Glimpses Of A Neon Wasteland
Seeking moments in Times Square from the back of a car
How do you spot a tourist in New York? Just go to the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. If they’re wandering around with wonder in their eyes, there’s a decent chance they’re from out of town.
As someone who recently visited the United States, I’m not beating the allegations. There’s something about the stimulation overload of Times Square that, to me at least, feels like nowhere else on earth. In a weird way, with its thousands of flashing images hawking every service under the sun, it’s like the internet writ large — a ‘non-place’, as it were, where everyone gathers but no one actually lives.
In other words, it’s possibly the most garish place on earth.
I suppose this is why locals shun it like the plague. But as someone who isn’t from there, I can’t help but be drawn to it. Morbid curiosity is one hell of a drug.
So what was I doing in Times Square? Well actually, I wasn’t there. Or at least not on the sidewalk.
My family had planned to embark on a road trip across New England, and as fate would have it, Google Maps directed our rental car to cross through this neon-saturated wilderness en route to the states further north.
