My Sister in law brought her kids into the city to see the Radio City Christmas show today. She drove in...during the holiday madness...drove...did you hear me? She drove blindly into GRIDLOCK. Am I glad I am working today & not accompanying her into this insanity? What do you think.

She was planning on driving down 42 Street through Times Square (as if driving anywhere near Rockefeller Center was not bad enough). This got me to thinking about the old Times Square...before Guiliani started banishing the porn & Disnifiying it up.

When I was a kid...I used to beg my Mother to let me take the bus into the city in the Summertime to visit my Dad at work. He worked on Madison Ave. which meant I'd only have to walk a few blocks from the Port Authority to get to his building. I was about 12 when I started going in alone...but I looked younger...not that it mattered much. I'd get off my bus & walk to the street. No one told me not to make eye contact with anyone. No one had to tell me...because if you slipped...& you gazed at the wrong person's eyeballs for 2 seconds or longer...bam...the homeless person camping out in the bus station would stare at you back & maybe grab your pocket or stick his finger in your ear (& he'd do it all from his vantage point on the grimy floor...such disrespect...I'd think...he could have at least gotten up to greet me properly).



Once on the street...I'd start walking fast up 42 St. All along Times Square there would be people standing on street corners handing out flyers for adult entertainment shows. I had no idea what a lap dance was...but I could guess what a peep show involved & I certainly knew what the flashing, gigantic, neon sign blasting promises of LIVE, NUDE GIRLS meant. I remember thinking...who'd want to see dead, nude girls? (little could I have even guessed what some freaks are into...my little girl head would have exploded right there on the spot).



I'd get to my Dad's office & tell him all about the guy who yelled at me from a doorway wanting to take care of a sweet thing like me...or about the woman with the most sparkly gold outfit on & could I get thigh high boots with 4 inch heels like she had. In the back of my head...I knew I shouldn't be telling my parents about any of this...if I wanted to keep exploring the city on my own ever again...but it was all too much to keep inside.

Times change...no parent in their right mind would let their small kid venture into an eye opening experience like this alone these days. Funny thing is, they cleaned up the bus station years ago...no more homeless people camping anywhere on the premises, no drug deals in the dark corners...sure...you can see these kinds of things out on the street...but not in such concentrated doses as I used to see (back in the day...)...& the porn...that's all been driven out to the outer boroughs or worse.