Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Watch This 1980s Discussion About Changing Times Square, The "Venal Disneyland"
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 15, 2014
Modified Jul 15, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 15, 2014
Modified Jul 15, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Times Square in the 1980s. (Getty)
In the late 1980s*, this television segment (produced by produced by WNET/THIRTEEN) featured a conversation between Robert Lipsyte, chairman of the City Planning Commission Carl Weisbrod, AIA's Paul Segel, and Brendan Gill, architecture critic for The New Yorker. The four discuss the proposed 42nd Street Redevelopment Project, while specifically focusing on one troublesome block in the seedy area. In 1988 the NY Times noted that the project was believed to be "the largest urban renewal effort ever undertaken in this country."
In the program, Lipsyte calls this area a "venal Disneyland," and starts things off by positing that it may need to be killed in order to be saved. Gill responds, "42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue... it's been the worst block in New York City for almost half a century now. The single worst block in terms of reported crime. It is the center for runaways, for drug addiction and sales, a thousand drug arrests were reported on this one block alone last year. There's a concentration of sex related businesses, fast food restaurants, pinball arcades, hole-in-the-wall grocery stores that sell nothing but beer, condoms, and knives. Many of them will go out of business now."
After this, the city was mired in a recession from 1989 through the end of 1991, giving those behind this project some time to overhaul their "much-criticized development plan."
*While this YouTube caption says 1984, the footage shows it's 1988/1989.
Tagged
1980s
redevelopment
Times Square
original
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 16, 2026
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .