47th St Between 8th Ave and 7th Ave

    

After much hemming and hawing on the corner of 47th and 8th, I finally made the bold decision to walk towards Times Square. Anyone who lives in the city knows that making such a choice usually involves either a chore of necessity or some sort of masochistic death wish. Either way, before long I found myself willfully walking towards the most aggravating place in all of New York.

With a handful of Broadway theaters lining the block, this part of the street is mostly dead in the morning (when I visited), but it's safe to assume it's nothing but madness come showtime. The W Hotel near Broadway has an interesting facade, but it stands in stark contrast to some of the more classic buildings in the area. I guess that's the nature of this always-evolving neighborhood, though. The saving grace of taking 47th Street across to 7th Ave is that you're near the northern end of Times Square which isn't nearly as crowded as the middle of southern parts can be. 

Having lived here for several years and walked through this part of town more times than I wish to remember, the spectacle of the billboards and lights numbed me long ago. However, if I step back I can sometimes, for a brief moment, remember the sheer joy the first time I noticed that Hershey's had a gigantic store just for candy.