Main Street, Disney-World and Americana

¶ … Street USA: Designing American Idealism

This paper looks at the concept of Main Street as a form of American idealism, and attempts to determine how an arena as massive as Times Square can authentically work as New York's main street. The concept of "Main Street" in terms of America in general refers to the primary street in the center of a city or town, which is a destination of sorts. This is where the primary attractions of the town generally are along with the pillars of the community. Thus, it's common to find post offices, schools, banks, churches and city halls located on or near a particular town's main street. It's also very common in America to find forms of entertainment and relaxation along a particular town's main street. This is why things like cinemas, theatres, concert halls, shops and restaurants generally orbit out from a city's central main street. Part of the American idealism which is so strongly connected to a city's main street is generally in conjunction with the sense that main street is the place where a person can go to have all their needs fulfilled -- be it in the form of mailing a letter, depositing a check, lighting a candle, having lunch or buying a new scarf. Thus, one of the mythologies connected to Main Street is that it is a place where all of one's needs can be fulfilled: this is connected to the reason why people generally congregate there. Thus, because of this factor, there's a sense of draw and attraction to Main Street within the community, which then causes people to be attracted to it even more -- as Main Street becomes a location in town where people are more likely to bump into one another and to run into people they know. This demonstrates that main street is an area which helps to bolster and improve the overall sense of community.

Thus, when it comes to these ideals, it's both easy and difficult to see how Times Square is representative of New York's Main Street. On the one hand, if one considers the following description, the connection is clear: "As city districts go, Times Square is a global legend, and rightfully so: The cinematic epicenter of NYC tourism and Broadway theater, it's a must-see New York attraction. Its fabled days of epic squalor are a distant memory, but there's still plenty of spectacle to appreciate" (timeout, 2013). This sentiment generally summarizes the overall sense that people have about Times Square: it is the main street of NYC in that it is one of the most famous streets of this city, and it has many attractions, from cinemas to Broadway theatres. In fact, one can argue that with all the lights and electronic billboard, Main Street is essentially an attraction unto itself. Main street is draws both locals and tourists to it through its ability to just provide a sense of dazzle. In that capacity, New York's main street has both actual destinations for people to explore and is the destination in and of itself (DreamCue, 2014).

The only way that Times Square does not embody the sense of American idealism that so many other main streets are able to encompass is via the fact that it really doesn't contain many of the pillars of the community. There are very few (if any at all) banks, schools, post offices and churches around Times Square. In this sense, Times Square is unlike so many other primary streets in New York, as it appears to just be entertainment based.