Page 145 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

MID T OWN WEST AND THE THEA TER DISTRIC T  143

Ziegfeld, who still a theatrical feel to the massive
produced his building designed by Rapp &
famous Follies Rapp in 1927. On each side, 14
revue here symmetrical setbacks rise to an
between 1914 Art Deco crown – a tower, clock,
and 1918 – with and globe. In the heyday of the
Broadway’s first “Great White Way,” the tower was
$5 ticket price. lit, with an observation deck at
He remodeled the top. The Hard Rock Cafe is
the roof garden now here, along with a retail store
into another and a concert area.
The iconic neon signs at the ever busy Times Square theater, the
Aerial Gardens.
Although The New York Times This is one of the fine early e Shubert Alley
has moved on from its original theaters on 42nd Street that Between W 44th and W 45th St.
headquarters at the south end fell on hard times. With the Map 12 E5. q 42nd St-Times Sq.
of the Square, the glistening rehabi litation of Times Square, See Entertainment p336.
ball (now of Waterford crystal) and it being owned by Disney
still drops at midnight on New Productions, its fortunes rose The playhouses on the streets
Year’s Eve, as it has since the again and it is once more in west of Broadway are rich in
building opened with fanfare showbusiness. theater lore – and in notable
and fireworks in 1906. New architecture. Two classic theaters
buildings, such as the Bertels- built in 1913 are the Booth (222
mann and the fashionably q McGraw-Hill West 45th Street), named after
minimalist Condé Nast offices, Building actor Edwin Booth, and the
sit comfortably alongside the Shubert (225 West 44th), after
classic Broadway theaters. 330 W 42nd St. Map 8 D1. q 42nd theater baron Sam S. Shubert.
Broadway’s fortunes have also St-8th Ave. Open office hours. They form the west wall of
revived. Many theaters have Shubert Alley, where aspiring
been renovated and are again This 1931 design by Raymond actors once lined up, hoping
housing contemporary Hood was the only New York for a casting in a Shubert play.
productions; theater-goers building selected for the influential A Chorus Line ran at the
throng the area’s bars and International Style architectural Shubert until 1990, for a record
restaurants each evening. survey of 1932 (see p45). Its unusual 6,137 performances; Katharine
One of the area’s landmarks is design gives it a stepped profile Hepburn starred earlier in The
the 57-story skyscraper, designed seen from east and west, but a slab Philadelphia Story. Across from
by Miami architects Arquitec- effect viewed from the north or the 44th Street end of the alley
tonica, that tops the E-Walk south. The exterior’s hori zontal is the St. James, where Rodgers
entertainment and retail complex bands of bluish green terracotta and Hammerstein made their
at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue have earned it the nickname “jolly debut with Oklahoma! in 1941,
(see p138). Other attractions green giant.” Step inside to see followed by The King and I.
include an outpost of Madame the classic Art Deco lobby of Nearby is Sardi’s, the restaurant
Tussauds wax museum at 42nd opaque glass and stainless steel. where actors waited for
Street, between Seventh and One block west is Theater opening-night reviews. Irving
Eighth Avenues; a massive Disney Row, a pleasant group of Off- Berlin staged The Music
Store; Bowlmor Lanes bowling Broadway theaters and cafés. Box Revue opposite
alley; a pedestrian plaza; and the other end
M&M’s World at 1600 Broadway. of the alley in
w Paramount 1921. His
Building Music Box
0 New Amsterdam Theatre has
Theatre 1501 Broadway. Map 8 E1. since housed
q 34th St.
many famous
214 W 42nd St. Map 8 E1. Tel (212) productions.
282-2900. q 42nd St-Times Sq. The fabulous ground-
Open 9am–8pm Mon–Fri, 10am– floor movie theater,
8pm Sat, 10am–6:30pm Sun. 8 call where bobby-soxers
for details (212) 282-2907.
stood in line in the
1940s to hear Frank
This was the most opulent theater Sinatra perform, is
in the United States when it gone, but there’s
opened in 1903, and the first to
have an Art Nouveau interior. It Art Deco top of the
was owned for a time by Florenz Paramount Building

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