1 W 42nd St
2 Mets colors
3 Double-decker buses
4 Newspaper boxes
5 Horse-drawn carriages
Blights 6–10




Don’t worry, this is not one of those laments for the lost grit and seediness of Times Square past. Nostalgics and Disneyists alike can agree that the stretch of the Deuce between Seventh and Eighth Avenues is an offense. Herds of humanity, plasticized commercial nightmares, megarestaurants inhaling and exhaling people onto the street like sick whales wheezing plankton—it feels like a Blade Runner set design rejected for being too noir-carnival. When the apocalypse comes, this is going to be the waiting room for the damned.

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