renamed the Carter. Vietnamese businessman and former ship owner Tran Dinh Truong purchased the hotel in October 1977 for $ 1.5 million. He formed a holding company, Alphonse Hotel Corporation, to take title to
6930-785: The dirtiest hotels in the U.S. in 2012, but CNBC reported that guests continued to raise complaints about the hotel's cleanliness. Tran died in 2012, and the surviving members of his family fought over ownership of the hotel. John Cruz of GF Management took ownership of the hotel in April 2013 and renovated it. The New York Times reported at the time that the hotel had broken elevators; 40-year-old fire extinguishers; non-functional exit signs ; no weekend doormen; "discarded hospital linens" atop beds; inadequate insurance; and overdue loans. GF Management made gradual modifications to make it more desirable for guests, starting with rectifying fifteen violations of city building codes. GF Management also increased
7040-516: The existing buildings. In 1992, the Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square Business Improvement District , or "BID" for short), a coalition of city government and local businesses dedicated to improving the quality of commerce and cleanliness in the district, started operations in the area. In 1998, the alliance opened a tourist information center in the former Embassy Theatre at 1560 Broadway;
7150-487: The first half of the 19th century, it became one of the prized possessions of John Jacob Astor , who made a second fortune selling off lots to hotels and other real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread uptown . By 1872, the area had become the center of New York's horse carriage industry. The locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after Long Acre in London, where
7260-557: The frequency of housekeeping services from every three days to every two days; renovating 30 fourth-floor room with art and IKEA furniture; and replacing mattresses in rooms with reports of bedbugs. Following GF Management's takeover of the Hotel Carter, the hotel's occupancy rates increased from 68 to 74 percent, and Cruz began charging room rates of $ 120 to $ 150 a night. The hotel was offered for sale in early 2014 after an extensive renovation. The Wall Street Journal reported that
7370-701: The horse and carriage trade was centered in that city. William Henry Vanderbilt owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there. In 1910, it became the Winter Garden Theatre. As more profitable commerce and industrialization of Lower Manhattan pushed homes, theaters, and prostitution northward from the Tenderloin District , Longacre Square became nicknamed the Thieves Lair for its rollicking reputation as
7480-406: The hotel "offers travelers a cheap room in an expensive city, and something more: an adventure". New York magazine wrote in 2014: "If you still want a touch of the vice-ridden Times Square of the '60s and '70s, consider spending a night at the Hotel Carter." The hotel has recorded several homicides. A 25-day-old infant was beaten to death at the hotel in November 1983; her father, a hotel resident,
7590-777: The hotel as the dirtiest in the United States in 2006, 2008, and 2009. Additionally, in January 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sued the operators of the Carter and four other Midtown Manhattan hotels, alleging that each of the hotels violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Among the complaints were that the hotel's main entrance, public restrooms, registration desk, and guestrooms were all inaccessible to disabled guests. Tran's lawyer claimed that some rooms were already ADA-accessible and that
7700-461: The hotel could sell for as much as $ 170 million; hotel operators such as Highgate Holding and Morris Moinian expressed interest in buying the Carter. CNBC, which reported that the hotel could be sold for up to $ 180 million, said that a potential buyer would have to spend $ 100 million to $ 125 million on renovating the hotel further. The developer Joseph Chetrit won the right to buy the hotel in September 2014. A gentlemen's club that had been located in
7810-421: The hotel for a short period; he died in October 1932 in his bedroom at the hotel. The hotel started hosting big bands in November 1933, when Art Kahn 's band began performing there. The Bowery Savings Bank sold the hotel in March 1942 to Kings Hotel Inc., subject to a mortgage of $ 1.125 million. The new owner was a subsidiary of the Carter Hotels chain, which planned to spend $ 200,000 on renovations. The project
7920-623: The hotel until his death in 1967. An off-Broadway venue, the Bert Wheeler Theater, opened at the hotel in October 1966 with the musical comedy Autumn's Here . The hotel's theater was renamed the Burstein Theater in 1973 after it began presenting Yiddish shows. During the 1970s, the Dixie began to decline along with the rest of Times Square. Carter Hotels allocated $ 250,000 for renovations and sign alteration in an effort to "clean up" Times Square. H.B. Cantor, president of
8030-695: The hotel was rescheduled to March 1932, at which point the Uris family owed the bank $ 2.06 million. At the time, the hotel was valued at $ 2.3 million. The bank ultimately bought the hotel for $ 1.8 million at the end of the month. In April 1932, the Southworth Management Corporation (headed by Roy S. Hubbell, former manager of the Hotel Commodore and the Hotel Belmont ) took over the hotel's operation. Hubbell only managed
8140-597: The hotel's cleanliness. For example, during July 2009, the Glenn Beck Program highlighted the reports of the filth and disrepair of the Carter Hotel, while USA Today wrote that the hotel was filled with "roaches, rats, black mold and stains of dubious origin". Despite the many complaints that the Hotel Carter received, the hotel remained popular among some guests, including students, foreigners, and budget tourists. In 2005, The New York Times wrote that
8250-498: The hotel's owners in early 2024 to force Chetrit to disassemble the sidewalk shed outside the hotel, which had stood there for a decade. That September, the Chetrit Group defaulted on one of the hotel's mezzanine loans. In 1980, a writer for Newsday wrote that the hotel was a "large, un-self-conscious, family-oriented kind of place" with "simple and spotlessly clean" rooms. By the 2000s, media reports frequently criticized
8360-542: The hotel, Cheetah's , filed a lawsuit in December 2014 in an attempt to halt the hotel's sale to Chetrit. Chetrit finalized his acquisition in February 2015, and the Athene Annuity and Life Company gave Chetrit a $ 129 million loan for the renovations. JPMorgan Chase provided a $ 152 million mezzanine loan in February 2018. JPMorgan Chase's loan replaced in August 2022 with $ 185 million in construction financing, provided by Mack Real Estate. The city government sued
8470-498: The hotel. The hotel's theater continued to operate through the 1980s, presenting such shows as an adaptation of Aesop's Fables in 1979 and the musical Ka-Boom! in 1980. Although the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981, the Carter Hotel was excluded from the project. The Carter
8580-459: The hotel. Upon acquiring the Carter, Tran closed the hotel's 42nd Street entrance and hired Walter Scheff as its general manager. The New York Times described the hotel at the time as an establishment that catered to "middle-class tourists [and] has suffered with the decline of the surrounding area", although the paper reported that the hotel was still losing money. Over the next three decades, many of Tran's children, grandchildren, and wives lived in
8690-718: The information center operated until 2014. In the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani led an effort to clean up the area, an effort that is described by Steve Macek in Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City : Security was increased, pornographic theatres were closed, and "undesirable" low-rent residents were pressured to relocate, and then more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments were opened. Advocates of
8800-509: The junction of Broadway , Seventh Avenue , and 42nd Street . Together with adjacent Duffy Square , Times Square is a bowtie -shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets . Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service . One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and
8910-469: The largest gathering in Times Square since August 1945 during celebrations marking the end of World War II . On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square, and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the Waterford Crystal ball being lowered on
9020-427: The newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square, on the site of the former Pabst Hotel , which had existed on the site for less than a decade since it opened in November 1899. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on April 8, 1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on
9130-450: The number of people traveling to Times Square. About 108,000 pedestrians visited Times Square each day in late 2020 compared to the 380,000 before the pandemic. From March to October 2020, 26 of the area's 46 hotels closed, as well as 39 of 151 stores and 84 of 162 restaurants. Times Square was closed to the public for New Year's Day 2021 and observers were dispersed into enclosures measuring 8 by 8 ft (2.4 by 2.4 m). Times Square
9240-415: The outdoors smoking ban to the area. The measure imposed a $ 50 fine for any person caught smoking within the area. From January 29 to February 1, 2014, a "Super Bowl Boulevard" was held on Broadway, especially in Times Square, between 34th and 47th Streets, as part of Super Bowl XLVIII . The boulevard contained activities such as autographs, a 60 ft (18 m)-high toboggan run , and photographs with
9350-499: The plaza in 2010, hiring the design and landscaping firm Snøhetta to permanently replace Broadway's roadway with custom-made granite pavers and benches. By December 2013, the first phase of the Times Square pedestrian plaza had been completed at the southern end of the square in time for the Times Square Ball drop on New Year's Eve. The project was originally intended to be completed by the end of 2015. The entire project
9460-466: The project in 1986. Furthermore, as part of the West Midtown special zoning district created in 1982, the New York City government had allowed new buildings in Times Square to be developed with an increased floor area ratio. To ensure the area would not be darkened at nightfall, the city passed zoning regulations that encouraged developers to add large, bright signs on their buildings. In 1990,
9570-500: The proposal. In June 2016, work started on "pedestrian flow zones" where no one was allowed to loiter, as well as "activity zones" where costumed characters were allowed to perform. There have been several incidents in Times Square: Times Square is the most visited place globally with 360,000 pedestrian visitors a day, amounting to over 131 million a year. As of 2013 , it had a greater attendance than each of
9680-555: The proposed buildings, led government officials to allow Prudential and Park Tower to postpone the project in 1992. By then, Prudential had spent $ 300 million on condemning the sites through eminent domain . The partners retained the right to develop the sites in the future, and the ESDC's zoning guidelines remained in effect. In exchange for being permitted to delay construction of the sites until 2002, Prudential and Park Tower were compelled to add stores and install large signage on
9790-609: The rear of each slip, near the buses' exhaust pipes. The hotel's first story contained the Dixie Lounge Bar, a nightclub that opened in 1942 and was decorated in the Southern Colonial style. The space was designed by Jac Lessman and could be accessed from the lobby, the dining room, and directly from the street. The room was surrounded by a four-foot-high brick wainscoting, and the front wall contained white window shutters and ivy-filled planting boxes. In addition,
9900-449: The right to acquire the sites at the southwest and southeast corners of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue for $ 330 million. 5 Times Square was completed on the southwest-corner site in 2002, and Times Square Tower opened on the southeast-corner site in 2004. Times Square now boasts attractions such as ABC 's Times Square Studios , where Good Morning America is broadcast live; competing Hershey's and M&M's stores across
10010-418: The safety of the area. The theatres of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have been one of New York's iconic images as well as a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Since 1987 such signage has been mandated by zoning ordinances that require building owners to display illuminated signs, the only district in New York City with this requirement. The neighborhood has
10120-585: The side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway. The north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the Winter Garden Theatre , constructed in 1911. The New York Times moved to more spacious offices one block west of the square in 1913 and sold the building in 1961. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building in 1963. Now known simply as One Times Square , it
10230-466: The site at the northeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, and he developed 4 Times Square there. The northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street was taken by Reuters , which enlisted Rudin Management as its development partner and built 3 Times Square on that corner; that building opened in 2001. In 1998, a joint venture of Klein, The Blackstone Group , and Boston Properties won
10340-591: The solar system gathered together". The International Travellers Network leased two floors as a hostel in the late 1980s, and the Penthouse Hostel leased the 23rd and 24th floors of the Hotel Carter in July 1990. Despite the revitalization of Times Square in the 1990s, the Carter remained dilapidated in character. By 1994, the hotel was ranked as New York City's most dangerous hotel because of its high crime rate. The New York City Department of Buildings issued
10450-461: The storefronts to various businesses, including a laundry, as well as a beauty parlor and barber shop. A concession was also awarded for the hat rack in the Dixie Hotel's lobby. Scarr Transportation Service was hired to managed the bus terminal, and the restaurant space in the terminal was leased to Loft, Inc. Two bus operators began using a temporary bus terminal on the site on December 9, 1929, and group of transportation executives formally dedicated
10560-511: The street from each other, and multiple multiplex movie theaters. Additionally, the area contains restaurants such as the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company , a seafood establishment; Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar , a theme restaurant ; and Carmine's, serving Italian cuisine . It has also attracted several large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up headquarters in the area. A larger presence of police has improved
10670-463: The theater and was behind glass doors; it was closed during performances, except for during a twenty-minute intermission. Food was served in the Terrace Room, the hotel's restaurant. Harris H. Uris, who cofounded the Uris Buildings Corporation with his son Percy , acquired the land lots at 241 West 42nd Street and 250–262 West 43rd Street in September 1928. The acquisition gave the Uris family
10780-435: The turntable, which would then rotate to the proper slip. The center of the turntable was 4 inches (100 mm) below the rim, preventing buses from rolling off the turntable by accident. Bus drivers pulled forward into the slip, allowing passengers to alight and board at the widest part of the loading platform. To prevent buses from rolling backward onto the turntable, each loading slip sloped 2 inches (51 mm) downward from
10890-416: The turntable. The loading platform itself was about 6 inches (150 mm) above the slip, allowing level boarding . Buses leaving the terminal would reverse onto the turntable, which would rotate toward the exit ramp. A dispatcher used an electronic signaling device to control all of the buses' movements, and the dispatcher also announced the departure of each bus. The loading platform wrapped around each of
11000-403: Was accessed by two arrival and two departure ramps, which could accommodate up to 40 buses per hour; these ramps led to both 42nd and 43rd Streets. The center of the terminal contained a bus turntable with a diameter of 35 feet. Twelve loading slips were arranged around the turntable. The terminal handled 350 buses daily during peak summer seasons. Buses arriving at the terminal would drive onto
11110-463: Was charged with murder and child abuse . In 1987, a woman was thrown to her death out of a window from one of the top floors after witnesses heard arguing from room 1604. The hotel's night manager was killed in July 1999 during a brawl near the front desk; a clerk who lived at the hotel was charged with the night manager's murder. In August 2007, a housekeeper found the body of aspiring model Kristine Yitref, wrapped in plastic garbage bags and hidden under
11220-417: Was cited for its "consistently low rate of compliance in correcting health and safety violations". After hotel officials failed to correct numerous building-code violations, the city government sued the hotel in 1983 and 1984; a judge found Tran in contempt of court . The hotel's physical condition was so bad that the New York City government stopped referring homeless people there in 1984, and an official for
11330-546: Was dedicated in June 1939 to honor World War I chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy of the 69th New York Infantry Regiment . A statue by Charles Keck was dedicated in May 1937 as a memorial to Duffy. There is also a statue of composer and entertainer George M. Cohan , and the TKTS discount ticket booth for same-day Broadway and off-Broadway theaters that has been at the site since June 1973. When Manhattan Island
11440-501: Was finally completed just before New Year's Eve 2016. Some safety bollards were also installed as part of the renovation to prevent vehicular attacks or collisions on the sidewalk. After a 2017 vehicle-ramming attack , there were calls to install more bollards along Times Square. Times Square's pedestrian plaza is frequented by topless women (with painted breasts) called " desnudas ", as well as costumed characters , who typically panhandle for tips. The pedestrian plaza became
11550-543: Was first lit on December 4, 2008. The new 20 Times Square development hosts the largest LED signage in Times Square at 18,000 square feet. The display is 1,000 square feet larger than the Times Square Walgreens display and one of the largest video-capable screens in the world. In 2002, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani administered the oath of office to the city's next mayor, Michael Bloomberg , at Times Square after midnight on January 1 as part of
11660-578: Was first settled by the Dutch colonists , three small streams united near what is now the intersection of 10th Avenue and 40th Street . These three streams formed the "Great Kill" (Dutch: Grote Kil ). From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl, and emptied into a deep bay in the Hudson River at the present 42nd Street. The name was retained in
11770-497: Was losing money. Meanwhile, most of the bus lines that had served the Dixie Hotel's ground-level bus terminal relocated to the nearby Port Authority Bus Terminal after the latter opened in 1950. The Dixie terminal's operators had signed a ten-year lease for the space in 1947; the bus terminal ultimately closed in 1957, after most of the remaining bus lines relocated to the Port Authority. The Walter Ballard Company converted
11880-454: Was operating, the Hotel Carter gained a negative reputation due to the crimes that took place there, as well as its general uncleanliness. At least four murders have occurred in the hotel. In addition, the Hotel Carter was cited as being among America's dirtiest hotels for several years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. When it opened in 1930, the Dixie Hotel contained a thousand rooms (later downsized to 700 rooms). The hotel had been planned as
11990-468: Was to include refurbishing the lobby, installing a marquee, adding dance floors, and renovating half of the rooms. Carter Hotels took over management of the business that April. To accommodate executives and business couples who lived at the Dixie, its managers converted some rooms to studio apartments . Jac Lessman converted the bar into a nightclub named the Dixie Lounge Bar, which opened in September 1942 and featured live music. The hotel's restaurant became
12100-527: Was used as a welfare hotel during the 1980s, housing homeless families; the Times reported in 1984 that the area around the entrance was filled "with teen-agers and young children who play sidewalk games into the night". The city government paid $ 62.62 per night to house a family in a small single room. Nurses, charities, and social-services workers frequently visited the hotel, serving its homeless population. The Carter housed 190 families by December 1983, when it
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