Скачать или смотреть How Times Square Went From TERRIFYING to Tourist Paradise (1990s Revival)

Times Square's transformation from America's most notorious red-light district to a tourist paradise represents the most dramatic urban revival in modern history, where policy makers decided which populations deserved saving and which could be swept away.

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What Made 1990s New York So MAGICAL? --    • What Made 1990s New York So MAGICAL?  

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
1:04 Chapter 1: The Worst Block in America
4:37 Chapter 2: Safe Streets and Disney Dreams
8:25 Chapter 3: Wrecking Balls and Rising Towers
12:04 Chapter 4: Lions Replace Peep Shows
15:48 Chapter 5: Midnight in the New Millennium

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Twenty-three adult entertainment cinemas, eleven intimate performance clubs, and three storefront substance distribution houses occupied a single 400-foot stretch of West 42nd Street in the 1980s.

This was the inventory between Seventh and Eighth Avenues that earned the block its 1984 designation as "the worst block in the city," with The New York Times tabulating 2,300 police incidents that year.

Show World Center at 219 West 42nd Street anchored the adult services trade, earning the nickname "the McDonald's of Adult Entertainment" from New York magazine.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal's third quarter of 1986 alone witnessed 43 robberies and six murders, while undercover officers made only 27 solicitation arrests despite hundreds of observable transactions nightly.

Mayor David Dinkins launched the "Safe Streets, Safe City" program in 1990 with $1.8 billion in municipal bonds, adding 6,000 sworn officers to the NYPD.

Behind closed doors at Gracie Mansion on December 16, 1991, Dinkins orchestrated the meeting that would transform everything, as Michael Eisner and Disney executives negotiated terms for the abandoned New Amsterdam Theatre.

The deal required Disney to invest $8 million in equity while accepting $21 million in low-interest loans, receiving a 49-year revenue-sharing lease on the historic theater.

Unusual out-clauses protected Disney—they could withdraw unless two additional entertainment companies signed redevelopment leases within eighteen months.

Rudy Giuliani's election as mayor on January 1, 1994, accelerated enforcement with his quality-of-life mandate, while the City Council amended zoning to prohibit adult establishments within 500 feet of schools, churches, or residential zones.

CompStat's introduction enabled granular incident mapping, with robbery complaints in Midtown South precinct plummeting 43% between 1994 and 1996.

Demolition crews arrived at the Lyric Theatre in September 1992, broadcasting the rotting marquee's removal to European investors and signaling that Times Square was finally open for business.

Morgan Stanley accepted a $40 million incentive package to erect headquarters at 1585 Broadway, choosing Times Square over suburban Connecticut.

Restoration work on the New Amsterdam began August 14, 1995, with Disney's budget ultimately reaching $34.7 million, jointly financed by city-state loans and corporate equity.
The Condé Nast Building topped out on December 18, 1996, with 1.6 million square feet pre-leased at $42 per square foot thanks to grandfathered tax abatements.

The New Amsterdam reopened for a gala on April 2, 1997, but the true watershed arrived November 13 when Julie Taymor's The Lion King premiered to lines stretching around the block.

First-week grosses reached $1.7 million, with crime analysts noting a 31% reduction in reported robberies within a 1,000-foot radius during the musical's first six months.

The February 24, 1998, Court of Appeals decision upholding the city's adult-use zoning limits precipitated an immediate exodus of remaining private viewing booths from the 42nd Street corridor.

Show World Center entered receivership on May 19, 1999, with the venue that had operated for decades shuttering that autumn as ESPN Zone and WWF New York replaced adult entertainment with themed dining.

Property appraisals revealed the transformation's financial story—buildable air rights valued at $38 per square foot in 1986 commanded $325 per square foot by 2000, an 8.5-fold appreciation.

Two million people crushed together in Times Square as 1999 became 2000, with police having never seen crowds this size—double the peak gatherings of the crime-ridden early eighties.

NYPD CompStat tables revealed felony complaints fell from 8,170 in 1993 to only 2,913 in 2000, a 64% reduction, while homicides dropped from 22 murders to three in the same interval.