What is the Times Square of Philadelphia? (York, Girard: leases, hotels)

[pman]

oddly, I've seen old photos of market east and it looked a lot more like times sq then than it does now. there were signs everywhere as well as people. that was before the planners came up with the gallery and scrub tried to pretend philadelphia was a church.

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by pman

oddly, I've seen old photos of market east and it looked a lot more like times sq then than it does now. there were signs everywhere as well as people. that was before the planners came up with the gallery and scrub tried to pretend philadelphia was a church.

this is without a doubt true. With the enormous Wanamaker store, lit brothers, and strawbridge and clothier Market East was perhaps one of the most enviable commercial districts in the country. This of course is no longer the case today.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

The difference back then is the detail and quality of every bit of advertisement. The standards were much higher. Everything was handmade and done skillfully. That I think is what people are against, the tackiness and lower-standards of today's advertisements.

I agree with everybody who said that Philadelphia should not try to replicate Times Square. We do our own thing in this city and have throughout its history. We don't need to try to copy anyone. I do think that one day Market East will have the good of Times Square without the tackiness. Can you honestly see SCRUB and other groups allowing anything tacky to ever be a part of that section of the city? Of course not.

We don't need to be tacky to turn Market East into what it could be. What we need is draws to bring people into the area, the approved advertisements to brighten and enliven the area even after-hours, and plenty of things for people to do later at night like nightclubs, a movie theater, shopping, restaurants, and so on.

As I said before, the improvements planned for the Gallery and the addition of the retail/entertainment building at Girard Square would be the first step and really the only way that Market East gets started on its way to what it could become.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by pman

oddly, I've seen old photos of market east and it looked a lot more like times sq then than it does now. there were signs everywhere as well as people. that was before the planners came up with the gallery and scrub tried to pretend philadelphia was a church.

Romantic notions aside -Market East before the Gallery was built was kind of a seedy dump. The fact that it has returned to being a (slightly different type of) seedy dump after just a few decades just shows what a failure the Gallery ultimately was.
Tacky or not, and whether I liked it better before or not, Times Square has not reverted back into the seedy dump it was before the revitalization there. With that in mind, maybe it's not so bad if Market East takes a few cues from the Times Square revitalization this time around.

[john_starks]

lol @ e. broad street being times sq

i'll believe it when i see anything happening.

i can walk over there

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Romantic notions aside -Market East before the Gallery was built was kind of a seedy dump. The fact that it has returned to being a (slightly different type of) seedy dump after just a few decades just shows what a failure the Gallery ultimately was.
Tacky or not, and whether I liked it better before or not, Times Square has not reverted back into the seedy dump it was before the revitalization there. With that in mind, maybe it's not so bad if Market East takes a few cues from the Times Square revitalization this time around.

They're two different situations though. Market East wasn't redeveloped to be a tourist trap or anything other than what it tried to be. The Gallery was to attract the families who were either moved out of the city or thinking about moving. It was one last ditch effort to stop white flight. It failed horribly because of this. People obviously did not think in terms of safety or anything similar back then. They clearly didn't realize that the places that don't embrace being a part of the city and have walls and no storefronts or entrances along the side of the street become the worst places to be.

I agree with you though that the Gallery was probably one of the dumbest ideas ever come up with. The underground mall thing is in my opinion awesome and everything about the Gallery is great except for the fact that it was made to be like suburban malls and not like the amazing urban underground mall that it hopefully will one day be, one that is open to the street and not closed off from it. All of Market East really has a ton of potential. It just needs to be connected both to itself and to the rest of the city. If they start by putting something great in the former Strawbridge's and then revamp the Gallery the way PREIT is proposing to do, then add the Girard Square building being proposed, that alone will turn Market East into what it once was and start the process of turning it into what it could one day be.

The clientele is there now. It wasn't as much before. The Convention Center especially will bring even more potential customers right to that area. It has a ton of potential. It just needs to be harnessed in a way that's Philadelphia and not New York.

This blog explains it pretty well, in my opinion. It's also exactly what I happen to think should be done to Market East: A new Market East | philadelphiaheights


Of course, the problem with every city is that it's not only what you do with one area but what you keep out that matters. That's why I'm glad the casino never happened in Market East.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by john_starks

lol @ e. broad street being times sq

i'll believe it when i see anything happening.

i can walk over there

Would you care to restate this comment? Broad St. runs north and south, not east and west.

[Pilot1]

Broad and Diamond.

[City Dog]

Philadelphia has a fantastic downtown that no city mimics it. There are a lot of history/charm to this urban core. It's one of the biggest and most vibrant downtown in the U.S.A! Philadelphia is a great and very lucky city.

[Marius Pontmercy]

Even if you don't like LED signage, you have to admit that what was done at Times Square created something that has been a huge boon to NYC. It's one of the top tourist spots in the city, and that draws in a lot of revenue and valuable foot traffic downtown. While I don't think we should, or even could, replicate Times Square, taking a page from their book isn't a bad idea. Something bright, clean, and modern, and that enlivens the streetscape needs to be done. You may say its tacky, but it brings people's attention to the streetscape, and that's what we want. Right now Market East is a half abandoned concrete mausoleum, the exact opposite of what a healthy city street ought to be doing.