party in the Square ("Times Square"). His intention was to let the public know that his newspaper was there to stay, but unknowingly, he also played host to the first entertainment event of Times Square. This party was such a hit that Times Square immediately replaced City Hall Park as the favorite meeting spot for New Yorkers to ring in the new year.
             And so began the Square's long history of being the hottest place in New York City. Times Square enjoyed this reign well into the twentieth century, before Prohibition closed most of the restaurants and dance halls. But soon, a new life came to the Square, funded by bootleg liquor. Money coming in from these black market booze re-opened many of the restaurants and made way for the era of jazz and liquor (Gordon 140). Quickly, the underworld took over the district, and Times Square was once again a place crowded with excitement.
             The next wave of impact to come was the influence of Hollywood. In 1927, the Warner Theater opened in the Square and showed its first talking movie (Fazio 27). The popularity of this new form of entertainment left movie houses slowly pushing the legitimate theaters onto side streets to make room for their flashing lights and gigantic billboards. All of these new attractions changed the make up of Times Square considerably, but no one seemed to mind. The magicians of Hollywood had brought new excitement to a city that thought it already had everything, and they were also sending images of this lively town to other parts of the world. New Yorkers had always prided themselves in being cutting edge, so when mass media became more accessible, marketers decided it would be a good idea to project the city's image to the masses. Potential visitors were able to see the city's excitement through ads in many major newspapers.
             Sitting on this entertainment high, visitors to Times Square, along with most of the rest of the country, never s...