Times Square’s anchor block, 42nd Street
between Seventh and Eighth Avenues,
which is a shadow of its pre-pandemic self.
The block had a 70 percent decline in pedes-
trian traffic compared with last year, ac-
cording to a study conducted by the alli-
ance.
Roughly 80 percent of its businesses are
now closed or inactive, including theaters
where “Aladdin” and “Harry Potter” were
playing when the lockdown came.
“There isn’t a single block that went so
quickly and so hard from everything bloom-
ing in full to everything shut down,” Mr.
Tompkins said. “The city and state spent
two decades and tens of millions of dollars
turning it around. It was a major economic
engine, and it has completely shut down.”
Alan Rosen owns two outposts of Ju-
nior’s Restaurant in Times Square that
were among the busiest independent
restaurants in the country last year.
Their kitschy New York deli décor lies
darkened behind locked doors. Although in-
door dining is permitted at 25 percent ca-
pacity in the city, Mr. Rosen has visited
Times Square recently to “feel the vibe” and
has decided he still cannot open because the
area is too quiet.
“There are people who say it’s going to
back to the way it was in the ’70s,” Mr. Rosen
said. He said he is not one of those naysay-
ers, but rather believes Times Square will
bounce back with the return of Broadway,
tourism, hotel use and office workers.
For now though, there are no crowds,
and vulnerable people living on the street
are more visible.
People who have no housing have been
pushed out of the subway system since it
began closing each night from 1 a.m. to 5
a.m. for cleaning. To combat the spread of
the coronavirus, the city removed thou-
sands of people from crowded shelters and
into hotels emptied of tourists.
Advocates say many homeless people
have left crowded shelters on their own, tak-
ing their chances on the streets during the
pandemic. In the hotels, two strangers gen-
erally share a room, an arrangement that
can also spread the virus.
One of those new residents on the street
in Times Square is Shakeem Lofton, 45.
He reclined on a blue blanket and a pil-
low propped up against a newsstand on
Seventh Avenue near West 44th Street on a
recent weekday and said he had left an up-
town Manhattan shelter because of virus
fears and had chosen this location because
it seemed like the best spot to panhandle.
“I figured I’d be safer taking my
chances on the street than sleeping next to
all those people,” he said.
On another day, Benjamin Creel, 35, sat
with three other homeless men who shared
cigarettes and a pipe filled with marijuana.
“A year ago, we couldn’t even be sitting here
because the crowds were so thick — now
there’s barely anyone on the sidewalk,” said
Mr. Creel, adding that the number of new
homeless people has increased.
“You’re definitely seeing more, that’s
for sure,” said Mr. Creel who said he had
lived on the city’s streets, on and off, since
first arriving six years ago after losing his
roofing job in Elmira, N.Y., and going
through a divorce.
His survival strategy involved panhan-
dling with a cardboard sign bearing the
message “I Need Weed,” which was both
true and a good sales pitch, he said.
“Before Covid, I could clear 80 to 100
bucks a day on the street — sometimes you
get a tourist to throw you a 20,” he said. “But
with the pandemic, there’s no tourist and no
festivities going on, and New Yorkers are
struggling too, so I’m lucky if I make 10
bucks a day.”
Ismael Guillen, 25, and Jennifer
Medrano, 19, from Pasadena, Md., stood in a
nearly deserted pedestrian plaza near 44th
Street on a recent weekday.
Perhaps nothing is more striking about
Times Square than the sheer emptiness of
it, compared to its pre-pandemic self, some-
thing that was not lost on the newlyweds.
The couple took a few rare days off from
their jobs at Chick-fil-A for a brief hon-
eymoon in Times Square.
“It’s definitely not what I expected,
compared to the crowded Times Square you
see in the movies and pictures,” Ms.
Medrano said. Mr. Guillen said he had vis-
ited several times before, including ringing
in 2018 on New Year’s Eve.
Knowing Times Square’s reputation for
late-night activity, the couple went out after
9 p.m. one evening for dinner and tried the
Hard Rock Cafe, Red Lobster and the Olive
Garden, but all were closed.
They ate at McDonalds.
“It’s the same place, but it’s a totally dif-
ferent experience,” Mr. Guillen said. “It’s to-
tally opposite of what it used to be.”
Broadway theaters will
remain closed at least
until June, dimming
hopes for a recovery
anytime soon.
The virus came down
hardest on the neigh-
borhood’s premier
block, 42nd Street
between Seventh and
Eighth Avenues, mid-
dle at left, where foot
traffic fell 70 percent
from a year ago, ac-
cording to the Times
Square Alliance.
Is It Still Times Square?
Photographs by
TODD HEISLER/The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 N A
