Theater District and Billboards

At the start of the First World War, Times Square was the center of the Theater District and attracted a large number of visitors. This made the square an ideal place for billboards. In 1917 the first large electric display billboard was installed. Eleven years later, the first running electric sign was lit for the first time, to announce Herbert Hoover's victory in the Presidential elections. The billboards have become such a tourist attraction for the area, that the zoning now requires the buildings to be covered with billboards!

Decline

Times Square at night

In the thirties, the Great Depression led to a sharp decline in theater attendance. Many businesses had to close down, and they were quickly replaced by strip teases and and peep shows. The area continued to attract visitors though and after the Second World War, the Theater District was booming again. At the end of the sixties, the area started to go downhill and by the mid-seventies, tourists avoided Times square, which had become a seedy, crime-ridden and drug-infested place.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16