Howdy Ya’ll!!
As a history buff and a Licensed NYC Tour Guide, I love this history of Times Square. It’s almost 110 years since Longacre Square became Times Square; it was named after the New York Times who built their offices right at 1 Times Square. The building is still there with 25 floors of offices, but none of it is occupied aside from Walgreens. The building makes more money on it’s advertising space than it would as an office building – that’s consumerism for you.
What I always remember about New York was on the other end of Times Square, the Coca-Cola sign. I used to stand by the TKTS tent and stare up at that Coca-Cola sign. I thought it was so cool the way the neon lights would make the bottle look like it was full of Cola. Then, the automated lid would slide open and a giant straw would slide up. Then, like magic, the neon cola would deplete down to the bottle. THIS was a Times Square New York City kind of refreshment. Then we would get our tickets and go see Grizabella shoot to the Heaviside Layer on a tire. Check out the Old Coca-Cola sign from the 1990’s.
Coca-Cola’s first sign in Times Square appeared in 1932. Now, I can’t say the new Coca-Cola sign is as memorable, but it is greener. All those spectacular neon lights cost a pretty penny on NYC’s electric bill. The new digital sign saves more energy because it’s powered completely by wind. Now, TKTS is not longer a tent since they pedestrianized all of Times Square and build the fancy red stair building. Even though all of these things are greener and much more advanced in the way of pedestrian traffic…I miss the old straw, and still crave some neon refreshment.
Live, Love, Learn,
Bret Shuford & The Write Teacher(s)
Editors Note – Don’t forget to check out the latest and greatest from Bret on BretShuford.com